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Kishore Kumar Once Shared His True Feelings About Acting(Photo Credit – YouTube)

Kishore Kumar was and will always be regarded as one of the greatest and most influential singers in the history of modern Indian music, who also left his mark in the acting world. However, he once shared his true feelings about acting. The legendary singer said that he was conned into acting. Scroll below for the deets.

Kumar’s original name was Abhas Kumar, and he started his cinema career as a chorus singer at Bombay Talkies. He was greatly inspired by Hollywood actor-singer Danny Kaye, and in addition, Kumar respected Rabindranath Tagore and singer Kl Saigal. Some notable movies starring Kumar include Jhumroo, Half Ticket, Mr. X in Bombay, Padosan, Bombay to Goa, and more.

In a throwback interview with Pritish Nandy, Kishore Kumar revealed he hated acting and did several things to get out of it.

by Chad Kennerk

Image courtesy WikiCommons.

Located at 106 Riverside Drive on the banks of the Ohio River in historical Augusta, Kentucky, The Rosemary Clooney House is a non-profit foundation focused on preserving the house that Rosemary called home for 20 years, while sharing Rosemary’s legacy with fans old and new through extensive memorabilia from her life and career. The home was a sanctuary and retreat between gigs for Rosemary, who was born in nearby Maysville, Kentucky.

The museum's origins trace back to 1999 when Heather French Henry was crowned Miss America 2000 — the first Miss Kentucky to win the crown. Her second call that night was from another hometown Kentucky girl — Rosemary Clooney. Years later, following Clooney’s passing, Rosemary’s children approached Heather and her husband, former Kentucky Lt. Gov Dr. Steve Henry about purchasing the circa 1840 home. The Rosemary Clooney House officially opened in 2005 and is now a museum showcasing Clooney's costumes,...

After seven decades, a movie more than has enough rights to cement itself as a Christmas classic. That's the case with the 1954 film White Christmas. The movie features the songs of legendary composer and songwriter Irving Berlin. With an all-star cast of Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye, and Vera Ellen, the film is still a hit with audiences seventy years later. Just as the film celebrates the milestone, it's entered Prime Video's Top 10. The film already got a special 4K treatment earlier this year to honor the anniversary as well.

When it comes to holiday classics, there are few films that capture the zeitgeist and delight of the season better than White Christmas. Its lighthearted whimsy and timeless Irving Berlin music has made it a picture that transcends generations. But it may very well be its cast of characters that help the movie stand out as the holiday crème de la crème. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are undoubtedly one of the screen’s best pairings as Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, and, of course, the movie would be nothing without Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen as sisters, Betty and Judy Haynes. Often considered one of the best on-screen siblings of all time, the two are still a delight to watch throughout the various musical numbers. However, their perfect pairing was the result of very different styles.

Nothing screams the Christmas season quite like the music. And what’s better than door-to-door carolers? An at-home Christmas movie musical.

Whether you are in the mood for a classic tune like “White Christmas” or new tracks like Will Ferrell’s “That Christmas Morning Feelin,'” these movie musicals will prepare you for the holiday season that awaits.

Hang up the Christmas lights, dress the tree, bake some cookies and put on a movie musical from our list to bring your home some holiday cheer.

“White Christmas” White Christmas

The song that sparked a thousand dreams — “White Christmas” — is a holiday classic for a reason. The 1954 film follows two former soldiers turned entertainers. Bob Wallace (Bing Crosby) and Phil Davis (Danny Kaye) join a talent sister act, Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy Haynes (Vera-Ellen), to perform a Christmas show in upstate Vermont. The foursome reunite with the boys’ former General to save his holiday inn.

The Screen Actors Guild has been presenting its annual life achievement award for many decades. The most recent recipient for 2025 was double Oscar winner Jane Fonda.

For the 2023 event, Sally Field was the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro, Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple, Barbra Streisand, and more.

SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark on both the big screen and small in 1962. It wasn...

Today marks the 70th anniversary of one of the most beloved Christmas movies ever made—Irving Berlin’s White Christmas—and Paramount Home Entertainment is celebrating the milestone by releasing the fan-favorite film for the first time ever on 4K Ultra HD on November 5, 2024. A dazzling and delightful holiday treat, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas stars Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen in a joyous showbiz story filled with song and dance and featuring the timeless music and lyrics of legendary composer and songwriter Irving Berlin whose artistry defined American popular songs for much of the 20th century. Irving Berlin’s White Christmas premiered on ... Read more...

Disney’s TV special for Epcot Center's opening may have looked great, but behind the scenes, it was a nightmare!

