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When the O.J. Simpson murder trial aired on televisions across the United States in 1995, no one could foresee the lasting impact it would have on the entertainment industry.

For nearly a year, the world watched as the former NFL star, who died on Wednesday after a battle with cancer, defended himself against accusations of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson was represented by a group of lawyers notoriously referred to as The “Dream Team” — including Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran, and Robert Kardashian.

The trial was appointment viewing,...

O.J. Simpson, the NFL star, passed away after battling prostate cancer for years. His life was marked by a lot of triumphant highs and shocking lows. As famous as he was due to his prowess as a football player, he became an even bigger name due to the double homicide case in which he found himself embroiled.

The former player was on good terms with Kim Kardashian’s father, Robert Kardashian. At the height of Simpson’s trial, the late Kardashian was able to prevent a horrifying event from unfolding, which would have traumatized his daughter for life.

Rober Kardashian protected his daughter Kim Kardashian (Source: Wikimedia Commons) How did Kim Kardashian’s father save her from a tragedy?

Kim Kardashian‘s father, Robert Kardashian, was a practicing lawyer who became friends with O.J. Simpson in college. The pair grew closer during Simpson’s trial when Kardashian Sr. served on his legal team.

In a lot of ways, one of the reasons "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" remains such an enduring western is because it wasn't afraid to break some genre rules. Both screenwriter William Goldman and director George Roy Hill injected their own idiosyncrasies into this retelling of the two infamous outlaws. It's why the movie has just as many laughs as it does shootouts — fluctuating perfectly between slapstick and dryly delivered one-liners. Hill even went out of his way to remove some of its funnier moments after he decided the audience was laughing too much at a screening.

But such tonal shifts are exactly what makes "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" so unique and mold-breaking. Like the Burt Bacharach soundtracked bicycle montage scene in which he lulls away at "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" — which was actually written for the film. At worst jarringly anachronistic, the presence of...

The majority of us '90s babies spent a lot of time in front of the television. Say what you will about the boob tube and its lasting effects on our brains, my generation's heart absorbed most of the television's influence. "Hocus Pocus," "Matilda," "Mrs. Doubtfire," "The Sandlot," and "The Mighty Ducks" are all gems from my generation's golden era. Even as a grown woman, I'm totally engrossed by these films, and believe they stand the harsh test of time.

Along with an everlasting love for the movies, '90s babies also fell for a lot of those characters and the actors who played them. Of course, we realized that they were movie stars, but deep down in the cockles of our hearts, they felt like friends. One great '90s actor who is beloved by fans is Brendan Fraser.

Fraser began his career playing wide-eyed innocents with a naive...

Sony opens Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” on July 26, close to the 50th anniversary of the murder of Sharon Tate and four others. A front-page Variety story on Aug. 11, 1969, two days after the killings, said police described the scene as “a ritualistic mass murder.” Showbiz has since then offered many tasteless depictions of the killings via low-budget exploitation films and TV offerings. Even with a “classy” production like the 1976 “Helter Skelter,” Variety reported that Lorimar intended to “spice up” the four-hour miniseries for overseas by adding more violence and sex.

In November 2018, Debra Tate (Sharon’s sister) wrote a piece for Variety’s special issue on criminal justice reform, American (In)Justice. A victims’ rights activist, she lamented Hollywood’s glamorizing of the Manson family and urged no parole for its remaining members in prison. She offered a few details from 1969 that served as a reminder:...

Oscar winner Errol Morris will direct biopic Weegee, the story of photojournalist Arthur Fellig.

Self-named Weegee the Famous, Fellig was a street photographer who began working in 1930s New York chasing police cars and ambulances to capture life and death in the city. His work appeared in Vogue and Life, among other newspapers and magazines.

Emmy winner Lawrence Schiller (The Man Who Skied Down Everest) will produce Weegee via his Ws Productions banner.

“Weegee may not have singlehandedly invented the noir sensibility, but without him, noir would be unimaginable,” said Morris. “He recognized he was constructing his own vision of reality, replete ...

