Larry Auerbach, a top agent at William Morris Agency for nearly 50 years who also served 25 years at USC School of Cinematic Arts, died Nov. 23 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 95.
Auerbach represented a wide range of talent during his 47 years with William Morris, including Alan Alda, Bea Arthur, Marlo Thomas, Robert Wagner, Aaron Spelling, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Harry Belafonte and such prestige-movie directors as Norman Jewison and Bernardo Bertolucci. Auerbach worked his way up to a leadership role at the agency after starting there in New York at age 15, working part-time while in high school sweeping floors and doing other less-than-glamorous duties during World War II.
After ending his Wma career in 1992, Auerbach segued to USC film school, where he used his matchmaking skills to create the Office of Industry Relations. He retired from USC as associate dean and head of student-industry relations in...
Auerbach represented a wide range of talent during his 47 years with William Morris, including Alan Alda, Bea Arthur, Marlo Thomas, Robert Wagner, Aaron Spelling, Sammy Davis Jr., Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Harry Belafonte and such prestige-movie directors as Norman Jewison and Bernardo Bertolucci. Auerbach worked his way up to a leadership role at the agency after starting there in New York at age 15, working part-time while in high school sweeping floors and doing other less-than-glamorous duties during World War II.
After ending his Wma career in 1992, Auerbach segued to USC film school, where he used his matchmaking skills to create the Office of Industry Relations. He retired from USC as associate dean and head of student-industry relations in...
- 11/24/2024
- by William Earl
- Variety Film + TV
Sam Strangis, an Emmy-nominated CSI and CSI: Miami producer and Paramount exec and whose career dates back to classic 1960s and ’70s TV shows including Batman, The Brady Bunch and Happy Days, has died. He was 95.
His family told Deadline that Strangis died July 23 of kidney failure at Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, CA, but the news had not been reported.
Strangis’ TV career spanned six decades, from directing NBC’s 1957-59 antebellum western The Restless Gun through the wildly successful first two seasons of CBS’ Crime Scene Investigation and spinoff CSI: Miami. He racked up dozens of credits along the way, also serving as Paramount’s VP of TV Production in the mid-’70s.
Born on June 19, 1929, in Tacoma, Wa, Strangis began his career as a script supervisor at Revue Studios, leading his directing multiple episodes The Restless Gun. He went on to serve as production...
His family told Deadline that Strangis died July 23 of kidney failure at Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance, CA, but the news had not been reported.
Strangis’ TV career spanned six decades, from directing NBC’s 1957-59 antebellum western The Restless Gun through the wildly successful first two seasons of CBS’ Crime Scene Investigation and spinoff CSI: Miami. He racked up dozens of credits along the way, also serving as Paramount’s VP of TV Production in the mid-’70s.
Born on June 19, 1929, in Tacoma, Wa, Strangis began his career as a script supervisor at Revue Studios, leading his directing multiple episodes The Restless Gun. He went on to serve as production...
- 10/2/2024
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
Television series can be creative laboratories, especially early in their runs. The creators and their writing staff might find their initial concept morphing into a completely different type of show (e.g. "Cougar Town" went from being a Courtney Cox vehicle about older women chasing younger men to an ensemble sitcom about nerdball friends who drink a ton of wine), while some shows head down narrative alleys they ultimately pretend never existed (like the time Landry and Tyra killed a guy during the second season of "Friday Night Lights").
And then sometimes life just flat-out gets in the way. Sometimes an actor feels like they've become too big of a star and prematurely bolt the show (à la David Caruso and "NYPD Blue"), or they get fired over a contract dispute (which is how "Valerie" became "The Hogan Family").
This brings us to "Roseanne" and the case of the two Beckys.
And then sometimes life just flat-out gets in the way. Sometimes an actor feels like they've become too big of a star and prematurely bolt the show (à la David Caruso and "NYPD Blue"), or they get fired over a contract dispute (which is how "Valerie" became "The Hogan Family").
This brings us to "Roseanne" and the case of the two Beckys.
- 9/20/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Selena Gomez has become the most Emmy-nominated Latina producer nominated under the “Best Comedy Series” category for her contributions as EP on Hulu’s Only Murders In The Building. Additionally, Gomez received her first acting Emmy nomination this morning for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Mabel.
Gomez was previously nominated twice for a group Emmy Award (2022-2023) in the Outstanding Comedy Series category for Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building as an executive producer. Alongside Gomez, Martin Short, Dan Fogelman and Jess Rosenthal also EP.
Related: Emmy Nominations Analysis: Fresh Blood Livens Up The Race For TV Gold
Created by John Hoffman and Steve Martin, Only Murders In The Building follows Charles (Martin), Oliver (Short) & Mabel (Gomez), three strangers who share an obsession with true crime. Each season, the trio is tasked with unraveling the mysteries behind a new murder.
Related: 76th Emmy Nominations:...
Gomez was previously nominated twice for a group Emmy Award (2022-2023) in the Outstanding Comedy Series category for Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building as an executive producer. Alongside Gomez, Martin Short, Dan Fogelman and Jess Rosenthal also EP.
Related: Emmy Nominations Analysis: Fresh Blood Livens Up The Race For TV Gold
Created by John Hoffman and Steve Martin, Only Murders In The Building follows Charles (Martin), Oliver (Short) & Mabel (Gomez), three strangers who share an obsession with true crime. Each season, the trio is tasked with unraveling the mysteries behind a new murder.
Related: 76th Emmy Nominations:...
- 7/17/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Before he started filling up the nation's drug store book racks with tawdry tales of romance and suspense, Sidney Sheldon was one of Hollywood and Broadway's most prolific writers. He could write comedies, musicals, musical-comedies, mysteries, dramas, thrillers ... just about everything short of slasher flicks (though he probably would've knocked out one of those had they been a thing during his 1940s - '60s heyday). Clearly, he had an ear for what worked, and he wasn't just knocking out quickie programmers. He won a Best Original Screenplay Oscar for the Cary Grant-Myrna Loy-Shirley Temple screwball hit "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer," and earned a Best Musical Tony for the Gwen Verdon-led Broadway smash "Redhead."
And when television came calling, rather than turn up his nose as many of his established film and theater colleagues did during the medium's early days, he enthusiastically picked up the phone.
Sheldon...
And when television came calling, rather than turn up his nose as many of his established film and theater colleagues did during the medium's early days, he enthusiastically picked up the phone.
Sheldon...
- 2/16/2024
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
Phyllis Coates, the first actress to play Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane on television, only to leave the Adventures of Superman after just one season, has died. She was 96.
Coates, who also appeared in Republic Pictures serials and in such films as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her daughter Laura Press told The Hollywood Reporter.
A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Coates first portrayed the headstrong Lois opposite George Reeves as the Man of Steel in the dark sci-fi movie Superman and the Mole Men (1951).
The success of that Lippert Pictures film — the first full-length theatrical feature starring the comic-book hero — led to the quick decision to start production on a syndicated show for television.
Coates segued to the series and got into jams as Lois in all 26 episodes of the first season...
Coates, who also appeared in Republic Pictures serials and in such films as I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, died Wednesday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her daughter Laura Press told The Hollywood Reporter.
A native of Wichita Falls, Texas, Coates first portrayed the headstrong Lois opposite George Reeves as the Man of Steel in the dark sci-fi movie Superman and the Mole Men (1951).
The success of that Lippert Pictures film — the first full-length theatrical feature starring the comic-book hero — led to the quick decision to start production on a syndicated show for television.
Coates segued to the series and got into jams as Lois in all 26 episodes of the first season...
- 10/12/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Television Academy recognized 34 performers of color across acting and reality hosting Primetime Emmy nomination categories, a figure that is +3 from last year’s 31, and higher than 2019 when there were only 26 non-Caucasian actors and reality hosts.
2021 continues to hold the record for diverse Emmy nominees at 49, that year propelled by nominees for Disney+’s Hamilton movie musical and HBO’s fantasy drama, Lovecraft Country.
There were only two Emmy categories this year which were completely devoid of nominees from a diverse background: Drama Lead Actress and Comedy Lead Actor. And there were some major overlooks by TV Academy voters including Diego Luna, the star of Andor which nabbed a Best Drama Series nomination and Selena Gomez, the star of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building which landed a comedy series nod.
But there were some great benchmarks set, read the supporting comedy actress category saw four Black women nominated,...
2021 continues to hold the record for diverse Emmy nominees at 49, that year propelled by nominees for Disney+’s Hamilton movie musical and HBO’s fantasy drama, Lovecraft Country.
There were only two Emmy categories this year which were completely devoid of nominees from a diverse background: Drama Lead Actress and Comedy Lead Actor. And there were some major overlooks by TV Academy voters including Diego Luna, the star of Andor which nabbed a Best Drama Series nomination and Selena Gomez, the star of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building which landed a comedy series nod.
But there were some great benchmarks set, read the supporting comedy actress category saw four Black women nominated,...
- 7/12/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
This year’s Emmy nominees will highlight a more diverse crop of actors, with Latino performers having a particularly strong showing.
Of course, much of that is thanks to Pedro Pascal, who has become the most-nominated Latino in a single year with three noms. He’s recognized for his work in “The Last of Us” as lead drama actor, “Saturday Night Live” as guest comedy actor and “Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World” as the narrator. Pascal’s nomination for HBO’s dystopian video game adaptation makes him only the second Latino ever recognized in the drama category after Jimmy Smits’ four consecutive noms for “NYPD Blue” from 1996-1999. But there were some notable Latino stars who didn’t hear their names read — namely, Diego Luna, who was snubbed for Disney’s “Andor,” despite its best drama series nomination.
Elsewhere, Netflix’s origin series “Wednesday” made star Jenna Ortega...
Of course, much of that is thanks to Pedro Pascal, who has become the most-nominated Latino in a single year with three noms. He’s recognized for his work in “The Last of Us” as lead drama actor, “Saturday Night Live” as guest comedy actor and “Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World” as the narrator. Pascal’s nomination for HBO’s dystopian video game adaptation makes him only the second Latino ever recognized in the drama category after Jimmy Smits’ four consecutive noms for “NYPD Blue” from 1996-1999. But there were some notable Latino stars who didn’t hear their names read — namely, Diego Luna, who was snubbed for Disney’s “Andor,” despite its best drama series nomination.
Elsewhere, Netflix’s origin series “Wednesday” made star Jenna Ortega...
- 7/12/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
With her 2023 Emmy nomination for Netflix’s Wednesday, Jenna Ortega becomes the second-youngest nominee for best lead actress in a comedy.