Looking back at television in the early 1980s is an interesting experience. Cable TV was in its infancy, VCRs were barely used, and the overall tone was more conservative in many ways. It was also pretty old school as networks relied on tried and true stuff like the old variety show aspects and musical specials.

Disney had used that well for years as their TV specials were always unique, mixing in original songs with some fun stars. By the 1980s, they were working with Smith-Hemion, which is well known for some award-winning variety specials featuring stars such as Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Elvis, Bette Middler, and more. They could be silly and cheesy yet fun to watch. The company was also behind the now-infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.

One of...

Is it too early to get ready for Christmas? Maybe, but 'tis the season for holiday classics to get new physical media editions before moviegoers start decking the halls. One of the most beloved Christmas classics is the romantic musical spectacle White Christmas. The Michael Curtiz-directed film starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2024. To celebrate, Paramount Pictures is releasing its riveting dance on 4K Blu-ray for the first time.

In the late eighties/ early nineties, shortly after they did Predator together, Arnold Schwarzenegger, John McTiernan and writer Shane Black were all set to team on a big-budget movie adaptation of the DC comic book Sgt. Rock. This is why, at the end of Predator, Black is seen reading a Sgt Rock comic during the cast roll. According to author Nick de Semlyan’s new book, “The Last Action Heroes” (buy it here), the project was heavily developed in ’88 and ’89, only to be demolished by an unlikely candidate – Monty Python’s John Cleese.

At the time, Cleese was riding high on the success of A Fish Called Wanda, and McTiernan thought he would be an ideal addition to the movie’s cast. The film was set to adapt an old Danny Kaye comedy called Imitation General. Cleese would play an English cook posing as a general during WW2 and being...

Warning: this article contains spoilers for Them: The Scare.

Them: The Scare season 2 features a diverse soundtrack ranging from hip-hop to Broadway hits. The music in Them: The Scare resonates with audiences from the '80s and '90s, contrasting with season 1's 1950s to 1970s hits. The story follows Detective Dawn Reeve tracking a serial killer while Edmund Gaines spirals into darkness, leading to a chilling ending.

Them: The Scare is season 2 of Prime Video's horror anthology series and features several well-known songs. The second installment takes place between 1989 and 1991 in Los Angeles, and the soundtrack includes hip-hop, rap, classic rock, and Broadway music. Them: The Scare stars Deborah Ayorinde as Homicide Detective Dawn Reeve, who is tracking a serial killer. The story also follows Edmund Gaines (Luke James), an aspiring actor who begins to spiral down a dark path that collides with Dawn in Them season 2's ending.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan recalled playing a mayor in Russian playwright Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The Government Inspector’ in 1957, when he was studying in Sherwood College in Nainital.

The actor took to his blog and wrote: “How time has kept us all in tune and line… 1957 Sherwood, Nainital, School Play, Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The Government Inspector’, Danny Kaye the phenomenal talent, playing the Inspector… and I use it on stage in Milman Hall for the Annual Concert, where I play the Mayor.”

Big B shared an anecdote from the rehearsals of the play and mentioned that he had taken home the Best Actor’s trophy at that time.

“And during a rehearsal, classmate Chris Borthwick, who plays the Inspector, suggests the famous line to be spoken at a particular scene – impromptu… and the entire Hall comes down… It was the most popular song of the World… and gives me my best actor Cup – the Kendall Cup.

Anne Whitfield, who appeared at age 15 in the 1954 Hollywood Christmas chestnut White Christmas and went on to a prolific career in episodic TV throughout the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, died February 15 at a hospital in Yakima, Washington. She was 85.

The actor, whose TV credits stretch from I Married Joan and Father Knows Best through The Six Million Dollar Man and Adam-12, suffered what her family describes as an “unexpected accident” during a walk in her neighborhood.

“Through the kindness of neighbors who provided expert medical support, family had the gift to say goodbye and express love and gratitude, a gift we will always cherish,” her family said.

Born August 27, 1938, in Oxford, Mississippi, Whitfield was four years old when she moved to Hollywood with her mother Frances Turner Whitfield, who served as the aspiring child performer’s agent and acting coach. By age 7 Whitfield was appearing on such radio series as...

Anne Whitfield, who appeared in the beloved holiday classic White Christmas and on dozens of TV shows, from Father Knows Best, 77 Sunset Strip and Perry Mason to That Girl, Ironside and Emergency!, has died. She was 85.

Whitfield died Feb. 7 at a hospital in Yakima, Washington, after suffering an “unexpected accident” while on a walk in her neighborhood, family members announced.

“She was a powerhouse in life, and we hope her immense positive energy flows out to those who had the pleasure of knowing her,” they wrote.

