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M Entries Patrick Macnee Antonio Margheriti Chris Marker Hugh Marlowe William Marshall Arlene Martel Ross Martin Richard Matheson Sir Paul McCartney Roddy McDowall Leo McKern Lee Meriwether Ricardo Montalban Agnes Moorhead Billy Mumy Eddie Murphy   MCCARTNEY, SIR PAUL (1942– ). British songwriter and musician. SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, AND HORROR FILM CREDITS Acted in, and wrote music for: Help! (Richard LESTER 1965); Magical Mystery Tour (and co- produced with George HARRISON, John LENNON, Denis O'Dell, and Ringo STARR; co-wrote with George HARRISON, John LENNON, and Ringo STARR; and co-directed with George HARRISON, Bernard Knowles, John LENNON, and Ringo STARR) (tv movie) (1967); Yellow Submarine (animated) (George Dunning 1968). Appeared in numerous music videos. Wrote, acted in, and wrote music for: Give My Regards to Broad Street (Peter Webb 1984). Acted in (uncredited): Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Michael Schultz 1978); episode of The 10th Kingdom (2000). Provided voice for: "Lisa the Vegetarian" (1995), episode of The Simpsons. Wrote theme songs for: The Magic Christian (Joseph McGrath 1969); Live and Let Die (Guy Hamilton 1973); Rupert and the Frog Song (animated short) (and co-wrote and did voice for) (Geoff Dunbar 1985); Spies like Us (John LANDIS 1985); Vanilla Sky (Cameron Crowe 2001). Wrote music for animated shorts: The Oriental Nightfish  (Ian Emes 1978); Seaside Woman (Oscar Grillo 1980); Daumier's Law (Dunbar 1992); Sól, Sól Skín á Mig (Agust Flygenring 1996);Ballad of the Skeletons (Gus Van Sant 1997); Tuesday (and did voice for) (Dunbar 2001). Wrote music for and appeared in: The Cooler (and appeared in) (Lol Crème and Kevin Godley 1982).   For seven eventful years, the members of the Beatles both profited from, and felt imprisoned by, the universal perception that they were four essentially similar, lovable moptops—a belief so widespread that one of the proposed scripts they rejected as their third film would have had them playing four aspects of a single man's personality. Unsurprisingly, after the group split up in 1970, all of the ex-Beatles then struggled to show the world that they were, in fact, distinct and very different individuals. And this volume's original policy of discussing their contributions to science fiction film in a single entry, while perhaps a defensible convenience, can be belatedly recognized as an affront to those efforts. Paul McCartney can first of all be credited as the only Beatle who actually created two fantasy films. The first, Magical Mystery Tour, was officially a joint production from all of the Beatles, but it was widely acknowledged that the television special was primarily Paul's idea and Paul's project. Unfortunately, it wasn't a particularly good idea—to gather a group of eccentric performers, put them on a bus, and go riding through the countryside, coming up with interesting things to film along the way. Despite a thin unifying thread involving some wizards overseeing the journey, it was basically a chaotic, unwatchable mess, except for the song performances. As if scarred by the whole experience, Paul waited seventeen years before his next movie, the carefully scripted Give My Regards to Broad Street. Again, the narrative was minimal, the search for the missing master tape of Paul's new album which mysteriously appears underneath a park bench at the film's conclusion; but this was only a pretext for providing viewers with a glimpse of the typical life of a musical superstar. Strangely, this uninvolving story remains the only film of its genre to suggest that such a life is actually pretty boring. Other than these diversions, Paul has basically focused on his music; although like many performers, he probably would have proved a decent film actor, he has limited himself to unremarkable cameo appearances. He has contributed theme songs to some major motion pictures, including two ("Live and Let Die" and "Vanilla Sky") which were nominated for Academy Awards, and he has written music for a number of cartoons, two of them designed to promote the music of his late wife Linda McCartney. Like the serious professional musician that he is, Paul has also produced numerous music videos to promote his songs; two memorable videos with fantasy elements were "Off the Ground," which features Paul and other band members flying through the air, and "Dance Tonight," wherein Paul employs a mandolin to summon, and eventually visit with, the ghosts inhabiting his home. The latter suggests a realization that this now elderly songwriter, despite ongoing efforts to stay in the spotlight, has essentially become a nostalgic representative of the past. Still, as he carries on his career with unflagging energy, he remains an artist capable of surprising his audiences—as evidenced, among other things, by his classical music compositions and his odd musical side project, the Fireman—so another film project cannot be ruled out.

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