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Audra McDonald is poised to make history... again.

According to Gold Derby's current predictions, the Broadway legend will win Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Rose in Gypsy at the 2025 Tony Awards. If she does, not only would it extend her acting record to seven trophies — she'd also be the fourth actress to have won for one of the most iconic leading roles in musical theater.

Of Gypsy's five prior Broadway outings, three of them won their stars the Tony: Angela Lansbury for the first revival in 1975, Tyne Daly for the second revival in 1990, and Patti LuPone for the previous revival in 2008. The only actresses to have lost a Tony race for their portrayals of Rose are Ethel Merman for the original production in 1960 (she lost to Mary Martin for The Sound of Music) and Bernadette Peters for the third revival in 2003 (she lost to Marissa Jaret Winokur...

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,...

Garth Hudson, the virtuoso multi-instrumentalist and last original member of The Band, has died at the age of 87.

According to The Toronto Star, Hudson passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, January 21st at a nursing home in Woodstock, New York

Hudson was born Eric Hudson in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on August 2nd, 1937. Like their son, both of his parents were multi-talented musicians, and Hudson began playing piano at a very early age. His first official gigs were providing the organ for local church services and for a funeral parlor owned by his uncle. By 1949, he was playing professionally in dance bands around London, Ontario, eventually earning a spot in a group called Paul London and the Kapers.

It was after a Kapers show in London in 1961 that Hudson was first approached by his future-bandmates Ronnie Hawkins and Levon Helm, who asked if he would be interested in joining Hawkins’ band,...

The late, great Larry Hagman had an extensive filmography, but he's by far best known for playing J.R. Ewing in the primetime soap opera, Dallas (1978-1991), which is responsible for much of his net worth. The actor began his career on stage in summer stock productions. As he made his way to Broadway, Hagman also picked up small television parts. He got his big break when he was cast as Captain Anthony Nelson, Barbara Eden's love interest, in I Dream of Jeannie (1965-1970). But it was his role as Dallas' villainous oil baron J.R. Ewing that made him a star.

Hagman was born in Fort, Worth Texas to district attorney Benjamin Hagman and Mary Martin, who would go on to become a Broadway actress after Hagman's birth. Upon graduating high school in Texas, Hagman followed in his mother's footsteps and pursued acting. He enrolled in Bard College...

Bob Dylan and the Band brought their reunion tour to arenas all across North America in January 1974 before touching down in New York City at the tail end of the month for three sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden. Demand for tickets was feverish, and a handwritten spreadsheet at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shows that Yoko Ono, Miles Davis, David Bromberg, Bob Gottlieb, Allen Ginsberg, Murray The K, Mary Martin, Noel “Paul” Stookey, and Sid Bernstein were all on the guest list. (Paul Simon’s name was crossed out.

When Tony voters looked at their ballots for best musical in 1960, they must have felt lightheaded. They were tasked with choosing a winner among the latest Rodgers and Hammerstein (The Sound of Music), a political drama that would go on to win the Pulitzer (Fiorello!), a new kind of psychological biography (Gypsy), and an uproarious fairy-tale comedy (Once Upon a Mattress). I’m not sure if any of the 2024 nominees for best musical will stand the test of time quite like that stunning lineup. But as was true 64 years ago, there are at least four celebrated contenders vying, all equally convincingly, for the top prize.

Part of what makes this season’s best musical category particularly tricky to predict is the volume of productions that aren’t on the ballot here: At various moments throughout the season, in which 15 new musicals opened (and six have already closed), it would have...

The musical “Hell’s Kitchen” and the drama “Stereophonic” are leading the nominations with 13 followed closely by the musical “The Outsiders” with 12 for the 77th annual Tony Awards which will be telecast live from Lincoln Center June 16 on Pluto and CBS. The ceremony hosted for the third consecutive year by Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose will also hand out several special Tony Awards.

Two powerhouse directors (and previous Tony winners), George C. Wolfe and Jack O’Brien, are set to receive special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. Other special honors will go to sound designer Abe Jacobs, Alex Edelman for his one-man show “Just for Us,” and Nikiya Mathis for her hair and wig design for the Tony nominated “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” Among those receiving Tonys for excellence in the theater are the Dramatist Guild Foundation, the Samuel J. Friedman Heath Center for the Performing Arts and the Wilma Theater.

The actors from the current revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s “Merrily We Roll Along” have skyrocketed in Gold Derby’s combined odds for the 2024 Tony Awards nominations. The prediction center displays commanding leads for Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez and Daniel Radcliffe to win their respective categories. This is an understandable result considering this revival is the hottest ticket in town and this trio of performers has been ever-present in the media. But how often does a trio of actors from the same production pull off three separate acting victories at the Tony Awards?

