Mickey Cottrell on July 18, 2012, in Hollywood, California.Photo:Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic
Mickey Cottrell, a veteran Hollywood publicist and film and television actor, who appeared inStar TrekandMy Own Private Idaho, has died. He was 79.
Cottrell’s sister, Suzy Cottrell-Smith, confirmed the news to multiple outlets, includingDeadlineandVariety.
Deadlinereported that Cottrell died Monday at the Motion Picture & Television Fund in Woodland Hills, California. Citing his sister, the outlet added that Cottrell had been diagnosed withParkinson’s disease, and had a stroke in 2016.
Bill Murray, Allison Davies and Mickey Cottrell inEd Wood(1994).Touchstone/Alamy Stock Photo
Touchstone/Alamy Stock Photo
Cottrell spent more than four decades in the film, television and PR industries after growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas, and attending the University of Arkansas.
After making his made his screen-acting debut as Daddy Carroll in 1991’sMy Own Private Idaho, Cottrell cemented his screen presence with notable roles inStar Trek: The Next GenerationandStar Trek: Voyagerin the 1990s.
According to IMDb, he also appeared in films likePaper Hearts(1993),Ed Wood(1994),Hellraiser: Bloodline(1996) andApt Pupil(1998). His last on-screen role was 2012’sI Do.
Cottrell served as a publicist on more than 100 films over the course of his career, includingEarth Girls Are Easy(1988),Even Cowgirls Get the Blues(1993) andDead Calm, a 1989 thriller starringNicole Kidman,Sam NeillandBilly Zane.
Asked ina 2016 interviewwith Jeffrey Schwarz how he’d “characterize” his Hollywood life, Cottrell said, “Magical, thrilling, difficult, joyous — Hollywood is a place that you enter at your own risk.”
Mickey Cottrell in Los Angeles on Sept. 18, 2006.Matthew Simmons/WireImage
Matthew Simmons/WireImage
Cottrell’s sister toldDeadlinethat “he was the most fun brother ever.” She added, “So many good memories of when I was a kid — we’d sing together, dance, just all kinds of fun things that went on all the time when he was around.”
“He was just so fun, full of life, entertaining,” continued Cottrell-Smith. “Every woman in the neighborhood adored him.”
Cottrell’s former Inclusive PR colleague John McAvoytold the outlet, “He was an artist first and he taught me that, at its best, publicity is about pure enthusiasm and joy and that it can be a vital part of a broader creative process rather than merely a necessary lubricant in the sales process.”
“RIP to the Wizard,” he added.
source: people.com
