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The opening narration to "The Twilight Zone" episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" states that Bob Wilson (William Shatner) has just been discharged from a sanitarium, finally having (mostly) recuperated from a nervous breakdown experienced on an airplane six months earlier. He is about to get on a plane again for the first since his breakdown, and his wife Julia (Christine White) is wary that flying may trigger another severe panic attack. Bob assures her that he may be nervous, but that he should be able to survive.

Of course, nothing natural or easy happens in the Twilight Zone. Bob peers out the window and sees, on the wing of the plane, a large furry gremlin (Nick Cravat). It sees Bob as well. When he calls a stewardess for help, the gremlin vanishes, able to lift off into the rainy night sky. When Bob is looking, however, it reappears and begins...

Let’s call this a fauxbituary. On Friday, The Video Archives Podcast – the show director Quentin Tarantino hosts with his longtime friend and “Pulp Fiction” co-writer and Oscar winner Roger Avary – announced that Rick Dalton, the “Bounty Law” star who helped thwart the attempted murder of actress Sharon Tate, had died at the age of 90.

We are saddened by the news of the passing of actor Rick Dalton, best known for his roles in the hit TV series Bounty Law and The Fireman trilogy.

Rick passed away peacefully in his home in Hawaii and is survived by his wife Francesca.

Rip Rick Dalton 1933-2023 pic.twitter.com/j51sNEh7AP

— The Video Archives Podcast (@VideoArchives) May 19, 2023

“I was never actually that big of a fan of Rick Dalton, but seeing how upset Quentin is today and how inconsolable he is has me wanting to see ‘The Fireman 2’ again. My favorite Dalton film,...

Quentin Tarantino reveals the fate of one Once Upon a Time in Hollywood character three years after the movie’s release. Set in 1969, Tarantino’s ninth film (by his counting) served as the director’s love-letter to the Los Angeles of his youth, but also took time to pay homage to an era of Hollywood that stood poised between the end of the old-time studio system and the beginning of the more dynamic period that came to be known as New Hollywood. Central to Tarantino’s depiction of 1969 Hollywood was Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton, a B-grade actor forced to take on TV roles, who in the course of the film battles with his own self-doubt as a performer, but winds up an unlikely hero in the movie’s outrageously violent finale.

Now three years after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood introduced Dalton and his hilarious fake filmography, Tarantino...

The 1978 movie Grease has a classic makeover plot and fun catchy songs, some of which were new for the screen adaptation as part of several things that were changed from the original stage musical. Written by Warren Casey and Jim Jacobs, the musical saw several versions performed in Chicago, New York City, and London following its debut in 1971. However, the story of innocent girl Sandy Dombrowski (changed to Sandy Olsson for the movie) meeting bad boy Danny Zuko has endured.

While there are many Grease movie characters, the love story between Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and Danny (John Travolta) is the most popular part of the adaptation. The 1950s fashion, nostalgic settings like the Frosty Palace diner, and optimistic music provide the backdrop for this tale of falling in love and working through questions about identity. In both versions, Sandy feels more confident and Danny learns to be softer and more compassionate.

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on Eddie Volkman Show with Hannah B on Star 96.7 Wssr-fm reviewing the new Blu-Ray edition of “Back to the Beach,” the 1987 parody of Frankie and Annette beach movies from the 1960s, featuring of course Frankie and Annette.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello portray offbeat fictional versions of themselves, married and stuck in Ohio after Frankie (nicknamed the Big Kahuna) wiped out on a monster wave called the Cowabunga from Down Unda, and left the California Beach to raise rebellious Bobby (Demian Slide) and grown daughter Sandi. When Frankie and Annette go back in California to visit Sandi, the old wave meets the new wave.

Extras: Watch anywhere Digital Movie Code, Special Feature “Filmmaker Focus” spotlighting Director Lyndall Hobbs.

’Back to the Beach’ on Blu-Ray

Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com reviewed “Back to the Beach” during the Eddie Volkman...

Erin O’Brien, a singer and actress who appeared with Andy Griffith in Onionhead, with Robert Stack in John Paul Jones and with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Edd Byrnes on the pilot for the swanky ABC crime series 77 Sunset Strip, has died. She was 87.

