News

A great 1945 war movie called The Story of G.I. Joe led to Robert Mitchum's only Oscar nomination even though the celebrated actor deserved at least one more. Mitchum has starred in some of the best film noirs of all time, such as The Big Sleep (1978), Cape Fear (1962), and The Night of the Hunter (1955). Mitchum was so exceptional in his prime that Roger Ebert called him his favorite movie star. Despite his acclaim, Mitchum was only nominated for one Oscar in his career for 1945's The Story of G.I. Joe.

Mitchum's acting career left a legacy as a classic figure in both film noir movies and Westerns. He starred alongside John Wayne in the Western drama El Dorado (1966) and in the classic war film The Longest Day (1962). He first rose to prominence in 1944's Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo alongside Spencer Tracey and Van Johnson. Because of his overwhelming influence on...

In 2022, Studio Ghibli's 1988 classic My Neighbor Totoro came to life on stage for the very first time. Now, the showrunners have confirmed that the production will return for a fresh round of performances in 2025.

As detailed on the stage adaptation's official website, My Neighbour Totoro has just announced an upcoming 34-week run at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London's West End. A unique collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Nippon TV, the show retells Hayao Miyazaki's beloved story using elaborately designed sets and inventive puppetry. The production also features Joe Hisaishi's original theatrical score, which is presented with a new arrangement created by Will Stuart. The show is scheduled to run from March 8 to Nov. 2, 2025. Those interested in attending can book their tickets on My Neighbour Totoro's official site.

Related New My Neighbor Totoro "Thud Surprise" Box Pays Tribute to Iconic Umbrella Scene Studio Ghibli's...

Has any young actress ever had a year Katharine Hepburn experienced in 1933? After making her film debut in 1932’s “Bill of Divorcement” with John Barrymore, the 26-year-old with the preternatural cheekbones demonstrated her versatility in three exceptional motion pictures 90 years ago. The great Kate soared high as famed aviatrix who has a tragic affair with a married member of Parliament in Dorothy Arzner’s daring pre-code romantic drama “Christopher Strong.” Next up was “Morning Glory,” for which she won her first of four best actress Oscars-and of course was a no-show at the ceremony- as an eager young actress. And Hepburn ended the year with “Little Women,” the acclaimed box office hit which made $100,000 during its first week at Radio City Music Hall, based on Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel.

Most “little women” have read Alcott’s autobiographical coming-of-age novel that was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. Set...

The top honorees at the 2023 Laurence Olivier Awards were plays that focused on cultures outside of London. “My Neighbour Totoro,” which is based on the beloved Japanese film of the same name from Studio Ghibli, won six trophies, the most of the night, including Best New Comedy, Director, and four craft categories. A revival of the American classic “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams claimed three: Best Play Revival and for lead Paul Mescal and featured player Anjana Vasan. Meanwhile, the British-based “Prima Facie,” which is set to bow on Broadway this month and will thus compete at the Tony Awards, took home two prizes for Best Play and for star Jodie Comer.

The only other productions to win more than one trophy were all musicals. “Standing at the Sky’s Edge” won two of the top prizes: Best Musical and Best Original Score or New Orchestrations. “Tammy Faye,...

Two new works based on existing material dominated the nominations for the 2023 Olivier Awards, the top theatre honor in Britain. “My Neighbour Totoro” and “Standing at the Sky’s Edge” lead the play and musical fields with nine and eight bids apiece. The former is a stage adaptation of the Studio Ghibli film of the same name, brought to life in a visually stunning production featuring impressive puppetry by Basil Twist. “Standing at the Sky’s Edge” uses songs from the Richard Hawley album and new material to tell the story of three families in a Sheffield housing complex.

Revivals had strong showings, too. Director Daniel Fish’s remounting of “Rodger & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!” and the Paul Mescal-led “A Streetcar Named Desire” netted seven and six nominations, respectively. This production of “Oklahoma!” previously played Broadway and received eight Tony Award nominations, including wins for Best Revival and Featured Actress...

Emmy- and Tony-winning actress Cicely Tyson, who distinguished herself in theater, film and television, died on Thursday afternoon. She was 96.