Whitfield was 15 and had done lots of acting on the radio when she was cast as Susan Waverly, the granddaughter of Dean Jagger’s Major Gen. Thomas F. Waverly — “The Old Man” — in the Michael Curtiz-directed Paramount musical White Christmas (1954). The film starred Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen.

She got to watch White Christmas with her family on the...

Norman Jewison, a seven-time Academy Award nominee who directed the 1968 Best Picture Oscar winner “In the Heat of the Night” as well as Oscar winners “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Moonstruck” and numerous other iconic films, is dead. He died peacefully on Saturday at his home.

A filmmaking giant in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, Jewison was undeniably one of the most prominent producer-directors never to have won an Oscar – though he was honored with the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award at the Academy Awards in 1999. He was nominated three times for his directing: “In the Heat of the Night” in ’68 (losing to Mike Nichols for “The Graduate”), “Fiddler on the Roof” in 1972 (William Friedkin won for “The French Connection”) and “Moonstruck” in 1988 (won by Bernardo Bertolucci for “The Last Emperor”). He was also nominated for producing a quartet of Best Picture contenders: “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming...

Norman Jewison, the versatile, acclaimed filmmaker behind movies like Fiddler on the Roof and In the Heat of the Night, died Saturday at home, his publicist announced Monday. He was 97.

Jewison was a seven-time Oscar nominee and earned the Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in 1999. He earned both Best Director and Best Picture nods for the 1971 musical Fiddler on the Roof and the 1987 rom-com Moonstruck, starring Cher.

He also was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for 1976’s In the Heat of the Night.

Norman Jewison, who directed Best Picture Oscar winner In the Heat of the Night and nominees Fiddler on the Roof, A Soldier’s Story, Moonstruck and The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, also producing the latter four, died peacefully Saturday, January 20. He was 97.

Jewison’s film career spanned more than four decades and seven Oscar nominations — three for Best Director and the four for Best Picture. His films received a total of 46 nominations and 12 Academy Awards. In 1999, Jewison was honored with the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award at the Academy Awards. He also collected three Emmy Awards for his work in television.

A smattering of his other wide-ranging work includes The Hurricane, Agnes of God, Rollerball (1975) and Jesus Christ Superstar, all of which he also produced. As a producer, Jewison had an eye for talent, as well.

The episode of "The Twilight Zone" called "Once Upon a Time" is one of the show's attempts at comedy and, by most viewers' gauges, didn't really work. "Once Upon a Time" starred the silent film superstar and immortal filmmaker Buster Keaton as a sad sack janitor named Woodrow Mulligan living in a small middle-American town called Harmony in 1890. Mulligan hates the fancy-pants modern inventions like bicycles and resents that livestock roam the street. The 1890 sequences were filmed in the style of a silent movie with no dialogue, plinking piano music, and intertitles. Mulligan works for a mad scientist who has invented a time-travel helmet that can bring its wearer into the year 1961, but only for 30 minutes. Mulligan, desperate to see his hometown grown up, gives it a shot.

In the year 1961, now filmed with sound, Mulligan meets Rollo (Stanley Adams) a scientist who feels nostalgia for a simpler time, a...

English actor Glynis Johns, who played the daffy suffragette mother Mrs. Banks in the classic film “Mary Poppins,” died Thursday at an assisted living home in Los Angeles, her manager Mitch Clem confirmed to Variety. She was 100.

“Glynis powered her way through life with intelligence, wit, and a love for performance, affecting millions of lives,” Clem said in a statement. “She entered my life early in my career and set a very high bar on how to navigate this industry with grace, class, and truth. Your own truth. Her light shined very brightly for 100 years. She had a wit that could stop you in your tracks powered by a heart that loved deeply and purely. Today is a somber day for Hollywood. Not only do we mourn the passing of our dear Glynis, but we mourn the end of the golden age of Hollywood.”

Johns won a Tony for her...

Glynis Johns, the upbeat leading lady with the British charm who starred as the spirited feminist mother Winifred Banks in Mary Poppins, has died. She was 100.

Johns lived in West Hollywood and died Thursday of natural causes at an assisted living facility in the area, her manager, Mitch Clem, told The Hollywood Reporter.

A multitalented actress, dancer, pianist and singer, Johns earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for playing the widowed saloon and hotel owner Mrs. Firth in Fred Zinnemann’s Australia-set The Sundowners (1960).

Plus, she memorably sang “Send in the Clowns,” which Stephen Sondheim wrote just for her, in her Tony Award-winning performance as Desiree Armfeldt in the original 1973 production of A Little Night Music.