O’Brien died May 20 of natural causes at her home in Seattle, her sister, Sheila O’Brien, told The Hollywood Reporter.

O’Brien had a recording contract and performed often on Steve Allen’s The Tonight Show as well as on other programs hosted by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Liberace, bandleader Ray Anthony and Eddie Fisher. And in ...

Erin O’Brien, a singer and actress who appeared with Andy Griffith in Onionhead, with Robert Stack in John Paul Jones and with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Edd Byrnes on the pilot for the swanky ABC crime series 77 Sunset Strip, has died. She was 87.

O’Brien died May 20 of natural causes at her home in Seattle, her sister, Sheila O’Brien, told The Hollywood Reporter.

O’Brien had a recording contract and performed often on Steve Allen’s The Tonight Show as well as on other programs hosted by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Liberace, bandleader Ray Anthony and Eddie Fisher. And in ...

The Emmys’ In Memoriam segment Sunday left out a number of actors we lost in 2020, but the Television Academy hasn’t entirely overlooked them. Nick Cordero, Chi Chi DeVayne, Kobe Bryant, Shelley Morrison, Honor Blackman, and soap actors Roscoe Born, John Callahan, Marj Dusay and John Karlen are among the many names included in a more comprehensive roster on the Academy’s website.

Some of the names, including Morrison, actress Kelly Preston and Saturday Night Live‘s music producer Hal Willner, were represented in a not-particularly easy-to-read memorial segment during the Creative Arts ceremonies last week (see it below) but didn’t make the shorter roster on the Emmys broadcast Sunday.

The comprehensive scrolling roster includes performers whose body of work fell largely in other areas of entertainment – Cordero, Zoe Caldwell, Mark Blum and Brent Carver from the stage, Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green from music, Honor Blackman from film...

Many TV legends and contributors were included for the “In Memoriam” segment on Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony for ABC. But producers are always forced to omit some of the 100+ insiders who died since the last ceremony. Who was left out of the group that was honored?

With dozens of television veterans having died since last year’s mid-September ceremony, people certainly included were these six TV Academy Hall of Fame members:

Diahann Carroll

Leonard Goldberg (executive at 20th Century Fox and ABC; producer of “Charlie’s Angels” and more)

Jim Lehrer (anchor/reporter of “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour)

Regis Philbin

Carl Reiner

Fred Silverman

SEECelebrity Deaths 2020: In Memoriam Gallery

Even though he wasn’t known for his TV work, blockbuster film actor Chadwick Boseman was featured in the final slot. NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant was not mentioned, even though the event was being held in the Staples Center.

For Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony on ABC, producers will have the always difficult task of assembling a memoriam segment. Even though the event hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will be virtual, it’s a certainty they will include the popular “In Memoriam” on the show.

With over 100 television veterans having died since last year’s mid-September ceremony, those expected to be honored would include such TV legends and TV Academy Hall of Fame members:

Diahann Carroll

Leonard Goldberg (executive at 20th Century Fox and ABC; producer of “Charlie’s Angels” and more)

Jim Lehrer (anchor/reporter of “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour)

Regis Philbin

Carl Reiner

Fred Silverman

SEECelebrity Deaths 2020: In Memoriam Gallery

Even though they weren’t known for their TV work, it’s very likely NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and blockbuster film actor Chadwick Boseman will be honored. Also among the dozens most likely included since they...

Sunday’s telecast of the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards will feature a special In Memoriam segment devoted to many of the actors and actresses who have died since last year’s ceremony in late January. Sure to be among those saluted include Oscar-nominated actresses Diahann Carroll and Doris Day, plus nominated “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” actor Luke Perry. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam gallery for the year of 2019.

The 26th annual ceremony will be live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, January 19, at 8:00 p.m. Et; 5:00 p.m. Pt. The SAG life achievement award will be presented to Robert De Niro.

SEE2020 SAG Awards nominations: Full list of Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees

Over 100 people in SAG/AFTRA have passed away in the past 12 months. Which of the following 50+ names will also be featured in the televised tribute?

Julie Adams

Danny Aiello

Jed Allan

Bibi Andersson...

