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Meryl Streep is the best of the best.

Her performance in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever, according to a Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts, critics, and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Diane Keaton ranked second for Annie Hall (1977), with Jodie Foster following in third for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972) and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) rounded out the top five.

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent Gold Derby poll of cinema experts declared The Godfather (1972) as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all...

Love them or hate them, obsess over them or ignore them altogether, the Academy Awards are a cultural artifact whose history mirrors the very history of American film. Granted, as a gatekeeping and taste-managing institution, the Oscars have always been better at belatedly following and responding to winds of change in the industry than at anticipating or provoking them, and you could probably count on your fingers the number of times that the Oscar statuette in any given category went to a genuinely bold, bracing, game-changing winner. But they're as good a summation of the congealing of critical and commercial mainstream consensus over the decades as we film buffs have. And, as such, it's fascinating to look at the instances of the ultimate winner being so out of lockstep with that consensus as to cause an uproar.

As we gear up for the 97th Academy Awards in March 2025, it's a...

The performance by Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice (1982) has been voted the greatest Oscar Best Actress winner ever. The results are from a recent Gold Derby ballot cast by 21 of our film experts and editors, who ranked all 97 movie champs.

Ranking in second place is Diane Keaton for Annie Hall (1977). Following in third place is Jodie Foster for The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Rounding out the top five are Liza Minnelli for Cabaret (1972), and Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).

At the bottom of the list of the Best Actress winners is Mary Pickford for Coquette (1929). Just above that film in the rankings are Luise Rainer for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Helen Hayes for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932), Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947), and Marie Dressler for Min and Bill (1931).

Another recent poll had The Godfather (1972) declared as the greatest Best Picture Oscar winner of all time (view...

On Dec. 25, 1950, Columbia unveiled the George Cukor-directed adaptation of Born Yesterday at its Los Angeles premiere. The film went on to nab five nominations at the 23rd Academy Awards, including for best picture, and won best actress for Judy Holliday’s turn as Billie Dawn. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:

Born Yesterday comes to the screen as the bright, infectious and delightful entertainment that it was when the play first took Broadway by storm several years ago. And for this feat of transforming what has become a stock and road show wheelhorse into 104 minutes of rollicking celluloid fun, the impresarios of Gower Street can begin drinking champagne from the dainty slipper of Judy Holliday. She’s only wonderful and without her triumphant performance of Billie Dawn, the honey-haired chorus girl who topples the power of a money-mad tycoon, Born Yesterday would be dead tomorrow.

In its...

In much the same way that Elphaba soars through the sky while singing “Defying Gravity,” “Wicked” has taken off in the Oscar Best Picture race. According to Gold Derby’s combined odds, the musical sensation ranks in the top five behind “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “Conclave,” and “Emilia Pérez,” with nowhere to go but up after receiving four Golden Globe nominations. Should “Wicked” prevail on Oscar night, it would join a short list of winners that feature two female main characters, which has happened less frequently than you’d think.

Adapted from Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman’s Tony-winning Broadway smash, “Wicked” centers on the friendship between green-skinned misfit Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and popular girl Glinda (Ariana Grande), who later become the Wicked Witch and the Good Witch, respectively. Funnily enough, the last Best Picture winner centered on two women was another musical adaptation, 2002’s “Chicago.”

Although Catherine Zeta-Jones won the...

Madonna and Marilyn Monroe would be compared to each other no matter what, simply because they are two of the biggest female celebrities ever. On the other hand, some fans claim that the similarity between the Material Girl and the Some Like It Hot star goes deeper than that. Madonna’s brother, Christopher Ciccone, had a different take on the situation.

Madonna’s brother said she’s not ‘self-destructive’ like Marilyn Monroe

Monroe’s influence can be seen throughout Madonna’s career. The “Like a Virgin” singer based her video for “Material Girl” on a scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, one of Monroe’s most famous films. Monroe is also one of several Hollywood stars mentioned in the lyrics of “Vogue.” The cover of Madonna’s greatest hits album Celebration is also based on Monroe, and the singer appropriated a famous sequence from The Seven Year Itch for her “Give Me All Your Luvin'” clip.

