British actor Leon Vitali, who was a personal assistant to director Stanley Kubrick, died Friday at the age of 74 in Los Angeles, the Associated Press (AP) reported Monday.
According to the actor’s family, Lord Bullingdon of “barry lyndonDied “, the film by Stanley Kubrick released in 1975″in peace surrounded by loved onesincluding their three children: Masha, Max and Vera.”
“León was a special and adorable man, moved by curiosity, who spread love and affection wherever he went. he will be remembered with love and he will be greatly missed by the people he touchedtheir children said in a statement sent to the AP by Masha Vitali.
Although Leon Vitali was often assigned as Stanley Kubrick’s assistant, Tony Zierra’s documentary “Filmworker” (2017) uncovered the enormous, largely unknown, contribution the actor made to the work of one of cinema’s greatest figures. cinema, in “the glow” The “with eyes closed“.
Leon Vitali did everything from “foundry” and direction of actors to the supervision of restorations. Vitali once even set up a video monitor so Stanley Kubrick could keep an eye on his dying cat.
Before meeting Kubrick, Leon Vitali was an emerging artist in the UKhaving participated in several television series, including “Softly, softly”, “Follyfoot”, “Z Cars” and “Notorious woman”.
In 1974, he was cast as Lord Bullingdon in “Barry Lyndon,” the stepson of the title character, for whom the film is named, played by Ryan O’Neal.
Leon Vitali was so fascinated with Kubrick and his work processes that he ended up giving up being an actor and devoted himself completely to the filmmaker for more than two decades.
In the technical sheet of “The Shining”, Leon Vitali appeared as “personal assistant to the director”, although this was only part of the story. Leon Vitali helped cast 4-year-old Danny Lloyd in the role of Danny Torrance, and Louise and Lisa Burns as the Grady twins.
“I made a real sea change in my life and that’s when I said ‘I am more interested in this’, of what was in the interpretation. It was the most conscious decision I have ever made. There were some sacrifices, but also gains,” Leon Vitali told the AP in 2017.
Following Stanley Kubrick’s death in 1999, Leon Vitali took it upon himself to oversee the restoration of the director’s film and received an award from the Cinema Audio Society for his work.
He later worked with director Todd Field on “Intimate Sins” (2006) and “Private Lives” (2001).
Source: Observadora
