News

Mia Farrow’s first uncredited role was in 1959’s “John Paul Jones” (a movie directed by her father), and she was raised around old Hollywood royalty, including Vivien Leigh and Joan Crawford. In a sprawling conversation published in Interview this week, Farrow praised Leigh as “kind” and Crawford as “scary” — both on screen and in person.

While speaking to fellow Tony Award nominee Cole Escola, Farrow explained Leigh went to school with her mother, actress Maureen O’Sullivan. When she was 17, Farrow performed in a stage production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” and Leigh showed up — something she described as “terrifying.”

“When I stood up to pour tea and deliver my lines, the chair got stuck to my dress and I couldn’t unstick it. I proceeded with the entire scene with the chair on my behind. I knew I had blown it, but Vivien couldn’t have been nicer,...

Throughout her esteemed career, Mia Farrow has earned seven Golden Globe nominations (including a win for 1964's Guns at Batasi) as well as three BAFTA bids. Yet notably she has never been recognized at the Emmys, Oscars, or Tonys. This year, she might finally add a major peer group bid to her résumé: a Tony nomination in Best Actress in a Play for The Roommate.

In 1964, Farrow burst onto the scene in a major way. She not only had her aforementioned Golden Globe win for Guns at Batasi, but also her role as Allison MacKenzie on the first two seasons of Peyton Place. The former didn't result in an Oscar nom and, despite getting in at the Globes for the latter, it didn't translate to an Emmy nod. In 1968, she starred as the title character in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. Her performance resulted in Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations.

Cults are scary enough in real life. As a general rule, they infatuate your loved ones, drain their bank accounts, abuse them and make them think they like it, and in absolute worst cases -- think Jonestown and Heaven's Gate -- it all ends in mass death. Making that scarier for horror movies can be tough, but it usually involves actual supernatural powers. Horror movies involving cults offer them the one thing reality can't: legitimacy. In a fictional story, the dangerous demon or deity worshipped by the cultists can be real, and provably so.

Like actual cult involvement, a significant chunk of horror movies about cults end badly for their main characters. Real-world cult deprogramming takes a long time, and isn't cinematic, so in the movies, there's usually either a simpler solution, like killing the leader, or no solution at all. Satan is frequently involved, either explicitly or implicitly, in...

Beloved director of such iconic films as Grosse Pointe Blank and Miami Blues, George Armitage, has died at 82. A popular director in the '90s and Roger Corman protégé, known for his dark comedies, he also helmed the 1972 Blaxploitation film called Hit Man. The news was confirmed by his son, the writer-producer Brent Armitage.

Born and briefly raised in Hartford, Connecticut, Armitage's family moved to Los Angeles in the 1950s. His first job in the industry was in the mail room at 20th Century Fox, which led to him getting into production on television shows. He worked as an associate producer on the soap opera Peyton Place starting in 1967, and leveraged that experience to get in with the folks at Roger Corman's New World Pictures. Corman was a revolutionary in the industry, creating an entire ecosystem of micro-budget films that gave many Hollywood mega-talents their start.

RelatedWhy Grosse Pointe Blank...

Armitage was also responsible for the 1972 blaxploitation remake of Get Carter, made during his time working for Roger Corman

George Armitage, director of 90s indie hits Grosse Pointe Blank and Miami Blues, as well as Hit Man, the 70s blaxploitation remake of Get Carter, has died aged 82. Variety reported he died on 15 February in Playa del Rey in California.

Armitage started out in TV, working on the celebrated TV soap opera Peyton Place, then broke into features via Roger Corman’s micro-budget studio New World in the late 1960s. He subsequently specialised in crime films: Grosse Pointe Blank, which starred John Cusack and Minnie Driver, was his biggest commercial hit, and his final directorial credit was the Elmore Leonard adaptation The Big Bounce in 2004.

George Armitage, the film director best known for the 1996 crime thriller/comedy “Grosse Pointe Blank” and the 1990 neo-noir “Miami Blues,” died Saturday, his son announced Friday. He was 82; no cause of death was made public.

Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1942, Armitage moved with his mother to Beverly Hills at age 13 and attended UCLA. He began his career in entertainment working in the mail room at 20th Century Fox and, rising quickly, became an associate producer on “Peyton Place” in 1966 when he was still only 23 years old.

He made the jump to films later in the decade, writing the script for the 1970 Roger Corman film “Gas-s-s-s” before making his directorial debut with “Private Duty Nurses” the same year. He wrote the script for a sequel, “Night Call Nurses” in 1972 and that same year also wrote and directed “Hit Man” starring Bernie Casey.

