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Jan Shepard, the actress who graced both the big screen and TV during Hollywood’s Golden Age, has passed away at 96. Born Josephine Angela Sorbello on March 19, 1928, in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, Shepard wasn’t just a name in the credits—she was a dynamo of talent.

Her career spanned decades, from classic films to the era of cowboy-filled TV shows. Shepard passed away on January 17, 2025, due to pneumonia and respiratory failure.

Jan Shepard

Though she’s no longer with us, her legacy blazes bright through her iconic roles, especially her indelible collaborations with Elvis Presley. Let’s take a look at her most iconic junctures, her remarkable career on TV, and the love story that endured longer than most Hollywood stars could ever dream of.

Jan Shepard’s iconic roles alongside Elvis Presley Elvis Presley and Jan Shepard in a scene from King Creole (Credits: Paramount Pictures)

Jan Shepard had her share of unforgettable roles,...

Jan Shepard, who acted opposite Elvis Presley in 1958’s King Creole and 1966’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style, and appeared in more than 30 TV Westerns, died Jan. 17 at a hospital in Burbank, Calif. of pneumonia brought on by respiratory failure. She was 96.

In King Creole, noted as Presley’s favorite of his films, she portrayed his on-screen sister Mimi. Eight years later, Shepard played Presley’s business partner’s wife in the ’60s buddy musical comedy. In an interview from last year, Shepard said she wasn’t a fan of Presley’s ahead of working with him, but “once I met him, I just adored him.”

Per an official obituary, Presley and Shepard got on well and went to off-set lunches (where Marlon Brando once made a chance appearance). Describing him as a “big teddy bear,” Shepard once recalled that he gave her a pair of 10-cent earrings as a joke before...

Jan Shepard, who guest-starred on Rawhide, The Virginian, Gunsmoke and two dozen other TV Westerns and played opposite Elvis Presley in movies eight years apart, has died. She was 96.

Shepard died Jan. 17 at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of pneumonia brought on by respiratory failure, her son, Hollywood prop master, Brandon Boyle, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She was a good one and will be dearly missed,” he said.

Shepard portrayed Mimi, the sister of Presley’s Danny Fisher, in the Michael Curtiz-directed King Creole (1958) and the wife of Danny Kohana (James Shigeta), who partners with Presley’s Rick Richards in a helicopter business, in Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966).

“The first time, I found him to be just the cutest kid around, a big teddy bear, a lot of fun,” she said in an interview for Boyd Magers and Michael G. Fitzgerald’s 1999 book, Westerns Women. But on their next movie,...

The Emmy Awards grew up on March 7, 1955. For the first time, the ceremony was broadcast nationally on NBC. Steve Allen, the star of “The Tonight Show,” was the host of the 7th annual awards honoring the best of 1954 programming which was telecast from the Moulin Rouge nightclub on Sunset Boulevard.

One of the seminal live dramas of the 1950’s, Reginald Rose’s searing “12 Angry Men,” which aired on CBS “Studio One,” earned the most Emmys that evening winning with three. The taut drama about a jury of a dozen men decided the fate of a young man accused of murder starred Robert Cummings, Franchot Tone, Edward Arnold and Walter Abel. For years, only an incomplete kinescope of the show, which was adapted into the Oscar-nominated 1957 film, existed.

Finally, a complete copy of the show was discovered in 2003. Rose told me in a 1997 L.A. Times interview that he came up...

The morbid draw of true crime — vicariously experiencing other people’s tragedies by sifting through the elements that caused them — goes under the microscope in the kitschy whodunnit “Susie Searches.” Sophie Kargman’s feature debut, expanded from her short of the same name, plays on the dangers that come when voyeur becomes an interference, but the sort-of thriller doesn’t have the bite to investigate the provocative sympathy it has for its meddling antihero.

