This is so sad

by Diane Duane

A tremendous film talent lost. And his son, too, just getting started on his own career.

Tuesday was usually family night for film director Bob Clark — best known for “A Christmas Story” and the “Porky’s” movies — and his grown sons, Ariel and Michael.

Ariel, 22, who had been studying music composition at Santa Monica College and was a part-time card dealer at a casino, would typically join his father and brother at the condo they rented in Pacific Palisades. They were night owls, said Lyne Leavy, who headed Clark’s production company, Film Classic Productions.

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Bob, 67, and Ariel headed out; it’s unclear whether they were going to get something to eat or driving to Ariel’s Santa Monica apartment.

They had just driven a few blocks and were heading south on Pacific Coast Highway near the Bel-Air Bay Club at about 2:20 a.m. when a GMC Yukon swerved across the lane, striking their Infiniti Q-30 sedan head-on. Father and son were pronounced dead at the scene.

Dammit.

[tags]Bob Clark, A Christmas Story[/tags]

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4 comments

Salerio April 5, 2007 - 1:15 pm

OHMYGAWD a published author who isn’t Canadian or insane talked to me! *manly squeal of delight*

A Wizard Alone is, alone with the previous books in the Young Wizards series, now on my Top God-Knows-How-Many Books to Nag People Into Reading Before They Die list. I loved how autism tied into the wizardry. Plus the bed on Pluto. The annoying thing about your books to me, though, is that they’re too ridiculously addictive for me. I’ll pick one up in the morning and have my eyes glued to it for the rest of the day(bloody nuisance when you’re navigating in a school that has a large number of pillars and columns, I tell you). But it’s a fun kind of addiction. Like candy, or those chocolate chips that come in the bag that you want to use for cookies, but end up eating anyways. You can’t stop, sometimes you get a headache, but it’s worth it in the end because you come awaty having had fun and a little wiser.

Now, on to the next one.

P J Evans April 6, 2007 - 6:41 pm

Today the word is that the other driver was drunk.

P J Evans April 6, 2007 - 6:45 pm

Here’s the important bit:
The 24-year-old man suspected of causing the accident that killed film director Bob Clark and his son had a bloodalcohol level three times the legal limit, authorities said Thursday.

Hector Manuel Velazquez-Nava, a native of Mexico who federal authorities said was in the U.S. illegally, faces possible charges of vehicular manslaughter, driving without a license and driving under the influence of alcohol. He suffered minor injuries in the early Wednesday accident on Pacific Coast Highway and is being held at the Van Nuys Jail. Although bail has been set at $100,000, his undocumented status makes him ineligible for release on bond, police said.

P J Evans October 12, 2007 - 11:26 pm

Driver sentenced in crash that killed ‘Christmas Story’ director
Hollywood veteran Bob Clark, 67, and his son died in the April collision. The motorist is sentenced to six years in prison on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
By Tami Abdollah, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
2:17 PM PDT, October 12, 2007

The driver involved in the crash that killed the director of “A Christmas Story” and his son this year was sentenced today to six years in state prison, officials said.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Hector Guzman sentenced Hector Manuel Velazquez-Nava, 25, of Los Angeles under terms of a plea agreement, Deputy Dist. Atty. Belle Chen said.

Velazquez-Nava pleaded no contest Aug. 29 to two felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.
[snipped]

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