Oscar winner Errol Morris will direct biopic Weegee, the story of photojournalist Arthur Fellig.

Self-named Weegee the Famous, Fellig was a street photographer who began working in 1930s New York chasing police cars and ambulances to capture life and death in the city. His work appeared in Vogue and Life, among other newspapers and magazines.

Emmy winner Lawrence Schiller (The Man Who Skied Down Everest) will produce Weegee via his Ws Productions banner.

“Weegee may not have singlehandedly invented the noir sensibility, but without him, noir would be unimaginable,” said Morris. “He recognized he was constructing his own vision of reality, replete ...

A+E Studios and Thruline Entertainment have optioned the rights to Norman Mailer’s 1979 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Executioner’s Song and have attached White Boy Rick screenwriters Logan and Noah Miller to adapt and produce a potential limited series, now in active development.

The groundbreaking book, likely Mailer’s best-known work and a central piece of the New Journalism movement in literature, centers on 35-year-old convicted killer Gary Gilmore, the first person in the U.S. to be executed following the restoration of the death penalty in 1976. It follows his turbulent final nine months of life, spanning his parole from maximum security prison, his ill-fated love affair with a divorced teenage single mother of two, his re-imprisonment for a pair of murders, and his firing-squad execution in Utah in January 1977.

The planned limited series aims to offer a fresh perspective on the events surrounding Gilmore’s trial, which made him...

The Executioner’s Song

Blu-ray

Kino Lorber

1982/ 1:33:1 /188/135 Min. / Street Date January 2, 2018

Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Rosanne Arquette

Cinematography by Freddie Francis

Written by Norman Mailer

Music by John Cacavas

Edited by Richard A. Harris, Tom Rolf

Produced by Lawrence Schiller

Directed by Lawrence Schiller

Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, target for Saturday Night Live, punchline for Seinfeld and tagline for Nike, was already a pop-culture sensation when he sat down before a firing squad and proclaimed, “Let’s do this.” The surprising thing about The Executioner’s Song, Norman Mailer’s hardscrabble epic detailing Gilmore’s final months, was that it was decidedly unsensational, a close-to-the-vest yet wide-ranging narrative focused on the killer’s tragedy, not the writer’s ego.

Mailer saw in Gilmore, if not a kindred spirit, at least a rough sketch for one of the novelist’s own conflicted protagonists. Like Mailer, Gilmore had a poetic...

Pictures of Marilyn Monroe wet, wild and fully naked have the same going price of a nice, brand new car, according to the New York auction house that's selling them. Rare color photos of the famous blonde swimming naked are hitting the auction block next week via Heritage Auctions, who thinks they'll fetch between $25k-$35k. The pics were taken in 1962, the same year Marilyn died, by photographer Lawrence Schiller. There are 12 total, mostly of her in her birthday suit,...

Upon hearing of Debbie Reynolds‘ passing at the age of 84 just one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher died of a heart attack, many fans paid tribute to the screen icons by posting a touching photo of a young Fisher waiting in the wings as her mother performed on stage.

The black and white snapshot, taken by Lawrence Schiller during an assignment he says lasted only two or three days, depicts a 6-year-old Fisher sitting on a stool and watching Reynolds on stage at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas in 1963. The Sin City hotel also left the world in...

If you’ve seen the start of FX’s “Oj: Made in America” and all of FX’s “The People v Oj Simpson,” you may think you know all there is to know about the NFL star-turned-prisoner. But there are still stunning facts that haven’t aired yet. 1. Oj Had 9 Guns According to Lawrence Schiller’s book “American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Oj Simpson Defense”: “Juice owned nine guns, including an Uzi.” The guns were one reason Simpson friend Robert Kardashian didn’t believe Simpson killed Nicole, who was killed with a knife, Schiller writes: “A...

Decades before Shia LeBeouf transformed from blockbuster actor into head-scratching performance-art weirdo and Joaquin Phoenix grew a beard for a mockumentary about his career as a rapper, Dennis Hopper explored his own mythos in a unique documentary that is now getting a new life.

