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Ted Kotcheff, the unheralded Canadian moviemaker who moved gracefully among genres to direct such notable films as The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, First Blood and Weekend at Bernie’s, has died. He was 94.

Kotcheff, who went on to spend 13 seasons as an executive producer on the gritty Dick Wolf series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, died Thursday, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported.

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), starring Richard Dreyfuss as a young hustler, is widely considered to be among the finest Canadian films ever made, and Kotcheff also directed a feature very high of the list of the best movies to come out of Australia — the harrowing thriller Wake in Fright (1971).

The Toronto native, who started his admired 60-year career directing for live television, also helmed the social satire Fun With Dick and Jane (1977), starring George Segal and Jane Fonda; the Nick Nolte-Mac Davis dark pro football drama...

Above: US 30" x 40" poster for The Black Bird. Art by Drew Struzan.As you might be able to tell from the name-above-the-title tagline above, George Segal, who died last month at the age of 87, was a big deal in the 1970s. By the ’90s, when I started getting into the films of both Segal and his one-time co-star and fellow traveler Elliott Gould, both of these New York-born Jewish superstars of the ’70s had been reduced to playing sitcom fathers on TV: Gould in Friends and Segal in Just Shoot Me. (And by the 2010s Segal was best known as a sitcom grandfather on The Goldbergs.) But Segal’s films in particular have not survived well in the public memory, perhaps because he devoted his career mostly to comedy and a kind of dark, sophisticated relationship comedy at that. California Split, the film he made with Gould for Robert Altman...

Most filmmakers are lucky if they can master one genre in their lifetime, but over the course of a sixty-year career Ted Kotcheff has conquered several. He helmed a grimly funny suspense classic (Wake in Fright); a literate, witty Gregory Peck Western (Billy Two-Hats); fast and funny comedies (Fun with Dick and Jane, Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe); and dramedies where the laughs coexist with unsettling insights into the dark side of the human condition (North Dallas Forty, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz). All of his films are characterized by a vibrant pictorial sense – no one […]...

By Todd Garbarini

The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles will be presenting a 50th anniversary screening of Mike Nichols’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? based upon Edward Albee’s play. The 131-minute film, which stars Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal and Sandy Dennis, will be screened on Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at 7:00 pm.

Actor George Segal, who appears in the film as Nick (Honey’s Husband), is scheduled to appear at a Q&A session after the film to discuss his role and career.

From the press release:

Who’S Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966) 50th Anniversary Screening

Tribute to Oscar-winning Cinematographer Haskell Wexler

Oscar Nominee George Segal In Person for post-screening Q&A with Lafca President Stephen Farber

Tuesday, February 23, at 7:00 Pm at the Royal Theatre

Skeptics said Edward Albee’s scathing dissection of marriage could never be turned into a movie. But when the Production...

The name director Ted Kotcheff may not be as instantly recognisable as some of his filmmaker contemporaries, but a fertile creative period during the 70s and 80s saw him craft a number of well-received films across a variety of genres – The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (which launched the career of a young, pre-Jaws Richard Dreyfuss), the original Fun with Dick and Jane, North Dallas Forty, Switching Channels and Weekend at Bernie’s.

Arguably, he’s best known for bringing the iconic character of John Rambo into the world with the 1982 ‘Nam-scarred survivalist classic First Blood, but another underappreciated film from his CV is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. 1971’s Wake in Fright was an early addition to the Australian New Wave cinema movement, and remains a vivid and disturbing depiction of the country’s hard-drinking, fiercely masculine subculture of that era. We talked to Kotcheff earlier this month...

Director Ted Kotcheff Talks Wake in Fright, fully-restored and on Blu-ray now!

Alongside Mad Max and Walkabout, Wake in Fright is widely acknowledged as one of the seminal films in the development of modern Australian cinema. Directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Donald Pleasence, this thriller tells the nightmarish story of a schoolteacher's (Gary Bond) descent into personal demoralization at the hands of drunken, deranged derelicts while stranded in a small town in outback Australia. Believed to be lost for decades and virtually unseen in America until now, Wake in Fright returns fully-restored in stunning HD in what the New York Observer says "may be the greatest Australian film ever made."

