I was shocked to see that Maximilian Schell died at the age of 83 back on 1 February. He seemed healthy, but apparently he got a bad case of pneumonia and quickly died. The next thing you know Max von Sydow will be dead and I won’t know what to do. These people I don’t personally know are so much part of me, it is hard to carry on. It is one thing to have the movies, even when they don’t make anymore themselves. (Although that isn’t true of either of those men.) But seeing them from long ago on screen and knowing that they are alive is something special. The odd things is, I’m a lot more okay with my own death than I am theirs.

Now I’m going through my films to see if I have any of Schell’s films to watch. In terms of his acting, I’m afraid I’m left with relative dreck: The Freshman and The Brothers Bloom. Although I have to admit, he’s great in both of those, especially the first. But I wish I had Judgment at Nuremberg or The Man in the Glass Booth. I will probably watch Marlene, his documentary about Marlene Dietrich. At least she gave us another seven years! I will miss the old man.

Here is a great scene from Judgment at Nuremberg, although I have to say that Montgomery Clift steals it: