For decades, Jim Henson’s Muppets have been tucked in and around the Disney Parks. Sometimes they are front-and-center, like Muppet*Vision 3D. Other times they can be hard to track down, like the Muppet Mobile Lab. But one thing is for sure – they never fail to pull a chuckle out of the audience.
The documentary Jim Henson: Idea Man, recently released on Disney+, chronicles the life and career of the Muppets’ creative visionary. But Henson’s life ended way too young, at age 53, just before the first Muppets moved into Walt Disney World. In honor of Henson’s life and in celebration of his beloved creatures, let’s take a look through their Muppetational history in the Disney Parks.
A Giant Among Puppets
Disney Legend James Maury Henson was born in 1936 in Greenville, Mississippi. Though he spent the early part of his childhood down south, he moved north...
The documentary Jim Henson: Idea Man, recently released on Disney+, chronicles the life and career of the Muppets’ creative visionary. But Henson’s life ended way too young, at age 53, just before the first Muppets moved into Walt Disney World. In honor of Henson’s life and in celebration of his beloved creatures, let’s take a look through their Muppetational history in the Disney Parks.
A Giant Among Puppets
Disney Legend James Maury Henson was born in 1936 in Greenville, Mississippi. Though he spent the early part of his childhood down south, he moved north...
- 6/12/2024
- by James Smith
- Pirates & Princesses
The Screen Actors Guild has been presenting its annual life achievement award for many decades. The most recent recipient for 2024 was double Oscar winner Barbra Streisand.
For the 2023 event, Sally Field was the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro, Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.
SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark on both the big screen and small in 1962. It wasn’t until...
For the 2023 event, Sally Field was the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro, Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.
SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark on both the big screen and small in 1962. It wasn’t until...
- 2/14/2024
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
The Academy Awards grew up at the 16th annual ceremony March 2, 1944. Since the first Oscar ceremony at the Hollywood Roosevelt’s Blossom Room in 1929, the Academy Awards were small banquet ceremonies for La La Land movers and shakers. But that all changed 80 years ago. World War II was in its third year and movies meant more than ever to war-weary audiences.
So, the Oscars moved to the then-Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and bleachers were introduced giving fans a chance to see their favorites walk the red carpet. And instead of a select industry audience, attendees included members of all branches of the armed services many of whom sat in bleachers on the stage at the Chinese. The ceremony was heard locally on Kfwb; Jack Benny hosted the international broadcast for the troops on CBS Radio via shortwave. And for the first time, supporting performers finally received a full-size Academy Award.
So, the Oscars moved to the then-Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and bleachers were introduced giving fans a chance to see their favorites walk the red carpet. And instead of a select industry audience, attendees included members of all branches of the armed services many of whom sat in bleachers on the stage at the Chinese. The ceremony was heard locally on Kfwb; Jack Benny hosted the international broadcast for the troops on CBS Radio via shortwave. And for the first time, supporting performers finally received a full-size Academy Award.
- 1/23/2024
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Imagine growing up with famous comedian Don Knotts as your father. You might picture lots of funny faces at the dinner table or knock knock jokes on the way to school. The Andy Griffith Show actor’s daughter, Karen, once gave some insight into what it was really like at home with Don.
Don Knotts, Kathryn Metz, and their two children | CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images Karen Knotts on what Don Knotts was like as a father
Karen and her brother, Tom, grew up in Glendale, CA, which she says is about as Mayberry-like as a neighborhood is going to get in Los Angeles. She and Tom were still young when their parents divorced. Even so, they had a pretty idyllic childhood, according to Karen.
“It was a little surreal,” she told the Murfreesboro Post in 2011. “We lived in Glendale, which was almost Mayberry-like in smallness. It was a tight-knit community,...
Don Knotts, Kathryn Metz, and their two children | CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images Karen Knotts on what Don Knotts was like as a father
Karen and her brother, Tom, grew up in Glendale, CA, which she says is about as Mayberry-like as a neighborhood is going to get in Los Angeles. She and Tom were still young when their parents divorced. Even so, they had a pretty idyllic childhood, according to Karen.
“It was a little surreal,” she told the Murfreesboro Post in 2011. “We lived in Glendale, which was almost Mayberry-like in smallness. It was a tight-knit community,...
- 5/13/2023
- by Kelsey Goeres
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
March is Women’s History Month which commemorates and encourages the “study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.” And who better to study, observe and celebrate than Mae West and her place in movie history.
Talk about pushing the envelope. West wrote plays-usually revolving around sex-which landed her in jail. She never met an innuendo she didn’t like. West film comedies were popular and controversial. She was banned from NBC Radio-her name couldn’t even be mentioned-for over a decade. West even guest starred on a 1964 episode of CBS’ “Mr. Ed.” West has inspired several female performers over the decades including Madonna and remained true to herself up until her death in 1980 at the age of 87.
