Janet Mead was an Australian nun and singer known for singing “The Lord’s Prayer” (1973).
The song made Mead the first Roman Catholic nun to have a hit record in the United States since Jeanine Deckers (“The Singing Nun”), hit No. 1 with “Dominique” in late 1963.
Paddy Moloney was an Irish musician, best-known for his work with the The Chieftains.
He also arranged “Women of Ireland” for the film Barry Lyndon (1975).
Piera Degli Esposti was an Italian actress known for performances in films such as Il Divo (2008).
The film The Story of Piera (1983), directed by Marco Ferreri, was based on a book of hers, but she did not star in that film.
Frederic Rzewski was an American composer, best known for The People United Will Never Be Defeated! (1975).
That composition is a set of 36 variations on the Chilean song “¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!”.
Jörg Schröder was a German writer and publisher.
He founded countercultural publishing house März Verlag in 1969 and published books such as Sexfront (1970), instrumental to the sexual revolution in Germany.
Diana Rigg (1938 – 2020) was an English actress perhaps best-known for playing Emma Peel in the British TV series The Avengers (1965–1968).
Here, Emma Peel, the rather amusing final scene from the “Something Nasty in the Nursery” (1967) episode of The Avengers.
What do you see Madame Peel?
I see you and I on the scene.
Something lurking in the background?
Yes, I see you attacked by two large…
What?
Things.
I dispose of them?
I do dispose of them?
No. I do.
Simeon Coxe (1938 – 2020) was an American composer and musician known as a founding member of the electronic rock ensemble Silver Apples.
I guess I first stumbled upon Silver Apples when I bought the Underground Moderne cd by Nova Records. It had the track “Gypsy Love” on it, and I always skipped it. Silver Apples were undeniably of great influence, but none of their records would end up in my desert island selection.
Jiří Menzel (1938 – 2020) was a Czech director, actor and screenwriter.
He is best-known for the film Closely Watched Trains (1966).
And in France, Jean-Loup Dabadie died.
Dabadie wrote the lyrics to the song “But Now I know” (1973), which was released as “Maintenant je sais” (1974) in French.
Philippe Nahon was a French actor known for his roles in French horror and thriller films.
Nahon was has been described as the fetish actor of maverick director Gaspar Noé, playing a nameless butcher in no less than three films: Carne, I Stand Alone, and Irréversible (cameo).
Above is the gimmicky “30 seconds to leave this film” scene from I Stand Alone (1988).
The film is especially bleak.
Not surprisingly, because it focuses on several pivotal days in the life of a butcher faced with abandonment, isolation, rejection and unemployment.
There was a time when I relished these kind of films. I remember seeing a trailer for Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and absolutely wanting to see it.
The attraction for this fare has largely faded.
Nevertheless, watching scenes from I Stand Alone, one cannot help being immediately intrigued.