Ortega, at 20, is only older than Patty Duke, who was 17 at the time of her Emmy nomination in 1964 for her eponymous series, The Patty Duke Show. While The Patty Duke show was a sitcom, Duke was nominated before the Emmys split the actress race between comedy and drama. At the time, it was an award for “Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series.”
Ortega, a Gen Z horror staple in films like Scream and X, broke out as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix comedy about the classic misanthrope created by Charles Addams, the first four episodes of which were helmed by Tim Burton (who will also direct Ortega in the upcoming sequel to his 1988 film Beetlejuice). The series mostly removes Wednesday from her famous family and drops her into Nevermore Academy,...
Ortega, at 20, is only older than Patty Duke, who was 17 at the time of her Emmy nomination in 1964 for her eponymous series, The Patty Duke Show. While The Patty Duke show was a sitcom, Duke was nominated before the Emmys split the actress race between comedy and drama. At the time, it was an award for “Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series.”
Ortega, a Gen Z horror staple in films like Scream and X, broke out as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix comedy about the classic misanthrope created by Charles Addams, the first four episodes of which were helmed by Tim Burton (who will also direct Ortega in the upcoming sequel to his 1988 film Beetlejuice). The series mostly removes Wednesday from her famous family and drops her into Nevermore Academy,...
- 7/12/2023
- by Esther Zuckerman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In 2021, 15-year-old Mckenna Grace broke new ground as the first child ever nominated for a guest acting Emmy. The notice came for her performance as Esther Keyes on Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which could bring her another Best Drama Guest Actress bid this year. She also currently has a shot at a nomination for Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress for Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family,” which would make her the all-time youngest performer with mentions in multiple Emmy categories.
Grace, whose 17th birthday will precede the 2023 Emmy nominations announcement by 17 days, appears on “A Friend of the Family” as Jan Broberg, a future actress who was kidnapped at ages 12 and 14 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. The true crime series also stars Jake Lacy as Berchtold and Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin as Broberg’s parents. (Watch our exclusive video interview with Grace.)
SEEWill ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ extend...
Grace, whose 17th birthday will precede the 2023 Emmy nominations announcement by 17 days, appears on “A Friend of the Family” as Jan Broberg, a future actress who was kidnapped at ages 12 and 14 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. The true crime series also stars Jake Lacy as Berchtold and Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin as Broberg’s parents. (Watch our exclusive video interview with Grace.)
SEEWill ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ extend...
- 5/3/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Jenna Ortega has been a rising star over the past year, headlining the “Scream VI” blockbuster movie and hosting “Saturday Night Live” for the first time on March 11. Her most high profile gig was launched by Netflix last November, when she took on the iconic role of Wednesday Addams, the central character in the streamer’s third-most-watched series of all time, “Wednesday.” Only “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game” have logged more hours viewed.
The dark comedy series follows Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at NeverMore Academy, when she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a killing spree and solve the mystery that embroiled her parents. It’s the first time we’ve watched Wednesday live through those awkward teenage years.
See Jenna Ortega (‘Wednesday’) on ‘startling’ response to Netflix series: ‘I can’t think of another Latina character who has the same reach’
Ortega is currently ranked...
The dark comedy series follows Wednesday Addams’ years as a student at NeverMore Academy, when she attempts to master her emerging psychic ability, thwart a killing spree and solve the mystery that embroiled her parents. It’s the first time we’ve watched Wednesday live through those awkward teenage years.
See Jenna Ortega (‘Wednesday’) on ‘startling’ response to Netflix series: ‘I can’t think of another Latina character who has the same reach’
Ortega is currently ranked...
- 3/28/2023
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
Mark Miller, the prolific actor and screenwriter writer best known for Please Don’t Eat The Daisies and Guestward, Ho! has died. His daughter, actress Penelope Ann Miller, confirmed the news on Twitter. He was 97.
Miller portrayed college professor Jim Nash on Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, which ran from 1965-1967 and then in syndication. The NBC-MGM sitcom, which ran for 58 half-hour episodes, was loosely based on the theatrical film of the same name starring Doris Day and David Niven. The series did well initially, but its ratings took a hit in Season 2 when it was moved opposite The Jackie Gleason Show.
Miller had substantial runs on other big shows, most notably Desilu’s Guestward Ho! on ABC in 1960. He played one half of a New York City couple, the Hootens, who relocate to a dude ranch in New Mexico. Guestward Ho! ran for one season alongside The Donna Reed Show on Thursday evenings.
Miller portrayed college professor Jim Nash on Please Don’t Eat the Daisies, which ran from 1965-1967 and then in syndication. The NBC-MGM sitcom, which ran for 58 half-hour episodes, was loosely based on the theatrical film of the same name starring Doris Day and David Niven. The series did well initially, but its ratings took a hit in Season 2 when it was moved opposite The Jackie Gleason Show.
Miller had substantial runs on other big shows, most notably Desilu’s Guestward Ho! on ABC in 1960. He played one half of a New York City couple, the Hootens, who relocate to a dude ranch in New Mexico. Guestward Ho! ran for one season alongside The Donna Reed Show on Thursday evenings.
- 9/14/2022
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Director Gary Nelson, whose credits include live-action Disney films like "The Black Hole" and the original "Freaky Friday," as well as numerous TV episodes, has died of natural causes at the age of 87. Nelson's son confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday that Nelson had passed away in his Las Vegas home several months ago, on May 25, 2022, though the news is only just now coming to light.
Nelson was born in Los Angeles on October 6, 1934, and he first came up in Hollywood as an assistant director. Among his earliest credits are the classic James Dean film "Rebel Without a Cause" and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1955 film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls," both of which were nominated for multiple Academy Awards. He followed this up with further Ad work on two more Oscar-nominated Westerns, "The Searchers" and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," before crossing over into television.
TV Work...
Nelson was born in Los Angeles on October 6, 1934, and he first came up in Hollywood as an assistant director. Among his earliest credits are the classic James Dean film "Rebel Without a Cause" and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1955 film adaptation of the Broadway musical "Guys and Dolls," both of which were nominated for multiple Academy Awards. He followed this up with further Ad work on two more Oscar-nominated Westerns, "The Searchers" and "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," before crossing over into television.
TV Work...
- 9/10/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Click here to read the full article.
Gary Nelson, who directed the Disney films Freaky Friday and The Black Hole, served as the in-house helmer on the first two seasons of Get Smart and called the shots for scores of other shows, has died. He was 87.
Nelson died May 25 in Las Vegas of natural causes, his son Garrett Nelson told The Hollywood Reporter.
His father was Sam Nelson, who served as an assistant director on such landmark films as The Lady From Shanghai (1947), All the King’s Men (1949), Some Like It Hot (1959) and Experiment in Terror (1962) and was a co-founder, along with King Vidor and others, of what would become the DGA.
Gary Nelson started out as an A.D., too, working on films including Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause (1955), John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) and John Sturges’ Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), before he got a big break thanks to his future wife,...
Gary Nelson, who directed the Disney films Freaky Friday and The Black Hole, served as the in-house helmer on the first two seasons of Get Smart and called the shots for scores of other shows, has died. He was 87.
Nelson died May 25 in Las Vegas of natural causes, his son Garrett Nelson told The Hollywood Reporter.
His father was Sam Nelson, who served as an assistant director on such landmark films as The Lady From Shanghai (1947), All the King’s Men (1949), Some Like It Hot (1959) and Experiment in Terror (1962) and was a co-founder, along with King Vidor and others, of what would become the DGA.
Gary Nelson started out as an A.D., too, working on films including Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause (1955), John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) and John Sturges’ Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), before he got a big break thanks to his future wife,...
- 9/10/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Rae Allen, the Tony Award-winning actress known for roles in Damn Yankees, A League of Their Own and The Sopranos, died early Wednesday morning peacefully in her sleep. She was 95.
Allen was described by many who knew her as “a force of nature” and she had a career to match.
Born Rae Julia Theresa Abruzzo in Brooklyn, NY, she got her start in Broadway theater
productions after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1947.
Allen earned her first Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play as the nosy reporter Gloria in Damn Yankees in 1955. She was nominated again for Traveler Without Luggage in 1967, and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little in 1971.
Allen moved into television and film in 1958, recreating her stage role in the film
adaptation of Damn Yankees. Her song, “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal,...
Allen was described by many who knew her as “a force of nature” and she had a career to match.
Born Rae Julia Theresa Abruzzo in Brooklyn, NY, she got her start in Broadway theater
productions after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1947.
Allen earned her first Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play as the nosy reporter Gloria in Damn Yankees in 1955. She was nominated again for Traveler Without Luggage in 1967, and won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for And Miss Reardon Drinks A Little in 1971.
Allen moved into television and film in 1958, recreating her stage role in the film
adaptation of Damn Yankees. Her song, “Shoeless Joe from Hannibal,...
- 4/6/2022
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Joan Copeland, an actress whose Broadway career began in the 1940s and would include acclaimed performances in a 1976 revival of Pal Joey and in the 1980 premiere of The America Clock, written by her brother, the playwright Arthur Miller, died today at her home in New York City. She was 99.
One of the original members of the renowned Actors Studio, Copeland also had numerous film credits and recurring roles on such daytime serials as Search for Tomorrow and One Life to Live. Copeland’s death was first reported by the Broadway World website.
Copeland made her Broadway debut in 1948’s Sundown Beach, following it up the next year in Detective Story. She also appeared in Not For Children (1951), Handful of Fire (1958), Tovarich (1963), Something More! (1964), The Price (1968), Coco (1969), Two By Two (1970), Checking Out (1976), and 45 Seconds From Broadway (2001).
She was nominated for Drama Desk Awards for Pal Joey (1976) and The American Clock (1981), winning for the latter.
One of the original members of the renowned Actors Studio, Copeland also had numerous film credits and recurring roles on such daytime serials as Search for Tomorrow and One Life to Live. Copeland’s death was first reported by the Broadway World website.
Copeland made her Broadway debut in 1948’s Sundown Beach, following it up the next year in Detective Story. She also appeared in Not For Children (1951), Handful of Fire (1958), Tovarich (1963), Something More! (1964), The Price (1968), Coco (1969), Two By Two (1970), Checking Out (1976), and 45 Seconds From Broadway (2001).
She was nominated for Drama Desk Awards for Pal Joey (1976) and The American Clock (1981), winning for the latter.
- 1/4/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Joel Rapp, who had writing or co-writing credits on 16 feature films and more than 250 classic sitcoms, died Wednesday at home. He was 87 and no cause of death was given by his family.
Born on May 22, 1934 in New York City, Rapp grew up Beverly Hills in a family considered part of Hollywood royalty. His father, Philip Rapp, created radio series The Bickersons and Baby Snooks. His godmother was actress and singer Fanny Brice, and his godfather was actor-singer Eddie Cantor.