West didn’t look at any other actress of the day. Sources say she was 5’ to 5’ 2” (rumor is that she wore eight-inch platform heels on stage...
Talk about pushing the envelope. West wrote plays-usually revolving around sex-which landed her in jail. She never met an innuendo she didn’t like. West film comedies were popular and controversial. She was banned from NBC Radio-her name couldn’t even be mentioned-for over a decade. West even guest starred on a 1964 episode of CBS’ “Mr. Ed.” West has inspired several female performers over the decades including Madonna and remained true to herself up until her death in 1980 at the age of 87.
West didn’t look at any other actress of the day. Sources say she was 5’ to 5’ 2” (rumor is that she wore eight-inch platform heels on stage...
- 3/29/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
After firmly establishing themselves as filmmakers to watch with the expected success of Saw in 2004, director James Wan and writer Leigh Whannell reunited for Dead Silence. It would be the first of two Wan films to underperform in 2007, followed by Death Sentence. While he would go on to prove himself as a true master of horror, even a “lesser” Wan effort has plenty of merit.
Hints of his future brilliance are all over Dead Silence, with a rich, neo-gothic atmosphere, well-executed horror set pieces, inventive visual storytelling, and a bonkers twist. In many ways, Dead Silence feels like a transitional point between Saw‘s grit and the expertly crafted scares of Insidious and The Conjuring, although its overall tone is perhaps closest to Malignant.
With viewers feverishly embracing Wan’s latest effort, Dead Silence is ripe for reappraisal — and there’s no better way to do so than via Scream Factory...
Hints of his future brilliance are all over Dead Silence, with a rich, neo-gothic atmosphere, well-executed horror set pieces, inventive visual storytelling, and a bonkers twist. In many ways, Dead Silence feels like a transitional point between Saw‘s grit and the expertly crafted scares of Insidious and The Conjuring, although its overall tone is perhaps closest to Malignant.
With viewers feverishly embracing Wan’s latest effort, Dead Silence is ripe for reappraisal — and there’s no better way to do so than via Scream Factory...
- 3/28/2023
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
Click here to read the full article.
“I wanted to subvert the expectation of what an office space should look like,” explains Paul Lee, the CEO of production company wiip, which has produced a slew of acclaimed fare including Mare of Easttown, Dickinson and The Summer I Turned Pretty since its founding in 2018. “Plus, if I’m being honest, I’d spent far too long in the cold corridors of corporate life.”
Lee, who previously helmed ABC Entertainment Group, launched wiip alongside Matteo Perale, CAA’s former head of strategy and corporate development. Backed by the agency, the boutique production company — whose name is an acronym of “word,” “idea,” “imagination” and “production” — had originally been based at CAA’s Century City offices.
But Lee decided to move wiip and its 32 employees to a much different space in the heart of Hollywood in 2020, just before the onset of Covid-19. (The next year,...
“I wanted to subvert the expectation of what an office space should look like,” explains Paul Lee, the CEO of production company wiip, which has produced a slew of acclaimed fare including Mare of Easttown, Dickinson and The Summer I Turned Pretty since its founding in 2018. “Plus, if I’m being honest, I’d spent far too long in the cold corridors of corporate life.”
Lee, who previously helmed ABC Entertainment Group, launched wiip alongside Matteo Perale, CAA’s former head of strategy and corporate development. Backed by the agency, the boutique production company — whose name is an acronym of “word,” “idea,” “imagination” and “production” — had originally been based at CAA’s Century City offices.
But Lee decided to move wiip and its 32 employees to a much different space in the heart of Hollywood in 2020, just before the onset of Covid-19. (The next year,...
- 7/30/2022
- by Abigail Stone
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Emmy award winning show runner Mitch Watson discusses some of the movies he saw when he was a kid that ruined him for life.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
A History Of Violence (2005)
On The Border (1998)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary
Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Tfh’s Mogwai Madness celebration
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)
Harold and Maude (1971) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary
Witchfinder General (1968) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
Shampoo (1975) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Swashbuckler (1976)
Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Tfh’s Shark Attack At Hero Complex Gallery
The Neverending Story (1984)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Videodrome (1983) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary
Don’t Look Up (2021)
Starship Troopers (1997)
They Live (1988)
Magic (1978)
Dead Of Night...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
A History Of Violence (2005)
On The Border (1998)
Hollywood Boulevard (1976) – Jon Davison’s trailer commentary
Gremlins (1984) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review, Tfh’s Mogwai Madness celebration
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (1964)
Harold and Maude (1971) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary
Witchfinder General (1968) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Charlie Largent’s review
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
Shampoo (1975) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Swashbuckler (1976)
Jaws (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Tfh’s Shark Attack At Hero Complex Gallery
The Neverending Story (1984)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) – Adam Rifkin’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Videodrome (1983) – Mick Garris’s trailer commentary
Don’t Look Up (2021)
Starship Troopers (1997)
They Live (1988)
Magic (1978)
Dead Of Night...