Chicago – In the strange old days of three TV Networks and the fan-based crossovers that would come out of it, there was Gerald “Kookie” Kookson the Third of the ABC-tv show “77 Sunset Strip” (1958-1964). Kookie loved rock ’n roll, hair combing and cracking wise like a beatnik. For some reason, he became a break out star and full partner in the private investigation office of the title. Kookie was portrayed by Edd Byrnes, who passed away on January 8th, 2020, at age 87.

Edd 'Kookie' Byrnes in 2009, Exclusive Photo by Joe Arce

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

If being Kookie weren’t enough, Edd Byrnes also had a novelty hit single (featuring Connie Stevens) with “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)” which shot to Number Four on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. His star was at its peak at that point, the Kookie character was the Fonzie of this day,...

Ivan Passer, a pioneering filmmaker in the Czech New Wave, a frequent collaborator with the late Milos Forman and the director of the 1981 film “Cutter’s Way,” has died. He was 86.

A friend of the family, Amina Johns, told the Associated Press (via The Washington Post) that Passer died Thursday in Reno, Nevada. Rodney Sumpter, an attorney for Passer, said the director had been dealing with pulmonary issues.

Passer got his start in filmmaking as a co-writer on some of Forman’s films in the ’60s, and he directed his first feature “Intimate Lighting” in 1965. He and Forman were students along with Václav Havel and Jerzy Skolimowski at a boarding school in Prague after WWII. They would later escape Prague to Hollywood just as Russian tanks began invading the region in 1969.

Also Read: Edd Byrnes, 'Grease' and '77 Sunset Strip' Star, Dies at 87

Ivan Passer (left) and...

Edd Byrnes, a veteran actor best known for his role as television host Vince Fontaine in the musical Grease and as Kookie in the classic TV series 77 Sunset Strip, has died. Reportedly, Byrnes passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday at his home in Santa Monica. According to the report, Byrnes died of "natural causes," though no additional information or cause of death has yet been revealed. He was 87 years old.

A native New Yorker, Byrnes was born Edward Byrne Breitenberger in 1932. He changed his name to "Byrnes" as a teenager to honor his grandfather, Edward Byrne, giving him the familiar Edd Byrnes name. In his early 20s, Byrnes began acting in plays at the Litchfield Community Playhouse in Connecticut, sparking an interest in acting and launching a career in the field. After about a year of performances on stage, Byrnes moved to Hollywood to pursue acting work full time.

By the mid '50s,...

Edd Byrnes, the actor who played Vince Fontaine in Grease, has died. He was 87.

Byrnes’ son, news anchor Logan Byrnes, confirmed the news on Twitter, writing, “It is with profound sadness and grief that I share with you the passing of my father Edd Byrnes.”

“He was an amazing man and one of my best friends,” Logan tweeted while adding a press release that stated the actor had “died unexpectedly” on Wednesday at his home in Santa Monica, California.

It is with profound sadness and grief that I share with you the passing of my father Edd Byrnes. He was...

Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, the 77 Sunset Strip actor whose wavy hair and penchant for combing it made him an early TV teen idol, died Thursday natural causes at his Santa Monica home, according to his son, San Diego TV news anchor Logan Byrnes. He was 87.

The actor was one of the guiding inspirations for director Quentin Tarantino and Leonardo DiCaprio, informing the Rick Dalton character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Byrnes came to attention as one of the stars of the detective show 77 Sunset Strip, which aired on ABC from 1958-64. Byrnes played Kookie, the rock ‘n’ roll-loving parking attendant who always was quick with a quip to his next-door neighbors at the detective agency. His striking good looks made him an instant hit with the teenagers of the late 1950s, culminating in a gold record with actress Connie Stevens, “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb).” The song reached No.

Edd Byrnes, star of the 1950s and ’60s TV hit “77 Sunset Strip” who went on to co-star in the 1978 smash “Grease,” has died, the actor’s son, Logan Byrnes, confirmed Thursday via Facebook. He was 87.

Byrnes died at his home in Santa Monica, according to Logan Byrnes, who is a news anchor for Kusi-tv San Diego.

