Tom Laughlin dies at 82; filmmaker drew huge following for ‘Billy Jack’

tom-laughlinTom Laughlin, a filmmaker who drew a huge following for his movies about the ill-tempered, karate-chopping pacifist Billy Jack, died Thursday at a Thousand Oaks hospital. He was 82.

He had been in failing health for several years, his daughter Teresa Laughlin said.

Laughlin starred in and co-produced the four films of the 1960s and ’70s showcasing Billy Jack, a troubled Vietnam veteran who quietly promotes a message of peace when he’s not throwing bad guys through plate-glass windows.

An iconoclast who battled Hollywood studios, Laughlin fought on other fronts as well.

Laughlin founded a Montessori school in Santa Monica after he deemed the public schools unworthy of educating his children. When he decided the political system was hopelessly corrupt, he mounted three quixotic presidential campaigns. After becoming disillusioned with Catholicism, he immersed himself in Jungian psychology, writing books and counseling friends.

“He was an extraordinary Catholic for about five minutes,” Teresa Laughlin told The Times, “but once he found Jungian psychology, it supplanted everything else.”

Read more at Los Angeles Times

Peter O’Toole dies at 81; nominated eight times for best-actor Oscar


(FOX News Video)

By Dennis McLellan – December 16, 2013

He was tall, lean and handsome, with vivid blue eyes and a distinctive voice that film critic David Thomson once likened to “a rapier that has been used to stir the cream.”

Peter O’Toole, who donned flowing white robes and rode a camel to movie stardom in David Lean’s epic 1962 film “Lawrence of Arabia,” received the first of his eight Academy Award nominations for best actor for playing T.E. Lawrence, the enigmatic British Army officer who fought with Arab tribes during the 1916-18 Arab revolt against Turkish imperial rule.

O’Toole always relished talking about “Lawrence of Arabia,” whose shooting locations included Jordan, Spain and Morocco.

Read more at the LA Times

Kiwanis dinner and movie night this weekend

WILLIAMS—Movie night at the First Baptist Church kicks off the weekend events in Williams. 7th to 12th graders are invited to attend movie lock-in night at the church starting Friday, December 13th and ending around 9 am on Saturday. Participants are asked to bring a sleeping bag and pillow and a snack to share. There will be board games, cards and WII games. Contact Bob Broehm at (928)380-4346 if you have any questions.

The annual Kiwanis dinner starts at noon tomorrow at Doc Holiday’s on Grand Canyon Boulevard. The dinner features a great banquet, prizes and a visit by Santa.

There will, of course, be time to squeeze in a trip through Bearizona and a ride on the Polar Express.

The weather is expected to be clear through the weekend after rain and snow tonight.

Second St. John’s Advent Concert a success

WILLIAMS—If you missed the second in the series of Advent concerts at St. John’s Episcopal church, you missed out on a real treat. The schedule was apparently changed to allow the stage to the NAU students of the undergraduate program in chamber music directed by Dr. Maryann Ramos. This type of music is usually scheduled for the concerts, but was not this year. This was a pleasant surprise.

The concert began with Sarah Gallaher on the piano and Therese Cudmore on the cello playing Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise. Rachmaninoff was a Russian-born composer, pianist, and conductor and is considered one of the finest pianists of his day. He died in Beverley Hills in March of 1943.

kasey-03
Kasey Calebaugh played a selection of Paul Hindemith music on the viola. An article at The Telegraph on the fiftieth anniversary of his death calls the composer the most neglected of the 20th Century. Indeed I had never heard of the composer until this presentation by Kasey who played it with such enthusiasm that it was impossible to not enjoy it. The selections Calebaugh chose was the Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 25, No. 1, Breit Viertel and Sehr Frisch un Straff.

Sarah-Gallaher

Sarah Gallaher, Piano

Sarah Gallaher followed up on the piano beginning with a Partita No. 1 in B flat Major and Praeludium by J.S. Bach. After she presented Reverie and Homage a Raneau by Claude Debussy. This was the best part of the concert, in my opinion, because if featured two of my favorite composers. In addition to the fact that she played them so well. She finished with the only Christmas selection of the concert, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and her interpretation was excellent.