- 4/26/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1939 / 1.33:1 / 79 Min.
Starring W.C. Fields, Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen
Written by Charles Bogle
Directed by George Marshall, Edward CLine
Charlie McCarthy was W.C. Fields’ most formidable antagonist—a wide-eyed charmer with a bright (not to mention permanent) smile, Charlie was everything the great comedian wasn’t. One thing Fields had that Charlie didn’t was flesh (admittedly sagging) and blood (80 proof on the best of days). The diminutive McCarthy was made of wood—only a dummy in top hat and tails but the most famous puppet on the planet, and operated by the worst ventriloquist in Hollywood, Edgar Bergen. Though Bergen couldn’t keep his own mouth from moving when he spoke for Charlie, the little fellow’s dialog still packed a punch. Indeed, the reason the duo proved so effective in their skirmishes with Fields was because their humor,...
Blu ray
Kino Lorber
1939 / 1.33:1 / 79 Min.
Starring W.C. Fields, Charlie McCarthy, Edgar Bergen
Written by Charles Bogle
Directed by George Marshall, Edward CLine
Charlie McCarthy was W.C. Fields’ most formidable antagonist—a wide-eyed charmer with a bright (not to mention permanent) smile, Charlie was everything the great comedian wasn’t. One thing Fields had that Charlie didn’t was flesh (admittedly sagging) and blood (80 proof on the best of days). The diminutive McCarthy was made of wood—only a dummy in top hat and tails but the most famous puppet on the planet, and operated by the worst ventriloquist in Hollywood, Edgar Bergen. Though Bergen couldn’t keep his own mouth from moving when he spoke for Charlie, the little fellow’s dialog still packed a punch. Indeed, the reason the duo proved so effective in their skirmishes with Fields was because their humor,...
- 4/12/2022
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none
“W. C. Fields And The Termite’S Flophouse”
By Raymond Benson
By 1939, comic superstar W. C. Fields (real name William Claude Dukenfield) had a love-hate relationship with Hollywood. While he was still something of a box office draw and enjoyed immense popularity, Fields’ relationship with the bottle was causing more problems for the actor, and he had lost his contract with Paramount, the home of his earlier talkies. After a resurgence in admiration due to radio broadcasts with ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, Fields signed a new contract with Universal. The first picture out of the gate was a team-up with Fields and Bergen/McCarthy.
You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man can’t be counted among Fields’ best pictures, but it’s entertaining and funny enough. It is arguable that Bergen and McCarthy steal the show based on Bergen’s charm and good looks,...
“W. C. Fields And The Termite’S Flophouse”
By Raymond Benson
By 1939, comic superstar W. C. Fields (real name William Claude Dukenfield) had a love-hate relationship with Hollywood. While he was still something of a box office draw and enjoyed immense popularity, Fields’ relationship with the bottle was causing more problems for the actor, and he had lost his contract with Paramount, the home of his earlier talkies. After a resurgence in admiration due to radio broadcasts with ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, Fields signed a new contract with Universal. The first picture out of the gate was a team-up with Fields and Bergen/McCarthy.
You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man can’t be counted among Fields’ best pictures, but it’s entertaining and funny enough. It is arguable that Bergen and McCarthy steal the show based on Bergen’s charm and good looks,...
- 4/5/2022
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
After skipping the virtual ceremony in 2021, the Screen Actors Guild once again presents its annual life achievement award in 2022. Oscar, Emmy and Tony winner Dame Helen Mirren receives the honorary SAG trophy.
For the 2020 event, Robert De Niro was the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.
SEEHelen Mirren movies: 12 greatest films ranked from worst to best
SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark...
For the 2020 event, Robert De Niro was the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.
SEEHelen Mirren movies: 12 greatest films ranked from worst to best
SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark...
- 2/26/2022
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
In 2020, the Covid pandemic caused the motion picture academy to cancel the Governors Awards, which has been a stand-alone event since 2009. Instead, it presented the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to both Tyler Perry and the Motion Picture & Television Fund during the Oscars. This morale booster was a bright spot in the ceremony.
The Governors Awards are set to return on January 15, 2022. Honorary Oscars will be presented to multi-hyphenate Elaine May as well as actors Samuel L. Jackson and Liv Ullmann. Another actor, Danny Glover, will be feted with the Hersholt for his work on behalf of Unicef.
