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Kathy Bates has announced she's retiring after Matlock, so here's a look at the highlights of an incredible career!

CBS had announced Matlock in 2023, a reboot of the 1980s NBC series starring Andy Griffith as a lawyer whose charming manner hides his legal brilliance defending people accused of murder. The new version has Kathy Bates as Madeline "Matty" Matlock, a veteran attorney returning to work for a major firm. She uses her supposed scatterbrained persona and age to make sure she's underestimated before pulling off a win.

The 2023 Hollywood strikes delayed the show, but it is ready to premiere this September. Before that happens, Bates announced that she would be retiring after this series, no matter how long it runs.

This is my last dance. It becomes my life. Sometimes I get jealous of having this talent. Because I can't hold it back, and I just want my life. Everything I've prayed for,...

The upcoming reimagining of The Four Seasons needs to make some room because Will Forte is checking in. Universal Television is producing the all-new series adaptation from Tina Fey, Land Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield. Forte joins Fey, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver, and Erika Henningsen for the show written by Fey, Fisher, and Wigfield.

The Four Seasons, a retread of the 1981 Universal movie of the same name, is a co-creation between Fey, her 30 Rock co-star Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield. Details about Forte’s character remain a mystery, though the cast list for Alan Alda’s 1981 comedy could provide some clues. In 1981’s The Four Seasons, three couples vacation together every season. After one couple divorces, feelings of betrayal and more spawn criticisms of one another, but the things that keep them together are stronger than those that might tear them apart. Alan Alda directed and wrote the 1981 version,...

Will Forte is headed back to Netflix for his next series role — and reuniting with his former Saturday Night Live castmate Tina Fey.

Forte, who’s coming off the comedic thriller Bodkin at Netflix, has joined the cast of The Four Seasons at the streamer. The series, based on the 1981 film of the same name, stars and was co-created by Fey. The cast also includes Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver and Erika Henningsen.

Fey co-created The Four Seasons with Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield; all three worked together on 30 Rock. The film it’s based on, written and directed by Alan Alda, centers on three couples who vacation together each season and the changes in the group dynamic when one of couples splits up and the man brings a much younger woman on subsequent trips. Alda also starred in the movie alongside Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Rita Moreno,...

Will Forte has been added to the cast of Netflix’s upcoming comedy “The Four Seasons,” opposite stars including Tina Fey and Steve Carell.

Fey, Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield are behind the series, based on the 1981 feature film that was written and directed by Alan Alda (who starred with Carol Burnett).

Forte was most recently seen in Netflix’s “Bodkin.” The “Saturday Night Live” alum’s credits include “Last Man on Earth,” “Sweet Tooth” and “MacGruber.” Besides Fey and Carell, previously announced cast members include Colman Domingo, Kerri Kenney-Silver and Erika Henningsen.

Slated to begin production later this year, “The Four Seasons” has received an eight-episode order at Netflix. The original film, which also starred Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, and Len Cariou , centered on three married couples take vacations together each season, but things are thrown for a loop when one of the husbands leaves his wife and begins...

Will Forte is the latest cast addition to Netflix’s The Four Seasons, joining as a series regular in the comedy series based on Universal’s 1981 feature film. He joins fellow series regulars Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Erika Henningsen and Kerri Kenney-Silver. Details on their roles are being kept under wraps.

The Four Seasons is co-created by 30 Rock creator and star Fey, and 30 Rock alums Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield. The series is based on the 1981 film that was written and directed by Alan Alda, produced by Martin Bregman, and starred Alda and Carol Burnett. The series is slated to begin production later this year.

The Four Seasons TV series is written by Fey, Fisher and Wigfield who executive produce with David Miner, Eric Gurian and Jeff Richmond. Alda and Marissa Bregman will produce. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the producing studio. Fey’s Little Stranger,...

Erika Henningsen is re-teaming with Tina Fey on the latter’s upcoming Netflix series “The Four Seasons,” Variety has learned exclusively.

Henningsen and Fey previously worked together on the Broadway musical version of “Mean Girls,” for which Fey wrote the book based on the movie of the same name she also wrote. Henningsen originated the role of Cady Heron in the original Broadway production. Henningsen also recurred in “Girls5Eva,” the Peacock series that recently moved to Netflix, on which Fey is an executive producer.

Henningsen will star opposite Fey in the series as well as Steve Carell and Colman Domingo. The show is based on the 1981 film of the same name that was directed by and starred Alan Alda with Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, and Len Cariou also among the cast members. The series was first announced in January with an eight-episode order and is slated to begin production later this year.

Colman Domingo is the latest addition to the cast of “The Four Seasons” series at Netflix.

He will star alongside previously announced cast members Tina Fey and Steve Carell. The show is based on the 1981 film of the same name that was directed by and starred Alan Alda with Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, and Len Cariou also among the cast members. The series was first announced in January with an eight-episode order and is slated to begin production later this year.

In the film, three married couples take vacations together each season, but things are thrown for a loop when one of the husbands leaves his wife and begins bringing a younger woman with him. It was previously adapted into a 1984 TV series for CBS.

