Notícias

Olive Sturgess, whose many acting credits through the 1950s and ’60s included numerous TV Westerns and the Roger Corman horror spoof The Raven starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and Jack Nicholson, died February 19 in Los Angeles. She was 91.

Her death was announced by her family.

Although her TV career included guest roles in such comedies as The Donna Reed Show and Petticoat Junction, her forte was the television Western, a genre that was wildly popular in the ’50s and ’60s. During those years, Sturgess made guest appearances on Cheyenne, U.S. Marshal, Sugarfoot, The Texan, Rawhide, Have Gun Will Travel, Lawman, Buckskin, Rebel, Laramie, Wagon Train, Maverick, The Rebel, Tall Man, Outlaws, Bonanza, Wide Country, Destry, and The Virginian. In 1965 she appeared in the Western feature film Requiem for a Gunfighter.

In an undated interview on the Western Clippings website, Sturgess reflected on the early days of her career.

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

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

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

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

The spinoff concept is as old as television itself, but its origins were humble.

Spinoffs began as creative experiments, allowing networks to capitalize on popular characters and extend the success of a hit show.

The idea was simple: take a beloved character, place them in a new setting, and hope the magic of the original show followed.

(Ollie Upton/HBO)

One of the first examples of this was The Andy Griffith Show (1960), a spinoff of The Danny Thomas Show.

Audiences quickly fell in love with Sheriff Andy Taylor’s small-town wisdom and charm, and the show became a hit in its own right.

Its success even spawned its own spinoffs, like Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., which followed the lovable but bumbling Gomer as he joined the Marines.

These early spinoffs were often straightforward, focusing on quirky characters and simple premises.

(CBS/Screenshot)

In the same era, The Beverly Hillbillies...

Paramount’s free streaming service, Pluto TV, has revealed its December highlights. The Pluto TV December 2024 lineup includes the “Season’s Greetings” category, which features festive TV and movies all month long on channels like Pluto TV Christmas, Hallmark Movies and More Holiday Favorites.

Special programming, like a Hanukah Menorah and Kwanzaa Kinara on the service’s Crackling Fireplace channel, will also be available. Be sure to check out new channels such as Dinos 24/7 and The Twilight Zone as well.

Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service, delivering hundreds of live, linear channels and thousands of titles on-demand to a global audience. The Emmy Award-winning service curates a diverse lineup of channels in partnership with hundreds of international media companies.

The Most Streamable Time Of The Year

This December, Pluto TV is serving up a sleigh-load of Christmas classics, holiday episodes, movies and more. Don’t miss their “Season’s Greetings” category,...

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In 1953, Billy Wilder scored a critical and commercial success with his film adaptation of Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski's stage play "Stalag 17" (one of his 14 best films according to /Film). Set in a World War II Pow camp behind Nazi enemy lines, the movie is a rambunctious account of how imprisoned soldiers misbehave and attempt to make their captors' lives miserable. They're also ever on the verge of hatching a new escape plan, though they wind up having a rat in their ranks who complicates their efforts.

Given that World War II was a desperately bloody affair on both the European and Pacific fronts as the Allies fought to save civilization from the clutches of genocidal vermin, you might not think it appropriate for artists to find humor anywhere within the conflict. But the ability to laugh when...

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For a generation of TV-watching Americans (or two), "Gunsmoke" was can't-miss programming. Adapted from an already wildly popular radio show of the same name, the 1955 TV series got in on the ground level of the newly ubiquitous medium and quickly became a household staple. A Western made at a time when the genre dominated the big and small screens alike, "Gunsmoke" starred James Arness as U.S. Marshal Matt Dillon, a duty-bound public official living in Dodge City, Kansas sometime after the Civil War.

"Gunsmoke" broke plenty of records in its time, thanks in large part to its impressive 20-season run on CBS. Couple that with the radio show that started three years before the TV drama, and for decades, Marshal Dillon and Dr. Galen Adams (Milburn Stone) were the fictional characters with the longest continuous run in an American TV-based franchise.

Sling and Pluto both offer a content mix that older viewers will enjoy, combined with an interface they’ll find familiar.

The sheer volume of content available in the streaming world can be downright overwhelming. It can be hard to know which service has which shows, and even harder to avoid titles with sex, violence, bad language and other objectionable content. There are some excellent streaming services available that allow viewers to avoid these pitfalls, however, and I’ll walk through what I think are the best two streaming services for older viewers below.

Which Streaming Services Are Best For Older Viewers?

