JAFO's NEWS - the FUN in FunKo: 2011-04-17

Michael Sarrazin (May 22, 1940 – April 17, 2011) was a Canadian actor who found fame opposite Jane Fonda in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969).
Sarrazin was born Jacques Michel Andre Sarrazin in Québec City, Québec. He served as a supporting actor in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971). He starred in a string of successes with the television movie Frankenstein: The True Story (1973), the crime caper Harry in Your Pocket (1973), the screwball comedy For Pete's Sake (1974), and the horror film The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975), about a man doomed to die the same kind of death twice. His film career as a leading man came to a close with his role in The Gumball Rally (1976).
Sarrazin also appeared in The Flim-Flam Man, Joshua Then and Now, and the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "The Quickening". He hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live, as well, on April 15, 1978.
For 14 years he was in a relationship with actress Jacqueline Bisset, whom he met in the 1968 film, The Sweet Ride.
He died on April 17, 2011 after a brief battle with cancer, with his daughters Catherine and Michele at his side, according to a family spokesman.
Quebec City-born Sarrazin was a "brilliant actor who rocketed to fame in his early 20s when he was discovered by Hollywood," said his agent Michael Oscars.

Movies That You **MUST** See -
The Gumball Rally (1976)

Michael Bannon (Michael Sarrazin), a wealthy but bored businessman, issues the code word "Gumball" to his fellow automobile enthusiasts, who gather in a garage in New York City to embark on a coast-to-coast race "with no catalytic converter and no 55-mile-per-hour speed limit." Their nemesis, LAPD Lieutenant Roscoe (Norman Burton), also learns of the race and most of the film is devoted to the adventures of the various driving teams and Roscoe's ineffectual attempts to apprehend them. A number of running gags ensue - the Jaguar that will not start; the silent Lapchick's (Harvey Jason) numerous mishaps; Italian race driver Franco Bertolli's (Raúl Juliá) frequent detours to seduce beautiful women - as well as some splendid stunts and driving sequences. The race ends at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California where the finishers celebrate their adventures and the defeated Roscoe sulks off to one side - until a fleet of police cars and tow trucks arrive to impound the illegally-parked vehicles. Bannon congratulates Roscoe on his final victory and again utters the command "Gumball" to initiate a race back to New York.