25 Movie Talents We Lost in 2016

Source: LucasFilm

Dear god, what a year. Not only did we suffer through Brexit, a Mexican-hating Oompa Loompa becoming the new POTUS and terrorism attacks taking place left, right and centre we also lost a sh*t-tonne of big film industry names too.

Who can say what the world of celebrity did to piss off the Grim Reaper in 2016, but the scythe-wielding bringer of death went into overdrive last year snatching some of our most beloved actors, directors and behind-the-scenes talents away. Sure, we have their work remaining, but we've been robbed of the opportunity to see more of their genius in most cases.

So in tribute to all those that have departed their mortal coil and gone to that big movie lot in the sky, we bring to you a round-up of film talents we lost in 2016 – a WhatCulture eulogy, if you will.

25. Vilmos Zsigmond

Kicking off the saddest year in recent memory, celebrated Hungarian-American cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond died on New Year’s Day last year.

Widely regarded as one of the most influential cinematographers in film history, Zsigmond first rose to prominence in the early 1970s while working on Robert Altman’s revisionist western McCabe & Mrs. Miller, backwoods thriller Deliverance and again with Altman on the psychological thriller Images, which helped scoop him a BAFTA nomination for Best Cinematography.

He won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography for Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi Close Encounters of the Third Kind and eventually won a BAFTA for his work on Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter.

Zsigmond’s other notable films include comedy The Witches of Eastwick and neo-noir crime thriller The Black Dahlia and in 2014 he was recognised with a Lifetime Achievement Award at Cannes Film Festival.

24. Erik Bauersfeld

American voice actor Erik Bauersfeld may have only made a few film appearances during his life but considering a good number of those were films in the Star Wars franchise, we’d say that’s a pretty notable achievement.

In Return of the Jedi, he voiced both the role of Jabba the Hutt’s sidekick Bib Fortuna and Admiral Ackbar, reprising the latter role in 2015 in the first instalment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy The Force Awakens.

Beyond Star Wars, Bauersfeld also lent his vocal talents to Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi drama A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Guillermo del Toro’s gothic fantasy horror Crimson Peak.

23. Garry Marshall

The multi-talented Garry Marshall wore many hats in the film industry but not before crafting a successful television career that included creating the classic 1970s sitcom Happy Days and its spinoffs, Laverne & Shirley and Mork & Mindy.

He started directing films in the early 1980s, scoring hits with the Matt Dillon fronted comedy The Flamingo Kid and Bette Midler fronted tear-jerker Beaches and directed Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in the rom-coms Pretty Woman and The Runaway Bride.

As an actor, Marshall appeared in small roles in Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Hocus Pocus and lent his vocal talents to the role of Buck Cluck in the 2005 Disney animation Chicken Little.

22. Garry Shandling

Comedian, sitcom writer and actor Garry Shandling is probably better known for his television career during which he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, on his own talk show parody The Larry Sanders Show and as a frequent host of the Primetime Emmy Awards.

Let’s not forget his film career either, though: he appeared in comedies including Dr Dolittle and Zoolander, voiced the character of Verne in DreamWorks’ 2006 animation Over the Hedge and scored a bit part in the Sacha Baron Cohen penned black comedy The Dictator.

Recently he played the smarmy Senator Stern in Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier and made his final film appearance as the voice of Ikki the porcupine in Jon Favreau’s new take on The Jungle Book.

21. Guy Hamilton

British film director Guy Hamilton kick-started his career back in the 1950s, directing the big screen adaptation of J.B. Priestley’s murder mystery An Inspector Calls, wartime drama The Colditz Story and the BAFTA nominated comedy A Touch of Larceny.

He stirred up quite a bit of controversy with The Party’s Over – a beatnik film with wild parties, sex, drugs and implied necrophilia that was so heavily censored that Hamilton demanded his name be removed from the film – but is best known for directing four James Bond movies.

After directing one of the franchise’s most critically acclaimed additions, Goldfinger, in 1964 Hamilton took a break from Bond but returned in the 1970s to direct Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun.

20. Abe Vigoda

Brooklyn-born actor Abe Vigoda started his career on Broadway before moving into film and scoring his most famous role as Vito Corleone’s caporegime Salvatore Tessio in Francis Ford Coppola’s mafia saga The Godfather.

He had a prolific television career appearing on old-school classics like Hawaii Five-O and The Littlest Hobo and scoring a regular role on NYPD sitcom Barney Miller, and also acted in comedy films including Look Who’s Talking and Joe Versus the Volcano.

