End Credits #99: Cinema's 2021 Lost Treasures Cicely Tyson, Cloris Leachman, Hal Holbrook, Michael Apted

These are some of Cinema's sad departures of 2021 taken from my personal notes soon after the events took place:

Cicely Tyson, the African American actress whose career began as a fashion model, and rose to fame for her portrayals of strong women, has died at age 96. After some off-Broadway theatrical appearances and small roles in various motion pictures and TV series, she made a most indelible impression as Portia in 1968’s The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Notable film roles that followed include Sounder (1972, for which she was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award), the TV movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974, a Primetime Emmy Award winner for Best Actress) Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Hoodlum (1997), The Help (2011) and the TV movie The Trip to Bountiful (2014). Cicely Tyson (December 19, 1924 - January 28, 2021) R.I.P.

Cloris Leachman, the Iowan born actress who passed away last month at age 94, made one of film noir’s most striking introductory appearances, not to mention motion picture debuts, as the ill-fated Christina Bailey in director Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly (1955). Other important film roles occurred in The Rack (1956), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), WUSA (1970), The Last Picture Show (1971, an unforgettable Academy Award winning performance), Dillinger (1973), Daisy Miller (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), High Anxiety (1977) and this last of three for director Mel Brooks, History of the World: Part 1 (1981). She will be remembered by most for her numerous TV roles, especially as Phyllis Lindstrom in The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970-1977) and in her own spin off series Phyllis (1975-1977). Cloris Leachman (April 30, 1926 - January 27, 2021) R.I.P.

Few actors who made so many remarkable motion picture and television appearances will be most heralded for their role on stage, but Hal Holbrook’s (who died last month at age 95) vivid characterisation of Mark Twain in his own one-man play creation (which he won a Tony award for Best Actor in 1966) and later adapted for television as Hal Holbrook: Mark Twain Tonight! (1967), is probably his most famous. It was a show that would continue to run, touring the country, for more than 60 years! His impressive list of film credits include The Group (1966, his motion picture debut), The Great White Hope (1970), Magnum Force (1973, as Lt. Briggs, Clint Eastwood’s boss and nemesis in the first “Dirty Harry” sequel), All the President’s Men (1976, as the secret informer “Deep Throat”), Midway (1976, as Comdr. Joseph Rochefort), Julia (1977), Capricorn One (1977), The Fog (1980, as Father Malone), Creepshow (1982), The Star Chamber (1983), Wall Street (1987), The Firm (1993), Men of Honor (2000), The Majestic (2001), Into the Wild (2007, an Academy Award Best Supporting Actor nomination recipient), That Evening Sun (2009) and Lincoln (2012, as Preston Blair). Highly regarded TV appearances include those in The Bold Ones: The Senator (1970 -1971), the miniseries Lincoln (1974 - 1976, as Abraham Lincoln and an Emmy Award recipient for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series), the miniseries The Awakening Land (1978), also as Abraham Lincoln in the miniseries North and South: Book 1 (1985) and North and South: Book 2 (1986), The West Wing (2001 - 2002, as Asst. Secretary of State Albie Duncan), a guest appearance on The Sopranos (2006, Season 6 - Episode 4 “The Fleshy Part of the Thigh”) and semi-recurring role as Nate Madock in Sons of Anarchy (2010 - 2014). Hal Holbrook (February 17, 1925 - January 23, 2021) R.I.P.

British born director Michael Apted has died at age 79. By far his highest artistic achievement was on the visionary “Up” series of documentaries for Granada Television. Apted would explore the lives of Britons, beginning at age 7, revisiting them every seven years. The first instalment was made as an edition of World in Action (1963). Michael Apted’s initial involvement was as a researcher whose job it was to select from the nation’s schools, 14 suitable subjects. The much lauded, incredibly insightful documentaries that Apted directed were as follows: 7 Plus Seven (1970), 21 Up (1977), 28 Up (1984), 35 Up (1991), 42 Up (1998), 49 Up (2005), 56 Up (2005) and 63 Up (2019, the director’s final work). In between, the talented director helmed The Triple Echo (1972, with Glenda Jackson and Oliver Reed), Stardust (1974), The Squeeze (1977, an underrated British thriller), Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980, helping to secure a Best Actress Academy Award for Sissy Spacek), Continental Divide (1981, with John Belushi), Gorky Park (1983, an intricate thriller with William Hurt and Lee Marvin), Firstborn (1984), the Sting music documentary Bring on the Night (1985), Gorillas in the Mist (1988, a Best Actress nomination for Sigourney Weaver), Class Action (1991), Thunderheart (1992) alongside the associated documentary Incident at Oglala (1992), Nell (1994, a Best Actress nomination for Jodie Foster), Extreme Measures (1996), the James Bond entry The World is Not Enough (1999, with Pierce Brosnan), Enigma (2001), Amazing Grace (2006) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010). His directorial prowess was also evident in various TV instalments he oversaw including 2 episodes of Ray Donovan (2013-2016) and 9 episodes of Masters of Sex (2013-2016). Michael Apted (February 10, 1941 - January 7, 2021) R.I.P.