There have been four honorees at the Governors Awards every year but two since 2009. As detailed below, all but one of the academy’s 17 branches — Visual Effects — are represented among the roster of 138 winners of honorary Oscars. In the case of Visual Effects, the academy has presented special achievement awards to a host...
The Governors Awards are set to return on January 15, 2022. Honorary Oscars will be presented to multi-hyphenate Elaine May as well as actors Samuel L. Jackson and Liv Ullmann. Another actor, Danny Glover, will be feted with the Hersholt for his work on behalf of Unicef.
There have been four honorees at the Governors Awards every year but two since 2009. As detailed below, all but one of the academy’s 17 branches — Visual Effects — are represented among the roster of 138 winners of honorary Oscars. In the case of Visual Effects, the academy has presented special achievement awards to a host...
- 11/29/2021
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
Jane Powell, who made her screen debut with W.C. Fields, danced with Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding, was one of seven brides for seven brothers in the classic 1954 film musical, sang “Buttons and Bows” at President Harry S. Truman’s Inaugural Ball and was a bridesmaid at the first of Elizabeth Taylor’s weddings, died of natural causes today at her home in Wilton, Connecticut. She was 92.
Susan Granger, a friend of the actress and spokesperson for her family, told Deadline that Powell died peacefully at the house she shared for many years with her husband, the actor and publicist Dick Moore, who died in 2015.
Powell, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, continued to appear on stage well into the 21st Century, making her career among her generation’s sturdiest.
Born Suzanne Lorraine Burce in Portland, Oregon, Powell was already a locally successful singer – she...
Susan Granger, a friend of the actress and spokesperson for her family, told Deadline that Powell died peacefully at the house she shared for many years with her husband, the actor and publicist Dick Moore, who died in 2015.
Powell, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, continued to appear on stage well into the 21st Century, making her career among her generation’s sturdiest.
Born Suzanne Lorraine Burce in Portland, Oregon, Powell was already a locally successful singer – she...
- 9/16/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: SAG-AFTRA won’t be handing out a SAG Life Achievement Award this year for the first time in 40 years. It’s not that no one was deserving – this year of all years – but because of the pandemic and a shortened TV timeslot for its awards show, the union decided that it would be better to skip a year and present the award live and in-person next year.
Going into this awards season, SAG-AFTRA had planned for its 27th annual SAG Awards to be a two-hour show, as it had been in years past. The home page for the Screen Actors Guild Awards noted initially that it would be a “fast moving two-hour show.” This year’s pre-taped, one-hour show, featuring 13 awards presentations, will air April 4 on TNT and TBS.
The SAG Life Achievement Award is the union’s most prestigious honor, presented for “outstanding achievement in fostering...
Going into this awards season, SAG-AFTRA had planned for its 27th annual SAG Awards to be a two-hour show, as it had been in years past. The home page for the Screen Actors Guild Awards noted initially that it would be a “fast moving two-hour show.” This year’s pre-taped, one-hour show, featuring 13 awards presentations, will air April 4 on TNT and TBS.
The SAG Life Achievement Award is the union’s most prestigious honor, presented for “outstanding achievement in fostering...
- 3/24/2021
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
Actress, model and avid photographer Candice Bergen is the daughter of famed ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, whose most famous dummy was Charlie McCarthy. She made her film debut as one of a clique of eight female students at a Vassar-like university in the 1966 social satire “The Group,” which touched on such then-taboo topics as abortion, lesbianism, abortion and free sex.
Bergen, now 74, might be part of the 2021 awards season conversation for her work in Steven Soderbergh’s HBO Max dramedy “Let Them All Talk” alongside cast mates Meryl Streep and Dianne Wiest as old friends who stage a reunion while sailing to the United Kingdom aboard the cruise ship Queen Mary 2.
See‘Let Them All Talk’ star Candice Bergen could make Oscars history with a nomination
The actress was Oscar-nominated for her supporting role in the 1979 comedy “Starting Over,” but lost out to Streep in “Kramer vs. Kramer.” However, her trophy case is far from empty,...
Bergen, now 74, might be part of the 2021 awards season conversation for her work in Steven Soderbergh’s HBO Max dramedy “Let Them All Talk” alongside cast mates Meryl Streep and Dianne Wiest as old friends who stage a reunion while sailing to the United Kingdom aboard the cruise ship Queen Mary 2.
See‘Let Them All Talk’ star Candice Bergen could make Oscars history with a nomination
The actress was Oscar-nominated for her supporting role in the 1979 comedy “Starting Over,” but lost out to Streep in “Kramer vs. Kramer.” However, her trophy case is far from empty,...
- 1/15/2021
- by Susan Wloszczyna
- Gold Derby
Actress, model and avid photographer Candice Bergen is the daughter of famed ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, whose most famous dummy was Charlie McCarthy. She made her film debut as one of a clique of eight female students at a Vassar-like university in the 1966 social satire “The Group,” which touched on such then-taboo topics as abortion, lesbianism, abortion and free sex.