(L-R) George Teague, Brett Lindsay, Therese Cudmore, and Brittany Parker, Cello

(L-R) George Teague, Brett Lindsay, Therese Cudmore, and Brittany Parker, Cello

Brett Lindsay, Brittany Parker and Therese Cudmore presented Tchaikovsky’s Chason Triste and were later joined by George Teague to present Jesu, Meine Freude by Johann Sebastian Bach and Yesterday by the Beatles.

(L-R) Justine DeMarco and Josh Lynch, violin, joined by George Teague and Kasey Calebaugh.

(L-R) Justine DeMarco and Josh Lynch, violin, joined by George Teague and Kasey Calebaugh.

Justine DeMarco and Josh Lynch on the violin joined George Teague on the cello and Kasey Calebaugh on the viola to form the quartet which played String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor commonly known as Death and the Maiden. The piece by Franz Schubert was originally played in homes and was only published three-years after the death of the composer. Although Schubert is another favorite composer of mine and this piece has apparently become quite well-used, I was introduced to it with the performance by these students this evening.

Brett Lindsay returned on the cello to present Julie-O by Mark Summer. I checked his performance against a Youtube video by Mark Summer so I can say that Brett performed it well. I personally was not impressed with the piece.

There are two more concerts at St. John’s Episcopal-Lutheran Church (Facebook) next Sunday featuring bluegrass music. The final concert on the 22nd will feature local artists Susan “Squared” with Susan Kerley and Susan Hendricks on the piano accompanied by Andrew Hambey. The concerts are free to the public and begin at 4 p.m. with a reception following.


Glen Davis

Fast and Furious movie star dies in car accident.

enhanced-buzz-26543-1385868933-1040-year old Paul Walker known for the Fast and Furious movie franchise died in a single-vehicle accident that resulted in a fiery explosion. The accident occurred about 3:30 p.m. Pacific time Saturday in Santa Clarita, Calif.

The actor was a passenger in a Porsche GT in which the driver somehow lost control slamming into a tree. Both in the car were killed.

Hollywood Reporter: Animals were harmed

Photo taken of a horse named Glass on the set of the Hallmark Channel movie Love’s Resounding Courage shortly after the animal was impaled in an accident. He was soon euthanized.

Photo taken of a horse named Glass on the set of the Hallmark Channel movie Love’s Resounding Courage shortly after the animal was impaled in an accident. He was soon euthanized.

American Humane Association monitor Gina Johnson confided in an email to a colleague on April 7, 2011, about the star tiger in Ang Lee’s Life of Pi. While many scenes featuring “Richard Parker,” the Bengal tiger who shares a lifeboat with a boy lost at sea, were created using CGI technology, King, very much a real animal, was employed when the digital version wouldn’t suffice. “This one take with him just went really bad and he got lost trying to swim to the side,” Johnson wrote. “Damn near drowned.”

King’s trainer eventually snagged him with a catch rope and dragged him to one side of the tank, where he scrambled out to safety.

“I think this goes without saying but DON’T MENTION IT TO ANYONE, ESPECIALLY THE OFFICE!” Johnson continued in the email, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. “I have downplayed the f— out of it.”

As a representative of the American Humane Association — the grantor of the familiar “No Animals Were Harmed” trademark accreditation seen at the end of film and TV credits — it was Johnson’s job to monitor the welfare of the animals used in the production filmed in Taiwan. What’s more, Johnson had a secret: She was intimately involved with a high-ranking production exec on Pi. (AHA’s management subsequently became aware of both the relationship and her email about the tiger incident, which others involved with the production have described in far less dire terms.) Still, Pi, which went on to earn four Oscars and $609 million in global box office, was awarded the “No Animals Were Harmed” credit.

More at the Hollywood Reporter