Domingo is a highly-regarded star of both stage and screen. He recently picked up his first Oscar nomination for the film “Rustin,” for...

Jerry Herman’s musical “Hello, Dolly!” dominated the 18th Tony Awards which took place at the New York Hilton on May 24, 1964. “Hello, Dolly!” entered the ceremony with 11 nominations and walked out with ten awards including best musical, best actress for Carol Channing, original score for Herman and for Gower Champion’s choreography and direction.

Other musicals in contention for multiple awards that year were “High Spirits,” based on Noel Coward’s classic comedy “Blithe Spirit,” “Funny Girl,” which transformed Barbra Streisand into a Broadway superstar, and “110 in the Shade,” based on the straight play “The Rainmaker.”

Bert Lahr, best known as the Cowardly Lion in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz,” won lead actor in a musical for “Foxy,” based on Ben Jonson’s “Volpone.” The musical was not a hit closed after 72 performances. Also nominated in the category was Bob Fosse for a short-lived revival of Rodgers and Hart’s “Pal Joey.

Steve Carell is ready for a vacation after lending his dulcet tones to Illumination’s Despicable Me 4 and John Krasinski’s upcoming family comedy If. Thankfully, Netflix has a plane ticket with Carell’s name on it, so long as he’s willing to join the cast of The Four Seasons, a forthcoming comedy series led by Tina Fey.

The Four Seasons, a retread of the 1981 Universal movie of the same name, is a co-creation between Fey, her 30 Rock co-star Lang Fisher, and Tracey Wigfield. Details about Carell’s character remain a mystery, though the cast list for Alan Alda’s 1981 comedy could provide some clues. In 1981’s The Four Seasons, three couples vacation together every season. After one couple divorces, feelings of betrayal and more spawn criticisms of one another, but the things that keep them together are stronger than those that might tear them apart. Alan Alda directed and wrote the 1981 version,...

Steve Carell is set to star opposite Tina Fey in the upcoming Netflix comedy series “The Four Seasons,” Variety has learned.

The series is based on the 1981 film of the same name that was directed by and starred Alan Alda with Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, and Len Cariou also among the cast members. The series was first announced in January with an eight-episode order and is slated to begin production later this year.

In the film, three married couples take vacations together each season, but things are thrown for a loop when one of the husbands leaves his wife and begins bringing a younger woman with him. It was previously adapted into a 1984 TV series for CBS.

This will not be the first time Carell and Fey have appeared together onscreen. They previously played a married couple in the hit 2010 comedy feature “Date Night.” This is also not Carell’s first Netflix series,...

Steve Carell is reuniting with Tina Fey and Universal Television.

The Office grad has closed a deal to co-star in Netflix’s The Four Seasons, the update of the 1981 Alan Alda feature film of the same name. The role reunites Carell with Tina Fey after the duo starred as a married couple in the 2010 movie Date Night.

Ordered straight-to-series in January after Netflix won the show following a bidding war after the conclusion of last year’s dual strikes, the adaptation was co-created by Fey and her fellow 30 Rock alums Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield.

Production on the series is slated to begin later this year. The original film, written and directed by Alda, revolves around three couples who take vacations together each season and explores the changes in the group dynamic when one of couples splits up and the man brings a much younger woman on subsequent trips. The...

At the inaugural Academy Awards in 1929, native Pennsylvanian Janet Gaynor made history as the first American-born performer to win an Oscar by taking the Best Actress prize for her body of work in “7th Heaven,” “Street Angel,” and “Sunrise.” Over the subsequent 95 years, 215 more thespians originating from the United States won the academy’s favor, meaning the country has now produced 68.1% of all individual acting Oscar recipients. Considering the last decade alone, the rate of such winners is even higher, at 70.3%.

At this point, 96.8% of American-born acting Oscar victors have hailed from one of 34 actual states. Of those constituting the remainder, three originated from the federal District of Columbia, while four were born in the territory of Puerto Rico. New York (home to 49 winners) is the most common birth state among the entire group, followed by California (34), Illinois (13), Massachusetts (11), and Pennsylvania (11).

Bearing in mind our specific birthplace focus, the 16 states...

Elizabeth Taylor was the glamorous Hollywood icon who starred in dozens of movies throughout her career, collecting two Best Actress trophies at the Oscars and three additional nominations. But how many of those titles remain classics? Let’s take a look back at 15 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1932, Taylor began her career as a child actress, landing her first leading role when she was just 12-years-old with “National Velvet” (1944). She quickly transitioned into adult stardom, earning her first Oscar nomination as Best Actress for “Raintree County” (1957). Subsequent bids for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958) and “Suddenly, Last Summer” (1959) quickly followed.

She collected her first statuette playing a prostitute with man troubles in “Butterfield 8” (1960), a film she openly hated. Her win probably had more to do with an emergency tracheotomy she underwent right before the ceremony than the performance, but either way, Taylor was...