Other films he wrote and directed include “Vigilante Force...

George Armitage, who directed, wrote and produced films including “Grosse Pointe Blank” and “Miami Blues,” died Saturday in Playa del Rey, his son Brent confirmed. He was 83.

Raised in Hartford, Conn., Armitage started out in the 20th Century Fox mailroom before becoming associate producer on the long-running series “Peyton Place” in the 1960s. He met Roger Corman on the Fox lot and moved into feature films, writing the Corman-produced 1970 comedy “Gas! – Or – It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It.”

He continued making films for Corman and his brother Gene Corman, moving into directing with “Private Duty Nurses.” The 1972 Blaxploitation film “Hit Man,” which he directed and co-wrote, starred Pam Grier and Bernie Casey. Next up was “Vigilante Force,” with Kris Kristofferson and Jan-Michael Vincent, and the TV movie “Hot Rod.”

“Kaplan, Demme, Dante, Arkush and me… We were making little 45 Rpm rock ’n’ roll movies.

The arc of Sherwood Schwartz's sitcom "Gilligan's Island," which first debuted in 1964, is well documented by TV historians. Because it was so broad, unrealistic, and silly, the series garnered some pretty negative reviews from critics. "Gilligan's Island," after all, takes place in a slapstick universe where none of the characters have to wrestle with survival; their food and water supplies seem to be well taken care of, and all of the characters more or less get along. The only terrible fate the castaways faced was the ever-sinking reality that they would never return to civilization. Which, from the look of it, wasn't too awful a thing to ponder, as they had a bottomless supply of clean water and fruit salads. 

Audiences seemed to latch onto the show's generally nonthreatening tone, however, and the show was almost an instant success. After three seasons, "Gilligan's Island" was folded into a near-perfect...

With a 200-minute running time, Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” (A24) isn’t unique among wide-release English-language films. In fact, it’s somewhat shorter than some major releases in recent decades.

There’s no standard for intermissions, which can vary between presentations, technical issues, or even elevating a film’s prestige. “The Brutalist” qualifies on all counts, but its intermission could herald a comeback: Audience habits have changed, and directors would love to use them to defend longer movies.

“The Brutalist” becomes 215 minutes start to finish with its precisely timed 15-minute break. Without it, it would be nine minutes shorter than “The Irishman”; about the same as “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” “The Godfather Part II,” and George Stevens’ 1956 “Giant”; and about five minutes longer than “Schindler’s List” and “Titanic.” All were released without intermissions. Among major titles, “Gone with the Wind” is still the longest...

The long-standing debate about what separates a lead from a supporting performance has resurfaced this awards season. Case in point: Netflix’s high-profile contender “Emilia Pérez.” The Spanish-language musical, directed by acclaimed French auteur Jacques Audiard, has already garnered enthusiastic reviews and is poised to be a significant player across multiple Oscar categories. But the studio’s decision to campaign Karla Sofía Gascón as best actress while positioning her co-star Zoe Saldaña as a supporting actress has sparked a heated discussion.

Saldaña’s role as Rita, a lawyer who aids the drug cartel boss Manitas in faking her death, undergoing gender-affirming surgery, and emerging as “Emilia Pérez,” propels the film’s narrative. Her extensive screen time supports this argument.

According to Matthew Stewart of Screen Time Central, Saldaña’s performance clocks in at 57 minutes and 50 seconds, representing 43.69% of the film’s runtime. It’s also slightly more than Gascón’s 52 minutes and 21 seconds (39.54%) on film.

Gary Dauberman's "Salem's Lot" has had a bumpy ride. The Stephen King adaptation was originally supposed to hit theaters in 2022. Then it got delayed to 2023. Then it got pulled from the release calendar entirely. Since "Salem's Lot" is a Warner Bros. production, there was a growing fear that this vampire movie would go the way of WB's "Batgirl" and "Coyote vs. Acme" and never see the light of day. King got involved, taking to Twitter and pondering why the studio was sitting on the flick. "Not sure why WB is holding it back; not like it's embarrassing, or anything," the master of horror said. Rumors eventually began to swirl that "Salem's Lot" might skip theaters entirely and go directly to WB's streaming service, Max. Sure enough, the studio finally announced that was the case: "Salem's Lot" is destined to stream on Max this October, just in time for Halloween season.

