In Memory of Ray Liotta (1954-2022)

Ray Liotta (1954-2022)

The actor Ray Liotta died in his sleep on May 26th, 2022. He was 67 years old. He was best known for his roles, such as hustler turned mobster Henry Hill in "Goodfellas" and baseball player "Shoeless" Joe Jackson in "Field of Dreams".

Ray was born in Newark, New Jersey. He became the adopted son of Alfred and Mary Liotta, who also adopted a daughter, Linda. He excelled at sports when attending Union High School and then studied drama and got cast in his first play, "Cabaret", at the University of Miami. After graduating college, Liotta moved to New York City and got work in commercials. The result was his casting as Joey Perrini on the daytime soap opera "Another World", where he appeared from 1978 to 1981.

Liotta earned his big break when he played the crazed ex-con Ray Sinclair in the 1986 black comedy "Something Wild". Following his breakthrough role, Liotta appeared in an acclaimed performance opposite Kevin Costner in the box-office hit "Field of Dreams". His memorable role as Henry Hill, a real-life mobster in Martin Scorsese's crime drama "Goodfellas" with Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro, solidified his celebrity status.

Other significant past films Liotta starred in include "Dominick and Eugene", "John Q", "Blow", "Operation Dumbo Drop", "Hannibal", "Wild Hogs", and "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt", etc. Last year, Liotta starred in "The Many Saints of Newark", a prequel to the HBO mob hit television series "The Sopranos".

Liotta was working on multiple projects at the time of his death. One of which was currently in post-production was "Cocaine Bear".

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In Memory of Vangelis (1943-2022)

Vangelis (1943-2022)

The Oscar-winning Greek composer Vangelis, known for composing synth-laden scores in films like "Chariots of Fire" and "Blade Runner", died while receiving treatment for COVID-19 on May 17th, 2022. He was 79 years old. I liked Vangelis' music, especially the iconic theme he wrote for the opening scene of "Chariots of Fire", which he gave its signature piano motif.

Born on March 29th, 1943, as Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, Vangelis, at an early age, began playing the piano when self-taught and had never learned to read or write music. In 1963, he formed his first band, Forminx, which played the pop music of the day: up-tempo rock'n'roll, sweeping ballads and covers of the Beatles, with Vangelis providing organ lines, before splitting in 1966. Vangelis contributed music to Greek films and worked for other musicians, becoming a writer and producer for hire. Two years later, Vangelis struck out for Paris to expand his career. He and Greek ex-pats, such as Demis Roussos, formed the prog-rock quartet Aphrodite's Child. It had hits like the single "Rain and Tears" in 1968 and the influential album "666" in 1972.

After splitting from Aphrodite's Child, Vangelis left the commercial music world, deeming it "very boring", and returned to scoring film and TV. He even turned down an invitation from the prog-rock band Yes to replace Rick Waterman as their keyboardist. Vangelis moved to London and signed a solo deal with RCA Records, where he recorded music for his LPs like "Heaven and Hell" and "Albedo 0.39". Each of them reached the UK Top 40, and the former gained further recognition when one of its instrumentals became the theme for Carl Sagan's popular TV series "Cosmos". The connection with Yes was completed in 1980 when he teamed up with its lead singer, Jon Anderson and released an album as Jon & Vangelis. Their musical partnership wouldn't last until 1991.

Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis continued his score work in films before the 80s when he reached commercial heights. It was "Chariots of Fire" that got him the attention he deserved, and at the time, it was a radical idea for director Hugh Hudson to choose him to come up with the soundtrack for a film set in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. Vangelis' score for "Chariots of Fire" won him an Oscar, was nominated for a Grammy, and the title track made its way onto the charts, including in the US, where it went to number one. It later topped the classical singles chart in the UK in 2012 after being performed by Rowan Atkinson as Mr Bean at the London Olympics opening ceremony. His success with "Chariots of Fire" continued when Vangelis scored the dystopian sci-fi noir "Blade Runner" for director Ridley Scott. In addition to the two movies he composed, Vangelis' other scoring credits include "Missing", "The Bounty", "1492: Conquest of Paradise" (which he reteamed with Ridley Scott), "Antarctica", "Bitter Moon", "Alexander" and documentaries by Jacques Cousteau.

While his solo work remained steady, Vangelis' work on "Chariots" brought him commissions from sporting bodies to soundtrack huge sports events such as the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the 2002 Japan and South Korea World Cups, and the 2004 Athens Olympics.

We will miss a legendary film composer like Vangelis, who has now gone to a better place. Here are the pieces of his famous scores from "Chariots of Fire" and "Blade Runner".

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