It’s quite common for a musical to grab two acting trophies, but three awards is much rarer. To date, only 15 musical productions have earned three acting wins. The first time this feat occurred was at the 1956 ceremony, which was ironically the first time the Tony Awards ever announced a slate of nominees (previously...

Every school has that certain teacher who is a bully, heartless and at times sadistic. Everyone must take their class, but no one finishes the course unscathed. Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) of Alexander Payne’s acclaimed comedy-drama “The Holdovers” is one such instructor. Set in 1970, “The Holdovers” revolves around the by-the-books classics professor teaching at the same New England boarding school he had attended. Hunham is hated by his students, as well as his fellow teachers. And he’s also in hot water, after he failed one of the school’s largest donor’s son in his class. During the Christmas break, he is forced to supervise the “holdovers — -the students who for various reasons must stay on campus. He ends up sharing the holidays with one troubled student (Dominic Sessa) whose mother recently remarried; and the cafeteria administrator (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) grieving her only son’s death in the Vietnam War.

Betta St. John, who portrayed the lovely island girl Liat in the original Broadway production of South Pacific and starred as a princess alongside Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in the MGM romantic comedy Dream Wife, has died. She was 93.

St. John died June 23 of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Brighton, England, her son, TV producer Roger Grant, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The California native played one of the survivors of an airline crash, who is chased by a crocodile in Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957) — the first Tarzan film in 15 years and the first one in color — and then returned for Tarzan the Magnificent (1960). Both films starred Gordon Scott as the King of the Jungle.

St. John also starred with Stewart Granger, Ann Blyth and Robert Taylor in All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953); with Victor Mature, Piper Laurie and Vincent Price in the 3-D adventure Dangerous...

The question you may be asking is ‘do we really need yet another take on Peter Pan? Ever since J.M. Barrie published his book “Peter And Wendy” in 1911 there have been countless film, TV, and stage versions of one stripe or another, starting with silents, and of course NBC’s live musical in the 50’s with Mary Martin, and later versions with Sandy Duncan, Cathy Rigby, and just a few years ago another NBC live attempt at it with Allison Williams. Of course there have been big screen spins, neither quite magical, like Joe Wright’s messy 2015 Pan and Spielberg’s overblown Hook with Robin Williams and Julia Roberts. Up to this moment even Broadway has a new Tony contender in the farcical take, Peter Pan Goes Wrong. But for me the one version that resonates the most, to this day, is the Disney 1953 animated feature classic.

So here we are again,...

Amid a stacked fall season on Broadway, “Kimberly Akimbo” has emerged as an early Best Musical frontrunner for next spring’s Tony Awards. The new show from Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire oozes heart and charm, and earned unanimous critical praise when it opened on November 10. If star Victoria Clark can leverage the musical’s success into a Tony win in June, she will join an elite group of Tony-winning women.

Clark portrays the titular Kimberly, a young girl from New Jersey about to celebrate her 16th birthday. Only Kimberly isn’t quite so young on the outside. She has an incredibly rare disorder, similar to progeria, which causes her body to age at four times the normal rate. The average lifespan for folks with her disease is 16, giving Kimberly an acute awareness of her own mortality and a desire to experience all the joys and wonders of life in whatever time she has left.

Susan L. Schulman, a longtime Broadway publicist whose five-decade career included such theater milestones as Applause starring Lauren Bacall, Death of a Salesman with George C. Scott and Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, died Wednesday, October 18, at Mt. Sinai West Hospital in New York City following a brief illness.

Her death was announced by friends Leslie Krakowe, actor Kathleen Chalfant and Roy Bernstein. Her age was not immediately available.

A member of the theatrical union Atpam (Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers) since 1973, Schulman, a New York native, opened her own theatrical Times Square press office in 1978, with early clients including Jack Gilford, Manhattan Theatre Club, Joffrey Ballet, and Garrison Keillor.

Over the years she would take on clients from Broadway, Off Broadway, dance, film, TV and books. A small Broadway sampling: Requiem For A Heavyweight (with John Lithgow and George Segal), City Of Angels, Death And The Maiden with Glenn Close,...

“To say that this is a dream come true is an understatement,” marveled Sutton Foster in 2002 when Jerry Orbach and Doris Roberts called her name as the winner of the Tony Award for her performance in “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Now exactly 20 years later, Foster could win her third trophy for her work in the revival of the classic Broadway musical “The Music Man,” starring opposite fellow Tony winner Hugh Jackman. Below, see a list of all seven of Sutton Foster’s Tony nominations and her two wins.