Hollywood is a twisted web. Behind the scenes -- in mysterious Burbank boardrooms and over croissant-festooned coffee tables in outsize Malibu homes -- byzantine deals are being struck between actors, directors, and executive producers. The tit-for-tat agreements that result from these meetings connect various films in unexpected ways. A successful actor may meet with an exec, for example, asking to produce an unusual and ambitious drama, hoping they had built up enough good will to be trusted with a financially risky art project. The exec may then stroke their chin and agree to produce the art project, but only if the actor appears in multiple commercially proven mainstream hits in exchange.

The actor may then reluctantly shake hands with the exec, knowing that it was the only way to get their vanity project made. If you have ever seen a massive movie star appearing in a freaked-out, low-budget indie film,...

Prolific performer and Golden Globe Award winner Barbara Rush has passed away.

Per Fox News, Rush's death was announced by her daughter, Fox News Channel senior correspondent Claudia Cowan. The passing of the legendary performer follows a career that spanned seven decades in show business, with many memorable roles on the big and small screens. Rush was 97 years old.

"My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition," Cowan said of her mother's death. "It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family."

Barbara Rush was born on Jan. 4, 1927. After studying theatre at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Rush would make her movie debut in 1950 with a role in The Goldbergs.

Veteran actress Barbara Rush, best known for her recurring roles on Peyton Place and All My Children, as well as the 1953 film It Came From Outer Space, has died. She was 97. The passing was confirmed by Rush’s daughter, Fox News Channel senior correspondent Claudia Cowan, who said, “My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition. Cowan added, “It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family.” Born on January 4, 1927, in Denver, Colorado, Rush began her career in the University of California theater program, where she graduated in 1948. She’d go on to perform on stage at the Lobero Theatre and the Pasadena Playhouse before signing with Paramount Pictures,...

Barbara Rush, who won a Golden Globe for most promising newcomer in “It Came From Outer Space” and went on to appear in “Peyton Place” and many other movies and TV shows, died Sunday. Her daughter, Fox News Channel correspondent Claudia Cowan, confirmed her death to Fox News Digital.

“My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition,” Cowan told Fox. “It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family.”

Rush appeared in soap operas including “All My Children” and on “7th Heaven,” and appeared in films such as “The Young Philadelphians,” “Robin and the 7 Hoods,” “Hombre” and “The Young Lions.” Her co-stars included Rock Hudson,...

Barbara Rush, the classy yet largely unheralded leading lady who sparkled in the 1950s melodramas Magnificent Obsession, Bigger Than Life and The Young Philadelphians, has died. She was 97.

Rush, a regular on the fifth and final season of ABC’s Peyton Place and a favorite of sci-fi fans thanks to her work in When Worlds Collide (1951) and It Came From Outer Space (1953), died Sunday in Westlake Village, her daughter, Fox News senior correspondent Claudia Cowan, announced.

“My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition,” Cowan said. “It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family.”

A starlet at Paramount, Universal and Fox whose career blossomed at...

The TV Academy tonight paid poignant tribute to those who’ve passed away in the past 12 months. Among the big names highlighted by the In Memoriam segment were Norman Lear, Matthew Perry, Angela Lansbury and Andre Braugher.

Charlie Puth and husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty accompanied this year’s “In Memoriam” video montage as it unspooled with a rendition of “See You Again.” The segment started off with Lear and ended with Perry.

Soon after it aired on Fox, fans took to social media to express their disapproval over omissions, the biggest being Ryan O’Neal. Known for his film work, O’Neal, who died December 8, also co-starred on the TV series Peyton Place from 1964-69.

O’Neal’s son Patrick said on Twitter that he was “sad and mad” over the decision to exclude his dad from the tribute.

Also getting a lot of attention on social media was the omission of Ray Stevenson,...

The In Memoriam segment of the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards on Monday paid a moving tribute to several television stars, creators and producers who have died over the last year — but social media was quick to point out the omissions.

Users on X, formerly Twitter, were upset that missing from the video montage of the In Memoriam segment were Ryan O’Neal and Ray Stevenson. O’Neal, who died Dec. 8 at age 82, had television credits stretching back to the 1960s, and he had notable roles on the soap Peyton Place and the sitcom Good Sports and also had a run on Bones.

Stevenson, who died May 23 at age 58, was most recently seen in the Disney+ Star Wars series Ahsoka, and worked consistently in television since the 1990s. His notable television credits include Vikings, Dexter and Rome.

Also missing from the video montage was Kevin Turen, a producer on HBO’s Euphoria and The Idol,...