Curiously, since the early 1980s there have been several erroneous reports and hoaxes of his death, something Vigoda took in his stride and adopted as something of a running gag. Sadly, this time it isn’t a hoax.

19. Zsa Zsa Gabor

Hungarian-American actress and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor passed away last December at the grand age of ninety-nine.

Although perhaps better known for her lavish lifestyle and many husbands, including hotel magnate and Paris Hilton’s great-grandfather Conrad Hilton and Oscar-winning British actor George Sanders, she also carved quite the movie career too.

In 1952, she starred in John Huston’s Oscar-winning Moulin Rouge as can-can dancer Jane Avril and in briefly in Orson Welles’ acclaimed film noir Touch of Evil in 1958.

Her later career included films as diverse as comedy whodunit Every Girl Should Have One and horror A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and, always willing to send herself up, she often appeared in self-parodying cameo roles as in the Leslie Nielsen comedy sequel The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear.

18. Robert Stigwood

Australian-born impresario Robert Stigwood might be better known for his career in the British music industry managing bands like Cream and the Bee Gees, but after moving into film in the early 1970s he worked as producer on a number of classic movies.

Musical movies were his forte: starting with Jesus Christ Superstar in 1973 he went on to work on films including Tommy, Bugsy Malone, Saturday Night Fever and Grease, while his most recent producer role was in the award-winning, Madonna-fronted Evita in 1996.

Under his record label RSO Records, Stigwood also released the soundtracks of both Grease and Saturday Night Fever alongside other movie soundtracks including The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Fame.

17. Tony Burton

Tony Burton started out as a professional boxer in the late 1950s, an experience that naturally made him a perfect choice for his best-known role as Tony ‘Duke’ Evers in the Rocky movies.

In fact, alongside Sylvester Stallone, Burton is the only actor to have appeared in all six instalments of the franchise. He also appeared in John Carpenter’s action thriller Assault on Precinct 13, Stanley Kubrick’s classic horror The Shining, in an uncredited role in the Sydney Poitier directed comedy Stir Crazy and as pirate Bill Jukes in Steven Spielberg’s 1991 fantasy adventure flick Hook.

16. Michael Cimino

American director Michael Cimino actually started out working as an advertising executive on New York City’s Madison Avenue before moving into the film industry and making his directorial debut with comedy crime drama Thunderbolt and Lightfoot starring Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges.

Next came the most acclaimed film of Cimino’s career, Vietnam War drama The Deer Hunter, which went on to win a total of five Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and a Best Supporting Actor nod for star Christopher Walken.

From there it was mostly downhill for the polarizing director with box office flops like Heaven’s Gate and The Sicilian, though he did find some fans with his 1985 neo-noir action flick Year of the Dragon and a recent re-release of a director’s cut of Heaven’s Gate has seen it reassessed and subsequently praised.

15. David Huddleston

Character actor David Huddleston rose to prominence during the 1970s and 1980s in co-starring roles in films like Mel Brooks’ comedy Blazing Saddles, moon landing conspiracy thriller Capricorn One and the Burt Reynolds fronted action-comedy sequel Smokey and the Bandit II.

A prolific television actor too, Huddleston has appeared in shows including The Wonder Years, Star Trek: The Next Generation and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and played the titular role in the Coen Brothers 1998 cult comedy film The Big Lebowski.

If you’re an ‘80s kid though, you’ll probably remember him best playing Santa Claus himself in the classic Christmas film Santa Claus: The Movie alongside the late Dudley Moore.

14. Kenny Baker

British actor Kenny Baker’s best known role was as Star Wars droid R2-D2 who he played in both the first three original films and the later prequel series.

He also played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi and most recently was credited as an ‘R2-D2 consultant’ in the first instalment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens.

There was life beyond Star Wars for Baker too, though. He appeared in award-winning films like Milos Forman’s Amadeus and David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, alongside fellow victim of 2016 David Bowie in Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, the fantasy flicks Time Bandits and Willow and in cult, camp superhero movie Flash Gordon.

13. Tony Dyson

In strange twist of fate, British robotics expert and special effects designer Tony Dyson – the man who built and brought the iconic R2-D2 to life – died this year too.

Dyson also worked on movies including Superman II, James Bond flick Moonraker and the Kirk Douglas fronted sci-fi Saturn 3.

