About a half hour ago Deadline‘s Mike Fleming reported that veteran publicist Lois Smith, 85, died today at 2 pm in Hebron, Maine, where she had gone to honor her husband, Gene, who was being honored by his alma mater, Hebron University. She fell and hit her head and suffered a brain hemmorhage, Fleming reports. Hugs and condolences to friends, family, colleagues and former clients. I’m very sorry.

Lois was one of the co-founders of Pickwick p.r., which began in 1969 and later merged with Maslansky/Konigsberg to become PMK, which was the big high-powered agency in the ’80s and ’90s with all kinds of hotshot clients. The big PMK triumvirate was Smith, Pat Kingsley and Leslee Dart (who now runs 42West). It was always more pleasant to deal with Lois on stories than Kingsley, who was PMK’s bad cop to Lois’s good cop. But Smith really wasn’t a “cop” at all — she was too alpha-minded and compassionate for that. And she was always calm and collected whatever the story was, and she never barked at me or threatened and she always took time to talk to me as a human being and not as an enemy reporter.

Lois was always fair and honest with me. She sometimes told me stuff I didn’t want to hear, but she was a good person. I liked her. I’m sorry she’s gone.

Lois Smityh (r.), daughter Brooke Smith.

Incidentally: Joe Leydon has pointed out that in their story/obit, TheWrap initially ran a pic of actress Lois Smith (East of Eden, etc.) instead of the publicist. TheWrap currently has a correct photo running.

Today is a nice lazy Sunday with sunny skies. I recorded a podcast this morning, and I’m doing a little column-writing now. The usual weights-and-treadmill ordeal awaits, and then two movies — Summer Window, a 2011 German film with Barbara‘s Nina Hoss, at the American Cinematheque at 5:30 pm, and then Bernardo Bertolucci‘s The Sheltering Sky (’90), which I haven’t seen for a good 15 years, at Santa Monica’s Aero.

Meanwhile in other regions of the city, people are actually paying money to see Taken 2 with Liam “paycheck” Neeson, and The Paperboy, which opened limited. I don’t know what to say about this except that different people have different tastes and priorities. I know for a fact that I live in a more enlightened (or at least enlightenment-seeking) realm than those who are taking out their wallets and paying money to see Taken 2, which has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 20%, but what of it?

Gold Derby‘s Tom O’Neil and I kicked it around this morning. Les Miserables and the mysterious “Snuggle 4.” The Zero Dark Thirty vs. Argo situation (i.e., similar covert-mission plots, Middle Eastern milieus, hoodwinking Islamic authorities). Feelings and conclusions about Spielberg and Tarantino. Here’s a stand-alone mp3 link. New Saul Bass-styled Oscar Poker art by Mark Frenden.

According to a 5.3.12 article by Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute, the actual corporate-elite-vs.-working-schlub pay ratio in the US is 231 to 1, and not 475 to 1 as the below graph (which has been circulating for roughly a year now) alleges. So wealth distribution is actually a lot fairer and more equitable in this country than previously believed…hah!

What is the average low-information voter’s response to this data? Is it “Jesus, this country has gone all to hell…we ought to vote on behalf of our own economic interests and get rid of all corporate-fellating Congresspersons and try to make things a little fairer”? No — the typical low-information voter’s response is, “Jeez, I wish I could be one of those guys making all that big dough. Well, maybe if I vote for Romney my chances will improve.”

“From 1978-2011, CEO compensation grew more than 725 percent, substantially more than the stock market and remarkably more than the annual compensation of a typical private-sector worker, which grew a meager 5.7 percent,” Mishel reports.

A year ago Politifact‘s Truth-o-meter reported that the above graph was “done as a class project by three students — Adam Choate, Dana Rowzee and Jerrod Tinsley — in a graduate class back in 2005.” The 475 to 1 ratio is unsubstantiated, in short, but the 231 to 1 ratio is apparently reliable.

The use of Beethoven’s Ninth is a tired idea. It was fresh 19 years ago when that famous Cliffhanger teaser used “Mozart’s Requiem in D Minor.” Echoing the use of Beethoven’s Ninth in the original Die Hard (’89) only emphasizes the fatigue factor.

Speaking as an admirer of John Stockwell (and particularly Crazy/Beautiful and Blue Crush), I regret to say that Code Name: Geronimo look kinda grade-B-ish. I’m sorry but it does. I’m sensing a rote, by-the-numbers thing. Is this why the Weinstein Co. bypassed theatrical and sold it to the National Geographic channel?

“Snuggle 4“, the Gold Derby correspondent who predicted 88% of last year’s Oscar winners (which was 8% ahead of predictions by Deadline‘s Pete Hammond, Fox News’ Tariq Khan and Awards Daily‘s Sasha Stone), is predicting a “monster sweep” for Tom Hooper‘s Les Miserables.

O’Neil describes this guy as a Hollywood hotshot “who’s seen the film even though he acts coy when I ask him.” So you don’t know for a fooking fact that he’s seen it, Tom? “No, I don’t know that he’s seen it,” O”Neil replies, “but he hints that he HAS — and that’s good enough for me to make a news story out of this.”

I don’t know, man. I don’t like the sound of this. O’Neil has never identified this character in any way, shape or form — he’s never burned him — so why isn’t Mr. Hotshot simply telling O’Neil in the privacy of their correspondence that he’s seen this Universal release? What’s with the little teasing games? This tells me at the very least that the guy is a candy-ass, which indicates he might have overall character issues. Pussitude is a cancer that spreads all over the place.

“This guy is a fooking genius,” O’Neil insists. “He nailed the Emmys too while competing against thousands of award fanatics at Gold Derby. He wouldn’t send me an email like this unless he’s sure of himself. I wrote back to ask if I could quote him. He said yes — that’s how confident he is of his call. In other words, he wants me to spread the word, and he wants to take early credit for calling this on October 6th.”

Here’s an excellent Maureen Dowd column in which West Wing president Jed Bartlet bawls out Barack Obama for blowing the Denver debate (“Were you sleepy? Was that the problem? Had you just taken allergy medication?”) and then schools him on the basics for debate #2: “Mr. President, your prep for the next debate need not consist of anything more than learning to pronounce three words: ‘Governor, you’re lying.'”

I would never have bought this song. I always thought it was a featherweight thing that you might enjoy in a supermarket aisle but that’s all. Bubblegum. But it was playing at the Argo party the other night (they were naturally sticking to late ’70s and early ’80s tracks) and somehow it sounded really good with the amplification and the poolside vibe and the pretty girls. (And without alcohol.) And later that night it became my latest ear bug. So I bought the damn thing so I could get it out of my system.