Michael Cole, who most famously portrayed Pete Cochran,
one of the three young undercover cops on ABC’s crime
drama Mod Squad (1968-1973), died on Tuesday at the
Medical Center in Tarzana, California. No cause of death
has been revealed at this time.
Cole was the last surviving member of the original cast.
Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch)
(December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020)
As an actor and philanthropist, Kirk Douglas received
an Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement
and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
As an author, he wrote ten novels and memoirs. After
barely surviving a helicopter crash in 1991 and then
suffering a stroke in 1996, he focused on renewing
his spiritual and religious life.
He lived with his second wife, producer Anne Buydens,
until his death in 2020. A centenarian, Douglas was one
of the last surviving stars of the film industry’s Golden
Age.
1960
On November 26, 1942, Casablanca, a World War II-era drama
starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, premiered in
New York City; it went on to become one of the most beloved
Hollywood movies in history.
Although Casablanca was an A-list film with established stars
and first-rate writers, no one involved with its production
expected it to stand out among the many pictures produced
by Hollywood yearly.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a film about a group of
patients at a mental institution, opened in theaters. Directed
by Milos Forman and based on a 1962 novel of the same
name by Ken Kesey, the film starred Jack Nicholson and
was co-produced by the actor Michael Douglas.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest went on to become the
first film in four decades to win in all five of the major
Academy Award categories: Best Actor (Nicholson),
Best Actress (Louise Fletcher, who played Nurse Ratched),
Best Director, Best Screenplay (Adapted) and Best Picture.
Filming was on location in Salem, Oregon and surrounding
area, and in Depoe Bay on the north Oregon coast.
The producers shot the film in the Oregon State Hospital in
Salem.
Louise Fletcher (1934 – 2022) & Jack Nicholson (87).
William Franklin Holden (Beedle Jr.)
(April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981)
William Holden was one of the biggest box-office draws of the
1950s. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film
Stalag 17 (1953) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding
Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for the
television miniseries The Blue Knight (1973).
Holden starred in some of Hollywood’s most popular and critically acclaimed films, including Sunset Boulevard (1950), Sabrina
(1954), Picnic (1955), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The
Wild Bunch (1969) and Network (1976).
According to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s autopsy report,
Holden bled to death in his apartment in Santa Monica, California,
on November 12, 1981, after lacerating his forehead by slipping
on a rug while intoxicated and hitting a bedside table.
Forensic evidence recovered at the scene suggested that he was conscious for at least half an hour after the fall. His body was
found four days later. Rumors existed that he was suffering from
lung cancer, which Holden had denied at a 1980 press conference.
His death certificate makes no mention of cancer