Joel Rapp went on to work with director Roger Corman on many films and wrote for such television hits as Gilligan’s Island, The Lucy Show, McHale’s Navy, My Favorite Martian, The Patty Duke Show, The Joey Bishop Show and The Donna Reed Show.
Later, he became VP Comedy Development at Universal Pictures. But in a departure, he left that position in 1969 to pursue two different passions: indoor gardening and cooking.
Jane Powell...
Born on May 22, 1934 in New York City, Rapp grew up Beverly Hills in a family considered part of Hollywood royalty. His father, Philip Rapp, created radio series The Bickersons and Baby Snooks. His godmother was actress and singer Fanny Brice, and his godfather was actor-singer Eddie Cantor.
Joel Rapp went on to work with director Roger Corman on many films and wrote for such television hits as Gilligan’s Island, The Lucy Show, McHale’s Navy, My Favorite Martian, The Patty Duke Show, The Joey Bishop Show and The Donna Reed Show.
Later, he became VP Comedy Development at Universal Pictures. But in a departure, he left that position in 1969 to pursue two different passions: indoor gardening and cooking.
Jane Powell...
- 9/16/2021
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Irma Kalish, a prolific comedy writer who blazed trails for women in television with a career that stretched from radio to 1980s sitcoms, died Monday in Woodland Hills due to complications from pneumonia. She was 96.
Kalish worked on a wide range of series, from “My Favorite Martian” and “Gilligan’s Island” to “All in the Family,” “Maude” and “The Bob Newhart Show.” She was also an active member of the Writers Guild of America West and had a long tenure as a board member and as vice president. She spent 20 years on the board of the Motion Picture and Television Fund and she was an early president of Women in Film.
Kalish was a partner in life and work with her husband, Austin “Rocky” Kalish, for seven decades until his death in 2016 at age 95. The two got their start together in radio as writers for “The Martin & Lewis Show” starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
Kalish worked on a wide range of series, from “My Favorite Martian” and “Gilligan’s Island” to “All in the Family,” “Maude” and “The Bob Newhart Show.” She was also an active member of the Writers Guild of America West and had a long tenure as a board member and as vice president. She spent 20 years on the board of the Motion Picture and Television Fund and she was an early president of Women in Film.
Kalish was a partner in life and work with her husband, Austin “Rocky” Kalish, for seven decades until his death in 2016 at age 95. The two got their start together in radio as writers for “The Martin & Lewis Show” starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
- 9/6/2021
- by Cynthia Littleton
- Variety Film + TV
Every Marvel Cinematic Universe title is full of references to other characters and organizations, but “WandaVision,” which premiered on Disney+ on January 15, also offers plenty of Easter eggs for fans of classic television sitcoms.
The show, which marks the superhero franchise’s first original installment on Disney’s streaming service, stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany as their MCU characters Wanda (aka Scarlet Witch) and Vision. Despite Vision’s apparent death in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War,” the duo appear to be living an idealized life in a suburb — until they realize that things aren’t necessarily as they seem.
Check out all the show’s references to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the show’s first episode below:
Like most reference-heavy shows, some of the Easter eggs in “WandaVision” are more in-your-face than others: . Episode 1 boasts an ad for a Stark Industries toaster, which is an obvious...
The show, which marks the superhero franchise’s first original installment on Disney’s streaming service, stars Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany as their MCU characters Wanda (aka Scarlet Witch) and Vision. Despite Vision’s apparent death in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War,” the duo appear to be living an idealized life in a suburb — until they realize that things aren’t necessarily as they seem.
Check out all the show’s references to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the show’s first episode below:
Like most reference-heavy shows, some of the Easter eggs in “WandaVision” are more in-your-face than others: . Episode 1 boasts an ad for a Stark Industries toaster, which is an obvious...
- 3/29/2021
- by Tyler Hersko and Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
Bruce Kirby, the longtime character actor whose many TV roles included regular turns on Columbo and L.A. Law, died Sunday in Los Angeles. Kirby, the father of late actor Bruno Kirby, was 95.
His son, acting coach John Kirby, announced the death in a Facebook post. A cause of death was not specified, but John Kirby noted that his father “passed away peacefully” at Cedars in Los Angeles.
Beginning his acting career in the 1950s with appearances in Golden Age anthology programs such as Omnibus and Goodyear Playhouse, Kirby became a familiar presence on episodic TV in the 1960s, with roles on Car 54, Where Are You?, The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie and The Defenders.
His TV career continued through the 1970s and ’80s with roles on sitcoms and dramas, specializing in playing cops and detectives on such series as Medical Center, Toma, Kojak, Shannon, Lou Grant, Hunter and In The Heat Of The Night.
Kirby played several roles in the long-running Peter Falk series Columbo, most notably his run as the show’s Sgt. Kramer. From 1986 to 1991, Kirby recurred on L.A. Law as D.A. Bruce Rogoff, and in the early 1980s he was cast as Officer Schmidt in the San Francisco-based crime drama Shannon.
Other TV credits include The Rockford Files, Matlock, Hill Street Blues, The Golden Girls, Chicago Hope and, in the 2000s, The Sopranos, The West Wing and, in two of his final appearances, Numb3rs and Scrubs.
Though TV roles dominated his career, Kirby also made appearances in such feature films as the 1971 Don Knotts vehicle How To Frame A Figg, the 1985 Patsy Cline biopic Sweet Dreams (in which he played TV personality Arthur Godfrey), 1986’s Stand By Me and, in 1993, the Matt Dillon comedy Mr. Wonderful.
In 2004, Kirby reteamed with Dillon for one of his most memorable big-screen roles, playing the father of Dillon’s shady cop in the Oscar-winning Crash.
On Broadway, Kirby was featured in the replacement cast of 1984’s Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman. Kirby played the role of Uncle Ben.
Bruno Kirby, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 57, followed his father into acting, with roles in The Godfather: Part II, When Harry Me Sally…, City Slickers, The Larry Sanders Show, This Is Spinal Tap, Good Morning Vietnam and many others. Like his father, he made appearances on Mash, Columbo, Kojak, Room 222 and Hill St. Blues.
On his Facebook tribute, John Kirby wrote, “My father loved acting and aside from his extraordinary professional career in television, film & theater, he never stopped working on it from his early years in New York on scholarship with Lee Strasberg for 9 years, LA’s Theatre East & The Actors Studio. It was very painful for him when he no longer could perform. I am so glad his wonderful work will live on…
“He was a great father who loved Bruno and me and as a family he made it his business for us to tour in these professional Summer Stock packages, something we would all look forward to every summer…I’m glad you’re up there with Bruno and so many of our loved ones.”
In addition to son John, Kirby is survived by wife Rosalyn.
His son, acting coach John Kirby, announced the death in a Facebook post. A cause of death was not specified, but John Kirby noted that his father “passed away peacefully” at Cedars in Los Angeles.
Beginning his acting career in the 1950s with appearances in Golden Age anthology programs such as Omnibus and Goodyear Playhouse, Kirby became a familiar presence on episodic TV in the 1960s, with roles on Car 54, Where Are You?, The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie and The Defenders.
His TV career continued through the 1970s and ’80s with roles on sitcoms and dramas, specializing in playing cops and detectives on such series as Medical Center, Toma, Kojak, Shannon, Lou Grant, Hunter and In The Heat Of The Night.
Kirby played several roles in the long-running Peter Falk series Columbo, most notably his run as the show’s Sgt. Kramer. From 1986 to 1991, Kirby recurred on L.A. Law as D.A. Bruce Rogoff, and in the early 1980s he was cast as Officer Schmidt in the San Francisco-based crime drama Shannon.
Other TV credits include The Rockford Files, Matlock, Hill Street Blues, The Golden Girls, Chicago Hope and, in the 2000s, The Sopranos, The West Wing and, in two of his final appearances, Numb3rs and Scrubs.
Though TV roles dominated his career, Kirby also made appearances in such feature films as the 1971 Don Knotts vehicle How To Frame A Figg, the 1985 Patsy Cline biopic Sweet Dreams (in which he played TV personality Arthur Godfrey), 1986’s Stand By Me and, in 1993, the Matt Dillon comedy Mr. Wonderful.
In 2004, Kirby reteamed with Dillon for one of his most memorable big-screen roles, playing the father of Dillon’s shady cop in the Oscar-winning Crash.
On Broadway, Kirby was featured in the replacement cast of 1984’s Death of a Salesman starring Dustin Hoffman. Kirby played the role of Uncle Ben.
Bruno Kirby, who died of leukemia in 2006 at age 57, followed his father into acting, with roles in The Godfather: Part II, When Harry Me Sally…, City Slickers, The Larry Sanders Show, This Is Spinal Tap, Good Morning Vietnam and many others. Like his father, he made appearances on Mash, Columbo, Kojak, Room 222 and Hill St. Blues.
On his Facebook tribute, John Kirby wrote, “My father loved acting and aside from his extraordinary professional career in television, film & theater, he never stopped working on it from his early years in New York on scholarship with Lee Strasberg for 9 years, LA’s Theatre East & The Actors Studio. It was very painful for him when he no longer could perform. I am so glad his wonderful work will live on…
“He was a great father who loved Bruno and me and as a family he made it his business for us to tour in these professional Summer Stock packages, something we would all look forward to every summer…I’m glad you’re up there with Bruno and so many of our loved ones.”
In addition to son John, Kirby is survived by wife Rosalyn.
- 1/26/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Chad Stuart, who, as half of the hit British Invasion duo Chad & Jeremy had a string of whispery folk-pop hits in the mid-1960s that included “A Summer Song,” “Yesterday’s Gone” and “Distant Shores,” died December 20 of pneumonia at his home in Hailey, ID. He was 79.
His death was announced on the official Chad & Jeremy Facebook page:
We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Chad Stuart, a father, a husband, a brother, a grandfather, a friend, a mentor, a teacher and an inspiration to many. Chad developed pneumonia (non-Covid related) after he was admitted to the hospital due to a fall. We ask for love, celebration but also space while the family adjusts to life without this incredible force. The family would like to thank his fans from around the world for the outpouring of birthday wishes and gifts he received every year. Chad took the time...
His death was announced on the official Chad & Jeremy Facebook page:
We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Chad Stuart, a father, a husband, a brother, a grandfather, a friend, a mentor, a teacher and an inspiration to many. Chad developed pneumonia (non-Covid related) after he was admitted to the hospital due to a fall. We ask for love, celebration but also space while the family adjusts to life without this incredible force. The family would like to thank his fans from around the world for the outpouring of birthday wishes and gifts he received every year. Chad took the time...
