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For decades, it was believed that one of I Love Lucy’s wackiest episodes was even more outrageous than it looked. According to legend, the other woman in the famous grape-stomping scene of “Lucy’s Italian Movie” didn’t speak English, leading to a series of miscommunications that nearly got Lucille Ball killed.

Teresa Tirelli, who Ball claimed on The Dick Cavett Show in 1974 that she found in “one of the grape vineyard areas,” didn’t quite understand the fight choreography, Ball explained, so when Lucy “slipped” and “accidentally” hit her, “she took offense.” The subsequent fight that they had was real, Ball said, leaving her with “grapes up my nose, in my ears” as “she was choking me, and I’m really beating her to get her off.” Eventually, a translator broke up the fight, and Ball was saved from a juicy grave. “To drown in a vat of...

Tom Troupe, a veteran actor who appeared on stage and screens silver and small, has died at the age of 97 of natural causes in his Beverly Hills home, according to his publicist, Harlan Boll, and multiple media reports.

A prolific performer who appeared on Broadway and over 75 TV series, his career began in the mid-50s and ended in the late 2010s. Among his most well-known roles were parts in the original TV run of Star Trek and My Own Private Idaho with River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves.

Born on July 15, 1928, in Kansas City, Mo., Troupe began performing in local theater productions before moving to New York City in the late ’40s. At Herbert Berghof Studio, he studied under and received a scholarship from preeminently influential actress and teacher Uta Hagen.

After serving in the Korean War, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star, Troupe made his Broadway debut...

Pippa Scott, the veteran actress who appeared in such films like 1958’s six-time Oscar-nominated Auntie Mame and 1956’s The Searchers, has died at the age of 90.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, she died May 22 of congenital heart failure at her Santa Monica home, her daughter Miranda Tollman told the publication.

Born Nov. 10, 1934 to entertainment industry parents in Los Angeles — mother Laura Straub, a stage actress, and father Allan Scott, Oscar-nominated for his screenplay for 1943’s So Proudly We Hail! — Scott studied at Radcliffe and UCLA, later training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She made her Broadway debut in 1956 in Jed Harris’ Child of Fortune. Her film career took flight that same year, when John Ford cast her in the John Wayne vehicle The Searchers, in which her character, Wayne’s niece Lucy Edwards, is abducted.

Her other film credits include As Young as We Are (1958), My Six Loves (1963), Petulia (1968), Cold Turkey (1971) and The Sound of Murder (1980).

On the TV side, she was in episodes of shows such as The Twilight Zone, Outlaws, Dr. Kildare, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Perry Mason, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, The Waltons, Columbo, The Streets of San Francisco and Jigsaw John (where she had an extended episodic arc).

In 1964, she wed Lee Rich, the creative force behind Lorimar Productions, the studio that spawned both of TV’s most enduring families in The Waltons and Dallas. Though the pair later divorced, the two remained close until his death in 2012.

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By the ’90s, Scott became dedicated to human rights work, founding the International Monitor Institute, a nonprofit that gathered evidence to assist in the prosecution of war crimes in the Bosnian and Rwandan genocides, among other crimes against humanity.

To further illuminate global injustices, Scott founded Linden Productions and worked to produce projects commissioned by organizations like the United Nations and Human Rights Watch. For PBS’ Frontine, she produced “The World’s Most Wanted Man,” an episode about the hunt for notorious Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic who was indicted by The Hague’s International Criminal Court. In 2006, she also produced documentary King Leopold’s Ghost, about the exploitation of the Congo by King Leopold II of Belgium.

Pippa Scott, who played one of abducted daughters alongside Natalie Wood in John Ford’s The Searchers and the secretary of Rosalind Russell’s title character in Auntie Mame, has died. She was 90.

Scott died peacefully May 22 of congenital heart failure at her home in Santa Monica, her daughter Miranda Tollman told The Hollywood Reporter.

Scott’s film résumé also included Gower Champion’s My Six Loves (1963), Richard Lester’s Petulia (1968), Norman Lear’s Cold Turkey (1971) and Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s The Sound of Murder (1982).

On television, the redhead portrayed the wife of a Broadway actor (Brian Aherne) transported back in time in the 1960 Twilight Zone episode “The Trouble With Templeton”; was the wife of a rabbi helping Morey Amsterdam’s character with his very belated bar mitzvah on the 1966 Dick Van Dyke Show installment “Buddy Sorrell: Man and Boy”; and played a nursery school teacher and love interest of Jack Warden...

Christopher Nolan's 2023 biopic "Oppenheimer" was such a refreshing outlier in the world of blockbusters. Made for $100 million, the film unexpectedly made almost a billion dollars at the box office, startling everyone. This was rare, as Nolan's film was no crowd-pleasing action spectacular, but a biopic, and an incredibly downbeat and heady one at that. It dealt with the bleak morals of inventing a device that can destroy all life and the petty egos of the men who would rather bicker about security clearances than face those morals. Cillian Murphy won an Academy Award for playing J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the film won Best Picture. It was a hit largely because it came out the same day as Greta Gerwig's "Barbie," and many audiences rushed to make it an ironic double feature.

