Upon the death of Roy Scheider

Well, another good one bites the dust...
Roy Scheider, a leading figure in the American film renaissance of the 1970s, died on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was 75 and lived in Sag Harbor, N.Y.

Scheider was probably best-known for his roles in “Jaws” (1975, director: Steven Spielberg) and “Jaws 2” (1978, director: Jeannot Swarc).

He also worked with William Friedkin in “French Connection” (1971) and “Sorcerer” (1977), which was a big-budget remake of the superb French thriller “The Wages of Fear” (1953, director: Henri-Georges Clouzot), not forgetting his contributions to such remarkable films as “Marathon Man” (1976, director: John Schlesinger), “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” (1985, director: Paul Schrader), “2010” (1984, director: Peter Hyams) and “Romeo is Bleeding” (1994, director: Peter Medak) as well as his appearances in other film and stage productions too numerous to mention.

He was offered a leading role in “The Deer Hunter” (1979), but had to turn it down, having to fulfil his contract with Universal for the “Jaws” sequel (so Robert De Niro ended up playing that role...) Well, not to detract from De Niro's remarkable performance, but we can only speculate what difference Scheider's playing might have brought to that movie.

He also played the sinister, sarcastic Dr. Benway in David Cronenberg’s adaptation of William S. Burroughs’s “Naked Lunch” (1991), one of the more memorable performances of his later career years.

For more, check the following links:
Roy Scheider Obituary · NYTimes · 11th Feb 2008

Roy Scheider Biography · NYTimes · All Movie Guide

Upon the death of Liana Burgess

Liana Burgess (born Liliana Macellari), the wife and literary agent of the novelist Anthony Burgess, died on 3rd December 2007.

She translated works of Anthony Burgess, Lawrence Durrell, Thomas Pynchon, and James Joyce amongst others, into Italian.

The creation of the Anthony Burgess Centre at the University of Angers (Link: ABC · Home) and the International Anthony Burgess Foundation (IABF) in Manchester (Link: IABF · Home) is the result of her committedness in championing the work of her husband.

Her obituary can be found under:
Liana Burgess · Telegraph.Co.UK.

See also: Symposium · speech by Liana Burgess for the transcript of a speech for the Anthony Burgess Symposium held in 2001.

Anthony Burgess (1917 - 1993), something of a writer's writer, was a polymath also involved in journalism, musical composition, teaching, linguistic studies, Joyce and Shakespeare scholarship, broadcasting, and numerous activities more.

A reassessment of Anthony Burgess can be found under:
Edward Champion on Anthony Burgess · The Guardian · 5th Feb 2008.

More links:
Wikipedia · German and
Wikipedia · English.