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Bravo’s Southern Hospitality decamps from Charleston for the neon-drenched chaos of Las Vegas in this week’s episode, “Viva Las Vegas!” And, predictably, the drama travels with them. A fresh rumor about Will’s alleged infidelity surfaces just as the group jets off to support Maddi at a major DJ gig. Because of course it does. This […]

Southern Hospitality: Viva Las Vegas!...

Peggy Moffitt, the iconic ’60s model who was also a contract player at Paramount and who appeared in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up, died at her Beverly Hills home on Saturday from complications of dementia. Her son, Christopher Claxton, confirmed the news to the New York Times. She was 86.

Moffitt’s wide-ranging influence can be traced to the persona she created, often in collaboration with others. Her gamine, modern look was a construct made up of her signature pale skin, harlequin eye makeup, five-point Vidal Sassoon haircut and a sense of humor, all of which she never abandoned.

She had a cultural moment when, in 1964, she posed in a topless swimsuit from designer Rudi Gernreich. The controversial look referenced a schoolboy’s shorts, with thin suspenders rising in a “V” between the cleavage, but nothing else above the waistline. The resulting image, which ran in publications across the world, was condemned...

“In the Streets” is the first edition of the Notebook Insert, a seasonal supplement on moving-image culture.Illustration by Lale Westvind.I started errantly watching live streams at work not long after the Sphere first blinked its enormous electric eye in September 2023. This was a vestige of a pandemic-era habit, lockdown having been a good time to virtually peer into places one could never go. Jellyfish floating in seemingly limitless blue suspension at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, some rural trail in South Dakota, the top of the Eiffel Tower. You could drop in to any of these streams and feel, reassuringly, that nothing consequential was happening. After spending some time letting these feeds unspool in the background, one begins to wonder who set these cameras up; who maintains the connection, checks on the equipment, wipes dirt off the lens; who decided this or that perspective was the best, the most representative,...

Cara Williams, the actress known for her Oscar-nominated turn in The Defiant Ones, her Emmy-nominated performance in CBS’ sitcom Pete and Gladys and more, died on December 9. She was 96.

Williams’ passing was confirmed in a Twitter post published on Saturday by her great-nephew, Richard Potter. “My Great Aunt, who might have been the last surviving Golden Age of Hollywood actress died on Thursday at 96,” he wrote. “#Oscar & #Emmy Nominated. #CaraWilliams. Rip Cara.”

The actress was born in Brooklyn, NY on June 29, 1925 as Bernice Kamiat, finding her first film role in Lesley Selander’s 1941 Western, Wide Open Town. She starred in Stanley Kramer’s drama The Defiant Ones opposite Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis, appearing in December Bride spinoff Pete and Gladys opposite Harry Morgan.

Over the course of her 40-plus year screen career, Williams garnered a total of 55 screen credits. She also appeared on the film side in Girls’ Town,...

Betty Lynn, a veteran actress who was best known as the girlfriend of bumbling sheriff’s deputy Barney Fife on television classic The Andy Griffith Show, has died at age 95. She passed on Saturday in Culver City, Calif. of an undisclosed but brief illness, according to the Andy Griffith Museum.

Lynn appeared in 26 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show over a span of five years from 1961 to 1966.

Before that Lynn enjoyed a Broadway career, and was discovered by Daryl F. Zanuck in one of several plays. During the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in many films, including Sitting Pretty (1948), June Bride (1948) the original Cheaper by the Dozen (1950) and Meet Me In Las Vegas (1956).

She then segued to television, appearing on the Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, The Gale Storm Show, Sugarfoot and Markham.

In 1986, she reprised the role of Thelma Lou in the reunion television movie Return to Mayberry, in which...

Viva Las Vegas Hacks! On Tuesday, June 8, HBO Max announced that Hacks, starring Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, will return for a second season. The dramedy, created by Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello and Jen Statsky, follows Smart as Deborah Vance, a comedic legend who has a longtime residency in Las Vegas. As her show is threatened by younger, newer talent, Deborah is forced to hire Ava Daniels, a comedy writer who has been canceled over a past tweet. Along the way, this unlikely pairing transforms into a, albeit dark, mentorship. Intriguing, right? So, you can understand our excitement regarding this renewal news. On Hacks' renewal, Smart shared in a statement, "I am absolutely thrilled we are...