Before the 2023 Academy Awards, only “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Network” had won three Oscars for acting. The former won its hat trick in 1952 with Vivien Leigh taking home Best Actress, Karl Malden claiming Best Supporting Actor, and Kim Hunter winning Best Supporting Actress. Then, in 1976, “Network” won Best Actor for Peter Finch (posthumously), Best Actress for Faye Dunaway, and Best Supporting Actress for Beatrice Straight. Those two movies stood alone as the only pictures to win three acting Oscars until 2023 when “Everything Everywhere All at Once” produced wins for Michelle Yeoh (Best Actress), Jamie Lee Curtis (Best Supporting Actress), and Ke Huy Quan (Best Supporting Actor). These three films now have the joint-highest number of acting wins in Oscars history as no film has ever managed to reign victorious in all four acting categories.

Plenty of movies have had four nominations for acting, including “American Hustle” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Ryan O’Neal, who died today at 82, is being remembered by his co-stars today.

“So sad to hear the news of Ryan O’Neal’s passing,” tweeted Barbra Streisand. “We made two films together, What’s Up, Doc? and The Main Event. He was funny and charming, and he will be remembered.”

“Rest in peace dear Ryan,” tweeted Mia Farrow, who, along with O’Neal, found fame on the ’60s nighttime soap Peyton Place.

Lee Grant, another cast member, wrote, “Impossible to believe that Ryan O’Neal is gone. I felt so welcomed by his Peyton Place, the first big production brave enough to welcome me back from the blacklist. An incredible talent, an incredible beauty. A gift of an artist we’re luck to have so much of captured forever.”

Related: Kevin O’Neal Dies: ‘No Time For Sergeants’ Actor, Brother Of Ryan O’Neal Was 77

Bones star David Boreanaz – O’Neal...

Ryan O’Neal is dead at the age of 82 after years of health struggles. His son Patrick announced the news on Instagram.

O’Neal was one of the true heartthrobs of the New Hollywood era, making many who saw him in “Love Story,” “What’s Up Doc?,” “Barry Lyndon,” and “The Driver” swoon. He also was much more than a pretty face, showing a capacity to let the great directors of the era mold him into something so much more powerful than his looks. And his life was defined in some ways, also, by heartbreak and misfortune: the loss of his great love Farrah Fawcett in 2009, the years-long legal troubles of his son Redmond, the rupture of his relationship with son Griffin, and fraught connection to his daughter Tatum. He was a prickly icon, someone whose public statements and demeanor defied people to like him. But the films he leaves behind...

Ryan O’Neal, the Oscar-nominated Love Story actor who starred in some of the most memorable movies of the 1970s, from What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon to Barry Lyndon, died today. He was 82.

His death was announced by son Patrick O’Neal on Instagram. Although a cause was not specified, O’Neal had battled various health issues for decades, from a leukemia diagnosis in 2001 and Stage 4 prostate cancer in 2012.

“So this is the toughest thing I’ve ever had to say but here we go,” wrote Patrick O’Neal, a longtime Los Angeles sportscaster. “My dad passed away peacefully today, with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us.”

“This is just so hard for us,” Patrick continues in the lengthy message. “Ryan made such an impact and this will be difficult without him. This is and will be a huge void in our lives.

In late 1968, TV producer George Schlatter, riding high on his hit Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, pitched a new conceptual television show packed full of short clips, rapid movements, and controversial topics.

The show was picked up by ABC for a run of 13 episodes, with additional episodes purchased after advertisers saw the first episode, for a total of 17 shows. Three episodes were shot in their entirety before the initial airing.

The half-hour first episode premiered on February 5th, 1969 at 8:30 Pm on the east coast, where it took the place of the primetime soap opera Peyton Place. Tim Conway was recruited as the first celebrity guest and the writers included Albert Brooks.

The show seemed poised for success. But 10 minutes into the broadcast, between the first and second commercial breaks, a programmer at Wews in Cleveland stated that the remainder of the program would “not be seen this evening….or ever.

M*A*S*H movie's success almost killed the TV show before it started due to plans for a sequel, but the sequel fell apart. William Self, president of 20th Century Fox Television, was interested in a TV show adaptation before the movie was released. Richard D. Zanuck canceled the sequel and gave the green light to the TV show, which became a groundbreaking sitcom and CBS hit.

M*A*S*H is one of the most popular and acclaimed sitcoms ever made, but the success of the movie it was based on threatened to kill the TV show before it even got started. With its pitch-black humor and rebellious, anti-establishment tone, Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H became one of the defining movies of the New Hollywood movement – and one of the biggest box office hits of the 1970s. It takes place during the Korean War, but its storytelling and social commentary captured contemporary attitudes towards the then-ongoing Vietnam War,...