- 12/23/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
This Westworld review contains spoilers.
Westworld Season 3 Episode 6
I’ve seen a lot of properties where there are two twins who share the same screen: Adaptation, Parent Trap, The Social Network, Blood Rage, The Patty Duke Show, and so on. It’s an old trick by this point, having perfected way back in the black and white days and only further refined in the decades since. With the advent of computer graphics, seeing William (Ed Harris) walk into a room full of other versions of himself (including a returning Jimmi Simpson) with James Delos (Peter Mullan) as therapist and mediator shouldn’t be such a surprising visual, and yet, it is.
Ed Harris, still wearing his asylum whites, walks into a gathering of versions of himself. There’s a child version, detailing his sob story about being raised by an abusive alcoholic; fresh-faced William (Simpson) playing the hero; the tuxedo-clad...
Westworld Season 3 Episode 6
I’ve seen a lot of properties where there are two twins who share the same screen: Adaptation, Parent Trap, The Social Network, Blood Rage, The Patty Duke Show, and so on. It’s an old trick by this point, having perfected way back in the black and white days and only further refined in the decades since. With the advent of computer graphics, seeing William (Ed Harris) walk into a room full of other versions of himself (including a returning Jimmi Simpson) with James Delos (Peter Mullan) as therapist and mediator shouldn’t be such a surprising visual, and yet, it is.
Ed Harris, still wearing his asylum whites, walks into a gathering of versions of himself. There’s a child version, detailing his sob story about being raised by an abusive alcoholic; fresh-faced William (Simpson) playing the hero; the tuxedo-clad...
- 4/20/2020
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Patricia Bosworth, an actress-turned-writer whose biographies of fellow Actors Studio alumni Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando and Jane Fonda were best-sellers and, certainly with the Clift book, definitive for their times, died Thursday of complications related to Covid-19. She was 86.
Bosworth’s stepdaughter Fia Hatsav told The New York Times that the author died of pneumonia brought on by the coronavirus.
More from DeadlineNotable Hollywood & Entertainment Industry Deaths In 2020: Photo GalleryPink Fully Recovered From Coronavirus, Donates $1M To Pandemic Relief Efforts"You Just Asked Your Question In A Very Nasty Tone": Donald Trump Lashes Out At CBS News Reporter's Query About Jared Kushner
Bosworth began her show business career as a model in the 1950s before enrolling in New York’s Actors Studio to study with Lee Strasberg. Classmates included Brando and Marilyn Monroe. She appeared on Broadway in,...
Bosworth’s stepdaughter Fia Hatsav told The New York Times that the author died of pneumonia brought on by the coronavirus.
More from DeadlineNotable Hollywood & Entertainment Industry Deaths In 2020: Photo GalleryPink Fully Recovered From Coronavirus, Donates $1M To Pandemic Relief Efforts"You Just Asked Your Question In A Very Nasty Tone": Donald Trump Lashes Out At CBS News Reporter's Query About Jared Kushner
Bosworth began her show business career as a model in the 1950s before enrolling in New York’s Actors Studio to study with Lee Strasberg. Classmates included Brando and Marilyn Monroe. She appeared on Broadway in,...
- 4/3/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Actress Patricia Bosworth, who later chronicled Hollywood’s Golden Age and wrote a bestselling biography of Marlon Brando, died Thursday of coronavirus complications. She was 86. Bosworth’s death was announced by the Actors Studio, of which she was a longtime member and board member.
Bosworth acted alongside Audrey Hepburn in “The Nun’s Story” and had a second act writing bestselling celebrity bios. In addition to covering Brando’s life, Bosworth also wrote bestselling biographies about Montgomery Clift, Jane Fonda and Diane Arbus, for whom she had modeled in a Greyhound bus advertisement earlier in her career.
“Patti was more than a great writer. She was an inspiration and a pillar of support to so many wonderful people. And she was so dear to me,” her friend Ray Leslee wrote on Facebook. “She was the youngest and most vibrant 86-year-old I know. I last spoke to her on March 10th. She...
Bosworth acted alongside Audrey Hepburn in “The Nun’s Story” and had a second act writing bestselling celebrity bios. In addition to covering Brando’s life, Bosworth also wrote bestselling biographies about Montgomery Clift, Jane Fonda and Diane Arbus, for whom she had modeled in a Greyhound bus advertisement earlier in her career.
“Patti was more than a great writer. She was an inspiration and a pillar of support to so many wonderful people. And she was so dear to me,” her friend Ray Leslee wrote on Facebook. “She was the youngest and most vibrant 86-year-old I know. I last spoke to her on March 10th. She...
- 4/3/2020
- by Umberto Gonzalez
- The Wrap
Composer-arranger Sid Ramin, a longtime associate of Leonard Bernstein who won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Grammy for his work in film, TV and theater, died of natural causes Monday (July 1) at his home in New York City. He was 100.
Ramin won a 1961 Academy Award for adapting the music of “West Side Story,” which he had originally orchestrated for composer Leonard Bernstein on Broadway in 1957 (with fellow arranger Irwin Kostal). He won a 1961 Grammy for the “West Side Story” soundtrack album, and a 1983 Daytime Emmy for music for TV’s “All My Children.”
Ramin’s musical career encompassed every aspect of show business. He started in the early days of live television, arranging for Milton Berle’s “Texaco Star Theatre” from 1948 to 1956. “There was no second take,” Ramin once reminisced about the insane pace of live TV. “What you did was on the air, good or bad.”
He began...
Ramin won a 1961 Academy Award for adapting the music of “West Side Story,” which he had originally orchestrated for composer Leonard Bernstein on Broadway in 1957 (with fellow arranger Irwin Kostal). He won a 1961 Grammy for the “West Side Story” soundtrack album, and a 1983 Daytime Emmy for music for TV’s “All My Children.”
Ramin’s musical career encompassed every aspect of show business. He started in the early days of live television, arranging for Milton Berle’s “Texaco Star Theatre” from 1948 to 1956. “There was no second take,” Ramin once reminisced about the insane pace of live TV. “What you did was on the air, good or bad.”
He began...
- 7/3/2019
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
Tom Jennings, a retired Hollywood talent agent and casting director, was killed in a household fire on Bainbridge Island in Washington State on April 18, his family announced Tuesday. He was 81.
Jennings’ notable clients during his long career included Julian Fellowes, Burl Ives, Lee Van Cleef and Gene Simmons.
Along with partner Walter Beakel, he founded the boutique talent agency Beakel and Jennings in 1976.
Also Read: Peggy Lipton of 'Mod Squad' and 'Twin Peaks' Dies at 72
Born in Evanston, Illinois in 1937, Jennings grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and later attended Hanover College in Indiana before serving in the Marine corps. He began his career in Hollywood in the late 1950s as an agency assistant to Bing Crosby at Artists Agency Corporation, later moving on to General Artists where he assisted Bill Sargent with the cult music series “The Teenage Music International.”
Following his departure from General Artists in the early ’60s,...
Jennings’ notable clients during his long career included Julian Fellowes, Burl Ives, Lee Van Cleef and Gene Simmons.
Along with partner Walter Beakel, he founded the boutique talent agency Beakel and Jennings in 1976.
Also Read: Peggy Lipton of 'Mod Squad' and 'Twin Peaks' Dies at 72
Born in Evanston, Illinois in 1937, Jennings grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and later attended Hanover College in Indiana before serving in the Marine corps. He began his career in Hollywood in the late 1950s as an agency assistant to Bing Crosby at Artists Agency Corporation, later moving on to General Artists where he assisted Bill Sargent with the cult music series “The Teenage Music International.”
Following his departure from General Artists in the early ’60s,...
- 5/15/2019
- by Ross A. Lincoln
- The Wrap
Retired Hollywood talent agent and casting director Tom Jennings has died. He was 81.
Jennings lost his life in an accidental house fire on Bainbridge Island in Washington state on April 18, his family said in a statement to Deadline.
According to the Kitsap Sun newspaper, the fire broke out in a condominium unit that Jennings shared with his wife Jill. The fire department later determined the blaze was caused by a candle that set a couch on fire. The Jennings attempted to extinguish the flames but were unsuccessful. Jill made it to safety, but Tom died of a heart attack during the fire.
Before moving to Washington, Jennings had a lengthy career in Hollywood. He represented actors, comedians, and musicians including Julian Fellowes, Burl Ives, Lee Van Cleef, David Carradine, Cheryl Ladd, Marion Ross, Gene Simmons (of Kiss fame), and many others.
Jennings was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1937, and his family moved to Santa Barbara,...
Jennings lost his life in an accidental house fire on Bainbridge Island in Washington state on April 18, his family said in a statement to Deadline.
According to the Kitsap Sun newspaper, the fire broke out in a condominium unit that Jennings shared with his wife Jill. The fire department later determined the blaze was caused by a candle that set a couch on fire. The Jennings attempted to extinguish the flames but were unsuccessful. Jill made it to safety, but Tom died of a heart attack during the fire.
Before moving to Washington, Jennings had a lengthy career in Hollywood. He represented actors, comedians, and musicians including Julian Fellowes, Burl Ives, Lee Van Cleef, David Carradine, Cheryl Ladd, Marion Ross, Gene Simmons (of Kiss fame), and many others.
Jennings was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1937, and his family moved to Santa Barbara,...
- 5/15/2019
- by Anita Bennett
- Deadline Film + TV
Film editor Barry Malkin, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for his many collaborations with Francis Ford Coppola, died Thursday. He was 80.
Malkin began his career in 1963 as an apprentice to Dede Allen on Elia Kazan’s “America America.” He was first credited as an editor for his work on “The Patty Duke Show.” Through his friendship with editor and director Aram Avakian, Malkin was introduced to Francis Ford Coppola, and was hired to edit Coppola’s 1969 film “The Rain People.”
“The Rain People” began a long collaboration between the director and editor. Malkin would work either by himself or as part of the editing team on eight additional Coppola productions. Most significantly, Malkin worked on three “Godfather” projects: “The Godfather, Part II” alongside Richard Marks and Peter Zinner in 1974; “The Godfather Saga,” which edited “The Godfather” parts one and two into a chronological TV miniseries featuring scenes not included in the theatrical releases,...
Malkin began his career in 1963 as an apprentice to Dede Allen on Elia Kazan’s “America America.” He was first credited as an editor for his work on “The Patty Duke Show.” Through his friendship with editor and director Aram Avakian, Malkin was introduced to Francis Ford Coppola, and was hired to edit Coppola’s 1969 film “The Rain People.”
