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Let’s talk about one of the internet’s weirdest obsessions: killing off celebrities who are very much alive. What started as rare newspaper blunders in the early 1900s has morphed into a full-blown social media sport, where a single viral post can “declare” a star’s death faster than you can say “fake news.”

A still from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (2001-2007) | Credits: Cartoon Network Studios

From Charlie Chaplin’s early brush with rumored demise to today’s pop icons getting “canceled” by bogus death reports, celebrities have basically become professional rumor-busters. These death hoaxes aren’t just random internet noise—they’re bizarre opportunities for stars to showcase their wit, turning potentially scary misinformation into clever comebacks and marketing moments. Turns out, in the age of viral headlines, staying alive can be its own form of entertainment.

1. Charlie Chaplin Charlie Chaplin in a still from...

We lost Kirk Douglas last week, and TCM today set a 24-hour marathon of programming featuring the legend of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The seminar actor’s life and career will be in the spotlight on March 5.

The “TCM Remembers Kirk Douglas” block will showcase 11 of his classic films — including Spartacus, Man with a Horn and Paths of Glory — along with the 2018 special

Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival: Michael Douglas, in which Ben Mankiewicz interviews the late star’s actor-producer son, Michael Douglas, at the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival. See the full program below.

Speaking of Spartacus and the TCM film fest, the event’s 2020 edition in April has set a 60th anniversary screening of the classic pic in a world-premiere 70mm print from a 4k restoration by Universal Pictures.

Peter Bart: Remembering Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas & ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’

Here’s the schedule for...

Kirk Douglas on TCM: A Letter To Three Wives, Mourning Becomes Electra Schedule (Et) and synopses from the TCM website: 8:00 Pm The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers (1946). Years after a murder drove them apart heiress tries to win back her lost love. Dir: Lewis Milestone. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Judith Anderson. Bw-116 mins. 10:00 Pm Out Of The Past (1947). A private eye becomes the dupe of a homicidal moll. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming. Bw-97 mins. 11:45 Pm I Walk Alone (1948). An ex-convict discovers the world of crime has changed drastically since he went up the river. Dir: Byron Haskin. Cast: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, Wendell Corey. Bw-97 mins. 1:30 Am A Letter To Three Wives (1949). A small-town seductress notifies her three best friends that she has run off with one of their husbands. Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

Actor who rose to fame in Hitchcock's Rope and Strangers On a Train, but refused to conform to Hollywood pressures

Early on in his career, the actor Farley Granger, who has died aged 85, worked with several of the world's greatest directors, including Alfred Hitchcock on Rope (1948) and Strangers On a Train (1951), Nicholas Ray on They Live By Night (1949) and Luchino Visconti on Senso (1953). Yet Granger failed to sustain the momentum of those years, meandering into television, some stage work and often indifferent European and American movies.

The reasons were complicated, owing much to his sexuality and an unwillingness to conform to Hollywood pressures, notably from his contract studio, MGM, and Samuel Goldwyn. Granger refused to play the publicity or marrying game common among gay and bisexual stars and turned down roles he considered unsuitable, earning a reputation – in his own words – for being "a naughty boy".

He was also the victim of bad luck,...

Celebration of Actor.s Life and Career to Include Conversation with Robert Osborne,

Clips from One-Man Show and Special Screening of Spartacus (1960)

Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas will be a special guest at the 2011 TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood. During the festival, which takes place April 28-May 1, the three-time Oscar nominee and honorary Academy Award winner will join TCM host Robert Osborne for an interview on stage, leading into a screening of Stanley Kubrick.s epic film Spartacus (1960), which Douglas also produced. The evening.s festivities will include clips from Douglas. biographical one-man show, Before I Forget (2009).

.Kirk Douglas is an American icon whose performances have struck an indelible chord with moviegoers for more than 60 years,. Osborne said. .At the age of 94, he retains the great vitality and enthusiasm which has always been the Douglas trademark. We couldn.t be more pleased that Spartacus himself will be joining us at...

We've heard lots about Natalie Portman's travails as a fictional prima ballerina in Darren Aronofsky's film, but she's just the latest in a long line of doomed cinematic dancers

Warning: contains spoilers

Yesterday's G2 interviews on Darren Aronofsky's ballet film Black Swan made me think about how feature films have incorporated ballet into their stories. Most people will think immediately of musicals, which have a readymade slot in their song-and-dance numbers, or of wish-fulfilment fantasies: Fame, Flashdance, Center Stage, Save the Last Dance and the like. From that standpoint, Black Swan looks like an exception. But look beyond these films and two other genres come to the fore: melodrama and horror.

Over decades and across continents, ballet dancers in feature films have consistently been associated with hysteria, madness, torture, the supernatural and death. Former New Yorker critic Arlene Croce dubbed this a "tradition of morbidity", and certain...

Film Score Monthly has announced an ambitious 15-cd set focusing on the legendary Miklós Rózsa, a release that “is destined to become one of the most essential soundtrack collections of all time,” according to the label. The “Miklós Rózsa Treasury (1949-1968) focuses on Rózsa’s association with M-g-m and features, among many other things, the complete scores from Madame Bovary, The Power and Quo Vadis. Other works included are Young Bess, The Story of Three Loves, All the ...