My Favourite film (1 Viewer)

[AnthonyClarke]

Sadly my father Anthony has passed away, he made a special mention to say goodbye to all his friends on this forum. His cancer was diagnosed only a couple of weeks before his death and we can be consoled knowing he enjoyed films and books right up until the end.


he was barely able to talk but was able to ask me to write this to you all:
"I won't be able to answer anyone but I loved talking to you all"

 

[Walter Kittel]

Very sorry to hear of your father's passing. My condolences and best wishes to you and to your father's family and friends.

- Walter.

 

[RMajidi]

Adding my condolences to you, your family and friends for the sad and sudden loss of your father. He was only recently detailing his stoush with Covid here with typical good humour.

From his many colourful posts, it was clear Anthony was a musical gentleman of decency, intelligence and refined taste, with an abiding love for Robyn, whom he often mentioned here, and the rest of his family.

I’ll watch The Tales of Hoffmann and The Harvey Girls again in the coming days in his honour, as he often referred to his particular fondness for those films on these boards.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Anthony was a great HTF member and he will be greatly missed by all here. My condolences to you and your family for his tragic loss.

 

[titch]

I'm so sorry to hear this. How very thoughtful of him to let us know that he is no longer with us.

I always enjoyed reading Anthony's posts. He posted as a real person, with a real name, and a real photo of himself and his sweetheart, taken back in the swinging sixties. A gentleman. He obviously had a great deal of life experience and knew a lot about films. He never posted simply to gain attention. How sad to hear that he was unable to do the trip to Europe, which he was looking forward to.

I hope it brings some comfort to you to know that he was appreciated by people he had never met.

 

[Will Krupp]

What terribly sad news. My deep condolences go out to you and your family and I will sincerely miss your father's thoughts on film, his wonderful ability to tell stories about his life, and his sharp as a knife sense of humor. He was always someone I would have liked to meet. I hope I can speak for us all when I say that we all felt as though we knew him even though we never actually met.

Please give deepest sympathy to Robyn who, thanks to your father, I sort of count as an extended member of our HTF family. Please let her know how appreciated he was around these parts.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I am very sorry to learn of Anthony's passing.

It always hurts to lose someone that has been part of our family here. Anthony was known for his love and knowledge of classic film which he shared regularly on this forum. I was just reading one of his posts the other day where he mentions his son surprising him with a 4k copy of "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." He was looking to further complete that collection.

This is a major loss for us. My condolences to his family.

 

[Matt Hough]

I'm very sorry to read this sad news, but like you, we were all privileged to be a part of his life, even in the small way of internet interaction. I was always fascinated by his knowledge and his personal tastes in films making him such a valued member of our little family here. R.I.P.

 

[Alan Tully]

That's really sad news, I'm so sorry. I always enjoyed Anthony's posts. It's all a bit like a film loving family here, we never meet, so never hear of each others problems & health worries (I think most of us are getting on a bit). I was always intrigued about Anthony's avatar, it looks like a really old passport photo booth picture, was that his wife, maybe girlfriend at the time?

 

[Indy Guy]

Thanks to this forum, Anthony was able to share his recollections and friendship with the art director John Truscott. I am a great admirer of Truscott's work, and was able to gain much information from Anthony's friendship with John. In our conversations, I also came to know and respect Anthony. So sorry he will no longer be there to chat further.

 

[battlebeast]

RIP. So very sorry.

 

[Joel Arndt]

I'm so sorry to hear this as I always enjoyed reading your father's posts on here. Wonderful insights and a great sense of humor. My condolences to you, your family and everyone else in your father's orbit.

 

[dana martin]

prayers for you and your family and no amount of sorrow can express how it feels to loose a parent. I will miss his opinions, humor and insightfulness, that he express in all of his postings.

 

[AnthonyClarke]

This is his son, Sebastian. I have saved the thread and mailed my sisters and Robyn who will enjoy your kind thoughts and wishes.

We all miss him very much. As you might have guessed he was an extraordinary man, Arts editor for the age, Manager of the Australian Ballet, and Arts administrator for the Australian Opera to mention a few of his roles. His Intellect was only matched by his kindness and mischievous sense of humour.

Hi knowledge of literature, film and music is as prolific as our library which is bursting at the seams and filling the garage and all the nooks and crannies around our home, much to my mothers dismay.

Yes, as some of you might have guessed that is my parents in his profile pic, created during the 60's during their time in London where they went to all the who, Bob Dylan and Beatles concerts they could.

 

[Tino]

Condolences and RIP.

 

[bujaki]

This is his son, Sebastian. I have saved the thread and mailed my sisters and Robyn who will enjoy your kind thoughts and wishes.

We all miss him very much. As you might have guessed he was an extraordinary man, Arts editor for the age, Manager of the Australian Ballet, and Arts administrator for the Australian Opera to mention a few of his roles. His Intellect was only matched by his kindness and mischievous sense of humour.

Hi knowledge of literature, film and music is as prolific as our library which is bursting at the seams and filling the garage and all the nooks and crannies around our home, much to my mothers dismay.

Yes, as some of you might have guessed that is my parents in his profile pic, created during the 60's during their time in London where they went to all the who, Bob Dylan and Beatles concerts they could.

To Sebastian, Robyn and the Clarke family,
The sad news has really taken me aback. Anthony joined this forum a few months before I did, and I found a kindred soul in him. He was just a few years older than I, but as different culturally and linguistically as could be: he, Australian and English speaking; I, Puerto Rican and Spanish speaking. But we shared so many interests, besides movies, and even there our tastes were similar.
I envied his past lives in the arts where he got to meet so many of the luminaries I only knew via audio recordings or films. I corresponded with him sending him condolences when his great friend Barry Tuckwell passed away. We discussed 78rpm recordings, using steel needles once per side and then discarding them. We joked about one of his favorite singers, Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, dubbing her "Betty Blackhead," upon which he responded that we spoke the same language, a high compliment indeed. I loved his wit, his knowledge of all things musical (classical, Broadway musicals, and as you mention, those '60s bands).
Tonight, in his memory, I will play Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs, an elegiac song cycle, as recorded by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf; and will play his favorite Judy Garland film, For Me and My Gal, one of the last films that he awaited ever so longingly to own, and that he got to enjoy.
I sincerely wish I had met him and Robyn, and can only add to my condolences that I will sorely miss him.
May he rest in peace.

 

[Bernard McNair]

My deepest condolences to Robyn and your entire family, Sebastian.
I always enjoyed Anthony’s posts and wonderful insights into classic film.
We corresponded via PM’s a number of times bemoaning the lack of TCM in Australia.
Arts in Australia has lost a key figure and this forum (and classic film) has lost a great friend.
RIP Anthony

 

[Stephen_J_H]

So sorry for your loss. Anthony's contributions on classic film were always insightful, and his profile pic was/is still amazing.

 

[marcco00]

He's in Heaven now, surrounded by his favorite stars

 

[lark144]

These posts bring tears to my eyes. It's hard to realize, very f-ing hard, that I will no longer have the pleasure of reading Anthony's posts or engaging in dialogue with him, his humor, his knowledge, his ability to jump from one subject to the other, but all of it leavened by love and familiarity. I miss him so much already. To be surrounded by beauty, sublime and transcendent, in films, books and music,; I can't imagine a better life. Those images take on a life of their own, and commune with us, so when I watch Gene Kelly and Judy Garland again, in FOR ME AND MY GAL and THE PIRATE, I'll also be imagining Anthony smile.