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Walter Mirisch, the legendary independent-minded producer who is the only person to receive the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences’ Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Irving G. Thalberg Award and an Oscar for best picture, has died. He was 101.

The affable Mirisch, who served four terms as president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences from 1973-77, died Friday in Los Angeles of natural causes, AMPAS announced.

“Walter was a true visionary, both as a producer and as an industry leader,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said in a joint statement. “He had a powerful impact on the film community and the Academy, serving as our president and as an Academy governor for many years. His passion for filmmaking and the Academy never wavered, and he remained a dear friend and adviser.”

Survivors include his son Larry Mirisch, the owner of The Mirisch Agency,...

American actor Jody McCrea has died of cardiac arrest. He was 74.

McCrea, who appeared in over 90 films during his career, died on 4 April in New Mexico - where he worked as a cattle rancher.

The son of movie stars Joel McCrea and Frances Dee, he began acting on the 1960 TV western Wichita Town with his father.

He became best-known for acting in the Beach Party movies of the decade, in which he co-starred with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon.

McCrea also acted in numerous film and television productions before his retirement in 1970 - including 1962 movie The Broken Land, co-starring Jack Nicholson, and small screen appearances on Wagon Train, Vacation Playhouse and The Greatest Show on Earth.

His wife, Dusty, died in 1996.

Jody McCrea, the son of Joel McCrea, passed away earlier this month. He was primarily known for his roles in cult films. In this excerpt from his book, Cinema Retro columnist pays tribute to McCrea's career.

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Tall, strapping, square-jawed Jody McCrea who became a favorite of teenage audiences during the Sixties for his amusing performances as “Deadhead” in the series of Beach Party (1963) movies starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello passed away on April 4 of this year. As the dumb surfer in the bunch, Deadhead could be counted on to say something idiotic in his slow drawl. Though McCrea was always assured a laugh based on how the role was written, it is to his credit that Deadhead came off as sweetly naïve rather than a complete moron.

Jody McCrea was born on September 6, 1934 in Los Angeles. His father was western star...

According to his official website, Jody McCrea, the actor-son of Frances Dee and Joel McCrea, died in in Roswell, New Mexico, of cardiac arrest on April 4. He was 74. Born on Sept. 6, 1934, in Los Angeles, Jody McCrea was the oldest of McCrea and Dee’s three sons. Frances Dee was best known for playing sweet young things in the 1930s, e.g., Little Women and The Gay Deception (though her most remarkable performance at that time was the nymphomaniac in Blood Money), and for the atmospheric I Walked with a Zombie in 1943. Joel McCrea starred in dozens of dramas and comedies in the 1930s and 1940s, including the classics The Palm Beach Story (1942) and The More the Merrier (1943), but in the 1950s spent most of his on-screen time riding horses and wearing cowboy hats, usually in B+ productions. Jody McCrea began his acting career in the short-lived 1959 television series Wichita Town,...