An aspiring gumshoe, Susie is first introduced as a precocious grade schooler, sitting beside her mother, Anne (Jammie Patton) as the two read a detective novel — the nice kind that encourages adolescent curiosity and ends with a virtuous sleuth catching a mustache-twirling menace. An affecting montage shows the pair continuing their shared hobby as the years pass. Anne falls ill as her daughter dutifully cares for her, growing into a wannabe wunderkind (Kiersey Clemons), now a...

“Aurora,” the once fictional album imagined by Taylor Jenkins Reid in her best-selling novel “Daisy Jones & the Six” has come to life with 11 of the 25 original songs written for Prime Video’s TV show adaptation. Blake Mills and Tony Berg reimagined songs Reid listed in the back of her book for “Aurora,” enlisting collaborators like Marcus Mumford, Phoebe Bridgers and more to write and record the album.

But in addition to the original Daisy Jones & the Six songs, classic 70s rock and roll hits like Carole King’s “I Feel the Earth Move” and The Byrds’ “Goin’ Back” set the scene for the collision of Daisy Jones and rock band The Six, who rocket to fame together, echoing the dynamic of Fleetwood Mac, Civil Wars and The Eagles to name a few.

Here are all the songs in “Daisy Jones & the Six”:

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‘Daisy Jones & the Six...

Some major changes are in store at the palace!

Kensington Palace announced Monday that Catherine Quinn will become Princess Kate‘s new private secretary. Quinn is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Associate Dean for administration at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. She also has an Mba from the school (in addition to degrees from U.S. and U.K. universities).

She previously held roles at Middle Temple as Chief Executive and the Wellcome Trust, where she led the grant-giving operations and the establishment of a sister organization in India. Quinn is also a member of...

Juliette Harrisson Jun 8, 2017

As the nation goes to the polls, we revisit two political comedy classics, now available on Netflix UK...

Yes Minister/Yes, Prime Minister was a BBC sitcom that ran for five series and one special between 1980 and 1988. It starred Paul Eddington as the Right Honourable James Hacker MP (later Prime Minister), Nigel Hawthorne as Sir Humphrey Appleby, Permanent Secretary to the Minister for Administrative Affairs (later Cabinet Secretary) and Derek Fowlds as Bernard Woolley, Principal Private Secretary to the Minister for Administrative Affairs (later Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister). It was written by Sir Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, and was a favourite show of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

See related Doctor Who series 10: Empress Of Mars review

Technically, it was two shows: the original Yes Minister and a sequel series called Yes, Prime Minister. However, while there are some obvious differences between the...

The palace is going through some changes!

Just one day after it was confirmed that Princess Kate is losing her right-hand woman Rebecca Deacon this summer, the royals have announced that there’s a new woman at the helm of their most important organization.

The office of Prince William, Kate and Prince Harry has announced that a broadcaster is to head up The Royal Foundation. Lorraine Hecggessey will take over in April from Nick Booth, who was chief executive from the start of the organization in 2009.

The foundation focuses on what the royals call the “key issues that need support,...

Think you have what it takes to organize the schedule of a princess? Have any interest in traveling the world with the royal family? Then you might want to apply for a job working for Kate Middleton. The Duchess of Cambridge's private secretary, Rebecca Deacon, is stepping down from her job this Summer, and the role has yet to be filled by the palace. "After a decade of service to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Rebecca Deacon will be stepping down as Private Secretary to The Duchess of Cambridge," a representative for the royal family said in a statement. "She plans to leave the household in the Summer. Their Royal Highnesses are incredibly grateful for all the hard work and support Rebecca has provided over the past ten years, and wish her well in the next phase of her career." Rebecca began her career with the...

Princess Kate is losing a trusted member of her team.

The royal’s private secretary, Rebecca Deacon, is leaving her position this summer, Kensington Palace confirms to People.

“After a decade of service to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, Rebecca Deacon will be stepping down as Private Secretary to The Duchess of Cambridge,” a representative for the royal trio said in a statement. “She plans to leave the household in the summer. Their Royal Highnesses are incredibly grateful for all the hard work and support Rebecca has provided over the past ten years, and wish her...

Alastair Stewart Nov 17, 2016

Netflix's pricy royal family drama The Crown has stand-out performances from John Lithgow and Matt Smith, but lacks story...