“I have managed Miss Tyson’s career for over 40 years, and each year was a privilege and blessing,” her manager, Larry Thompson, said in a statement. “Cicely thought of her new memoir as a Christmas tree decorated with all the ornaments of her personal and professional life. Today she placed the last ornament, a Star, on top of the tree.”

Her memoir “Just As I Am” was published on Tuesday.

Tyson broke into movies with the 1959 Harry Belafonte film “Odds Against Tomorrow,” followed by “The Comedians,” “The Last Angry Man,” “A Man Called Adam” and “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.” Refusing to participate in the blaxploitation movies that became popular in the late ’60s, she waited until 1972 to return to the screen in the drama “Sounder,” which captured several...

Marion Ramsey, an actress and singer who appeared in the 1978 hit Broadway show Eubie! but is best known for her portrayal of the sweet, squeaky-voiced Officer Laverne Hooks in the Police Academy franchise, died today in her Los Angeles home. She was 73.

Her death was announced by her management team at Roger Paul Inc. A cause has not been determined, though the actress had been ill in recent days.

Born in Philadelphia, Ramsey began her show business career on the stage, appearing in both the original Broadway and subsequent touring productions of Hello, Dolly! In 1974, she starred opposite Bette Davis in the legendary flop musical Miss Moffat, an adaption of Davis’ classic 1945 film The Corn Is Green. Directed by Josh Logan, the Broadway-bound musical closed during out-of-town tryouts.

Ramsey’s stage career rebounded four years later with Eubie!, the lauded biographical musical about jazz pianist Eubie Blake starring Gregory and Maurice Hines.

Ginnifer Goodwin is entering the fifth dimension.

The “Once Upon a Time” alum has joined Jordan Peele’s “Twilight Zone” reboot at CBS All Access as the star of an episode titled “Point of Origin.” The anthology series’ installment will also feature James Frain and Zabryna Guevara.

Goodwin is best known for her roles in HBO’s “Big Love” and ABC’s “Once Upon a Time.” Her other credits include the animated film “Zootopia,” “Walk the Line,” “Killing Kennedy,” “Mona Lisa Smile,” “Win a Date with Tad Hamilton,” “Something Borrowed,” “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “A Single Man.” She also appeared on stage in the plays “The Corn Is Green” and “Dead End.”

Also Read: 'Twilight Zone' Teaser Sends CBS 'Off the Air' During Super Bowl (Video)

In addition to stepping into Rod Serling’s role as “Twilight Zone” narrator, Peele is also serving as executive producer on the reboot.

Dean Jones: Actor in Disney movies. Dean Jones dead at 84: Actor in Disney movies 'The Love Bug,' 'That Darn Cat!' Dean Jones, best known for playing befuddled heroes in 1960s Walt Disney movies such as That Darn Cat! and The Love Bug, died of complications from Parkinson's disease on Tue., Sept. 1, '15, in Los Angeles. Jones (born on Jan. 25, 1931, in Decatur, Alabama) was 84. Dean Jones movies Dean Jones began his Hollywood career in the mid-'50s, when he was featured in bit parts – at times uncredited – in a handful of films at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer In 2009 interview for Christianity Today, Jones recalled playing his first scene (in These Wilder Years) with veteran James Cagney, who told him “Walk to your mark and remember your lines” – supposedly a lesson he would take to heart. At MGM, bit player Jones would also be featured in Robert Wise's...

Episode 44 of 52: In which Katharine Hepburn bids farewell to her lifelong friend and director, George Cukor.

Who’s up for another catfight? Way back near the beginning of this series, I manufactured a rivalry between young Kate Hepburn and Miss Bette Davis, both sporting ear-splitting accents in two movies from 1934. This time, I don’t have to fake a competition. Katharine Hepburn’s 1979 TV movie happens to be a remake of a 1945 Bette Davis film.