Stream Top Cable News and Sports Channels with Sling TV

Watch TV Classics Free with Pluto TV

Final Thoughts

Stream Top Cable News and Sports Channels with Sling TV

If you’re looking to get traditional cable channels with your next streaming subscription, you should check out Sling TV.

Petticoat Junction was a classic series set at the Shady Rest Hotel with beloved interactions within the Bradley family. Many cast changes occurred throughout the series, with one sister being played by multiple actresses over time. Notable surviving cast members include Lori Saunders as Bobbie Jo, Linda Kaye Henning as Betty Jo, and Jeannine Riley as the first Billie Jo Bradley.

There are not many living members of the Petticoat Junction cast left, but the few who are carry on the legacy of the classic CBS sitcom. Premiering in September 1963, Petticoat Junction lasted for seven seasons and 222 episodes. The series is set at the Shady Rest Hotel, run by Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet), Kate's three daughters, and Kate's Uncle Joe Carson (Edgar Buchanan). Set halfway between the rural community of Hooterville and the small town of Pixley, California, Shady Rest received all kinds of visitors.

Similar to a show like The Brady Bunch,...

Ron Howard reveals Andy Griffith's comedic standards in the classic sitcom. In a recent interview on Conan OBrien Needs a Friend, Ron Howard shed light on the comedic principles that guided The Andy Griffith Show.

The former child star, who played Opie Taylor on the beloved 1960s sitcom, explained how Andy Griffith's discerning approach shaped the humor of the show. Host Conan OBrien noted that The Andy Griffith Show was a "character comedy" known for its willingness to embrace long pauses, allowing the humor to emerge naturally from the characters themselves. Howard emphasized that Griffith was adamant about avoiding broad jokes. "Andy used to kill jokes if they were too broad," Howard said. "He believed the South was plenty funny on its own without having to resort to slapstick or over-the-top antics."

Related Ron Howard's Jim Henson Movie Holds Perfect Rotten Tomatoes Score

Critics and viewers have given universal...

The Andy Griffith Show valued character development over broad humor or slapstick for a unique approach to sitcom comedy. Andy Griffith's insistence on realistic dialogue and everyday scenes added to the show's authenticity and success. The show's overall tone was carefully crafted to reflect Griffith's sensibility, showcasing his talent in finding humor in everyday life.

Ron Howard explains The Andy Griffith Shows one main rule for comedy. Beginning on the show when he was only six years old, Howard played Opie Taylor, the son of protagonist Andy Taylor, in the series. Howard continued to play the role during the duration of The Andy Griffith Show, which ran for eight seasons from 1960 to 1968. In addition to Howard and Andy Griffith, The Andy Griffith Shows ensemble cast featured Don Knotts, Frances Bavier, Colin Male, George Lindsey, Howard McNear, Tom Jacobs, Aneta Corsaut, and Jack Dodson.

Speaking in an interview with Conan OBrien Needs a Friend,...

Movies and television have often had a push-pull relationship. When brands and intellectual properties became king near the start of the 21st century, TV became the place to go for creatives who wanted to tell bold and original stories to a mainstream audience. In contrast, the social revolutions of the 1960s saw networks burying their heads in the sand, serving up a buffet of conservative-leaning sitcoms where just about everybody was white, straight, and Christian, nobody had sex or cursed, and things like the Civil Rights Movement or the Vietnam War might as well be happening on Neptune. Meanwhile, the pictures swung in the opposite direction; the rise of New Hollywood meant that the escapist studio fare of yore was no longer fashionable.

It was in this climate that Norman Lear came up with the idea for "All in the Family," inspired by the British dramedy series "Till Death Do Us Part...

"Petticoat Junction" was the unofficial second part of the Paul Henning Hooterville trilogy, a trio of 1960s sitcoms about the clash between city slickers and country bumpkins. In 1962, Henning created "The Beverly Hillbillies," a series about hillbillies who, when they strike oil, move to Beverly Hills. In 1965, he inverted the formula with "Green Acres," a show about millionaires who move to a farm to learn about country living. Sandwiched in between the two was "Petticoat Junction," which debuted on September 24, 1963. "Junction" took place at the Shady Rest Hotel, overseen by the lovable widowed hayseed Kate Bradley (Bea Benederet). She and her uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) would run the hotel and oversee the shenanigans of her three daughters Betty Jo, Billie Jo, and Bobbie Jo. 

"Petticoat Junction" takes place in the same universe as "Green Acres," as both shows make constant references to common fictional cities that the characters visit. There were a few supporting crossovers,...

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The 1962 sitcom "The Beverly Hillbillies" was the first in show creator Paul Henning's unofficial Hooterville Trilogy, a triune that also included 1963's "Petticoat Junction," and 1965's "Green Acres." These three shows were among the most popular of their time and reflected a cultural clash between a growing class of cosmopolitan urbanites and "down home" rural Americans. Working thematically backward, "Green Acres" was about a pair of New Yorkers who move onto a farm, "Petticoat Junction" was about rural hotel owners who often butted heads with a rich railroad executive, and "The Beverly Hillbillies" was about rural characters moving to Beverly Hills. The Hooterville Trilogy was as sure a sign as any that schisms were forming in American society, and Henning was eager to address the injustice of the class divides, often sympathizing with his hillbillies and lambasting the wealthy.

Joe Camp, the creator, director and writer of the “Benji” films, died March 15. He was 84.

Camp died Friday morning at his home in Bell Buckle, Tenn., following a battle with illness, according to his son, filmmaker and writer of the 2018 “Benji” reboot, Brandon Camp.

Camp had nearly no Hollywood experience before he raised $500,000 to make the first “Benji” film, a family movie about a lovable mutt who saves a pair of children from kidnappers. Higgins the dog, who previously appeared on the CBS sitcom “Petticoat Junction,” came out of retirement to star in the titular role.

After having no luck acquiring distribution, Camp formed his own distribution company Mulberry Square Releasing in 1974 to distribute the film himself. “Benji” would go on to gross almost $40 million ($250 million after inflation).

Camp would follow up the original with “For the Love of Benji” in 1977 and “Oh! Heavenly Dog” in 1980, which starred Chevy Chase...

Joe Camp, who wrote, produced and directed a series of films and TV shows that elevated a pooch stage-named Benji to Hollywood’s canine pantheon alongside Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, died today at his Tennessee home. He was 84.

His death was announced by his son, the director Brandon Camp, who told Deadline that his father died after a prolonged illness at his home in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, surrounded by family.

In addition to the long-lasting Benji franchise that began in 1974 and would continue well into the 21st Century, Camp co-wrote and directed Hawmps!, the 1976 Western comedy that replaced horses with camels, and 1979’s The Double McGuffin, a mystery film starring Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy.

While he also wrote a series of books about horses, including the popular The Soul of a Horse and Why Horses Are Barefoot, Camp’s most enduring contribution to Hollywood was and remains the...

Joe Camp, the writer, director and producer who taught that old dog Hollywood new tricks about animal movies as the creative force behind the 1974 franchise-spawning Benji, has died. He was 84.

Camp died Friday morning at his home in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, following a long illness, his son, filmmaker Brandon Camp, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Camp also directed and co-wrote the comedies Hawmps! (1976), about the U.S. Cavalry replacing horses with camels in the 1850s, and The Double McGuffin (1979), which revolved around kids trying to thwart a terrorist (Ernest Borgnine) and featured lots of in-jokes about Hitchcock movies.

Other than serving as an extra on the Robert Mitchum-starring Home From the Hill (1960), Camp had no Hollywood experience when he raised about $500,000 to make Benji, a story about a stray mixed breed — not a fancy pure breed like Lassie! — who helps rescue two youngsters from kidnappers.

Crucial to the movie’s success,...

Vintage film restoration and distribution company Film Masters continues its tribute to the pope of pop cinema, Roger Corman, with the third installment of The Filmgroup series on Blu-ray and DVD, The Devil’s Partner, available 16th January 2024.

Corman and his brother, Gene, founded The Filmgroup to distribute their own films. While the company did produce the majority of its films, including the cult classic Creature From The Haunted Sea, it also occasionally acquired projects by other filmmakers, as is the case with The Devil’s Partner (1961). From director Charles R. Rondeau, the film is a macabre tale of an elderly man who regains his youth after making a deal with the devil. During the summer and fall of 1961, the two films were often paired as a double feature.

Half Man, Half Beast, He Sold his Soul for Passion — Director/actor Edgar Buchanan (best known as Uncle Joe on Petticoat Junction...

Norman Lear, the writer, producer and citizen activist who coalesced topical conflict and outrageous comedy in such wildly popular sitcoms as All in the Family, Maude, Good Times, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and The Jeffersons, has died. He was 101.

Lear died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by his family who, according to a statement on his official Instagram account, sang songs until the very end.

“Norman lived a life in awe of the world around him. He marveled at his cup of coffee every morning, the shape of the tree outside his window, and the sounds of beautiful music,” read the post. “But it was people — those he just met and those he knew for decades — who kept his mind and heart forever young. As we celebrate his legacy and reflect on the next chapter of life without him, we would like to thank everyone for all the love and support.

On July 11, 2023, “America’s Got Talent” returned with the sixth set of auditions for its 18th season. Host Terry Crews welcomed viewers back to the show along with judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara. But who were the best acts from this episode? And did any move forward that shouldn’t have? Below we rank the 12 acts who advanced from worst to best. Do any of Tuesday’s acts have what it takes to win the million dollars this year?

See ‘America’s Got Talent’: Who was your favorite act from ‘AGT’ Auditions 6? [Poll]

Season 18 Episode 6 Rankings:

12. Artem Shchukin: I have to preface this by saying that for the first time in a long time, I really liked all of the acts that advanced to the next round. Saying that, I found Artem to be really personable and talented. The fact that he chose that song for the...

While summer starts in June, things truly heat up in July, and that includes all the hot new drops on streamers. Amazon’s Prime Video has refreshed its slate of content with over 60 new movies, like Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” and the 1973 animated adaption of the children’s book “Charlotte’s Web.”

Prime Video kicks off the start of the month with Doug McHenry’s “Jason’s Lyric,” “Father of the Bride,” and “Little Nicky.”

Plus, if you’re a Reese Witherspoon fan, Prime Video sets you up with her very first film and her breakout role as Dani in “Man in the Moon.” And the entire “Legally Blonde” trilogy is also available, for those who bend and snap.

Prime Video is also giving watchers some ultimate film classics like “Free Willy,” ”Gladiator,” and “Dances With Wolves.”

Last but absolutely not least, Season 2 of “Good Omens” will land on...

Having sitcoms crossover is a long-time staple of network synergy. Sometimes it works organically, but often it feels forced, like an obvious and cynical marketing ploy. Syndication usually exacerbates the issue, as many times, a successful show will do a crossover with a fledging program to build an audience that didn't last more than a season or two and was immediately forgotten. Still, there has been much success and enjoyment from sitcom crossover episodes, and the concept hit its zenith in the 1990s.

The first known sitcom crossover came from the original gold standard of the genre, I Love Lucy when George Reeves as Superman from Adventures of Superman comes to save the day. They struck again the following year when I Love Lucy hosted the cast of The Danny Thomas Show in 1958 and then returned the favor when Lucy and Desi guest-starred as their characters in an episode of...

The Beverly Hillbillies was one of the most popular sitcoms on the air during its nine-season run, but the show was unceremoniously canceled in 1971. Debuting for CBS in 1962, The Beverly Hillbillies followed the simple Clampett family as they came into a fortune and moved to the lavish neighborhood of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles. Its popularity inspired a slew of rural-themed programming that helped elevate the network CBS straight to the top of the ratings for most of the 1960s. Its humorous cast of characters and open-ended premise ensured the show could have gone on much longer, but its ninth season was its last.

Despite capturing the hearts of viewers for almost a decade, the Clampetts were taken off the air without a series finale, and it wasn't until a 1981 television movie that fans got any sort of closure. Though some jokes on The Beverly Hillbillies aged poorly, the heartwarming...

Paramount Global, flexing its corporate synergy muscles, is pulling a massive batch of TV shows out of the CBS vault and putting them on its free, ad-supported Pluto TV service.

Popular CBS classic series coming to Pluto’s linear streaming service through the end of 2022 include “Frasier” and “Cheers” (in the Sitcom Legends channel); “Star Trek: The Original Series” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (Star Trek channel); “Have Gun – Will Travel” and “The Wild Wild West” (Westerns TV channel) and “Petticoat Junction” (Classic TV Comedy channel).

On the on-demand side, Pluto is adding more than 6,300 episodes — tripling the amount of CBS series currently available on-demand on the streamer — including crime dramas “Criminal Minds” and “Hawaii Five-o.”

Other titles on tap for Pluto TV’s on-demand include “Beverly Hills 90210,” “The Brady Bunch,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Family Ties,” “Gunsmoke,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “The Love Boat,...

Betty White’s career ran through practically the entire history of television. And before White died on Dec. 31 at the age of 99, her longevity was a tribute not merely to persistence but to the willingness of a classic Hollywood talent to be versatile and to adapt.

In moving from television in the 1940s and ’50s to late-in-life media stardom on contemporary sitcoms and on “Saturday Night Live” (with some plum movie roles in between), White was perennially able to shift gears. She brought the best of an irreducible public persona — sparkling and witty, even or especially as dim or deluded characters — to a breadth of projects that offered her chances to show different sides of her talent. Her gifts recalled the best of an era of Hollywood in which charm reigned supreme; placing those gifts in a modern context provided a counterpoint that keeps fans fascinated by White practically to the century mark.