The husky voiced Johns was nominated for a Golden Globe for portraying a daffy older socialite who is stirred by the young stud she meets on the beach in a then-controversial film about sex,...

Die Hard is compared to the Christmas classic film White Christmas, with the former being even more Christmas-y. The debate on whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not has never been settled, with the cast and crew being divided. Regardless of the official status, Die Hard has become associated with the holiday season and has sparked lively debates among audiences.

Original Die Hard screenwriter Steven E. de Souza has reaffirmed the Bruce Willis action classic is indeed a Christmas movie, comparing it with the 1954 musical comedy White Christmas. Starring Bing Crosby and including an updated version of his classic Christmas track of the same name, White Christmas follows the story of the former Broadway star Captain Bob Wallace and Danny Kaye’s Private Phil Davis as they embark on a joint musical career as producers after meeting during a wartime Christmas show on the front lines of World War II.

There is certainly no shortage of Christmas movies to watch this holiday season. To list some examples almost feels redundant since most have probably seen them all dozens of times, but we're going to list them anyway. After all, how could we forget light-hearted winter romps like Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye's musical romp in White Christmas or the hilarity in the big apple seen in Elf? Still, some may prefer a bit more of a bite to their annual celebration of yuletide cheer, there are the many adaptations of Charles Dickens' existential jolly ghost story of A Christmas Carol plus there's always the holiday hostage high jinks of Die Hard, which yes, is absolutely a Christmas film. Then of course there are those who want the feel-good feeling the season is associated with but also want a story with something more to say. Thankfully, legendary filmmaker Frank Capra...

Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens and Christopher Plummer as Ebenezer Scrooge in ‘The Man Who Invented Christmas’ (Photo by Kerry Brown / Bleecker Street)

Once again, the holidays – or is it holidaze? – are upon us, bringing with it a flurry of Christmas movies.

You have your endless parade of cartoons, specials, Christmas-themed episodes of your favorite TV shows, bad holiday comedies (1996’s Jingle All the Way and 2007’s Fred Claus come to mind), and Christmas-set horror movies (1984’s Gremlins). Then there’s the cheesy yet feel-good Lifetime and Hallmark films. And how can we forget the 24-hour marathon of 1983’s A Christmas Story (celebrating its 40th anniversary this year), beginning on Christmas Eve and ending on Christmas Day?

If those don’t do it for you, maybe these lists of Christmas movies will.

Classic Christmas Movies

You can’t go wrong with these classics, which can lighten the hearts of even the most ardent cynics.

White Christmas is a beloved holiday film with iconic quotes, including Bob's comment about being stuck with a "weirdsmobile for life." The importance of friendship is highlighted in the film, as shown by Bob and Phil's dedication to General Waverly, despite his comment that they "weren't any good as privates." The comedic duo of Bob and Phil provides laughs throughout the movie, with Bob's dry but loving comments leaving an impression.

The 1954 holiday classic White Christmas is one of the most recognizable movies of its genre, and the film contains several iconic quotes. White Christmas is a follow-up to the black-and-white Christmas movie classic Holiday Inn, featuring an incredible soundtrack from Irving Berlin. Starring the likes of Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, and Rosemary Clooney, White Christmas saw success for its wholesome family atmosphere. It's still one of the most notable holiday-themed films to date.

Filmed in Technicolor, White Christmas...

Fittingly for a series in which everybody seems to be engaging in some form of Classic Hollywood cosplay, the Rosebud moment in BritBox’s Archie is delivered by an actor playing comedy icon Danny Kaye.

Affecting a stereotypical German therapist accent — accents on top of accents on top of accents is the Archie way — Kaye cautions young Dyan Cannon (Laura Aikman) that her relationship with the more seasoned Cary Grant (Jason Isaacs) is destined for complications with the warning, “Men who have difficult relationships with their mothers always carry it over to the women that they love.”

There’s no reason for Kaye to make such an observation if he hasn’t been watching the two previous hours of Jeff Pope’s four-episode production. But for the series’ actual audience, his analysis will come across as both obvious and superficial — a bit like Archie itself.

Ultimately, it’s a bit more complicated than that.

No director in Hollywood has a weirder résumé than Alan Smithee. Between 1969 and 2015, his credits included the Richard Widmark western "Death of a Gunfighter"; the horror comedies "Student Bodies" and "Ghost Fever"; the Jodie Foster thriller "Catchfire"; the franchise sequels "The Birds II: Land's End" and "Hellraiser: Bloodline"; episodes of hit TV series like "MacGyver" and "Tiny Toon Adventures"; and music videos for artists like Metallica, Destiny's Child, Wu-Tang Clan, Whitney Houston, and Jennifer Lopez.