The gaudy MGM musical bio gets one last go-round, gathering an all-star cast to illustrate the songbook of composer Sigmund Romberg. Gene Kelly dances with his brother Fred, and Cyd Charisse does a hot number with James Mitchell, while star José Ferrer goes on stage to perform with his wife Rosemary Clooney. Deep in My Heart Blu-ray Warner Archive Collection 1954 / Color / 1:37 flat Academy / 132 min. / Street Date November 10, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 17.95 Starring José Ferrer, Merle Oberon, Helen Traubel, Doe Avedon, Walter Pidgeon, Jim Backus, Rosemary Clooney, Gene Kelly, Fred Kelly, Jane Powell, Ann Miller, Cyd Charisse, Howard Keel, Vic Damone, Tony Martin, Joan Weldon, Fred Kelly, Russ Tamblyn. Susan Luckey, Robert Easton, Barrie Chase, Douglas Fowley. Cinematography George J. Folsey Film Editor Adrienne Fazan Original Music Alexander Courage, Adolph Deutsch Written by Leonard Spigelgass from a book by Elliott Arnold Produced by Roger Edens Directed by Stanley Donen

Reviewed...

Paul Henreid: Actor was ‘dependable’ leading man to Hollywood actresses Paul Henreid, best known as the man who wins Ingrid Bergman’s body but not her heart in Casablanca, is Turner Classic Movies’ Star of the Month of July 2013. TCM will be showing a couple of dozen movies featuring Henreid, who, though never a top star, was a "dependable" — i.e., unexciting but available — leading man to a number of top Hollywood actresses of the ’40s, among them Bette Davis, Ida Lupino, Olivia de Havilland, Eleanor Parker, Joan Bennett, and Katharine Hepburn. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of Paul Henreid movies to be shown on Turner Classic Movies in July consists of Warner Bros. productions that are frequently broadcast all year long, no matter who is TCM’s Star of the Month. Just as unfortunately, TCM will not present any of Henreid’s little-seen supporting performances of the ’30s, e.

Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies who have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. John Brascia (1932-2013) - Actor and dancer whose moves delighted in White Christmas (see below) and Meet Me in Las Vegas. He also appears in the original Walking Tall and The Wrecking Crew and wrote and produced The Baltimore Bullet. He died of Parkinson's disease in Santa Monica on February 19. (THR)   Richard Briers (1934-2013) - English actor who starred in many Kenneth Branagh films, including Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet (see him as Polonius below), Henry V, Frankenstein...

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Chicago – What is striking about George Chakiris is not so much the memories of his unforgettable performances in films of another era, but his true kindness and humility in the wake of all that jazz. Winner of the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1961, playing Bernardo in “West Side Story,” the combination of his youth, energy and gratitude comes from his roots as a dancer.

Chakiris was born of Greek immigrant parents in Norwood, Ohio. Ending up in Los Angeles at a young age, he was able to hook into his advocation by studying at the American School of Dance there (story below). He touched the last gasp era of great Hollywood musicals, famously backing up Marilyn Monroe in the “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” number from the film “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” [1953] and started hearts a-fluttering when he made a key cameo one year later in the holiday film classic,...

Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi in Oscar nominee (but not DGA nominee) David Lean's Summertime DGA Awards vs. Academy Awards 1948-1952: Odd Men Out George Cukor, John Huston, Vincente Minnelli 1953 DGA (12) Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, Above and Beyond Walter Lang, Call Me Madam Daniel Mann, Come Back, Little Sheba Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Julius Caesar Henry Koster, The Robe Jean Negulesco, Titanic George Sidney, Young Bess DGA/AMPAS George Stevens, Shane Charles Walters, Lili Billy Wilder, Stalag 17 William Wyler, Roman Holiday Fred Zinnemann, From Here to Eternity   1954 DGA (16) Edward Dmytryk, The Caine Mutiny Alfred Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder Robert Wise, Executive Suite Anthony Mann, The Glenn Miller Story Samuel Fuller, Hell and High Water Henry King, King of Khyber Rifles Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, Knock on Wood Don Siegel, Riot in Cell Block 11 Stanley Donen, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers George Cukor, A Star Is Born Jean Negulesco,...

Velvet-voiced singer, actor and activist who broke new ground for black performers

A handful of decades ago the roles for black performers in Hollywood movies were deliberately kept peripheral to the plots, so that their appearances could easily be edited out for screenings in the American south. Black singers and musicians were barred from taking rooms in the same hotels in which they were performing. Partners in an interracial marriage might decide to leave the Us and move to more hospitable locations, such as Paris, to avoid hate mail and threats. All this and more happened to the singer and actor Lena Horne, who has died aged 92.

Horne not only rose above it all, but also significantly contributed to changing the situation. The velvet-voiced, multi-talented Horne first negotiated, and then resisted, the worst that a racist entertainment industry could throw at her. She rose to its summit as an original...