The first James Bond film, ‘Dr. No,” starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Jack Lord and Joseph Wiseman, opened in England on Oct. 2, 1962. But the 007 classic didn’t open in New York and Los Angeles until May 29, 1963. Let’s travel back almost six decades to look at the top events, movie, TV series, books and other cultural events of that year in James Bond history, which was punctuated by the tragic assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 22.

35th Annual Academy Awards

Best Picture: “Lawrence of Arabia”

Best Director: David Lean, “Lawrence of Arabia”

Best Actor: Gregory Peck, “To Kill a Mockingbird

Best Actress: Anne Bancroft, “The Miracle Worker”

Best Supporting Actor: Ed Begley, “Sweet Bird of Youth”

Best Supporting Actress: Patty Duke, “The Miracle Worker”

Top 10 highest grossing films

“Cleopatra”

“How the West Was Won”

“It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”

“Tom Jones”

“Irma La Douce...

Bernie Kahn, a sitcom writer who contributed to episodes of such shows as Bewitched, Get Smart, Maude and Three’s Company, has died. He was 90.

Kahn died Wednesday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family announced.

Kahn wrote more than 100 episodes of television during his career; his credits included My Favorite Martian, My Mother the Car, Petticoat Junction, My World and Welcome to It, Honey West, The Addams Family, Love, American Style, The Brady Bunch, Room 222, The Partridge Family, Chico and the Man and The Love Boat.

A two-time WGA Award nominee, Kahn penned 15 episodes of ABC’s Bewitched, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, from 1967-72 and ...

Bernie Kahn, a sitcom writer who contributed to episodes of such shows as Bewitched, Get Smart, Maude and Three’s Company, has died. He was 90.

Kahn died Wednesday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, his family announced.

Kahn wrote more than 100 episodes of television during his career; his credits included My Favorite Martian, My Mother the Car, Petticoat Junction, My World and Welcome to It, Honey West, The Addams Family, Love, American Style, The Brady Bunch, Room 222, The Partridge Family, Chico and the Man and The Love Boat.

A two-time WGA Award nominee, Kahn penned 15 episodes of ABC’s Bewitched, starring Elizabeth Montgomery, from 1967-72 and ...

Ken Osmond has died.

The beloved actor who was best known as Eddie Haskell on TV's Leave It to Beaver was 76.

Osmond's representative Bonnie Vent provided a statement to Variety from the actor's son Eric:

He was an incredibly kind and wonderful father.

He had his family gathered around him when he passed.

He was loved and will be very missed.

Osmond play the role of smart Eddie on the CBS sitcom Leave it to Beaver and played him for the show’s entire, six-season run.

He went on to reprise the role in a TV movie (Still the Beaver), a sequel series (The New Leave It to Beaver) and even a theatrical film (1997’s Leave It to Beaver), as well as on the TV shows Parker Lewis Can’t Lose and Hi Honey, I’m Home!.

Aside from that iconic role, Osmond had several other TV roles throughout his career.

Ken Osmond, who played obsequious troublemaker Eddie Haskell on TV’s Leave It to Beaver, has died, his manager confirms. Osmond was 76.

“He was an incredibly kind and wonderful father,” his son, Eric, said in a statement. “He had his family gathered around him when he passed. He was loved and will be very missed.”

The impact of his most famous performance can be measured by the fact that, for those of us of a certain age, if someone is described as an “Eddie Haskell”-type, we know exactly what is meant.

Appropriately, tributes poured in from across a broad spectrum. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Osmond “created a memorable character,” and Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach cited Eddie Haskell as one of his “all-time influences.”

The Haskell character was a troublemaking friend of Wally Cleaver (Tony Dow), the older brother of Theodore, aka the Beaver (Jerry Mathers). Hugh Beaumont...

Ken Osmond, a child actor known for his role as Eddie Haskell on “Leave It to Beaver,” has died at the age of 76.

Osmond died Monday at his home in Los Angeles. No cause of death was given.

In a statement, Osmond’s son Eric remembered him as “an incredibly kind and wonderful father.”

Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2020 (Photos)

“He had his family gathered around him when he passed,” Eric Osmond said. “He was loved and will be very missed.”

