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Musician Jeremy Bar-Illan spent over a year watching his 17-year-old son, Zachary, suffer from osteosarcoma — a type of cancer that starts in the bones. After his tragic death, the grieving father vowed to always keep his son’s memory alive.

Zachary’s difficult battle with osteosarcoma resulted in a leg amputation and two lung surgeries. He suffocated to death in August 2009.

“My whole world was falling apart,” Bar-Illan, 55, tells People. “I had two surviving sons to raise and my wife was not in the picture.”

In the midst of devastation, Bar-Illan, who worked on Wall Street at the time, realized...

Ellen Albertini Dow, the scene-stealing actress who blossomed on both the big and small screens late in life and gave a memorable rapping performance in "The Wedding Singer," has died. She was 101.

Albertini Dow's incredible life began in Pennsylvania in 1913, and she studied acting and mime alongside industry legends including Martha Graham and Marcel Marceau. She and her husband, Eugene Dow, started the theater program at Pierce College in California, where she taught until she retired in 1985.

But Albertini Dow didn't stop there. She started taking acting classes at the American Film Institute and began a career in her 70s, scoring roles in television series including the 1980s reboot of "The Twilight Zone." She went on to appear on television numerous times throughout the next few decades of her life, including guest spots on series such as "Moonlighting," "Murphy Brown," "The Golden Girls," "The Wonder Years," "Star Trek: The Next Generation,...

Dammit, NBC — why’d you have to announce an upcoming live version of The Music Man that likely won’t premiere until 2015? How are we supposed to get excited for Peter Pan Live when we know that this is on the horizon?

No disrespect to the Lost Boys, but Meredith Willson’s 1957 classic is a much better show than the 1954 stage version of Pan. (So long as Mary Martin isn’t involved, anyway.) The songs are catchier, the book is wittier, the production numbers are more fun — and there’s much less chance of high-wire mishaps, which actually might make...

On Feb. 9, 1964, the British invaded America in a way that made pop-culture history.

Four lads from Liverpool gave their first U.S. television performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," and exactly 50 years later -- same hour, same night, same network -- the event will be recalled in the CBS special "The Beatles: The Night That Changed America - A Grammy Salute" Sunday, Feb. 9. Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr perform on the show, and also are interviewed by David Letterman, but renderings of the ultra-iconic group's music largely fall to others.

The roster includes teamings of Keith Urban and John Mayer, and Alicia Keys and John Legend, plus Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Stevie Wonder, Brad Paisley, Pharrell Williams, Dave Grohl, Joe Walsh, and a reunion of former Eurythmics partners Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart.

The Beatles themselves will be represented by clips from the Sullivan show, on which they also...

If you didn’t grow up with the Beatles, the quality of the group that’s most defining — the degree to which they towered over the culture — is almost impossible to communicate in any organic way. I don’t mean to be patronizing to my Gen-x friends (although they’ve never been shy about patronizing me), but if you’re too young to remember the Beatles, you probably won’t get it. You’ll think: Okay, Michael Jackson meets Star Wars — I know, they were that big. But they weren’t. They were bigger. They may not have been bigger than Jesus,...

...and I was in first grade. Ed Sullivan was presenting "these youngsters from Liverpool who call themselves The Beatles" on his American variety television program. My mother, father, younger brother David, and I were huddled around our RCA black and white TV set, just as 73 million other Americans were around theirs! My dad was annoyed that this much attention and hype was being flung at "a bunch kids that needed haircuts!" I didn't care, it was The Beatles! They'd taken the radio by storm with "She Loves You" and now it was time to see them live on TV. And it was electrifying! The audience was going crazy -- girls and boys screaming. They played "All My Loving" and "Till There Was You" and "She Loves You" and "I Saw Her Standing There" and it would usher in a change in the pop music landscape that still reverberates today. 

This...

Some of the nation’s top comedians hailed Ellen DeGeneres as a trailblazer Monday night as she received the nation’s highest humor prize.

The Kennedy Center is awarding DeGeneres the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The show will be broadcast Oct. 30 on PBS stations.

“Thanks to everyone at PBS. I am so happy to be part of your farewell season,” DeGeneres joked in accepting the prize and taking a jab at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s plans to stop funding public broadcasting.

On the red carpet before the show, DeGeneres said she doesn’t see herself as political with her comedy,...