Fresh off the breakout success of his 1969 directorial debut Easy Rider, the filmmaker attempted to repeat the feat with The Last Movie – a picture about a film crew member who stays in a Peruvian village after a shoot and attempts to prevent locals from reenacting the movie's dangerous stunts.

All this month, Mubi is presenting the exclusive worldwide online debut of L.M. Kit Carson and Lawrence Schiller’s 1971 documentary The American Dreamer, a fascinating and revelatory portrait of Dennis Hopper during the making of his legendary folly The Last Movie.For the film’s theatrical screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco and Austin, Mondo creative director Jay Shaw designed a new poster for the film:When we were asked to create a poster for The American Dreamer I was instantly overwhelmed. I’ve seen the film several times and absolutely love it. It’s a candid and endearing portrait of Dennis Hopper’s maniacal creative process. Lawrence Schiller, the film’s [co-] director and acclaimed photojournalist, sent a collection of photographs he’d taken during production back in 1971. When I saw these wonderful photos I realized there was nothing we’d be able to illustrate that would capture the...

Mubi is exclusively presenting the global online premiere of L.M. Kit Carson and Lawrence Schiller's cult documentary The American Dreamer, starring Dennis Hopper. Shot during the drug-and-orgy fueled making of The Last Movie, the legendary follow-up to Hopper's debut movie Easy Rider, Hopper stars as himself: a new kind of Hollywood—and American—icon. The American Dreamer is playing on Mubi through March 12, 2016. For more about the film, read Mike Opal's exploration on the Notebook.

L.M. Kit Carson and Lawrence Schiller's The American Dreamer (1971) is exclusively playing on Mubi through March 12, 2016.Photo by Lawrence SchillerWith a budget of $1 million, 1971's The Last Movie is the cheapest film ever to be considered a major folly. Tugging on his beard and watching a rough cut, Dennis Hopper prepares for his new project's inevitable critical disemboweling. He knows, after all, that among many delirious and noxious (though often brilliant) self-referential shenanigans it features a gigantic breast ejaculating milk onto Hopper's own receptive face. With self-aggrandizing irony (or is that ironic self-aggrandizement?), Hopper aspires to Orson Welles's career trajectory: "I can become Orson Welles, poor bastard." He declares his debut, 1969's Easy Rider, his Citizen Kane and The Last Movie his The Magnificent Ambersons. Nevertheless, the response to The Last Movie scared him away from directing for nearly a decade, rather than duplicating Welles's indomitable retreat to self-,...

In today's roundup: Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver at 40, a personal history of Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket, an appreciation of Miguel Gomes's Arabian Nights, another on Moussa Touré's The Pirogue, revisiting Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat, Alex Ross Perry on Dennis Hopper in Lawrence Schiller and L.M. Kit Carson's The American Dreamer, Nicole Brenez on Jocelyne Saab, J. Hoberman on Richard Lester, Jonathan Rosenbaum on Tran Anh Hung's The Scent of Green Papaya, Daniel Kasman on Michael Bay, Stuart Klawans on Amos Gitai’s Rabin, the Last Day and Joseph Dorman and Oren Rudavsky's Colliding Dreams, Soraya Roberts on Winona Ryder, Matt Thrift on Robert De Niro—and much, much more. » - David Hudson...

In today's roundup: Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver at 40, a personal history of Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket, an appreciation of Miguel Gomes's Arabian Nights, another on Moussa Touré's The Pirogue, revisiting Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat, Alex Ross Perry on Dennis Hopper in Lawrence Schiller and L.M. Kit Carson's The American Dreamer, Nicole Brenez on Jocelyne Saab, J. Hoberman on Richard Lester, Jonathan Rosenbaum on Tran Anh Hung's The Scent of Green Papaya, Daniel Kasman on Michael Bay, Stuart Klawans on Amos Gitai’s Rabin, the Last Day and Joseph Dorman and Oren Rudavsky's Colliding Dreams, Soraya Roberts on Winona Ryder, Matt Thrift on Robert De Niro—and much, much more. » - David Hudson...