As an actor, Osmond was best known for playing the rebellious character of Eddie Haskell on the 1950s sitcom “Leave It to Beaver.” The teenage character was a friend of Beaver’s (Jerry Mathers) older brother Wally (Tony Dow) and was notorious for the way he’d pretend to be the perfect child in the presence of adults, while acting out when they weren’t around.

Osmond appeared...

Ken Osmond, best known to TV viewers as Leave It to Beaver suck-up Eddie Haskell, has died, Osmond’s manager confirms to TVLine. He was 76.

“He was an incredibly kind and wonderful father. He had his family gathered around him when he passed,” his son, Eric, said in a statement. “He was loved and will be very missed.”

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Osmond originated the role of smart-aleck-next-door Eddie on the...

Ken Osmond, best known for his role at the troublemaker Eddie Haskell on the television comedy “Leave It to Beaver,” died on Monday morning. He was 76.

Sources tell Variety Osmond passed away at his Los Angeles home surrounded by family members.

The cause of death is unknown.

Osmond, a native of Glendale, Ca., began his career as a child actor with his first speaking part at age 9 in the film “So Big,” starring Jane Wyman and Sterling Hayden, followed by “Good Morning Miss Dove,” and “Everything But the Truth. He also guest-starred on television series, including “Lassie,” “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” “Wagon Train,” “Fury,” and “The Loretta Young Show.”

In 1957, Osmond auditioned for the the Eddie Haskell role, which was originally intended to be a guest appearance, but those involved with the show were so impressed with Osmond’s portrayal that the character was a key component of...

Mike Minor was a great television and theatre actor as well as a skilled singer. As the son of television producer Don Fedderson, Minor took to the screen naturally and is best known for his role as Steve Elliott in the sitcom universe of The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction. 

Related: Leave It To Beaver: 10 Jokes That Aged Rather Poorly

In February of 2016, Minor passed away at the age of 75. In addition to his well-known work in the sitcom circuit, Minor was on several soap operas and dramas throughout his career. His handsome looks and talent will not be forgotten. Here are Minor's ten best roles on screen, according to IMDb.

Tom Lester, the actor who played the guileless, brighter-than-he-seemed farmhand Eb Dawson on CBS’ 1960s sitcom Green Acres, died Monday in Nashville of complications from Parkinson’s disease, his family announced. He was 81.

Born Thomas William Lester in Laurel, Mississippi, Lester set out for Hollywood after graduating from the University of Mississippi. He studied acting with teacher and Petticoat Junction actress Lurene Tuttle, soon coming to the attention of the show’s creator Paul Henning, who was casting another rural comedy within The Beverly Hillbillies-Petticoat Junction universe.

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The show was Green Acres, an alternately hokey and surreal comedy starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a sophisticated...

Tom Lester, the actor known for the 1960s television series “Green Acres,” has died. He was 81.

Lester was in Nashville at the home of his fiancee, Jackie, at this time of his death Monday, which was due to complications from Parkinson’s disease, according to TMZ.

He played the wide-eyed, friendly farmhand Eb Dawson on the sitcom who was known to say “Golly, Mr. Douglas.” The Mississippi native began acting in plays after moving to Los Angeles, and is said to have beat out 400 other actors for the part of Eb because he actually knew how to milk a cow in real life.

Lester was also known to be a fan of the simple life. According to a 1969 newspaper article, Lester was living “in an apartment above a garage in the San Fernando Valley” even at the height of his “Green Acres” fame. He continued to farm later in life, and won the award for Mississippi’s “Wildlife Farmer of the Year,” where he owned a large timber farm.

Tom Lester, best known for his role as the smart-aleck farmhand Eb Dawson on the ’60s sitcom “Green Acres,” died Monday in Nashville, Tenn. from complications related to Parkinson’s disease. Lester, who was 81, was the last surviving actor of the original “Green Acres” cast.

His death was confirmed by his brother Michael on Facebook and in local media reports.

Born Sep. 23, 1938 in Jackson, Miss., Lester grew up working on his grandfather’s farm. He earned a degree in chemistry at the University of Mississippi and taught in Oklahoma for a few years before making the move to Hollywood. Lester landed his role in “Green Acres” in 1965, beating out the competition because he was the only actor who could actually milk a cow.

He went on to star in “Green Acres” until the show’s end in 1971, also appearing in the two related series “Petticoat Junction” and “Beverly Hillbillies.” Lester and co-star Eddie Albert,...

As the 1960s dawned, Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas became a screen legend with a single role, in the historical epic Spartacus. At around the same time, Johnny Cash, a larger-than-life country-music star, would make an inauspicious big-screen debut in Five Minutes to Live, with results that would suggest he was a much more effective singer than actor. By the time their paths crossed onscreen in the 1971 western A Gunfight a decade later, Douglas was a respected film icon and Cash was the star of his own network TV series, as...