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” last year made Oscar history by becoming just the third film ever to win three awards in acting categories — Michelle Yeoh (Best Actress), Jamie Lee Curtis (Best Supporting Actress), and Ke Huy Quan (Best Supporting Actor). “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1952) and “Network” (1977) also pulled off this triple play

No film has ever won all four acting prizes but plenty have contended across the board, with the most recent being “American Hustle” in 2014. “Network,” “Mrs. Miniver” in 1943, “From Here to Eternity” in 1954, “Peyton Place” in 1958, “Bonnie and Clyde” in 1968 and “The Godfather: Part 2” in 1975 all snagged five acting nominations in total.

So, how about this year? Are there any movies that could match that haul of five nominations? Or even become the first picture to win all four acting Oscars? Let’s take a look through this year’s early contenders to see which movies...

In a career so far spanning 50 years, Stephen King has published 65 novels (with a 66th imminent) and more than 200 short stories. His books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, and have been regularly snapped up for film and TV adaptation. As a brand name, King is almost as prolific on screen as in print, with at least 60 movies (not even including the eight sequels to Children Of The Corn) and 50 shows to date, with more always incoming.

Cinematically, however, while some of the author’s adaptations are clear-eyed classics, the King association has not always been a guarantee of quality. In the early days, the gold rush to mine his back catalogue yielded more turkeys than treasure. So, with Rob Savage out this week (based on a 1973 short story in King’s _Night Shift collection), Empire have put together a list of the 15 greatest big-screen versions of the legendary scribe’s stories.

For only the eighth time ever and first time since 1978, multiple films have simultaneously received at least four Oscar nominations for acting. “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which earned a collective total of 20 academy notices, are now the 39th and 40th films to have four or more of their performers recognized, and they could soon be added to the list of 25 films of this kind that scored at least one acting win. However, it is possible that one or both could follow the 13 other movies – including “The Power of the Dog” (2022) – that lost on all of their acting bids.

“The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” each ended up with one lead acting notice, for Colin Farrell and Michelle Yeoh, respectively. Farrell’s three nominated supporting cast mates are Kerry Condon, Brendan Gleeson, and Barry Keoghan, while Yeoh’s are Jamie Lee Curtis,...

Actor Russ Tamblyn and production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein will be the official honorees of this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival, Turner Classic Movies announced Tuesday.

Now in its 14th year, the TCM Festival screens dozens of classic films from the early years of Hollywood and honors individuals whose work in Hollywood left a longstanding impact on cinema. This year’s theme, “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” focuses on celebrating film legacies and stories told and retold across generations. This year’s festival will feature screenings of von Brandenstein’s films “Six Degrees of Separation” and “Amadeus,” and Tamblyn’s films “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and “Peyton Place.” The two will introduce the screenings of their films and sit down with TCM hosts for keynote conversations about their life and work.

Best known today for his performance as Riff in the original “West Side Story” film, Tamblyn...

West Side Story star Russ Tamblyn and Oscar-winning production designer Patrizia von Brandenstein of Amadeus fame will be honored at the 14th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in April, it was announced Tuesday.

Each year, the event pays tribute to those whose work in Hollywood has left a lasting impact. The festival returns April 13-16 to Hollywood with the theme “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.”

Tamblyn showed off his acrobatic skills as the youngest Pontipee in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and as Riff, the leader of the Jets, in West Side Story (1961).

He also received a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for his turn in Peyton Place (1957) and was memorable in two Father of the Bride films with Elizabeth Taylor, The Haunting (1963), Twin Peaks and much more.

Von Brandenstein won the Oscar for best art direction-set decoration for Amadeus (1984) and was nominated for Ragtime (1981) and The Untouchables (1987) as well.

For someone who died in the pilot of Queen Sugar, which returns to OWN for its seventh season on September 6, Ernest Bordelon sure casts a long shadow. The patriarch, played by Glynn Turman, was so powerful that his presence continues to resonate among his grown children. And as the beloved series wraps, Turman is back on set. For someone who spent his formative years in Manhattan, he’s at ease on a farm, where the sugar cane rises as far as you can see. Grabbing some shade in one of the small houses on St. Joseph Plantation where Queen Sugar shoots, 75-year-old Turman relaxes. He flashes that famous grin, the one fans noticed in Peyton Place, Cooley High, and The Wire, and answers our “5 Questions.” Your first job was playing Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee’s son in the original A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway. How did that come about?...

Though regarded by cinephiles as one of the architects of the “New Hollywood” largely because of moody character studies like 1970’s “Five Easy Pieces,” filmmaker Bob Rafelson — who died Saturday at 89 — will also always be adored for his co-creation and production of the decidedly less moody, madcap television series “The Monkees,” and for further directing that makeshift band in the comically avant-garde 1968 film “Head.”