When Disney purchased the 20th Century Fox library in 2019, it caused some consternation among cineastes. The Fox catalog was vast and impressive, containing tons of indelible classics and even more titles waiting deep inside the studio's archive. 20th Century Fox was formed in 1935 and quickly became one of the "big five" studios that dominated the film industry for decades. Fox hadn't seen a shake-up this dramatic since 1985 when ultra-conservative media mogul Rubert Murdoch bought a controlling share of the company from Marvin Davis.

When Disney made its purchase, many film fans wondered if Fox's old classics would be made more widely available through the about-to-launch Disney+. When the streaming service debuted with a paltry 500 titles, cineastes were aghast. Why buy all those Fox titles if you're not going to distribute them?

That, however, was merely the end of the road for Fox. For its 83-year life, the studio went through many massive,...

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...

Randall Park’s Shortcomings opens with a fake-out: A Chinese-American woman in an evening gown gets insulted by a casually racist white hotel clerk. She turns on her heels, walks over to her dapper-looking husband, exchanges a few words, and walks back to the front desk. They’ve just bought the hotel, so the clerk can leave his post and go take out the trash, thank you very much. Then the couple kisses, fireworks go off, and the credits roll.

If the scene sounds familiar, that’s not a coincidence...

(Welcome to Did They Get It Right?, a series where we take a look at an Oscars category from yesteryear and examine whether the Academy's winner stands the test of time.)

In any given year, you're lucky to have even one performance by an actor that is genuinely considered to be iconic. I know that is a word that gets thrown around enough nowadays that it means almost nothing, but every so often, that is really the only word you can use. These are the performances that you would show to an alien as the benchmarks of cinema. I'm talking about Marlon Brando in "The Godfather" or Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz"-level stuff. Well, 1950 produced three. All of them are women, all three played actors, and they all competed against each other in the Best Actress category at the Academy Awards. You have Bette Davis and Anne Baxter...

In the midseason finale of "Better Call Saul" season six, just before Lalo Salamanca paints their living room with doomed lawyer Howard Hamlin's blood, Kim (Rhea Seehorn) and Jimmy (Bob Odenkirk) watch a movie. This isn't unusual for them. Throughout the series' seven-year run, the pair have proven themselves cinephiles, often referencing classic movies in passing and sometimes settling down for a quiet movie night.

On this night, the pair are watching "Born Yesterday," a 1950 comedic drama about the exploits of a possessive crook named Harry (Broderick Crawford), his unrefined girlfriend, Billie (Judy Holliday), and a journalist, Paul (William...

The post What All the Old Movie References in Better Call Saul Say About the Characters appeared first on /Film.

Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, creators of the new Showtime series The Man Who Fell to Earth, talk to hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante about the movies that inspired them.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

The Man Who Fell To Earth (1976) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary

Dirty Pretty Things (2002)

Amistad (1997)

Love Actually (2003)

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)

Blazing Saddles (1974) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s Blazing Saddles Thanksgiving

Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Bad News Bears (1976) – Jessica Bendinger’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s Blu-ray review

Airplane! (1980) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

The Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)

Bambi (1942)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952) – John Landis trailer commentary

The Asphalt Jungle (1950) – Michael Lehmann’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

The Boy Friend (1971) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Yellow Submarine (1968) – George Hickenlooper...

Since the first ceremony in 1929, the Academy has nominated over 400 performances for Best Actress, with 77 actresses claiming victory. Inevitably, the debates of who “should have” won follow, some of which have lasted decades. There’s no doubt that campaigning and popularity often play roles in who wins, but in many cases there’s more than one deserving winner.

For instance, the 23rd ceremony in 1951 included five memorable performances, two of which were highlights of the veteran actresses’ careers. How could voters pick between Bette Davis‘ aging star in “All About Eve” and Gloria Swanson‘s faded actress in “Sunset Boulevard?” Also in contention were Davis’ co-star Anne Baxter as an ingenue trying to steal the spotlight, and Eleanor Parker, who gave a memorable performance as a naive young woman turned hardened criminal in “Caged!” Any of these performances in a weaker year would have won, but it’s widely believed...

Since the first ceremony in 1929, the Academy has nominated over 400 performances for Best Actress, with 77 actresses claiming victory. Inevitably, the debates of who “should have” won follow, some of which have lasted decades. There’s no doubt that campaigning and popularity often play roles in who wins, but in many cases there’s more than one deserving winner.