See Can Sutton Foster (‘The Music Man’) parlay her Drama League upset into Tony Award #3?

Foster contends this year for her turn as Marian Paroo, the librarian in River City who Jackman’s Harold Hill tries to woo. She earned the seventh nomination of her career for the role in the Actress in a Musical category, even though Barbara Cook, who originated the part,...

Forty years ago this week, Dallas premiered on CBS – and changed TV history forever. At a time when network television was staid and dull, this Lone Star Peyton Place came on as a totally shameless melodrama full of sex, money, bad blood, family feuds, cowboy hats and shoulder pads – the first, best and most splendidly ridiculous of the prime-time soaps. It spun the saga of the corrupt Ewing family and their Texas oil empire, as they wheeled and dealed through bedrooms and boardrooms, running from 1978 to 1991. And what a cast...

I grew up on Broadway musicals. Once upon a time when going to see a show on Broadway didn’t cost you your mortgage plus the life of your first-born, my mom and dad were avid theatergoers. They saw the original production of South Pacific with Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, the original production of Camelot with Richard Burton and Julie Andrews and Robert Goulet, and the original production of The King and I with Gertrude Lawrence and a then little-known Yul Brynner.

When they were still dating they went into town to see Oklahoma! Over the years they saw Carousel, and Brigadoon, and Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews in My Fair Lady, and Zero Mostel in Fiddler on the Roof, and Carol Channing in Hello, Dolly!, and the original West Side Story with Carol Lawrence and Larry Kert. My father fell asleep at Cats and my mother said she...

The role principally has been hers for nearly 50 years, but Julie Andrews applauds Carrie Underwood getting a turn as Maria in "The Sound of Music."

The country music superstar headlines a live, three-hour NBC telecast of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Thursday, Dec. 5. Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winner Andrews -- whose classic 1965 movie version gets its traditional ABC holiday airing Sunday, Dec. 22 -- says she's interested to see how the new production goes, particularly because of the live aspect (in the eastern half of the country).

"Fifty years later, it's time somebody had another crack at it," Andrews tells Zap2it. "I had the best time of my life doing it, and it did wonderful things for me. I think it's great that it's being done again, but doing it live must be so daunting for Carrie.

"I know they're not doing the movie, though. They're doing the Broadway show --...

Betty Hutton movies (photo: Betty Hutton in The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek, with Eddie Bracken) [See previous post: "Betty Hutton Bio: The Blonde Bombshell."] Buddy DeSylva did as promised. Betty Hutton was given a key supporting role in Victor Schertzinger’s 1942 musical comedy The Fleet’s In, starring Dorothy Lamour, William Holden, and Eddie Bracken. “Her facial grimaces, body twists and man-pummeling gymnastics take wonderfully to the screen,” enthused Pm magazine. (Hutton would have a cameo, as Hetty Button, in the 1952 remake Sailor Beware, starring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Corinne Calvet.) The following year, Betty Hutton landed the second female lead in Happy Go Lucky (1943), singing Jimmy McHugh and Frank Loesser’s "Murder, He Says," and stealing the show from fellow Broadway import Mary Martin and former Warner Bros. crooner Dick Powell. She also got co-star billing opposite Bob Hope in Sidney Lanfield’s musical comedy Let’s Face It. Additionally, Paramount’s hugely successful all-star war-effort...

Author Slide to discuss the history of Hollywood extras at historical Lasky-DeMille Barn Film historian Anthony Slide, author of dozens of books on Hollywood history, will be discussing his most recent work, Hollywood Unknowns: A History of Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, at the Hollywood Heritage Museum, located at a Hollywood historical landmark: the Lasky-DeMille Barn, right across the street from the Hollywood Bowl. (Check out: "The History of Hollywood Extras, Bit Players and Stand-Ins: Interview with Author and Film Historian Anthony Slide.") Pictured Above are Olivia de Havilland and her The Charge of the Light Brigade stand-in, Ann Robinson, circa 1936. As per the Barn's press release, "Mr. Slide will discuss the lives and work of extras, including the harsh conditions, sexual harassment, scandals and tragedies." Besides, he'll also talk about Central Casting and the Hollywood Studio Club, the residence of a number of up-and-coming actresses,...

She had a big Oscar night, as both a red-carpet host and an end-of-show performer, but Kristin Chenoweth had another major engagement right before that.