The Four Seasons is headed to Netflix. Tina Fey will co-create and star in the series based on the 1981 film of the same name. Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield will also co-create the new series.

The original romantic comedy movie was written and directed by Alan Alda and stars Alda, Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis, Rita Moreno, Jack Weston, and Bess Armstrong. The story revolves around three upper-middle class couples from New York who take vacations together four times a year, one per season. One of the husbands leaves his wife and introduces a much younger woman into the mix, upsetting the balance of the couples' relationships.

Read More…...

Tina Fey returns to television comedy with an adaptation of the 1981 film, The Four Seasons. Here are the first details of her latest show…

Actor, writer, comedian and producer Tina Fey is returning to the small screen to co-write and star in The Four Seasons, an adaptation of the 1981 film of the same name which was written and directed by Alan Alda, who also starred alongside Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis, Rita Moreno, Jack Weston, and Bess Armstrong.

The plot followed three couples who vacation together during each of the four seasons. One of the men leaves his wife for a younger woman, who he brings to the next vacation, leading to conflict. A short lived television adaptation followed in 1984.

Fey co-created the television version with fellow 30 Rock writers Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield. Alan Alda will also executive produce.

30 Rock is by some margin one of the best,...

Tina Fey is set to star in a series adaptation of the film “The Four Seasons” at Netflix, Variety has confirmed.

The film was released in 1981. It was directed by and starred Alan Alda with Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis, and Len Cariou also among the cast members.

In addition to starring, Fey co-created the series along with Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield. All three previously worked together on the beloved NBC sitcom “30 Rock.” All three also executive produce along with David Miner, Eric Gurian and Jeff Richmond. Alda and Marissa Bregman, whose father produced the film, will also produce the series. Universal Television, where Fey and her Little Stranger, Inc. banner are set up under an overall deal, will produce.

The series has received an eight-episode order at Netflix. It will begin production later this year. In the film, three married couples take vacations together each season,...

Tina Fey has set another series at Netflix — and will star in it as well as co-creating and executive producing.

The streamer has ordered a series based on the 1981 movie The Four Seasons from Fey and fellow 30 Rock alumni Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield. Universal TV, where Fey’s Little Stranger company is based, is producing the comedy. Netflix won a bidding war for the series, which was a hot property following the end of writers and actors strikes in the fall.

Alan Alda wrote, directed and starred in The Four Seasons, which followed three couples who take vacations together each season and the changes in the group dynamic when one of couples splits up and the man brings a much younger woman on subsequent trips. The film’s cast also includes Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Rita Moreno, Jack Weston, Sandy Dennis and Bess Armstrong.

Alda (who had a recurring...

Exclusive: 30 Rock creator and star Tina Fey is returning to the small screen as a lead of The Four Seasons, based on the 1981 feature film, which she co-created with fellow 30 Rock alums Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield. The high-profile comedy project, which marks Fey’s first TV starring role since 30 Rock, was taken out to the marketplace just before the holidays. In a very competitive situation with multiple bidders, it landed at Netflix with an eight-episode series order.

Production is slated to begin later this year. Universal Television, where Fey is based, is the studio.

The Universal Pictures film The Four Seasons, about three couples who vacation together every season, was written and directed by Alan Alda, produced by Martin Bregman, and starred Alda and Carol Burnett.

The Four Seasons TV series is written by Fey, Fisher and Wigfield who executive produce with David Miner, Eric Gurian and Jeff Richmond.

Herman Raucher, whose Oscar-nominated Summer of ’42 screenplay became one of Hollywood’s best-loved coming-of-age tales, has died of natural causes at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Ct. He was 95.

His December 28 death was announced by daughter Jenny Raucher, who was by his side when he passed.

Subsequently adapted by Raucher into an international best-selling novel, 1971’s Summer of ’42 was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay. It told the nostalgic and bittersweet story of teenager Hermie — played by Gary Grimes and based on Raucher himself — who, during a summertime vacation on Nantucket Island, becomes infatuated with a beautiful (and soon grieving) older woman (Jennifer O’Neill) whose husband has gone off to fight in World War II.

The film, directed by Robert Mulligan (To Kill a Mockingbird), was a critical success and a major hit for Warner Bros. Michel Legrand’s score won an Oscar and quickly became...

Herman Raucher, the best-selling author and screenwriter who earned an Oscar nomination for the coming-of-age classic Summer of ’42 and wrote the script for the thought-provoking Watermelon Man, has died. He was 95.

Raucher died Thursday of natural causes at Stamford Hospital in Stamford, Connecticut, his daughter Jenny Raucher told The Hollywood Reporter.

Raucher, who started out in live television, penned the screenplays for two Anthony Newley-starring films: Sweet November (1968), directed by Robert Ellis Miller and also featuring Sandy Dennis, and Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? (1969), featuring Joan Collins.

He also was given inspiration from Bobbie Gentry’s 1967 hit song to write the screenplay to Ode to Billy Joe (1976), a love story that starred Robby Benson and Glynnis O’Connor and was helmed by Max Baer Jr.

