The Big Screen in the Sky: Arthur Hiller

Director Arthur Hiller has passed away at age 92. After an extensive career in television Hiller transitioned to movies with the Julie Andrews and James Garner rom-com-dram The Americanization of Emily (1964). But it is the Seventies where Hiller really hit the mark with Neil Simon classics The Out of Towners (1970) and Plaza Suite (1971), the box office smash romantic drama Love Story (1970), the Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor buddy comedy Silver Streak (1976), and the cult comedy hit The In-Laws (1979). By the Eighties Hiller's output waned with movies like Teachers (1984) and Outrageous Fortune (1987) standing out of a crowd of misfires like the re-pairing of Wilder as a deaf man and Pryor as a blind man in See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989).

Hiller was really good at capturing distinct characters and pairing them with their opposites to create comic situations, always bringing the two together at the end. He was nominated for one Oscar for Love Story and in 2002 won the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Serpentine, Arthur! Serpentine!

Big Screen in the Sky- Peter Shaffer

I often complain that movies these days are all based on comic books. Whatever happened to the good old days when movies were based on hit stage plays? Sadly, one of the great play/screenwriters from that era has passed. Peter Shaffer wrote both the plays and screenplays for Equus (1977) and Amadeus (1984). Equus was notorious for its psychological examination of a young man who blinds horses, bringing up all sorts of repressed sexuality issues for the late Seventies. Amadeus dared to turn classical music god Mozart into a gifted but spoiled manchild who drank, whored, and made fart sounds while still composing some of the best known music of any era. Both scripts skillfully played against what was expected, and he was Oscar-nominated for both, winning the statuette for Amadeus.

Grazi, Mr. Shaffer.

The Big Screen in the Sky: Ken Adam

Oscar-winning production designer Ken Adam has passed away at age 95. While his name might not ring any bells, his work certainly will. Adam was the production designer for the early Bond films including Dr. No (1962), Goldfinger (1964), and You Only Live Twice (1967). And every kid of a certain age will appreciate his work on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968.)

Adam joined the ranks of legendary designers when he designed the famous war room set for Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964), and would later win an Oscar for his work on Kubrick's 18th Century drama, Barry Lyndon (1975). Adam's sets were integral to the films he worked on, and he should be remembered in the same breath with the famous directors he worked with to bring such memorable visions to the screen.