It was also likely a hit because the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer has fascinated people since the 1940s.

Star Trek fans seemed excited to learn that David Frankham, who turned 99 years old on February 16, is now the oldest living actor to have appeared in any iteration of Star Trek. He played Larry Marvick in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode, “Is There in Truth No Beauty?,” which first aired in 1968, during the show’s third and final season. It got us wondering who Star Trek’s oldest living director might be.

For obvious reasons, many people who guessed that 94-year-old William Shatner is Star Trek’s oldest living actor also likely assume that Shatner -- who helmed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier -- is the franchise’s oldest living director. But he’s not.

The answer is Ralph Senensky, who will turn 102 on May 1. Senensky called the shots on what he refers to as six and a half episodes of The Original Series. We’ll explain...

Chicago – When I heard of the passing of actor Richard Chamberlain on March 29th, 2025, I immediately flashed back to our interview in 2010. It was the first comprehensive celebrity interview in my career, and it was a whirlwind of show biz history and reveals. And Joe Arce took Exclusive Portraits of him then and in 2017.

Richard Chamberlain was born in Beverly Hills, attended Pomona College and served in the U.S. Army in the late 1950s. He was a founding member of the Los Angeles theater group “Company of Angels,” and started doing guest roles in various television shows.

A Florid Career: Richard Chamberlain in 2010

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

His breakthrough came in 1961, when he portrayed Dr. James Kildare in the popular series “Dr. Kildare,” which catapulted him into superstar status for the time. This led to a smaller but successful singing career – his rendition of the “Theme from Dr.

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We have sad news to report from the world of television.

Richard Chamberlain — the longtime star who headlined countless beloved series and mini-series over the past 60 years — has passed away.

Chamberlain would have turned 91 on Monday.

Richard Chamberlain attends the premiere of Showtime’s “Twin Peaks” at The Theatre at Ace Hotel on May 19, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

News of his passing comes to us courtesy of his longtime partner, Martin Rabbett.

The world says goodbye to an iconic TV star

“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us,” Rabbett told CNN in a statement Sunday.

“How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul.”

No cause of death was mentioned in Rabbett’s statement.

Richard Chamberlain poses at an in-store appearance at the Virgin...

Actor Richard Chamberlain, known in part for his starring role in the original Shogun TV series, has passed away. He was 90 years old.

Per CNN, Chamberlain's publicist, Harlan Boll, confirmed that the actor died in Hawaii due to complications following a stroke. His passing happened just one day before he would have turned 91. Chamberlain's passing was further addressed by his longtime partner, Martin Rabbett.

“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us,” Rabbett said. “How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul.”

Boll's statement confirming Chamberlain's death noted that he was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in Beverly Hills with his parents and brother, Bill. Before getting into his acting career, he earned a bachelor's degree in arts from Pomona College. He then pursued the United States Army, serving 16 months in...

Richard Chamberlain, the three-time Golden Globe-winning actor known for his work on “Dr. Kildare,” “The Thorn Birds” and 1980’s “Shōgun,” has died. He was 90.

The star died from complications following a stroke late Saturday night in Waimanalo, Hawaii, TheWrap has learned.

“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now,” his partner Martin Rabbett said in a statement. “He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.”

Chamberlain earned three Golden Globes across six nominations from throughout his career. He was also nominated for four Emmy Awards and appeared on Broadway and in film.

Born on March 31, 1934, in Los Angeles, Chamberlain grew up in Beverly Hills with aspirations of being an artist. After graduating from Pomona College and enlisting in the U.S. Army,...

Richard Chamberlain, a prolific actor known for his work on television series like Shōgun and Dr. Kildare, has died. He was 90. Chamberlain, whose notable projects also spanned across film and stage, passed away on Saturday, March 29, after suffering a stroke in Hawaii. His longtime partner, Martin Rabbett, delivered the sad news in a statement (via Variety):

"Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure."

Chamberlain became well known in the 1960s with the medical drama Dr. Kildare, where he portrayed the titular character, a young and idealistic medical intern at Blair General Hospital. The series, which aired on NBC from 1961 to 1966, followed Dr. Kildare as he navigated professional...

Richard Chamberlain, the spirited actor known for his handle of larger-than-life characters on both stage and screen, passed away peacefully on March 29, 2025, at the age of 90, two days shy of his 91st birthday. As per Variety, the actor died in Waimanalo, Hawai’i due to complications following a stroke.

Throughout his remarkable career, Chamberlain captivated audiences with his easy-on-the-eyes visage, commanding presence, and zest for life and all of its adventures. Between his star-making turn on the original medical procedural “Dr. Kildare” and his treasured performance in the original mini-series adaptation of James Clavell’s “Shōgun,” Chamberlain has undoubtedly left a lasting impact on arts and entertainment.

Born on March 31, 1934, in Beverly Hills, California, Chamberlain served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army during the Korean War before beginning his journey as an actor in the 1960s. Returning to Los Angeles after his service, Chamberlain co-founded the theater group Company of Angels,...