With the Robert Mulligan-directed Summer of ’42 (1971) in postproduction, someone came up with the idea of Raucher writing a...

Steven Spielberg horror movies don't necessarily come to mind when talking about the most prolific horror movie directors. However, the E.T. filmmaker has dabbled in such multi-genre projects in his sprawling career that his contributions to that genre cannot be denied. Just consider the tension-building he achieved with Jaws and Jurassic Park. Instead of focusing on the supernatural, Spielberg has mostly tapped into real-world fears such as a shark terrorizing a local beach or a genetic engineering project with catastrophic consequences. While Jaws turned him into a household name, even his previous work included horror TV films such as Something Evil and Duel.

Spielberg’s connection with the horror genre goes all the way back to his first professional job, which involved filming segments of the pilot episode of the horror anthology Night Gallery. The pilot proved how Spielberg has also dabbled in the fear of the supernatural. This...

What do the 76th annual Tonys have in common with the 17th annual awards?

Stephen Sondheim.

The late, great influential composer is represented in this year’s Tonys with the acclaimed, popular revivals of his 1979 classic “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Street” earning eight nominations and 1987’s “Into the Woods” receiving six.

Sixty years ago, it was Sondheim’s musical comedy “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” which dominated the Tony Awards with six wins: best musical, best producer for Harold Prince, best director for George Abbott, best author for Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, leading actor for Zero Mostel and featured actor for David Burns. Ironically, Sondheim failed to earn a nomination for best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater. He would not win for his tunes until “Company” in 1971. Vying in that category were “Stop the World I Wanted...

Cannibalism has emerged as the genre du jour in horror. With the success of last year’s Fresh and Bones and All as well as the second season of Yellowjackets finally digging into the human flesh, everyone seems to be exploring this taboo topic. From nightmare survival scenarios to narcissistic serial killers, these films follow humans or humanoid monsters who consume human flesh in one way or another. Some butcher and cook the meat, while others eat it from the bone, but all cannibal films offer a window into a world of depravity and a fascinating blend of horror and revulsion. We not only fear being eaten ourselves, but we often find ourselves imagining what the meat would taste like should we dare (or be forced) to take a bite.

Films about cannibals may seem like a rare delicacy, but a closer look reveals that the pickens are not so slim.

Bill Butler, the self-taught, Oscar-nominated cinematographer whose work on the landmark 1975 horror film Jaws unleashed a wave of anxiety for beachgoers that lasts to this day, has died. He would have turned 102 on Friday.

Butler died Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, according to the American Society of Cinematographers. He is survived by five daughters and his wife, Iris.

During his five-decade career, Butler also shot Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People (1969) and The Conversation (1974); Peter Hyams’ Capricorn One (1977); Randal Kleiser’s hit musical Grease (1978); and Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982) and Rocky IV (1985), all written and directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone.

On another noteworthy 1975 release, Butler replaced the fired Haskell Wexler midway through production on Milos Forman‘s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Both shared an Oscar cinematography nomination for their work.

Butler also had replaced Wexler on The Conversation after creative differences forced Wexler off that production early on.

Melinda Dillon, who was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Steven Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and Sydney Pollack’s “Absence of Malice,” has died at age 83, her family said in a public obituary.

She died on Jan. 9, but the obituary gave no cause of death.

Dillon memorably played single mother Jillian Guiler, whose son Barry (Cary Guffey), is abducted by aliens in “Close Encounters.” Like Richard Dreyfuss’s lead character, she also becomes obsessed with Devil’s Tower in Wyoming and both their quests lead them there. After running the gauntlet of military obstacles, they are the only two civilians who witness the alien ship landing in the film’s emotional finale.

Also Read:

Lisa Loring, Original Wednesday on ‘The Addams Family,’ Dies at 64

She received her second nomination for playing a Catholic who commits suicide after a reporter (Sally Field) writes about...

Melinda Dillon, who received supporting Oscar nominations for her turns in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Absence of Malice and portrayed the doting mom in the holiday perennial A Christmas Story, died Jan. 9, her family announced. She was 83.

Right out of the gate, Dillon earned a Tony nomination and Theatre World award in 1963 for her debut performance on Broadway as the childlike wife Honey in the original production of Edward Albee‘s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Later, the Arkansas native played two characters opposite David Carradine — Woody Guthrie’s first wife, Mary, and a dark-haired folk singer named Memphis Sue — in the biopic Bound for Glory (1976), directed by Hal Ashby; was a lesbian hockey wife in George Roy Hill’s Slap Shot (1977); and portrayed John Lithgow’s wife in the family film Harry and the Hendersons (1987).

Her big-screen résumé also included Norman Jewison’s F.I.S.T. (1978), as...

Taylor Russell is drawing comparisons to screen legend Marilyn Monroe thanks to her star-making turn in “Bones and All.”

Russell’s co-star Mark Rylance explained how the up-and-coming actress was reminiscent of “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” icon Monroe in her approach to acting.