Warning: contains spoilers.

The great cliche about the British is that we’re a stoic lot; emotionally reserved and only ever prone to bouts of ‘hayfever’ when Bambi’s mum dies.

Netflix’s £100m production of The Crown tries to buck this trope with a ten-part series dramatising the personal and political events surrounding the first decade of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign from 1952.

One part Downton Abbey, one part House Of Cards (the original of course), The Crown never quite decides if it wants to commit itself to a political drama or total supposition about the inner workings of the Court of St James's.

Written by Peter Morgan, the identity struggle at the heart of the series is not hard to explain. Morgan made his name as...

Coleen Gray actress ca. 1950. Coleen Gray: Actress in early Stanley Kubrick film noir, destroyer of men in cult horror 'classic' Actress Coleen Gray, best known as the leading lady in Stanley Kubrick's film noir The Killing and – as far as B horror movie aficionados are concerned – for playing the title role in The Leech Woman, died at age 92 in Aug. 2015. This two-part article, which focuses on Gray's film career, is a revised and expanded version of the original post published at the time of her death. Born Doris Bernice Jensen on Oct. 23, 1922, in Staplehurst, Nebraska, at a young age she moved with her parents, strict Lutheran Danish farmers, to Minnesota. After getting a degree from St. Paul's Hamline University, she relocated to Southern California to be with her then fiancé, an army private. At first, she eked out a living as a waitress at a La Jolla hotel...

Coleen Gray actress ca. 1950. Coleen Gray: Actress in early Stanley Kubrick film noir, destroyer of men in cult horror 'classic' Actress Coleen Gray, best known as the leading lady in Stanley Kubrick's film noir The Killing and – as far as B horror movie aficionados are concerned – for playing the title role in The Leech Woman, died at age 92 in Aug. 2015. This two-part article, which focuses on Gray's film career, is a revised and expanded version of the original post published at the time of her death. Born Doris Bernice Jensen on Oct. 23, 1922, in Staplehurst, Nebraska, at a young age she moved with her parents, strict Lutheran Danish farmers, to Minnesota. After getting a degree from St. Paul's Hamline University, she relocated to Southern California to be with her then fiancé, an army private. At first, she eked out a living as a waitress at a La Jolla hotel...

Ah, the beloved crossover episode. This welcome programming gimmick has been used to boost ratings, buzz, and awareness for lesser-watched shows since the early years of television. Even "I Love Lucy" crossed paths with shows like "Private Secretary" back in the good ole 1950s.

"The Simpsons," no stranger to the concept, aired a highly-anticipated crossover with "Futurama" this past Sunday, and "Family Guy" merged with the former show earlier this season. Dramas "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago P.D." just teamed up with Dick Wolf sister vehicle "Law & Order: Svu" this week and ratings skyrocketed. And this coming December you can catch an "Arrow" crossover with the new CW breakout, "The Flash."

With all the series intermingling that seems to be dominating the small screen lately, we thought it was the perfect time to look back at 7 classic crossovers from television history.

With Hugh Jackman currently negotiating to play Wolverine for a seventh and eighth time, Cinelinx takes a look at actors who’ve played the same role eight times or more. Who has played the same character most often? Come in and find out.

Hugh Jackman has already played Wolverine five times--x-Men (2000), X2: X-Men United (2003) X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and The Wolverine (2013)—as well as a cameo in X-Men:First Class (2011). Soon we’ll be seeing him fully clawed again on the big screen in X-Men: Days of Future Past. Recently, he told Collider that he might shoot Wolverine 3 and X-Men: Apocalypse “back-to-back”, which would make a total of eight times (9 times with the cameo) that he’ll portray the Canadian mutant.

You might be thinking “Wow! That’s amazing! I’ve never heard of anyone playing the same role so many times.” Well, for those who may not know it,...

