Passings

[collisionwork]

Two people gone, both talented. One I somewhat knew, not well, but well enough to like and like a lot, one I didn't know but loved onscreen.


Stephanie Mnookin was talented as an actress, amazing as a comedian, and lovely as a human being. I knew her from around Nada on Ludlow Street back in the day, and recently got to see her again when we performed as husband and wife in Theatre Askew's I, Claudius Live!. Soon after, I saw her perform at The Brick at the Brick-a-Brac variety show in her comedy duo, Guile, which was one of the damned funniest things I'd seen in a long time. This Summer, I saw Guile on TV on a new show on FUSE, and was really glad to see them moving up to the attention they deserved. I had been hoping to see Guile again live sometime soon, both to laugh a lot and to congratulate Stephanie on her career advances (she had been having some success as a writer as well).

I'm somewhat embarassed to admit that for a long time, Stephanie always had to remind me every time we met (years apart, usually, granted) of the various places we knew each other from -- I always knew that I KNEW her when I saw her, you couldn't forget her face, but I could never remember from WHERE. After seeing Guile, she finally stuck permanently in my head, name face, where I knew her from.

Michael Gardner told me of her death (from a sudden heart attack) a few days ago. Everyone I've talked to who knew her is simply stunned and upset. Here's a brief, lovely tribute from some people who knew her much better than I.

I'll miss Stephanie.


"Adrienne Shelly was best known and loved for her work in the films of Hal Hartley. She did many other things (including a nice turn on an episode of Homicide), but many of us will always love her for being Maria Coughlin in Trust.

The final shot of that film is probably my favorite closing image of any film ever -- Maria, standing under a traffic light in the wind, watching Matthew, the man she loves (or at least "respects, admires, and trusts"), being taken away by the cops, having put on her glasses (which she hates and he loves) to see him clearly as he vanishes in the distance, wearing her old boyfriend's varsity jacket over a dress of Matthew's late mother. Watching. With a great music cue composed and performed by Hartley himself. Garbo at the end of Queen Christina comes to Long Island.


This isn't that last long shot -- no one seems to have a capture of it online -- but a publicity photo from around that moment:





Adrienne Shelly (who I discovered shares my birthday, and was two years older than me; I would have thought her younger) died two days ago, and the cause is still being investigated. She will always be a beloved part of film history for me, at least for being part of one perfect shot.

Comments

[rezendi.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Trust, but your description of that last shot reminds me of the last shot of The Third Man.

[ohszyszka.livejournal.com]

I love Trust. Hartley went to my college too, she was also in Revolution # 9 (good flick) also by another Purchase College filmmaker - Tim McCann.

It's so tragic.