Burt Freeman Bacharach (May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023)

(Bloomberg) — Burt Bacharach, who
became one of the 20th century’s most
celebrated songwriters with hits
such as Walk on By and Raindrops Keep
Fallin’ on My Head, has died. He was 94.

 

  
TIM MAGUIRE

James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931 – September 30, 1955)

James Dean was one of those rare stars whose persona became
more famous than any of his films — and yet he would only live
to see one of those films released. The adaptation of Steinbeck’s
epic novel “East of Eden” (1955).

James Dean’s brief yet iconic time in the spotlight came to an
abrupt end when he died in a tragic car accident . The details
of his death remain both perplexing and disturbing to this day.

America’s 40th President Ronald Wilson Reagan was born
in Tampico, Illinois, on this day in history, Feb. 6, 1911.

Prior to his presidency, he served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975 and was the president of the
Screen Actors Guild from 1947 to 1952 and from 1959 until
1960.

On February 5, 1919, Hollywood heavyweights Charlie Chaplin,
Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith joined
forces to create their own film studio, which they called the
United Artists Corporation.

United Artists quickly gained prestige in Hollywood, thanks to
the success of the films of its stars, notably Chaplin’s The Gold
Rush (1925), as well as the work of actors such as Buster
Keaton, Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. Chaplin
directed UA films as well as acted in them, and Pickford
concentrated on producing after she retired from acting in
the 1930s. With the rise of sound during that decade, UA was
helped by the talents (and bankrolls) of veteran producers
like Joseph Schenck, Samuel Goldwyn, Howard Hughes and
Alexander Korda.

The corporation began to struggle financially in the 1940s,
however, and in 1951 the production studio was sold and
UA became only a financing and distributing facility.

From left, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin
(seated) and Douglas Fairbanks Sr. signing the original
contract that created the United Artists studio in 1919.     

Melinda Dillon (October 13, 1939 – January 9, 2023)

Oscar and Tony-nominated actor Melinda Dillon, who played
Mother Parker in “A Christmas Story,” and appeared in
“Magnolia” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,”
died Jan. 9. No mention as to the cause of her death.

Melinda Dillon with Darren McGavin, Ian Petrella, and
Peter Billingsley (1983).

1978