RIP Jacques Champreux, among the greatest names in French fantastique. The grandson of the maitre Louis Feuillade, he wrote the scripts for Franju’s masterpiece JUDEX (his father had directed the rare 1934 version), the exquisite television thriller THE COMPANIONS OF BAAL, and a miniseries adaptation of Verne’s THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND with Omar Sharif as Nemo (which I have not seen - but it’s on YouTube!). He also wrote and starred in Franju’s miniseries THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE, which was also condensed into the feature NUITS ROUGES aka SHADOWMAN. Though he never played him officially, he was my favorite Fantômas. His work has had a huge impact on my aesthetic and creative life; I would never have written my long-aborning novel THE ONLY CRIMINAL without his example. He died December 24th at the age of 90; a colossus.
RIP Barbara Shelley, whose early roles in CAT GIRL (1957), BLOOD OF THE VAMPIRE (1958), VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1960), and SHADOW OF THE CAT (1961) made her the principal focal point of female heroism at the dawning of British gothic cinema. Probably the first actor to make me aware of the romantic value and appeal of intelligence, she wasn't an avatar of Hammer Glamour so much as one of their great stars, on par with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. In her key roles (THE GORGON, DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESSS, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT), she excelled at portraying the untapped strength and power at the core of demure women. can’t summarize her better than Jonathan Rigby did on his page this morning: “a superb actress and... the undisputed queen of British horror.” She died of COVID-19 at the age of 88.
RIP Russian actor Vladimir Kornev, who starred in the 1962 Soviet science fiction movie THE AMPHIBIAN MAN, who died of complications from COVID-19 on January 2, aged 80. THE AMPHIBIAN MAN is a genuinely uncanny film; as a child, when I first saw it on television in black-and-white, it was like stumbling across a waking dream; and when I finally got to see it again, finally in color on a Ruscico DVD, it exceeded my distant memory of it. You can find my review of it in VIDEO WATCHDOG #70, page 5.
RIP Gerry Marsden MBE, former frontman of the immortal Gerry and the Pacemakers, who in 1965 briefly eclipsed The Beatles in Top Ten popularity. Though not in the same league as Lennon/McCartney as a songwriter, Gerry nevertheless penned a string of hits, including “Ferry Cross the Mersey”, “It’s Gonna Be Alright” and the ballad “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying” (written for his future wife of 55 years, Pauline, who was upset at the thought of being by separated from Gerry for the first time as the Pacemakers prepared for their first US tour). Additionally, he and the Pacemakers (which included his brother Fred on drums) recorded a Lennon/McCartney original “Hello Little Girl” (a perk of having been taken under the wing of their manager, Brian Epstein) and found an enduring national niche when their recording of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” was adopted as Liverpool’s (soccer) anthem. Like the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers starred in a film of their own, FERRY CROSS THE MERSEY (1965), and had the pleasure of performing at different times on THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, including once when they briefly managed to join their illustrious stablemates on the BILLBOARD Top Ten. Gerry’s stage presence was brash and cheerful, fun-loving but also sensitive, and he wore his guitar ridiculously high on his chest. I was all of nine years old when the Pacemakers reached their peak; I never missed them on TV, I sat in the dark at their movie more than once (it’s never been released on home video), and I still enjoy them - I’ll never forget a time in the car when the words of ”I Like It”, one of their most infectious yet frivolous songs, moved me to tears as I realized how much of a love story it was really communicating. These guys - never hip, never experimental, never groundbreaking... but they were special in their own down-the-pub-gone-electric kind of way. There was a sense of fun and simplicity about them, also a rich sentimentality, and a deep love of country and birthplace, that always set them a bit above and apart. Gerry was 78 and had some previous heart surgeries; the cause of his death was a brief cardiac infection. (c) 2020 by Tim Lucas. All rights reserved.
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