Tura Satana Passes On

Tura Satana, who achieved cult stardom with Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill! on 4 February 2011 at the age of 75.

She was born Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi on 10 January 1935 in Hokkaido, Japan. Her father was of Japanese and Filipino descent, while her mother was of Cheyenne, Scottish, and Irish descent. The family moved to the United States, where young Tura would be interred at Manzanar during World War II. Afterwards the family moved to Chicago. As a young woman she worked as a model and an exotic dancer. When comedian Harold Lloyd took erotic photographs of her, he suggested that she should go into acting.

Miss Satana would make her movie debut with a small role in Billy Wilder's Irma La Douce (1963). She would also appear in a bit part in the film Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed (1964). She guest starred on the series Burke's Law and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. It was in 1965 that she appeared as Varla in the film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, directed by Russ Meyer. The film would achieve cult status, as would Tura Satana. It remains her most famous role.

She would go onto guest star on The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. She appeared in the films Our Man Flint (1965), The Astro-Zombies (1968),The Doll Squad (1973), Mark of the Astro-Zombies (2002), Sugar Boxx (2009), The Haunted World of Super Beasto (2009), and Astro-Zombies M3-Cloned (2010).

Zura Satana did not have an extensive filmography and her roles would be extremely limited as a result, but she was very good at what she did. Trained in several martial arts, Miss Satana could give the impression of being very deadly and very efficient, but at the same time still remain feminine. Given that female characters of that sort were very rare at that time (as of 1965 there was Mrs. Gale on The Avengers--Emma Peel would make her debut on The Avengers and Honey West would make her debut on her self titled show later in the year), it is little wonder she made such an impression.

Actor Michael Tolan R.I.P.

Actor Michael Tolan passed on January 31, 2011 at the age of 85.The cause was heart disease and heart failure.

Michael Tolan was born Seymour Tuchow on November 27, 1925 in Detroit. He graduated from Wayne State University in Detroit. Following graduation he was with a repertory company in Detroit. He studied under Stella Adler in New York. He also won a fellowship to study acting at  Stanford University. It was while he was at Stanford that he was cast as gangster James Malloy in the movie The Enforcer (1951).

Throughout the Fifties Mr. Tolan appeared in such films as Insie the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951), Fort Worth (1951), The Savage (1951), Hiawatha (1951), and Julius Caesar (1953). His career would primarily be on television and on stage. In the Fifties he appeared on such shows as Inner Sanctum, The Web, Kraft Theatre, Studio One, Decoy, Diagnosis: Unknown, and Omnibus.

In the Sixties Michael Tolan played Dr. Tazinski on The Nurses and Jordan Boyle on The Senator (one of the series that aired under the umbrella title The Bold Ones). He appeared on the shows Armstrong Circle Theatre, Naked City, The United States Steel Hour, Route 66, The Outer Limits, Felony Squad, Tarzan, The Invaders, The Rat Patrol,  Mannix, Mission: Impossible, and Dan August.He appeared in the movies Roseanna (1967), Hour of the Gun (1967), Journey into the Darkness (1968), The Lost Man (1969), and John and Mary (1969).

In the Seventies Mr. Tolan appeared in such shows as  Nichols, Circle of Fear, Owen Marshall: Counsellor at Law, The F.B.I., Barnaby Jones, Hallmark Hall of Fame, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, McMillan and Wife, and Kojak. He appeared in the films The 300 Year Weekend (1971) and All That Jazz (1980). From the Eighties into the Naughts Mr. Tolan appeared in such shows as Nurse, Law and Order, and Murder She Wrote. He appeared in the films Talk to Me (1984), Presumed Innocent (1990), and Perfect Stranger (2007).

Michael Tolan also had a stage career. He made his Broadway debut in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter in 1955. He would later appear in such plays as The Genius and the Goddess (1957) and Unlikely Heroes (1971). He also helped found the American Place Theatre, a successful Off Broadway playhouse.

Maria Schneider Passes On

Actress Maria Schneider, who starred in such films as The Passenger (1975) and Jane Eyre (1996), passed yesterday at the age of 58 after a long illness.

Maria Schneider was born on 27 March, 1952 in Paris. Her mother was Marie-Christine Schneider, the Romanian model, and her father was actor Daniel Gélin. Born out of wedlock, her father would not acknowledge her until she was a teenager. At age fifteen she left the German town in which her mother was raising her for Paris. There she made a meagre living as a model and sometimes a film extra. It was legendary actress Brigitte Bardot who came to her rescue. She put her up in her home and found her an agent at William Morris.

Miss Schneider started in films with small roles in such film as L'arbre de Noël (1969) and Les Femmes (1969). Her first credited role came with Les jambes en l'air (1972). She appeared in such films as La vieille fille (1972) and What a Flash (1972) before appearing in her famous role in Last Tango in Paris (1972). The film was controversial for it sexual explicitness, so much so the MPAA ratings board gave it an "X" rating (even today it is rated "NC-17"). Miss Schneider became a sex symbol over night, much to her dismay. She wanted to be taken seriously as an actress. She would spend much of her career trying to escape the image Last Tango in Paris had conveyed. She appeared in the films The Passenger (1975) and La Baby Sitter (1975). Her career declined in the late Seventies.

In the Eighties she appeared in such films as Merry-Go-Round (1981), Yoroppa tokkyu (1984) and Bunker Palace Hotel (1989). She appeared on the TV series L'or noir de Lornac.  In the Nineties she appeared in such films as La condanna (1991), Au pays des Juliets (1992), Jane Eyre (1996), Something to Believe In (1998), and Actors (2000). In the Naughts she appeared in such films as La repentie (2002), La Clef (2007), and Cliente.She appeared on the shows Maigret and A.D. La guerre de l'ombre,

A Video Tribute to Audrey Hepburn

Here is the second video I have made with Windows Moivemaker, a tribute to Audrey Hepburn. The song is Doris Day's version of "Dream a Little Dream of Me (my favourite version is the one by Cass Elliot, but I wanted one that was closer to Audrey's golden age from the late Fifties to the mid-Sixties). I used more transitional effects on this video, in part because, unlike my previous video, the shifts from image to image could be somewhat jarring. Anyhow, without further ado...