Remembering River Phoenix on his 50th Birthday

by Camila Henriques

This Sunday marks what would have been River Phoenix’s 50th birthday. A talent taken away from us much too soon, he went from adorable teenage prodigy to Oscar nominated scene stealer to Volpi Cup winner in less than five years.  Seeing the work that other actors of his generation, who also started young, like Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale, have delivered from the mid 90s until now can be heartwrenching. They make it impossible not to wonder what could have been if that fatidic night in 1993 had not happened...

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Wilford Brimley (1934-2020)

by Nathaniel R

Wilford Brimley and 80s child star Barret Oliver in Cocoon (1985)

A beloved character actor passed away this weekend. Wilford Brimley was born and died in Utah, but he became a fixture in mainstream Hollywood for a couple of decades for his earthy appeal and facility with adorable curmudgeons. Though he'd been acting since the 1960s he didn't crossover into true fame until the mid 80s...

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Alan Parker (1944-2020)

by Nathaniel R

Alan Parker and Madonna on the set of "Evita"

We were remiss Friday in sharing the news that we've lost another fine talent. The director Alan Parker who brought us gangster comedies, oddball indies, multiple musicals, and prestige literary adaptations has died at 76 years of age of an undisclosed lengthy illness. His 14 films netted a combined 27 Oscar nominations and 6 wins, and he himself received two Best Director nominations (1978's Midnight Express and 1988's Mississippi Burning).

Parker burst onto the scene as a scrappy young British director with 1976's playful gangster musical spoof Bugsy Malone and its all kid cast (Scott Baio and Jodie Foster headlined)...

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Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020)

by Nathaniel R

We have long dreaded this day coming so it's with heavy hearts that we share that the iconic Olivia de Havilland has passed away. We have celebrated her several times here at The Film Experience, most notably in 2016 with a multi-film retrospective for her Centennial. Having been a true screen immortal for the past (gulp) 80 years, it was hard to picture this woman as an actual mortal. Pictures of her happily bicycling in Paris in her centenarian years were popular around the web but all things eventually end. The Oscar winner, who had just celebrated her 104th birthday on July 1st, died peacefully yesterday in her Parisian home...

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RIP Naya and Kelly and Nick

2020 continues to be a hellscape year. Apologies that we can't give these recently departed talents larger tributes. They will be missed for their contributions to the arts that we love so much here at TFE. 

• CNN As you've probably heard the very talented Naya Rivera ("Santana" on Glee) went missing days ago. Her body has now been found,  police learning that she saved her son just before drowning. She was just 33.
• Pinkvilla The Glee cast came together at Lake Piru as tribute (on the anniversary of another Glee star's death. This is when we lost Cory Monteith in 2013) 
• People Kelly Preston, John Travolta's wife, and an actress of numerous 80s and 90s movies, has also died. She passed away from breast cancer. 
• The Guardian pays tribute to Preston with a photogallery of her biggest movie roles
• NYT Grant Imahara, an engineer who worked on the Star Wars prequels and other Hollywood blockbusters and co-hosted "Mythbusters" has died from a brain aneuryism. He was just 49.
• NYT Ragaa el-Gedaway, Egyptian cinema star, has died from COVID-19
• ABC Tony-nominated Nick Cordero, who we just loved on stage -- for our money he even surpassed Chazz Palminterri's performance in Bullets Over Broadway when he played the Oscar-nominated role in the stage version -- has finally succumbed to COVID-19 after months of a torturous struggle.