Richard Chamberlian, the actor known for such shows as Dr. Kildare, Shōgun and The Thorn Birds, has died. He was 90.

The 3x Golden Globe winner died of complications following a stroke on Saturday afternoon in Waimanalo, Hawaii, according to multiple outlets, just days before his 91st birthday on Monday.

“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now. He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us,” Chamberlain’s partner Martin Rabbett said in a statement. “How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.”

Born March 31, 1934 in Beverly Hills, Chamberlain was drafted by the U.S. Army after college, serving in Korea from 1956 to 1958, during which he achieved the rank of sergeant.

After founding the LA-based theater group Company of Angels in 1959, Chamberlain got his onscreen star in episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents,...

Sad news in the land of Hollywood, as legend Richard Chamberlain, known for his work in miniseries like ‘Shogun’ and ‘The Thorn Birds’, has passed away at the age of 90. According to his rep, he died in Hawaii on Saturday, March 29, due to complications from a stroke.

Richard Chamberlain’s Road To Acting

While he was best known for his work on television, Chamberlain enjoyed a dynamic career that included roles on Broadway and in films.

He grew up in Beverly Hills and wanted to be an artist; however, once he attended Pomona College, he switched shifts and became interested in drama, leading him to his acting career.

Upon graduation, he joined the U.S. Army and served in Korea, returning to Los Angeles to study acting. He began his career with a number of guest appearances on shows, with the first one being on ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ in 1959.

His “break...

Richard Chamberlain, a stage and screen actor with a TV résumé more than a half-century long, has died. He was 90 years old. Chamberlain died on Saturday, March 29, in Waimanalo, Hawaii, of complications following a stroke, his publicist told Variety. “Our beloved Richard is with the angels now,” Martin Rabbett, Chamberlain’s longtime partner and Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold costar, said in a statement. “He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings, lifting him to his next great adventure.” Chamberlain is best known for small-screen work as the star of the NBC medical drama Dr. Kildare in the 1960s and the 1980 NBC miniseries Shōgun and the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds. The latter two performances both earned him Golden Globe trophies and Emmy nominations.

Richard Chamberlain, the prolific Golden Globe-winning actor who starred in miniseries like Shogun and The Thorn Birds, has died at the age of 90.

Chamberlain’s publicist confirmed the actor’s death to Variety, adding that he died Saturday night in in Waimanalo, Hawai’i — where Chamberlain resided since the 1980s — from complications following a stroke.

After his acting debut in 1959 in an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Chamberlain appeared in minor roles in a handful of movies and television shows before landing his breakout role as the title character in...

The 1980s were the heyday of the miniseries, and of all the people who starred in them, the undisputed king of the format was Richard Chamberlain, who, Variety reports, has died at age 90 following a stroke. Chamberlain had already been a leading man for decades by the time he made his first miniseries, having starred on TV’s Dr. Kildare, as well as in a slew of movies during the 1970s, which included Richard Lester’s classic duo, The Three Musketeers and The Four Musketeers (he played Aramis), and Peter Weir’s apocalyptic drama, The Last Wave, plus roles in the disaster films The Towering Inferno and The Swarm (where his demise caused by killer bees triggers a nuclear meltdown).

However, his greatest fame came in the 1980s when he headlined a host of epic miniseries. His first, Shogun, is widely regarded as a classic adaptation of the James Clavell...

Handsome leading man Richard Chamberlain, who came to prominence in the 1960s medical series “Dr. Kildare” and then became king of the miniseries with such ratings blockbusters as “Shogun” and “The Thorn Birds,” has died. He was 90.

Chamberlain’s death was confirmed to Variety by publicist Harlan Boll. The actor died Saturday, March 29 in Waimanalo, Hawai’i, of complications following a stroke, according to Boll.

“Our beloved Richard is with the angels now,” Martin Rabbett, Chamberlain’s longtime partner, said in a statement. “He is free and soaring to those loved ones before us. How blessed were we to have known such an amazing and loving soul. Love never dies. And our love is under his wings lifting him to his next great adventure.”

Chamberlain’s All-American matinee idol looks stood in the way of his acting career at times until he proved himself onstage in a highly lauded production...

Who doesn’t love the drama and intrigue of a well-written suspenseful medical drama series? As a kid, I loved Doogie Howser, M.D., and how this socially awkward teenage doctor (Neil Patrick Harris) would solve impossible medical cases despite the misgivings of attending adult doctors and nurses.

Medical drama series have been a fan favorite pastime since the first American medical drama Dr. Kildare (starring Richard Chamberlain) aired in the 1960s. Since then, we have cheered, mourned, and sobbed our way through medical melodrama in series such as ER, Chicago Med, The Good Doctor, Boston Med, House, Private Practice, Nurse Jackie, and arguably the most successful medical drama series with 19+ seasons – Grey’s Anatomy.

These medical series are typically set in either a clinic or hospital of some kind where patients are treated for a variety of ailments and medical conditions. Add in the theatrics of the interactions between the medical staff and their patients,...

