Good Man Gone

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I missed yesterday's Variety announcement about the sad passing of Falco Ink founder Gary Hill, 53, who died a week ago in New York of undisclosed causes. Gary was a man of great charm and perception and nerve, and a first-rate publicist by any standard. He was always extremely friendly and supportive of me and my stuff, and I will miss him enormously.

I always loved that Hill named his company Falco Ink, which is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the infamous Sidney Falco character in Sweet Smell of Success (1957), who was played by Tony Curtis. I arranged for Curtis himself to pay a visit to the Falco staffers in '99 or '00 (I forget which) at a Los Angeles party they threw a few months after starting business.

Hill began his career as assistant to Brian DePalma. He got into publicity in the mid '80s, and worked for Clein + White for a long period. He helped found Falco Ink. in 1999, where he served as partner until 2005.

After moving to Lenox, Massachusetts in 2006, he became a founding board member for the annual Berkshire Film Festival in Great Barrington, Mass.