Actress Carol Marsh has died at age 80. Marsh's screen career was rather limited, but she did have major roles in several pivotal British film classics. She gained her first big break by winning the female lead role opposite Richard Attenborough in the 1947 crime classic Brighton Rock (aka Young Scarface). She played an impressionable young woman who has the misfortune of falling in love and marrying a ruthless young gang leader. She also played the key role of Lucy in the 1958 Hammer Films version of Dracula (aka Horror of Dracula) opposite Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Marsh played the title role in the 1949 version of Alice in Wonderland. She also appeared in the classic Alastair Sim version of  A Christmas Carol (aka Scrooge). Marsh had not made a feature film since 1959 but did continue to act on British television until the mid 1970s. 

If you were a baby boomer growing up in the New York City area, WABC was the AM radio station you were glued to for the best rock 'n roll and British invasion songs, all brought to you by legendary DJ's Cousin Bruce, Harry Harrison and Ron Lundy. Yesterday, Lundy died from a heart attack in Mississippi. He had a career that spanned almost thirty years, bringing classics to listeners when the songs were new, then becoming a popular retro DJ. His famous signature greeting was, "Hello, Luv!" He also had a famous movie cameo, though he was not seen on screen: his familiar voice is heard by Jon Voight's Joe Buck on his transistor radio as he begins his ominous entrance into New York City in Midnight Cowboy. For more click here

Peter Graves, who became an icon of 1960s TV as the star of Mission:Impossible, collapsed and died at his house from an apparent heart attack yesterday. He was 83 years old. Graves toiled for years as a supporting actor in feature films, having made an impression as a German.spy among American POWS in the 1953 classic Stalag 17. Graves was the star of the popular 1950s TV western series Fury. Both he and his younger brother James Arness, who starred in Gunsmoke, found major success on CBS. Graves played agent Jim Phelps in the hit 1960s spy show Mission: Impossible and the opening of every episode, in which a tape self-destructs after reading him his assignment, remains an iconic aspect of TV history.The role won him a Golden Globe award.  Graves was generally cast as stalwart heroic types, but in the 1980 big screen comedy Airplane! he displayed a deft flair for comedy as the macho airline pilot with a penchant for little boys and gladiators. Graves worked consistently over the decades, also hosting the popular Biography TV series for years. For more click here

UPDATE

Merlin Olsen, who terrified opponents on the football field when he played with the Los Angeles Rams only to play gentle giants on-screen, died yesterday of cancer at age 69. Olsen was best known as an actor for appearing in the TV series Little House on the Prairie and Father Brown. He also made several feature films including The Undefeated with John Wayne and Rock Hudson and Something Big with Dean Martin. For more click here

Actor Corey Haim, who enjoyed a streak of popularity in 1980s teen films, is dead at age 38, apparently from a drug over-dose. Haim led a troubled life that alienated him from his peer and frequent co-star Corey Feldman. Haim starred in a string of popular 1980s teen-oriented films including The Lost Boys, Lucas and License to Drive. Click here for more

Charles B. Pierce, a noted set decorator on major studio films who turned to directing low-budget but profitable movies, has died at age 71. No cause of death has been announced. As set decorator, Pierce worked on films like The Sterile Cuckoo, Pretty Maids All in a Row, Skyjacked and The Outlaw Josey Wales. He also wrote the story for the Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact. However, Pierce had his greatest success by producing and directing his own low-budget films, often marketed to rural and drive-in audiences. His 1972 horror film The Legend of Boggy Creek was a major financial success and inspired the 1999 blockbuster The Blair Witch Project. For more click here

By Lee Pfeiffer

Martin Benson, the distinguished British actor, has passed away at age 91. Although he had a wealth of credits from film and TV work, Benson was immortalized as the ill-fated Mafia boss Mr. Solo in the 1964 James Bond classic Goldfinger. It was his character who was famously crushed to death inside a new luxury car in one of the film's most legendary scenes. Benson's character's name caused some contention with the Bond producers. Ian Fleming suggested using the same name as the hero Robert Vaughn played on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and embellished it a bit by adding a first name: Napoleon. The show's producer Norman Felton originally shot the pilot under the title Solo but changed it to The Man From U.N.C.L.E. when Bond producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman raised concerns that viewers might confuse it with an official Fleming project. Benson's other film credits include Cleopatra, A Shot in the Dark, The Omen, Behold a Pale Horse and The Sea Wolves. For more click here