Byrnes became a comedic sensation as the co-star of the ABC detective drama “77 Sunset Strip,” starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as a hip L.A. private detective. Byrnes played Kookie, the parking lot attendant with a habit of running his comb through his slick hair. His character, Gerald Kookson III, introduced a host of early ’60s slang into mainstream primetime culture.

The series was among a slew of slick action-dramas that the fledgling Warner Bros. Television division produced for the Big Three networks in the late 1950s and early ’60s.

The Kookie character...

Edd Byrnes, who played Vince Fontaine in “Grease” and also starred on the series “77 Sunset Strip” as the teen idol “Kookie,” has died. He was 87.

According to his son Logan Byrnes in a press release shared on Twitter Thursday, Byrnes died unexpectedly Wednesday at his home in Santa Monica due to natural causes.

“It is with profound sadness and grief that I share with you the passing of my father Edd Byrnes. He was an amazing man and one of my best friends,” Logan Byrnes said on Twitter Thursday.

Also Read: Buck Henry, Writer of 'The Graduate' and Co-Director of 'Heaven Can Wait' Dies at 89

Byrnes played the slick, cool-talking “Kookie” on the long-running Warner Bros. action and crime show “77 Sunset Strip,” and he reprised his character in the series “Hawaiian Eye.” In the ’70s, he had a role in “Grease” as the host...

Edd Byrnes, who gained fleeting fame as Kookie, the ultra-hip, wisecracking parking attendant on the jazzy 1950s-'60s ABC detective series 77 Sunset Strip, has died. He was 87.

Byrnes, who years later played the smooth-talking Vince Fontaine, a Dick Clark-like dance contest host, in Grease (1978), died unexpectedly Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica, his son, San Diego TV news anchor Logan Byrnes, said on Twitter. 

"It is with profound sadness and grief that I share with you the passing of my father Edd Byrnes. He was an amazing man and one of my ...

Edd Byrnes, who gained fleeting fame as Kookie, the ultra-hip, wisecracking parking attendant on the jazzy 1950s-'60s ABC detective series 77 Sunset Strip, has died. He was 87.

Byrnes, who years later played the smooth-talking Vince Fontaine, a Dick Clark-like dance contest host, in Grease (1978), died unexpectedly Wednesday of natural causes at his home in Santa Monica, his son, San Diego TV news anchor Logan Byrnes, said on Twitter. 

"It is with profound sadness and grief that I share with you the passing of my father Edd Byrnes. He was an amazing man and one of my ...

Oscar-winning star Leonardo DiCaprio says "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" is a homage to all the stars who have been forgotten, and to artists "who were struggling to be successful" in Hollywood in 1969.

Set in 1969, "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" revolves around aging star Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). In a parallel storyline, Margot Robbie portrays Dalton's neighbour Sharon Tate, who was murdered by members of the Charles Manson family.

Also Read:?Once Upon A time in Hollywood lands in Germany

"One thing? That's hard. For me, he has the consistency that I've found in people that make good art in this industry," DiCaprio said when asked about the thing he has learnt from his association with Hollywood maverick Quentin Tarantino.

"In particular, those directors are the ones that have an acute understanding and appreciation of film history, and Quentin not only...

Rick Dalton, the actor played by Leonardo DiCaprio in “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” does not exist. But he feels like he could, because director Quentin Tarantino has mapped out an entire filmography for Dalton that plausibly places him within a changing Hollywood in 1969.

The fake movie scenes and posters Tarantino has created for Dalton are a portrait of a certain type of actor in the ’60s: a handsome, ruggedly masculine type who would soon be replaced as the default Hollywood leading man by a more androgynous aesthetic inspired by the emerging counterculture. Tarantino has said on several occasions that Rick Dalton’s screen persona and his career trajectory are an amalgam of guys like Steve McQueen, George Maharis, Vince Edwards, Edd Byrnes, Ty Hardin and more. And if you have forgotten who some of those actors are, that’s essentially Tarantino’s point.

“What he’s dealing with...

“Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” is Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, and while his movies have always in one way or another been something of an ode to cinema and to the lesser-known films and stars of Hollywood, this movie is especially so.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Rick Dalton plays a fading TV cowboy who wasn’t able to pull off the transition to becoming a movie star like Steve McQueen. Tarantino said that both Dalton and the fake movies in which he stars are actually an amalgam of many actors who went through similar trajectories: guys like George Maharis, Ty Hardin, Edd Byrnes or Vince Edwards. If you forgot about some or all of those actors (or never heard of them), that’s kind of the point Tarantino is making.