Bergen, now 74, might be part of the 2021 awards season conversation for her work in Steven Soderbergh’s HBO Max dramedy “Let Them All Talk” alongside cast mates Meryl Streep and Dianne Wiest as old friends who stage a reunion while sailing to the United Kingdom aboard the cruise ship Queen Mary 2.
The actress was Oscar-nominated for her supporting role in the 1979 comedy “Starting Over,” but lost out to Streep in “Kramer vs. Kramer.” However, her trophy case is far from empty, thanks to her TV work on the long-running CBS sitcom “Murphy Brown.
Bergen, now 74, might be part of the 2021 awards season conversation for her work in Steven Soderbergh’s HBO Max dramedy “Let Them All Talk” alongside cast mates Meryl Streep and Dianne Wiest as old friends who stage a reunion while sailing to the United Kingdom aboard the cruise ship Queen Mary 2.
The actress was Oscar-nominated for her supporting role in the 1979 comedy “Starting Over,” but lost out to Streep in “Kramer vs. Kramer.” However, her trophy case is far from empty, thanks to her TV work on the long-running CBS sitcom “Murphy Brown.
- 1/14/2021
- by Misty Holland
- Gold Derby
The majority of Steven Soderbergh’s delicious new comedy “Let Them All Talk” occurs on a cruise ship crossing from New York to London. Amidst the mass of passengers onboard, we’re focused on four women: Alice Hughes (Meryl Streep), a fictional Pulitzer-Prize winning novelist, her two oldest friends, Roberta (Candice Bergen) and Susan (Dianne Wiest), and Alice’s zealous new literary agent (Gemma Chan). Simmering among these four women are countless secrets, resentments, and regrets — and somewhere across the Atlantic, all of them are bound to come to a boil.
In directing the film, Soderbergh took a guerrilla approach. He eschewed the usual trove of lights and equipment, favoring natural lighting and a wheelchair for dolly shots. Much of the dialogue was unscripted, too — Streep has said that Soderbergh provided the actors with outlines of each scene and directed them to improvise their lines. The result is an organic,...
In directing the film, Soderbergh took a guerrilla approach. He eschewed the usual trove of lights and equipment, favoring natural lighting and a wheelchair for dolly shots. Much of the dialogue was unscripted, too — Streep has said that Soderbergh provided the actors with outlines of each scene and directed them to improvise their lines. The result is an organic,...
- 12/10/2020
- by IndieWire Staff
- Indiewire
The 1990 Primetime Emmys ceremony didn’t have any sweeps, but a longtime TV favorite won an overdue award from an unlikely group of presenters, a record was set for the most ties in a single ceremony, a couple of legends were remembered and, despite Academy love being spread around, there were two shows that surprisingly ended the night with zero major wins. Hosted by the unlikely trio of Candice Bergen, Jay Leno and Jane Pauley, the 42nd Emmy Awards ceremony took place on September 16, 1990. Let’s flashback 30 years to the highlights.
Although “Cheers” had won Best Comedy Series three times, its lead actor failed to nab a trophy himself, despite being nominated seven straight years for the classic character. However, Ted Danson finally got his moment on the stage, winning for Best Comedy Actor for his role as Sam Malone on “Cheers.” He quipped, “I suppose this means you’ll be saying,...
Although “Cheers” had won Best Comedy Series three times, its lead actor failed to nab a trophy himself, despite being nominated seven straight years for the classic character. However, Ted Danson finally got his moment on the stage, winning for Best Comedy Actor for his role as Sam Malone on “Cheers.” He quipped, “I suppose this means you’ll be saying,...
- 9/9/2020
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
Morrie Gelman, historian and former Daily Variety reporter, died of heart failure August 26 in Palm Desert, CA with his family at his side. He was 90.
Gelman, who covered the TV business, started his 50-year career as a journalist in 1948 in the New York City mailroom of the Mutual Broadcasting System. After serving two years in the Army, he worked for five years at the New York Post as an assistant to famed nationally syndicated columnist Earl Wilson, and later as a police reporter there. After a stint at the Brooklyn Eagle, he continued his career as features editor at Theater Magazine, a national monthly, and was a member of the Drama Critics Circle. Later, he was editorial director at United Business Publications and at the Japanese Dempa Publications.
He spent 12 years as senior correspondent for Broadcasting Magazine (now Broadcasting & Cable), and was the West Coast bureau chief for Advertising Age,...
