John Karlen was an American actor. Outside of the United States, he was primarily known for his lead in the Belgian film Daughters of Darkness (1971), a lesbian vampire exploitation chic vehicle.
Tag Archives: 1933
RIP Joe Shishido (1933 – 2020)
Joe Shishido was a Japanese actor known for his eccentric yakuza film roles and his artificially enlarged cheekbones. He also played in Japanese exploitation exercises such as Gate of Flesh (1964).
The clip above is a tribute to Joe Shishido, a montage of clips from A Colt Is My Passport (1967). It is, as is usual with this kind of endeavors, more interesting than the product it is based upon.
RIP Ivan Passer (1933 – 2020)
Ivan Passer was a Czech film director best known for his film Cutter’s Way (1981).
RIP Syd Mead (1933 – 2019)
Syd Mead was an American concept artist best known for his work on Blade Runner (1982), Tron (1982) and Aliens (1986).
His death comes only three months after the death of Luigi Colani (1928 – 2019) who was in a different but comparable branch of concept art.
Both Colani and Mead were obsessed with futuristic aerodynamics.
RIP Danny Aiello (1933 – 2019)
Danny Aiello was an American actor, often characterized as a character actor.
Aiello played in The Stuff (1985) by Larry Cohen. In that film he is Mr. Vickers, a man who works for the FDA and approved ‘the stuff’. He is later eaten by his dog who was being fed ‘the stuff’ too. They were both addicted to ‘the stuff’.
The Stuff is a typical Cohen film, at once critical of society and sensationalist.
It belongs to a small category of Hollywood films with an anti-consumerist message. Another important film in that category is They Live (1988).
Perhaps these are the two only films in that category.
RIP Jean-Pierre Mocky (1933 – 2019)
Jean-Pierre Mocky was a French film director, actor, screenwriter and producer who made over 40 films.
Trailer of Solo (1969) with a soundtrack by Georges Moustaki.