R.I.P.

Leon Vitali, One of Stanley Kubrick’s Greatest Collaborators, Dead at 74

Vitali, who acted in ‘Barry Lyndon,’ would go to serve as Kubrick’s personal assistant, casting director, and creative sounding board.

Leon Vitali, an unsung but crucial force that helped shape director Stanley Kubrick’s late career, serving as an actor, personal assistant, casting director, foley artist, and creative sounding board, died on Saturday night. He was 74. Vitali’s death was confirmed by his family to the Associated Press. “Leon was a special and lovely man driven by his curiosity, who spread love and warmth wherever he went,” his three children, who were with Vitali when he died, said in a joint statement. As a young actor, Vitali was making a name for himself in television when he was cast in the role of a lifetime: Lord Bullingdon, the stepson of Barry Lyndon’s titular antihero. Fascinated by Kubrick’s creative process, Vitali stuck around to watch him edit the film—and never quite left the auteur’s side. As a casting director, he found Danny Lloyd and the perfect set of twins for The Shining, and convinced Kubrick to make R. Lee Ermey Full Metal Jacket’s legendary drill instructor. The official Twitter account associated with Kubrick, who died in 1999, mourned Vitali on Sunday as “the heartbeat of Kubrick’s films after the master himself.”