★★★☆☆ Lawrence Schiller and L.M. Kit Carson could hardly have better timed their thirty-day intersection with Dennis Hopper that formed the raw materials of the quasi-documentary The American Dreamer. They caught Hopper fresh from Easy Rider when he was a generational icon, high on his success - and just plain high - and boldly attempting to establish a reputation as a serious filmmaker. The film was shot and edited in early 1971, in the eye of the New Hollywood storm, but never received a release beyond as companion piece to Hopper's Easy Rider follow-up The Last Picture.

Dennis Hopper’s fleeting success with Easy Rider in the late sixties famously came undone with his 1971 follow-up, The Last Movie. A critical and commercial failure, the rambling, chaotic nature on screen mirrored that of the behind-the-scenes production. Into the fray came directors Lawrence Schiller and L.M. Kit Carson, who captured an unbalanced and tormented

The post Interview With The American Dreamer Co-director Lawrence Schiller appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Fuzzy 70s doc on Dennis Hopper tries to be countercultural but the weirdest thing on show is his gun obsession. A decent footnote to Us new wave cinema

In 1971, Dennis Hopper was attempting to complete his experimental film The Last Movie, which the studios were hoping (vainly) would be a zeitgeist moneyspinner to rival Easy Rider. At the same time, Hopper was submitting to the inspection of documentary makers Lm Kit Carson and Lawrence Schiller; the result was this strange, downbeat study of Hopper on location and in his studio. The film was lost for many years, but now rereleased. It shows Hopper as a withdrawn, distrait figure, fretting over the editing suite and worrying about what he considers to be his career’s resemblance to Orson Welles’s. He’s not exactly the wild man of legend, and not quite, I suspect, the wild man the film-makers were hoping to get on film.

Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSThe big news in Hollywood is that "the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has approved a series of major changes, in terms of voting and recruitment, also adding three new seats to the 51-person board — all part of a goal to double the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020. The changes were approved by the board Thursday night in an emergency meeting," Variety reports. A major step, certainly, but we've still to see what the results will be. And certainly Academy membership does little to alter what kinds of movies get produced and by whom.Charles Silver, the head of the Museum of Modern Art's Film Study Center, passed away last week. IndieWire is running an homage by Laurence Kardish, a former MoMA film curator:"Perhaps,...

There are few Hollywood icons that are both as magnetic and enigmatic as the late, great Dennis Hopper. And while there are plenty of ways for you to dive into the work of the actor, director, and artist, a newly rediscovered documentary has arrived that offers a window into one of the most fascinating periods of Hopper's life. Read More: The 10 Best Dennis Hopper Performances Directed by Lawrence Schiller and L.M. Kit Carson, "The American Friend" drops in on Hopper as he assembles his infamous "The Last Movie," a film which found Hopper battling a troubled production and his own demons in trying to complete it. The documentary is a look at Hopper during one of the most curious periods of life, and largely unseen for years, "The American Dream" is now going to be much more widely available. “Journeying to New Mexico with Kit to make 'The American Dreamer...

Shot in the wake of Dennis Hopper’s breakout hit, Easy Rider, and as he was about the embark on his personal – and disastrous – project The Last Movie, Lawrence Schiller and Kit Carson’s 1971 study of the film-maker, The American Dreamer, has been little-seen over the past 45 years. The film captures Hopper, and the country in which he lives, at a key turning point in their histories. Proceeds from the release of the film will benefit the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis

The American Dreamer is released in UK cinemas on 5 February and on Mubi on 12 February and in select Us cinemas the same month Continue reading...

The Kardashian family's late patriarch makes a desperate plea to O.J. Simpson in the new teaser for American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson.

Simpson, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., has a gun to his head in the childhood room of Kim Kardashian West, as her father, Simpson defense attorney Robert Kardashian (played by David Schwimmer), tries to talk him down.

"Do not kill yourself in Kimmy's bedroom," Kardashian says.

Lawrence Schiller, author of American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the O.J. Simpson Defense previously spoke out about this real-life incident, which allegedly saw Simpson hold a...

