2001 - Theater, Film

Theater, Film

Theater: The Shape of Things by Detroit-born film director and playwright Neil LaBute, 38, 5/2 at London's Almeida Theatre, with London-born actress Rachel Weisz, 30, Paul Rudd; Homebody/Kabul by Tony Kushner 12/19 at New York's off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theater, with Linda Emond.

Former New York Herald Tribune drama critic Otis Guernsey Jr. dies at Woodstock, Vt., May 2 at age 82; playwright Jason Miller of a heart attack at his native Scranton, Pa., May 13 at age 52; playwright John Herbert at his native Toronto June 22 at age 75; circus animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams of cancer at his Venice, Fla., home July 19 at age 66; actress Kim Stanley at Santa Fe, N.M., August 20 at age 76; playwright Anthony Shaffer at London November 6 at age 75; actress Eileen Heckart of cancer at her Norwalk, Conn., home December 31 at age 82.

Television: The Office 7/9 on BBC with David Brent as the egomaniacal boss of a paper company in a sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant; The Education of Max Bickford 9/23 on CBS with Richard Dreyfuss (to 6/2/2002); According to Jim 10/3 on ABC with Jim Belushi, Courtney Thorne-Smith; Pop Idol 10/21 on Britain's ITV with Brighton-born personality Simon Cowell, 31, is a "reality" series about a "search" for a new pop music star (see American Idol, 2002); 24 on Fox with a large cast in a series about an attempted assassination of a presidential nominee.

Radio comedian Sir Harry Secombe of BBC Goon Show fame dies of prostate cancer at Guildford, Surrey, April 11 at age 79; actress and TV panelist Arlene Francis at San Francisco May 31 at age 93; comedienne Imogene Coca at her Westport, Conn., home June 2 at age 92; actor Carroll O'Connor of a heart attack at Culver City, Calif., June 21 at age 76; former radio host Raymond E. Johnson of 1940s Inner Sanctum fame at Wallingford, Conn., August 15 at age 90; actor Sir Nigel Hawthorne of a heart attack at his Hertfordshire home December 26 at age 72.

Films: Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind with Russell Crowe as schizophrenic Nobel mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr., Alicia Larde; John Moore's Behind Enemy Lines with Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman; Robert Altman's Gosford Park with Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Ryan Philippe; Todd Field's In the Bedroom with Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek; Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love with Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung; Lone Sherfig's Italian for Beginners with Lars Kaalund, Anders W. Berthelsen; Anette Stevelbaek; Mohsen Machmalbaf's documentary Kandahar; Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; Marc Forster's Monster's Ball with Billy Bob Thornton, Halle Berry, Coronji Calhoun; Pete Docter's Monster's, Inc. with Walt Disney Pixar animation, voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Mary Gibbs, James Coburn; Steven Soderbergh's Oceans Eleven with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts; Vicky Jenson and Andrew Adamson's Shrek with DreamWorks animation, voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow. Also: Jean-Pierre Jaunet's Amélie from Montmartre with Audrey Tautou; Michael Winterbottom's The Claim with Wes Bentley, Milla Jovovich, Natassja Kinski; James Ivory's The Golden Bowl with Uma Thurman, Jeremy Norham, Kate Beckinsale; Chris Columbus's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with Daniel Radcliffe, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Ian Hart, Richard Harris; Ray Lawrence's Lantana with Anthony LaPaglia; Baz Luhmann's Moulin Rouge with Nicole Kidman; Tom Tykwer's The Princess and the Warrior with Franka Potente, Benno Fürmann.

Only 27 percent of Americans are "frequent moviegoers," according to the Motion Picture Association of America. Sales of video games ($9.6 billion) exceed movie ticket sales ($8.4 billion) for the first time, and 30 percent of Americans never enter a movie theater, as compared to the 55 percent (78 million people) who went to the movies every week in 1946, but Hollywood nevertheless sets financial records and Americans next year will go to the movies more often than at any time since the 1950s.

Actress Dale Evans dies at her Apple Valley, Calif., home February 8 at age 88; director Stanley Kramer of pneumonia at Woodland Hills, Calif., February 19 at age 87; animation pioneer William Hanna of Hanna-Barbera at his North Hollywood, Calif., home March 21 at age 90; director Hiroshi Teshigahara of leukemia at Tokyo April 14 at age 74; actor Anthony Quinn of respiratory failure at Boston June 3 at age 86; Jack Lemmon of cancer at Los Angeles June 27 at age 76; Kim Stanley of cancer at Santa Fe., N.M., August 20 t age 76; Troy Donahue of a heart attack at Los Angeles September 2 at age 65; film critic Pauline Kael at her Great Barrington, Mass., home September 3 at age 82; actress Dorothy McGuire of arrythmia at Santa Monica September 14 at age 83; director Herbert Ross of heart failure at New York October 8 at age 74; animator Faith Hubley of cancer at New Haven, Conn., December 7 at age 77.