The Corn Is Green (based on the play by by Emlyn Williams) is the story of Miss Moffat, who gets off her tuffet to teach the Welsh miners to read. The role of a strong-willed woman who changes the lives of her impoverished pupils would be catnip for either of our great actresses, so it’s no surprise that Bette and Kate both played Miss Moffat 34 years apart. What is surprising is how different...

The premise of a young teacher who inspires a group of undisciplined, uncouth young people headed for dismal futures, is an ages old story. You can trace it back to the old Bette Davis 1945 Warner Bros chestnut "The Corn is Green," and it goes back even farther than that. There have been many variations of the same story, from MGM’s 1955 "The Backboard Jungle" co-staring a young Sidney Poitier as a manipulative juvenile delinquent, to "Up the Down Staircase," "Stand and Deliver," "Lean on Me," "Dangerous Minds" and similar others. But for my money, one of the best is the British made 1967 Columbia Pictures movie,...

‘Dracula’ 1931 actress Carla Laemmle dead at 104 (photo: Carla Laemmle ca. 1930) Carla Laemmle, a bit player in a handful of silent movies and at the dawn of the sound era — e.g., the horror classics The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and Dracula (1931) — and a niece of Universal Studios co-founder Carl Laemmle, died on June 12, 2014, at her Los Angeles home. Laemmle, who had reportedly been in good health, was 104 years old. Born Rebekah Isabelle Laemmle on October 20, 1909, in Chicago, Carla Laemmle was less known for her movie work than for having survived most of her contemporaries and for her family connection to the Universal mogul — her father, Joseph Laemmle, was Carl’s brother. ‘Dracula’ actress was a member of Carl Laemmle’s ‘very large faemmle’ "Uncle Carl Laemmle, Has a very large faemmle," once half-joked poet Ogden Nash, in reference to Laemmle’s penchant for hiring family members. As Laemmle’s niece,...

Oscar-nominated actress Joan Lorring has died, aged 88.

She is perhaps best remembered for her performance alongside Bette Davis in The Corn is Green. Her performance in the 1945 film earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

The Hong Kong-born actress moved to the Us to escape the Japanese invasion in 1939.

Her first major American film role was in MGM's Song of Russia five years later.

Lorring's career also boasted an illustrious list of Broadway and television roles.

Her daughter said in a statement: "Right up until her death, she continued to have fans who wrote and sought her autograph and she had a following."

The actress was married to Martin Sonenberg, who died in 2011.

Watch a trailer for The Corn is Green below:...

Joan Lorring, 1945 Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee, dead at 88: One of the earliest surviving Academy Award nominees in the acting categories, Lorring was best known for holding her own against Bette Davis in ‘The Corn Is Green’ (photo: Joan Lorring in ‘Three Strangers’) Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nominee Joan Lorring, who stole the 1945 film version of The Corn Is Green from none other than Warner Bros. reigning queen Bette Davis, died Friday, May 30, 2014, in the New York City suburb of Sleepy Hollow. So far, online obits haven’t mentioned the cause of death. Lorring, one of the earliest surviving Oscar nominees in the acting categories, was 88. Directed by Irving Rapper, who had also handled one of Bette Davis’ biggest hits, the 1942 sudsy soap opera Now, Voyager, Warners’ The Corn Is Green was a decent if uninspired film version of Emlyn Williams’ semi-autobiographical 1938 hit play about an English schoolteacher,...

Joan Lorring, who was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category for the 1945 film “The Corn Is Green,” died Friday at age 88, the Associated Press reports. Born in Hong Kong, Lorring left for the United States with her mother in 1939 to avoid the impending Japanese invasion, landing in San Francisco. In addition to “The Corn Is Green,” which starred Bette Davis and featured Lorring in the role of Bessie Watty, Lorre appeared in “Three Strangers” and “The Verdict.” Her television work included the 1996 TV movie “The Star Wagon,” whose cast also included Orson Bean...

New York (AP) — The Oscar-nominated actress Joan Lorring has died more than six decades after appearing opposite Bette Davis in the film The Corn is Green. She was 88. She died Friday in the New York City suburb of Sleepy Hollow, according to her daughter, Santha Sonenberg. Lorring was born in Hong Kong and left for the United States with her mother in 1939 to escape the coming Japanese invasion. The two settled in San Francisco, where she started working in radio. She went on to a career as a stage, screen and television performer. Her earliest American film

read more...