The Kardashian family's late patriarch makes a desperate plea to O.J. Simpson in the new teaser for American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson.Simpson, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., has a gun to his head in the childhood room of Kim Kardashian West, as her father, Simpson defense attorney Robert Kardashian (played by David Schwimmer), tries to talk him down. "Do not kill yourself in Kimmy's bedroom," Kardashian says. Lawrence Schiller, author of American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the O.J. Simpson Defense previously spoke out about this real-life incident, which allegedly saw Simpson hold a...

The new issue of Film Comment features opposing takes on László Nemes's Son of Saul, an interview with Todd Haynes and reviews of Omer Fast’s Remainder, Guy Maddin’s Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton, Fellipe Barbosa's Casa Grande, Rick Alverson's Entertainment, Frederick Wiseman’s In Jackson Heights, Tom McCarthy's Spotlight, Andrew Haigh's 45 Years, Nicholas Hytner's The Lady in the Van, John Crowley's Brooklyn, Deniz Gamze Ergüven's Mustang and Jay Roach's Trumbo, plus: Alex Cox on L.M. “Kit” Carson and Lawrence Schiller’s The Last Movie and Matías Piñeiro on Setsuko Hara in No Regrets for Our Youth. Also in today's roundup: David Bordwell on Wes Anderson and Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin on Chantal Akerman. » - David Hudson...

The new issue of Film Comment features opposing takes on László Nemes's Son of Saul, an interview with Todd Haynes and reviews of Omer Fast’s Remainder, Guy Maddin’s Bring Me the Head of Tim Horton, Fellipe Barbosa's Casa Grande, Rick Alverson's Entertainment, Frederick Wiseman’s In Jackson Heights, Tom McCarthy's Spotlight, Andrew Haigh's 45 Years, Nicholas Hytner's The Lady in the Van, John Crowley's Brooklyn, Deniz Gamze Ergüven's Mustang and Jay Roach's Trumbo, plus: Alex Cox on L.M. “Kit” Carson and Lawrence Schiller’s The Last Movie and Matías Piñeiro on Setsuko Hara in No Regrets for Our Youth. Also in today's roundup: David Bordwell on Wes Anderson and Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin on Chantal Akerman. » - David Hudson...

There have been few names to enter the film landscape quite like the late-thespian/enfant terrible Dennis Hopper. Best known for directing and helping write the iconic New Hollywood masterpiece Easy Rider, Hopper began his career starring in various TV series until hitting big screens with pictures like Rebel Without A Cause, Giant and eventually Night Tide, a film that would become a calling card for the actor and a movement of surrealist filmmaking unlike anything the Us had seen cinematically up to that moment. However, while his career would continue growing from Rider, his work on that film would seemingly change him from avant garde character actor to the idol of his generation.

And then there was The Last Movie. Still nearly impossible to see, Hopper’s Rider follow up would see him heading to New Mexico to make what sounds like a masterpiece of the “films about films” genre,...

O.J. Simpson contemplated killing himself in Kim Kardashian‘s teenage bedroom before the infamous car chase in his white Ford Bronco. O.J. Simpson’s Suicidal Moment According to Lawrence Schiller, who wrote American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the O.J. Simpson Defense, Simpson had recorded something of a suicide tape from his lawyer Robert Kardashian’s daughter Kim Kardashian’s […]

The post O.J. Simpson Almost Attempted Suicide In Kim Kardashian’s Teen Bedroom appeared first on uInterview.

Oh my. It's been 21 years since O.J. Simpson's famous 1995 murder trial, and yet new information continues to pour in about his past. Lawrence Schiller, who wrote American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the O.J. Simpson Defense, now claims in a new interview that the former NFL player once tried to kill himself in the childhood bedroom of none other than Kim Kardashian. Schiller followed Simpson's case as he stood trial for the 1994 murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. [...]...