And throughout “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood,” Tarantino has fun with that premise by staging clips and...

To fully appreciate some of the allusions and inspirations that propel Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” you should consider doing some homework — or streaming some other movies.

Of course, you don’t have to be familiar with any of the following titles to enjoy Tarantino’s 1969-set fact-and-fiction mashup about Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), an actor flailing in professional limbo after the cancellation of his TV Western “Bounty Law”; Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), Dalton’s long-time stunt double and close confidant; and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), a rising star and Dalton’s next-door neighbor. But you can enhance your enjoyment by having some knowledge of the stories behind the story.

“The Bandit” (2016)

Jesse Moss’ entertaining and insightful documentary is putatively about the making of 1977’s “Smokey and the Bandit,” but more interestingly concerned with the personal and professional bonds between superstar Burt Reynolds and stuntman-turned-filmmaker Hal Needham.

“We can have a real ’60s summer here, setting up for it,” said Quentin Tarantino as he settled in for a nearly three-hour conversation about his July programming at his New Beverly Cinema, a survey of the 1960s films that inspired his forthcoming “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” The movie is Tarantino’s love letter to the filmmaking era that made him fall in love with cinema as a kid. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie, and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year to considerable acclaim. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” opens in theaters on July 26.

“I did that ’60s kinda thing, but now I wanted to get more into the interior of the Hollywood that this movie is discussing,” Tarantino told Pure Cinema Podcast hosts Elric Kane and Brian Saur. Setting up “Hollywood,” he explains that DiCaprio plays an actor named Rick Dalton,...

Edd Byrnes is best known for playing the perfectly coiffed heartthrob Kookie on the long-running TV show "77 Sunset Strip"... and even landed a song on the U.S. pop charts, "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)" in 1959! Guess what he looks like now!

The most-read book since Gone with the Wind looked at the coming of age struggle of an ambitious, upwardly mobile Jewish girl in the 1930s. This glossy film version gives Natalie Wood an ‘adult’ role and provides Gene Kelly with the seemingly optimal character of a troubled theatrical artiste. Good intentions aside, the show lacks guidance — and may have harmed Kelly’s acting career.

Marjorie Morningstar

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1958 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 128 min. / Street Date May 9, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Natalie Wood, Gene Kelly, Claire Trevor, Everett Sloane, Martin Milner, Carolyn Jones, Martin Balsam, Edd Byrnes, George Tobias, Jesse White, Paul Picerni, Ruta Lee, Shelley Fabares, Lana Wood.

Cinematography: Harry Stradling

Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted

Original Music: Max Steiner

Written by Everett Freeman from the novel by Herman Wouk

Produced by Milton Sperling

Directed by Irving Rapper

When doing interviews for West Side Story we found out that...

It's a Bayside-Rydell crossover! Mario Lopez is the latest celeb to join the already star-studded cast of Fox's upcoming Grease: Live, Deadline reports. The Saved by the Bell alum, 42 — who appeared in Broadway's A Chorus Line back in 2008 — will play Vince Fontaine, host of the TV teen dance show that comes to Rydell's gym. (Who can forget the iconic "Born to Hand Jive" scene?) Edd Byrnes originated the part in the 1978 movie, which also famously starred John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. News of [...]...

Mario Lopez has been cast in Fox’s “Grease: Live,” the network announced Thursday. Lopez will play Vince Fontaine, the host of the teen dance show “National Bandstand.” Edd Byrnes played the role in the 1978 film. He will join previously announced cast members that include: Julianne Hough as Sandy; Aaron Tveit as Danny; Vanessa Hudgens as Rizzo; Carlos Pena Vega as Kenickie; Keke Palmer as Marty; Carly Rae Jepsen as Frenchy; Kether Donohue as Jan; David Del Rio as Putzie; and Jessie J, who will open the live event with a performance of a brand-new version of “Grease (Is the Word).” Also Read: Carly Rae.