Real-life mother and son Tony and Emmy Award nominee Kate Burton The Corn is Green, The Cherry Orchard, Hedda Gabler at the Huntington and Morgan Ritchie The Corn Is Green play mother and son onstage together for the first time when they return to the Huntington Theatre Company for a lush new production of Anton Chekhov's passionate classic The Seagull. Huntington favorite Maria Aitken The Cocktail Hour, Betrayal will direct the Paul Schmidt translation of the classic of world drama about love, missed connections, and what it means to be an artist. Performances of The Seagull continue at the Avenue of the Arts Bu Theatre through April 6, 2014 at the Bu Theatre. Check out a behind the scenes look below, and hear what audiences are saying about the show. Watch the videos below...

Real-life mother and son Tony and Emmy Award nominee Kate Burton The Corn is Green, The Cherry Orchard, Hedda Gabler at the Huntington and Morgan Ritchie The Corn is Green will play mother and son onstage together for the first time when they return to the Huntington Theatre Company for a lush new production of Anton Chekhov's passionate classic The Seagull. Huntington favorite Maria Aitken The Cocktail Hour, Betrayal will direct the Paul Schmidt translation of the classic of world drama about love, missed connections, and what it means to be an artist. Performances of The Seagull begin at the Avenue of the Arts Bu Theatre on March 7, 2014.

Cicely Tyson won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Play on Sunday for her powerful performance as an elderly woman returning to her childhood home in "The Trip to Bountiful." The revival of Horton Foote's play marks Tyson's own return to Broadway after a three-decade absence. "The Trip to Bountiful" marked her first Tony nod, despite a distinguished stage career in plays like "Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright" and "The Corn is Green." She has won Emmy Awards for "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" and "Oldest Living Confederate Widow...

Kerr in the 1958 box-office blockbuster musical South Pacific (seen above with love interest France Nuyen) and his (few) other post-Tea and Sympathy efforts [Please check out the previous article: "The Two Kerrs in the stage and film versions of Tea and Sympathy."] Director Curtis Bernhardt's Gaby (1956) was a generally disliked remake of Waterloo Bridge, with Kerr and leading lady Leslie Caron in the old Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh roles (1940 movie version -- and even older Douglass Montgomery and Mae Clarke roles in the 1931 film version). Jeffrey Hayden's The Vintage (1957), starring Kerr and Mel Ferrer absurdly cast as Italian brothers, also failed to generate much box-office or critical interest. MGM leading lady Pier Angeli played Ferrer's love interest in the film, while the more mature and married French star Michèle Morgan (a plot element similar to that found in Tea and Sympathy) is Kerr's object of desire. (Pictured above: South Pacific cast members John Kerr and France Nuyen embracing.) Also in the mid-'50s, John Kerr...

Cicely Tyson is returning to Broadway for the first time in 30 years. The Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award-winning actress will star in a new production of The Trip to Bountiful. “For years I have been searching for the perfect project to bring me back to my true home — the stage,” Tyson said in a press release. “In many ways Broadway is my Bountiful and I’m eager and honored to return with this strong, passionate, and funny character in a timeless American classic.”

The Trip to Bountiful, written by Horton Foote, is the story of Carrie Watts, an elderly...

If films are meant to let you see the world without leaving your chair, Turner Classic Movies is about to make that even more the case.

For its annual "31 Days of Oscar" festival that begins Wednesday (Feb. 1), the channel has grouped the titles by locale ... starting the first day with Florida ("Some Like It Hot") and Philadelphia ("Rocky"), and wrapping up in outer space ("2001: A Space Odyssey") on Friday, March 2. England, the South Seas, Australia and the Middle East are among the many other stops on the cinematic itinerary.

"We always like to try different ways to do this," principal TCM host Robert Osborne tells Zap2it. "It's been kind of a stretch some years, but this one's really neat, I think. Not only do we visit a different area each day or night, it's particularly interesting because in so many of the movies, places like Mexico and Singapore...