In mid-February, the Tony- and Emmy-winning singing and acting dynamo staged a one-woman program at New York's Lincoln Center, encompassing show tunes made famous by many female stars of the Great White Way. That performance now comes home nationally as PBS' "Live From Lincoln Center" broadcasts the "American Songbook" offering "Kristin Chenoweth: The Dames of Broadway ... All of 'Em!" Sunday, March 24 (check local listings).

"I'd been working pretty hard on it for a couple of months," the ever-spirited star tells Zap2it. "I'm just so glad that I got to do it and that people seemed to be satisfied with it." Indeed, in his review of that evening, Stephen Holden of The New York Times credited Chenoweth with displaying "the metallic radiance of a human sparkler.

Once in a generation, if we are lucky, an extraordinary talent like no other arises - one who can ceaselessly, effortlessly caress the loftiest heights of comedy and drama onstage and sometimes onscreen, while, simultaneously, imbuing musical theatre roles with the same skill set, plus a powerhouse, quintessentially unique and resplendent vocal instrument and, of course, that indescribable 'it' factor, too - such is the tale of Broadway's grand dame, Patti LuPone. Ms. LuPone is a part of that great pantheon of leading ladies of lore led by Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Angela Lansbury, Elaine Stritch and Bernadette Peters - that is, musical theatre royalty. Taking a look back at many moments in her long and varied career thus far, LuPone candidly opines about a vast array of topics and opens up about many of the remarkable figures who have played roles in her astounding time spent on Broadway, in...

This winter season sees Peter Pan coming out of that mysterious Disney vault for its Diamond Edition release. (A Diamond Edition is an upgrade from the Platinum Edition in that it includes the Blu-ray of the film and a Digital Copy along with the DVD. All the classic Disney films are getting these snazzy editions.) This high definition update provides crisper animation and colors in this beloved children’s film.

For those unfamiliar with this film (or the original play or the book or the musical with the adult woman, Mary Martin, playing a 12-year-old boy) Peter Pan is the story of a whimsical boy (voiced by Bobby Driscoll) who never wants to grow up. He lives on the island of Never Land with his fairy sidekick Tinker Bell, who is deeply jealous of any woman who receives amorous attentions from Peter, and his devoted disciples the Lost Boys, a...

Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell: Studio manufactured romance [See previous post: "Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson Rumors and Gossip = Hard Cash."] In the late ’20s and early ’30s, Fox (not yet 20th Century Fox) used on-screen lovebirds Charles Farrell and (first Best Actress Academy Award winner) Janet Gaynor in a series of romantic melodramas and light comedies. As a box-office incentive of sorts, studio publicists and the fan magazines came up with a Farrell-Gaynor off-screen love affair as well. Never mind the fact that the two were not lovers: Farrell eventually married silent-film actress Virginia Valli; Gaynor, who at one point was attached to Warner Bros. contract player Margaret Lindsay and later became an intimate companion of Broadway star Mary Martin, retired from films after marrying costume designer Adrian. [Photo: Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in Frank Borzage's 7th Heaven.) In the early '30s, in order to both lift the sagging popularity of former superstar Ramon Novarro and boost the rising popularity of new contract player Myrna Loy, MGM manufactured a romance for the couple, then starring in Sam Wood's The Barbarian. Neither Novarro, who was gay and determined to keep his love/sex life under wraps, nor Loy, who was having an affair with (married) producer Arthur Hornblow Jr., was pleased. When it comes to those sorts of rumors, nothing has changed in the last eight or nine decades. Gee, could two performers play love scenes in a movie without actually falling in love with one another? Not according to the tabloids and their "news feeders." Will it help the box-office of their movies? Well, let's say it definitely won't hurt it. (See also: "Hollywood Scandals: Errol Flynn / Roman Polanski / Charles Chaplin.") Recently, Oscar contender Bradley Cooper dismissed rumors that he was dating his Golden Globe-winning and fellow Oscar contender Silver Linings Playbook co-star Jennifer Lawrence. Not that long ago, it was the turn of Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, whose alleged affair was buzzed about right at the time their 2011 romantic comedy Friends with Benefits came out. (The following year, Timberlake married Jessica Biel.) And so on. Privacy concerns: It's all about one's public image Now, one key difference between what we see today and what was published during the Studio Era is that the movie fan magazines weren't tabloids. They generally plugged the studios' products -- i.e., the movies, the stars -- according to the dictates of the studios' own p.r. machines and/or the stars' own publicists. Some stars of yore, much like Jodie Foster at this year's Golden Globes, might claim in interviews that they prized their privacy, but most of those same people gladly discarded that fiercely protected possession when aspects of their personal lives could be used as self-promoting tools. At other times, they quite willingly gave it up when the "private" issue was deemed professionally unthreatening. Examples of the private and public spheres becoming one range from Vilma Banky and Rod La Rocque's Marriage of the Decade in the late '20s to Joan Crawford's various child adoptions. Late in life, the ever-so-private Katharine Hepburn wrote a bestselling book of (conveniently selective) memoirs, while just a few years ago Jodie Foster herself openly talked with More magazine about her role as a mother. In other words: if private matters were/are detrimental to a person's public image, they should remain private. If not, everyone should know about them. In that regard, public figures are truly no different than private ones. Back when the studios controlled access to their players (and had the all-too-willing support of the local police and government officials), it was easy to maintain that sort of balance. ["Studio-Manufactured Love Affairs: Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell" continues on the next page. See link below.] Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in Frank Borzage’s 7th Heaven photo: Fox publicity image. This post was originally published at Alt Film Guide (http://www.altfg.com/). Not to be republished without permission.

