(CNN) — Author Arthur C. Clarke, whose science fiction and non-fiction works ranged from the script for “2001: A Space Odyssey” to an early proposal for communications satellites, has died at age 90, associates have said. Clarke had been wheelchair-bound for several years with complications stemming from a youthful bout with polio and had suffered from back trouble recently, said Scott Chase, the secretary of the nonprofit Arthur C. Clarke Foundation. He died early Wednesday — Tuesday afternoon ET — at a hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he had lived since the 1950s, Chase said. “He had been taken to hospital in what we had hoped was one of the slings and arrows of being 90, but in this case it was his final visit,” he said. Arthur C. Clarke 1917 – 2008
Day: March 18, 2008
A 1937 first edition of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit has been sold at auction to an anonymous bidder for £60,000 – twice what it was expected to reach. The Hobbit was Tolkien’s most successful book, establishing his name as an author, and came before the longer Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Maps, photographs and manuscripts will also be sold at Bonhams in London. The copy of The Hobbit is inscribed to Tolkien’s friend Elaine Griffiths, who had originally helped get it published. Tolkien’s Hobbit fetches £60,000
TheOneRing.net reported here at the end of January that Guillermo del Toro was 99 percent sure to direct “The Hobbit”. Since then the Tolkien Estate filed a lawsuit against New Line Cinema (a copy of which can be found here) and the movie studio has been folded up and put in the pocket of its owner Warner Bros. and its bigger parent Time Warner Inc.
After all the speculation and angst, the director of two “Hellboy” films (the second set for a July 11 release) still seems to be the top choice for director and despite the legal uncertainty, the quiet movements by the key players seem to suggest the film will still be made and sooner rather than later. So in this season of waiting, TORn was finally able to contact the fan-friendly director.
Continue reading “Guillermo del Toro reaches out to TORn”