But there's a reason for that: "Alan Smithee" is not a real person. It's a pseudonym invented by the Director's Guild of America for filmmakers to use when they no longer want to be credited for their work. This usually happens when they're replaced on a project, or believe that studio interference has altered the film so much that it no longer reflects their vision. That's why you'll sometimes see "Alan Smithee" credited on TV...

Tyrannical and brilliant, director Michael Curtiz created film legends out of mere stars, and turned movies into myth. Here are some of his greatest films.

When movie enthusiasts think of legendary director Michael Curtiz, the first thing that pops into their mind is Casablanca (1942), consistently named to, and occasionally topping, lists of the greatest films of all time. Although if we’re being honest, most people think of it as a Humphrey Bogart movie. The same could be said of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). These are known for their stars, James Cagney, and Errol Flynn, the latter of whom Curtiz put on the map with Captain Blood (1935). In the director’s hands, actors and characters merged into a mythology which exceeded mere signature roles, becoming universal symbols.

Curtiz worked in the motion picture business from its infancy, but began in the theater, graduating Budapest’s...

Director John McTiernan recently revealed how Arnold Schwarzenegger's unproduced Sgt. Rock movie was crushed by John Cleese. According to author Nick de Semlyan's new book The Last Action Heroes (via JoBlo), Sgt. Rock was being developed in 1988 and 1989 with the Terminator 2: Judgment Day actor set to star in the film. However, attempting to cast Cleese in the movie ultimately ended up shutting down the entire project.

The fictional character Sgt. Rock was first created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert. Sgt. Franklin John Rock made his debut in DC Comic's Our Army at War #83 which came out in June of 1959. The character was a World War II American solider who served as an infantry officer and led the unit known as Easy Company. Unlike some other popular comic characters, Sgt. Rock did not possess any supernatural skills or abilities.

In Semlyan's book, McTiernan, revealed that the Monty Python...

Sheldon Harnick, the nimble lyricist who partnered with composer Jerry Bock to create the songs for some of Broadway’s greatest musicals, including Fiddler on the Roof, Fiorello! and She Loves Me, has died Friday. He was 99.

Harnick died of natural causes at his apartment overlooking Central Park on the Upper West Side, spokesperson Sean Katz told The Hollywood Reporter.

Harnick, who credited actress Charlotte Rae for inspiring him to become a Broadway lyricist, had an uncanny knack of making it sound as if the singer were having a conversation with the audience. His lyrics for such tunes as “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “She Loves Me” and “Little Tin Box” were simple and straightforward yet deeply moving at the same time.

“A theater lyricist is a playwright who writes short plays in verse that have to be set to music,” Harnick said in a 2016 interview with the Los Angeles Times.

NBC’s Emmy juggernaut Saturday Night Live entered a pair of episodes for the production design award this season, one hosted by Only Murders in the Building‘s Steve Martin and Martin Short and one hosted by Wednesday star Jenna Ortega.

A nomination, or nominations, would extend the remarkable track record of Eugene Lee, who died in February at age 83 after serving as a production designer on SNL since its 1975 pilot. He has been nominated 17 times for the show, and a posthumous award would give him a seventh Emmy win for the sketch series.

“I was very honored to work with Eugene Lee for 47 years,” says fellow production designer Leo Yoshimura. “Eugene hired me to be his art director on Saturday Night Live in August 1975. I overstayed. I will miss his consummate passion for design. But it is comforting to know that I will still be able to work in Eugene Lee’s television studio.

David Bowie was known for his sweeping changes in style and the radical diversity of his songs, but the Moonage Daydream soundtrack offers a cohesive sense of who he was as a music artist. As a whole, Brett Morgen's documentary presents a kaleidoscopic impression of Bowie through its visual montage and audio samplings, the latter of which includes interview snippets and a wall-to-wall soundscape consisting of more than 40 tunes, most of them by the film's subject. While it's unlikely that anyone would watch this movie without sound, though, the Moonage Daydream soundtrack can be purchased separately as a two-volume album and listened to on its own.

The documentary's sound design involves a collage of David Bowie's music, mashing up songs and remixing others in a way that would seem difficult to turn into a track-by-track album. The Moonage Daydream soundtrack released under the title Moonage Daydream – A Brett Morgen...

William Shatner is getting vulnerable about mortality.

In a recent profile with Variety, the 91-year-old “Star Trek” actor expressed that he doesn’t “have long left to live” while discussing his new documentary “You Can Call Me Bill”.

“You Can Call Me Bill” chronicles the actor’s career highlights, ranging from his time on “Star Trek” to the series “T.J. Hooker” and “Boston Legal”.

