Ann Savage, who memorably played the sultry femme fatale in the 1945 film noir classic Detour, has died at age 87. Although Savage appeared in more than 30 films throughout her career, she is best remembered for this B movie gem which largely benefited from the fact that Martin Scorsese championed it as one of his favorite films of all time. Savage had recently made a late career comeback, gaining good reviews for her performance in the 2007 film My Winnipeg. For more click here

Author and playwright Dale Wasserman has died at age 94. Wasserman is known primarily for writing the book upon which the classic musical Man of La Mancha was based. The play, which opened in 1965, has been a perennial favorite for theater-goers around the world. It tells the story of the whimsical dreamer Don Quixote and features the famous song The Impossible Dream. Wasserman was also credited for bringing attention to writer Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by adapting Kesey's book for the  original version on the New York stage in 1963. Although this production, which starred Kirk Douglas, was an initial flop, Kesey gave kudos to Wasserman's adaptation for the play's ultimate success and eventual emergence as an Oscar-winning film in 1975. Wasserman also occasionally dabbled in screenwriting with his most notable success the hit 1958 adventure The Vikings which starred Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis. He had completed a new play shortly before his death. For more click here

Eartha Kitt, who overcame an impoverished childhood in segregated South Carolina to become a legend of stage and screen, died from cancer on Christmas Day at age 81. Kitt was discovered performing in Paris by Orson Welles in the 1950s and rose to fame and fortune on Broadway and through her chart-topping, soulful recordings. (Her sexy Santa Baby remains a mainstay on radio stations during the holiday season.) Kitt was an activist when it was not fashionable for celebrities to speak out. At a White House luncheon with Lady Bird Johnson in 1966, Kitt stunned the world by publicly chastising the First Lady about Vietnam War policy. This resulted in her being investigated by the FBI. However, during this period, she also thrived through her acting roles - landing an Emmy nomination as Bill Cosby's love interest in a ground-breaking episode of I Spy - at a time when most African American roles on TV were presented in a comedic or condescending manner. She is also remembered by fans for taking over the role of Catwoman from Julie Newmar on the Batman TV series. Kitt remained enormously popular throughout her career and authored three autobiographies. For more click here

Harold Pinter, one of the most acclaimed and innovative playwrights of the 20th century, passed away on Christmas Eve at age 78 after a battle with cancer. Pinter's plays took England by storm in the 1960s and his popularity rapidly expanded around the world. He was credited with bringing intimacy back into theatrical productions. His plays, such as The Caretaker, No Man's Land, The Homecoming and The Birthday Party, were generally claustrophobic affairs that dealt with tensions within dysfunctional families. The British-born Nobel Prize winner was often a lightening rod for controversy due to his radical, left-wing politics. Pinter once refused a knighthood from Prime Minister John Major's government because he so loathed conservative policies. In recent years, he publicly lambasted both the British and American governments over the Iraq War. Pinter was multi-talented and also wrote screenplays for such films as The Go-Between, The French Lieutenant's Woman, The Quiller Memorandum and the recent remake of Sleuth. He also dabbled in acting, appearing in small roles in many major films. For more click here

Director Robert Mulligan, beloved by actors for his low-key style and temperament behind the camera, has passed away at age 83. Mulligan began directing in live TV productions in the 1950s but graduated to feature films with the acclaimed production of Fear Strikes Out. His career highlight was helming the 1962 classic screen adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Under his direction, star Gregory Peck won the Best Actor Academy Award for his immortal performance as Atticus Finch in the film. Mulligan never directed blockbuster hits, but several of his productions proved to be extremely popular with audiences and critics. Among them: Come September, Love With the Proper Stranger, Baby, The Rain Must Fall  (the latter two starring Steve McQueen), Up the Down Staircase, Summer of '42 and the bittersweet comedy Same Time, Next Year.  However, some of his best work remained under-rated, including such films as The Rat Race, Inside Daisy Clover, and his one foray into the supernatural, his creepy 1972 screen adaptation of author Thomas Tryon's The Other. He and Gregory Peck had also reunited in 1968 for the superb western thriller The Stalking Moon which found Peck's character relentlessly pursued by a murderous but unseen Indian chief. For more on Mulligan click here

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, wife of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, has died at age 76. Majel was a professional actress and had spent a great deal of time nurturing the Star Trek series both with her husband and after his death. She appeared in several entries in the series and had just completed voice-over work on the forthcoming big screen version of Star Trek.

Actor Sam Bottoms has died of brain cancer at age 53. Bottoms made his feature film debut opposite his brother Joseph in director Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 hit The Last Picture Show. Bottoms also had a prominent role in Clint Eastwood's hit 1976 western The Outlaw Josey Wales.  In 1979, Bottoms made a memorable impression as Lance, the drugged-out, surfing-obesses  hippie soldier who finds himself on a bizarre and seemingly suicidal mission in Vietnam and Cambodia in Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece Apocalypse Now. For more click here

One of Hollywood's last living actors associated with the glory days of the film industry has passed away. Van Johnson, one of the industry's glamour boys, was 92 years old. Although he never broke through to superstardom, Johnson was a popular leading man whose career peaked in the 1950s. Generally relegated to playing romantic leads, Johnson's good looks might well have prevented him from getting more interesting roles. By the 1960s, he landed prominent roles in a few "A" list studio pictures like Wives and Lovers and Divorce, American Style but from there it was basically a downhill ride. Throughout the ensuing years, he appeared largely in B movies and little-seen Euro trash productions, though he did have a supporting role in Woody Allen's 1985 film The Purple Rose of Cairo. In a column about Johnson's career, Entertainment Weekly appropriately notes that the high point was his superb performance in the 1954 screen version of The Caine Mutiny in which Johnson finds himself in the awkward position of having to assume command of a U.S. Navy warship when he deems his captain (Humphrey Bogart) as being unfit to steer the vessel through a typhoon. Here, Johnson held his own against such heavyweights as Bogart, Fred MacMurry and Jose Ferrer. For more click here

As we reported earlier in the week, model Bettie Page, who brought S&M and domination-based modeling into the mainstream in the 1950s, had suffered a serious heart attack. Today she passed away in a Los Angeles hospital. Hugh Hefner said of the 85 year-old Page," I think that she was a remarkable lady, an iconic figure in pop culture who influenced sexuality, taste in fashion, someone who had a tremendous impact on our society."  For details click here

Although his name may not have meant anything to the man on the street, Forrest J. Ackerman was a legend among science fiction and horror fans. Ackerman, who has passed away at age 92,  was a lifelong enthusiast of the genres and he founded Famous Monsters of Filmland, the first widely accepted movie magazine to treat horror films with genuine respect. Ackerman had befriended many of the screen's great horror stars and boasted a massive collection of props and movie memorabilia which he displayed in his home. He was also the man credited with coining the term "sci-fi" back in the 1950s as an off-shoot of the newly emerging "hi-fi" technology. Ackerman was a beloved figure among generations of movie fans. He also was a respected literary agent for a time, representing some of the most prominent sci-fi writers including Ray Bradbury, who he discovered when the novice writer was just a teenager. For more click here