R.I.P. Cha Cha

Raise your arms. Wave goodbye to Annette Charles aka Annette Cardona aka Cha Cha DiGregorio, "the best dancer at St. Bernadettes!" The former actress turned speech professor died Wednesday at the age of 63 of cancer. Strange that her death so closely followed Jeff Conaway's (Kenickie), her date to Grease's big "Born to Hand Jive" high school dance.

Her brief acting career consisted mostly of guest spots on 70s TV shows and two feature films but everyone associated with Grease (1978) will live on forever in the hearts of millions. Grease is still the word.

[Related: Here's a fine article from Clothes on Film on her Amazonian presence in Grease.]

Goodbye Kenickie

 

A hickie from Kenickie is like a Hallmark card!

Rest in Peace Jeff Conaway. The Grease (1978) actor, who recently become a sublebrity again on the reality program "Celebrity Rehab With Doctor Drew" passed away last night at the age of 60 with family surrounding him. We knew it was coming after that medically-induced coma but that doesn't make it any sadder.

We used to watch Grease so much in high school. *sniffle*

How long did your Grease phase last? Oh, don't pretend you never had one.

Links: Arthur Laurents, Joel Edgerton, Parker Posey, Will Smith

TV Guide A brilliant suggestion: put Parker Posey in the boss's chair in The Office. Did you see her on Parks & Recreation last night? She's dependable with hilarity, that one.
The Art of Manliness how to jump from rooftop to rooftop, like a frenzied movie hero.
Boobs Radley Imagined conversations between Scarlett Johansson and Sean Penn. Teehee.
My New Plaid Pants a big week for Joel Edgerton. A leading role in the new Kathryn Bigelow flick? Yes please.
Variety Quentin Tarantino wants Will Smith for his Django Unchained movie. In our opinion any actor would be crazy to turn Tarantino down. He nearly always finds something new or untapped in their talent. He's pure magic that way.
The Beats Within new blog on Madonna as a musician (still underappreciated). This is a really interesting interview with Guy Sigsworth who cowrote "What It Feels Like For a Girl"
Movie Morlocksk spends an evening with Terence Stamp. We love him.

Hey U Guys shows the delightful first image from a pirate movie from Aardman Animations. Hugh Grant will be voicing it matey.
THR It might be Keanu Reeves for Akira. Hollywood is just determined not to cast Japanese actors even though the property is the selling point.
Movie|Line is every Kate Hudson movie the same? Chart!
Salon looks at the best devil portrayals on film.

Finally...I meant to write about Arthur Laurents passing yesterday but this one made me sick with loss. The theater great had a hand in so many properties that are just magic (Rope, West Side Story, The Way We Were, Gypsy ... the list goes on) and he lived to be 92 years old; a long and accomplished life it was. He won Tony Awards and was twice Oscar nominated (both nominations were for the ballet drama The Turning Point) but somehow they snubbed his brilliant screenplay for The Way We Were which is only among the pinnacle achievements of its entire genre. Seriously name ten romantic weepies that are better; you can't!

His life was inspiring, too. Imagine having the guts to live as an out gay man as early as the 1950s. I didn't know where to begin -- I'd need a whole blog week. MUBI is terrific with the obituaries, always rounding up good articles to read, like this recent lengthy dishy profile from New York Magazine when the revival of West Side Story opened on Broadway.

50 Foot Woman (RIP)

Though I can't remember why I was watching Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958) a few months back and thinking of maybe writing something up on it. (I thought I'd look at the 1990s Daryl Hannah remake too.) Needless to say that never came to fruition but this morning I read some horrific news. Yvette Vickers, the star of that infamous Bad Movie People Love about an angry adulteress who rampages once she's giantized, was found dead this week in her home in Benedict Canyon. She was 82ish.

The worst part of the story is this gruesome detail: her body was mummified indicating she'd been dead for a long time, possibly a year. That nobody checked in for that length of time -- neither friend nor neighbor (she had no surviving family members) -- is scarier than any horror movie.

Her first film appearance was in the showbiz classic, Sunset Boulevard. May she rest easier than those Hollywood ghosts.

Sidney Lumet: 43 Feature Films, 5 Oscar Nominations, 1 Fine Career.

A goodbye with gratitude to prolific director and Honary Oscar winner Sidney Lumet who died this morning at the age of 86 from lymphoma. He was small in stature (5'5") but his legacy looms large as one of Hollywood's most prolific and beloved directors. 

He was a stage actor and a television director before moving into feature films. Actors always loved him and he returned that love guiding several of them through signature roles. He worked with some stars multiple times including, notably: Sean Connery, Timothy Hutton, James Mason, and Al Pacino. The stage-to-screen movie, the courtroom drama, the social conscience narrative, and the true crime story would never have been the same without him. He is survived by his wife of 31 years Mary Gimbel, and children and grandchildren (you'll remember that his daughter Jenny Lumet wrote the blissful Rachel Getting Married screenplay. Our thoughts go out to the family today.

After the jump, the posters for all 43 of his theatrical features with thanks to google, the IMDb and IMP!

How many have you seen?

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