DARK SHADOWS FORUMS

Members' Mausoleum => Calendar Events / Announcements Archive => Calendar Events / Announcements '24 I => Calendar Events / Announcements '15 II => Topic started by: Uncle Roger on August 05, 2015, 05:39:36 AM

Title: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: Uncle Roger on August 05, 2015, 05:39:36 AM

Lela Swift, one of Dark Shadows' major directors, passed away at her home in Santa Monica at the age of 96 of natural causes. Lela worked her way up from the secretarial pool to become one of TV's most respected directors. She won three Emmy Awards, among other honors. Rest in peace, Lela.

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: Gerard on August 05, 2015, 08:06:38 PM

RIP, Lela Swift.  Your life has been marvelous and you made our lives marvelous.

Gerard

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: Mysterious Benefactor on August 05, 2015, 09:37:57 PM

Yes, Lela single handedly developed many of the cutting edge SFX that DS used. She was an extremely talented lady. And let's not forget that without her, hoDS may have never been made because at the time of production DC still had little idea how to direct a feature film, so if it wasn't for Lela's on site tutelage during filming...

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: dom on August 06, 2015, 12:46:10 AM

R.I.P.

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: michael c on August 06, 2015, 03:45:06 AM

a major, major figure in the whole thing.

RIP.

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: Mysterious Benefactor on August 08, 2015, 08:33:03 PM

Here's a nice, sort of DS-centric obit for Lela:

Pioneering Director of the Original Dark Shadows, Lela Swift, Passed Away at Age 96 (http://www.themarysue.com/pioneering-director-original-dark-shadows-lela-swift-passed-away/)

It also brings up the whole female director issue...

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: Bob_the_Bartender on August 09, 2015, 08:41:13 PM

I'm glad that Ms. Swift lived to the age of 96, making her possibly DS' only nonagenarian.

Requiem aeternam, Ms. Swift.

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: MagnusTrask on August 10, 2015, 01:07:38 PM

Humbert Allen Astredo is in his 90's.  While waiting for obit to load... Do I tend to go for shows with women at least partly in charge, without knowing it?  Could be.  Though I only latched onto Doctor Who in the late 70s, in its original form in the early-mid 1960's, another groundbreaking woman in TV, Verity Lambert, produced it, and came up it all its now-familiar traditions.  So I could have been responding to that even after several changes in producers.

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: Uncle Roger on August 10, 2015, 02:43:27 PM

Isabella Hoopes, Grandmamama Edith Collins, was 94 when she passed away in 1987.

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: Midnite on August 10, 2015, 05:16:24 PM

And Abe Vigoda, who is 94.

RIP Lela

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: dom on August 10, 2015, 11:31:43 PM

Yeah, Abe was the first to come to mind.

Title: Re: Lela Swift Passes Away
Post by: Mysterious Benefactor on August 11, 2015, 04:52:01 AM

Here's an obit with an accompanying photo of Lela on set in Collinwood's drawing room:

'Ryan's Hope' and 'Dark Shadows' Director Lela Swift Dead at 96 (http://www.welovesoaps.net/2015/08/ryans-hope-and-dark-shadows-director.html#more)