Beyond R2-D2, some of Dyson’s other most notable contributions to film include working on the robotics behind the villainous dragon Vermithrax in the 1981 Disney fantasy film Dragonslayer, hailed by director Guillermo del Toro as one of his favourite Disney dragons, and crafted 35 feet of latex human intestines for a dream sequence in Ken Russell’s trippy 1980 sci-fi horror Altered States.

12. Bill Nunn

Actor Bill Nunn got his big break in Spike Lee’s critically acclaimed sophomore film School Daze in 1988 – a successful collaboration they repeated a year later in Lee’s Academy Award nominated third film, Do the Right Thing.

During the 1990s Nunn had parts in films including comedy Sister Act, Michael Moore’s only non-documentary film Canadian Bacon and neo-noir thriller Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead.

More recently he appeared as Daily Bugle editor and Peter Parker cheerleader Joseph ‘Robbie’ Robertson in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man reboot and in the Depression-era set hip hop musical Idlewild alongside Outkast members Andre 3000 and Big Boi.

11. Alan Rickman

Beloved RADA trained British actor Alan Rickman began his acting career on the stage and didn’t actually make his first major film appearance until his early forties when he played Hans Gruber in the classic 1988 action flick Die Hard, a performance that earned him a spot on the American Film Institute’s 100 Best Villains list.

A talented voice actor too whose velvet tones were described by Helen Mirren as able to ‘suggest honey or a hidden stiletto blade’, he lent his vocals to films including The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and 2010’s Alice in Wonderland but is perhaps best known for his performance as Hogwarts professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter film series.

His last two films, wartime political thriller Eye in the Sky and Alice Through the Looking Glass, were released posthumously in 2016.

10. Alexis Arquette

Actress and cabaret performer Alexis Arquette was born into a talented family that includes comedian father Cliff Arquette and fellow actor siblings Rosanna, Patricia and David.

She made her first major screen appearance as a trans sex worker in Uli Edel’s 1989 film Last Exit to Brooklyn and later got a bit part in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and played a Boy George impersonator in rom-com The Wedding Singer.

An outspoken activist for transgender rights, Arquette transitioned herself in the mid-noughties – a process captured in the acclaimed 2007 documentary Alexis Arquette: She’s My Brother.

9. Patty Duke

Patty Duke got her big screen debut at the tender age of twelve in the 1958 musical Country Music Holiday and the Academy Award nominated drama The Goddess, in which she played a younger version of a characters loosely based on Marilyn Monroe.

At just sixteen years old, Duke scooped an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Helen Keller in stage play adaptation The Miracle Worker, becoming the then youngest person to ever receive the award.

She later starred as Neely O’Hara in the 1967 camp cult classic Valley of the Dolls and after being diagnosed with manic depression in the early 1980s, Duke became an ardent mental health activist while continuing a prolific television career.

8. Abbas Kiarostami

Undoubtedly one of the most acclaimed Iranian film directors of all time, the late auteur Abbas Kiarostami’s movies achieved recognition worldwide.

After directing several short films during Iranian cinema’s New Wave, Kiarostami started to garner acclaim outside his homeland in the late 1980s with Where Is the Friends Home?, one of three films alongside And Life Goes On and Through the Olive Trees that make up his acclaimed ‘Koker trilogy’.

His 1990 pseudo-documentary Close-Up was listed amongst the British Film Institute’s 50 Greatest Films of All Time and found fans in fellow directors Quentin Tarantino and Werner Herzog, while his 1997 minimalist drama Taste of Cherry was awarded a Palme d’Or.

His last two films, Certified Copy and Like Someone In Love, were the only of Kiarostami’s to be filmed outside his native Iran and too achieved widespread critical acclaim.

7. Doris Roberts

Although she’s probably best known for her role as overbearing Italian-American matriarch Marie Barone in the long-running sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Doris Roberts also enjoyed a long and fruitful career in the movie industry too.

During the 1960s and 1970s, she performed in a number of movies that have since achieved cult film status including No Way to Treat a Lady, The Honeymoon Killers and Little Murders and in the BAFTA nominated thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and Academy Award nominated Janis Joplin inspired drama The Rose.

From the late 1980s onwards, Roberts stuck mainly to comedy appearing in films like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, kid’s sci-fi comedy Aliens in the Attic and Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection.

