Cool News
DR. NO is No More... Joseph Wiseman is gone...
Hey folks, Harry here... Today's been a crazy day, waking up early for FANTASTIC MR FOX, then a full day of prepping for our annual Halloween Blow-out next week. When I got home at last about 45 minutes ago I discovered that Joseph Wiseman, the man who played James Bond's first villain... DR. NO ...has passed on.
Now I have to confess... I had never looked Joseph Wiseman up before. DR. NO - I've seen it maybe 20 times in my life, but I was always taken by Sean Connery and Ursula Andress. I like the character, but it never appealed to me nearly as much as the other villains in Bond's history.
But today, upon finding out about his death, I decided to look Wiseman up. Turns out he was born in 1918, making him 91 years old at his death. He began work in 1950 on the film WITH THESE HANDS, directed by Jack Arnold (who directed so many awesome B-SciFi films like CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON) - but he also had significant parts in DETECTIVE STORY, VIVA ZAPATA!, the 1952 LES MISERABLES. He played opposite Paul Newman in THE SILVER CHALICE. He also appeared in John Huston's criminally underrated film, THE UNFORGIVEN with Burt Lancaster & Audrey Hepburn. As I read his credits, I began flashing to the characters he played... like the awesome gangster in STILETTO - a fun little crime flick from 1969.
But... it was what he did in 1979 that blew my fucking mind. I had no idea at all that DR. NO was DRACO in Gil Gerard and Erin Gray's BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY! Really? Princess Ardala's "Daddy"? Emperor of the known universe? Henry Silva's boss? Really? How awesome is that?
Joseph Wiseman populated an endless variety of TV shows, throughout his career and at the end of the day he was a chameleon throughout his career - just playing the part written for him. He wasn't a STAR, he was a character actor... one of those Actors that never got awards or great recognition for his work. For most of us, he'll always be DR. NO. A film that ultimately he didn't greatly consider.
On behalf of Bond fans everywhere - he'll be missed. His wife died earlier this year, so let's hope he's building a radioactive nightmare in Heaven that threatens the existence of Paradise... So we can all witness Sean Connery deactivate it in 200 years when Connery goes... thus making Heaven safe for nude cherubs everywhere!
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and Abe Vigoda chuckles
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I click on Ain't It Cool News and see Sean Connery passed. Dr. NO had a long and productive life. Thanks for all the memorable characters you've played. RIP
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Oct 22, 2009 12:54:26 AM CDT
Im sick of Harry making articles about himself
by supercowbell5thecowbellhasspoken
When it involves a person dying. I don't care if I come off as a douche, because you do everytime you write this bullshit. and you know what your doing and it's god damn bullshit
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in Thunderball. May he rest in peace.
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Dr. NO Means No, (His mother named him after the surprise sex that led to his creation), will be the next villian in the newest Daniel Craig Bond flick...
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RIP Good Sir
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didnt see one rip thread here...unless i wasnt paying attention
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He was probably my favorite Bond supervillain. I was glad that he lived so long to witness how giant and iconic the series became, for being the very first of all of those villains. RIP Mr. Wiseman, and intercept many rockets from the big sky above.
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and have all the living Bond villains there. How cool would that be?
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Dr.No must have been on screen for about ten minutes yet he made it into a truly iconic performance. You have to love that dinner scene with Bond. Truly an intellectually intimidating villain.
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Why isn't there a news article about the death of the composer of the themes songs for Green Acres and The Addams Family, among others.
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but frankly Dr No's death was one of the lamest villain's death i have ever seen in film.
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Abe Vigoda will outlive everyone!! All hail the great Abe Vigoda!!
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standard for ALL the Bond villians to follow! Also luved him in The Greatest American Hero where he played a Howard Hughes-type who was the original Greatest American Hero...until the aliens came back & took the suit from him. Tunred out he misused the suit's power to make his fortune. Great stuff. Godspeed sir, and thanks for all the underrated performances.
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When did you start reading this site? Harry's always written himself and events of his lives into his reviews. The internet. Where people come to complain about shows and writings they can't stand but never stop taking the time to watch or read.
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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He beats Vigoda by 7 years. Been married for 60 years. I saw this tenacious mother fucker at a screening of The Good, Bad and Ugly at the Alamo Drafthouse here a couple of years ago. Hasn't lost a step mentally. Where's the love???
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Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez will always be one of my favorite characters. Ever.
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He did some Q&A before the movie, turns out he went to UT in 1933! He and his wife sat in front of us to watch the movie. TUCO in front of us! FUCKING DREAM!
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Ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puFeCHzpvPM
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...and didn't live to see the inevitable POS remake that will happen at some point in the future... RIP indeed.
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Meant to say...he played Elliot Gould's father, Minsky Sr...had a great scene with the awesome British actor Harry Andrews (who played Britt Ekland's fire-and-brimstone Mennonite father)..as the two old men pray together to their respective Gods...his best Dr.No line...'Mr Bond, you're nothing but a stupid policeman'
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He's no Abe Vigoda. And still no Ed McMahon talkback.
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I SWEAR, I caught some of Thunderball on TV yesterday night, and I was wondering who was playing Blofeld in it (since he sounded so familiar, but QUITE different from Donald Pleasence, who is my favorite Blofeld). Another crazy coincidence, first Morricone, now this... Creepy!
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Not too many are alive, and most of them don't care.
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...was Yaphet Kotto inflating like a balloon(!) in Live & Let Die.
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Great, underrated actor. Also, I preferred Dr. No over all Blofelds. You shall be missed. Will have to give Dr. No a watch this weekend at the least.
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It's on YouTube. I am convinced that this performance got him the Dr. No gig. He was absolutely phenomenal as Paul Radin, a demented millionaire who invites three people from his past to his underground shelter and demands forgiveness from them. I just saw this episode earlier this year. "You can go to the devil, Reverend. And you too, Colonel. Tonight, my friends, you will ALL go to the devil and that is not a figure of speech!" Chilling, brilliant. RIP and my condolences to his family.
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I so want to kick your butt right now Harry. Wiseman was one of the best character actors in film and television. To think that you didn't have the mental ability to look him up before he passed just sickens me. The first time I saw him was way back when. As a child I watched the old reruns of the Twilight Zone and was amazed at the skills of all the actors that stared in every episode. Some of them were so good that they came back to do more than one episode, like Burgess Meredith. Now Joseph Wiseman had the star role in "One More Pallbearer" where he was a wealthy man who came up with an idea for getting back at the three people who he believed had wronged him in his younger days. The way he played that character had me transfixed. After that, I searched for his movies and enjoyed all of them. I really got a kick out of his appearance in "The Greatest American Hero" where he played another wealthy guy who had reached the end of his life and was trying to make up for the wrongs he had committed when he had been given that suit. So start paying a little more respect for all the character actors, past and present, and get to know more about them them and their works.
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That's one of my favorite shows of all-time and he was great as Manny Weisbord. You guys should all check that show out if you haven't seen it. Oh. I'm gonna to miss him. RIP.
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No hysterical ranting, just a stone-cold motherfucka with killer robot hands and a voice that sounds like God's.
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I hope he explained his plan in full before his untimely death.
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His character in THE UNFORGIVEN is far creepier, and unforgettable, than DR. NO (though I'll always love that characterization, too.) Another great performance was his role as Ben Gazarra's father in QBVII. I met the man once, briefly, when he came to see a casting director at Universal. He wasn't warm and fuzzy, to be honest, but it was still a thrill to meet him.
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I always liked his performance in "Seize the Day" with Robin Williams.
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Soupy Sales has died at 83
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try 91 sucka!
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