Read More: William Shatner Speaks Out About Former ‘Star Trek’ Co-Stars Publicly Criticizing Him: ‘It’s Like A Sickness’

Shatner explains how he hopes his documentary will speak to his grandchildren as they get older.

“I’ve turned down a lot of offers to do documentaries before. But I don’t have long to live. Whether I keel over as I’m speaking to you or 10 years from now, my time is limited, so that’s very much a factor. I’ve got grandchildren. This documentary...

William Shatner kicks things off with a compliment.

We’re talking via Zoom — he’s beaming in from the sprawling kitchen of his Los Angeles home, which overlooks the San Fernando Valley. I’m dialing in from the living room of my walkup apartment in Brooklyn, a much more modest setting. But Shatner is impressed by the over-stocked bookcase behind me, as well as the paintings, a seascape and an impressionist pastoral scene that I inherited from my grandmother, that line the wall around it.

“You have terrific taste,” Shatner exclaims with the kind of brio that Captain James T. Kirk, his most famous alter-ego, approached his mission “to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, [and] boldly go where no man has gone before!”

But Shatner isn’t just here to talk about “Star Trek,” though his time commanding the Starship Enterprise invariably comes up. Instead,...

Chaim Topol, the spirited Israeli actor and singer who, one season following another, portrayed Tevye the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof on stages all around the world and in an Oscar-nominated turn in Norman Jewison’s 1971 film adaptation, has died. He was 87.

Topol died Thursday in Tel Aviv after a long illness, his rep, Jean Diamond, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Israel’s first international movie star, Topol also played famed Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in Galileo (1975); an American scientist, Dr. Hans Zarkov, in the cult sci-fi classic Flash Gordon (1980); and Milos Columbo, a Greek smuggler and ally of Roger Moore’s James Bond, in For Your Eyes Only (1981).

As Polish family man Berel Jastrow, he was central to the plot of two acclaimed 1980s ABC miniseries, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, both based on Herman Wouk novels.

In a pairing that a matchmaker would surely appreciate,...

As Billy Wilder prepared to make "Some Like It Hot," his classic comedy about two jazz musicians forced to go on the run as women after they witness a gangland massacre, he found himself in a bit of a casting quandary. His first choices for the roles of the casanova saxophone player Joe and nervy bassist Jerry were, respectively, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon. Though he eventually cast the stars he wanted, getting United Artists to accede to his demands was a circuitous process.

The primary stumbling block was Lemmon. The then 34-year-old actor was very much in demand after winning Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Ensign Pulver in John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy's blockbuster "Mister Roberts," but he was under contract to Columbia Pictures at the time, and considered unbankable as a leading man. Though Lemmon had given Wilder a verbal commitment to star alongside the already signed Tony Curtis,...

Irving Berlin's song "White Christmas" is kind of a big deal. The tune's history is full of nothing but praise for its nostalgic lyrics that tell the story of someone "dreaming of a white Christmas" filled with all of the childhood wonder of Christmases past. A magical orchestral arrangement complete with angelic backup singers helps to give the song a wistful feel that you can't help but get caught up in every time you listen to Bing Crosby croon about sleigh bells and glistening treetops.

Crosby originally performed a version of the song in 1941 before it was officially released in 1942 as part of the soundtrack for the musical, "Holiday Inn." Even though the song first came out nearly a century ago, it is still one of the most (if not the most) beloved Christmas songs, and it's easy to understand why. After all, who doesn't want to magically wake...

Snow is beginning to fall, and lights have gone up all over the place to celebrate the holiday season. Families are watching their favorite old movies like 1954's "White Christmas" to get in the mood. Unfortunately, if you want the full, official soundtrack to that particular film, you are out of luck. Even Santa can't fix record contract issues. He really should leave coal in a few record executives' stockings.

If you've never seen Michal Curtiz's "White Christmas," it's the story of Bob (Bing Crosby) and Phil (Danny Kaye), old WWII war buddies who have gone into show business and had great success. They meet sisters Judy (Vera-Ellen) and Betty (Rosemary Clooney), a performing duo dealing with some hard times. They all end up in Vermont at a failing resort owned by the guys' disgraced Major General (Dean Jagger), putting on a show to save the place and restore some holiday cheer.

The sad news of the death of Angela Lansbury, just a few days shy of her 97th birthday, brought to an end one of the longest and most storied careers in Hollywood history. While she will perhaps be best remembered for the 265 episodes (and four feature-length movies) she spent playing best-selling mystery writer Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, a stint that earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “most prolific amateur sleuth”, Lansbury packed her eight decades on stage and screen with a host of memorable roles. To each of them, she brought a whimsical humour and gentle warmth which could sometimes mask her deceptively sharp wit.