Today in 1991, the second Broadway revival of Peter Pan opened at the MInskoff Theatre, where it ran for 48 performances. Peter Pan is a musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan and Barrie's own novelization of it, Peter and Wendy. The music is mostly by Mark Moose Charlap, with additional music by Jule Styne, and most of the lyrics were written by Carolyn Leigh, with additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The original 1954 Broadway production, starring Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook, earned Tony Awards for both stars.

It sounds like mighty big gulp for a relative novice, but Carrie Underwood has been signed to play arguably the most-beloved nanny in the history of entertainment – in the most beloved musical of all time.

The country-singing fourth season American Idol winner, 29, will play Maria von Trapp in next year's live TV broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music, it was announced Friday.

"Speaking for everyone at NBC, we couldn't be happier to have the gifted Carrie Underwood take up the mantle of the great Maria von Trapp," said Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, which plans...

It sounds like mighty big gulp for a relative novice, but Carrie Underwood has been signed to play arguably the most-beloved nanny in the history of entertainment - in the most beloved musical of all time. The country-singing fourth season American Idol winner, 29, will play Maria von Trapp in next year's live TV broadcast of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music, it was announced Friday. "Speaking for everyone at NBC, we couldn't be happier to have the gifted Carrie Underwood take up the mantle of the great Maria von Trapp," said Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, which plans...

Today in 1991, the second Broadway revival of Peter Pan opened at the MInskoff Theatre, where it ran for 48 performances. Peter Pan is a musical adaptation of J. M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan and Barrie's own novelization of it, Peter and Wendy. The music is mostly by Mark Moose Charlap, with additional music by Jule Styne, and most of the lyrics were written by Carolyn Leigh, with additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The original 1954 Broadway production, starring Mary Martin as Peter and Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook, earned Tony Awards for both stars.

Larry Hagman, the star of I Dream of Jeannie, both the classic Dallas and new TNT Dallas, died of complications from throat cancer this past Friday. The winsome actor was 81.

Though I'm more a fan of Bewitched than I Dream of Jeannie and definitely more a fan of Dynasty than Dallas, there is no denying Hagman's command and charm. As Major Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie he served up astronaut flair, and on Dallas he dished out some unforgettable Lone Star dastardliness. He was iconic. Hell, he was Mary Martin's son. That should be an X-Men secret power.

Hagman with his mother Mary Martin in 1981

Photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

And did I mention he was a phenomenon? Time magazine seems to concur.

But what was Hagman's greatest TV moment? There are several arguments for different episodes (and even one for his arc on Nip/Tuck), but for my personal pick,...

Actor renowned as the machiavellian oilman Jr Ewing in Dallas

On 21 November 1980, 83 million people in the Us and 24 million in the UK watched the TV show Dallas to see who had shot the villainous Jr Ewing. While working late at the office, the boss of Ewing Oil was suddenly fired on by an unseen assailant. Who shot Jr, and would he survive?

Any character who had ever come into contact with the oleaginous Texas oilman had good reason to do away with him, but there was no way he could really have been killed off. If Jr had died, then the series would have died, because Jr was Dallas – and Larry Hagman, who has died aged 81 after suffering from throat cancer, was Jr.

Other actors were at times replaced in their roles, but Hagman was irreplaceable. Nevertheless, just in case, Hagman quickly renegotiated his contract with Lorimar Studios just after...

Larry Hagman, best known for his iconic role as oil baron Jr Ewing on Dallas, died yesterday (November 23) at the age of 81. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1931, the actor was the son of actress and Broadway star Mary Martin and attorney Ben Hagman. He lived with his grandmother in Los Angeles after his father left the family home when Larry was 5. His mother was often away touring. A mischievousness child, he moved around various private schools before making his debut on the New York theatre scene in the early 1950s. He later starred in South Pacific on London's West End alongside his mother, before serving in the Air Force from 1952 to '56, stationed in London. It was there that he met and married Swedish designer Maj Axelsson. The couple had two children, Preston and Heidi, and resided in Malibu. Hagman soon returned to acting with his first recurring (more...