“The Rain People” began a long collaboration between the director and editor. Malkin would work either by himself or as part of the editing team on eight additional Coppola productions. Most significantly, Malkin worked on three “Godfather” projects: “The Godfather, Part II” alongside Richard Marks and Peter Zinner in 1974; “The Godfather Saga,” which edited “The Godfather” parts one and two into a chronological TV miniseries featuring scenes not included in the theatrical releases,...
- 4/6/2019
- by Ross A. Lincoln
- The Wrap
Film editor Barry Malkin, a two-time editing Oscar nominee for The Godfather: Part III and The Cotton Club, has died. He was 80.
Malkin worked on more than 30 films in his lifetime and was a longtime collaborator with Godfather trilogy director Francis Ford Coppola, who he teamed with on 11 feature films.
Malkin began his career as an apprentice to Dede Allen on the 1962 film America America, directed by Elia Kazan. There he met editor Aram Avakian, and went on to become his assistant editor on 1964’s Lilith. His first full credits as an editor came on TV’s The Patty Duke Show.
The Coppola connection came through Avakian, and the director hired Malkin to edit his The Rain People (1969).
It was the start of a long association, and Malkin earned a BAFTA nomination for best film editing for The Godfather: Part II.
Malkin also had editing credits on such films as...
Malkin worked on more than 30 films in his lifetime and was a longtime collaborator with Godfather trilogy director Francis Ford Coppola, who he teamed with on 11 feature films.
Malkin began his career as an apprentice to Dede Allen on the 1962 film America America, directed by Elia Kazan. There he met editor Aram Avakian, and went on to become his assistant editor on 1964’s Lilith. His first full credits as an editor came on TV’s The Patty Duke Show.
The Coppola connection came through Avakian, and the director hired Malkin to edit his The Rain People (1969).
It was the start of a long association, and Malkin earned a BAFTA nomination for best film editing for The Godfather: Part II.
Malkin also had editing credits on such films as...
- 4/6/2019
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
History could be made at this year’s Emmys if 13-year-old Noah Schnapp earns a nomination as Best Drama Supporting Actor for Netflix’s “Stranger Things.” Schnapp, who wasn’t even alive in the 1980s when the sci-fi series takes place, would tie as the youngest male actor ever to be nominated for a drama series. Back in 1959 another 13-year-old, Johnny Crawford (“The Rifleman”), earned a nomination but lost. Two female starlets have taken home Emmy Awards — Roxana Zal for “Something About Amelia” (age 14 in 1984) and Kristy McNichol for “Family” — but Schnapp would make history for the boys if he were to win for his breakout role in “Stranger Things.”
SEENoah Schnapp (‘Stranger Things’): Imagining the ‘big terrifying monster coming after me’ for Season 2 [Complete Interview Transcript]
Schnapp plays Will Byers, the son of Joyce (Winona Ryder), who gains mysterious powers in Season 2 after returning from the mysterious Upside Down world. At...
SEENoah Schnapp (‘Stranger Things’): Imagining the ‘big terrifying monster coming after me’ for Season 2 [Complete Interview Transcript]
Schnapp plays Will Byers, the son of Joyce (Winona Ryder), who gains mysterious powers in Season 2 after returning from the mysterious Upside Down world. At...
- 4/26/2018
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Susan Anspach died on April 2 at her home in Los Angeles. She was 75.
Anspach's son, Caleb Goddard, announced her death to the New York Times and said the cause was coronary failure.
Anspach was best known for her roles in 1970s films including Bob Rafaelson's Five Easy Pieces, Paul Mazursky's Blume in Love, and Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam.
Later in her career, Anspach landed recurring roles on television series. She starred in the NBC primetime soap oepra The Yellow Rose as Grace McKenzie. She also appeared in the 13-hour mini-series Space and the comedy The Slap Maxwell Story.
Raised in Queens, New York, Anspach graduated from William Cullen Bryant High School before becoming involved with musical theater. She starred in multiple Broadway and off-Broadway shows, such as “Hair” and “A View from the Bridge” with Robert Duvall, Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. Her first feature...
Anspach's son, Caleb Goddard, announced her death to the New York Times and said the cause was coronary failure.
Anspach was best known for her roles in 1970s films including Bob Rafaelson's Five Easy Pieces, Paul Mazursky's Blume in Love, and Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam.
Later in her career, Anspach landed recurring roles on television series. She starred in the NBC primetime soap oepra The Yellow Rose as Grace McKenzie. She also appeared in the 13-hour mini-series Space and the comedy The Slap Maxwell Story.
Raised in Queens, New York, Anspach graduated from William Cullen Bryant High School before becoming involved with musical theater. She starred in multiple Broadway and off-Broadway shows, such as “Hair” and “A View from the Bridge” with Robert Duvall, Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. Her first feature...
- 4/17/2018
- by Roger Newcomb
- We Love Soaps
July 11th is chock-full of some stellar cult classic releases on Blu-ray and DVD, so hopefully you guys have been saving your pennies. Scream Factory is keeping busy with a trio of titles, including The Man From Planet X, a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray for Species, and Sex Doll. Arrow Video has put together a stunning special edition set for Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Pulse that you’ll definitely want to add to your home media collections, and both The Fifth Element and Peter Jackson’s King Kong are getting a 4K release, too.
Other notable titles for July 11th include Star Crystal, Vampire Cop, The Blessed Ones, Devil’s Domain, The Magicians: Season Two and a Don’t Look in the Basement/Don’t Look in the Basement 2 double feature.
The Man From Planet X (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
From the farthest reaches of space it came … is it friend or foe?...
Other notable titles for July 11th include Star Crystal, Vampire Cop, The Blessed Ones, Devil’s Domain, The Magicians: Season Two and a Don’t Look in the Basement/Don’t Look in the Basement 2 double feature.
The Man From Planet X (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
From the farthest reaches of space it came … is it friend or foe?...
- 7/11/2017
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Scream Factory sets their sights on the stars to bring a visitor from deep space onto Blu-ray with their July 11th home media release of The Man from Planet X, and we've been provided with three Blu-ray copies of the 1951 sci-fi film to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers.
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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of The Man from Planet X.
How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:
1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:
https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/
2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “The Man from Planet X Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.
Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on July 17th.
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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of The Man from Planet X.
How to Enter: We're giving Daily Dead readers multiple chances to enter and win:
1. Instagram: Following us on Instagram during the contest period will give you an automatic contest entry. Make sure to follow us at:
https://www.instagram.com/dailydead/
2. Email: For a chance to win via email, send an email to contest@dailydead.com with the subject “The Man from Planet X Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.
Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on July 17th.
- 7/10/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
It feels like Emmy season has already been going on for months – and it technically has, thanks to For Your Consideration events, which started in the spring, but now will pick up in intensity and frequency. For now it’s truly showtime: Phase One ballots have been sent to the more than 20,000 members of the Television Academy, and voting is underway.
After all the screenings, campaigning and coverage, it’s now up to the voters to decide. The ultimate category nominations will be revealed on Thursday, July 13, at the Television Academy’s Saban Theatre in North Hollywood. (And then we’re on to the final competition!)
But before the first round of voting ends on June 26, here are some of this year’s burning questions inside the Primetime Emmy race:
Who will benefit from the “Game of Thrones” vacuum?
Due to a change in the show’s production calendar, HBO...
After all the screenings, campaigning and coverage, it’s now up to the voters to decide. The ultimate category nominations will be revealed on Thursday, July 13, at the Television Academy’s Saban Theatre in North Hollywood. (And then we’re on to the final competition!)
But before the first round of voting ends on June 26, here are some of this year’s burning questions inside the Primetime Emmy race:
Who will benefit from the “Game of Thrones” vacuum?
Due to a change in the show’s production calendar, HBO...
- 6/13/2017
- by Michael Schneider
- Indiewire
In a sequel of sorts to “International Assassin,” The Leftovers returned Kevin to the other side in Sunday’s “The Most Powerful Man in the World (and His Identical Twin Brother),” setting the stage for the mind-screwiest episode of Season 3… at least until we get to the series finale. Was our hero able to accomplish his mission(s) in the Bizarro World hereafter? And what familiar faces helped/hindered him along the way? Read on…
RelatedLeftovers Ep Damon Lindelof Promises a ‘Resolution’ to That Big Nora Twist
‘So, Let’S Get Assassinating, Shall We?’ | The hour opened with a flashback...
RelatedLeftovers Ep Damon Lindelof Promises a ‘Resolution’ to That Big Nora Twist
‘So, Let’S Get Assassinating, Shall We?’ | The hour opened with a flashback...
- 5/29/2017
- TVLine.com
It’s difficult enough for an actor to be tasked with transforming into a new person — in aspect, personality, movement and spirit — from role to role. But when double duty (or more) is required within the same project, that’s when the real challenge kicks in, because the viewer must be convinced that the same actor is distinctly different when they’re playing both parts in rapid succession, sometimes even side-by side or interacting with each other.
Dating back to shows like “The Patty Duke Show,” “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie,” the dual role usually allowed for storylines involving twins, cousins or other lookalikes. Even “Knight Rider” stuck a mustache and goatee on David Hasselhoff to give him an evil twin. Over time though, these performances became less campy and more convincing, going beyond the fake hair, goofy costuming or “evil” shortcut trappings. These days, dual roles can be...
Dating back to shows like “The Patty Duke Show,” “Bewitched” and “I Dream of Jeannie,” the dual role usually allowed for storylines involving twins, cousins or other lookalikes. Even “Knight Rider” stuck a mustache and goatee on David Hasselhoff to give him an evil twin. Over time though, these performances became less campy and more convincing, going beyond the fake hair, goofy costuming or “evil” shortcut trappings. These days, dual roles can be...
- 4/26/2017
- by Hanh Nguyen
- Indiewire
We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.Hector BabencoArgentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of
We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.
Hector Babenco
Argentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.
He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of The Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned a best director Oscar nominee and William Hurt earned an Oscar win for best actor.
Babenco went on to direct Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in Ironweed (1987) and Tom Berenger and John Lithgow in At Play In The Fields Of The Lord (1991).
After undergoing cancer treatment in the 1990s, he returned to the director’s chair for films including Brazilian prison...
We pay tribute to the film stars and directors from around the world who sadly passed away in 2016.
Hector Babenco
Argentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco died on July 13 at 70-years-old.
He found international success with Brazilian slum drama Pixote (1981), going on to make Kiss Of The Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned a best director Oscar nominee and William Hurt earned an Oscar win for best actor.
Babenco went on to direct Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson in Ironweed (1987) and Tom Berenger and John Lithgow in At Play In The Fields Of The Lord (1991).
