Yestergaze

[ladybegood]

Clara Bow by Eugene Robert Richee, 1928

[yestergaze]

Brenda Fricker was born on February 17, 1945, and had a career on the stage and in films for six decades. She was the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award. She won the Best Supporting Actress Award for her performance in My Left Foot (1989). She is remembered by many for her role in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Other film appearances include Angels in the Outfield (1994), A Time to Kill (1996), Veronica Guerin (2003), Inside I'm Dancing (2004), Albert Nobbs (2011) and the charming, but little-known Cloudburst (2011) in which she costarred with Olympia Dukakis. Fricker died in Dublin on July 16, 2026, at age 81.

[sparklejamesysparkle]

"𝐈'𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐈'𝐦 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐈 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞." In memory of New Zealand screen star Sam Neill who passed away on July 13th, 2026 surrounded by family at St Vincent’s Private Hospital in Sydney, Australia at the age of 78. Born Nigel John Dermot Neill on a kitchen table in Omagh, Northern Ireland on September 14th, 1947, moving to Christchurch, New Zealand with his family in 1954 where he changed his name to "Sam" due to his love of western movies, later saying "there were also already too many Nigels on the playground". An acclaimed and respected actor, Sam starred in almost one hundred films including My Brilliant Career (1979), Dead Calm (1989), Jurassic Park (1993), The Piano (1993), The Horse Whisperer (1998), Bicentennial Man (1999), Jurassic World III (2001), Thor Ragnarok (2017), Jurassic World Dominion (2022), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022). His television credits were also extensive and included The Tudors (2007), Peaky Binders (2013-2014), and voice acting roles in The Simpsons (1994) and Rick and Morty (2019). "I'm not in any way frightened of dying," he stated during an interview with the TV news show Australian Story in October 2023. "That doesn't worry me. It’s never worried me from the beginning. But I would be annoyed, because there are things I still want to do." May he rest in peace.🕊️

[sparklejamesysparkle]

Jack Lemmon in a candid photograph taken during production of the United Artists/Billy Wilder gender-bending crime comedy Some Like It Hot on Coronado Beach in Coronado, California, August 1958.

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

A young Vincent Price

[fadinggardentyphoon]

Director Orson Welles and Anthony Perkins during the filming 'The Trial' in 1962 Photo by Gianni Berengo Gardin.

[fadinggardentyphoon]

Elvis Presley with his band, including guitarist Scotty Moore (right) and pianist Floyd Cramer (left) at 1956 recording session.

[yestergaze]

Dinah Shore performing for the servicemen visiting the Hollywood Canteen in 1942. Her career began on radio in the 1930s and she went on to becoming the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s, establishing herself as one of the defining voices of the Big Band era with 80 charted hits and a recording contract with RCA Victor. She transitioned to television during the '50s and became a household name hosting top-rated TV variety programs, most notably The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956-1963) which made her famous for singing "See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet". Her career continued with 1970s talk shows, Dinah's Place (1970–1974), Dinah! (1974–1980) and a cable television talk show, A Conversation with Dinah, which ran from 1989 to 1992. She died in 1994 at the age of 77.

[yestergaze]

Sophia Loren and her second born son, Eduardo Ponti, photographed by Yousuf Karsh in 1981. Today, Eduardo is a film director and producer. His very first movie, Between Strangers (2002) featured his mother in a cast that included Mira Sorvino, Pete Postlethwaite and Malcolm McDowell. He would direct his mother again in The Life Ahead (2020), a film that won Loren, then age 85, several best actress honors, including the David di Donatello.  She was also nominated at the Satellite Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

[yestergaze]

Peter O'Toole at age 29 in 1962 petting a cat on his lap. This was the year he made his big breakthrough in movies playing the lead role in David Lean's epic film, Lawrence of Arabia. O'Toole was an animal lover and was especially fond of cats. It was noted his own pet cat, Sydney, refused to leave his side at the actor's wake in 2013. Philip Nolan, the only journalist allowed to attend the wake, wrote that the cat sat on O'Toole's chest all night as family and friends came to pay their respects.

[yestergaze]

Goodbye, Bonnie Tyler, and thank you for the music.

1951-2026

[citizenscreen]

Robert Redford photographed by Terry O'Neill for Vogue, July 1979

[yestergaze]

Liam Neeson and Helen Mirren met on the set of Excalibur (1981) and Neeson was immediately smitten with the actress. He later noted that he was left speechless when he saw her walking toward him in her full, striking costume. They were together for about 4 years till they went their separate ways, however, they remained close friends and still hold a deep mutual respect. Mirren has spoken warmly about their romance, once stating, "I will love Liam until the day I die," while Neeson has openly considered himself "lucky" to have spent those years with her. Neeson met Natasha Richardson eight years later while performing on Broadway in Anna Christie. They married in 1994 and remained married until Richardson's tragic and untimely death in 2009. Mirren married director Taylor Hackford on December 31, 1997, and they are still together today.

[yestergaze]

Vanessa Redgrave as Isadora Duncan in Isadora (1968) released in the United States in 1969 as The Loves of Isadora. The unbound, free-spirited, inspirational modern dancer was the embodiment of the 1960s and Redgrave, while not a dancer, makes you believe she is Duncan. It's a remarkable, electrifying, but ultimately tragic portrayal. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress but lost to Katharine Hepburn (Lion in the Winter) and Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl) who tied for the honor. Redgrave was awarded Best Actress at Cannes.

[yestergaze]

Jerry Lee Lewis was a pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music. He was nicknamed "The Killer" due to his wild stage presence and aggressive piano pounding. His 1950s recording of "A Whole Lot of Shaking' Going On" made him worldwide famous. In 1957, at age 22, he married his third wife, Myra Gale Brown, who was his 13-year-old first cousin once removed. His career faltered as a result and his popularity declined. The marriage lasted till 1970, and Brown would write a memoir about their union years later. Lewis went onto marry four more times. He put his put his career back on track with chart topping country tunes in the 1960s and 1970s but his life was turbulent to the end. He died in 2022 at the age of 87.

[yestergaze]

Mae West photographed by Terry O'Neill posing as a striped Statue of Liberty in a publicity still for Mike Sarne’s 1970 comedy Myra Breckinridge based on Gore Vidal's successful 1968 novel. West was 77 at the time and this was her first movie in 27 years, her last film being The Heat's On (1943). Myra Breckenridge was not a success critically or commercially. Critics felt West was highly entertaining and hilarious but out of place in the contemporary context of 1970s Hollywood. She would make one more film, the satirical comedy, Sextette (1978) which was adapted from a play she had written years earlier. This movie too was a failure. Mae West died two years later in 1980 at the age of 87.

[yestergaze]

Silent film star, and stunt man, Harold Lloyd poses with his wife, the actress, Mildred Davis, and their firstborn child in 1924. The Lloyds had two more children and were married for 46 years until Mildred's death in 1969. Lloyd died two years later at the age of 77.