Larry Hagman, best known for his iconic role as oil baron Jr Ewing on Dallas, died yesterday (November 23) at the age of 81. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1931, the actor was the son of actress and Broadway star Mary Martin and attorney Ben Hagman. He lived with his grandmother in Los Angeles after his father left the family home when Larry was 5. His mother was often away touring. A mischievousness child, he moved around various private schools before making his debut on the New York theatre scene in the early 1950s. He later starred in South Pacific on London's West End alongside his mother, before serving in the Air Force from 1952 to '56, stationed in London. It was there that he met and married Swedish designer Maj Axelsson. The couple had two children, Preston and Heidi, and resided in Malibu. Hagman soon returned to acting with his first recurring (more...

* Drank four bottles of champagne a day before sobriety

* Son of "Peter Pan" star Mary Martin

* Became campaigner for organ transplants (Rewrites with statement from co-star)

By Bill Trott

Nov 23 (Reuters) - Larry Hagman, who created one of American television's most supreme villains in the conniving, amoral oilman J.R. Ewing of "Dallas," died on Friday, according to a co-star. He was 81.

Hagman died at a Dallas hospital of complications from his battle with throat cancer, the Dallas Morning News reported, quoting a statement from his family. He had suffered from liver cancer and cirrhosis of the liver in the 1990s after decades of drinking.

Linda Gray, who played J.R.'s long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen, was with Hagman in Dallas when he died, the actress' spokesman, Jeffrey Lane, said in an email.

"Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years," Gray said in a statement. "He was the Pied...

Larry Hagman: Dallas, I Dream of Jeannie star, and son of Broadway legend Mary Martin has died Larry Hagman, best known by some for playing Major Tony Nelson in the ’60s sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, by others for his role as the villainous J.R. Ewing in the ’80s soap opera Dallas, died earlier this evening at a Dallas hospital. The 81-year-old Ft. Worth native (born on Sept. 21, 1931) was in town working on the current Dallas reboot. (Photo: Larry Hagman as Major Tony [...]...

Dallas – Larry Hagman, who created one of the most famous television villains of all time (J.R. Ewing of the TV nighttime soap sensation “Dallas”), passed away on Friday of complications from cancer. He was ironically in Dallas, Texas working on the new version of “Dallas,” which was recently resurrected by TNT.

Hagman was at the center of one the greatest shared nationwide cultural events in 1980 when his “Dallas” character J.R. Ewing was shot at the end of season three. For an entire summer, speculation on “Who Shot J.R.?” was the talk of the country. He parlayed that hype to become one of highest paid television actors in history, and “Dallas” solved the mystery of his shooting on November 21st, 1980 – it was Kristin Shepard, Sue Ellen Ewing’s sister, portrayed by Mary Crosby.

Larry Hagman in Chicago, October of 2009

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.

Larry Hagman will always be identified with the indelible roles he played on "I Dream Of Jeannie" and both iterations of the series "Dallas," but as we mark the occasion of his passing tonight, let's remember that he was a gifted comic and dramatic actor who had a long and robust career on both the big and small screens.  Born into a show business family (his mother was Mary Martin, a huge star in her day), he endured in a way that few performers ever do. For my money, his finest work ever was in the Blake Edwards comedy "S.O.B.," and...

Larry Hagman, a larger-than-life TV personality best known for his role as J.R. Ewing on the primetime soap Dallas, died Friday of complications from throat cancer. The star, who was the son of Broadway legend Mary Martin (South Pacific, Peter Pan) and Texas attorney Benjamin Hagman, was 81. He is survived by his wife of nearly 58 years, Maj Hagman, their two children and their grandchildren. "When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones," his family said in a statement to the Dallas Morning News. "It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time.

Larry Hagman, a larger-than-life TV personality best known for his role as J.R. Ewing on the primetime soap Dallas, died Friday of complications from throat cancer.

The star, who was the son of Broadway legend Mary Martin (South Pacific, Peter Pan) and Texas attorney Benjamin Hagman, was 81. He is survived by his wife of nearly 58 years, Maj Hagman, their two children and their grandchildren.

"When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones," his family said in a statement to the Dallas Morning News. "It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time.

Larry Hagman, the actor best known as the ruthless oilman J.R. Ewing on TV’s Dallas, died Friday afternoon. He was 81.

