Remembering James Dean made me think it’s time to add a couple of other Hollywood figures to the blog, people who died earlier this year. Speaking of figures, Jane Russell died Feb. 28, and I wrote these March 1:

Goodbye Jane Russell
You made it to eighty-nine
Built to last, I’d say

Goodbye Jane Russell
Time finally ran out for that
Hourglass figure

The great director Sidney Lumet died April 9. He had a long string of excellent movies, many of which are mentioned here. I often don’t write on the weekend, but he died on a Saturday, and I couldn’t pass up such an extraordinary career.

‘Bye Sidney Lumet
You made dozens of stories
Seem so real on screen

The verdict: Guilty
The charge: First-degree genius
In “Twelve Angry Men”

You captured O’Neill’s
“Long Day’s Journey Into Night”
And family hell

Nuclear terror
Led to supreme sacrifice
In Cold War’s “Fail-Safe”

“The Pawnbroker” showed
Some tortured souls must remain
Forever in hock

Lumet, Pacino
With “Serpico,” “Dog Day” proved
Lightning can strike twice

“Serpico” ripped veil
Off of police corruption,
A city’s decay

“Dog Day Afternoon”
A robbery gone so wrong
A film made so right

In “Find Me Guilty”
Lumet made Vin Diesel act
— With stunning results

“Before the Devil
“Knows You’re Dead”: Grim finale
Of petty evil

“Garbo Talks,” “Deathtrap,”
A King documentary,
He could do it all

‘Bye Sidney Lumet
We’d be mad as hell except
Your work was complete