Mickey Rooney dead at 93: Four-time Oscar nominee, frequent Judy Garland co-star may have had the longest film career ever (photo: Mickey Rooney ca. 1940) Mickey Rooney, four-time Academy Award nominee and one of the biggest domestic box-office draws during the studio era, died of "natural causes" on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood. The Brooklyn-born Rooney (as Joseph Yule Jr., on September 23, 1920) had reportedly been in ill health for some time. He was 93. Besides his countless movies, and numerous television and stage appearances, Mickey Rooney was also known for his stormy private life, which featured boozing and gambling, some widely publicized family infighting (including his testifying in Congress in 2011 about elder abuse), his filing for bankruptcy in 1962 after having earned a reported $12 million (and then going bankrupt again in 1996), his eight marriages — including those to actresses Ava Gardner, Martha Vickers, and Barbara Ann Thomason...

BBC Radio 4 has announced a one-off spin-off from Danish TV drama Borgen.

Borgen: Outside the Castle will be set in the same time period as the show's first series, in which Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen) became prime minister.

The radio play will focus on civil service workers rather than politicians.

It will follow Hans Gammelgaard, the Private Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment, played by Tim Pigott-Smith.

The character will attempt to secure approval for the controlled use of genetically modified crops by Danish farmers, while fighting opposers who want to achieve their own agenda.

Director Anders Lundorph explained that the new adaptation has been developed alongside the TV show, sharing the same editor to make sure both versions have the correct continuity.

"We were allowed to read some of the scripts in advance so that we could follow the [TV] storyline, but seen from a different perspective,...

Prince William and Kate Middleton picked a wide range of people to be Prince George's godparents. Before the intimate christening takes place at the Chapel Royal in St. James' Palace on Wednesday, Oct. 23, the names of the seven selected were made public. They are as follows: — Oliver Baker, who attended the University of St. Andrews with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — Emilia Jardine-Paterson, who attended Marlborough College with the Duchess of Cambridge — Earl "Hugh" Grosvenor, who is the son one of William's own godparents, the Duchess of Westminster — Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, who served as Private Secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge...

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have picked close friends, a royal and a friend of Princess Diana as godparents to 3-month-old Prince George. The names of the seven - that's one more godparent than William has - were released a few hours before they were to join senior royals and the Middleton family for George's christening. Led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the service is set to take place at 3 p.m. London time (10 a.m. Et) at the Chapel Royal in St. James's Palace. These are the people who will have a special place in Prince...

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have picked close friends, a royal and a friend of Princess Diana as godparents to 3-month-old Prince George. The names of the seven - that's one more godparent than William has - were released a few hours before they were to join senior royals and the Middleton family for George's Christening. Led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the service is set to take place at 3 p.m. London time (10 a.m. Et) at the Chapel Royal in St. James's Palace. These are the people who will have a special place in Prince...

Gold has released a first preview clip of their Yes, Prime Minister remake. Original writing team Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn have rebooted the political satire with David Haig playing beleaguered Prime Minister Jim Hacker. Watch the preview clip of the new Yes, Prime Minister:

> 'Yes, Prime Minister': Tube Talk Gold Henry Goodman stars as Jim Hacker's impenetrably loquacious adviser Sir Humphrey Appleby, while Chris Larkin is cast as Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley. (more)...

Britain's Prince William has been working on his dance moves ahead of his upcoming visit to the Solomon Islands. The royal and his wife Duchess Catherine will represent William's grandmother on a trip to the Commonwealth archipelago for her Diamond Jubilee celebrations and Catherine revealed her husband is already trying out some special steps. She told Governor-General Sir Frank Kabui: 'William's been working on his dance moves.' William added: 'We're extremely excited. Neither of us have ever been anywhere near this.' The royal couple will arrive in the country in the second week of September, according to Nigel Maezama, the Private Secretary to the Governor General. He said: 'The second week of September is listed as the time they will...

Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the Solomon Islands in September. The royal couple will arrive in the country in the second week of September, according to Nigel Maezama, the Private Secretary to the Governor General. He said: 'The second week of September is listed as the time they will arrive in the country apart from other countries they will be visiting.' He also said the duration of time they would be staying in the country and the proposed places they would be visiting needs to be confirmed. A committee has been set up to prepare for Prince William and Duchess Catherine's visit and they have already been working on plans for their arrival. The couple -...