Members of his family said Hagman died of complications stemming from his recent battle with cancer. “Larry was back in his beloved Dallas, re-enacting the iconic role he loved most,” the family said in a statement. “Larry’s family and close friends had joined him in Dallas for the Thanksgiving holiday. When he passed, he was surrounded by loved ones. It was a peaceful passing, just as he had wished for. The family requests privacy at this time.

Seems like we always say goodbye to someone big on Thanksgiving weekend. Larry Hagman was more a TV figure, and a major one at that, but he had quite a few big-screen credits to brag about including key roles in Fail Safe (1964), Mother, Jugs, And Speed (1976) , and the David Essex cult music drama Stardust (1974). His only directing credit was the 1972 horror film Beware! The Blob which was released on video with the tag line “The film Jr shot!”.. Hagman was the son of actress Mary Martin and was married to the same woman, Maj Axellson, for 58 years. Hagman was 81.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Larry Hagman, who played the evil oilman J.R. Ewing for 14 seasons on the hit primetime soap Dallas, has died, sources close to the actor told The Dallas Morning News. He was 81. Hagman, who starred with Barbara Eden on another TV hit, the 1960s comedy I Dream of Jeannie,...

Larry Hagman, who played J.R. the conniving, villainous head of the Ewing clan on the TV series Dallas, died today at a Dallas hospital, sources close to the actor told the Dallas Morning News. He was 81. Born in Fort Worth, Hagman was the son of legendary actress Mary Martin. He played the character in the long-running primetime soap from 1978 through 1991 on CBS. He returned last year when the series was resurrected on TNT, focusing on a new generation of Ewings. Prior to Dallas, Hagman’s biggest TV role had been as the astronaut Major Anthony Nelson on NBC’s I Dream Of Jeannie opposite Barbara Eden. Among those confirming the death were co-star Linda Gray’s agent, Jeffrey Lane, who said the actress was at Hagman’s bedside when he died. Lane said another co-star, Patrick Duffy, was also present. Hagman appeared in Season 1 of the Dallas reboot and...

Forever associated with his most famous role, that of the charming, conniving and crafty Jr Ewing in Dallas, actor Larry Hagman has died at the age of 81.Though Dallas made him a household name, and the legendary cliffhanger surrounding his character (Who Shot J.R.?) became the second-most-watched television episode in Us history, Hagman had a career that spanned the stage and screens both big and small.His mother, Mary Martin, was an established actress who passed her love of performing on to her son. He attended Bard College in New York and then appeared in regional theatre before heading to England to appear in the cast of his mother’s latest show, South Pacific. It was in the UK that he met his wife, Maj Axelsson, whom he married in 1954 while serving in the Air Force.After returning to the States for a stint on Broadway, he began appearing...

The network’s original movie will star Aunjanue Ellis, Keke Palmer and Sherri Shepherd in the real-life story Abducted: The Carlina White Story. It centers on a girl (Palmer) who after being abducted as an infant from a New York hospital, solved her own kidnapping and reunites with her biological parents 23 years later. It was the first know infant abduction from a NY hospital; White was taken by a desperate wannabe mother (Ellis) who raised her as her own child in Bridgeport, Conn, until White began to suspect something wasn’t right. Lifetime said today that shooting is set for next week in Vancouver for a premiere later this year. Pilgrim Studios (Amanda Knox: Murder On Trial In Italy) is producing, with Craig Piligian an executive producer alongside Mary Martin and Alan Gasmer. Actor Vondie Curtis Hall is directing a script by Elizabeth Hunter (Jumping The Broom).

Happy Birthday, Robert Preston best remembered for his performance as Professor Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man 1962. He had already won a Tony Award for his performance in the original Broadway production, in 1957. In 1965 he was the male part of a duo-lead musical, I Do I Do with Mary Martin, for which he won his second Tony Award. He played the title role in the musical Ben Franklin in Paris and originated the role of Henry II in the original production of The Lion in Winter. In 1974 he starred alongside Bernadette Peters in Jerry Herman's Broadway musical Mack amp Mabel as Mack Sennett, the famous silent film director. That same year 1974 the film version of Mame, another famed Jerry Herman musical, was released with Preston starring, alongside Lucille Ball, in the role of Beauregard Burnside.

New York, May 8: An obese New Mexico cat that won America over last month with his quest to lose weight died on Saturday due to pulmonary failure.

Meow, a 2-year-old tabby, came to a Santa Fe shelter after his his 87-year-old owner could no longer care for the feline.

Santa Fe Animal Shelter executive director Mary Martin announced the demise of the celebrity cat in a Facebook post on Monday.

