Rad-ish, the directing team of Christoph Chrudimak and Moritz Friedel, has signed with Park Pictures, New York. They had previously been with bicoastal Go Film….Director Arni Thor Jonsson has joined bicoastal Cohn + Company….Director Wade J. Robson has come aboard BlueYed Pictures, which maintains offices in Los Angeles, London and Tokyo….Editor Bob Spector has joined Red Car, San Francisco….Editor Staci Le Van has come aboard charlieuniformtango, Dallas….Lead animators Charlie Breakiron and William Clay have joined the 3-D department of visual effects studio Quiet Man, New York….Producers/ composers Michael Boyd and Peter Scaturro have teamed to form Obscura Music, Venice, Calif….Mark Tutssel, vice chairman and regional creative director of Leo Burnett USA, Chicago, has been named executive TV jury chairman for the 2005 International Clio Awards & Festival. Ty Montague, recently named co-president and executive creative director of J. Walter Thompson, New York, is Clio’s executive content and contact jury chairman…. MiShawn Williams has come aboard bicoastal Face The Music as producer….Paul Silburn has been named executive creative director for Fallon North America. He will be based in the Minneapolis office; he had previously been deputy creative director at TBWA, London….Jimmy Smith has joined BBDO New York as an executive creative director. He comes over from Wieden+ Kennedy, Portland, Ore., and will report to David Lubars, chairman/chief creative officer for BBDO North America….Audrey Berger has been named executive producer at McHale Barone, a New York-based TV/radio spot scoring shop….Senior mixer/sound designer Frank Verderosa has joined Nutmeg Audio Post, New York….Editor Nicholas Erasmus of Terminal, Santa Monica, is again available for spots after wrapping independent feature Pretty Persuasion, directed by Marcos Siega. The film, which stars James Woods, Evan Rachel Wood and Ron Livingston, is slated for release in 2005….
Gene Hackman Died Of Heart Disease; Hantavirus Claimed His Wife’s Life About One Week Prior
Actor Gene Hackman died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from hantavirus in their New Mexico hillside home, likely unaware that she was dead because he was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, authorities revealed Friday. Both deaths were ruled to be from natural causes, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said alongside state fire and health officials at a news conference. "Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer's disease," Jarrell said. "He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that's what resulted in his death." Authorities didn't suspect foul play after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and Betsy Arakawa, 65, were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for carbon monoxide poisoning were negative. Investigators found that the last known communication and activity from Arakawa was Feb. 11 when she visited a pharmacy, pet store and grocery before returning to their gated neighborhood that afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday. Hackman's pacemaker last showed signs of activity a week later and that he had an abnormal heart rhythm Feb. 18, the day he likely died, Jarrell said. Although there was no reliable way to determine the date and time when both died, all signs point to their deaths coming a week apart, Jarrell said. "It's quite possible he was not aware she was deceased," Jarrell said. Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, said he believes Hackman was severely impaired due to Alzheimer's disease and unable to deal with his wife's death in the last week of his life. "You are talking about very severe Alzheimer's disease that normal people would be in a nursing home or have a nurse, but she was taking care... Read More