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Conny Van Dyke, a Motown Records star who acted on television during the ‘60s and ‘70s and again in the ‘00s, has passed away at age 78. Van Dyke’s son, Bronson Page, told Variety that the singer-songwriter died of complications of vascular dementia on Saturday at home in Los Angeles. She also battled colon cancer during her lifetime and suffered a stroke that partially paralyzed her, the magazine reports. Born in 1945, Van Dyke got a start in the music industry writing songs for Wheelsville Records in her native Detroit. She signed with Motown Records in 1961, according to Variety, and in 1963, she released single versions of “Oh, Freddy,” written by Smokey Robinson, and “It Hurt Me Too,” written by Marvin Gaye. Everett Collection “I had Marvin Gaye playing the piano for me, Stevie Wonder playing the bongos. He really was 12 years old,” Van Dyke said in an interview with comedian Skip E. Lowe,...

Conny Van Dyke, a singer-songwriter signed to Motown Records who starred in such films as “W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings” and “Framed,” has died. She was 78.

Van Dyke died on Nov. 11 at her home in Los Angeles due to complications of vascular dementia, her son Bronson Page told Variety.

The Detroit native was a longtime colon cancer and stroke survivor. She got her start in the entertainment industry when she was just 15 and a student in high school, making the film “Among the Thorns” with Tom Laughlin, Bill Wellman Jr. and Stephanie Powers. During that time, Van Dyke also worked as a songwriter for Wheelsville Records in Detroit.

In 1961, Van Dyke signed with Motown Records, making her one of the first white recording artists on the label. Her first two singles, “Oh, Freddy,” written by Smokey Robinson, and “It Hurt Me Too,” previously written and recorded by Marvin Gaye, were...

In the 1970s crime films morphed into sadistic vigilante fantasies about tough-guy heroes avenging terrible crimes against their families. Veteran noir director Phil Karlson directed the bruiser’s bruiser Joe Don Baker in a standard tale of violent vengeance, with the violence factor given an extra bloody boost.

Framed

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date February 28, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Joe Don Baker, Conny Van Dyke, John Marley, Gabriel Dell,, Brock Peters, John Larch, Warren J. Kemmerling, Walter Brooke, Paul Mantee, H.B. Haggerty, Roy Jenson.

Cinematography: Jack A. Marta

Film Editor: Harry W. Gerstad

Stunts: Carey Loftin, Gil Perkins, Buddy Joe Hooker

Original Music: Pat Williams

Written by Mort Briskin from a book by Art Powers & Mike Misenheimer

Produced by Joel Briskin, Mort Briskin

Directed by Phil Karlson

Time for another curiosity review, of a grindhouse gut-basher from the 1970s — a subgenre I avoided when new.