"I am devastated to share with you that the respiratory distress that Meow was experiencing last week ... took his life at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday," the.

Meow, a 39-lb. cat whose extreme obesity made headlines, died Saturday afternoon at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society. He was approximately 2 years old. His shockingly heavyset frame made for good TV, and Meow had made appearances on Today and Anderson 360 during his brief time in the spotlight. His death was announced Monday by the humane society's executive director, Mary Martin, on Facebook. "I am devastated to share with you that the respiratory distress that Meow was experiencing last week took his life," Martin writes. "Although four different veterinarians worked with Meow, we were unable to stop the progression...

At age 86, veteran screenwriter Arnold Schulman returns to the theater after more than half a century. His adult fairy tale, "Sleeping Ugly," is now running at the Santa Monica Playhouse. It's a romantic comedy about a dentist who is also a werewolf. Set in a multi-media cartoon world, the play is simultaneously a love story, monster flick send-up, and "metaphor for coming out," says Schulman.Schulman admits his successful Hollywood career has kept him fully occupied and away from theater. Consider his roster of credits: "Love with the Proper Stranger," "Goodbye, Columbus," "And the Band Played On."Still, he is no novice to theater either. His comedy "A Hole in the Head" and the musical version "Golden Rainbow" for which he wrote the book, were successfully were mounted on Broadway. But Schulman's 1963 experience with the short-lived tuner "Jennie" pushed him out of the theater. "Jennie" starred Mary Martin, with book.

Today we are saluting one of the most beloved Broadway scores of all time, created by the formidable show business songwriting dynasty of Richard Rodgers amp Oscar Hammerstein - The Sound Of Music. While the original 1959 Broadway production was well-received and won Mary Martin a Tony Award for her winsome Maria, the property has gone on to win over generations the world over thanks in no small part to the 1965 Robert Wise feature film version starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. On Monday, Carnegie Hall will be presenting a special concert version of the family- friendly show starring Laura Osnes, Tony Goldwyn and Brooke Shields. Be sure to check out my comprehensive conversation with Brooke Shields, who will be playing the Baroness, available here, and, also, stay tuned to BroadwayWorld for my upcoming InDepth InterView with the Maria of the concert presentation, rising Broadway superstar Laura Osnes. So, what exactly...

As Divas no Brasil / Divas in Brazil In As Divas no Brasil / Divas in Brazil, Brazilian author Evânio Alves narrates numerous little-known stories — some tragic, some humorous, some downright bizarre — about international film, music, stage, and even opera and ballet (female) stars during their visit to the South American nation. According to Alves, the reasons for the divas' visits to Brazil have been varied. For instance, Madonna's reasons for dropping by have been professional (record-breaking shows a few years ago), personal (she was dating Brazilian model Jesus Luz), and socially conscious (as a representative of the Ngo "Success for Kids"). Eleonora Duse and Vivien Leigh performed The Lady of the Camellias on the Rio de Janeiro stage; the former in the mid-1880s, the latter in the early 1960s. Margot Fonteyn danced at Rio's Teatro Municipal, while Marlene Dietrich performed a cabaret act that, as attested by images found in Divas in Brazil,...

Bigger and badder than anything Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum have done before, "21 Jump Street" is the kind of action comedy that is getting labels like "instant classic" thrown around (okay, maybe we said that). And while the movie has been marketed hard, one thing you won't be getting (oddly enough) is an official soundtrack or score (which is a pity because Mark Mothersbaugh of Wes Anderson-film fame composed the score), but not to worry because we got you covered there.

Below you'll see the list of every song featured in "21 Jump Street." It's a pretty diverse mix of stuff ranging from the classics (The Clash, N.W.A.) to the up-and-comers (Foster The People, Rye Rye), and we've included samples of the songs referenced in the movie including Pete Seeger's take on "Fifteen Miles On The Erie Canal Song" and Mary Martin's rendition of "I've Gotta Crow." All said,...

Cuba Gooding Jr. is set to star in Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie Firelight for ABC. The Oscar winner will play Dwayne Johnson, nicknamed DJ, a counselor at a youth correctional facility where "the incarcerated girls and young women come from trouble, often violent, backgrounds." Co-starring in the telepic are DeWanda Wise, Yakina Horn and Q'Orianka Kilcher. Firelight, directed by Darnell Martin (Cadillac Records) and written by Ligiah Villalobos, will premiere Sunday, April 22 at 9-11 p.m. on ABC. Brent Shields, Alicia Keys and Mary Martin serve as executive producers, with David A. Rosemont as

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