Friday, May 16, 2008

R.I.P John Phillip Law 1937-2008


From the Associated Press:

"LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Phillip Law, the strikingly handsome 1960s movie actor who portrayed an angel in the futuristic "Barbarella" and a lovesick Russian seaman in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," has died. He was 70.

Law died Tuesday at his Los Angeles home, said his daughter Dawn Law. The cause of death was not announced.

With his vivid eyes, blond hair and imposing physique, Law was much in demand by filmmakers in the late 1960s and early '70s."

I adored John Phillip Law. His turns in Barbarella, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and Danger Diabolik made him a cult film lover's ideal idol. Ruggedly handsome, physically imposing, and very talented - Law was, and remains, a major icon of fantastic cinema. These qualities combined with his multi-lingual abilities made him a valuable commodity in the Europe of the 1960s and 70s - which were his most active decades as an actor. He was a genuinely decent man who lived a remarkable life. His commentary (with Tim Lucas) on Danger Diabolik is extremely lively, funny, informative and thoroughly enjoyable. We are grateful to have it. My friend in Spain - Carlos Aguilar, the world's greatest authority on Spanish cinema and an incredible film historian in general - has completed a book on John Phillip Law which we all eagerly await. Thank You John Phillip Law and rest in peace.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

I liked John Philip Law as well. Especially in Mario Bava's Danger Diabolik. He was strikingly handsome really. I noticed today somewhere while surfing that the actress who played Vampira died as well but I have not had time to find out much on that. The news may even be a couple months old, but it is 2008 for sure.

Bill

Chick Young said...

Hi Bill and Filomeno.

Thanks for your comments!

Danger Diabolik is indeed a favorite of mine too. And yes, it was sad to learn of Vampira's passing. I tried to write her a fond farewell in this post here: http://trash-aesthetics.blogspot.com/2008/01/vampiras-farewell_15.html

Best to you both.

Anonymous said...

John Phillip Law, auténtico Gentleman. R.I.P

Anonymous said...

Chick

I tried to get check out your Vampira post but it is still sifting through proxies. I live in China and blogger and blogspot are on a long list of blog sites that are blocked here. I use a couple proxy search programs that do the work for me because I am cannot configure them. I plan on setting aside a couple weeks and trying to learn basically what a proxy really is and how I can sue them better seeing as I am in a place were speech is monitored and controlled. My site is non-political of course, but sites get blocked en masse here usually. The good with the "evil". That is one reason I finely went to a hosted site with a dedicated IP address (whatever that is, it costs a little more and makes your site easier and faster to access and less apt to get blocked) because my blogs were getting blocked and since they are heavy with images it would take sooooooooooo long for them to load through proxies.

I recently watched Plan 9 from Outerspace again and found it as cool as always and did not know yet that Vampira had passed away. I recently got a hold of a big batch of flicks and watched more than I have time to comment on. I need to finish Gojira later. I have never seen it, on the Godzilla version with Raymond Burr spliced into it. The original in Japanese is really grim and serious, not like the Godzilla films that followed. I also watched Jack hill's Switchblade Sisters last night and it was great and a post will be built around it soon. I also got the complete Ilsa films and the Japanese Female Convict scorpion films. Can't wait to indulge myself.

Keep up the good work.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Chick:

hope to see a new post soon. love your stuff. two things:

1) is Chick Young based on your real name or on the character of Bud Abbott in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein?
2) I figured out how to make animated Gifs. When you have a minute check out my site and scroll down to the Tetsuo post and check out my 6 new gifs, my 1st ones really.

Bill

Chick Young said...

Thanks Bill, you're too kind. Just been busy with a dissertation and stuff around the house lately. Haven't had much time to post.

Chick Young is absolutely from Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. I used Wilbur Gray as an I.D for a long time - but when I started this blog, I thought I had been short changing Bud, so I went with Chick Young.

Later Pal

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