For instance, the 23rd ceremony in 1951 included five memorable performances, two of which were highlights of the veteran actresses’ careers. How could voters pick between Bette Davis‘ aging star in “All About Eve” and Gloria Swanson‘s faded actress in “Sunset Boulevard?” Also in contention were Davis’ co-star Anne Baxter as an ingenue trying to steal the spotlight, and Eleanor Parker, who gave a memorable performance as a naive young woman turned hardened criminal in “Caged!” Any of these performances in a weaker year would have won, but it’s widely believed...

by Brent Calderwood

I’m just going to say it. I’m glad Judy Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar for the 1950 comedy Born Yesterday. I’m not saying she should have won—I’m not even saying I would have voted for her if I’d been a member of the Academy. But if I could have been there when the winner was announced on March 29, 1951, I would have been cheering the loudest.

Today—100 years after Holliday’s birth and 56 years and two weeks after her untimely death—Holliday’s Sea Biscuit victory over frontrunners Bette Davis for All About Eve and Gloria Swanson for Sunset Boulevard is still a topic of discussion and debate...

Today in Oscar History. Five Oscar ceremonies were held on this date, the most of any night on the calendar (albeit tied with March 25th) so if today is your birthday, congratulations. You're practically a naked gold man!

Gloria Swanson, seated next to Judy Holliday, waits to hear the results of Best Actress

1951 The 23rd annual Academy Awards are held to honor the films of 1950. Fred Astaire hosts the ceremony which is a triumphant night for All About Eve. Though it seems insane given its hallowed place in film history Sunset Boulevard only won two Oscars that night in the categories of Art Direction and Story & Screenplay...

Some pundits worry that the Oscar ceremony won’t feel like the real thing, because the late date (April 25) is disorienting and because the show will be divided between two venues, L.A.’s Union Station and the traditional Dolby Theatre. In truth, a fluid date and multiple locations go back to Oscar’s earliest days.

The first televised ceremony in 1953 had cameras in both Hollywood and New York, a tactic that continued through 1957. Even before that, Oscar included live segments. So this is a return to the original format.

Early ceremonies were broadcast on radio; in 1940, the show stopped for its first live remote, which was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s six-minute address to showbiz.

In 1951, ABC Radio aired the Oscars. Lead actor contender José Ferrer was starring in the comedy “20th Century” on Broadway with fellow nominee Gloria Swanson, so he scheduled a modest Oscar-night birthday party for her...

There’s a good chance that “Mank,” David Fincher’s stylish black-and-white chronicle of veteran Hollywood screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz’ struggle to write the screenplay for Orson Welles’ 1941 masterpiece “Citizen Kane,” will dominate the Oscar nominations on March 15. Our Oscar experts are predicting the Netflix release could garner has many has 13 nominations including picture, director, screenplay for Fincher’s latest father Jack Fincher, actor for Gary Oldman and supporting actress for Amanda Seyfried.

Exactly 70 years ago Mank’s brother, writer/director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, dominated the Academy Awards. His “All About Eve,” a sophisticated and sharp drama starring Bette Davis as aging theater actress Margo Channing who mistakenly befriends and mentors an ambitious young actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), earned 14 Oscar nominations. “All About Eve” actually broke all records for Oscar nominations besting 1939’s “Gone with the Wind” lucky 13 bids.

The younger Mank’s masterpiece went on to win six...

Some movies, performances and moviemakers are so iconic that it’s easy to assume the Academy recognized them at some point, and it can be astounding to find out that some of them failed to take home a statue. Such is the case with the 33rd annual Academy Awards ceremony, helmed by iconic host Bob Hope on April 17, 1961. Whereas a deserving picture did win, a few equally memorable movies and performances were left out, a legendary director would lose his last chance at the statue and it was both the first and last year for some Oscar traditions.

Prolific writer and director Billy Wilder was no stranger to the Academy – in fact, he already had 17 nominations and three wins prior to 1960. However, this would prove to be an historic year for him, as he became the first individual to win Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay (Original) all in the same year,...

“Judas and the Black Messiah” premiered in theaters and on HBO Max on February 12 telling the true story of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton (played by “Get Out” Oscar nominee Daniel Kaluuya), including how the FBI infiltrated the Panthers and ultimately assassinated him in 1969. Scroll down for our exclusive video interviews with top Oscar contenders from the film.