“I’ve often read that on set with Marilyn Monroe, people couldn’t see what she was doing,” Rylance told Harper’s Bazaar. “With Taylor, I had a similar feeling.”

He added, “That was the surprise for me: how much the camera digs into the soul of a person.”

“Bones and All” starred Russell opposite Timothée Chalamet as two star-crossed lovers with a penchant for cannibalism. Rylance was one nomad who crosses paths with the couple.

Russell credited Sissy Spacek as her “favorite actress of all time” and a large inspiration.

“Acting is the opposite of running away,” Russell said. “It illuminates something.”

With a similar tone to...

Bill Treusch, an esteemed New York-based talent manager, died at the age of 80 following a long illness on Tuesday in New York City.

Through Treusch’s career, he was instrumental in finding and guiding the careers of Sissy Spacek, Richard Jenkins, Melissa Leo, Christopher Walken, Tom Hulce, Diane Keaton, Eric Roberts, Tom Berenger, Peter Weller, Viggo Mortensen, Carol Kane and Sandy Dennis among many other notable actors.

Treusch began his professional career as an autograph collector, then became the personal assistant to Montgomery Clift, who was a theatrical talent agent with Dudley Field Malone. Most notably, Treusch joined the casting office of Marion Dougherty where he worked with Juliet Taylor, Wallis Nicita and Gretchen Rennell as an assistant.

Dougherty noted Treusch’s great eye for talent and reassigned him to a position where his management career then flourished. This story was chronicled in the 2012 documentary “Casting By” from director Tom Donahue.

Bill Treusch, the New York-based talent manager who ushered the careers of stars like Sissy Spacek, Diane Keaton, Christopher Walken, Melissa Leo and Viggo Mortenson died on Tuesday following a long illness, his niece Shannon Treusch confirmed. He was 80.

The founder of Bill Treusch Management (formerly Bill Treusch & Associates) got his start as an assistant to the Oscar-nominated actor Montgomery Clift and then as a theatrical talent agent with Dudley Field Malone. He would find his true calling while assisting casting director Marion Dougherty, who recognized his ability to spot talent. Treusch launched his five-decade career in talent management from a basement in Dougherty’s office, as told in the 2012 documentary “Casting By.”

Treusch’s company, which began as a one-man operation, went on to shepherd many stars throughout their careers. In addition to those aforementioned, his roster included Richard Jenkins, Tom Hulce, Eric Roberts, Tom Berenger, Peter Weller, Carol Kane,...

Bill Treusch, a longtime New York talent manager who once served as personal assistant to Montgomery Clift and went on help guide the careers of Sissy Spacek, Christopher Walken, Tom Hulce, Diane Keaton, Eric Roberts, Tom Berenger and numerous others, died Tuesday in New York City following a lengthy illness. He was 80.

Following his stint as Clift’s personal assistant, Treusch became a theatrical talent agent with Dudley Field Malone. He joined the casting office of Marion Dougherty where he worked with casting agents Juliet Taylor, Wallis Nicita, and Gretchen Rennell.

Although Dougherty believed Treusch was unsuited to casting, she recognized his eye for talent. Settled into Dougherty’s basement office, Treusch flourished and eventually founded his own one-man operation that evolved into Bill Treusch Management, a leading management company.

Working with film, television and stage performers over a career that spanned more than five decades, Treusch was instrumental in...

Click here to read the full article.

Bill Treusch, the admired New York-based talent manager who jump-started the career of Sissy Spacek and represented Christopher Walken, Diane Keaton, Viggo Mortensen, Richard Jenkins and many others during his five-decade career, has died. He was 80.

Treusch died Tuesday in New York after a long illness, his niece Shannon Treusch, founder and partner of the public relations firm Falco Ink., announced.

Treusch got his big break when legendary casting director Marion Dougherty recognized his eye for talent and gave him an office in her basement at East 30th Street in Manhattan. There, he launched Bill Treusch & Associates, later known as Bill Treusch Management. (The story is told in the 2012 documentary Casting By, directed by Tom Donahue.)

His firm started as a one-man band before evolving into a powerhouse management company.

He was especially helpful to Spacek, who was a struggling singer and actress...

Out of all the winners (and also-rans) in the 26 competitive categories at the 2022 Tony Awards, 18 results stand out as particularly noteworthy when considered in the context of history. So what were this year’s most interesting facts, records, and milestones? Check out the complete list of winners here.

1. The following productions that received multiple Tony nominations, but went home empty-handed were “American Buffalo,” “Caroline, or Change,” “Clyde’s,” “For Colored Girls,” “Flying Over Sunset,” “Hangmen,” “How I Learned to Drive,” “Macbeth,” “Mr. Saturday Night,” “The Music Man,” “Potus,” and “Trouble in Mind.”

