Emmy-nominated director Catherine Cyran is no more
Emmy-nominated director Catherine Cyran passed away on Christmas Eve, according to multiple social media posts from those close to her. She was 59.
Fred White no more
Legendary drummer for the Grammy-winning R&B band Earth, Wind & Fire, Fred White has passed away aged 67 on Monday. No cause of death was given. Since White is the brother of Verdine White and the half-brother of Maurice White, he is a vital member of the ensemble’s familial lineage. In 2000, he and other founding members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame despite having left the band. ANI
The filmmaker passed away on December 24 in Vancouver, B.C., following a battle with cancer. Before emerging as director in the 1990s, Cyran established herself as a screenwriter, with films such as 1990’s Slumber Party Massacre III and A Cry in the Wild, the 1990 adaptation of Gary Paulsen’s novel Hatchet.
She made her feature film directorial debut with the 1993 sequel White Wolves: A Cry in the Wild II, for which she earned an Emmy nomination. Cyran entered the entertainment industry working as an executive assistant under the seminal director Roger Corman. Under Corman, Cyran wrote and produced titles such as Dead Space, Uncaged, Fire on the Amazon, starring Sandra Bullock, and Kiss Me a Killer which earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Cyran also served as a ghostwriter for Frankenstein Unbound, Corman’s final feature as a director. Cyran also published one novel, The Island of the Last Great Auk. Her screenplay, titled The Last Story received the Canadian International Film Festival Award for excellence in writing.
Her final film, Our Italian Christmas Memories, starring Beau Bridges, aired on Hallmark a few weeks before her death.