Gelman, who covered the TV business, started his 50-year career as a journalist in 1948 in the New York City mailroom of the Mutual Broadcasting System. After serving two years in the Army, he worked for five years at the New York Post as an assistant to famed nationally syndicated columnist Earl Wilson, and later as a police reporter there. After a stint at the Brooklyn Eagle, he continued his career as features editor at Theater Magazine, a national monthly, and was a member of the Drama Critics Circle. Later, he was editorial director at United Business Publications and at the Japanese Dempa Publications.
He spent 12 years as senior correspondent for Broadcasting Magazine (now Broadcasting & Cable), and was the West Coast bureau chief for Advertising Age,...
- 8/31/2020
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
Kelly Asbury, an animation director known for directing “Shrek 2,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” and most recently “Uglydolls,” has died. He was 60.
Asbury died peacefully Friday in Encino, California, following a long battle with cancer, a representative for Asbury, Nancy Newhouse Porter, told TheWrap.
Asbury has a story credit on Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” and additionally wrote the screenplay and story for “Gnomeo & Juliet,” which he also directed in 2011. Asbury got his start at Disney between 1983 and 1995, contributing storyboards for Golden Age Disney films such as “The Little Mermaid,” “The Black Cauldron,” “The Rescuers Down Under” and more.
Also Read: Lewis John Carlino, 'The Great Santini' Writer and Director, Dies at 88
Upon shifting to DreamWorks in 1995, his directorial debut was for the 2002 animated film “Spirit,” which was nominated for an Oscar. He would even provide additional voices for “Shrek 2” and in “Shrek the Third.
Asbury died peacefully Friday in Encino, California, following a long battle with cancer, a representative for Asbury, Nancy Newhouse Porter, told TheWrap.
Asbury has a story credit on Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” and additionally wrote the screenplay and story for “Gnomeo & Juliet,” which he also directed in 2011. Asbury got his start at Disney between 1983 and 1995, contributing storyboards for Golden Age Disney films such as “The Little Mermaid,” “The Black Cauldron,” “The Rescuers Down Under” and more.
Also Read: Lewis John Carlino, 'The Great Santini' Writer and Director, Dies at 88
Upon shifting to DreamWorks in 1995, his directorial debut was for the 2002 animated film “Spirit,” which was nominated for an Oscar. He would even provide additional voices for “Shrek 2” and in “Shrek the Third.
- 6/26/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro is the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award at this weekend’s 2020 ceremony. While not nominated individually, he is also competing for the top film ensemble prize as part of “The Irishman” cast alongside Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Anna Paquin, Ray Romano and more.
SEE2020 SAG Awards nominations: Full list of Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees
Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.
SEEAlan Alda Interview: ‘Marriage Story’
SAG began handing...
SEE2020 SAG Awards nominations: Full list of Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees
Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.
SEEAlan Alda Interview: ‘Marriage Story’
SAG began handing...
- 1/17/2020
- by Chris Beachum and Zach Laws
- Gold Derby
On Sunday, four film folk — actress Geena Davis, director David Lynch, actor Wes Studi and director Lina Wertmuller — were feted by the motion picture academy at the Governors Awards. This non-televised event has been around since 2009 when the academy moved these de facto lifetime achievement awards off of the Oscars.
By not being part of the televised Academy Awards, this has meant more people could be honored each year as there were no time constraints to consider. To that end there have been four honorees every year but two since 2009. And this change has allowed for a wider range of talents to be tapped.
As detailed below, all but one of the academy’s 17 branches — Visual Effects — are now represented among the roster of 135 winners of honorary Oscars. In the case of Visual Effects, the academy has presented special achievement awards to a host of films in years in which there was no competitive category.
By not being part of the televised Academy Awards, this has meant more people could be honored each year as there were no time constraints to consider. To that end there have been four honorees every year but two since 2009. And this change has allowed for a wider range of talents to be tapped.
As detailed below, all but one of the academy’s 17 branches — Visual Effects — are now represented among the roster of 135 winners of honorary Oscars. In the case of Visual Effects, the academy has presented special achievement awards to a host of films in years in which there was no competitive category.
- 10/27/2019
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
Al Burton, the creator of Charles in Charge and Win Ben Stein’s Money and a key figure in the success of signature sitcom hits such as The Jeffersons, Diff’rent Strokes, Silver Spoons, Facts of Life and One Day at a Time, has died. He was 91.
Burton died Tuesday at his San Mateo home, according to Damon Schwartz, a family friend, and wire reports.
The Columbus, Ohio, native had been born as Alan Burton Goldstone in April 1928 in Columbus, Ohio, but show business beckoned to him to go west at age 20 as he finished up his studies at Northwestern University. The job opportunity that luted him to Hollywood was with ventriloquist and radio superstar Edgar Bergen, but Burton’s instincts led him toward television, then a fledgling medium.
As the director of development for Tandem Productions/T.A.T. Production and working for industry icon Norman Lear, Burton spent...
