Actor John Phillip Law--
Blind Angel in 'Barbarella,' Passes Away
John Philip Law in "Barbarella"
I just heard the news that my good friend John Philip Law passed away at his West Hollywood home and am very upset to hear of his passing.. John
was one of the most kind, down to earth people you would ever want to
meet.. He would often come and see White Trash Debutantes play and be
front and center. He also appeared on the cover of Punk Globe in 1982
... He enjoyed life and respected all that he met. This is a very sad
day for me.. Below is his obituary to give you all a better idea of
what he had done in his life.. REST IN PEACE JOHN !!
LOS ANGELES (AP) — John Phillip Law, the strikingly handsome 1960s
movie actor who portrayed an angel in the futuristic "Barbarella" and a
lovesick Russian seaman in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are
Coming," has died. He was 70.
Law died Tuesday at his Los Angeles home, said his daughter Dawn Law. The cause of death was not announced.
With his vivid eyes, blond hair and imposing physique, Law was much in demand by filmmakers in the late 1960s and early '70s.
He
gained wide notice in 1966 with Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner and Theo Bikel
in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming," Norman Jewison's
Cold War comedy in which a Soviet submarine runs aground off a peaceful
New England island town.
He played the sweet Russian youth who
falls in love with a local American girl in the film, which was
nominated for four Oscars including best picture, actor (Arkin) and
director.
French director Roger Vadim put Law's looks to good use
in his 1968 science fiction film, "Barbarella," which starred Vadim's
wife at the time, Jane Fonda, as a sexy space traveler in the faraway
future. Law wore wings to portray Pygar, a blind angel.
've had more kicks out of playing far-out things," Law told the Los
Angeles Times in 1966. "It's like putting on a funny face and going out
in front of people and going, 'yaaaaaa.'"
Messages left Thursday for Fonda's New York publicist were not returned.
Law
was World War I ace Baron Manfred von Richtofen in the 1971 "The Red
Baron" and Charlton Heston's son in "The Hawaiians," a 1970 sequel to
"Hawaii," based on James Michener's sprawling novel.
In Otto
Preminger's 1967 film, "Hurry Sundown," he was a war veteran struggling
to preserve his farm against a land speculator played by Michael Caine.
Fonda played Caine's wife.
He continued his career in a variety
of U.S. and foreign films and television over the past 30 years,
including appearances in "The Young and the Restless" and "Murder, She
Wrote."
Law was a California native, born in 1937 to actress
Phyllis Sallee, and her husband, a police officer. He told the Los
Angeles Times he did some extra work in films as a child. He said he
put acting ambitions aside in his teens, but his interest was renewed
in a college drama class.
He worked in the theater in New York
for a while before breaking into the movies, spending some time in the
Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, whose directors included the great
Elia Kazan.