Olive Sturgess, who appeared on about two dozen TV Westerns and got to act alongside Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Jack Nicholson in the Roger Corman 1963 cult horror spoof The Raven, died Feb. 19, her family announced. She was 91.

Through two decades starting in the mid-1950s, the fresh-faced Sturgess showed up on (by her count) about 300 episodes of television, including 12 from 1956-59 as the girlfriend of Dwayne Hickman’s character on the NBC-CBS sitcom The Bob Cummings Show.

The Canadian-born starlet also was seen on such series as West Point, Perry Mason, Panic!, The Donna Reed Show, Hawaiian Eye, The Danny Thomas Show, Petticoat Junction, Dr. Kildare and Ironside, but TV Westerns dominated her résumé.

Sturgess appeared on Tales of Wells Fargo, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot, U.S. Marshal, Rawhide, Have Gun — Will Travel, Lawman, Laramie, The Rebel, The Tall Man, Bronco, Whispering Smith, Maverick, Wide Country, Destry,...

Earl Holliman, the actor best known for playing Angie Dickinson’s boss on the 1970s NBC cop drama Police Woman, has died. He was 96.

Holliman died Monday in hospice care at his home in Studio City, his spouse, Craig Curtis, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Holliman won a best supporting actor Golden Globe for portraying Katharine Hepburn’s girl-crazy kid brother in The Rainmaker (1956) — he beat out Elvis Presley for the role — and then appeared in another Burt Lancaster film, as Wyatt Earp’s assistant in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

In the George Stevens epic Giant (1956), the Louisiana native played the son-in-law of Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson’s characters, was the cook in Forbidden Planet (1956) and appeared as the brother of John Wayne, Dean Martin and Michael Anderson Jr. in Henry Hathaway’s The Sons of Katie Elder (1965).

Holliman also portrayed a man with amnesia in a deserted town...

Bob Denver began his professional television career in 1957, appearing in one episode of "The Silent Service," but his career took off in earnest in 1959 when he was cast as the comedic beatnik Maynard G. Krebs in the long-running sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." He appeared in 144 episodes of that series throughout its four seasons, cementing Denver as a reliable, funny supporting player. 

After "Dobie Gillis," Denver secured a few notable gigs, appearing on "The Andry Griffith Show" and "Dr. Kildare," as well as the feature films "Take Her, She's Mine," and "For Those Who Think Young." By 1964, however, Denver's legacy was secured when he was cast as the title character in Sherwood Schwartz's hit sitcom "Gilligan's Island." Although that series only lasted 98 episodes in three seasons, it was a massive hit, beloved by audiences everywhere. Critics often lambasted "Gilligan's Island" for being too silly, but its reputation preceded it,...

James Earl Jones in ‘Coming 2 America’ (Photo Courtesy of Amazon Studios)

On September 9, 2024, we lost one of the great ones: James Earl Jones. Jones is one of the few people to achieve the Egot, but more important than awards was the passion, commitment, craft, and just sheer scale he brought to every role whether it was as the leading man, a supporting character, or just a voice. And he brought all that to the table whether he was doing Shakespeare or Sesame Street. He was truly a rare talent.

James Earl Jones made his Broadway debut in 1957 but gained acclaim for his work with the New York Shakespeare Festival taking on the Bard’s tragic heroes of Othello, Hamlet, Coriolanus, and King Lear. He would win a Tony Award for Best Actor for The Great White Hope (1968), a role that he reprised for the 1970 film adaptation, earning him his...

Gena Rowlands, the award-winning actress known for her roles in films such as A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria, and The Notebook, has died at the age of 94.

Rowlands died Wednesday, August 14th, at her home in Indian Wells, California, according to TMZ. She had been battling Alzheimer’s disease.

Hailing from Cambria, Wisconsin, Rowlands originally got her start in theater, studying drama at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Upon graduating, she starred in several repertory productions before making her Broadway debut in The Seven Year Itch. She later starred in the Broadway play Middle of the Night.

Beginning in the mid-1950s, Rowlands transitioned to a career in television. She starred in the syndicated television series Top Secret and made guest appearances on shows including Laramie, Riverboat, 77 Sunset Strip, and Dr. Kildare. She also appeared on several episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

However,...

Medical dramas provide a thrilling look into the world of medicine, with gripping plots and high-stakes situations. The best medical dramas delve into the personal lives of healthcare professionals and tackle wider social issues connected to medicine. Medical dramas like House and Grey's Anatomy have pushed the boundaries of the genre and redefined viewer expectations.

TVs finest medical dramas provide an exciting peek into the world of medicine and delve into personal and societal issues impacting those who dedicate themselves to saving lives, adding depth to the genre. As a popular TV format, medical dramas lend themselves well to exploring compelling storylines. Doctors face intense, high-stakes situations daily, dealing with life-and-death circumstances, and fast-paced emergencies make for gripping plots. Additionally, hospital settings offer opportunities to examine illnesses and health crises that viewers can relate to.

The best TV procedurals go beyond thrilling cases to showcase the personal lives of physicians,...

