They said, ‘We don’t have the budget for them.’
He was willing to walk off that show for us.
That takes guts and principles and loyalty.
Matt Sayles/AP
The last time I saw him was in the summer.
He came to a screening of our documentaryTo Be Takei.
He was quite ill by that time.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
He was a supportive friend.
I could tell immediately that he was someone who operated on very many different levels.
Nimoy passed away in Los Angeles on Feb. 27 at the age of 83.
Thos Robinson/Getty Images for World Science Festival
Sacks passed away in Manhattan on AUG. 30 at the age of 82.
An electric performer whose personal dramas often made headlines, Weiland never stopped searching for balance.
“I want to evolve gracefully.”
Larry Busacca/Getty Images
He was just this unassuming guy who was a joke machine and would mumble out gems…
He was just a sweetheart.
And he was always the funniest person in the room.
Amy Graves/WireImage
Harris was all about finding the best joke.
It was like a heat-seeking missile finding the biggest laugh.
Its something I admired in him, because I dont have that fearlessness.
Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Looking back, I would have taken that any day over losing him for real.
Wittels passed away in Los Angeles on Feb. 19 at the age of 30.
While shootingRaiders of the Lost Arkin 1980, I came across her on a beach.
Courtesy Everett Collection
“Who are you?”
“I’m a friend of Harrison’s,” she answered.
“I need to find another way to live my life.
Courtesy Everett Collection
That’s really sweet of you to offer, but I’m retired,” she said.
Melissa could relate to children better than anyone I have ever known.
It changed forever not only how I have directed children but even how I talk to my own children.
Chris Felver/Getty Images
Sometimes I remember what she was doing on that beach in Tunisia.
She was picking up seashells.
And in dreaming all these years, we trusted our muses, she and I.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
We were each other’s, even.
I’m really going to hurt when I go from missing her to needing her.
Mathison passed away in Los Angeles on Nov. 4 at the age of 65.
Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Dick Van Patten
By Mel Brooks
I loved Dickie Van Patten.
He was one of the most talented and versatile actors in the biz.
He was my favorite third banana in almost every movie I ever made.
Everett Collection
I miss him so much.
Van Patten passed away in Santa Monica on June 23 at the age of 86.
Or wedded hell, if their comedy routines were to be believed.
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They were a grittier, funnier, non-singing Sonny and Cher.
I rejoiced when she was cast as my devout, drunken, difficult mother-in-law onSex and the City.
She was, as always, brilliant.
Terry O’Neill/Getty Images
Just pretend wherever you are now this minute is the beginning.
Start here and move forward."
Meara passed away in Manhattan on May 23 at the age of 85.
CBS / Courtesy: Everett Collection
King
By Bonnie Raitt
Without a doubt, B.B.
King has influenced more rock and blues musicians than anyone else in history.
There is simply no one else with more raw passion or eloquence.
Baron/Getty Images
He’s also the kindest and most generous person to other musicians I know.
King passed away in Las Vegas on May 14 at the age of 89.
“We’re going to call it ‘Rose’s Theme,'” he said.
I literally teared up each time.
He pointed out, “I haven’t written any scores yet.”
But I said, “You’ve done it!
It became the best-selling orchestral film soundtrack of all time.
Movie music shouldn’t tell you how to feel.
It modulates your experience.
If you feel like crying, the music will be there to say, “It’s perfectly okay.
Go right ahead.”
That’s what James did so well.
He created emotional music and understood the narrative process very well.
And they always play the movie’s heartstrings perfectly without being overbearing.
I hope audiences remember the man behind the music: this warm, funny, supersmart, charismatic artist.
In my mind, James can never die because his art lives on.
Horner passed away in Santa Barbara on June 22 at the age of 61.
I was very lucky to have worked with her when I did at the age that I did.
You learn by example, don’t you, by osmosis.
I did learn a lot from her.
O’Hara passed away in Boise, Idaho, on Oct. 24 at the age of 95.
He was very erudite and funny.
He had such a great sense of humor and somehow managed to keep the 14-year-old fanboy alive in him.
He knew if he let us laugh during rehearsal, we probably wouldn’t laugh during the takes.
Jason and Michael Myers and some of the other pop-icon horror villains are killing machines.
They’re like sharks; they’re predators, whereas Freddy is sort of a joker.
He’s like the court jester from hell.
He’s in his own purgatory, punishing all of the children of the people that burned him alive.
And so there’s a kind of great, dark, cool-clown thing about Freddy’s revenge.
My grief about Wes isn’t over.
I keep thinking he’s still writing me a part in the newScreamfor MTV, you know?
“Write me a cameo, Wes!”
He can’t do that anymore, and that’s the kind of actor-mentor relationship we had.
I owe him so much.
Craven passed away in Los Angeles on Aug. 30 at the age of 76.
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif was no stranger to grand entrances.
So it makes sense that the Egyptian actor first arrived on the world stage in epic fashion.
The year was 1962.
He belonged to the world.Chris Nashawaty
Sharif passed away in Cairo on July 10 at the age of 83.
Jackie Collins
By Kris Jenner
First and foremost I was a huge fan.
Jackie wrote books that took you to another place, and you just got lost in them.
Through the ’80s I never missed one.
One day Melanie Griffith said, “Let’s go to dinner with Joan and Jackie.”
Collins passed away in Los Angeles on Sept. 19 at the age of 77.
Most of us at60 Minutesdidn’t find out until his funeral that he had a Phi Beta Kappa key.
He lived abroad for most of his career, covering just about every war from Vietnam on.
He had two big turning points in his adult life.
When he died, many of us in the office thought they were his best friend, including me.
Simon passed away in Manhattan on Feb. 11 at the age of 73.
His eyebrows shot up, but he signed them all.
They still remain a powerful part of my own past life.
Lee passed away in London on June 7 at the age of 93.
