FAREWELL, HUGH HUDSON...

As a director, you possessed an epic elegance, creating characters and landscapes that entered the eyes and seeped straight to the heart.

Such excellence can be found in the revered Chariots of Fire, as well Fangio, Lost Angels, I Dreamed of Africa, The Journey Home, My Life So Far, Altamira, Midnight Express (as second-unit director) and (in conjunction with your angelic spouse, Maryam D'Abo), the profound documentary, Rupture: Living With My Broken Brain. 

To Edgar Rice Burroughs fans, you bestowed one of the best ape-man movies ever forged, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, with the amazing Christopher Lambert in the titular role.

And then there's your controversial Revolution, which may have stumbled upon its 1985 release, but over the years has been reanalyzed by those with a penchant for the American Revolutionary War. The 2009, "Revisited" edition rekindled interested further, thus giving this Al Pacino/Nastassja Kinski/Donald Sutherland effort far greater respect.

Your quiet yet energetic flair was unique yet universally appealing: the sort that gets better with each and every view. For this, you'll be dearly appreciated among aficionados of superior cinema for generations to come. 

RIP BEN CROSS...

You made your mark as Olympian Harold Abrahams in the Oscar-winning "Chariots of Fire", but your career also proved enriching in other impressive ways, in particular when it came to the dark, daring and unusual.

For one, you portrayed Barnabas Collins in the "Dark Shadows", 1991 revival, having tested the bloodsucker water prior in the quirky "Nightlife". 

You also embraced the weird and ethereal in "Wicked Little Things"; "The Unholy"; "Hellfire"; "Paperhouse"; "The Invader"; "Species: the Awakening"; and that popular, alternate prequel, "Exorcist: the Beginning", while landing the role of Spock's father, Sarek, in the parallel-universe smash, "Star Trek (2009)". You also visited such otherworldly televisions shows as "Tales from the Crypt"; "Twilight Zone '86"; "The Ray Bradbury Theater"; and "Poltergeist: the Legacy".

You tackled epic adventure, as well, as you demonstrated in "First Knight"; "The Order"; "Eye of the Window"; "Live Wire"; "The Mechanik"; "Turbulence"; "War Inc."; "A Common Man"; "Hero Wanted"; "The Hurricane Heist"; "Jarhead: Law of Return"; "Steal the Sky"; "Tower of the Firstborn"; "Behind Enemy Lines II"; "Grendel (2007); "Cold Sweat (1993)"; "Spartacus (2004)"; "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997{NBC edition})"; and "Jack the Giant Killer (2013)". 

No matter how big or small, your performances were always impassioned and important, Mr. Cross, and as such drew audiences by the score: an admirable feat that only a select few performers ever attain and one for which your fans will continue to serve illimitable devotion.