Veteran actress Elizabeth MacRae, best known for appearing in soap operas such as General Hospital and Days of Our Lives, has died. She was 88. According to her obituary at CityViewNc.com, MacRae passed away peacefully on Monday, May 27, in Fayetteville, North Carolina. A cause of death was not provided. Born on February 22, 1936, in Columbia, South Carolina, MacRae later moved to Fayetteville with her family and then to Washington D.C., where she attended Holton-Arms, an independent college-preparatory school for girls. After graduating, MacRae decided to pursue an acting career, moving to New York City in 1956 to study with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof Studio. She gained experience playing various characters in off-Broadway and summer-stock productions. She landed her first television role in 1958 in the courtroom series The Verdict Is Yours. From there, MacRae would appear in numerous TV dramas and sitcoms, including 77 Sunset Strip, Burke’s Law, Dr. Kildare,...

Elizabeth MacRae, who played girlfriends of Gomer Pyle and Festus Haggen on television and a woman who seduces Gene Hackman’s surveillance expert in The Conversation, has died. She was 88.

MacRae died Monday in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where she was raised, her family announced.

MacRae showed up as Lou-Ann Poovie on 15 episodes of the CBS comedy Gomer Pyle: Usmc during its final three seasons (1966-69). She was signed to work just one episode, “Love’s Old Sweet Song,” on the Jim Nabors starrer but impressed producers enough to stick around for more.

Earlier, she portrayed April Clomley, the girlfriend of deputy marshal Festus (Ken Curtis), on CBS’ Gunsmoke on four installments from 1962-64.

In The Conversation (1974), written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, MacRae played Meredith, who dances with Hackman’s Harry Caul in his apartment, sleeps with him and then swipes one of his audiotapes. The actress was among...

Actor Terry Carter, known for roles in the TV shows Battlestar Galactica and McCloud, has passed away. He was 95 years old.

Per the New York Times, Terry Carter's son, Miguel Carter DeCoste confirmed that the actor died on Tuesday at his Midtown Manhattan home. Born on Dec. 16, 1928, Carter was raised in Brooklyn. Carter had also been the first Black news anchor in New England with his work at Wbz-tv in Boston from 1965 to 1968. He began his career in show business by performing on and off-Broadway, and he appeared in TV shows and movies in the 1950s. One of his first major roles was as Pvt. Sugie Sugarman in The Phil Silvers Show from 1955 to 1959.

Carter may be best known for his role in the popular sci-fi TV show Battlestar Galactica, in which he played Colonel Tigh, one of the main characters. He is also known for his role as Sergeant Joe Broadhurst,...

The premise of Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" is succinctly laid out in its indelible theme song, written by Schwartz and George Wyle. The S.S. Minnow, helmed by Captain G. Jonas Grumby (Alan Hale) and his first officer Gilligan (Bob Denver) took on five passengers for a three-hour boat tour of Hawai'i. The ship hit some bad weather, got lost at sea, and washed up on an uncharted island somewhere in the Pacific. Now the two sailors, along with a millionaire (Jim Backus), his wife (Natalie Schafer), a movie star (Tina Louise), a professor (Russel Johnson), and a lottery-winning tourist (Dawn Wells), have to learn to survive, all to comedic effect.

"Gilligan's Island" has no themes of actual survival, instead rolling with its slapstick elements; the series clearly takes place in a cartoon reality. As such, the characters play as broad archetypes, mugging and screaming in an unrealistic fashion.

In the "Star Trek" episode "Metamorphosis", guest character Commissioner Nancy Hedford (Elinor Donahue) is taking a break from a vital diplomatic mission to be treated for a rare and potentially fatal condition on board the Enterprise. Her shuttle is attacked, however, by a mysterious energy blob, causing it to crash on a nearby — and presumably uninhabited — planet. Inexplicably, Hedford, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are greeted by a man named Zefram Cochrane (Glenn Corbett), the inventor of warp engines who had disappeared a century earlier. By "Star Trek" lore, Zefram Cochrane flew out into space as a very old man and never returned.

This Cochran, however, is young and vibrant here. It seems that the blob of energy — a blob Cochrane calls the Companion — is alive and lives on this world. The being is powerful enough to keep Cochrane young, and has kind...

Barbra Rush, the prolific actress best known for roles in 1953’s It Came From Outer Space and long runs on Peyton Place and All My Children, has died. Her daughter confirmed Rush’s passing to Fox News on Sunday. She was 97.

Rush had a near 60-year career. In the ’50s and ’60s, she worked on the big screen with Paul Newman (three times), Kirk Douglas, Rock Hudson, Dean Martin, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra and Richard Burton. In addition to pulpier fare like Prince of Pirates and Taza, Son of Cochise, Rush did a trio of films with Douglas Sirk — The First Legion, Magnificent Obsession and Captain Lightfoot — and Bigger Than Life with Nicholas Ray.

By the late 1960s, Rush had segued mostly to TV, appearing in mainstays of the period such as Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, The Fugitive, Marcus Welby, M.D., McCloud, Maude, Ironside and Mannix.

Rush appeared in...