Burton died Tuesday at his San Mateo home, according to Damon Schwartz, a family friend, and wire reports.
The Columbus, Ohio, native had been born as Alan Burton Goldstone in April 1928 in Columbus, Ohio, but show business beckoned to him to go west at age 20 as he finished up his studies at Northwestern University. The job opportunity that luted him to Hollywood was with ventriloquist and radio superstar Edgar Bergen, but Burton’s instincts led him toward television, then a fledgling medium.
As the director of development for Tandem Productions/T.A.T. Production and working for industry icon Norman Lear, Burton spent...
- 10/23/2019
- by Geoff Boucher
- Deadline Film + TV
Julie Gibson, a singer, actress, studio rep and dialogue coach who collaborated with Preston Sturges, Orson Welles, Ida Lupino, John Huston, Edgar Bergen and The Bowery Boys during a fascinating career, has died. She was 106.
Gibson died in her sleep Oct. 2 in North Hollywood, her cousin, James Rogers, told The Hollywood Reporter.
A onetime contract player and "Sweater Girl" at Paramount, the petite Gibson had small roles in such notable films as Bing Crosby's Going My Way (1944) and Judy Garland's The Clock (1945). She sang in a nightclub scene at the start of The Feminine Touch (1941), and ...
Gibson died in her sleep Oct. 2 in North Hollywood, her cousin, James Rogers, told The Hollywood Reporter.
A onetime contract player and "Sweater Girl" at Paramount, the petite Gibson had small roles in such notable films as Bing Crosby's Going My Way (1944) and Judy Garland's The Clock (1945). She sang in a nightclub scene at the start of The Feminine Touch (1941), and ...
- 10/16/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Julie Gibson, a singer, actress, studio rep and dialogue coach who collaborated with Preston Sturges, Orson Welles, Ida Lupino, John Huston, Edgar Bergen and The Bowery Boys during a fascinating career, has died. She was 106.
Gibson died in her sleep Oct. 2 in North Hollywood, her cousin, James Rogers, told The Hollywood Reporter.
A onetime contract player and "Sweater Girl" at Paramount, the petite Gibson had small roles in such notable films as Bing Crosby's Going My Way (1944) and Judy Garland's The Clock (1945). She sang in a nightclub scene at the start of The Feminine Touch (1941), and ...
Gibson died in her sleep Oct. 2 in North Hollywood, her cousin, James Rogers, told The Hollywood Reporter.
A onetime contract player and "Sweater Girl" at Paramount, the petite Gibson had small roles in such notable films as Bing Crosby's Going My Way (1944) and Judy Garland's The Clock (1945). She sang in a nightclub scene at the start of The Feminine Touch (1941), and ...
- 10/16/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Forty years ago this summer, a frog with a dream to make millions of people happy hopped out of the swamp, onto a bicycle and into cinema history in “The Muppet Movie.” For two days only this July, the original classic is back in movie theaters nationwide from Fathom Events, The Jim Henson Company and Universal Pictures.
Tickets are available at www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices.
“The Muppet Movie” will play in more than 700 movie theaters on Thursday, July 25, and Tuesday, July 30, at 12:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time each day through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (Dbn). For a complete list of theater locations, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
Following massive global success with the television hit “The Muppet Show,” which at its height aired in more than 100 countries around the world, Muppets creator Jim...
Tickets are available at www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices.
“The Muppet Movie” will play in more than 700 movie theaters on Thursday, July 25, and Tuesday, July 30, at 12:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. local time each day through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (Dbn). For a complete list of theater locations, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
Following massive global success with the television hit “The Muppet Show,” which at its height aired in more than 100 countries around the world, Muppets creator Jim...
- 7/17/2019
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Alan Alda is the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild Life Achievement Award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of Alda’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple and more.
SEEAlan Alda receiving 2019 Screen Actors Guild life achievement award
SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark on both the big screen and small in 1962. It wasn’t until the inaugural awards ceremony in 1995 (for the film year 1994) that they began televising the event. The 31 people rewarded prior to that (and not featured in our gallery above...
SEEAlan Alda receiving 2019 Screen Actors Guild life achievement award
SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark on both the big screen and small in 1962. It wasn’t until the inaugural awards ceremony in 1995 (for the film year 1994) that they began televising the event. The 31 people rewarded prior to that (and not featured in our gallery above...
