Notable Passings

...This evening I learned from the Noir and Chick Flicks blog of the passing of actress Myrna Dell.

Miss Dell died on February 11, 2011, a few weeks shy of turning 87.

Dell was one of a bevy of beautiful dance hall girls in a little Western I especially liked called ROUGHSHOD (1949). ROUGHSHOD also starred Robert Sterling, Gloria Grahame, and Claude Jarman Jr.

Dell's personal website has a nice page of stills from the film, and the blog Film Noir Photos also has a terrific publicity still featuring Dell and the cast.

Myrna Dell's film career began in 1941, when she was in the chorus of ZIEGFELD GIRL (1941), and included at least 75 film and TV credits, including the film noir NOCTURNE (1946).

Dell had small roles in two films reviewed here, THE LOCKET (1946) and THE GIRL FROM JONES BEACH (1949). She was also in an episode of my favorite TV series, MAVERICK.

Update: There's another tribute to Dell at Boot Hill. (Via Tom, guest linking at Classic Movies.)

...Actress Elisabeth Sladen, beloved to DR. WHO fans as Sarah Jane Smith, a role she played for nearly four decades, passed away today at the age of 63. She had suffered from cancer.

Beginning in 1973, Sladen played Sarah Jane in various incarnations of the long-running British series, working on the show as recently as last year. She also starred in a spinoff series, THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES, which still has unaired episodes.

Sladen's autobiography will be published in June.