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Richard Roat, a character actor with 130-plus credits spanning nearly a half-century who appeared in many of TV’s biggest shows including Seinfeld, Friends, Cheers, Murphy Brown, Dallas, Hawaii Five-o and Happy Days, has died. He was 89.

Roat died August 5 in Orange County, CA, according to his family. No other details were available.

Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery

Born on July 3, 1933, in Hartford, Ct, Roat had a couple of bit TV roles before being cast as Dr. Jerry Chandler in the 1962 pilot of NBC soap opera The Doctors. He appeared in more than 170 episodes during the first year of the which, would go on to air for two decades.

He guested on a 1965 episode of The Fugitive and became a busy character actor during the following decade. Roat appeared in memorable 1970s comedies and dramas as Hawaii Five-o, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Columbo, Cannon, Kojak, The Bob Newhart Show,...

The Uncertain Kingdom Fund, which disburses development coin to U.K. film projects, is opening submissions for its second round from May 23-June 20.

The fund was set up to support projects that interrogate British culture, asking questions of identity, the current journey and the future. It was created to address the challenges directors and producers face creating sustainable careers and targets filmmakers who have previously made a feature.

The stated aim of the fund is to take a hands-off approach and support filmmakers from a range of backgrounds and experiences. Projects of 70-plus minutes in any form or genre that are currently at treatment or script stage are eligible to apply. Filmmakers must be residents of the U.K. but need not be British.

U.K. distributor Picturehouse Entertainment has an ongoing collaboration with the fund and will continue to be closely involved in the selection of projects.

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Why do good actors insist on starring in bad movies? I realize roles are probably pretty scarce for relative unknowns, but you wouldn't pounce upon a pile of shit just because you were sort of hungry, would you? Almost Heaven is a prime example of such desperate shit-eating. You might remember Donal Logue from the kind-of-amusing Grounded for Life and, um, the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven (I only watched it for Mark Ruffalo, I swear!) I actually think Logue is a good comedic actor, even if he does at times give off a douchy Dane Cook-esque vibe, but if he keeps deciding to take on roles in films as mediocre as Almost Heaven, he won't have much of a career.

The film concerns washed up, recently-divorced TV director Mark Brady (Donal Logue), who gets somewhat of a professional break when he lands a job shooting a Scottish wildlife program about fish.

If you're going DVD shopping today, there are a few decent choices, however I wouldn't really recommend either I Love You, Man or 17 Again unless you absolutely love Paul Rudd or Zac Efron. Instead, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Oscar-nominated French film The Class, and the indie comedy Gigantic is at least worth a look. Also in stores this week is the '50s sci-fi spoof Alien Trespass, the direct-to-dvd sequel to Road Trip, and a Michael Jackson documentary, plus all four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies on Blu-ray! Will you be spending your hard-earned cash on anything this week? I Love You, Man [1] (DVD, Blu-ray [2]) 17 Again [3] (DVD, Blu-ray [4]) The Class [5] (DVD, Blu-ray [6]) Gigantic [7] Alien Trespass [8] (DVD, Blu-ray [9]) Road Trip: Beer Pong [10] Gooby [11] Almost Heaven [12] The Last Resort [13] Steppin' [14] The Tiger's Tail [15] The Art of War III: Retribution [16] Dark Rising [17] Dead by Dawn 2: The Return [18] Moonwalking: The True Story...