6. Andrzej Wajda

Co-founder of the Polish Film School movement and director Andrzej Wajda is best known for his ‘War trilogy’ – a trio of films that includes his 1955 directorial debut A Generation, Kanal and the critically adored Ashes and Diamonds, a film hailed as one of the great masterpieces of Polish realist cinema.

His 1981 film Man of Iron not only won the Palme d’Or but was also one of four of his films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film alongside The Promised Land, The Maid of Wilko and Katyn.

Though he failed to scoop those awards, Wajda was recognised with an Academy Honorary Award for his contributions to filmmaking in 1999. His latest and last film Afterimage, a biopic about Polish avant-garde painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year to critical acclaim.

5. Anton Yelchin

Born in Russia to professional figure skater parents, Anton Yelchin emigrated to the States as a baby and though he didn’t inherit his rents’ ice staking talents he certainly got bitten by the acting bug and began his film career at just the tender age of nine.

His first big break came in a starring role in the Stephen King adaptation Hearts In Atlantis alongside Anthony Hopkins, which scooped him a Leading Young Actor Award at the 2002 Young Artist Awards. More recently Yelchin took on the role of Pavel Chekov in J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot series, starred in comedy horror remake Fright Night and played a punk band bassist battling against murderous neo-Nazis led by Patrick Stewart in acclaimed indie horror Green Room.

Next year, Yelchin will posthumously star in four films including Brazilian-born director Gabe Klinger’s Porto and drama-thriller Thoroughbred.

4. Gene Wilder

Undoubtedly one of the American film industry’s best and most beloved comic actors, the late great Gene Wilder made countless moviegoers laugh over his decades-long career, from his Oscar nominated role in Mel Brooks’ The Producers and in classic comedy Blazing Saddles to Woody Allen’s 1972 sex comedy Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) and 1974’s Young Frankenstein – one of the funniest movies ever according to the American Film Institute.

The role for which he is probably best remembered, however, and the role that captured the hearts of a generation of kids was as twinkly-eyed, eccentric confectionary magnate in Mel Stuart’s Roald Dahl adaptation, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 1971.

3. David Bowie

Also known by his personas Ziggy Stardust, Major Tom and the Thin White Duke, legendary icon David Bowie passed away in January after secretly battling cancer for eighteen months. Although best known for his acclaimed, eclectic and boundary-pushing musical career, Bowie had a prolific film career too appearing in over thirty films.

In 1976 he scooped a Saturn Award for Best Actor for his performance in Nicolas Roeg’s sci-fi drama The Man Who Fell to Earth, later playing a centuries-old bloodsucker in sexy vampire flick The Hunger and Jareth the Goblin King in Jim Henson’s cult fantasy Labyrinth.

He also made cameo appearances as himself in films like Zoolander and Bandslam and played other real-life people as diverse as Pontius Pilate, Nikola Tesla and Andy Warhol. RIP Bowie, you’ll be missed.

2. Carrie Fisher

2016 was not a good year for Star Wars talents. After losing both R2-D2 actor Kenny Baker, R2-D2 builder Tony Dyson and Admiral Ackbar voice actor Erik Bauersfeld, the franchise suffered the loss of one of its major stars Carrie Fisher in late December.

Born to famous parents, singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds, Fisher made her debut in Robert Towne’s satirical 1975 comedy Shampoo before international fame beckoned with her most iconic role as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy.

She had a knack for elevating films with merely a cameo role, playing a vengeful ex-fiancée in The Blues Brothers and a therapist in Austin Power: International Man of Mystery. She turned her hand to behind-the-scenes roles too, writing the screenplay for Postcards from the Edge – a critically acclaimed film adapted from her own semi-autobiographical novel by director Mike Nichols.

Most recently, Fisher reprised her role as Princess Leia in the first film of the new Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens, and will star posthumously in its next instalment Episode VIII later this year.

1. Debbie Reynolds

Actress and singer Debbie Reynolds first turned heads with her role as vaudeville singer Helen Kane in Three Little Words for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, but her breakout performance came in 1952 when she starred with Gene Kelly in the classic musical Singin’ in the Rain.

In the 1960s, she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance as the titular American socialite, philanthropist and Titanic survivor in musical biopic The Unsinkable Molly Brown and later voiced the eponymous spider in the movie adaptation of E.B. White’s classic children’s novel Charlotte’s Web.

In a sad turn of events, Reynolds died last year just one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher. According to her filmmaker son Todd Fisher, her last words were ‘I want to be with Carrie’.

Is somebody peeling onions in here?