Born on 16 October 1925 in Regent’s Park, London, Lansbury left Britain with her family after the onset of the blitz in 1940. Her mother, the Belfast-born actor Moyna Macgill, moved Lansbury and her brothers Bruce and Edgar to New York,...

The sad news of the death of Angela Lansbury, just a few days shy of her 97th birthday, brought to an end one of the longest and most storied careers in Hollywood history. While she will perhaps be best remembered for the 265 episodes (and four feature-length movies) she spent playing best-selling mystery writer Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, a stint that earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “most prolific amateur sleuth”, Lansbury packed her eight decades on stage and screen with a host of memorable roles. To each of them, she brought a whimsical humour and gentle warmth which could sometimes mask her deceptively sharp wit.

Born on 16 October 1925 in Regent’s Park, London, Lansbury left Britain with her family after the onset of the blitz in 1940. Her mother, the Belfast-born actor Moyna Macgill, moved Lansbury and her brothers Bruce and Edgar to New York,...

Maury Wills, whose long tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers began the year after the team moved to the West Coast in the late 1950s and included three World Series championships, died September 19 at his home in Sedona, Az, the team said Tuesday. He was 89.

Wills, a five-time All-Star and two-time Gold Glove-winning shortstop, was a prolific base-stealer credited with helping to bring the craft back to baseball as an offensive strategy. After stealing 50 bases in 1960 in his first year with the Dodgers, in 1962 he became the first player in the modern age to reach 100 steals in a season, finishing with 104 to break Ty Cobb’s record that had stood for 47 years, earning him the Nl Mvp Award. He is 20th on baseball’s all-time steals list.

Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery

Wills was born Maurice Morning Wills on October 2, 1932, in Washington D.C., where he was a three-sport athlete in high school.

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Marsha Hunt, the bright-eyed starlet who stood out in such films as These Glamour Girls, Pride and Prejudice and Raw Deal before her career came unraveled by the communist witch hunt that hit Hollywood, has died. She was 104.

She died Wednesday of natural causes at her Sherman Oaks home, where she had lived since 1946, Roger C. Memos — writer-director of the documentary Marsha Hunt’s Sweet Adversity — told The Hollywood Reporter.

Hunt also appeared opposite Mickey Rooney in the best picture Oscar nominee The Human Comedy (1943) during a period in which she was known as “Hollywood’s Youngest Character Actress.”

A former model who signed with Paramount Pictures at age 17, the Chicago native made her first big splash as a suicidal co-ed opposite Lana Turner in MGM’s These Glamour Girls (1939).

Playing Walter Brennan’s sweetheart in Joe and Ethel Turp Call on the...

Comedian and actress Pat Carroll, a television pioneer and an Emmy, Drama Desk and Grammy winner, died at her home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts on July 30, while recovering from pnuemonia.

A frequent film actress and television guest star and series regular starting in the late 1940s, her work was seen on the Jimmy Durante Show, The Danny Thomas Show, Laverne & Shirley, ER and many other shows. She voiced Ursula in The Little Mermaid, and voiced several cartoon series.

Patricia Ann Carroll was born May 5, 1927 in Shreveport, Louisiana. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was five years old, and she soon began acting in local productions. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High Schol and then attended Catholic University of America after enlisting in the US Army.

Carroll’s acting career started in 1947 with the film Hometown Girl. In 1956, Carroll won an Emmy Award for her work on Sid Caesar’s House,...

In the lead-up to this year’s Emmy nominations, most pundits expected the HBO anthology series “The White Lotus” to pick up multiple acting bids, but almost none were bold enough to predict its eventual haul of eight. Nearly every member of the first season’s ensemble cast has a shot at the gold, with Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy, and Steve Zahn competing in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor category and Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Natasha Rothwell, and Sydney Sweeney taking up all but two spots in the corresponding female lineup.

Although 15 other limited programs have amassed at least three featured male notices apiece, “The White Lotus” is the first to net more than three supporting actress bids. Furthermore, it stands as one of only three live action shows of any genre to receive five same-year nominations in a single primetime acting category. This is...

George Carlin’s American Dream presents George Carlin as standup comedy’s greatest wordsmith. Seven of these words made him infamous and earned him a place in legal history. Directors Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio’s two-part documentary highlights how Carlin’s brain-droppings started conversations which carry on today.

The “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” bit defines Carlin in ways which go beyond comedy routines. The documentary shows how language, subterfuge, and identity are chosen, carefully selected to create a body of work which defies classification. Carlin had an elastic face and a knack for funny noises, but words are at the bottom of it all. When Carlin was a young comedian, he couldn’t embrace the counterculture commentator lurking beneath the surface on television. The documentary points out how he had to use code words. The Hippy Dippy Weatherman didn’t only forecast darkness at night,...