Labor Day weekend is upon us and if you are not out enjoying the sunshine as we ease from summer into fall, Zap2it's got you covered for all the Labor Day weekend television programming. From "Buffy" to "Star Wars" marathons to the kick-off of college football, there is a little something for everyone.

All times Eastern, check your local listings for your times/channel numbers.

Friday, Sept. 2

A&E: "Criminal Minds" marathon, 5 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day

Bet: "College Hill" marathon, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Bravo: "The Rachel Zoe Project" marathon, 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

E!: "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" marathon, 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Espn, Espn 2: U.S. Open Tennis Third Round, 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., Texas Christian at Baylor, college football, 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Oxygen: "America's Next Top Model" Cycle 14 marathon, 8 a.m. to 8 p.

Bette Davis on TCM: The Old Maid, Now, Voyager, The Working Man Bette Davis has a cameo in John Paul Jones (1959), which happens to be an insufferable bore despite the presence of Robert Stack in the title role, and she plays second banana to Spencer Tracy in the run-of-the-Warners-mill prison drama 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932), but she is at the center of The Corn Is Green (1945) as Miss Lily Moffat, a teacher in a poor Welsh mining town. Now, Voyager's Irving Rapper directed this film adaptation of Emlyn Williams' semi-autobiographical play — and it shows. Davis is a little too stiff in Ethel Barrymore's Broadway role, John Dall fails to convey his character's emotional turmoil, the dialogue has a theatrical lilt to it, and for the most part the potentially compelling drama feels stilted. Had William Wyler directed The Corn Is Green, it would have been a fantastic movie.

American actor known for his role as Danno in the television series Hawaii Five-o

One actor in his time plays many parts, so it is a mixed blessing for a performer to be forever associated with one role and one catchphrase. James MacArthur, who has died aged 72, was instantly identified with Detective Danny "Danno" Williams in the long-running television series Hawaii Five-o (1968-79), in which he was habitually told "Book 'em, Danno" by his superior officer, Detective Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord), after villains had been captured.

From the outset, MacArthur could not escape being reminded that he was the son of celebrated parents. His mother, Helen Hayes, always flagged as "the first lady of the theatre", had a long career on stage, in television and films, winning two Oscars 40 years apart, and his father, Charles MacArthur, co-wrote and co-directed several films with Ben Hecht, one of which, The Scoundrel (1935), won a screenplay Oscar,...

Chicago – James MacArthur, a stage and screen actor best known for playing the booking agent Danno in the 1960s version of the TV show “Hawaii Five-0,” died on October 28th, 2010, of natural causes. He was 72. HollywoodChicago.com interviewed MacArthur last March at the Hollywood Celebrities and Memorabilia Show.

MacArthur, the adopted son of theater icon Helen Hayes and playwright Charles MacArthur, made his stage debut at age eight in a summer stock production of “The Corn is Green.” He went on to television and the movies in the early 1960s, getting character parts in “Gunsmoke,” “Spencer’s Mountain,” “Swiss Family Robinson” and the Clint Eastwood western “Hang ‘Em High.” It was his role in that film that brought him to the attention of the producers of Hawaii Five-0.

From 1968 to 1979 MacArthur played cop sidekick Danno to Jack Lord’s Steve McGarrett on the Five-0 squad. MacArthur was not very complimentary...

The co-star on the original Hawaii Five-0 series, James MacArthur, has died at the age of 72. He passed away early this morning, reportedly from natural causes.

MacArthur was born in 1937 and was adopted by renowned actress Helen Hayes and scribe Charles MacArthur, best known for writing plays like The Front Page and Twentieth Century. James was raised alongside their biological daughter, Mary, until her premature death from polio in 1949 at the age of 19. Some who knew Charles MacArthur believed that event helped bring on his own death in 1956, at the age of 60.

James MacArthur got his start in the theatre with his sister in a Maryland production of The Corn Is Green. He trained in summer stock and also worked backstage, sometimes connected with productions starring his mother. At the age of 18, while still in high school,...