Man, yesterday was a rough day for actors and actresses. I decided to hold off until this morning on posting obits, figuring that would give the various papers of record some time to get their thoughts and acts together.
Peter O’Toole: NYT. LAT. Kenneth Turan appreciation. AV Club. Lawrence.
Noted actress Joan Fontaine also passed away yesterday. NYT. LAT. (ETA: AV Club.)
And finally, Tom Laughlin, of “Billy Jack” fame. LAT. (ETA: Also AV Club.)
Over the years, critics assailed Laughlin’s performances. Leonard Maltin called him “the only actor intense enough to risk a hernia from reading lines.” The New Yorker’s Pauline Kael called “The Trial of Billy Jack” extraordinary — that is, “the most extraordinary display of sanctimonious self-aggrandizement the screen has ever known.”
To be fair, Ms. Kael wrote that line long before Steven Seagal and “On Deadly Ground”.
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