The Last Doughboy.

“I was just 16 and didn’t look a day older. I confess to you that I lied to more than one recruiter. I gave them my solemn word that I was 18, but I’d left my birth certificate back home in the family Bible. They’d take one look at me and laugh and tell me to go home before my mother noticed I was gone. Somehow I got the idea that telling an even bigger whopper was the way to go. So I told the next recruiter that I was 21 and darned if he didn’t sign me up on the spot! I enlisted in the Army on 14 August 1917.“

Frank Buckles, the last living American veteran of World War I, 1901-2011. “‘I knew there’d be only one some day,’ he said a few years back. ‘I didn’t think it would be me.’“

A Last Round for the Brigadier.

“[M]y first Doctor was Jon Pertwee and with him came a supporting cast that remains one of the best ever…[A]t the very heart of that grouping was Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. A man to whom no alien incursion was a problem – he was a calm, pragmatic, military man…in many ways he was the perfect foil to the Doctor. Watson to his Holmes, Jim Gordon to his Batman.“

Nicholas Courtney, a.k.a. Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart of Pertwee and Baker era Doctor Who, 1929-2011.

The Challenge Remains.

“We’ve grown used to wonders in this century. It’s hard to dazzle us. But for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that. We’ve grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we’ve only just begun. We’re still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.“

25 years after a dark day in January, the Challenger is remembered. [Pictures.]
Update: As Dangerous Meta reminds me, yesterday was the 44th Anniversary of the Apollo 1 tragedy, and Tuesday will be the 8th anniversary of Columbia’s fall. This is just a terrible week for slipping the surly bonds and getting off-world.

Susannah and Sargent.

“‘I always felt that I was a character actor,’ York told the Scotsman newspaper in 2008. ‘It bothered me that people would think of me as blonde and blue-eyed and that was it.’” Actress (and mother of Superman) Susannah York, 1939-2011.

“Nearly everybody in their life needs someone to help them. I don’t care whether you’re the greatest self-made man; the fact is, someone has helped you along the way.” Politician and Peace Corps founder Sargent Shriver, 1915-2011.

For Pete’s Sake.

“At the end of the day, acting is all about telling lies. We are professional imposters and the audience accept that. We’ve made this deal that we tell you a tale and a pack of lies, but there will be a truth in it. You may enjoy it, or it will disturb you.” Character actor and late-career climate change activist Pete Postlethwaite, 1946-2011.

The Clown and the Ringmaster.

“‘I am serious,’ Nielsen replies. ‘And don’t call me Shirley.’ The line was probably his most famous — and a perfect distillation of his career.” First dramatic, then comic actor Leslie Nielsen, 1926-2010. (See also Matt Zoller Seitz’s appreciation.)

“I’d say he was probably the most successful versatile director in Hollywood. He could do just about anything really well, from science fiction to cult thrillers to domestic dramas to westerns to romantic comedies.” To, of course, Star Wars films. Director Irvin Kershner, 1923-2010. (The great Kershner pic above via Quint at AICN.)

Countess Dracula Sleeps.

The bats have left the bell tower. The victims have been bled, red velvet lines the black box. Actress (The Wicker Man, Doctor Who), blogger, Den of Geek columnist, and seminal Hammer horror siren Ingrid Pitt is dead, 1937-2010. “She was partly responsible for ushering in a bold and brazen era of sexually explicitly horror films in the 1970s, but that should not denigrate her abilities…All fans of Hammer and of British horror are going to miss her terribly.“

Sweet Smell of Success.

“‘I’m telling you, I’m lucky to be me,’ the former Bernie Schwartz told a Buffalo News reporter in 1993. ‘When I was a kid, I wanted to be Tony Curtis, and that’s exactly who I am.’” Tony Curtis, 1925-2010. “‘I feel that he’s the great farceur of his generation,’ said former Times movie reviewer Kevin Thomas in 2007…’what I came to respect so profoundly was that Tony always gave his absolute, total best.‘”

The Editor, the Director, & the Survivor.

A sad trifecta of passings in Hollywood over the past few days:

“She had the ability to see the point of a scene and to see the bigger picture simultaneously…I learned a lot from Sally. She just loved editing and loved working with Quentin. They had a truly unique relationship.” Sally Menke, long-time editor to Quentin Tarantino, 1953-2010.

“I think he’s up there with Sidney Lumet and several others who really understand acting and know how to get the best out of a performer,” he said. “And I think he, as opposed to a lot of directors who have theatrical origins, had a real cinematic sense. There’s nothing stagy about ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ or ‘Little Big Man.’” Arthur Penn, veteran director, 1922-2010.

“[M]ostly she played what Stuart later dismissed as ‘stupid parts with nothing to do’ — ‘girl reporter, girl detective, girl nurse’ — and ‘it became increasingly evident to me I wasn’t going to get to be a big star like Katharine Hepburn and Loretta Young…[But in 1997] ‘I knew the role I had wanted and waited for all these many years had arrived! I could taste the role of Old Rose!‘” Gloria Stuart, ingenue-turned-Rose,1910-2010.

He tried to warn us.

“In my practice, I’ve seen how people have allowed their humanity to drain away. Only it happened slowly instead of all at once. They didn’t seem to mind…All of us – a little bit – we harden our hearts, grow callous. Only when we have to fight to stay human do we realize how precious it is to us, how dear.” Veteran character actor Kevin McCarthy, best known for his starring role in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, 1914-2010.