Rafelson is very fondly remembered by vocalist and drummer Micky Dolenz, the final surviving member of the Monkees, who shared his thoughts about Rafelson’s role in the creation and development of the group with Variety.

A wildly silly sitcom about a faux teeny-bop band meant that its producer-showrunners, Rafelson and Bert Schneider (who died in 2011), had to find a willing quartet of actor-musicians. Enter Davy Jones, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Dolenz, who became the Monkees, recorded a dozen hits selling over 75 million records worldwide,...

Richard Evans, who tussled with Ryan O’Neal’s character on the ABC primetime soap Peyton Place and appeared in Dirty Little Billy, the final film from producer Jack L. Warner, has died. He was 86.

Evans died Oct. 2 of cancer on Whidbey Island in Washington state, a family spokesman announced.

Evans also co-starred in the Robert Mulligan-directed neo-noir crime drama The Nickel Ride (1974) and played the sidekick of George C. Scott’s artist character in Ernest Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream (1977), helmed by Franklin J. Schaffner.

During his 40-year acting career, Evans showed up as a guest star on ...

Richard Evans, who tussled with Ryan O’Neal’s character on the ABC primetime soap Peyton Place and appeared in Dirty Little Billy, the final film from producer Jack L. Warner, has died. He was 86.

Evans died Oct. 2 of cancer on Whidbey Island in Washington state, a family spokesman announced.

Evans also co-starred in the Robert Mulligan-directed neo-noir crime drama The Nickel Ride (1974) and played the sidekick of George C. Scott’s artist character in Ernest Hemingway’s Islands in the Stream (1977), helmed by Franklin J. Schaffner.

During his 40-year acting career, Evans showed up as a guest star on ...

John Erman, an Emmy-winning director-producer who helmed multiple episodes of such classic TV series as Star Trek, M*A*S*H and Peyton Place along with Part 2 of Roots and much of its sequel miniseries Roots: The Next Generations, has died. He was 85.

His friend, Charles Silver of SMS Talent, told Deadline that Erman died June 25 in New York City after a brief illness.

Born on August 3, 1935, in Chicago, Erman began his show business career as an actor, including an unbilled role in 1955’s Blackboard Jungle before working extensively as a casting director. His first job in that role was with Jim Lister at Republic Studios in New York, and Erman would go on to work with numerous Hollywood legends in this capacity, from Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland to Woody Allen, Angela Lansbury and Ann-Margret — with whom he’d have a long-running working relationship.

He got his first shot...

Douglas S. Cramer, the onetime head of Paramount Television and producing partner of Aaron Spelling who helped launch such series as Peyton Place, The Brady Bunch, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat and Dynasty, has died. He was 89.

Cramer died Monday in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts of heart and kidney failure, his close friend and former The Hollywood Reporter columnist Sue Cameron announced.

“When I was a THR columnist, nobody knew it, but he was my secret ‘legman.’ He was a genius producer with style and taste. We had so much fun together. We were friends for over 45 years,” Cameron said....

Douglas S. Cramer, the onetime head of Paramount Television and producing partner of Aaron Spelling who helped launch such series as Peyton Place, The Brady Bunch, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat and Dynasty, has died. He was 89.

Cramer died Monday in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts of heart and kidney failure, his close friend and former The Hollywood Reporter columnist Sue Cameron announced.

“When I was a THR columnist, nobody knew it, but he was my secret ‘legman.’ He was a genius producer with style and taste. We had so much fun together. We were friends for over 45 years,” Cameron said....

Robert Hogan, a TV character actor who was a regular on Peyton Place for two seasons and recurred on The Wire and such other popular series as Law & Order and Alice, has died. He was 87. His family said he died May 27 of pneumonia complications at his home in coastal Maine.

Hogan amassed more than 150 credits during a six-decade career, guesting multiple times on such classic shows as Murder, She Wrote, Gunsmoke, The F.B.I., Barnaby Jones, 77 Sunset Strip, The Rockford Files and as Louis Sobotka in four Season 2 episodes of HBO’s The Wire. He also played Greg Stemple in a half-dozen Alice episodes during the early 1980s.

He also played the Rev. Tom Winter — whose affairs certainly were more than clerical — in more than 60 episodes of the New England-set 1960s romantic drama Peyton Place.

During his long TV career, Hogan was a regular on a handful of short-lived series,...

Robert Hogan, the familiar New York actor who made a six-decade career out of popping up on television shows including Hogan’s Heroes, whose main character was named after him, has died. He was 87.