Dashing, magnetic superstar Ricardo Montalbán got his start in the 1940s, appearing in numerous notable hit films in his native Mexico, playing a variety of roles in romantic dramas, historical comedies, and other swashbuckling adventures. His natural dazzle and ineffable "it" qualities caught the eye of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1947, and he shot the English-language film "Fiesta" with Esther Williams, Cyd Charisse, and Mary Astor. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Montalbán became incredibly busy, starring in romances, dramas, and an enormous amount of American TV, including one-shot TV movies and multiple notable hit shows. He was in "Dr. Kildare," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "Gunsmoke," "Hawaii Five-o," and, of course, "Star Trek," playing the charismatic tyrant Khan Noonien Singh. 

A new generation of Montalbán fans was born with the debut of "Fantasy Island" in 1978. On "Fantasy Island," Montalbán played the mysterious Mr. Roarke, the manager of Devil's Island, a remote, hard-to-get-to tropical paradise...

Screen veteran Glynis Johns, who very memorably played Mrs. Banks in the beloved movie Mary Poppins, has died.

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Johns passed away on Thursday at an assisted living facility in West Hollywood. Her passing was confirmed by her manager, Mitch Clem. Johns, who officially became the oldest living Disney Legend following Betty White's passing in 2021, was 100 years old.

Johns, considered to have been one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, had an impressive career with more than eight decades spent in show business, having portrayed dozens of characters on stage and on the screen. One of her most well-known roles is as Winifred Banks, the feminist mother of Jane (Karen Dotrice) and Michael (Matthew Garber), and wife of George Banks (David Tomlinson). Walt Disney, who produced the classic film, had hand-picked Johns for the role of Mrs. Banks, with...

Glynis Johns, remembered by movie audiences as Mrs. Banks from Mary Poppins and by Broadway devotees as the first person to sing Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” on a national stage, died Thursday of natural causes at an assisted living home in Los Angeles. She was 100.

Her death was announced by her manager and publicist Mitch Clem. “Today’s a sad day for Hollywood,” Clem said in a statement. “She is the last of the last of old Hollywood.”

A Tony winner (Best Actress/Musical) for her performance as Desiree Armfeldt in the original 1973 Broadway cast of the Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler A Little Night Music, Johns both debuted and, due to her widespread acclaim, helped popularize what would become perhaps Sondheim’s most beloved and well-known songs with “Send in the Clowns.”

Born in Pretoria, South Africa, the Welsh Johns made her West End debut in 1931 at age...

Realizing they needed a voice over actor to provide the narration for a new show in development called Arrested Development, producer Ron Howard looked around the empty recording studio, finding no voice over actor in sight. So this Oscar winning former child star stepped in to provide a temporary voice track, you know just as a filler until they could find a better voice, of course. But a better voice never came because Ron Howard’s comforting and gentle tone mixed with a dry yet kinda goofy speech pattern was the perfect fit for the sense of humor of this show. But this was not the only time Ron Howard stepped up and became an unexpected perfect fit, he’s been doing that all his life – from being in front of the camera in classic TV shows and behind the camera for a hefty handful of wonderful motion pictures… and more!

Ellen Holly, the first Black actor to have a leading role on a daytime soap opera, died peacefully in her sleep on Wednesday at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx. She was 92.

Photo by Ashley E. Jones

Holly joined ABC’s One Life to Live in 1968, in the role of Carla Benari, an actress of seemingly Italian heritage who found romance with Jim Craig, a white doctor (played by Robert Milli and then Nat Polen). It eventually came out that Carla Benari was actually Carla Gray, an African-American passing as white –and the daughter of Llanview Hospital housekeeping boss Sadie Gray...

Ellen Holly, the first Black person to star in a soap opera with her lead role on One Life to Live, died Wednesday at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y. She was 92 and died in her sleep.

Her first roles on television included appearances on The Big Story (1957), The Defenders (1963), Sam Benedict (1963), Dr. Kildare (1964) and The Doctors and the Nurses (1963 and 1964).

Holly played the groundbreaking character Carla Gray on the hit ABC show One Life to Live from 1968 to 1980 and 1983 to 1985. She was personally chosen for the role by television producer Agnes Nixon after she saw a New York Times opinion piece that Holly wrote, called “How Black Do You Have To Be?” about the difficulty of finding roles as a light-skinned Black woman.

Holly was born on January 16, 1931, in Manhattan to parents William Garnet Holly, a chemical engineer, and Grayce Holly, a housewife and writer.

A graduate of Hunter College,...

Update, with DGA statement: Elliot Silverstein, who directed Jane Fonda and, in an Oscar-winning performance, Lee Marvin in the 1965 comedy-Western Cat Ballou, died Nov. 24 in Los Angeles. He was 96.

His death was announced by family members.

Born August 3, 1927, in Boson, Silverstein launched his directing career during television’s 1950s on such programs as Omnibus and the Alfred Hitchcock-produced mystery series Suspicion, Silverstein stayed busy with episodic series throughout the 1960s. Among his credits from the era: Route 66, Have Gun – Will Travel, Naked City, Dr. Kildare, The Defenders and four episodes of The Twilight Zone, including the fan-favorite, Rod Serling-penned 1961 installment titled The Passersby, a mournful ghost story set at the end of the American Civil War.