Wake in Fright is now available on Blu-ray and DVD. To celebrate this home release, we caught up with director Ted Kotcheff to chat about the film's revival and its near destruction. Ted is a luminary in the field of action cinema,...

Today is the anniversary of the first day of Lady Jane Grey's infamous reign as the Queen of England. "Infamous why?" you ask. On account of its length, see. Her days as Queen numbered only nine.

They made a movie of the short event in 1985 (Lady Jane) which is all but forgotten today. Maybe it shouldn't be since it starred baby faced rising stars Cary Elwes and the now resurgent Helena Bonham Carter. Hbc quickly became the go-to actress of choice for directors who wanted a porcelain dress up doll for their costume pictures. And by directors I mean the great James Ivory.

So herewith a top ten top nine list in Lady Jane's and Helena's honor...

Top Nine Best "Janes"

With apologies to four time Oscar nominee Jane Alexander, Susan Sarandon's delightful Jane Spofford, Jane Lynch (before Glee), Fun with Dick and Jane, and Demi Moore's G.I. Jane,...

Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film for The Adventures of Tintin, directed by Spielberg, and produced by Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Hemisphere Capital, Amblin Entertainment, Wingnut Films Production, and Kennedy/Marshall Production. The Adventures of Tintin (Peter Jackson was one of the film's producers) was distributed by Paramount and Columbia (depending on the territory). In the above photo, Spielberg is seen backstage in the press room at the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, CA, on Sunday, January 15, 2012. Three Steven Spielberg-directed movies have won Golden Globes in the Best Motion Picture – Drama category: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), with Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore; the eventual Oscar winner Schindler's List (1993), with Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, and Ben Kingsley; and Saving Private Ryan (1998), with Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, and Tom Sizemore. Spielberg won Best Director Oscars for both Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan.

Film producer and screenwriter Marion Segal Freed has died at the age of 77.

She passed away at her Los Angeles home last week after a long illness.

Freed began her career as a producer and worked with her first husband, actor George Segal, on his films Russian Roulette (1975) and Fun with Dick and Jane (1977). She also served as a film editor on director Terrence Malick's movies Badlands (1973) and 1978's Days of Heaven.

She wed moviemaker Herb Freed in 1985 and they worked on three independent films in the late 1990s - Subterfuge, Paradise Lost and Child 2 Man - all of which were written by the late star and directed by her husband.

Marion Segal Freed, a producer, editor, screenwriter and the former wife of actor George Segal, died Dec. 22 at her Century City home after a long illness. She was 77. Freed, who was married to Segal for 25 years until their divorce in 1984, also was the step-sister of Susan Harris, the creator of TV's The Golden Girls. Photos: Hollywood’s Notable Deaths Freed served as an associate producer on Russian Roulette (1975) and Fun With Dick and Jane (1977), both of which starred Segal, and did editing work on the actor's 1981 movie Carbon Copy as well as a pair

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Rumors started swirling last night that Law & Order would not break Gunsmoke’s record as the longest running primetime series, that instead NBC would cancel the police drama due to low ratings. That is in fact the case, as NBC officially announced today that they will not be renewing the long-running series for a 21st season. Creator Dick Wolf is reportedly interested in pursuing the show elsewhere, likely TNT, where the series airs in syndication.

But the L&O franchise is not yet done with NBC, who made the easy decision of renewing Law & Order: Svu, the highest-rated drama on the network, and officially ordering new spinoff Law & Order: Los Angeles (or Lola, if you prefer) for the 2010-2011 season. Check out the press release after the jump. [Artwork above by the brilliant Brandon Bird]

Here’s the official press release:

NBC Announces Pickups For New Drama ‘Lola’ (‘Law & Order: Los Angeles’) And Returning ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit...

Ed McMahon, best known as the loyal Tonight Show sidekick of Johnny Carson and the host of Star Search, has died early Tuesday morning at age 86. McMahon has supporting roles in several movies, including the 1977 version of Fun With Dick And Jane, Full Moon High, Just Write, and most recently appeared in Jelly. McMahon has been suffering though a "multitude of health problems the last few months," and died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center surrounded by his wife, Pam, and other family members. Say goodbye to Ed in the comments below.