In addition to Hampton, the film tells the parallel story of William O’Neal, the petty criminal-turned-informant who betrayed him. He’s played by Lakeith Stanfield, who also appeared in “Get Out” with Kaluuya; they shared in a SAG Award nomination as members of the ensemble cast. Stanfield also earned a SAG ensemble nomination for his work in the FX comedy series “Atlanta,” an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his breakthrough performance in “Short Term 12” (2013) and a Gotham bid for his leading role in “Sorry to Bother You” (2018), but he has yet...

There have been a few instances in Oscar’s illustrious history that have left film fans scratching their heads. One such occurrence happened on March 5, 2006, at the end of the 78th ceremony when the Best Picture was announced. It remains one of the most controversial wins in the history of the awards show. It was also a year in which there was no big winner – in fact, Four films tied with the most wins – at just three apiece! Also unusual for the Oscars, the awards for picture, director and all four acting awards went to different productions, and there were a few anomalies in the acting categories as well. The event, which was held a week later than normal due to the Winter Olympics, was hosted by Jon Stewart for the first time (he’d host again in 2008). His opening sketch featured former Oscar hosts Billy Crystal, Steve Martin, Chris Rock,...

For this Oscar flashback, we’re throwing it back 70 years to the night of March 29, 1951. The affable Fred Astaire hosted for his first and only time, helming one of the most memorable ceremonies in Academy history. Two now-iconic films battled in a number of categories, with one setting Academy records that hold today. There were surprising wins in the acting categories, with Broadway being well-represented on the night that honors film. It was an especially great year for women, with two grande dames of film facing off for their now-legendary portrayals of aging actresses, and the Best Actress category being one of the best in the history of the Academy. One can almost hear Bette Davis saying, “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

On a night in which three of the four acting winners triumphed for roles they had also played on Broadway, it’s...

Last year we watched as Renee Zellweger followed the yellow brick road all the way to the Wizard of Oscar as Judy Garland in “Judy.” Can lightning (or a tornado) strike two years in a row? That’s surely the hope of Andra Day, looking like a strong Best Actress Oscar contender for her title role in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.” Like Garland, Holiday rose to stardom in the late 1930s. She also had multiple marriages, faced financial woes and struggled with drugs and alcohol. The question is: can the role in this Hulu release deliver the Oscar to Day?

Before making a decision, keep in mind that the academy has a long history of recognizing actresses for portraying other actresses or entertainers. And the more drama, trauma and tragedy the better. Even raging and hysterical divas are welcome. Let’s look back at some prime and primadonna examples from Oscar’s history.

A big stumbling block when remaking a Hollywood screen classic is often the indelible ownership of an original star. Is there anyone alive who would choose Julia Ormond over Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina? Or Melanie Griffith over Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday? The problem with Netflix’s toothless redo of Rebecca is less about casting — although none of the principals is an ideal fit — than lack of a firm directorial imprint. Earlier films like Sightseers and Free Fire suggested Ben Wheatley might have the mordant wit to tackle a work forever associated with sardonic genre maestro Alfred Hitchcock. But in place ...

A big stumbling block when remaking a Hollywood screen classic is often the indelible ownership of an original star. Is there anyone alive who would choose Julia Ormond over Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina? Or Melanie Griffith over Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday? The problem with Netflix’s toothless redo of Rebecca is less about casting — although none of the principals is an ideal fit — than lack of a firm directorial imprint. Earlier films like Sightseers and Free Fire suggested Ben Wheatley might have the mordant wit to tackle a work forever associated with sardonic genre maestro Alfred Hitchcock. But in place ...

Hospitalization proves more than usually fatal in “12 Hour Shift,” a bloody black comedy from actress turned writer-director Brea Grant. This clever mix of the farcical and macabre finds shady nurse Angela Bettis’ sideline in illicit organ harvesting going seriously awry during an extra-long work stint at a 1999 Arkansas care facility. Although closer to the twistedly gallows-humorous likes of “The Hospital” and Scorcese’s underrated “Bringing Out the Dead” than the sizable subgenre of hospital horror mellers, it will most likely find an appreciative initial audience among genre fans. Magnet plans release to available theaters and on demand Oct. 2, following a brief, Covid-hobbled festival tour.

Though she started out in prestige dramatic roles for Zeffirelli and James Mangold, Bettis became a favorite for horror aficionados as of 2002, via title roles in both indie cult object “May” and a TV “Carrie.” Her forays into that territory invariably up the movie’s game,...