When photojournalist Lawrence Schiller met Barbra Streisand on the set of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever in 1968, he felt like a new hire greeting the company CEO. "I didn't know if she liked me or not," he says, "but at the end of the week, I wasn't fired."Schiller and his colleague Steve Schapiro were hired by movie studio execs to shoot the star during the first decade of her movie career, capturing moments big and small for use in magazines around the world. Now they have collected their photos, many of which have never been published,...

An iconoclast in the worlds of independent film and journalism who embodied — and celibrated — Texas individualism, Carson died October 20 in Dallas following a long battle with osteoporosis and other illnesses. He was 73.

A Dallas native whose career took him to Austin, Houston, New York, Los Angeles and many places far afield and in between, Lewis Minor Carson was best known as co-author with Sam Shepard of the Wim Wenders film Paris, Texas (Carson’s official credit was for “adaptation”), which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1984. Known universally as Kit, after his Texas Ranger grandfather, he is credited with helping create the”mockumentary” genre for writing and playing the title role in David Holtzman’s Diary, the Jim McBride film about a navel-gazer who decides to film every moment of his unmomentous life. The 1967 film anticipated such disparate touchstones as the film This Is Spinal Tap and the...

Maximilian Schell movie director (photo: Maximilian Schell and Maria Schell) (See previous post: “Maximilian Schell Dies: Best Actor Oscar Winner for ‘Judgment at Nuremberg.’”) Maximilian Schell’s first film as a director was the 1970 (dubbed) German-language release First Love / Erste Liebe, adapted from Igor Turgenev’s novella, and starring Englishman John Moulder-Brown, Frenchwoman Dominique Sanda, and Schell in this tale about a doomed love affair in Czarist Russia. Italian Valentina Cortese and British Marius Goring provided support. Directed by a former Best Actor Oscar winner, First Love, a movie that could just as easily have been dubbed into Swedish or Swahili (or English), ended up nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. Three years later, nominated in that same category was Schell’s second feature film as a director, The Pedestrian / Der Fußgänger, in which a car accident forces a German businessman to delve deep into his past.

Co-directed by Mark Peranson and Raya Martin, La última película is several things at once: a documentary pretending to be fiction (and vice versa), a reflexively cinephillic ode to materiality, a deconstruction and/or exploration of disparate forms, a meditation on the (false) apocalypse of the world and cinema, and an (experimental) comedy. Its one-line synopsis is as follows: "a famous American filmmaker travels to the Yucatán to scout locations for his last movie. The Mayan Apocalypse intercedes." Inspired by Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie and its subsequent documentary cousin The American Dreamer (both 1971), La última película taps into a sort of artistic freedom of spirit, an all-too-rare ecstasy of moviemaking-as-adventuring. It is a manifesto by implication for the liberation of film from convention, and as thought and life. Starring American independent filmmaker Alex Ross Perry (The Color Wheel, Impolex) and Gabino Rodríguez (Greatest Hits, Together) as the filmmaker protagonist's Mexican guide,...

Los Angeles — There is a career after death, at least if while alive you wielded star power like Marilyn Monroe.

The bombshell actress continues to be a successful celebrity brand even 50 years after she died on Aug. 5, 1962, with a new digital emphasis to complement the wealth of photos, fashion, films and other cultural touchstones she left behind.

Monroe ranked third last year in Forbes' annual list of top deceased celebrity earners, generating $27 million and coming in behind Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley. It was a comeback for the actress, who had fallen off the list the previous two years.

When the list is updated in the fall, it will likely show it has been another lucrative year for the actress' estate, which was purchased in 2010 by Authentic Brands Group and its partner, Neca. The company is in the midst of upgrading Monroe offerings from trinkets to cosmetic lines, spas, salons and apparel.

This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Marilyn Monroe, and it’s clear that her legacy is still going strong. One of her movies, Some Like It Hot, was just named on BFI’s list of the greatest films of all time, and she managed to earn an estimated $27 million last year.

