Thursday, September 25, 2014

Dead (Wo)Men Act Many Tales

Warning: Mildly morbid celebration of artistry below.

It's an unfortunate side effect of life: Death.

But in the field of acting, and what many actors strive to do, is entertain, enlighten and bring out the best in people with their craft.

Sometimes this happens, quite unfortunately, after their own passing.

This is a list of actors, from various mediums, who left one last performance (sometimes more) after the fact.

Mako

Mako was a beloved voice/on-camera actor for many, passing away during the second season of the brilliant Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon. It's unknown how much of the voice acting was from him and how much was filled in by Greg Baldwin (the next performer to play General/Uncle Iroh), but he was known for many roles audience members will continue to treasure.

He left two last performances after Avatar:

- TMNT (2007)
Splinter
- Rise (2007) Poe

Marlon Brando

This legendary actor died in 2004, but thanks to already filmed footage and CGI talents, Marlon played a few more roles (and even Don Vito one last time in The Godfather video game).

There are numerous credits, but of note to many is:

- Superman Returns (2006) Jor-El [Footage and CGI]
- The Godfather (2004) Don Vito [Video game adaptation]

Justin "JewWario" Carmichal

Justin was an internet performer who's reviews have been a hit for years on Channel Awesome, sadly passed in 2014. But he had two posthumous performances left. One via fellow internet performer "Nash" of Radio Dead Air (who debated lengthily about uploading the review in light of Justin's passing and gags in the review relating to injuring JewWario), the other via internet performer James "The Nerd/AVGN" Rolfe's long-in-the-making movie, as a cameo among many internet performer clips, Justin's recorded in 2013. He played JewWario in both.

- Dr. Strange - A Review (25 March 2014)
http://radiodeadair.com/2014/03/25/review-dr-strange/
- Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie (2014)
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/avgn

Gloria Foster

Known better to modern audiences as The Oracle from The Matrix (1999), her performance in The Matrix Reloaded (2003) was unknowingly posthumous to many (she had passed away in 2001).
This left the Wachowskis to add a reason why The Oracle had swapped faces to the script.
Her character was played in The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and tie-in games Enter The Matrix (2003) and The Matrix Online (2005) by Foster's friend and fellow actress Mary Alice.

- The Matrix Reloaded (2003) The Oracle

Heath Ledger

You may be thinking I'm about to list The Dark Knight (2008) below. I'm not, despite it being his last completed film. His last unfinished work was actually after that! His final work was a film by Monty Python veteran (and Director) Terry Gilliam called The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Heath had died during filming, but two things eased the pain for all involved in the production. Especially for Heath's immediate family.

1: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell agreed to help finish Heath's role.
2: The above gentlemen (in the best sense of the word) gave ALL their earnings on this film to Heath's daughter Matilda, so her financial future would not fizzle away.

- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009) Tony

And with the light in the darkness from those three men above, I shall leave this list as an internet oddity perused out of curiousity!

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