Documentary film editor Jonathan Oppenheim died July 16 in New York City, Sundance Institute confirmed to Variety. He was 67 and had been battling brain cancer .

“Jonathan began his life in the arts as a painter which informed his sensibility in film,” his wife, Josie Oppenheim, wrote in a statement. “He was a talented and highly original painter but documentary film was his chosen medium. The collaborative dynamic while not always peaceful was one aspect of the work that Jonathan loved.”

Oppenheim was best known for editing “Paris is Burning” (1990) and Oscar nominee “Children Underground” (2001). He also edited and co-produced “The Oath” (2010), the Emmy-nominated film in Laura Poitras’ post 9/11 trilogy.

Born to TV producer David Oppenheim and actress Judy Holliday in 1952, he began his editing career with the seminal “Paris is Burning,” directed by Jennie Livingston. He devoted his career to documentary storytelling and edited over 24 films, including the Oscar-nominated films “Streetwise...

Jonathan Oppenheim, the documentary editor behind the seminal ball culture film Paris Is Burning as well as multiple Oscar-nominated titles, has died. He was 67.

Oppenheim died after a battle with brain cancer on Thursday, July 16 while in New York City, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Born in 1952 in New York City to Oscar-winning actress Judy Holliday and clarinetist, television producer and academic David Oppenheim, Oppenheim began his working life as a painter before making his editing debut with 1980's Simon, which starred Alan Arkin. After working as an apprentice editor on Simon, Oppenheim moved up to the assistant film editor ...

Jonathan Oppenheim, the documentary editor behind the seminal ball culture film Paris Is Burning as well as multiple Oscar-nominated titles, has died. He was 67.

Oppenheim died after a battle with brain cancer on Thursday, July 16 while in New York City, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Born in 1952 in New York City to Oscar-winning actress Judy Holliday and clarinetist, television producer and academic David Oppenheim, Oppenheim began his working life as a painter before making his editing debut with 1980's Simon, which starred Alan Arkin. After working as an apprentice editor on Simon, Oppenheim moved up to the assistant film editor ...

HBO Max is here, and for those who are eager to revisit Friends for the umpteenth time or wait patiently for “the Snyder Cut” of Justice League to actually be willed into existence, that’s good news. Yet for movie fans of a certain type, the most exciting thing about the new streaming service is its access to what is arguably the richest collection of Hollywood classics in the world.

Not since the unnecessary demise FilmStruck has there been a streaming service with this level of classic cinema density. With access to the Warner Bros. vault of Golden Age Hollywood, as well as all the pre-1986 MGM film rights Ted Turner bought from what was once the biggest studio on the block, there is a depth of variety at HBO Max’s disposal. Also partnering with the Criterion Collection, HBO Max is a film lover’s haven.

For the sake...

In this episode, Ben and Daniel talk to Tony-winning Broadway star Faith Prince about Liza Minnelli's 1972 live album 'Liza with a Z.' They also discuss Tina Landau, Fanny Brice, Funny Girl, Jule Styne, Judy Holliday, Mary Rodgers, Gwen Verdon, 'FosseVerdon,' Scott Frankel, Comden and Green, and Marilyn Maye. Faith tells stories of how she landed lead roles in shows like 'Guys and Dolls,' 'Bells Are Ringing,' and 'The First Wives Club,' and shares valuable advice on how to set yourself apart at auditions by bringing your intelligence into the room and onto the stage. She also talks about what it means to be your authentic self and the value of being present as a performer and in life. Faith's fabulous live albums 'Leap of Faith' and 'Total Faith' are available on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify.

10 random things that happened on  this day (June 24th) in showbiz history

1916 Mary Pickford, a very savvy businesswoman, becomes the first female movie star to get a million dollar contract. That was on top of her $10,000 a week. Can you imagine how much money that was in 1916 ???

1960 Opening weekend for the musical Bells are Ringing starring Judy Holliday (reprising her Tony-winning Broadway role). It proved to be the Oscar winner's last movie, tragically, since she died at only 43 years of age from cancer.

Robert De Niro joked with Stephen Colbert during his sit-down on The Late Show a week ago, noting that when it came to his Tribeca Talk with Martin Scorsese, he’d ask a question, leave for coffee, and return minutes later to ask the next question.