The Oscars may be entertainment’s most glamorous night, but no awards show is more entertaining than the Kennedy Center Honors. Taped earlier this month, they finally air tonight at 9 p.m. Et on CBS.This year’s honorees include Meryl Streep, Neil Diamond, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins, and singer and Tony winner Barbara Cook. If finding out how Anne Hathaway ends up in a split while honoring her Devil Wears Prada costar Streep (who is also feted by Robert De Niro, Mike Nichols, Kevin Kline, Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and Tracey Ullman) isn’t enough...

Start as you mean to go on, they say, and it’s a lesson the chimps charged with compiling the Sex and the City 2 soundtrack would appear to have taken to heart. Witness Alicia Keys’ painful album opener Rapture – yes, that’s right, a cover of the old Blondie record that represented the last word in artless rapping till the advent of Mr. C, the Shamen, and Ebeneezer Goode (all due apologies to any bemused non-uk readers). Keysy’s channeling of the spirit of Debbie Harry and chums comes garnished with a bit of half-hearted girl power panting – “Here we go ladies”, “Show what you got” – and references to the parent product, lest anyone momentarily forget what movie the record they are listening to ties in with. Not much chance of that, given that the most glaring of those Sex and the City references finds the TV theme tune welded onto the Blondie composition,...

Alicia Keys has teamed up with Jennifer Hudson for "Sex and the City 2" soundtrack which will be made available in U.S stores on May 25, two days before the drama movie hits theaters. The two Grammy-winning singers' single which is called "Love Is Your Color".

Beside collaborating with the fiancee of actor David Otunga, Alicia also has two of her songs, "Rapture" and "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down", included in the soundtracks album. She and Jennifer aren't the only famous names lending their voices and songs for the movie though. Dido and Erykah Badu are among them.

The record also offers collaboration of "Sex and the City" foursome, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon. They sing a rendition of Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman". Liza Minnelli, additionally, covers Beyonce Knowles' "Single Ladies" and Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye...

Soundtrack listing for "Sex and the City 2" has been unveiled and the names of some cast members are mentioned among the list. Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon who play the major characters will cover "I Am Woman" from Helen Reddy.

Beyonce Knowles' "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" also makes it into the record, but it will be performed by Liza Minnelli. The 64-year-old actress/singer is likely to be seen singing the song during Stanford Blatch and Anthony Marantino's gay wedding like it has been widely reported.

Additionally, two songs from Alicia Keys, which are "Rapture" and "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down", will be heard during the course of the film. Jennifer Hudson and Leona Lewis also support the movie with their duet of "Love Is Your Color".

Erykah Badu's song "Window Seat", which music video recently sparked...

The Sex and the City 2 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack will be released by WaterTower Music both digitally and on CD May 25, 2010. New Line Cinema’s “Sex and the City 2” opens nationwide on Thursday, May 27, 2010.

The follow-up to the first hugely successful “Sex and the City” soundtrack, which debuted on Billboard’s Soundtrack chart at number one and its Top 200 chart at number two, will feature an exciting lineup that includes several platinum artists and consists of 17 songs. The announcement was made today by WaterTower’s Jason Linn.

The soundtrack will include original music from Grammy and Academy Award® winner Jennifer Hudson, along with global superstar, multi-platinum recording artist and three-time Grammy Award nominee Leona Lewis. T-Pain produces a new song by platinum-selling Cee-Lo and international superstar Dido also contributes an exclusive new track. Grammy, Emmy, Golden Globe, Tony and Academy Award® winner Liza Minnelli covers Beyonce’s chart-topper...

Producer-director Alan Poul and Clear Channel Los Angeles will be honored at Outfest's annual Legacy Awards on Sept. 30 at the Directors Guild of America.

Laura Linney will present the award to Poul, who exec produced "Six Feet Under" and was nominated for both an Emmy and DGA Award for directing the episode "Nobody Sleeps." He's also directed episodes of such other HBO series as "Rome" and "Big Love." He is making his feature directorial debut with CBS Films' romantic comedy "The Back-Up Plan," starring Jennifer Lopez.

His producing credits include the features "Woman on Top," "Thursday," "Till There was You," "The Interview," "Candyman" and the three miniseries based on Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" books.

Poul currently serves on the board of directors of Film Independent. He has previously served on the boards of the Producers Guild of America, GLAAD and Outfest.

Jim Murphy, vp, business affairs, will...