Wow, talk about low-maintenance royals!

When Prince William and Kate Middleton kick off their North American trip on Thursday in Ottawa, a pared-down entourage of just six people will be tending to the newlyweds’ needs: Kate’s hairdresser, a private secretary, tour coordinator, a press secretary, the press secretary for William’s dad Prince Charles and a diplomatic advisor.

So just who do this entourage consist of? Read on:

James Pryce, Kate’s hairdresser: A stylist at London’s Richard Ward Salon who has been the Middleton family’s hair stylist for seven years, he styled Kate‘s mane for her wedding and the engagement announcement last year. “Still comes into the salon and sits with everyone else—there is no VIP area,” a rep for the salon tells People.

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Private Secretary: A former army officer recruited by Prince Charles five years ago, he’s guided William...

What sort of possé will Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge bring on their much-anticipated North American tour? The royal couple will have a lot of help, to be sure, but they've also kept their entourage roster for the July trip lean and mean. When it comes to who'll be along for the ride, William and Kate will be supported by the following: Quiz: William vs. Harry! Who's Who?• Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Private Secretary The royal newlyweds will be in good hands with Lowther-Pinkerton, 50, a former army officer who was brought to the Palace five years ago by Prince Charles.

Jesse Randhawa and Sandip Soparrkar

Choreographer-dancer Sandeep Soparrkar forged a letter, faked a knee injury, and fabricated a well-knit story, all to gain publicity via his ‘false’ invitation to the Royal wedding

The czar of Ballroom dancing in India, Sandeep Soparrkar fooled everyone with his tango. Recently, he and his wife model-actor Jesse Randhawa hosted an event at Panache, Flora Fountain, where Sandip and Jesse had planned to showcase a small glance at their dance performance they had planned for the wedding reception in London. The wedding was none other than the Royal wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton which was to be held at the Buckingham Palace, London. A spokesperson from St. James Palace slapped the claim saying,”This invite is a fake. Take it from us. Soparrkar has never been asked or invited to perform at the wedding.”

Sandip Soparrkar and Britney Spears

After spreading all the...

As The King’s Speech arrives in cinemas, we met with director Tom Hooper and star Colin Firth to chat about the film…

Anticipation for The King's Speech has been steadily building since its premiere back in September at the Toronto International Film Festival. There, it won the coveted Audience Award and later in the year it swept the British Independent Film Awards, and now, at the start of the new year, it is tipped for Golden Globe, Oscar and BAFTA success.

We're not surprised, what with the film filling many awards fodder prerequisites, being a period-set character drama that brings together themes of monarchy, disability and even a hint of World War 2 under the yoke of a brilliant cast, as Colin Firth's Prince Albert (and soon-to-be King George VI) consults unconventional speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) for help with his stammer.

Thankfully, the film is also terrific,...

Kathryn Grayson on TCM Schedule and synopses from the TCM website: 3:00 Am Seven Sweethearts (1942) A father insists that his seven daughters marry in order, from eldest to youngest. Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Van Heflin, S.Z. Sakall. Dir: Frank Borzage. Bw-98 mins. 4:48 Am Short Film: We Must Have Music (1941) Bw-11 mins. 5:00 Am Andy Hardy’s Private Secretary (1941) On the verge of graduation, a high-school boy decides he needs a social secretary. Cast: Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Kathryn Grayson. Dir: George B. Seitz. Bw-101 mins. 7:00 Am Two Sisters From Boston (1946) Two girls with Broadway aspirations find work in a Bowery saloon. Cast: June Allyson, Kathryn Grayson, Jimmy Durante. Dir: Henry Koster. Bw-112 mins. 9:00 Am Anchors Aweigh (1945) A pair of sailors on leave try to help a movie extra become a singing star. Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson. Dir: George Sidney. C-139 mins. 11:30 [...]...