That was hardly the case here today, as the two went back and forth onstage for more than 90 minutes at the Beacon Theater on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, covering a majority of ground; from their collaborations together, such as Mean Streets, The King of Comedy and Casino, to those pics in which the Raging Bull Oscar winner did not star, i.e. Silence and The Wolf of Wall Street.

However, for those fans looking to hear more about their ninth team-up together, The Irishman, or see a clip from that upcoming Netflix movie, the duo didn’t dive into any great details.

The “Sunset Boulevard” musical is months away from staring production, but 42 percent of our readers believe that this film adaptation will finally bring Glenn Close her elusive Oscar, and her name ought to be engraved now.

“This performance could very well be a career topper for her! And if the movie is really excellent, that could finally do the trick for her,” user Jack Mahanes wrote. “And I hope it does the trick for her, because she’s an amazing actress who should have an Oscar!”

In development limbo for decades, “Sunset Boulevard” finally made some movement last week when Tony-winning choreographer Rob Ashford was tapped to direct the film, which is set to start filming in the fall. It surely isn’t a coincidence that this happened days after seven-time nominee Close lost the Best Actress Oscar for “The Wife” to Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”). Close won a Tony...

At this year’s Oscars, Glenn Close (“The Wife”) ended up losing Best Actress to Olivia Colman (“The Favourite“) in what was the biggest shocker in the Best Actress category since 2011 when Viola Davis (“The Help”) lost to Meryl Streep (“The Iron Lady”). But Davis got her revenge a few years later when she reprised her Tony-winning performance as Rose Maxson in the film version of “Fences,” for which she won Best Supporting Actress. With the recent announcement that Close is officially reprising her own Tony-winning role as Norma Desmond in a “Sunset Boulevard” movie musical, can she follow in Davis’s footsteps?

Leading up to the 2011 Oscars, Viola Davis won Critics’ Choice and SAG Awards for “The Help,” in which she played Aibileen Clark, a black maid in Mississippi during the civil rights movement in 1963. But Meryl Streep beat her at the Golden Globes (in Best Film Drama Actress...

Glenn Close is ready for her Oscar Close-up. The long-gestating film adaptation of the Broadway musical version of “Sunset Boulevard” has found its Mr. DeMille to Close’s Norma Desmond: Tony winner Rob Ashford will direct the film, which is set to start production in the fall. That means Close would ideally be back in the Oscar conversation for the ceremony in 2021. So close, yet so far again. But will this finally bring Close the statuette that has eluded her seven times already?

After her shocking Best Actress loss for “The Wife” to Olivia Colman (“The Favourite”) on Sunday, the overdue narrative will be even more fierce in two years’ time. If successful, “Sunset” would mark Close’s eighth nomination — she has no projects scheduled for release this year, which is just as well because you’d hate for “Sunset” to be her potential ninth bid — and surely the academy wouldn’t deny her again,...

Just chanced upon this image of Best Actress competitors Judy Holliday and Gloria Swanson freaking out with joy at Jose Ferrer's Oscar win for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). Gloria, naughty naughty, he just beat your amazing costar William Holden in Sunset Boulevard!

After the jump, a very random Beauty Break of glorious moments from past Oscar nights to whet your appetite for tonight...

One of the oddities of this year’s Golden Globes nominees? That Fox’s Freddie Mercury biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Warner’s “A Star Is Born” requested to compete in the drama categories and not as a musical or comedy selection.

After all, the 1976 version of the much-told showbiz saga starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson was labeled as a musical and went on to grab Globes for both leads as well as the film itself. But those prizes did not translate into Oscar attention, with only the movie’s signature song, “Evergreen,” earning a statuette.

However, their winning dramatic counterparts that year – Peter Finch and Faye Dunaway in “Network” — would not only make the Oscar ballot cut, but would go on to win Academy Awards as well. Same thing happened to the year’s drama champ, “Rocky,” which won the Best Picture Oscar.

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Exclusive: Annaleigh Ashford, who won the Tony in 2015 for You Can’t Take It With You and appeared in American Crime Story: Versace, has scored the lead role in Smart Blonde, a timely movie about about Oscar-winning actress Judy Holliday.

Gene Kirkwood, a producer on the original Rocky who more recenlty produced HBO’s four-

part Dr. Dre-Jimmy Iovine docu The Defiant Ones, is producing.