After undergoing cancer treatment in the 1990s, he returned to the director’s chair for films including Brazilian prison...
- 12/31/2016
- ScreenDaily
Actor George S. Irving, who won a Tony Award starring with Debbie Reynolds in the musical Irene and appeared in the original Broadway production of Oklahoma, died Monday at age 94.
He died in New York, said actor-director David Staller, Irving's friend.
Irving had several television and film credits, including appearances on All in the Family, Car 54 Where Are You?, Ryan's Hope and The Patty Duke Show. As a voice actor, he narrated the cartoon Underdog and played the Heat Miser in the animated The Year Without a Santa Claus.
He was also a regular in New York theater....
He died in New York, said actor-director David Staller, Irving's friend.
Irving had several television and film credits, including appearances on All in the Family, Car 54 Where Are You?, Ryan's Hope and The Patty Duke Show. As a voice actor, he narrated the cartoon Underdog and played the Heat Miser in the animated The Year Without a Santa Claus.
He was also a regular in New York theater....
- 12/28/2016
- by the Associated Press
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It had been a long time since I was in the same room with director Michael Cimino. My first job out of Nyu Cinema Studies was in the publicity department at United Artists in New York, where I witnessed the long delays on Cimino’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning 1978 anti-war diatribe “The Deer Hunter,” the period western “Heaven’s Gate.”
The director got caught up in chasing authenticity in the myriad details of the production, training for weeks the cast led by Kris Kristofferson and Isabelle Huppert to roller-skate for one scene — and demanding endless retakes until he shot more feet of film, over 1 million, than even Francis Coppola did on another memorably out-of-control UA movie, “Apocalypse Now.” The original $11 million budget bloated to $32 million (Cimino’s figure), as recounted in Steven Bach’s “Final Cut: Art, Money and Ego in the Making of ‘Heaven’s Gate.’
“Heaven’s...
The director got caught up in chasing authenticity in the myriad details of the production, training for weeks the cast led by Kris Kristofferson and Isabelle Huppert to roller-skate for one scene — and demanding endless retakes until he shot more feet of film, over 1 million, than even Francis Coppola did on another memorably out-of-control UA movie, “Apocalypse Now.” The original $11 million budget bloated to $32 million (Cimino’s figure), as recounted in Steven Bach’s “Final Cut: Art, Money and Ego in the Making of ‘Heaven’s Gate.’
“Heaven’s...
- 7/2/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Australian filmmaker Paul Cox has died at 76. Regarded as an icon of Aussie cinema — an especially impressive feat considering he was born in the Netherlands and didn’t make his way Down Under until he was 25 — Cox directed a total of 31 feature films: 12 documentaries and 19 narratives. “Innocence,” “Man of Flowers” and “A Woman’s Tale” were among his best-known works. No cause of death has been given, though Cox did survive cancer in 2009 after receiving a liver transplant.
Read More: Engaging With Film At Ebertfest
As noted in a comprehensive RogerEbert.com tribute, Cox once said in an interview that “to also realize we’re going to die one day, to ask questions about death is very important because that makes you more alive and it makes you more of a decent human being.” Full name Paulus Henrique Benedictus Cox, he was born on April 16, 1940 in Venlo and had a...
Read More: Engaging With Film At Ebertfest
As noted in a comprehensive RogerEbert.com tribute, Cox once said in an interview that “to also realize we’re going to die one day, to ask questions about death is very important because that makes you more alive and it makes you more of a decent human being.” Full name Paulus Henrique Benedictus Cox, he was born on April 16, 1940 in Venlo and had a...
- 6/19/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Ivan Tors and Curt Siodmak 'borrow' nine minutes of dynamite special effects from an obscure-because-suppressed German sci-fi picture, write a new script, and come up with an eccentric thriller where atom scientists behave like G-Men crossed with Albert Einstein. The challenge? How to make a faceless unstable atomic isotope into a worthy science fiction 'monster.' The Magnetic Monster Blu-ray Kl Studio Classics 1953 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 76 min. / Street Date June 14, 2016 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Richard Carlson, King Donovan, Jean Byron, Leonard Mudie, Byron Foulger, Michael Fox, Frank Gerstle, Charles Williams, Kathleen Freeman, Strother Martin, Jarma Lewis. Cinematography Charles Van Enger Supervising Film Editor Herbert L. Strock Original Music Blaine Sanford Written by Curt Siodmak, Ivan Tors Produced by Ivan Tors Directed by Curt Siodmak
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How did we ever survive without an "Office of Scientific Investigation?" In the early 1950s, producer Ivan Tors launched himself with a trio of science fiction movies based on that non-existent government entity, sort of an FBI for strange scientific phenomena. As of this writing, Kino has released a terrific 3-D Blu-ray of the third entry, 1954's Gog. The second Tors Osi mini-epic is the interesting, if scientifically scrambled Riders to the Stars, which shows up from time to time on TCM but has yet to find its way to home video in any format. The first of the series, 1953's The Magnetic Monster is considered the most scientifically interesting, although it mainly promotes its own laundry list of goofy notions about physics and chemistry. As it pretends that it is based on scientific ideas instead of rubber-suited monsters, Tors' abstract threat is more than just another 'thing' trying to abduct the leading lady. Exploiting the common fear of radiation, a force little understood by the general public, The Magnetic Monster invents a whole new secret government bureau dedicated to solving 'dangerous scientific problems' -- the inference being, of course, that there's always something threatening about science. Actually, producer Tors was probably inspired by his partner Curt Siodmak to take advantage of a fantastic special effects opportunity that a small show like Magnetic could normally never afford. More on that later. The script plays like an episode of Dragnet, substituting scientific detectives for L.A.P.D. gumshoes. Top-kick nuclear troubleshooter Dr. Jeff Stewart (Richard Carlson) can't afford to buy a tract home for his pregnant wife Connie (beautiful Jean Byron, later of The Patty Duke Show). He is one of just a few dauntless Osi operatives standing between us and scientific disaster. When local cops route a weird distress call to the Osi office, Jeff and his Phd. sidekick Dan Forbes (King Donovan) discover that someone has been tampering with an unstable isotope in a room above a housewares store on Lincoln Blvd.: every metallic object in the store has become magnetized. The agents trace the explosive element to one Dr. Serny (Michael Fox), whose "lone wolf" experiments have created a new monster element, a Unipolar watchamacallit sometimes referred to as Serranium. If not 'fed' huge amounts of energy this new element will implode, expand, and explode again on a predictable timetable. Local efforts to neutralize the element fail, and an entire lab building is destroyed. Dan and Jeff rush the now-larger isotope to a fantastic Canadian "Deltatron" constructed in a super-scientific complex deep under the ocean off Nova Scotia. The plan is to bombard the stuff with so much energy that it will disintegrate harmlessly. But does the Deltatron have enough juice to do the job? Its Canadian supervisor tries to halt the procedure just as the time limit to the next implosion is coming due! Sincere, likeable and quaint, The Magnetic Monster is nevertheless a prime candidate for chuckles, thanks to a screenplay with a high clunk factor. Big cheese scientist Jeff Stewart interrupts his experimental bombardment of metals in his atom smasher to go out on blind neighborhood calls, dispensing atom know-how like a pizza deliveryman. He takes time out to make fat jokes at the expense of the lab's switchboard operator, the charming Kathleen Freeman. The Osi's super-computer provides instant answers to various mysteries. Its name in this show is the acronym M.A.N.I.A.C.. Was naming differential analyzers some kind of a fetish with early computer men? Quick, which '50s Sci-fi gem has a computer named S.U.S.I.E.? The strange isotope harnesses a vague amalgam of nuclear and magnetic forces. It might seem logical to small kids just learning about the invisible wonder of magnetism -- and that understand none of it. All the silverware at the store sticks together. It is odd, but not enough to cause the sexy blonde saleswoman (Elizabeth Root) to scream and jump as if goosed by Our Friend the Atom. When a call comes in that a taxi's engine has become magnetized, our agents are slow to catch on. Gee, could that crazy event be related to our mystery element? When the culprit scientist is finally tracked down, and pulled off an airliner, he's already near death from overexposure to his own creation. We admire Dr. Serny, who after all managed to create a new element on his own, without benefit of a billion dollar physics lab. He also must be a prize dope for not realizing that the resulting radiation would kill him. The Osi troubleshooters deliver a stern lesson that all of us need to remember: "In nuclear research there is no place for lone wolves." If you think about it, the agency's function is to protect us from science itself, with blame leveled at individual, free-thinking, 'rogue' brainiacs. (Sarcasm alert.) The danger in nuclear research comes not from mad militarists trying to make bigger and more awful bombs; the villains are those crackpots cooking up end-of-the-world scenarios in their home workshops. Dr. Serny probably didn't even have a security clearance! The Magnetic Monster has a delightful gaffe in every scene. When a dangerous isotope is said to be 'on the loose,' a police radio order is broadcast to Shoot To Kill ... Shoot what exactly, they don't say. This line could very well have been invented in the film's audio mix, if producer Tors thought the scene needed an extra jolt. Despite the fact that writer-director Curt Siodmak cooked up the brilliant concept of Donovan's Brain and personally invented a bona fide classic monster mythology, his '50s sci-fi efforts strain credibility in all directions. As I explain in the Gold review, Siodmak may have been the one to come up with the idea of repurposing the climax of the old film. He was a refugee from Hitler's Germany, and had written a film with director Karl Hartl. Reading accounts in books by Tom Weaver and Bill Warren, we learn that the writer Siodmak had difficulty functioning as a director and that credited editor Herbert Strock stepped in to direct. Strock later claimed that the noted writer was indecisive on the set. The truly remarkable aspect of The Magnetic Monster comes in the last reel, when Jeff and Dan take an elevator ride way, way down to Canada's subterranean, sub-Atlantic Deltatron atom-smasher. They're suddenly wearing styles not worn in the early 'fifties -- big blocky coats and wide-brimmed hats. The answer comes when they step out into a wild mad-lab construction worthy of the visuals in Metropolis. A giant power station is outfitted with oversized white porcelain insulators -- even a set of stairs looks like an insulator. Atop the control booth is an array of (giant, what else) glass tubes with glowing neon lights inside. Cables and wires go every which-way. A crew of workers in wrinkled shop suits stands about like extras from The Three-Penny Opera. For quite some time, only readers of old issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland knew the secret of this bizarre footage, which is actually from the 1934 German sci-fi thriller Gold, directed by Karl Hartl and starring Hans Albers and Brigitte Helm. Tors and Siodmak do their best to integrate Richard Carlson and King Donovan into this spectacular twenty-year-old stock footage, even though the extravagant production values and the expressionist patina of the Ufa visuals are a gross mismatch for The Magnetic Monster's '50s semi-docu look. Jeff's wide hat and David Byrne coat are there to make him look more like Hans Albers in the 1934 film, which doesn't work because Albers must be four inches taller and forty pounds beefier than Richard Carlson. Jeff climbs around the Deltatron, enters a control booth and argues with the Canadian scientist/turnkey, who is a much better match for the villain of Gold. Jeff changes into a different costume, with a different cap -- so he can match Albers in the different scene in Gold. The exciting climax repurposes the extravagant special effects of Otto Hunte and Günther Rittau, changing the original film's attempted atomic alchemy into a desperate attempt to neutralize the nasty new element before it can explode again. The matching works rather well for Jeff's desperate struggle to close an enormous pair of bulkhead doors that have been sabotaged. And a matched cut on a whip pan from center stage to a high control room is very nicely integrated into the old footage. The bizarre scene doesn't quite come off... even kids must have known that older footage was being used. In the long shots, Richard Carlson doesn't look anything like Hans Albers. A fuel-rod plunger in the control room displays a German-style cross, even though the corresponding instrument in the original show wasn't so decorated. Some impressive close-up views of a blob of metal being bombarded by atomic particles are from the old movie, and others are new effects. Metallurgy is scary, man. The "Serranium" threat establishes a pattern touched upon by later Sci-fi movies with organic or abstract forces that grow from relative insignificance to world-threatening proportions. The Monolith Monsters proposes giant crystals that grow to the size of skyscrapers, threatening to cover the earth with a giant quartz-pile. The Sam Katzman quickie The Day the World Exploded makes The Magnetic Monster look like an expensive production. It invents a new mineral that explodes when exposed to air. The supporting cast of The Magnetic Monster gives us some pleasant, familiar faces. In addition to the beloved Kathleen Freeman is Strother Martin as a concerned airline pilot. Fussy Byron Foulger owns the housewares store and granite-jawed Frank Gerstle (Gristle?) is a gruff general. The gorgeous Jarma Lewis has a quick bit as a stewardess. The Kl Studio Classics Blu-ray of The Magnetic Monster is a fine transfer of this B&W gem from United Artists. Once hard to see, it was part of an expensive MGM-Image laserdisc set twenty years ago and then an Mod DVD in 2011. The disc comes with a socko original trailer that explains why it did reasonably well at the box office. Every exciting moment is edited into a coming attraction that really hypes the jeopardy factor. At that time, just the sight of a hero in a radiation suit promised something unusual. Nowadays, Hazardous Waste workers use suits like that to clean up common chemical spills. The commentary for The Magnetic Monster is by Fangoria writer Derek Botelho, whose name is misspelled as Botello on the disc package. I've heard Derek on a couple of David del Valle tracks for Vincent Price movies, where he functioned mainly as an Ed McMahon-like fan sidekick. His talk tends to drift into loosely related sidebar observations. Instead of discussing how the movie was made by cannibalizing another, he recounts for us the comedy stock footage discovery scene from Tim Burton's Ed Wood. Several pages recited from memoirs by Curt Siodmak and Herbert Strock do provide useful information on the film. Botelho appreciates actress Kathleen Freeman. You can't go wrong doing that. Viewers that obtain Kino's concurrent Blu-ray release of the original 1934 German thriller Gold will note that the repurposed scenes from that film look much better here, although they still bear some scratches. