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Mickey Cottrell, a veteran Hollywood publicist and actor, who appeared in TV series such as Star Trek: Voyager, has died. He was 79. He passed on New Year’s Day at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, his friend Ian Birnie told the Hollywood Reporter. He’d previously suffered a major stroke in 2016. Born September 4, 1944, in Little Rock, Arkansas, Cottrell attended Catholic High School and later the University of Arkansas. His love of film and acting started early, having worked at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and later managing the Loyola Theater. Cottrell started out working publicity at various firms before launching Cottrell and Lindeman Associates in 1989 and then his own firms, Mickey Cottrell Film Publicity in 2002 and Inclusive PR in 2004. He worked with many big-name independent filmmakers throughout his career, including Andrew Haigh, Phillip Noyce, Win Wenders, and, most notably, Gus Van Sant, having...

Mickey Cottrell, the dependable Hollywood publicist who went to bat for independent films for decades while also dabbling in acting and producing, has died. He was 79.

Cottrell died on New Year’s Day at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his friend Ian Birnie, former Lacma film curator, told The Hollywood Reporter. He suffered a major stroke in 2016.

Cottrell did PR for three Gus Van Sant-directed films: Drugstore Cowboy (1989), My Own Private Idaho (1991), where he also played the clean freak Daddy Carroll in the movie, and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993).

He also repped Bagdad Cafe (1987), Earth Girls Are Easy (1987), Phillip Noyce’s Dead Calm (1989), Tarnation (2003), Ballets Russes (2005), The Price of Sugar (2007), Skin (2008), Bill Cunningham New York (2010), Salt (2010) and Tab Hunter Confidential (2015), among many other films.

Films and filmmakers he represented were honored with eight Sundance jury prizes and three Oscars, he once noted.

The Hollywood Reporter thanks the following 322 members of the global film community — listed alphabetically — for taking the time to cast a ballot to help us determine the 100 greatest film books of all time.

Seth Abramovitch

The Hollywood Reporter journalist/It Happened in Hollywood podcast host

Jo Addy

Soho House group film and entertainment director

Casey Affleck

Oscar-winning actor

Rutanya Alda

Author/actress

Stephanie Allain

Filmmaker

Victoria Alonso

Filmmaker/executive

Tony Angellotti

Publicist

Bonnie Arnold

Filmmaker/executive

Miguel Arteta

Filmmaker

Chris Auer

Filmmaker/film professor

John Badham

Filmmaker/film professor

Amy Baer

Executive

Matt Baer

Filmmaker

Lindsey Bahr

Journalist

Ramin Bahrani

Oscar-nominated filmmaker

Cameron Bailey

Toronto International Film Festival CEO/former film critic

John Bailey

Cinematographer/former Academy president

Bela Bajaria

Executive

Sean Baker

Filmmaker

Alec Baldwin

Oscar-nominated actor/author

Tino Balio

Author/film professor

Jeffrey Barbakow

Executive

Michael Barker

Executive

Mike Barnes

The Hollywood Reporter journalist

Jeanine Basinger

Author/film...

Ben Dickey

For an event that’s only in its 6th edition, the Louisiana International Film Festival (April 18–22) already seems to have dramatically changed the film landscape of the city of Baton Rouge and nearby towns. Fostering the development of a cinephile community and supporting local creators through its mentorship program, this regional outfit thrives thanks to its carefully selected slate and engaged audiences.

Program Director Ian Birnie, who was has been involved with Liff since its inception in 2013, has consistently assembled a selection of films comprised of accessible crowd-pleasers (this year with Streaker), unexpected foreign language gems (Double Lover), well-crafted American indies (American Animals), and Louisiana-made productions highlighting homegrown talent (Cut Off). Well-attended screenings, even for the more obscure titles, confirmed the notion that people are interested in watching what the fest has to offer beyond the galas and parties.

Choosing Ethan Hawke’s Blaze as the Opening Night...

AFI Fest

With his untimely death in 1982 at age 36, feverishly prolific filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder -- more than 40 films in the space of 13 years -- never got a chance to make good on his wish of making movies in Hollywood.

In his documentary, "Fassbinder in Hollywood", German film historian Robert Fischer speculates what might have been with the input of those who knew him well, including his frequent leading lady Hanna Schygulla, his brilliant cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and actor-director Ulli Lommel.

To be appreciated primarily by cinema buffs, Fischer's straightforward film can only go so far as to hypothesize what shape Fassbinder's increasingly stylized productions could have taken in a studio environment, but it does a good job in illustrating to what extent Hollywood had already influenced so much of his work.

His obsession with the lush melodramas of German-born Douglas Sirk -- first manifested in 1974's "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" (a remake of Sirk's "All That Heaven Allows") -- was well known, but Fischer also shows how Fassbinder's earlier pictures paid homage to the tough guy American films of Raoul Walsh.

While additional interviews with colleague Wim Wenders (who had a frustrating first Hollywood experience with "Hammett") and historian-programr Ian Birnie to put things in added perspective, it's ultimately the inclusion of clips from many of those rarely seen earlier films that say the most about Fassbinder's enduring artistic legacy.

AFI Fest

With his untimely death in 1982 at age 36, feverishly prolific filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder -- more than 40 films in the space of 13 years -- never got a chance to make good on his wish of making movies in Hollywood.

In his documentary, "Fassbinder in Hollywood", German film historian Robert Fischer speculates what might have been with the input of those who knew him well, including his frequent leading lady Hanna Schygulla, his brilliant cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and actor-director Ulli Lommel.

To be appreciated primarily by cinema buffs, Fischer's straightforward film can only go so far as to hypothesize what shape Fassbinder's increasingly stylized productions could have taken in a studio environment, but it does a good job in illustrating to what extent Hollywood had already influenced so much of his work.

His obsession with the lush melodramas of German-born Douglas Sirk -- first manifested in 1974's "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" (a remake of Sirk's "All That Heaven Allows") -- was well known, but Fischer also shows how Fassbinder's earlier pictures paid homage to the tough guy American films of Raoul Walsh.

While additional interviews with colleague Wim Wenders (who had a frustrating first Hollywood experience with "Hammett") and historian-programr Ian Birnie to put things in added perspective, it's ultimately the inclusion of clips from many of those rarely seen earlier films that say the most about Fassbinder's enduring artistic legacy.