The film will focus on Holliday, a nightclub singer who in her early acting career in the 1940s fought back against the overt sexual advances of studio mogul Darryl F. Zanuck during her time as a day player at Fox. She later went on to star on Broadway in Born Yesterday, then won the Best Actress Oscar for George Cukor’s big-screen adaptation starring alongside William Holden and Broderick Crawford.

Holliday paid the price for being outspoken, eventually blacklisted in Hollywood as a communist. She...

This article marks Part 2 of the Gold Derby series reflecting on films that contended for the Big Five Oscars – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted). With “A Star Is Born” this year on the cusp of joining this exclusive group of Oscar favorites, join us as we look back at the 43 extraordinary pictures that earned Academy Awards nominations in each of the Big Five categories, including the following 11 films that scored a single prize among the top races.

More than eight decades prior to Bradley Cooper’s take on the timeless tale, the first “A Star Is Born” (1937), headlined by Fredric March and Janet Gaynor, became the third motion picture, following “Cimarron” (1931) and “It Happened One Night” (1934), to earn nominations in the Big Five Oscar categories.

At the 10th Academy Awards ceremony, however, neither March nor Gaynor emerged triumphant, losing in their...

Lively stars, good music and Bob Fosse-grade dancing favor Columbia’s forgotten-yet-rediscovered original musical remake, which turns the adventures of two sisters in Manhattan into an all-romantic gambol. Janet Leigh and Jack Lemmon are young and fresh, but MGM alumnus Betty Garrett steals the show.

My Sister Eileen

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1955 / Color / 2:55 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date June 19, 2018 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95

Starring: Janet Leigh, Jack Lemmon, Betty Garrett, Bob Fosse, Kurt Kasznar, Dick York, Lucy Marlow, Tommy Rall, Richard Deacon, Kathryn Grant, Queenie Smith.

Cinematography: Charles Lawton Jr.

Film Editor: Charles Nelson

Choreographer: Robert Fosse

Songs: Jule Styne, Leo Robin

Original Music: George Duning

Written by Blake Edwards, Richard Quine from the play by Joseph Fields, Jerome Chodorov, from stories by Ruth McKenney

Produced by Fred Kohlmar

Directed by Richard Quine

The making of a fun movie musical was rarely as easy as jumping up and shouting,...

The current revival of “My Fair Lady” marks the fifth time that this “perfect” musical has graced the Great White Way. Emmy nominee Lauren Ambrose of “Six Feet Under” makes her Broadway musical theater debut as Eliza Doolitle, the Cockney flower girl who is turned into a society lady by Professor Henry Higgins. She is a strong contender to win at Sunday’s Tony Awards and, in so doing, would be the first actress to take home Broadway’s highest honor for one of the best roles in musical theater.

See 2018 Tonys online: How to watch 72nd Tony Awards live stream without a TV

Julie Andrews created the role in the original 1956 production of the Lerner and Loewe musical. Though the show won six Tony Awards Andrews lost to Judy Holliday for “Bells are Ringing.” Among the wins for “My Fair Lady” were Best Musical and Actor (Rex Harrison) as well as director,...

Actor Joseph Campanella died on Wednesday, May 16. He was 93.

Campanella, who received a Tony Award nomination in 1962 for best supporting actor for his performance in "A Gift of Time" along with Emmy nominations for Days of our Lives and Mannix, died of natural causes, his daughter-in-law, Sandy Campanella, said.

Campanella received his first Emmy Award nomination for playing private eye Joe Mannix's boss on the first season of the 1967-75 CBS series Mannix. His character's name, Lew Wickersham, was a sly reference to then-McA head Lew Wasserman and Lankershim Boulevard, an entryway to Universal Studios.

However, Intertect, the heartless crime-fighting corporation that Wickersham headed, was written out after the first season as Mannix (Mike Connors) went out on his own, and Campanella's contract was not renewed.

The actor also appeared in the recurring role of Ed Cooper, the ex-husband and father on CBS' One Day at a Time,...

Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady” is a dream role for any soprano. The part allows the actress to showcase broad comedy, don lavish gowns, and croon Lerner and Loewe classics like “I Could Have Danced All Night.” But the role is no a favorite of the Tonys: no actress has ever won for playing Eliza. Now, 62 years after the musical’s Broadway debut, Lauren Ambrose may reverse the curse at long last.

The original 1956 production of “My Fair Lady” starred Rex Harrison and newcomer Julie Andrews. The show was a hit and claimed six Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Lead Actor in a Musical. But in a shocking twist Andrews lost Lead Actress to Judy Holliday in “Bells Are Ringing.”

