This Sunday, September 30th would have been director/designer Robert Fuest's 85th birthday. Bob was a childhood idol of mine and became a dear friend. We were in touch literally until the last day of his life. His best films--
The Abominable Dr. Phibes,
Dr. Phibes Rises Again,
The Final Programme, and
Wuthering Heights-- are shot through with Bob's painterly compositions, pathos, stylishness, wit, and delicious black humor. They all hold up beautifully, even after countless viewings. "Unique" is a grossly overused word, but Bob was absolutely, positively that. The film world is vastly poorer for his absence.
What saddens me most about Bob's absence is that my love letter to
The Abominable Dr. Phibes, an exhaustive 40-page article on it, will be appearing in issue #29 of Little Shoppe of Horrors magazine, which he will never see. The article is dedicated to him. (For more information, visit www.littleshoppeofhorrors.com.)
I think of Bob somewhat like Cathy said of Heathcliff in Bob's Wuthering Heights: "I shall carry him with me. He's in my soul."
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