Kumar Pallana

Kumar Pallana has always been one of my favorite parts of my very favorite Wes Anderson movies. He lived a long life, to the age 94. I would defy anyone to prove that he is not just as important to the success of Bottle Rocket as superstars-to-be Owen and Luke Wilson. I've really missed seeing him in post-Darjeeling movies from Anderson.

Kumar also founded Dallas' Cosmic Cafe, a much-beloved haunt. 

I took some fresh grabs from his performances in his four turns with American Empirical Pictures. Enjoy.

Elmore Leonard

Elmore Leonard's list of ten writing tips is what I value most among his magnificent work in the world of writing. It's made me a better and more confident writer. If you haven't read a book in a while, and especially if you haven't read one of Leonard's, try one of his this week.

1. Never open a book with weather.

2. Avoid prologues.

3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.

4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said”…he admonished gravely.

5. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words.

6. Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."

7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.

8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.

9. Don't go into great detail describing places and things.

10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

James Gandolfini

Gone far too young at 51, Gandolfini has meant a great deal to me since I discovered him as a teenage character actor. there isn't much I could say that isn't covered in his episode of Inside the Actor's Studio, embedded below.

He was in Italy on vacation in advance of a planned appearance and masterclass at the Taormina Film Festival.  He leaves behind a wife and an infant daughter. He had a pile of projects in the hopper. Deadline's Mike Fleming has written a wonderful piece about his years following and covering Gandolfini.

We've lost a great actor and a good man, based on everything said by anyone I know who worked with him in any capacity.

We've also lost one of the greatest actors to repeatedly work with (and be championed by) Tony Scott.

If you missed Not Fade Away  last year, or have never seen The Last Boy Scout, True Romance, Crimson Tide, In the Loop, or especially The Last Castle , you can't go wrong with any of them. If you only know him from The Sopranos , you may not be fully aware of the broad range of nuance and humanity found across his entire filmography. I'm most selfishly sad that I never saw him perform on stage. If there exists a bootleg of him in God of Carnage , I don't have nor know about it.  

A tremendously sad, left-field bit of tragedy hit yesterday. The acting world is a dimmer place ever since. 

Richard Fallon

I met the Emeritus Dean of FSU's School of Theatre shortly after moving to Tallahassee for college. I never took a class from "Mr. Theatre", since he stopped actively teaching before I could. He would lecture in All School meetings. I saw him do these talks with fervor and power as recently as 2006, the same year in which he came to see me in a hybrid radio theatre production of David Mamet's The Water Engine. He was my neighbor when I lived down the street in a house full of Acting majors. When I directed my first real play for the local community theatre, he gave me insightful notes after seeing it for the first time. He asked me and dozens of others to help him get a production of 110 in the Shade off the ground at any theater anywhere in town.

Dick Fallon started his career as a kid, and encouraged generations of artists to hold on to a childlike sense of wonder:

In his childhood, Fallon starred in the radio show, "Dick Armstrong, All-American Boy." Later, as a Fulbright scholar in England, he was influenced by the British repertory theater system and subsequently made it his mission to build a bridge between university theater and professional theater. In addition to establishing the conservatory here, he founded FSU outreach programs at the Jekyll Island Music Theatre in Georgia and the Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre Training in Jupiter.

"His radio persona was his persona in life," said Thomas. "He was the great enthusiast, the can-do-anything All-American boy. And he devoted his life to making theater available to everyone."

Jonathan Winters

The AP reports that Jonathan Winters is gone:

Jonathan Winters, the cherub-faced comedian whose breakneck improvisations and misfit characters inspired the likes of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey, has died. He was 87.

Winters was one of the earliest comedy influences I had as a young actor, thanks to syndicated reruns of Mork and Mindy. When I discovered his records and his performances in movies and other shows in the pre-Internet world, his rapid-fire wit really blew me away.

Winters was a pioneer of improvisational standup comedy, with an exceptional gift for mimicry, a grab bag of eccentric personalities and a bottomless reservoir of creative energy. Facial contortions, sound effects, tall tales — all could be used in a matter of seconds to get a laugh.

In particular, his voice and mimicry work was most influential on me as a young, non-white (or "off-white") actor. I always played either the "ethnic other" or "the guy with an accent". He taught me by example that you can be funny and interesting without making yourself the joke. He transformed the art of silly into something more intellectually stimulating and dynamic. He has been one of my idols since I was a kid, and I'm less sad knowing that I still haven't seen everything he did that was recorded.

Les Blank

I'm done writing the year spans on these. It indicates finality I don't like with regard to the influence of people. That just like, my opinion, man.

What I love most about Les Blank's document-essay-aries is that they stand out so cleanly from the vast sea that is now the documentary field. Not just his subject matter, but his clean, hourlong-ish length of focus on those subjects leaves you with not too much, not too little to work with in your head. From the New York Times obit:

Mr. Blank trolled for subject matter on the American periphery, in cultural pockets where the tradition is long but the exposure limited. His films often have a geographic as well as cultural specificity, and food and music are often the featured elements. His musical subjects included norteño bands of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, Cajun fiddlers of Louisiana and polka enthusiasts from across the country.

He made anthropological movies. He made two of the best things ever made that have to do with Werner Herzog that were not actually made by Herzog: the short and sweet Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe and the classic Burden of Dreams, which follows the making of Fitzcarraldo, one of the most chaotic shoots this side of Apocalypse Now. There really haven't been many even remotely like him until now, and it isn't too likely there will be any hence.

Carmine Infantino: 1925-2013

Comics Alliance's EIC Joe Hughes has put together a really solid obit for the incomparable Carmine Infantino, whom we also lost yesterday.

His skills lead to the complete redesign and overhaul of The Flash, and, as a direct result, the revival of superhero comics. He co-created The Elongated Man, Deadman, and most prominently, Batgirl. To say that his stamp on DC Comics and comics as a whole is profound would be a massive understatement.

Here's one among many memorable pieces of Infantino art that made the rounds on Twitter yesterday:

Jesús "Jess" Franco: 1930-2013

Glenn Kenny eulogizes Jess Franco better than I ever could.

I can't pretend to have been a huge fan of most of Franco's work. I do, however, love his Count Dracula starring Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, and Klaus Kinski. Just that trio makes it a must-see.

I'm glad to have met him and his muse Lina Romay when they were in Austin for Fantastic Fest in 2010. They were wonderful company. At the time, they expressed a great fondness for the TV show Monk, starring Tony Shalhoub.