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, The Magnetic Monster Blu-ray rates: Movie: Good + Video: Very Good Sound: Excellent Supplements: Commentary with Derek Botelho, Theatrical trailer Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? N0; Subtitles: None Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 8, 2016 (5138magn)
Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
How did we ever survive without an "Office of Scientific Investigation?" In the early 1950s, producer Ivan Tors launched himself with a trio of science fiction movies based on that non-existent government entity, sort of an FBI for strange scientific phenomena. As of this writing, Kino has released a terrific 3-D Blu-ray of the third entry, 1954's Gog. The second Tors Osi mini-epic is the interesting, if scientifically scrambled Riders to the Stars, which shows up from time to time on TCM but has yet to find its way to home video in any format. The first of the series, 1953's The Magnetic Monster is considered the most scientifically interesting, although it mainly promotes its own laundry list of goofy notions about physics and chemistry. As it pretends that it is based on scientific ideas instead of rubber-suited monsters, Tors' abstract threat is more than just another 'thing' trying to abduct the leading lady. Exploiting the common fear of radiation, a force little understood by the general public, The Magnetic Monster invents a whole new secret government bureau dedicated to solving 'dangerous scientific problems' -- the inference being, of course, that there's always something threatening about science. Actually, producer Tors was probably inspired by his partner Curt Siodmak to take advantage of a fantastic special effects opportunity that a small show like Magnetic could normally never afford. More on that later. The script plays like an episode of Dragnet, substituting scientific detectives for L.A.P.D. gumshoes. Top-kick nuclear troubleshooter Dr. Jeff Stewart (Richard Carlson) can't afford to buy a tract home for his pregnant wife Connie (beautiful Jean Byron, later of The Patty Duke Show). He is one of just a few dauntless Osi operatives standing between us and scientific disaster. When local cops route a weird distress call to the Osi office, Jeff and his Phd. sidekick Dan Forbes (King Donovan) discover that someone has been tampering with an unstable isotope in a room above a housewares store on Lincoln Blvd.: every metallic object in the store has become magnetized. The agents trace the explosive element to one Dr. Serny (Michael Fox), whose "lone wolf" experiments have created a new monster element, a Unipolar watchamacallit sometimes referred to as Serranium. If not 'fed' huge amounts of energy this new element will implode, expand, and explode again on a predictable timetable. Local efforts to neutralize the element fail, and an entire lab building is destroyed. Dan and Jeff rush the now-larger isotope to a fantastic Canadian "Deltatron" constructed in a super-scientific complex deep under the ocean off Nova Scotia. The plan is to bombard the stuff with so much energy that it will disintegrate harmlessly. But does the Deltatron have enough juice to do the job? Its Canadian supervisor tries to halt the procedure just as the time limit to the next implosion is coming due! Sincere, likeable and quaint, The Magnetic Monster is nevertheless a prime candidate for chuckles, thanks to a screenplay with a high clunk factor. Big cheese scientist Jeff Stewart interrupts his experimental bombardment of metals in his atom smasher to go out on blind neighborhood calls, dispensing atom know-how like a pizza deliveryman. He takes time out to make fat jokes at the expense of the lab's switchboard operator, the charming Kathleen Freeman. The Osi's super-computer provides instant answers to various mysteries. Its name in this show is the acronym M.A.N.I.A.C.. Was naming differential analyzers some kind of a fetish with early computer men? Quick, which '50s Sci-fi gem has a computer named S.U.S.I.E.? The strange isotope harnesses a vague amalgam of nuclear and magnetic forces. It might seem logical to small kids just learning about the invisible wonder of magnetism -- and that understand none of it. All the silverware at the store sticks together. It is odd, but not enough to cause the sexy blonde saleswoman (Elizabeth Root) to scream and jump as if goosed by Our Friend the Atom. When a call comes in that a taxi's engine has become magnetized, our agents are slow to catch on. Gee, could that crazy event be related to our mystery element? When the culprit scientist is finally tracked down, and pulled off an airliner, he's already near death from overexposure to his own creation. We admire Dr. Serny, who after all managed to create a new element on his own, without benefit of a billion dollar physics lab. He also must be a prize dope for not realizing that the resulting radiation would kill him. The Osi troubleshooters deliver a stern lesson that all of us need to remember: "In nuclear research there is no place for lone wolves." If you think about it, the agency's function is to protect us from science itself, with blame leveled at individual, free-thinking, 'rogue' brainiacs. (Sarcasm alert.) The danger in nuclear research comes not from mad militarists trying to make bigger and more awful bombs; the villains are those crackpots cooking up end-of-the-world scenarios in their home workshops. Dr. Serny probably didn't even have a security clearance! The Magnetic Monster has a delightful gaffe in every scene. When a dangerous isotope is said to be 'on the loose,' a police radio order is broadcast to Shoot To Kill ... Shoot what exactly, they don't say. This line could very well have been invented in the film's audio mix, if producer Tors thought the scene needed an extra jolt. Despite the fact that writer-director Curt Siodmak cooked up the brilliant concept of Donovan's Brain and personally invented a bona fide classic monster mythology, his '50s sci-fi efforts strain credibility in all directions. As I explain in the Gold review, Siodmak may have been the one to come up with the idea of repurposing the climax of the old film. He was a refugee from Hitler's Germany, and had written a film with director Karl Hartl. Reading accounts in books by Tom Weaver and Bill Warren, we learn that the writer Siodmak had difficulty functioning as a director and that credited editor Herbert Strock stepped in to direct. Strock later claimed that the noted writer was indecisive on the set. The truly remarkable aspect of The Magnetic Monster comes in the last reel, when Jeff and Dan take an elevator ride way, way down to Canada's subterranean, sub-Atlantic Deltatron atom-smasher. They're suddenly wearing styles not worn in the early 'fifties -- big blocky coats and wide-brimmed hats. The answer comes when they step out into a wild mad-lab construction worthy of the visuals in Metropolis. A giant power station is outfitted with oversized white porcelain insulators -- even a set of stairs looks like an insulator. Atop the control booth is an array of (giant, what else) glass tubes with glowing neon lights inside. Cables and wires go every which-way. A crew of workers in wrinkled shop suits stands about like extras from The Three-Penny Opera. For quite some time, only readers of old issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland knew the secret of this bizarre footage, which is actually from the 1934 German sci-fi thriller Gold, directed by Karl Hartl and starring Hans Albers and Brigitte Helm. Tors and Siodmak do their best to integrate Richard Carlson and King Donovan into this spectacular twenty-year-old stock footage, even though the extravagant production values and the expressionist patina of the Ufa visuals are a gross mismatch for The Magnetic Monster's '50s semi-docu look. Jeff's wide hat and David Byrne coat are there to make him look more like Hans Albers in the 1934 film, which doesn't work because Albers must be four inches taller and forty pounds beefier than Richard Carlson. Jeff climbs around the Deltatron, enters a control booth and argues with the Canadian scientist/turnkey, who is a much better match for the villain of Gold. Jeff changes into a different costume, with a different cap -- so he can match Albers in the different scene in Gold. The exciting climax repurposes the extravagant special effects of Otto Hunte and Günther Rittau, changing the original film's attempted atomic alchemy into a desperate attempt to neutralize the nasty new element before it can explode again. The matching works rather well for Jeff's desperate struggle to close an enormous pair of bulkhead doors that have been sabotaged. And a matched cut on a whip pan from center stage to a high control room is very nicely integrated into the old footage. The bizarre scene doesn't quite come off... even kids must have known that older footage was being used. In the long shots, Richard Carlson doesn't look anything like Hans Albers. A fuel-rod plunger in the control room displays a German-style cross, even though the corresponding instrument in the original show wasn't so decorated. Some impressive close-up views of a blob of metal being bombarded by atomic particles are from the old movie, and others are new effects. Metallurgy is scary, man. The "Serranium" threat establishes a pattern touched upon by later Sci-fi movies with organic or abstract forces that grow from relative insignificance to world-threatening proportions. The Monolith Monsters proposes giant crystals that grow to the size of skyscrapers, threatening to cover the earth with a giant quartz-pile. The Sam Katzman quickie The Day the World Exploded makes The Magnetic Monster look like an expensive production. It invents a new mineral that explodes when exposed to air. The supporting cast of The Magnetic Monster gives us some pleasant, familiar faces. In addition to the beloved Kathleen Freeman is Strother Martin as a concerned airline pilot. Fussy Byron Foulger owns the housewares store and granite-jawed Frank Gerstle (Gristle?) is a gruff general. The gorgeous Jarma Lewis has a quick bit as a stewardess. The Kl Studio Classics Blu-ray of The Magnetic Monster is a fine transfer of this B&W gem from United Artists. Once hard to see, it was part of an expensive MGM-Image laserdisc set twenty years ago and then an Mod DVD in 2011. The disc comes with a socko original trailer that explains why it did reasonably well at the box office. Every exciting moment is edited into a coming attraction that really hypes the jeopardy factor. At that time, just the sight of a hero in a radiation suit promised something unusual. Nowadays, Hazardous Waste workers use suits like that to clean up common chemical spills. The commentary for The Magnetic Monster is by Fangoria writer Derek Botelho, whose name is misspelled as Botello on the disc package. I've heard Derek on a couple of David del Valle tracks for Vincent Price movies, where he functioned mainly as an Ed McMahon-like fan sidekick. His talk tends to drift into loosely related sidebar observations. Instead of discussing how the movie was made by cannibalizing another, he recounts for us the comedy stock footage discovery scene from Tim Burton's Ed Wood. Several pages recited from memoirs by Curt Siodmak and Herbert Strock do provide useful information on the film. Botelho appreciates actress Kathleen Freeman. You can't go wrong doing that. Viewers that obtain Kino's concurrent Blu-ray release of the original 1934 German thriller Gold will note that the repurposed scenes from that film look much better here, although they still bear some scratches. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, The Magnetic Monster Blu-ray rates: Movie: Good + Video: Very Good Sound: Excellent Supplements: Commentary with Derek Botelho, Theatrical trailer Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? N0; Subtitles: None Packaging: Keep case Reviewed: June 8, 2016 (5138magn)
Visit DVD Savant's Main Column Page Glenn Erickson answers most reader mail: dvdsavant@mindspring.com
Text © Copyright 2016 Glenn Erickson...