Fred Silverman never stopped pitching.

He never stopped thinking about television and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the networks he once ran, as well as the dozens of outlets that came to prominence after his storied run as a top executive ended in the early 1980s.

Silverman, a seminal figure in TV who died Jan. 30 at 82, knew that the first line of his obituary would identify him as the only person — so far — to have served as head of programming for ABC, CBS and NBC.

But after scaling the heights, he made a successful shift into producing at a time when that path was not as nearly common as it is today for former senior executives. His success in the 1980s and ’90s as a producer of such series as “Matlock” and “In the Heat of the Night,” and later “Diagnosis Murder,” was a testament to his instincts and experience,...

Fred Silverman, the executive who became the only person in TV history to have headed programming for each of the Big Three broadcast networks, died on Thursday at his home in the Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 82.

Silverman died with his family by his side.

During his prolific career, Silverman was credited with helping to launch some of the most successful shows and miniseries of all time, including “All in the Family,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Happy Days,” “The Waltons” and “Roots.”

After turning both CBS and ABC around in the ratings, Silverman failed to work his magic at NBC in the late 1970s and early ’80s. Once he left the Peacock net to branch out on his own with the Fred Silverman Co., Silverman forged another career as a producer, turning out a number of successful series, including “Matlock,” “In the Heat of the Night,” “Jake and the Fatman” and “Diagnosis Murder.

Fred Silverman, the legendary television producer and executive behind such groundbreaking shows as All in the Family, Soap and Hill Street Blues, and the only executive to creatively run CBS, ABC and NBC, died Thursday at his home in Pacific Palisades. He was 82.

Silverman’s knack for identifying hit shows in the making and programming them into memorable primetime nights led Time magazine to crown him “The Man with the Golden Gut” in 1977.

“There are a lot of things that I can point to that I think are proud achievements,” Silverman said in a 2001 interview with the TV Academy Foundation. “Most importantly, I had the opportunity to kind of stretch the medium a little bit, to do some things that had never been done before.”

Watch a clip from his sit-down with Dan Pasternak for the foundation’s “The Interviews” series below.

Born on September 13, 1937, in New York City, Silverman...

Jack Sheldon, known to children as one of the voices of “Schoolhouse Rocks” and adults as a master trumpeter who served as music director on “The Merv Griffin Show,” has died at age 88.

Sheldon was the sidekick as well as MD on Griffin’s talk show for 18 years. But his own discography as a band leader added up to more than 20 albums, starting in the late ’50s, when he was part of the west coast bebop movement, continuing through his last release in 2007.

“To all Jack Sheldon fans,” Cynthia Jimenez wrote on the musician’s Facebook page, “on behalf of my sister Dianne Jimenez [his longtime manager], sadly, Jack passed away on December 27. May he rest in peace with all the Jazz Cats in heaven!” No cause of death was given.

Sheldon’s film work included one of the renditions of “The Long Goodbye” heard in the Robert Altman movie of that name,...

Jack Sheldon, the stand-out jazz trumpeter and affable Merv Griffin sidekick whose gave voice to the Schoolhouse Rock classics I’m Just a Bill and Conjunction Junction, has died. He was 88.

Sheldon’s face and name were most recognizable to fans of The Merv Griffin Show thanks to his 16-year sidekick stint but his trumpeting reached its greatest acclaim via the big screen with the forlorn Oscar- and Grammy-winning song The Shadow of Your Smile from The Sandpiper (1965).

Sheldon’s voice, however, became a signature part of Saturday morning cartoons for years thanks to two beloved installments of the oft-repeated Schoolhouse Rock educational series of animated shorts. The ABC series was ramping up its second season when it brought Sheldon in and the charismatic jazzman delivered winning performances both as the dedicated train conductor from Conjunction Junction (1974) and lonely piece of proposed legislation in the civics-minded I’m Just a Bill.

John Clarke, a longtime star of the NBC soap “Days of Our Lives” who was awarded the Lifetime Achievement daytime Emmy in 2005, died Oct. 16 from complications stemming from pneumonia, his family announced in a statement Monday night. He was 88, and had been in declining health for the last several years.

Born in South Bend, Indiana in 1931 and raised across the country due to his father’s career as an Army officer, Clarke attended UCLA, receiving a BA in theater, where among his accolades he received the Sigma Rho award. He studied with Dorothy Foulger at UCLA, Michael Ferrall of the University of Washington, and Stephen Book in Hollywood.