SEESecond Stage Theater (‘Take Me Out’) earns 1st Tony Award since purchasing a Broadway house

2. The following individuals who had multiple nominations this year, but went home empty-handed were set designer Beowulf Boritt (“Flying Over Sunset” and “Potus”), director/choreographer Camille A. Brown (“For Colored Girls”), actor/book writer Billy Crystal (“Mr. Saturday Night”), director/book writer Conor McPherson...

Our Oscar Volley series continues with Cláudio Alves and Nick Taylor doing a deep dive on a category near and dear to their hearts...

Nick: First, quick introductions! What drew us to this category, you ask? The Supporting Actress category was one of my favorite fields to rummage through when I was initially exploring the Oscars. Tilda Swinton, Lupita Nyong’o, Sandy Dennis, Thelma Ritter, Mo’Nique, Dianne Wiest, Agnes Moorehead - all led me to new ideas about film and performance I hadn’t dreamed of before then. Watching talented actresses carve out whole worlds from the corners of their films became one of my favorite things to search for in movies.

I have a very specific memory of discovering the Supporting Actress Smackdown after watching Kramer vs Kramer for the first time only a few weeks after the podcast on 1979 dropped and listening to the discussion with rapt attention. And...

Retro-active: The Best From The Cinema Retro Archives

Review – Naked City: The Complete Series

Rlj Entertainment / 6,063 minutes

By Harvey F. Chartrand

Naked City was like no other TV series before or since – Michel Moriarty, star of Law and Order, once told this reviewer.

Inspired by Jules Dassin's 1948 film of the same name, Naked City centers on the detectives of the NYPD’s 65th Precinct, but the criminals and New York City itself often played as prominent a role in the dramas as the series regulars. Like the film it was based on, Naked City (1958- 1963) was shot almost entirely on location. The first season ran as a half-hour show under the title The Naked City, starring James Franciscus and John McIntire playing, respectively, Detective Jimmy Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon—the same roles essayed by Don Taylor and Barry Fitzgerald in the film.

The Naked City also starred Harry Bellaver as Det.

Writer-director Mike Nichols, then known for Broadway comedies and his satirical work with Elaine May, surprised everyone by choosing Edward Albee’s incendiary psychodrama Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as his motion picture debut. Filmed on the campus of Smith College in Massachusetts, it’s a cinematic one-two punch thanks to the gloves-off performances of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (who bulked-up to a fighting weight of 155 lbs). Taylor snagged an Oscar (along with co-star Sandy Dennis and cinematographer Haskell Wexler—Burton and George Segal were nominated but lost). Albee had wanted James Mason and Bette Davis for the leads (in 1980 Nichols and May themselves starred in a New Haven revival).

The post Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

George Segal with Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn during the filming of "The Bridge at Remagen" in 1968.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actor George Segal has passed away at age 87. Segal became a rising young star in the 1960s and went on to enjoy success in both feature films and television. He made his big screen debut in "The Young Doctors" in 1961 and within a few years had appeared in "Ship of Fools" and his first starring role in "King Rat". The 1965 adaptation of James Clavell's novel found Segal as an American prisoner in a Japanese P.O.W. camp in WWII. He uses his guile and survival skills to not only stay alive but to thrive, much to disgust of British P.O.W.s who think his actions border on collaboration with the enemy. Segal's biggest break came the following year when he was cast in Mike Nichols' screen...

Guest reviewer Lee Broughton returns with an assessment of Robert Englund’s offbeat video rental store favourite 976-evil. Satanic panic ensues when two teenage cousins are foolish enough to start using an automated telephone “horrorscope” service. Dialling 666 just might be granting the pair a direct line to the Devil himself and there’s bound to be a hefty price to pay for that. Sandy Dennis and Stephen Geoffreys bring a touch of class to this low budget but unpredictable and compelling 1980s horror show.

976-Evil

Region B Blu-ray

Eureka Entertainment

1988 / Colour / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date, 19 October 2020 / £17.99

Starring: Stephen Geoffreys, Pat O’Bryan, Sandy Dennis, Jim Metzler, Lezlie Deane, J. J. Cohen, Maria Rubell, Robert Picardo.

Cinematography: Paul Elliott

Production Designer: David Brian Miller

Film Editor: Stephen Myers

Original Music: Thomas Chase, Steve Rucker

Written by Rhet Topham, Brian Helgeland

Produced by Lisa Hansen

Directed by Robert Englund

Spike (Pat...

Actress Alex Essoe walks is through some of her favorite dream sequences.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Starry Eyes (2014)

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Beyond The Black Rainbow (2010)

Mandy (2018), as usual

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Death of Me (2020)

Life Dances On (1937)

Tales of Manhattan (1942)

I Love You, Alice B Toklas (1968)

Papillon (1973)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

The Conversation (1974)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)

Nashville (1975)

The Ninth Configuration (1980)

The Exorcist (1973)

Shutter Island (2010)

The Exorcist III (1990)

A Shot In The Dark (1964)

Another Woman (1988)

Stardust Memories (1980)

8 ½ (1963)

Interiors (1978)

Dumbo (1941)

Mulholland Drive (2001)

A Woman Under The Influence (1974)

Mulholland Falls (1996)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Fletch (1985)

The ’Burbs (1989)

Dreams (1990)

Ran (1985)

Homewrecker (2019)

The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)

The Wicker Man (1973)

Other Notable Items

Howard Hughes

Panos Cosmatos

The Haunting of Bly Manor TV series (2020)

Shelley Duvall

Tfh Guru Darren Lynn Bousman

The American Cinematheque

The New Beverly Theatre

Julien Duvivier

Jean Renoir

Jean-Luc Godard

François Truffaut

John Cassavetes...

