Christopher Lee (1922 - 2015)

Sir Christopher Lee
May 27, 1922 - June 7, 2015

Sir Christopher Lee passed away on Sunday, June 7, 2015 in a British hospital where he was being treated for respiratory problems and heart failure. He was 93.

He appeared in over 200 films as well as numerous television and video games, but will be best remembered for his frequent roles as a villain, including Count Dracula in numerous Hammer Horror films starting with Dracula (1958), Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), Dr. Victor Gannon (opposite Bette Davis) in Return From Witch Mountain (1978), Saramun in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, and Count Dooku in the Star Wars prequels.

He was nominated at the Cosmique Movie Awards twice for Best Villain, both times for his portrayal of Saruman the White, in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002).

He also shares in Best Ensemble wins for The Two Towers and for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), as well as in additional Cosmo ensemble nominations for The Fellowship of the Ring and for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012).

Lee had long studied the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, which he considered to be the greatest literary achievement of his lifetime, and was the only person involved in the films to have personally met Tolkien. Though he had coveted the role of Gandalf for decades, he was too old by the time Peter Jackson began to film the series, and the role went to Ian McKellen. The role of of Saruman did not require horseback riding or swordplay, though ironically in his career he’s believed to have filmed more sword-fighting scenes than any other actor in history.

I still think The Lord of the Rings is the greatest literary achievement in my lifetime. Like so many other people, I couldn’t wait for the second, and then the third book. Nothing like it had ever been written. Other authors like T. H. White and Lewis Carroll invented imaginary worlds, but Tolkien not only invented an imaginary world, he invented imaginary races, which you can easily believe in. And he created very long appendices with all the family trees and the names of the previous Kings and so-forth. It’s quite incredible, really, the scholarship and imagination that went into the writing of it. And what is even more remarkable is that Tolkien, who was a professor of philology, invented new languages.

-- Christopher Lee interviewed on Cinefantastique Online

Though his character Saruman did not appear in the book The Hobbit, Peter Jackson chose to include additional scenes with Saruman that were happening concurrently, as outlined in Tolkien’s appendices. Because Lee was then too old to weather the rigors of traveling to New Zealand, he filmed his scenes alone in London against a green screen.

All told, the 11 films in his Cosmo filmography* include:

• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
• Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
• The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
• Corpse Bride (2005)
• Robots (2005)
• Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
• Alice in Wonderland (2010)
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Additional favorite films include Airport ’77 (1977), Arabian Adventure (1979), Dark Shadows (2012), Dracula (1958) and its numerous sequels, The Golden Compass (2007), The Last Unicorn (1982), The Man With the Golden Gun (1974), Return From Witch Mountain (1978), The Three Musketeers (1973), and Lee’s personal favorite, The Wicker Man (1973).

* An actor’s Cosmo Filmography includes any film that has received one or more Cosmo nominations, even if it wasn't for the actor’s performance.

In Memoriam: Mike Nichols (1931-2014)

Mike Nichols
November 6, 1931 - November 19, 2014

Legendary director Mike Nichols died yesterday of cardiac arrest, according to USA Today. He was 83.

The director was a rare EGOT winner, winning an Oscar, a Grammy, four Emmys, and nine Tonys, as well as a Golden Globe.

His Oscar and Golden Globe were for The Graduate (1964), but he also received nominations for both for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1967), Silkwood (1984), and Working Girl (1989), plus another Oscar nomination for The Remains of the Day (1993) and another Golden Globe nomination for Closer (2004).

He received his sole Cosmique Movie Awards nomination for Closer in 2004, losing to Martin Scorsese for The Aviator. Closer won one of its eight nominations. Silkwood also received a Cosmo nod for Cher, and Virginia Woolf received three, but none were for Nichols.

He won both Director and Producer Emmy Awards for Wit (2001) and Angels in America (2004). His Tony awards were for Barefoot in the Park (1964), The Odd Couple (1965), Plaza Suite (1968), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1972), Annie (1977), The Real Thing (1984, for which he won two), Spamalot (2005), and Death of a Salesman (2012).

He was born Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin, Germany in 1931 to parents of Russian Jewish descent. He and his brother were sent to the United States in 1938 to join their father, who had fled the Nazis a few months earlier. Their mother was able to join them in 1940.

At the time of his death, he was married to television anchor Diane Sawyer, his fourth wife, whom he married in 1988.

Elaine Stritch (1925 - 2014)

Elaine Stritch

1925 - 2014

Shirley Temple Black (1928 - 2014)

Shirley Temple Black
April 23, 1928 - February 10, 2014

Shirley Temple Black, Depression-era child star turned statesperson, died yesterday at the age of 85 in her Bay Area home of Woodside, according to the New York Times and others.