Reel Life: Marilyn Monroe premieres Saturday, August 4th at 7Pm Et/ 4Pm Pt examines the life of the bombshell who wanted to be taken seriously as an actress. Though she is a sex symbol, Reel Life examines her humanity by speaking to fellow icons George Hamilton and Mitzi Gaynor about the woman they knew. We also talk to stars who have played the legend, including Michelle Williams, Katharine McPhee, and Megan Hilty. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner sat down with us to discuss how the photographs he published of Marilyn helped to launch his empire. Also...

Los Angeles -- A half century has not dimmed skeptics' suspicions about the death of Marilyn Monroe at age 36, but the intervening decades have seen technological leaps that could alter the investigation were it to occur today.

DNA, more sophisticated electronic record-keeping, drug databases and other advances would give investigators more information than they were able to glean after Monroe's Aug. 5, 1962, death – 50 years ago this Sunday.

Whether any of the tools would lead to a different conclusion – that Monroe's death from acute barbiturate poisoning was a probable suicide – remains a historical "What If?"

"The good news is we're very advanced from 50 years ago," said Max Houck, a forensic consultant and co-author of "The Science of Crime Scenes." "The bad news is, we're still trying to put it in context," he said.

Monroe's death stunned the world and quickly ignited speculation that she died from a more nefarious plot than the official cause of death.

Barbra Streisand 2012 news: Streisand is reportedly going to direct her first film in 17 years. Skinny and Cat, about the romance between writer Erskine Caldwell (Tobacco Road, God’s Little Acre) and photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White, should commence filming in January 2013 with director Barbra Streisand guiding Oscar winners Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) and Cate Blanchett (The Aviator). The source for this information is showbiz411.com, which adds that Linda Yellen wrote the Skinny and Cat screenplay and will also produce the independently financed film. Barbra Streisand: ‘controversial’ director Barbra Streisand’s last film as a director was The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), a (in my view quite enjoyable) romantic comedy-melodrama that was widely panned at the time. Streisand co-starred with Jeff Bridges, but veteran Lauren Bacall was the one who stole the notices and received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her efforts. [Lauren Bacall Best Supporting Actress loss.] Prior to The Mirror Has Two Faces,...

Washington, June 4: Rare, nude pictures from screen legend Marilyn Monroe's final photoshoot have surfaced, 50 years after the raunchy images were taken.

Photographer Lawrence Schiller, 75, had captured the iconic beauty posing naked by a swimming pool at Fox film studios on 23 May 1962, during a shoot on the set of her movie 'Something's Got To Give'.

The stunning photographs.

Rare, nude images from screen legend Marilyn Monroe's final photoshoot have surfaced, 50 years after the raunchy pictures were taken.

Photographer Lawrence Schiller captured the iconic beauty posing naked by a swimming pool at Fox film studios on 23 May, 1962, during a shoot on the set of her film Something's Got To Give.

The stunning snaps see Monroe seductively staring in to the camera as her arms cover her bare chest, and later flashing her butt as she pulls on her dressing gown.

Schiller has never released the full collection of shots, but now he has finally shown them off for his new book Marilyn & Me.

The photographer, 75, says, "The photographs shows the real Marilyn Monroe teasing you, yet there is still a little mystery left. I was so unguarded that she became unguarded with me."

However, the film was never finished - the tardy and unreliable actress was fired in June, 1962 and she was tragically found dead in her Los Angeles home in August.

'"You're going to make me famous," I said. "Photographers can be replaced," replied Marilyn'

I first photographed Marilyn Monroe in 1960. I was 23 and not yet a very good photographer. By 1962, when Paris Match magazine asked me to shoot her again, I had won awards and was better – but I had a bigger ego, too.

She was filming what would be her last movie, Something's Got to Give. I read the screenplay in advance, and discovered that in one scene she would jump into a swimming pool and then pretend to have no clothes on. I saw Marilyn before the shoot and she was upset that she was getting $100,000 for the movie while Elizabeth Taylor was getting more from the same studio. She said something like: "What would happen if I jumped in with a bathing suit on, and actually came out with nothing on?" Her press agent said: "You're kidding.

August 5 marks the 50th anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's death. The actress, who was found dead in her home from acute barbiturate poisoning, continues to be remembered for her timeless beauty, charm and painful insecurity.