Award show misfortune followed the role to the big screen when Audrey Hepburn was snubbed by the Oscars for the 1964 film version. Andrews won the Best Actress Academy Award for “Mary Poppins.

Chicago P.D.’s Marina Squerciati has signed with Gersh for theatrical, stage and literary representation.

Squerciati has played the series regular role of Kim Burgess in NBC’s Chicago P.D., now in its fifth season, since the series launch in 2014. She first gained attention in television for her recurring roles in Gossip Girl and as Russian spy, Irina, in The Americans. On the film side, she was last seen as Josh Gad’s wife in Marshall and in indie horror film Central Park. Squerciati also has worked in New York theater on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and won awards for her work in the New York Fringe Festival for her portrayal of Judy Holliday.

As a writer, she and her writing partner Patrick Webb won the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival’s Eat My Shorts Competition from Kevin Hart’s Lol Network for their film Special Skills: Episode 2 “Hot Tea.”

Squerciati...

So, I am not exactly adept at the ‘Harry Potter‘ universe. In fact, if I’m being honest, I probably know less about it overall than I do say–the McU or the Dceu–and I’ve never even read a comic book that took place in either of those universes (And for that matter, I have barely read a comic book). I’ve seen the first four movies in the ‘Harry Potter‘ franchise, really liked three of them, hated the second one and thought ‘Goblet of Fire‘ in particular was a damn-near great film. I haven’t gone back to seek out the rest of the films yet, I’m sure I’ll get to them at some point, at least I always said that before, although now it seems like I’m gonna have to put a rush on that sooner than later, ’cause oh Christ, they’re actually expanding the universe.

Rocky producer Gene Kirkwood has acquired life and some music rights for the late Oscar winner Judy Holliday and will turn her story into the biopic Smart Blonde.

The actress was a 22-year-old day player at Fox when she stood up to mogul Darryl F. Zanuck's aggressive sexual overtures. "Her agent scheduled her for the notorious '4 o'clock meeting' and ordered her to stuff her bra," says Pulitzer-nominated playwright Willy Holtzman, who is writing the screenplay.

At the meeting, Zanuck locked the door, unzipped his pants and pushed Holliday onto the couch as...

One of cinema's early comediennes, Dorothy Devore: between 1918 and 1930, the Ft. Worth-born actress was seen in nearly 100 movies, both features and shorts. Among them were 'Salvation Sue,' 'Naughty Mary Brown' and 'Saving Sister Susie,' all with frequent partner Earle Rodney. 'Comediennes of the Silent Era' & film historian Anthony Slide at the American Cinematheque Film historian and author Anthony Slide, once described by Lillian Gish as “our preeminent historian of the silent film,” will attend the American Cinematheque's 2017 Retroformat program “Comediennes of the Silent Era” on Sat., May 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the Spielberg Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. Slide will be signing copies of his book She Could Be Chaplin!: The Comedic Brilliance of Alice Howell (University Press of Mississippi), about the largely forgotten pioneering comedy actress of the 1910s and early 1920s. The book signing will take place at 6:30 p.

Sheila Bond, the actress and dancer who won a Tony Award in 1953 for her performance in the Josh Logan musical Wish You Were Here, which featured a swimming pool built into the stage, has died. She was 90.

Bond died March 25, a few days after her birthday at her home in Manhattan, her niece, Sheri Smith, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Bond also played Judy Holliday's sister in George Cukor's The Marrying Kind (1952), appeared on Broadway opposite Sid Caesar in 1948's Make Mine Manhattan and stepped in as Lola for Gwen Verdon in the original 1955-57 staging of...

This series continues to break my heart.

Obviously, so much of what we're watching is from the minds of the writers, because it's not claiming to be a documentary, but Feud: Bette and Joan Season 1 Episode 3 drove home so much of what Bette Davis and Joan Crawford had in common.

If the Hollywood system of their time had given them an inch to breathe, their story could have been so much different.

Both were single mothers struggling to raise their children and find peace of mind with their decisions. 

At times, their mothering was called into question and they were forced to defend themselves. Considering the lives they led, they probably weren't doing even half of what they were being accused.

Bd wasn't great in the role of the neighbor girl, but neither was she terrible. She did stick out a bit in the finished film, but no more than...