Lee Marvin in ‘Cat Ballou’

Silverstein’s TV career would continue, sporadically, through the 1990s when he directed four episodes of Tales From The Crypt and an episode of Picket Fences,...

Elliot Silverstein, who helmed episodes of such acclaimed TV shows as Naked City, The Twilight Zone and Route 66 before guiding Lee Marvin to a best actor Oscar in Cat Ballou, his feature directorial debut, died Friday in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 96.

The Boston native also helmed A Man Called Horse (1970), which starred Richard Harris in the title role as an English aristocrat who eventually becomes the leader of the Native tribe that had captured and tortured him. The action movie spawned a couple of sequels.

Most importantly, Silverman was instrumental in the formation of the milestone Bill of Creative Rights for directors.

“Every director today owes a debt of gratitude to Elliot Silverstein,” DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a statement. “No one ever worked harder or was more passionate about protecting artists from having their work and vision altered than Elliot.”

It was Silverstein...

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Ah, Boba Fett. The bounty hunter with a Mandalorian helmet first appeared in "The Star Wars Holiday Special" in an animated sequence that was slightly less bats**t bizarre than the rest of that monstrosity (which I do admit to having a soft spot for). He would subsequently return in "Star Wars: Episode V -- The Empire Strikes Back," working for Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones) and taking the body of Han Solo (Harrison Ford), frozen in carbonite, to Jabba the Hutt. His role was very small, but that character design was just too good for him to fade into the background. Fans went a little wild over him. Eventually, Boba even got a dad and a backstory in the prequel trilogy, in addition to his very own show on Disney+, "The Book of Boba Fett," starring Temuera Morrison.

Robert Butler, the Emmy-winning, go-to pilot director who helmed the first episodes of such acclaimed shows as Batman, Star Trek, Hill Street Blues and Moonlighting, died Nov. 3 in Los Angeles, his family announced. He was 95.

Butler also co-created the Pierce Brosnan-starring Remington Steele (and helmed its pilot, of course), directed the first episode of Hogan’s Heroes in 1965, and called the first shots and set the tone for, Glenn Gordon Caron’s Moonlighting, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Sisters and The Division.

In 1973, he directed the William Holden-starring The Blue Knight — the first four-hour television miniseries — at NBC and then got the CBS series adaptation of the Joseph Wambaugh novel that starred George Kennedy off on the right foot.

Butler also helmed two episodes of The Twilight Zone (the fifth-season installments “Caesar and Me,” starring his old friend, Jackie Cooper, and “The Encounter”) and worked on The Dick Van Dyke Show,...

This November, after three full years of waiting, fans of FX’s “Fargo” will be treated to a brand new season. Unlike the anthology series’ fourth iteration, which served as a prequel to its first two, the upcoming fifth batch of episodes will tell an entirely original Midwestern crime story. Leading the season’s star-studded cast is Jon Hamm, who has his sights set on earning his first Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor Golden Globe nomination this winter. Since he was already honored in the corresponding drama series category for “Mad Men” in 2008 and 2016, his possible new victory would make him the seventh man to clinch Golden Globes for performances on both continuing and non-continuing TV programs.

Hamm, who picked up four additional Golden Globe bids for “Mad Men” between 2009 and 2013, has already begun his splashy 2023 return to prestige TV by playing a new supporting role on the third season of “The Morning Show.

There are a whole lot of things that Robert Redford is famous for: acting, directing, co-founding the Sundance Film Festival, being incredibly handsome, even running Hydra from within the United States government ... the list goes on and on and on. He became a silver screen icon in classic films like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The Way We Were," "The Sting," "Three Days of the Condor," "The Natural," "Sneakers," and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." He even won an Academy Award for directing the acclaimed 1980 drama "Ordinary People."

But in spite of all that there's one thing that Robert Redford is not famous for, and that's his tireless work in the horror genre. That's because, despite an acting career that spanned 60 years, he never really made any horror films. You'd have to go way back to 1962 to find Redford's last real brush with the supernatural, but it's well worth the journey.

Prior to creating "Star Trek," Gene Roddenberry had spent a decade as a TV journeyman, writing for multiple hit shows of the day including "Highway Patrol," "I Led 3 Lives," "Dr. Kildare," and 24 episodes of "Have Gun – Will Travel." He became adept at multiple genres and had a very good sense of how TV trends flowed by the time he went to pitch "Star Trek." Famously, Roddenberry pitched his sci-fi show as "Wagon Train to the Stars," referring to the massive hit Western that debuted in 1957 and ran until 1965. That notorious pitch has worked its way into known Trek lore and can be heard quoted by good Trekkies everywhere. These days, "Star Trek" is far more popular than "Wagon Train" ever was.

Looking over "Star Trek," one finds a lot of Western-inflected language, notably how space is referred to as the Final Frontier. While Roddenberry wanted to pointedly avoid any...