With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.

There are probably no worse people to quarantine with in the history of American theater than George and Martha, but that’s exactly what we’re invited to do in Mike Nichols’ 1966 film version of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” While Nichols opens up Edward Albee’s essentially one-room play to include scenes at a roadhouse, the film remains inescapably claustrophobic thanks to the powerhouse performances of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sandy Dennis, and George Segal, all of whom near closer and closer to a boiling point over the course of one dark night of the soul.

Few plays offer as full a meal for an actor as Albee’s 1962 howl of a dark comedy about middle-aged history professor George (Richard...

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“Adult With Sidekick”

By Raymond Benson

Perhaps what might have been an unexpected Oscar nominee for Best Picture of 1965 was A Thousand Clowns, an adaptation of the Broadway play written by Herb Gardner (who also penned the screenplay and was nominated for his work). Fred Coe had directed the stage production, which garnered Tony nominations for Best Play, Best Featured Actor, and awarded Sandy Dennis a trophy for Featured Actress. Just about everyone involved in the Broadway production went on to make the film, also directed by Coe, except, oddly enough, Dennis. Martin Balsam is also new to the film, replacing Larry Haines, and Balsam walked away with an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Jason Robards’ savvy brother and manager.

While Jason Robards (Jr.) as Murray Burns is the tale’s protagonist, it is indeed young Barry Gordon as Murray’s nephew,...

“Marriage Story” looks like the only Oscar contender this season with a plausible shot at earning nominations in all four acting races, in large part because it’s one of the few films in the conversation with male and female co-leads. Only 15 other movies have accomplished that feat, which would make “Marriage” the 16th. But it’s even more impressive when you consider that it has only happened twice in the last 37 years.

According to the combined predictions of Gold Derby users, “Marriage Story” is a reasonably safe bet for Best Actress (Scarlett Johansson as an actress filing for divorce), Best Actor (Adam Driver as her husband fighting to retain custody of their son) and Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern as Johansson’s lawyer). That leaves Best Supporting Actor, where Alan Alda is a contender for playing Driver’s kindly but out-of-his-depth attorney, but he’s an underdog according to...

No matter when or where you were born, being a kid is hard - every day is a week, good or bad, and every problem is insurmountable no matter the climb. A normal child’s experience is heightened at the very least, and if a real issue does emerge it’s usually the parents who can steer the youth to calmer waters. But what if the grown-ups are the problem? This is the pickle that our wee protagonist finds himself with in Parents (1989), in which the prospect that Mom and Dad may be cannibals becomes chillingly real.

Produced and distributed by Vestron Pictures in late January, Parents brought in a miserable $900,000 against a $3 million budget. Reviews were less punishing, but at best it received lukewarm notices from critics. I believe it to be a little more cooked, and I promise that will probably be the last food pun I lay on the table.

[We're celebrating some of the most memorable horror and sci-fi movies of 1989 this month in Daily Dead's Class of 89 retrospective series! Check back on Daily Dead throughout the rest of August for more special features celebrating the 30th anniversaries of a wide range of horror and sci-fi films!]

By 1989, Freddy Krueger and actor Robert Englund had become fully woven into the fabric of pop culture, as the Nightmare on Elm Street film series was thriving, Freddy’s Nightmares had completed its first season on TV airwaves, and Englund had even crossed over to the realm of music after rapping on the Fat Boys song “Are You Ready for Freddy?” the previous year. And while all of that is exceedingly impressive, I feel like it was in 1989 when Englund truly came into his own, appearing in both A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child and Dwight H. Little’s adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, with Robert taking the directorial reins on 976-Evil and also appearing throughout the second season of Freddy’s Nightmares as well.

Make no mistake—in 1989, Robert Englund was Everywhere, and it totally ruled.

It was in March 1989 when Englund’s directorial debut,...

Hello, readers! For the last few years, we here at Daily Dead have celebrated some of the best horror and sci-fi offerings that were celebrating their 30th anniversaries, and next week, we’ll be embarking on our latest series, Class of 1989. To get you guys ready for all the festivities, I’ve put together this list of all the genre films released during ’89 that are currently streaming on a variety of platforms—some free with ads, and some through pay services.

So, if you’d like to get yourself ready to head back to the glorious year of 1989, here’s a rundown of where you can stream some of the great movies released that year.

Enjoy!

Pet Sematary (1989) (Available on Tubi)

The Creed family leaves the city for the country but their idyllic new life becomes short-lived when the cemetery next door unleashes its evil curse.

