Gary Graver has died - Death comes to Welles' devoted colleague

[Harvey Chartrand]

I just heard that director/cinematographer/actor Gary Graver is no longer with us.
The cause of death has not been disclosed, but Gary Graver had been ill for quite some time.
I interviewed him earlier this year. A tribute to Gary Graver will appear in a 2007 edition of Filmfax Magazine.
My condolences to Jillian Kesner, Oja Kodar and Curtis Harrington.

[Tony]

Please see the News page.

[mteal]

What a shame Gary Graver didn't live to see TOSOTW completed and released. A sad wake-up call to the fact that Welles's closest collaborators on that film may not be around for all that many more years. Therefore, one would think that now is the time to finish it once and for all...if the ones obstructing it's completion are really interested in seeing it completed by the right people, that is. We've just lost one of those right people.

[The Night Man]

Very sad news. A friend visited with Curtis Harrington recently and brought back news that Graver was seriously ill. Although Graver had not looked well at the IT'S ALL TRUE/MACBETH screening at UCLA, I had hoped this report was not true, but obviously it was.

RIP Mr. Graver.

[Store Hadji]

If there's a Heaven, then Gary is already shooting another picture for Welles. You think maybe God would give Orson final cut?

While Gary didn't see the release of TOSOTW, he did film all of it and (I believe) worked on the two-hour rough cut. Maybe his passing will ellicit some end money in lieu of flowers.

Gary didn't look or sound well on that Edge of Outside documentary, but I had attributed it to his getting long in the tooth, not illness. My condolences.

[Tony]

I dunno, Store, but I kind of think God not only created the universe, but gets final cut too. Still, I recall that great comment on Welles: "There, but for the grace of God, goes God."

(I hope I got that quote right!)

At any rate, If Welles was the God of cinema, then Gary was truly his right hand angel.

[Glenn Anders]

If the deal to complete THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND should be on the level, it would be an appropriate gesture that the film he shepparded so long be dedicated to him. To have come so near, but not quite far enough, is a Wellesian irony.

I met Graver twice, and he was as others have described him, quiet and modest. At times, my patience with the TOSOTW saga has been tested, but what must thirty years of delays been for him?

If Wellesnet is sending a card, Larry French, Tony, or Jeff, please add my name to it.

Glenn

[Rick Schmidlin]

I just learned the news this evening and it is indeed a great sorrow. I first met Gary in 1976 when I was starting out and from that time on he was always a hero to me.

Rick Schmidlin

[mteal]

Watched my VHS copy of Gary Graver's WORKING WITH ORSON WELLES last night. It had been a few years since I'd seen it. An entertaining and affectionate tribute to his former boss, filled with alot of wonderful anecdotes, mainly about THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND. The docu seems as if it may have also been designed to try and raise interest in the completion of TOSOTW, and you seem to see that sense of hope in the faces of the actors as they tell what a great director Welles was. I was struck, poignantly, by how some of the people telling those stories, like Susan Strasburg and Cameron Mitchell, are no longer with us either.

Nice little tribute to Gary Graver by Jonathon Rosenbaum at a_film_by

[Store Hadji]

I watched that last night as well - copied my vhs tape to dvd. It is riotously funny. Gary was uncommonly likable. I'm also interested in JADED, Oja's film coproduced with Gary, the trailer for which is included in Working With Welles. Did that one see release?

[NoFake]

I second everyone's encomiums to Gary Graver. In addition to his professional skills and devotion to Orson, he struck me as a very warm, generous, and unassuming human being, who insisted on giving his card to a freelance journalist (me) who expressed admiration for his and Welles' work.

At Locarno's "Magnificent Welles," I saw Gary being interviewed at a table outside the restaurant across from the theater. The interview was being taped. Does anyone know who did it, if it was ever shown, and/or if it's available for viewing?

[Jeff Wilson]

There's no question that any fan or scholar of Welles owes much to Gary Graver, and it's a true shame that OSotW couldn't see some kind of release while Graver was around to see it, given his dedication to Welles and the film.

Hadji, JADED hasn't had any kind of legit release in North America that I'm aware of, but it isn't worth the time to seek it out, as it's REALLY awful. I reviewed a bootleg DVD of it here a few years ago; I've linked the thread below:

JADED

[tonyw]

If a card is sent, please add my name along with the others. I've already sent an email of condolence to Gary's widow and have mentioned the sad news in The November 3rd Club.com

[Roger Ryan]

I'm grateful that Gary was able to be as active as he was over the last couple of years, providing commentary for the "F For Fake" DVD and contributing to the various Welles retrospectives and events. My thoughts go out to his friends and family.

[jaime marzol]

As some of you might have noticed, my charm, my dazzling wit and welles insight has been absent from this board for sometime, but on this sad occasion I felt it necessary to break the silence and say that I'm as stricken by Gary's passing as all of you are.

He was such a great guy and made himself accessible to amateur writers that wanted info for projects that they were continually pushing up a hill. Who but Gary and Welles could better identify with some poor slob that is constantly pushing his dream up a hill while others kick rocks in their path.

Jaime M.