Clarke also served as an Air Force sergeant during the Korean war, performing as part of a troupe that entertained soldiers throughout the United States.

Also Read: Bill Macy, Actor Who Played Bea Arthur's Husband Walter on 'Maude,' Dies...

The matriarchal psychodramas of the ’60s bled into the ’70s with alliteration-laden (and questioning) efforts such as Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, What’s the Matter With Helen?, and the sole directorial effort from noted horror author John Farris, Dear Dead Delilah (1972). Vinegar Syndrome has brought this entertaining Southern Gothic back from the grave with a solid new Blu-ray release that's sure to please fans of ripe, pithy dialogue and surprising splatter.

Dear Dead Delilah starts out with the reveal that teenaged Luddy has murdered her mom because she didn’t want her heading out to see any fellas; we then flash forward 25 years and a now middle-aged Luddy (Patricia Carmichael – Petticoat Junction) has been released from the sanitarium; walking around, she is hit by a stray football in a park belonging to a member of the wealthy Charles clan, and whisked back to their estate. There Luddy is introduced to the family,...

Jack Bannon, who portrayed the amiable assistant city editor Art Donovan on the acclaimed CBS drama Lou Grant, has died. He was 77.

Bannon died Wednesday in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, according to a report in The Spokesman-Review. He had lived in the town with his wife, actress Ellen Travolta — the older sister of John Travolta — since 1995.

Bannon's parents were actors. His mother, Bea Benaderet, received two Emmy nominations for her work on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, portrayed Kate Bradley on Petticoat Junction and Green Acres and was the voice of Betty Rubble...

Paul De Rolf, the choreographer, dancer and actor best known for his work on The Seven Little Foys, The Ten Commandments, Petticoat Junction and Steven Spielberg's 1941 has died, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. He was 74.

De Rolf passed away on Thursday in Australia from Alzheimer's disease.

De Rolf acted opposite Bob Hope in The Seven Little Foys and as a young boy he played the role of Moses' nephew Eleazar for Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments.

In addition to 1941 and Petticoat Junction, his choreography credits include The Karate Kid II and The Beverly Hillbillies series (which...

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Chicago – “The Hollywood Show” is an exciting gathering of celebrities and memorabilia for movies, TV and pop culture fans. The latest edition is coming up – March 24th-26th, 2017 – at the Hyatt Rosemont/Chicago O’Hare Airport Hotel in Rosemont, Ill. Among the TV and film stars scheduled to appear is Ed Asner (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”), Stefanie Powers (“Hart to Hart”), Angie Dickinson (“Police Woman,” original “Ocean’s 11’), Dawn Wells (“Gilligan’s Island”), Charlene Tilton (“Dallas”) and Richard Chamberlain (“Dr. Kildare,” “Slipper and the Rose”). Detail link below the Slideshow.

To give you an example of the celebrities that appear at The Hollywood Show, photographer Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com took Exclusive Portraits at last year’s Fall show in September. Click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through the slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below.

Toward the end of Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, a new doc about the TV visionary and political activist, Amy Poehler attempts to sum up Lear's impact. "Do you know how fucking hard it is to make people laugh, to tackle big issues and get big ratings?" she tells an audience at an event honoring Lear. "It's so hard that people don't even do it anymore."

The audience claps, and Lear smiles, but the TV game-changer says now that he doesn't quite agree with the assessment. There's hope,...

This article originally appeared on EW.com.Janet Waldo, the prolific voice actress best known for her role as The Jetsons' eldest daughter Judy, has died, her daughter confirmed to ABC News. Waldo was 96.In addition to her work as the animated teen of the future, Waldo voiced a number of Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, ranging from Penelope Pitstop to Josie and the Pussycats' Josie. Her last credited voice work came in 2000, when she reprised Pitstop in a Wacky Races video game. Waldo, who passed away on Sunday morning, was diagnosed with a benign but inoperable brain tumor five years ago,...

This article originally appeared on EW.com.Janet Waldo, the prolific voice actress best known for her role as The Jetsons' eldest daughter Judy, has died, her daughter confirmed to ABC News. Waldo was 96.In addition to her work as the animated teen of the future, Waldo voiced a number of Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters, ranging from Penelope Pitstop to Josie and the Pussycats' Josie. Her last credited voice work came in 2000, when she reprised Pitstop in a Wacky Races video game. Waldo, who passed away on Sunday morning, was diagnosed with a benign but inoperable brain tumor five years ago,...