Hogan died Thursday of complications from pneumonia at his home on the coast of Maine, his family announced.

On the stage, Hogan received an Outer Critics Circle Award in 1998 for his performance as attorney Clarence Darrow in John Logan’s Never the Sinner, a drama about the Leopold and Loeb murder trial in the 1920s. A year later, he played a U.S. Marine in the original ...

“What can you say about a 25-year-old girl who died? That she was beautiful and brilliant? That she loved Mozart and Bach, the Beatles, and me?”- Oliver Barrett IV, “Love Story.”

It’s hard to explain to non-boomers just what a phenomenon the 1970 four-hankie weepie “Love Story” was. It was huge. And yes dear reader, at 15 I was caught up in the tsunami of “Love Story.” I devoured Erich Segal’s novel. And I remember a friend I was visiting spent the entire time reading her favorite passages from the book.

When I saw the movie at the Cooper Theatre in Denver, the day after it was released, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as this sentimental romance between the poor, feisty, salty-mouthed Radcliffe student Jennifer Cavelleri (Ali McGraw) and handsome rich hockey star college student Oliver Barrett IV (Ryan O’Neal) unspooled. Of course, like any...

In 1970, Ali MacGraw, then a relatively unknown model-turned-actress fresh off her debut role in “Goodbye, Columbus,” sat on the front steps of a Cambridge, Mass., duplex in deep winter, sobbing and shivering and blubbering the line, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”

It was the non-apology heard ’round the world.

While MacGraw, around 30 years old at the time, didn’t exactly agree with its sentiment, or even her delivery — “I had no acting training, I had no idea what I was doing,” she says now — the tearjerker drama containing said catchphrase, Arthur Hiller’s “Love Story,” became a global-wide phenomenon.

The film earned seven Oscar nominations (netting a win for Francis Lai’s musical score), rescued Paramount’s finances and propelled its writer, Erich Segal, to international literary fame.

Perhaps most significantly, “Love Story” rocketed its two young leads, MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal, as “conceited Radcliffe bitch...

Four of the featured fellows in “The Trial of the Chicago 7” — Sacha Baron Cohen, Frank Langella, Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance — made the BAFTAs longlist of 15 contenders for Best Supporting Actor. We are predicting that Cohen, who also reaped Golden Globes and SAG bids, will earn a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. Rylance, who won this award in 2015 for “Bridge of Spies,” is jockeying for the fifth slot.

Four-time Tony winner Langella and Redmayne, who took home the Best Actor Oscar in 2014 for “The Theory of Everything,” are longer shots than another of the supporting actors in the film: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II makes our Top 10 for his searing portrayal of Bobby Seale.

Since the supporting acting categories were introduced in 1937, 19 films have reaped bids for at least two of their male featured players. As you can see from the list below, it took till the ninth time that this...

4 random things that happened on this day, December 13th, in showbiz history

1956 Historical drama Anastasia is released starring Yul Brynner and Ingrid Bergman. It will bring Bergman back into Hollywood's graces after her banishment due to her extramarital affair and win her her second Best Actress Oscar (though she doesn't attend the ceremony).

1957 Peyton Place which we discussed quite a bit this past summer premieres in NYC, becomes a smash hit and Oscar contender. The soapy drama about a mother and daughter and a small gossipy town is quickly adapted into a TV series...

It’s lurid, it’s soapy, it’s forbidden: where does the line form? Joseph E. Levine made hay from Harold Robbins’ best seller, with prose that The New York Times said belonged more properly “on the walls of a public lavatory.” So why is the picture so much fun? When the performances are good they’re very good, and when they’re bad they’re almost better. Plus there’s a who’s who game to be played: If George Peppard is Howard Hughes and Carroll Baker is Jean Harlow, who exactly is Robert Cummings? I think this is the first time on Blu for this title, and playback-wise it’s A-ok for Region A.

The Carpetbaggers

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 9 (Australia)

1964 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 150 min. / Street Date August 26, 2020 / Available at [Imprint] 34.95

Starring: George Peppard, Alan Ladd, Robert Cummings, Martha Hyer, Elizabeth Ashley, Martin Balsam, Lew Ayres, Carroll Baker, Ralph Taeger, Archie Moore,...

In June we lost Joel Schumacher & Sir Ian Holm but the month wasn't all bad. The weather was beautiful, we got a new Spike Lee joint, and we survived another month of this very bad no good worst and quite movie-bereft year. Here are a dozen highlights from the month that was...

