Western

Blog about westerns

Roger Corman in 2012

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The legendary director, producer, and actor Roger Corman passed away on May 9 (Photo Angela George).

Roger Corman was born on April 5, 1926, in Santa Monica, California. He studied at Stanford University but between 1944 and 1946 he served in the US Navy. In 1947 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering but only worked for a few days as an engineer because he realized that he didn’t want to do that kind of job and immediately devoted himself to cinema instead.

In 2009, Roger Corman received an Honorary Academy Award for his rich engendering of films and filmmakers. It’s just a small tribute to a man who has been appreciated for decades for his productions. His influence on generations of filmmakers proves what a master of cinema he was, a craftsman capable of creating quality movies with limited means.

Ennio Morricone in 2012

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The news arrived of the death of the composer Ennio Morricone. He was hospitalized in a clinic in Rome following a fall that caused his femur’s fracture.

An encyclopedia could be written to analyze the hundreds of music pieces written by Ennio Morricone. His soundtracks, which include a wide range of styles, made the history of cinema contributing to the success of many movies of all genres. He will be remembered as one of the greatest composers in the history of cinema.

Bruce Boxleitner in 2011

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Bruce William Boxleitner was born on May 12, 1950, in Elgin, Illinois, USA. Bruce Boxleitner began working on television productions while roles in film productions were rare in the 1970s. Fame came to him playing Luke Macahan in the TV show “How the West Was Won”, which aired between 1976 and 1979. In the 1990s, what perhaps is the role for which he’s best known, John Sheridan in the TV show “Babylon 5”, arrived for Bruce Boxleitner. The actor was a regular character in the show from the second to the fifth and last season, between 1994 and 1998. He reprised that role in the following years in some TV movies connected to it that are set in different periods before, during, and after the show.

D.C. Fontana in 2016

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Dorothy Catherine Fontana, passed away on Monday December 2. She was a writer, screenwriter and producer whose name is linked in various ways to the Star Trek saga since the original series. Known as D.C. Fontana, she was one of the most important people in the development of the Star Trek saga, a task that began at a time when it was difficult for women to write scripts for shows that weren’t soap operas or variety shows. The recollection by people who collaborated with her stresses the importance of her work.

Sergio Leone on the set of Once Upon a Time in America

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Sergio Leone was born on January 3, 1929 in Rome, Italy. His first experiences related to cinema were also as an extra actor but already in the 1940s he started working as an assistant director or director of the second unit, often without being credited, somtimes in major productions such as “Bicycle Thieves”, “Quo Vadis” and “Ben-Hur”, and as a screenwriter.

Sergio Leone died on April 30, 1989 of a heart attack. With a few movies he changed western cinema going far beyond the stereotypes of the genre adding a remarkable realism, up to adding in his last movies also social and political elements that generated some controversy. His legacy is important and remains alive.