Here's a DONRUSS AMERICANA II image of Regis Philbin from the 2008 set.

Mary Hartline died on Aug 12, age 92. She was an early star on TV, as the bandleader in 1952's "Super Circus". Later she hosted "Princess Mary's Magic Castle" in Chicago 1957.

Actor Ben Cross, who was a runner in "Chariots of Fire", has died, age 72. He also played Spock's father Sarek in the Star Trek reboot movies.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Mullins:
Actor Ben Cross, who was a runner in "Chariots of Fire", has died, age 72. He also played Spock's father Sarek in the Star Trek reboot movies.

Not just a runner, Ben Cross portrayed Harold Abrahams, in Chariots of Fire, the Great British winner of the 1924 Olympic 100 metres.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hammer,

Astronaut Gerald Carr has died, age 88. He was on the final Skylab mission.

As mentioned in the other thread, actor Chadwick Boseman has died at far too young of an age.

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53944780

Rest in peace, Joe Ruby, of the famed Ruby-Spears animation studio that began with Hanna-Barbera in the 1960's where Ruby co-created the iconic animated character (and popular non-sports card subject) Scooby-Doo. As HB faded with the 1970's, Ruby-Spears went out on their own and made numerous well-remembered (by me, anyway) 1980's animated series like Thundarr The Barbarian, Mr. T, Alvin & The Chipmunks, and Fangface.

In addition to Scoob and the gang, Ruby also co-created Dynomutt.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chesspieceface,

That is sad. My brothers and I watched a lot of Scooby-Doo in its early years and up the Scrappy-Doo years. My youngest brother was a big fan of Thundar the Barbarian. I'm a little surprised that hasn't been redone by now or at least parodied.

You could tell Blue Falcon didn't like it when Dynomutt called him, "B.F."

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-53944780

Rest in peace, Joe Ruby, of the famed Ruby-Spears animation studio that began with Hanna-Barbera in the 1960's where Ruby co-created the iconic animated character (and popular non-sports card subject) Scooby-Doo. As HB faded with the 1970's, Ruby-Spears went out on their own and made numerous well-remembered (by me, anyway) 1980's animated series like Thundarr The Barbarian, Mr. T, Alvin & The Chipmunks, and Fangface.

In addition to Scoob and the gang, Ruby also co-created Dynomutt.

Leslie Freas, who was Linda Hamilton's twin sister and doubled for her in Terminator 2, has died at age 63.

Wow, that's too bad. I love the Terminator movies.

RIP Diana Rigg. She must have been who Billy Idol was thinking of when he said "Everbody looks good in leather."

And the hits just keep on coming!

Really gutted with this one because taping Avengers' reruns at 3AM and watching them the next day was something I really enjoyed and remember well.

Rigg was a great actress, but I don't know if she appreciated how much of a trailblazer her Mrs. Peel character was at the time or if she thought it was beneath her talents? She didn't seem to embrace her early work so much and she should have. She got many. many fans from it, including me.

Rest in peace Mrs. Peel and Ms. Rigg. You will be missed.

I can see that Bill has posted two cards of Diana Rigg however despite that I thought I would share two autographs cards from the Avengers 50th set which are from my collection:-

Diana Rigg front and back
[IMG:left]

Honor Blackman front and Back
[/IMG]

regards

John

My, but those are some beautiful cards!

Rest in peace, Diana Rigg, a star to the end.

2020 has been a rough beast indeed.

Relayed from heaven: "Mrs Peel, We're Needed".

Nice cards John.

Of the many cards Honor Blackman signed I only have her Women of Bond auto, but is one my absolute favourite cards. Was very sad to hear when she passed away a few months back.

A real shame Diana Rigg never signed for Bond, that Avengers auto was a real coup for Unstoppable even of they had to go geurilla to get it!

I was lucky to have met them both in real life. Honor was the second celeb I ever met, and I met her again at what I think may have been her last convention appearance 6 years ago - she was always lovely with her fans. Whilst Rigg was a bit more reserved, it was nice to see her happily signing pics (and those Avengers cards) for fans after hearing for years how much she supposedly "hated" Bond and The Avengers.

quote:

Originally posted by X:
Whilst Rigg was a bit more reserved, it was nice to see her happily signing pics (and those Avengers cards) for fans after hearing for years how much she supposedly "hated" Bond and The Avengers.

I couldn't tell you if she hated The Avengers, but she sure didn't do them any favors.

The Avengers became an international smash when they got the prime time broadcast in the US for the first season with Steed and Mrs. Peel. The show had already been on with Honor Blackman, but it was not shown here. They were still a hit in Rigg's second and last season. Then she decided to quit on her own and they had to get Linda Thorson, who's Tara King had to be very different from Emma Peel. So was the show. It got way to campy with a ditzy King and the Mother character added and it was not renewed, until it turned up briefly years later as The New Avengers. All three original seasons did play here for years and years in reruns and Emma Peel was always the big draw.

I don't think Rigg left over money. The theory was that, as a serious theater actor, she didn't want to be typecast as Emma Peel. She did spend most of her career in TV productions and plays, a lot in supporting roles in TV films and TV shows in her later years. She only made 18 films and really stopped being a leading lady movie star by the mid '70s. Even when she did Bond, her interviews made it clear that she didn't consider herself to be a "Bond girl".

I think she loved her work, but fame must not have been especially important to her.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raven,

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
All three original seasons did play here for years and years in reruns and Emma Peel was always the big draw.

Small side note. The very first season of The Avengers didn't have a female lead character. Patrick MacNee was still there as John Steed but the other half of the team was played by Ian Hendry. He left unexpectedly at the end of the first series. The scripts for the second series had already been written with no time or funding for anything more than a partial rewrite when Honor Blackman was cast. This resulted in her getting to be a strong female character rather than the usual attractive female sidekick. The rest is history

Hi Chesspiece,

I recognized the Angel Heart card design as that of the movie poster set by Piemmeci Publishing of Italy. It's an oddball set in that there doesn't seem to be a checklist anywhere nor much information about it - an internet breaker of sorts. I'm familiar with the prototype cards for the set of which there are 15 different and of which I have successfully hunted only 5 in over 20 years.

I saw an old German blurb that said it's a 180 card set with 10 chase cards of some kind. I assume the cards came in packs and might have been released around 1994. Neither the base cards nor prototypes are dated. I've seen the company also released a Formula 1 and skiing set in the 90's. Do you have more information and perhaps a checklist for the set? If you do, please start a thread on it. I'm sure other movie card collectors would be interested.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by chesspieceface:
In tribute to character actor Wilford Brimley, for whom gruffness was a specialty:



And director Alan Parker, who made some terrific movies including one my favorites, the rain-drenched voodoo-themed 1987 noir horror thriller "Angel Heart". Boy, was I glad it was still daytime walking out of the theater after this was over!



Rest in peace, gentlemen.

quote:

Originally posted by X:
...I was lucky to have met them both in real life. Honor was the second celeb I ever met, and I met her again at what I think may have been her last convention appearance 6 years ago - she was always lovely with her fans. Whilst Rigg was a bit more reserved, it was nice to see her happily signing pics (and those Avengers cards) for fans after hearing for years how much she supposedly "hated" Bond and The Avengers.

I think you have to remember most UK actors do a film/TV/play and then move onto the next show. Perhaps some fans are reading 'hated' as just disinterest as her mind was on what she was currently doing.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
I don't think Rigg left over money....

There's a bit about that here:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ent...inment-arts-54115433