- 6/14/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Prolific TV series director, Harry Falk, is dead at the age of 83. His obituary states he died on April 29, 2016. Falk was the first husband of Patty Duke, who passed away March 29, 2016.
Falk got his professional start as an assistant director on The Defenders TV series on CBS (1961) and The Patty Duke Show on ABC (1963-63). It would be on the latter than he is first credited as Director, for a trio of episodes in 1966.
Read More…...
Falk got his professional start as an assistant director on The Defenders TV series on CBS (1961) and The Patty Duke Show on ABC (1963-63). It would be on the latter than he is first credited as Director, for a trio of episodes in 1966.
Read More…...
- 6/9/2016
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
William Schallert and Patty Duke.
Popular character actor William Schallert has died at age 93, having been active in the acting community right up through recent years. Schallert was a familiar face to retro movie and TV fans, even if his name was not as well known. He is remembered by many for playing the harried father of teenage Patty Duke in the 1960s sitcom "The Patty Duke Show". (In a tragic coincidence, Ms. Duke also recently passed away.) Schallert was much beloved by science fiction and horror fans for his appearances in TV series such as "Commander Cody", "Space Patrol", "Men Into Space" and "The Twilight Zone".
Artist Pete Emslie's tribute to Schallert. (For more of Emslie's artistic creations, visit The Cartoon Cave.)
In feature films Schallert appeared in the cult classics "Them!", "The Incredible Shrinking Man", "Colossus: The Forbin Project" as well as the 1983 feature film "Twilight Zone: The Movie...
Popular character actor William Schallert has died at age 93, having been active in the acting community right up through recent years. Schallert was a familiar face to retro movie and TV fans, even if his name was not as well known. He is remembered by many for playing the harried father of teenage Patty Duke in the 1960s sitcom "The Patty Duke Show". (In a tragic coincidence, Ms. Duke also recently passed away.) Schallert was much beloved by science fiction and horror fans for his appearances in TV series such as "Commander Cody", "Space Patrol", "Men Into Space" and "The Twilight Zone".
Artist Pete Emslie's tribute to Schallert. (For more of Emslie's artistic creations, visit The Cartoon Cave.)
In feature films Schallert appeared in the cult classics "Them!", "The Incredible Shrinking Man", "Colossus: The Forbin Project" as well as the 1983 feature film "Twilight Zone: The Movie...
- 5/10/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Mainstream television fans might know him from his days on "The Patty Duke Show," but original "Star Trek" fans are now having to say good-bye to Nilz Baris.That was the character William Schallert played in the popular "Trek" episode "The Trouble With Troubles." Schallert, who would go on to a prolific television and film career with more than 370 credits, died Sunday in Pacific Palisades, California. He was 93.Schallert's character of Baris was an undersecretary in charge of agricultural affairs along the Federation's border with the Klingon Empire, according to Memory Alpha. Baris is the one who brings Capt. Kirk and the USS Enteprise to Deep Space Station K-7 to protect the grain, which was later consumed quite quickly by Tribbles.That was enough to get Baris to threaten Kirk with a hearing ...
- 5/9/2016
- GeekNation.com
Updated with statement from SAG-aftra: William Shallert, former SAG president and co-star on The Patty Duke Show, died on May 8 in Los Angeles. He was 93. Including stints on Star Trek, the 1967 pic In the Heat of the Night, an uncredited appearance in Steve Martin's The Jerk and HBO’s True Blood among many others, the character actor’s career spanned from 1947-2014, when he appeared in an episode of 2 Broke Girls. SAG-aftra today confirmed Shallert’s passing. "Bill…...
- 5/9/2016
- Deadline TV
Child actors have played a crucial role in some of the best shows, miniseries, and movies to air since television’s inception. Today they’re delivering dynamic performances at a rapid pace as the television landscape expands well beyond broadcast and cable. These 12 performances are just a few of dozens of memorable performances given by children, which set the standard for the kind of dramatic and comedic work child actors can produce in the medium. Patty Duke, “The Patty Duke Show”Duke’s career longevity is enviable to any actor starting out in the business. Duke became one of the youngest Oscar winners ever at 16 in 1963 for her mesmerizing portrayal of Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker.” Duke followed up that performance with her self-titled comedy series “The Patty Duke Show.” At 16, Duke remains the youngest actor ever to front a show named after themselves. Duke’s impressive dual performances...
- 4/1/2016
- backstage.com
Patty Duke died Tuesday at the age of 69. And while her legacy will certainly live on in her many celebrated performances in both film and television, those close to the actress say they'll remember her most for one thing: her ability to love.
"The true story of her life isn't her work and it isn't her advocacy, it's the love relationship she's had with her husband Mike for the last 30 years," Duke's son, actor Sean Astin, told the Associated Press.
But while Duke found happiness with her husband Michael Pearce, she traveled a winding road to get there. Duke was...
"The true story of her life isn't her work and it isn't her advocacy, it's the love relationship she's had with her husband Mike for the last 30 years," Duke's son, actor Sean Astin, told the Associated Press.
But while Duke found happiness with her husband Michael Pearce, she traveled a winding road to get there. Duke was...
- 3/30/2016
- by Jodi Guglielmi, @JodiGug3
- People.com - TV Watch
Patty Duke died Tuesday at the age of 69. And while her legacy will certainly live on in her many celebrated performances in both film and television, those close to the actress say they'll remember her most for one thing: her ability to love. "The true story of her life isn't her work and it isn't her advocacy, it's the love relationship she's had with her husband Mike for the last 30 years," Duke's son, actor Sean Astin, told the Associated Press. But while Duke found happiness with her husband Michael Pearce, she traveled a winding road to get there. Duke was...
- 3/30/2016
- by Jodi Guglielmi, @JodiGug3
- PEOPLE.com
Patty Duke died Tuesday at the age of 69. And while her legacy will certainly live on in her many celebrated performances in both film and television, those close to the actress say they'll remember her most for one thing: her ability to love. "The true story of her life isn't her work and it isn't her advocacy, it's the love relationship she's had with her husband Mike for the last 30 years," Duke's son, actor Sean Astin, told the Associated Press. But while Duke found happiness with her husband Michael Pearce, she traveled a winding road to get there. Duke was...
- 3/30/2016
- by Jodi Guglielmi, @JodiGug3
- PEOPLE.com
[caption id="attachment_46402" align="aligncenter" width="590"] (Disney Channel/Eric McCandless)Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Patty Duke, Dove Cameron/caption]
Variety reports award winning actress Patty Duke has died at the age of 69. The double-trouble star of the 1963-66 sitcom, The Patty Duke Show, is still well remembered for playing identical cousins Patty and Cathy Lane. Duke's long, successful and varied career stretches back before that series, to her childhood, in the 1950s.
According the the Variety report, Duke's manager, Mitchell Stubbs, confirmed that she died early today, Tuesday, March 29, 2016, due to sepsis from a ruptured intestine. The outlet quotes Stubbs as saying, "She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a mental health advocate and a cultural icon. She will be greatly missed."
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Variety reports award winning actress Patty Duke has died at the age of 69. The double-trouble star of the 1963-66 sitcom, The Patty Duke Show, is still well remembered for playing identical cousins Patty and Cathy Lane. Duke's long, successful and varied career stretches back before that series, to her childhood, in the 1950s.
According the the Variety report, Duke's manager, Mitchell Stubbs, confirmed that she died early today, Tuesday, March 29, 2016, due to sepsis from a ruptured intestine. The outlet quotes Stubbs as saying, "She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a mental health advocate and a cultural icon. She will be greatly missed."
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- 3/29/2016
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
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