O.L. Duke (1953–2004)
Actor O.L. Duke, who appeared in the movies Out of Time and Antwone Fisher, was killed in a car accident Sept. 10, police and relatives said. He was 51.
Duke was returning home after performing in the off-Broadway play, Waitin' 2 End Hell, when a car cut him off, said his wife, Monica Duke. His vehicle jumped a divider and struck an oncoming car, according to police. Monica Duke said her husband was an avid actor who loved attending the theatre. He often spoke enthusiastically about his work with other actors, including Denzel Washington, whom he counted as a friend, she said. Duke found career success after he replaced Washington in the original production of A Soldier's Play, his wife said. He also appeared in the HBO series Oz.
—AP
Lawrence Parke (1922–2004)
Lawrence Parke, the author, editor and publisher of Acting World Books, died last month. He was 82. According to Michael Ray Lloyd, the new editor/publisher of Acting World Books, Parke died Aug. 17. He suffered from emphysema and pneumonia.
Parke was perhaps best known for his actor-focused periodicals: The Agencies (the Hollywood and New York monthly editions), the West Coast Performer's Complete Personal Managers Directory, and The Hollywood Acting Coaches and Teachers Directory. He was also the author of four books: The Film Actor's Complete Career Guide, Acting Truths and Fictions, How to Start Acting in Film and Television Wherever You Are in America, and Since Stanislavski and Vakhtangov: The Method as a System for Today's Actor, which detailed his own teaching techniques.
As his myriad friends and colleagues can attest, however, Parke's contribution to the acting community went way beyond that—it spanned six decades and included teaching, producing, directing, and industry organizing. Indeed, Parke was also recognized as an actors' advocate, someone who was always willing to answer questions, serve as a mentor, and stand up for the fair treatment of actors. Phil Brock, president of Studio Talent Group, was struck by Parke's dedication to both new and experienced actors. "I could call him and say, 'Hey, we've found out about this manager who's stealing from actors.' He would stop listing them in his [guide] immediately. He would do what he could to try to get them shut down," said Brock. "[He was] a guy who genuinely cared."
Parke was born in Nebraska on June 5, 1922. He joined the army soon after graduating from high school and was active in the army's Entertainment Branch during World War II. After the war, Parke lived in New York and acted in various television series and theatre productions. In 1957 he was brought to Hollywood by Ziv Television Studios. In addition to appearing in various television series, he cast pilots and episodic series, taught night and weekend professional acting classes, conducted actors' career guidance seminars, and produced and directed at his own theatres. He took a break from teaching in 1975 to head up his own talent agency, but he closed the agency in 1978 and resumed teaching, producing, and directing.
After bringing the Circle Theatres up to building and parking codes, his first production there was scouted by France's Minister of Culture at the behest of Jean-Paul Sartre. His next production, Minus One, represented the United States at France's Festival Mondial du Theatre in 1971.
Parke's long career of industry organizing included founding the first League of Los Angeles Theatres and the Acting Coaches and Teachers Association. He was the first executive director of Actors Equity's ELT/ECT project and organized the original Honorary Sports and Entertainment Committee for Leonard Goldenson's United Cerebral Palsy Foundation. He also received mayoral commendations from Los Angeles mayors Sam Yorty and Tom Bradley, and in 1971 he received a commendation from the California Senate for his lobbying on behalf of Sen. Arlen Gregorio's bill to establish the California Arts Council.
Despite Parke's many accomplishments and honors, Billy DaMota, CSA, remembers him as someone who was more interested in the integrity of his work than in the spotlight. "I received my current copy of The Agencies in the mail today," he said via e-mail. "I knew [Larry] was gone, and I cried as I looked through the pages, trying to find some kind of memorial to the man who had helped so many. It wasn't there—and it made so much sense. Because in his life, Larry was never one to attract attention to himself or his good deeds. His mission was one of service to the actors he loved so very much."
In an editor's note on Showfax.com, Showfax Actors Access webmaster and general manager Bob Brody revealed that Parke embraced this mission until the end. "[E]ven in his hospital bed, no longer able to speak, he was still writing notes to family, business associates, nurses, working straight through," he wrote. "How he loved actors and what actors do!" Lloyd said that Acting World Books will continue to publish the guides under his direction (the New York edition of The Agencies will be published in association with Henderson Enterprises) and that he is pleased to be continuing Parke's legacy. Though he began working with the company 15 years ago, he knew Parke for 35—like so many others, he started out as a student of Parke's.
—Sarah Kuhn
William Pierson (1926–2004)
William Pierson, a raspy-voiced movie, television, and stage actor perhaps best remembered for his role as Marko the Mailman in the Billy Wilder film classic Stalag 17, died Aug. 27. He was 78. Pierson died from respiratory problems at Valley View Care Center in Newton, N.J., publicist Dale Olson said in Los Angeles.
Pierson originally played Marko in the Broadway version of Stalag 17, the dark comedy-drama set in a prisoner of war camp in World War II Germany. Wilder brought him to Hollywood in 1953 to re-create the role for the film. He also appeared on Broadway in High Button Shoes, Make Mine Manhattan, and Reuben, Reuben, as well as in a national touring company of The Odd Couple. Other film credits included Operation Madball and Fun With Dick and Jane. He had a long career in TV, dating to the medium's Golden Age when he appeared on such shows as Studio One and Kraft Theatre. He also had a recurring role on Three's Company as Dean Travers, and he appeared on such shows as The Facts of Life, One Day at a Time, All in the Family, and Diff'rent Strokes.
—AP
Elly Annie Schneider (1914–2004)
Elly Annie Schneider, a midget and actor who played one of the Munchkin villagers in The Wizard of Oz, died Sept. 6. She was 90. Schneider, who used the screen names Tiny Earles and Tiny Doll, died of heart failure, said her caregiver, Marleen Grunewald.
Born in Stolpen, Germany, as the youngest of nine children, Schneider moved to the United States in 1925 to join three siblings who were also midgets. She was 39 inches tall and weighed 46 pounds. The four siblings traveled to California to appear in The Wizard of Oz and were among the little people who welcomed Judy Garland's Dorothy to Munchkinland in a memorable 10-minute scene. They also appeared in Sailors, Beware, a 1927 Laurel and Hardy short, and the cult classic Freaks in 1932. As recently as two months ago, Schneider entertained friends by singing songs from The Wizard of Oz and her circus shows, despite being legally blind and frail from a heart attack and stroke. Her death leaves nine of the original 124 Munchkins surviving, said Margaret Pellegrini, 80, a Munchkin who said she visited Schneider at her home earlier this year.
—AP