In Memoriam

CHICAGO – Opening Night at the 2024 Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF) on May 3rd will include the last film of popular South Korean (SK) Actor Lee Sun-kyun, entitled “Sleep” (click here for tickets) The world was rocked on December 27th, 2023, when the report came through that that actor – who had a prominent role in the 2019 Oscar Best Picture “Parasite’ – had died at age 48 from an apparent suicide in Seoul (SK), months after his appearance in Chicago during the Asian Pop-Up Cinema.

CHICAGO – Cindy Morgan: So the first time you saw ‘Caddyshack’ did you ever imagine that one day you’d be wrangling my boobs for a photo?
Joe Arce: Constantly
Cindy: (Laughing) Okay, Cowboy. Welcome to Fantasy Island! Wrangle away! 
Joe: Are you sure? 
Cindy: Christ!, do I have to buy you dinner first? Yup, get that double sided tape ready and give me the full ‘Jayne Mansfield’ table shot treatment!
Joe: God,I love my job
Cindy: Consider yourself tipped.

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Raquel Welch, 1940-February 15, 2023

CHICAGO – As always, we lost a number of notable people in 2023. In his hustle and glory, photographer Joe Arce has spent his career not only taking Exclusive Portraits of every notable he runs across, but he also has collected an archive that makes their image available again for the 2023 IN MEMORIAM.

CHICAGO – The world was rocked on December 27th, 2023, when the report came through that South Korean (SK) actor Lee Sun-kyun – who had a prominent role in the 2019 Oscar Best Picture “Parasite’ – had died from an apparent suicide in Seoul (SK), months after his appearance during Closing Night at Chicago’s Asian Pop-Up Cinema (APUC), where he represented his outrageous new comedy, “Killing Romance

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Barbara Walters, December 30th, 2022.

CHICAGO – The grim reaper spares no one, despite even having a celebrity status. But photographer Joe Arce, who has taken thousands of Exclusive Portraits of famous folks, gives some notables one more memorial image as we say adios to last year. Through his lens, from Barbara Walters at the end of December back to January, below is the Slideshow of Celebrities who passed away in 2022.

CHICAGO – She was a pioneer in a broadcasting business at a time when it was mostly white and male. The incomparable Merri Dee was a fixture in Chicago media beginning in the 1960s, breaking barriers as a black woman TV personality and newscaster. She passed away in Chicago on March 16th, 2022, at age 85.

CHICAGO – The work of filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich – who passed away on January 6th, 2022, at age 82 – was inspired by the cinematic language of American movies, which he interpreted through his many classic films. His most fertile and imaginative period were three movies from 1971 through 1973, which began with his masterpiece, “The Last Picture Show.”