Coffee-Table Notes

Desmond Davis – film and television director   Born May 24, 1926; died July 3, 2021     Desmond Davis, who has died aged 95, was a British film director who became best known for Clash of the Titans (1981), the Greek mythology based fantasy adventure that was stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen’s film. Davis was hired after directing a BBC Television Shakespeare production of Measure for Measure (1979), with the producers keen to have someone on board who could deal with classical actors such as Laurence Olivier and Maggie Smith, who were both in the cast.   Davis had come to the fore two decades earlier on the back of a new wave of British film-making that came to be known as ‘kitchen-sink’ films. Davis worked as camera operator on a Taste of Honey (1961) and The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), both directed by Tony Richardson. It was Richardson who gave Davis the chance to direct his own films, which began with Girl with Green Eyes (1964). The film was produced by Ric

Alan Lancaster – bass guitarist, singer, songwriter Born February 7, 1949; died September 26, 2021    Alan Lancaster, who has died aged 72 following complications from Multiple Sclerosis, was the original bass player with Status Quo, the band whose roots lay in groups formed with guitarist and vocalist Francis Rossi while a schoolboy. As they developed their sound away from voguish psychedelia towards the no-nonsense three-chord boogie, a stream of hits followed their breakout single, Paper Plane (1972), taken from the fourth Status Quo album, Piledriver (1972). Others included Caroline (1973), Down Down (1974), and a cover of John Fogerty’s song, Rockin’ All Over the World (1977).    Along with drummer John Coghlan, Lancaster provided the steady but insistent pulse behind Rossi and guitarist Rick Parfitt’s at times manic but always radio friendly headbangers. As a writer, Lancaster penned Don’t Think it Matters (1974) and Lonely Man (1974), and sang lead vocal on other co-writes, incl

Roger Michell – Film, television and theatre director   Born June 5, 1956; died September 22, 2021   Roger Michell, who has died aged 65, was a film, television and theatre director, best known to many for Notting Hill (1999). The Richard Curtis scripted rom-com brought Hugh Grant with Julia Roberts together in a frothy yarn about a bookshop owner and an actress finding true love. The film tapped into its era’s very British sense of optimism, and was a hit, winning a BAFTA, and becoming the biggest ever box office success for a British film.   This was one of many highlights for Michell, whose work on stage and screen was marked with warmth, intelligence and starry ensemble casts. This was as evident in his early stage work as it was in Nothing Like a Dame (2018), a documentary that brought together Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith to talk about their lives and careers.   The film reflected Michell’s own theatrical roots, and it was only after a regime change

Now is the Time When it was announced in July that the Helmsdale based Timespan organisation had been shortlisted for the 2021 Art Fund Museum of the Year prize, it was vindication for a venture that in recent times has sought to redefine what a museum can be. With a prize of £100,000 at stake, and £15,000 apiece going to the five nominees, the award gives a significant material boost for the winner, enabling them to develop concrete plans as well as raising their public profile.   As the smallest and arguably most low-key of the nominees, Timespan’s already progressive reputation has developed over the last thirty-five years in a village with a population of less than 800. If Timespan was named as winner of the Art Fund prize, both it and the village would potentially be transformed even more. Not that Timespan has been shy of pushing the envelope, both before and during the tenure of the museum’s current director, Sadie Young.   With Young in post since 2017, the Sutherland based ins

Ken Hutchison - Actor   Born November 24, 1948; died August 9, 2021     Ken Hutchison, who has died aged 72, was an actor probably best remembered for his lead roles in two 1970s television plays by Peter McDougall. Screened as part of BBC TV’s Play for Today strand, Just Another Saturday (1975), and Just a Boys’ Game (1979), were both directed by John Mackenzie, who would go on to oversee The Long Good Friday.    In Just Another Saturday, Hutchison appeared alongside Billy Connolly as the head of an Orange Lodge walk. In Just a Boy’s Game, Hutchison formed a double act with Frankie Miller as a feckless boozer unable to face up to his domestic responsibilities.   Hutchison appeared in five Play for Todays overall, including Mackenzie’s production of Alan Garner’s cult classic, Red Shift (1978). He also appeared in the very first edition of the series, appearing alongside Kinks singer Ray Davies in The Long Distance Piano Player (1970), written by Alan Sharp. His last Play for Today saw

Mikis Theodorakis – c omposer, politician, activist   Born July 29, 1925; died September 2, 2021    Mikis Theodorakis, who has died aged 96, was a composer whose idealistic vision of  fusing classical and popular music came to embody an oppositionist Greek spirit, even as it confounded artistic expectations. The composer channelled his philosophy into his infectiously catchy bouzouki based score for Michael Cacoyannis’ film, Zorba the Greek (1964). By far Theodorakis’ most famous composition, Zorba’s tune was based on Greek folk dance, the sirtaki, and in the film saw Anthony Quinn dance with Alan Bates on the beach. The tune caught the popular imagination, and became a symbol of Greek bonhomie across the globe.   Zorba was the most high profile example of Theodorakis’ maverick vision, which he applied to his politics as much as his art. He was a passionate advocate of leftwing causes that saw him hold public office, where he attempted to bridge leftism with less radical forces. Theodo

Jean-Paul Belmondo – Actor, producer Born April 9, 1933; died September 6, 2021   Jean-Paul Belmondo, who has died aged 88, was an actor who epitomised 1960s Gallic cool. Coming to prominence during the French nouvelle vague, Belmondo became a star after appearing opposite Jean Seberg in A bout de souffle (Breathless) (1960). With a restless gait, a broken nose, and a way of hanging a cigarette from his lips with a loucheness few could match, Belmondo became the golden boy of the new wave.    For intellectually inclined directors such as Godard, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Pierre Melville and Louis Malle, he became their very own rebel without a cause, as they projected their desire for anti-establishment action upon him. While they theorised their European dissections of American genre flicks, for a while, at least, he embodied their counter-cultural ideal.    This was the case too for non-French directors, including Vittorio De Sica, who directed Belmondo alongside Sophia Loren in Two Women