In her death, Monroe has become an icon and perhaps the best example of how Hollywood destroys its stars. In 1960, Lawrence Schiller (then known as Larry Wolf) photographed Monroe as she went for a swim in the pool -- and emerged naked.

In an adaptation of Schiller's soon-to-be released memoir, "Marilyn & Me", Vanity Fair reveals never before published photos from the star's last photo shoot. The images offer a peek into the friendship that developed between Schiller and Monroe while he photographed her in 1960 and 1962 on the sets of "Let's Make Love" and the unfinished feature "Something's Got to Give," the last film she worked on.

In many ways, Monroe set the road map for...

Degen Pener

It's been almost 50 years since Marilyn Monroe shot Somethings Gotta Give, a film that was never finished due to the star's death on August 5, 1962. What have been eyeballed are the famous nude shots of the star taken on set by photographer Lawrence Schiller. A set of 12 of those photos, which he did not release to the public until years later, are currently on view at the Duncan Miller Gallery in Culver City, Calif. (10959 Venice Blvd.), through Dec. 17. The gallery will hold a reception tomorrow night, Saturday, Nov. 19, from 7 to 9 p.m.

read more...

You may have noticed I'm Mad Men crazy this week. I'm just trying to cram it in before Sunday's premiere. I'll calm down Monday.

I'm so excited I'm about to grab one of the T-Shirts from the Mad Men shop on CafePress. I'm already having trouble choosing but they made it easier for me by denying me some of the designs in men's sizes. Excuse me but what if I want a "Mark Your Man" t-shirt with lipstick prints all over it? I mean, I might. I have been known to embrace the girlie. I think I might go for the "Who's For Dinner?" shirt because I love Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton). Nobody else loves Ken but I do not care. I will read any short story he wants me to.

Anyway CafePress is very excited about the premiere on Sunday as evidenced by this Mad Men blog post with...

Chicago – The time has come for another round-up, a collection of DVD and Blu-Ray titles that may have missed the front page in the Best Buy circular but that might be worth your attention. The DVD Round-Up is back (check out the first edition here and a few Blu-Ray Round-Ups here and here) with drama, comedy, TV, action, and even Hitler.

Nicolas Cage plays a killer in “Bangkok Dangerous,” Derek Luke a football player in “Friday Night Lights,” Aaron Eckhart a suburbanite in “Towelhead,” and Carmen Electra essentially herself in “Disaster Movie”. There’s something for everyone in the DVD Round-Up.

All of these titles were released on January 6th, 2009, unless otherwise noted.

“Bangkok Dangerous”

“The Hitman Has Become the Target.” Nicolas Cage stars in the remake of The Pang Brothers’ “Bangkok Dangerous,” a messy action film about Joe, a hired assassin caught in the middle of a hitman’s nightmare.

Movie Info: Writer: Norman Mailer Director: Lawrence Schiller Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Christine Lahti, Rosanna Arquette, Eli Wallach, Steven Keats, Jordan Clarke, Richard Venture Rating: Not Rated Studio: Paramount Release Info: Theatrical Release: Aired on television November 28, 1982 DVD Release Date: August 5, 2008 Online Availability: Amazon Once upon a time, movies on television sported a notable cast and they were well written. These [...]...

The Executioner's Song aired over two nights on NBC in 1982, earning an Emmy nomination for Norman Mailer (for scripting the adaptation of his own non-fiction book), and an Emmy win for star Tommy Lee Jones, who played convicted murderer Gary Gilmore. The real Gilmore robbed and shot two people in July of 1976, the same month that the Supreme Court made the death penalty viable again. Gilmore demanded to be executed, and his case became a media sensation, inspiring Saturday Night Live sketches, punk songs, and, of course, the Mailer book and TV movie. The film The Executioner's Song covers that frenzy in brief, but it's primarily a naturalistic character sketch, divided into two parts: the story of the days leading up to Gilmore's crime spree, and the story of the days leading up to the firing squad. In addition to the TV version, director Lawrence Schiller—a noted...