JAMES STACY

15 Sept

(23 December 1936 – 9 September 2016)

The American actor James Stacy first wanted to be a professional football player but turned to acting at a friend’s suggestion. His first uncredited film appearance was in Sayonara (1957) with Marlon Brando. He was a sailor in South Pacific (1958) and continued in small parts on TV in Cheyenne, The Donna Reed Show, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Perry Mason etc and the title role in Lancer, as well as Disney’s Summer Magic.

In the 1970s he was in The Streets of San Francisco, Marcus Welby M.D. and Gunsmoke. However, in 1973 he lost an arm and a leg in a motorcycle accident but returned to work in 1975 in a role created for him by Kirk Douglas in Posse. He continued to work mainly on TV until 1992 but more trouble lay ahead. In 1995 he was arrested for child molestation, but fled and tried suicide. In 1996 he was charged again for child abuse and served six years in jail. Stacy was divorced from both Connie Stevens and Kim Darby. He was Emmy-nominated twice for Just a Little Inconvenience (1977) and Cagney & Lacey (1981).

MICHAEL DARVELL

Michael Darvell

Michael Darvell trained as a librarian at Watford and in Surrey before joining Ealing Libraries where he became Music Librarian for the borough. He edited Masthead, the magazine of the University of North London School of Librarianship, The Surrealist, the staff magazine of Surrey County Library, and contributed to the Assistant Librarian and London Librarian professional journals. A freelance film reviewer since 1970, he has written for Film, Films Illustrated, Film Review, Movie Maker and Radio Times, as well as editing Montage, the London film societies magazine, for ten years. A change of career saw him joining What’s On in London as Features Editor and he eventually stepped into the shoes of the late F. Maurice Speed (founding father of Film Review annual) as the magazine’s Editor. From 2007 to 2015, he was co-editor of the Film Review annual with Mansel Stimpson. As well as writing about films, Michael has reviewed theatre for The Stage newspaper, and has written about music theatre and cabaret for the Classical Source and Musical Theatre Review websites. He is also a former restaurant critic for the ViewLondon website. Michael has been a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle since 2005.

JAMES STACY

EDWARD ALBEE

HUGH O’BRIAN