Two steps forward, one step back. At least that’s what we learned on Feb. 2, when Coke’s multi-language Super Bowl commercial — the first to feature a gay couple — drew the ire of many ignorant Twitter users, who posted hateful reactions to the gay dads in the ad.

Oh, Twitter people. We can always count on you to sour the mood when something like Coca-Cola’s beautiful commercial breaks boundaries by featuring the first gay couple in a Super Bowl ad.

Coca-Cola Super Bowl Ad: Hateful Twitter Reactions To Gay Couple

While most of the Internet’s finest bigots spent their night complaining about the use of multiple foreign languages in the Coke commercial (how dare they speak not-American!), others were busy complaining about the two gay dads who take their daughter roller skating towards the end of the ad. Because, you know, it’s not like it’s 2014 or anything.

Grease Sing-a-Long not playing in your town? Bring it to sing it! Go to DEMAND_IT www.greasemovie.com Paramount Pictures presents a Robert Stigwood/Allan Carr Production. Screenplay by Bronte Woodard. Based on the original musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Produced on the Broadway Stage by Kenneth Waissman and Maxine Fox. Directed by Randal Kleiser. Starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John, Stockard Channing. Special guest appearances by Eve Arden, Frankie Avalon, Joan Blondell, Ed Byrnes, Sid Caesar, Alice Ghostly, Dody Goodman and Sha-Na-Na. Rydell High's most famous graduating class is going back to school. A newly restored print brings the highest-grossing musical of all time, 1978 film "Grease", to the big screen as a sing-along. Join Danny and Sandy with...

Warner Bros will adapt the TV series "77 Sunset Strip" into a period feature, directed by Greg Berlanti, from a screenplay by Stephen Chin. Berlanti will also produce with A. Scott Berg and Kevin McCormick.

"77 Sunset Strip" starred actors Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith and Edd Byrnes, based on novels/short stories written by creator Roy Huggins.

The show aired from 1958 to 1964, winning a 1960 Golden Globe Award for best TV series, revolving around La detectives, 'Stuart ("Stu") Bailey', a character Huggins originated in his 1946 novel "The Double Take" and 'Jeff Spencer', a non-practicing attorney. The duo worked out of an office at 77 Sunset Strip, between La Cienega Boulevard and Alta Loma Road on the south side of the Strip.

Comic relief was provided by racetrack personality 'Roscoe' and 'Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III', a hipster and aspiring P.I. who worked as a valet parking attendant at Dino's, the club next door to the detectives' office.

By Rahman Dukes

"As a youth, all I ever did was sell crack, I used to idolize Cat/ Hurt me in my heart to hear that n---a snitched on Pap/ How he go out like that?" - 50 Cent, "Ghetto Qu'Ran"

John "Teflon Don" Gotti. Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. Alpo and Rich Porter. Pappy Mason. The list goes on. Since the early 1980s, rappers have established an underlying parallel with America's most notorious gangsters. Some of the biggest rap artists' lyrics are littered with vivid street storytelling guaranteed to be influenced by real life tales from the litany of original gangsters.

One name that rings bells in the New City region is none other than Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols. Nichols made a name for himself in the Southside section of Jamaica, Queens in the '80s during the height of the crack era, along with henchman Pappy Mason and fellow Queens kingpin Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff.

Chicago – Last weekend, March 21-22, the Hollywood Collector Show was presented at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare. Among the various booths of memorabilia and collectible treasures, many notable Hollywood movie and television stars signed autographs and met their fans.

HollywoodChicago.com was there, with photographer Joe Arce and staff writer Patrick McDonald covering the proceedings. Next week, individual interviews will be posted from the show.

Click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through the slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All images are ©2009 Joe Arce for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodCo01: The Legendary Star Tony Curtis

HollywoodCo02: Tony Curtis and Patrick McDonald HollywoodCo03: The Radiant Angie Dickinson HollywoodCo04: Patrick McDonald and Angie Dickinson HollywoodCo05: The Brady Bunch: Mike Lookinland (Bobby), Christopher Knight (Peter), Susan Olsen (Cindy) and Robbie Rist (Cousin Oliver) HollywoodCo06: The Brady Bunch with Patrick McDonald HollywoodCo07:...