Paperhouse (Available on Amazon...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Neil Simon's "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" was based on his own hit Broadway play that opened in 1971 and ran for two years. It starred Peter Falk and Lee Grant. The play resonated with audiences of the era even though it was an unusually dark piece for Simon, reflecting the social decay of New York City during this period. Those factors were still very much in evidence in films of the era when Simon rather reluctantly agreed to bring his play to the big screen in 1975. He felt the material was too disturbing for his core audience but conceded to write the screenplay himself. He also trusted Melvin Frank as director, as Frank had a long history of helming hit comedies with broad appeal. Simon was also enthused about the decision to cast Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft for the film version. Two of his greatest...

Elizabeth Taylor would’ve celebrated her 87th birthday on February 27, 2019. The glamorous Hollywood icon starred in dozens of movies throughout her career, collecting two Best Actress trophies at the Oscars and three additional nominations. But how many of those titles remain classics? In honor of her birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1932, Taylor began her career as a child actress, landing her first leading role when she was just 12-years-old with “National Velvet” (1944). She quickly transitioned into adult stardom, earning her first Oscar nomination as Best Actress for “Raintree County” (1957). Subsequent bids for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958) and “Suddenly, Last Summer” (1959) quickly followed.

SEEOscar Best Actress Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History

She collected her first statuette playing a prostitute with man troubles in “Butterfield 8” (1960), a film she openly hated. Her win probably had...

Stars: Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis, Bryan Madorsky | Written by Christopher Hawthorne | Directed by Bob Balaban

“Real grown-ups don’t get upset,” reckons Michael Laemle (Bryan Madorsky), a young boy trapped in an idyllic 1950s condo with his creepily conventional parents. It’s a comment that betrays his increasingly twisted thinking. He suspects there’s something funny about his folks, and not in a ha-ha way. Mother (Mary Beth Hurt) is constantly serving up “leftover” meat, and Father (Randy Quaid) keeps giving weird lectures about the darkness of the human mind.

Father is a supervisor in a scientific research facility and his job gives him access to cadavers. Is it possible that Mom and Pop might be cannibals? Murderers, even? They have the perfect alibi: the career-man patriarch and his pie-baking wife, living in their domestic utopia, with its minimalist tan furniture and an Oldsmobile in the driveway.

Two films in contention at this year’s Oscars earned nominations for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress: “The Favourite” (twice) and “Roma.” How likely is it that both women from the same film will win Academy Awards on Feb. 24? In the 82 years since the supporting awards were introduced at the 9th Oscars, 10 films could boast victories in both these races.

Fay Bainter and Bette Davis for “Jezebel” – 1939

Hattie McDaniel and Vivien Leigh for “Gone With the Wind” – 1940

Teresa Wright and Greer Garson for “Mrs. Miniver” – 1942

Kim Hunter and Vivien Leigh for “A Streetcar Named Desire” – 1952

Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft for “The Miracle Worker” – 1963

Sandy Dennis and Elizabeth Taylor for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” – 1967

Beatrice Straight and Faye Dunaway for “Network” – 1977

Olympia Dukakis and Cher for “Moonstruck” – 1988

Anna Paquin and Holly Hunter for “The Piano” in 1994

Judi Dench and Gwyneth Paltrow for “Shakespeare in Love” – 1999

While...

Anyone can be a multi-talent. But to be a major star with a big heart and a social conscience means even more.

Tonight at 8 p.m. Et/5 p.m. Pt on TNT and TBS, Alan Alda — who 83rd birthday is on Monday — will be honored by his thespian peers as he receives a Screen Actors Guild life achievement award for his body of work on stage, in film and especially on TV. That includes his 11 seasons on “M*A*S*H” (1972-83), both in front of and behind the camera, along with his activism and other landmarks in his seven-decade career.

The award predates the 25-year-old competitive awards by more than 30 years. The first recipient: Eddie Cantor in 1962. More recently, the guild has presented its honorary prize to such performers as Morgan Freeman, Lily Tomlin, Carol Burnett, Debbie Reynolds, Rita Moreno and Dick Van Dyke. Here are five reasons why Alda is fully...

Since the supporting acting awards were introduced at the 9th Oscars in 1936, only 10 films have bragging rights to wins for both their leading ladies and a featured actress. “The Favourite” could well become the 11th to do so. Olivia Colman is locked in a tight race for Best Actress with Lady Gaga (“A Star is Born”) and Glenn Close (“The Wife”). And two past Oscar winners — Emma Stone (“La La Land”) and Rachel Weisz (“The Constant Gardener”) — are in strong contention for Best Supporting Actress.

As with “The Favourite,” both the first and last films to win both these Oscars were period pieces. Just two years after the academy began rewarding supporting performances, Fay Bainter reaped nominations in both categories. While she lost her Best Actress bid for “White Banners” to her “Jezebel” co-star Bette Davis, she won Best Supporting Actress for playing Davis’ on-screen nemesis.

The most recent double...