Inga Swenson, best known for playing German cook Gretchen Kraus on 1980s TV sitcom “Benson”, has died at the age of 90.

Swenson’s son confirmed the news to TMZ, revealing that she died of natural causes on Sunday, July 23; he noted that her health had been declining for the past few months, and that her death was not unexpected.

Swenson portrayed the character for more than 150 episodes of the series, throughout its entire seven-season run from 1979-1986; she earned three Emmy nominations for her “Benson” role.

The “Benson” cast (L-r): Caroline McWilliams, Rene Auberjonois, James Noble, Inga Swenson, Ethan Phillips, Missy Gold, Robert Guillaume. Photo: The Everett Collection

Swenson also appeared in numerous TV series, including “The Golden Girls”, “Newhart” and “Hotel; in fact, her TV credits span back to the 1950s, and she appeared in such classic shows as “Bonanza”, “Dr. Kildare” and “The Defenders”.

Read More: Bill Cunningham,...

Robert Crutchfield, who served as a top publicity executive in television for Mtm Enterprises, Lorimar and Universal, has died. He was 85.

Crutchfield died April 7 at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, after a long illness, a family spokesperson announced.

A onetime Houston radio deejay and 20th Century Fox contract player, Crutchfield in 1974 began an eight-year stint as vp marketing and publicity for Mtm Enterprises, where he handled such acclaimed series as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Wkrp in Cincinnati, The Bob Newhart Show, Lou Grant, Phyllis, Rhoda and The White Shadow.

He joined Lorimar as senior vp publicity in 1982 and orchestrated the landmark “Who Shot J.R.?” campaign for Dallas while overseeing other shows including The Waltons, Knots Landing, Eight Is Enough and Falcon Crest, which starred his longtime friend, Jane Wyman. (He also was pals with actor Ed Asner.)

Crutchfield was on the job in 1986 when the parents...

Rita Lakin, the boundary-pushing TV writer and showrunner who worked on Peyton Place, The Doctors and Mod Squad and created series including The Rookies and Flamingo Road, has died. She was 93.

Lakin died March 23 of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Novato, California, her son, writer-producer Howard Lakin, told The Hollywood Reporter. “Before her, they hadn’t thought about writing television from a woman’s point of view,” he noted.

Lakin also penned a groundbreaking 1975 episode of CBS’ Medical Center centered on a transgender character; served as a showrunner/executive producer on the 1976-77 CBS drama Executive Suite; and wrote such popular telefilms as 1971’s Death Takes a Holiday and 1973’s Message to My Daughter and A Summer Without Boys.

After she met some people from Texas whom she didn’t like, she rejected an offer in 1978 to create the pilot for a show about an oil family in the Lone Star State.

Michael Lerner, the character actor known from films like “Godzilla,” “Elf,” and “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” and who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Barton Fink,” has died, as per a report in Variety. He was 81 years old.

The news was broken by his nephew, actor Sam Lerner, a series regular on “The Goldbergs.” He wrote on his Instagram page that “it’s hard to put into words how brilliant my uncle Michael was, and how influential he was to me. His stories always inspired me and made me fall in love with acting. He was the coolest, most confident, talented guy, and the fact that he was my blood will always make me feel special.” He added, “Rip Michael, enjoy your unlimited Cuban cigars, comfy chairs, and endless movie marathon.”

A carousel of images included pictures of Lerner on set in various costumes over the years,...

After playing some of the most entertaining characters, some have been wondering where the cast of Gilligan's Island have gone. First airing from 1964 to 1967, the sitcom followed the passengers and crew of the SS Minnow after they were shipwrecked on a tropical island. Although the show was incredibly formulaic with most episodes pertaining to the castaways' attempt to escape the island, the series never failed to warm hearts and make audiences chuckle. Gilligan's Island's cast was a diverse mix of established actors and young stars, and all the main actors were forever known for their roles in the beloved show.

Across its 98-episode run, the lovable castaways usually found their escape attempts accidentally ruined by the bumbling Gilligan, and there were a host of unexpected TV crossover episodes as well. Even after it was canceled following season 3, Gilligan's Island only grew in reputation, and it became a syndication powerhouse...

Los Angeles, Jan 30 (Ians) Lisa Loring, who played the young Wednesday Addams in ‘The Addams Family’ from 1964 to 1966 and also appeared in ‘As the World Turns’, died aged 64 of a stroke, her daughter Vanessa Foumberg confirmed.

“She went peacefully with both her daughters holding her hands,” Foumberg said, reports Variety.

A friend, Laurie Jacobson, reported her death on Facebook, writing that she “was in our hearts always as Wednesday Addams.”

Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster on ‘The Munsters’, also remembered her on Facebook, writing: “Very sorry to hear of my dear friend Lisa Loring’s passing. We were very close and worked together often. I know she was very weak. I was in her company just a few weeks ago. Godspeed my friend.”

Loring’s shimmying frug dance called ‘The Drew’ frug gained renewed attention with the new Netflix series ‘Wednesday’, on which Jenna Ortega does her own interpretation of Wednesday’s dance.