Audre Lorde Way at East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Audre Lorde, poet (New York State Poet Laureate 1991-92), activist, educator, feminist, and the subject of Dagmar Schultz’s up-close and personal documentary Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984-1992, was honoured on Tuesday, May 10, 2022 in an Audre Lorde Way street naming celebration at the corner of East 68th Street and Lexington Avenue in New York City. The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse of Hunter College and Hunter West are now on Audre Lorde Way.

Hunter College President Jennifer J Raab, Blanche Wiesen Cook, Clare Coss, Jacqueline Woodson and Jacqueline Nassy Brown Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Hunter College President Jennifer J Raab, Blanche Wiesen Cook (historian and professor), Clare Coss (Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry), author Jacqueline Woodson, Hunter professors Jacqueline Nassy Brown and Melinda Goodman, NYC Council Member Keith Powers, the 2022 Roosevelt House Eva Kasten Grove scholars,...

Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen director Daniel Raim on the casting of Tevye for Norman Jewison’s Fiddler on the Roof: “Until I talked with Norman I didn’t know that Frank Sinatra’s manager had called Norman. And Danny Kaye, what a great story!”

Daniel Raim’s Fiddler’s Journey To The Big Screen, co-written with Michael Sragow, produced by Sasha Berman, executive produced by Matthew H. Bernstein and narrated by Jeff Goldblum, takes us on the remarkable odyssey of Norman Jewison and how he became the director of the multiple Oscar-winning Fiddler On The Roof.

Daniel Raim with Anne-Katrin Titze on Robert F Boyle: “He was my professor and I knew he loved Edward Hopper, so for Christmas I got him, when I was a student, a book on Hopper paintings.”

On-camera interviews with Topol, Rosalind Harris (Tzeitel), Michele Marsh (Hodel), Neva Small (Chava), composer John Williams,...

After skipping the virtual ceremony in 2021, the Screen Actors Guild once again presents its annual life achievement award in 2022. Oscar, Emmy and Tony winner Dame Helen Mirren receives the honorary SAG trophy.

For the 2020 event, Robert De Niro was the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.

SEEHelen Mirren movies: 12 greatest films ranked from worst to best

SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark...

SAG-AFTRA’s unclaimed residuals fund has grown to roughly $76 million – up 60% from $48 million six years ago. According to the union, the fund now contains 124,000 separate accounts for members and others, living and dead, that it can’t locate. That’s up from 96,000 accounts in 2016.

“The funds may be unclaimed for a variety of reasons including a bad address or as a result of mail returned for other reasons; unresolved estate issues, or the funds may be in trust for an inactive or dissolved loan out corporation,” a spokesperson for the union said. “Most often, residuals may be waiting for a recipient or their agent to formalize a change of address or submit the appropriate paperwork to claim the funds. The union uses a number of tools to locate and get money to those individuals due unclaimed residuals including mail, email and telephone outreach to last known address and telephone number,...

Horror icon Barbara Crampton discusses a few of her favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Re-Animator (1985)

Body Double (1984)

Jakob’s Wife (2021)

The Court Jester (1955) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938)

The Three Musketeers (1974) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Matrix (1999)

Bound (1996)

Eyes Without A Face (1962) – Sam Hamm’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Halloween (1978) Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing, Alex Kirschenbaum’s film power rankings, Alex Kirschenbaum’s timeline power rankings

All About Eve (1950)

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Alien (1979) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings

Relic (2020)

Anything For Jackson (2020)

The Haunting (1963) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary

Strait-Jacket (1964) – David DeCoteau’s trailer commentary

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary,...

Do you see what we see? Some favorite flicks airing blissfully on repeat. Feast your eyes on these classics on Christmas Eve: • TBS (starting at 8/7c) and TNT (9/8c) give you 24 hours of 1983’s A Christmas Story, with Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) clamoring for a Red Ryder Bb gun. Best repeat scene: Tongue on a flagpole. • The film world’s favorite daredevil anthropologist Indiana Jones seeks treasures in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, followed by his three earlier adventures of ark-hunting, monkey brain–eating and dad-rescuing on Paramount Network (through 3am/2c). Best repeat scene: Snakes on a plane in Raiders of the Lost Ark (10:30am/9:30c and 6:30/5:30c). • You get nearly a full day of Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney dancing and romancing in 1954’s White Christmas on SundanceTV (beginning at 3/2c). Best repeat scene: This fab four performing...