• Da 5 Bloods reviewed

• 200 Oldest Living Screen Stars a mega list. Appreciate 'em while they're here

• Spain's Mistake when they passed over Talk to Her

• King of Staten Island reviewed

• His & Hers Oscars - the 8 times both Supporting statues went to the same movie

• Janet Leigh in Psycho let's get her out of the shower

• The Furniture: Safe social distancing with Todd Haynes & Julianne Moore

• Viola's First Breakthrough before Doubt, a triple

• Disclosure Trans Lives on Screen reviewed

• Curio: Movie Loving Masks if it can't be fashion, make it film!

most discussed

• Ten Best Picture Nominees again!

• Smackdown 2002 those merry murderesses of Chicago.

by Nathaniel R

The next Smackdown will be posted on Sunday July 7th. But first let's have a little context on the year that was: Dwight Eisenhower began his second term as President, an influenza epidemic that killed 1 million people worldwide began, Elvis Presley made his final appearance on the Ed Sullivan show (shot waist up only), and the Frisbee was introduced. here's more context for that year in a pop culture sense.

Great Big Box Office Hits: Bridge on the River Kwai, Sayonara, and Peyton Place were the top grossers (and competed for the Oscars). Other hits included Old Yeller, Raintree County, and Gunfight at the Ok Corral...

With its revolutionary mix of shocking-for-its-time violence and sociopolitical themes, George A. Romero's 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead quickly proved to be enormously influential with filmmakers around the world, and few were able to match its power like Jorge Grau's The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue. Mixing a strong environmental statement with unforgettably terrifying set pieces, Grau's film stands on its own as a horror classic, and now it's been restored to its horrifying glory by Synapse Films in an exclusive new Steelbook release.

A strange twist of fate brings two young travelers, George and Edna, to a small town where an experimental agricultural machine may be bringing the dead back to life! As zombies infest the area and attack the living, a bull-headed detective thinks the couple are Satanists responsible for the local killings. George and Edna have to fight for their lives, and prove their innocence,...

With its revolutionary mix of shocking-for-its-time violence and sociopolitical themes, George A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead quickly proved to be enormously influential with filmmakers around the world, and few were able to match its power like Jorge Grau’s The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue. Mixing a strong environmental statement with unforgettably terrifying set pieces, Grau’s film stands on its own as a horror classic, and now it’s been restored to its horrifying glory by Synapse Films in an exclusive new Steelbook release!

A strange twist of fate brings two young travelers, George and Edna, to a small town where an experimental agricultural machine may be bringing the dead back to life! As zombies infest the area and attack the living, a bull-headed detective thinks the couple are Satanists responsible for the local killings. George and Edna have to fight for their lives, and prove their innocence,...

This week The Film Experience will be celebrating Lana Turner for her Centennial. Here's Cláudio Alves

According to legend, Lana Turner was discovered in 1936, when she happened to be spotted by the publisher of The Hollywood Report while drinking a Coke at Schwab's Pharmacy. As with most myths of the cinematic Olympus, the story is unlikely to be true, though that doesn't take away from the allure of the actress. Whatever her origin story, Turner appeared in her first film the following year and quickly became one of Hollywood's most beloved sirens, an icon of glamor and sensuality, a megawatt star the likes of which we haven't seen in decades. 

Despite it all, stardom doesn't necessarily equal prestige. Turner was often seen as little more than a pretty face and her acting craft was underappreciated. In 1957, a conflagration of many scandals, personal and literary, secured her a single Oscar nomination for Peyton Place.

1964: Primetime soap opera Peyton Place premiered on ABC.

1988: Santa Barbara's Eden Capwell was raped.

2009: Guiding Light's Alan Spaulding died.

2010: As the World Turns' Carly and Jack married one last time."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1964: Primetime soap opera Peyton Place premiered on ABC. Based upon the 1956 novel of the same name by Grace Metalious, the series was preceded by a 1957 film adaptation. Peyton Place ran for 514 total episodes with the series finale airing on June 2, 1969.

In the first episode, Dr. Michael Rossi...

1966: Days of our Lives' Tony prepared to leave town.

1985: General Hospital's Josh Clayton was killed.

1994: One Life to Live's paralyzed Luna took her first steps.

1994: All My Children's Hayley and Alec plotted revenge."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1966: On Days of our Lives, Tony Merritt (Richard Colla) told Marie Horton (Maree Cheatham) he was leaving Salem.

1966: On Dark Shadows, news of Bill Malloy's death spread around Collinsport.

1966: On the Season 3 premiere of Peyton Place, Chris Webber (Gary Haynes) was...