I have mentioned this before, but today’s blog reflects a sad reality that seems to occur more frequently on this account. This, of course, is part of the human experience. I am also aware that terrible things have happened, are happening, and will continue to happen in the world to many people. Some can be prevented, and some can not, regardless of how we feel as members of humanity.
We can’t save everybody, which is a horrible thing to say. I can’t save the 7-month baby murdered in Palestine, or the 21-year-old killed on the frontline in Ukraine, nor can I save the 84-year-old woman who died alone in her cold, dark, damp house. These things shouldn’t be happening, but they do, and all we can do is to save and help as many as we can, and celebrate the ones we couldn’t.
This brings us to this: I would like to take the time to acknowledge the deaths of Tatjana Wood, Marcia Lucas, Anthony Head, and James Handy.
Tatjana Wood died on 27th February, in New York City, aged 99. She was only three days short of her 100th birthday; though if you ask me, because of all of the leap days she experienced in her life, I’m sure those days could be traded in for three. If you don’t recognise her name, you can be forgiven. Just.
Wood loved the arts, as she worked as a weaver, dressmaker, and also as a comic book colourist. This involved covers and the interior artwork. She won several awards for her skills, as she mainly worked for DC Comics, but also EC Comics at the start of her career. Some of her work included Swamp Thing, Animal Man, House of Secrets, Our Army at War, The Flash, Tarzan, The Brave and the Bold, Green Lantern, Detective Comics, Batman, Action Comics, World’s Finest, Orion, and so many more.
Wood was the first female comic book creator I had ever heard of, and it blew my mind. I was young at the time, and I thought females didn’t like comic books. Men wrote them, and men drew them. It wasn’t that I thought females weren’t allowed to create or read comics, but rather that maybe girls and women were far too intelligent to be interested in the world of comic books. Girls at school didn’t read them, and I didn’t know of any female writers or artists.
My study of Wood’s work and the discovery of more female creators led me to an important conclusion: girls enjoy comics as well. I later realised that there were likely girls at my school who liked comics but felt embarrassed to express it, as the interest was often seen as something exclusive to boys. I’m very grateful Wood shared her love of comics with the world and me.
Marcia Lucas was a film editor and producer who died aged 80 years old, on 27th May in California. Some of her famous works include THX 1138, American Graffiti, Taxi Driver, Star Wars: A New Hope, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Lucas won an Academy Award and a Saturn Award for editing in 1978 for Star Wars.
She also helped with many films behind the camera, with their stories, plots, direction, and themes, like Raiders of the Lost Ark and especially Star Wars. It’s astounding to understand how many classic points from the franchise came from her. I can’t ever thank her enough for her contributions to those films.
Actor and singer, Anthony Head, died at his home in England on 1st June, aged 72 years old. Head worked on stage, television and film productions, starting back in 1978, and worked around the world. Some of his most notable roles included Merlin (Uther Pendragon), Little Britain (The Prime Minister), and Ted Lasso (Rupert Mannion).
Though arguably, his most famous role was Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was where I first discovered him. Yes, he’s had many various roles over the years, but he will always be Giles to me, and that’s not a bad thing. Even when he was being a scumbag, as Mannion in Ted Lasso, he was amazing! Thank you, Anthony!
Finally, we have James Handy, who died on 3rd June, aged 81 years, at his home in Los Angeles. Handy was a veteran actor of film and television, having starred in roles since 1977. Handy was one of those actors who you see in a project, and say, “Hey, I’ve seen that guy before!”, but you wouldn’t necessarily know his name.
Some of his most famous roles were in Burglar, K-9, Arachnophobia, The Assassin, Jumanji, Unbreakable, Ash Wednesday, Logan, Top Gun: Maverick, Wiseguy, L.A. Law, Equal Justice, The Young Riders, Quantum Leap, Wings, Melrose Place, The X-Files, Law & Order, Alias, Profiler, and many more. Thank you, James, for entertaining us.
As I said, thank you to these people for making life on Earth just that little bit better. This blog was a lot shorter than usual, but that’s life. Thank you for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Once again, I need to remind everybody that my Supergirl Movie Preview/Review starts in two weeks, along with my mid-Winter annual break, and my 300th blog post, which are also coming soon.
Don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, and go watch some FIFA World Cup and Women’s T20 World Cup games. Look after yourself because next week, we’ll be going back to 1963. It’s going to be cool if you define cool as in reading about history.
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