Her extensive body of films in the 1930s made her an international star, and she remains to this day the most successful child actor of all time. She retired from acting at the age of 22.

In the 1950s, following her marriage to Charles Alden Black, she entered politics and became a prominent fundraiser for Republicans. President Richard Nixon appointed her to be a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly in 1969. She then served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana from 1974 to 1976, was President Gerald Ford's chief of protocol from 1976 to 1977, and then served as Ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1989 during the fall of communism.

Philip Seymour Hoffman found dead

Philip Seymour Hoffman
July 23, 1967 - February 2, 2014

The Washington Post broke the news that actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment.

The actor received a Best Actor Oscar and Cosmo in 2006 for his titular performance in Capote, and shared in the Best Ensemble Cosmo nomination for Cold Mountain. 

Early reports suggest he may have overdosed on heroin, for which he recently completed a stint in rehab.

In Memoriam 2013

In 2013, many giants in Hollywood were lost, including Roger Ebert, perhaps the most famous movie critic of all time, and eight-time Oscar nominee (and recent Cosmo Hall of Famer) Peter O'Toole.

Here is the Cosmique Movie Awards' tribute to some of those lost to us in 2013.



In Memoriam 2013 from Kevin Goebel on Vimeo.


Rest in peace: Conrad Bain; Robin Sachs; John Kerr; Richard Briers; Mindy McCready; Lou Myers; Dale Robertson; Bonnie Franklin; Frank Thornton; Henry Bromell; Harry Reems; Richard Griffiths; Milo O'Shea; Jean Sincere; Roger Ebert; Annette Funicello; Jonathan Winters; Allan Arbus; Deanna Durbin; Ray Harryhausen; Jeanne Cooper; Steve Forrest; Arthur Malet; Jean Stapleton; Maxine Stuart; Esther Williams; James Gandolfini; Gary David Goldberg; Richard Matheson; Jim Kelly; Joe Conley; Cory Monteith; Dennis Burkley; Mel Smith; Dennis Farina; Eileen Brennan; Suzanne Krull; Michael Ansara; Karen Black; Eydie Gorme; Lisa Robin Kelly; Gia Allemand; August Schellenberg; Lee Thompson Young; Elmore Leonard; Julie Harris; Tommy Morrison; Patricia Blair; Richard C. Sarafian; Marta Heflin; Tom Clancy; Kumar Pallana; Ed Lauter; Nigel Davenport; Hal Needham; Marcia Wallace; Lou Reed; Al Ruscio; Sheila Allen; Doris Lessing; Diane Disney Miller; Jane Kean; Paul Walker; Eleanor Parker; Tom Laughlin; Daniel R. Escobar; Peter O'Toole; Joan Fontaine; Wojciech Kilar; James Avery

Peter O'Toole (1932 - 2013)

We're so sad to report that celebrated actor Peter O'Toole has passed away according to his agent. He was 81.

O'Toole received 8 Oscar nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the most-nominated actor to never win. In 2003, the Academy honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Oscar. He initially declined, stating that he was still young enough to win a competitive Oscar, but he relented when the Academy insisted they would award it to him whether he was there or not.

He is much loved by Cosmo voters. At the first Cosmos, he was nominated for Best Individual Performance by an Actor for his performance in The Lion in Winter. He was nominated for the Best Actor of All Time Hall of Fame at the 2004 and 2010 awards before being inducted at the 2012 awards. He also shares in the Sexiest Ensemble win for Troy at the 2004 awards.

In addition to Troy, which won three of its nine nomination, O'Toole appeared in several other Cosmo-nominated movies. Lawrence of Arabia, which made him a star and earned for him his first Oscar nomination, was nominated for Movie With the Best Background Scenery at the first Cosmos and a Best Film of All Time Hall of Fame nomination at the 2012 awards. And in addition to his Best Individual Performance of All Time nomination for The Lion in Winter, the film has also received eight other nominations over the years, including three nominations for the Best Films of All Time Hall of Fame.

Paul Walker (1973-2013)

We're so sad to hear that actor Paul Walker died in a car accident yesterday. He was 40 years old.

Walker, who has worked steadily in Hollywood since he was a young teenager, is probably best known to audiences for the Fast & Furious franchise, the sixth of which was released this year and a seventh is in production. Other 2013 films include Pawn Shop, Vehicle 19, and the upcoming Hours, which is scheduled for limited release in December.

At the second Cosmo Awards, his film Joy Ride was nominated for Best Mystery, Suspense, Horror, or Thriller Film of 2001. If categories like Sexiest Ensemble, Intimate Actor, or (Gratuitous?) Nudity existed then, it surely would have received more nominations.

Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones.

In Memoriam

Gone but not forgotten: celebrities from Hollywood and elsewhere who left us this year.