- 1/25/2019
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Frank Tuttle, the man who made a star of Alan Ladd with the twisted film noir This Gun for Hire (1942), began as a comedy specialist, churning out three or more films a year as vehicles for Eddie Cantor, Edgar Bergen and his knee-pal Charlie McCarthy, Burns & Allen et cetera. Pleasure Cruise (1933) is a pre-Code farce centered on improbably couple Roland Young and Genevieve Tobin.Young plays a penniless author working as house-husband to the gainfully employed Tobin, while seething with jealousy at the thought of the young blades romancing her in the office. In one of many unusual stylistic touches, we see her portrait come to life and watch as she mingles with the staff, none of whom looks to be under sixty, and they're not exactly silver foxes. The stage is set for a film mocking male paranoia and jealousy and questioning notions of fidelity, virtue, and honesty.Young is his usual self,...
- 9/20/2018
- MUBI
On Wednesday, five film folk — producing team Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, publicist Marvin Levy, composer Lalo Schifrin and actress Cicely Tyson — were singled out by the motion picture academy to be feted at the Governors Awards in November. This non-televised event has been around since 2009 when the academy moved these de facto lifetime achievement awards off of the Oscars.
By not being part of the televised Academy Awards, this has meant more people could be honored each year as there were no time constraints to consider. To that end there have been four honorees every year but two (2011, 2015) since 2009; this is the first year that there will be five. And this change has allowed for a wider range of talents to be tapped. Levy is the first publicist to be honored.
As detailed below, all but one of the academy’s 17 branches — Visual Effects — are now represented among the...
By not being part of the televised Academy Awards, this has meant more people could be honored each year as there were no time constraints to consider. To that end there have been four honorees every year but two (2011, 2015) since 2009; this is the first year that there will be five. And this change has allowed for a wider range of talents to be tapped. Levy is the first publicist to be honored.
As detailed below, all but one of the academy’s 17 branches — Visual Effects — are now represented among the...
- 9/6/2018
- by Paul Sheehan
- Gold Derby
Actress and former model Candice Bergen strode proudly onto the stage of NYC's Carnegie Hall, flanked by her Murphy Brown co-stars, at CBS' recent fall lineup announcement. "It's so great to have the gang back together," she said. "And to hear Americans cheering for a bunch of journalists." It's the kind of timely wisecrack Murphy often made on the hit 1988 to 1998 sitcom and will continue to make on the show's upcoming reboot. And like her character, Candice always tells it like it is. While recently addressing her youthful good looks, she told People that, "People who don't have it think beauty is a blessing, but actually it sets you apart." And when it comes to her later-in-life weight gain, she wrote in her memoir, A Fine Romance, "I am fat. I live to eat." Murphy Brown...together again. Coming to your neighborhood TV in the fall. Just in time.
- 5/26/2018
- by Closer Staff
- Closer Weekly
Don Knotts, the beloved Barney Fife of The Andy Griffith Show, was on his deathbed in February 2006, when his daughter, Karen, felt the need to run out of the room... so she could laugh. As horrific as that might sound, anyone who knew Don wouldn’t be the least bit offended to hear that response. “Here’s the thing about my dad,” says Karen in an exclusive interview. “He had this funniness that was just completely, insanely natural. When he was dying, he was making us laugh in hysterics. He was literally dying, but he did something or said something that caused my stepmother and I to go into fits of laughter, which is why I ran out. I thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to be standing there in front of this man, my dearly beloved father, who’s dying, and laughing. I was telling this story to Howard Storm,...
- 4/6/2018
- by Ed Gross
- Closer Weekly
Republic raids an early Rko talkie for a fantastic special effects sequence, and you won’t believe how it’s repurposed — in a story about a TV personality (in 1939!) taking on a corrupt political mob. New York crumbles and is then washed away — sort of. It’s yet another resurfacing of a title that not long ago we couldn’t see to save our cinema-curious souls.
S.O.S. Tidal Wave
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1939 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 62 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Ralph Byrd, George Barbier, Kay Sutton, Frank Jenks, Marc Lawrence, Dorothy Lee, Oscar O’Shea, Mickey Kuhn, Ferris Taylor, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Raymond Bailey.
Cinematography: Jack A. Marta
Film Editor: Ernest Nims
Musical Director: Cy Feuer
Written by Gordon Kahn, Stanley Rauh, Maxwell Shane, story by James Webb
Produced by Armand Schaefer
Directed by John H. Auer
If Republic wasn’t...
S.O.S. Tidal Wave
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1939 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 62 min. / Street Date October 31, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Ralph Byrd, George Barbier, Kay Sutton, Frank Jenks, Marc Lawrence, Dorothy Lee, Oscar O’Shea, Mickey Kuhn, Ferris Taylor, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Raymond Bailey.
Cinematography: Jack A. Marta
Film Editor: Ernest Nims
Musical Director: Cy Feuer
Written by Gordon Kahn, Stanley Rauh, Maxwell Shane, story by James Webb
Produced by Armand Schaefer
Directed by John H. Auer
If Republic wasn’t...
- 10/31/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Lifelong liberal Candice Bergen showed up to Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen Wednesday night with a very special message regarding First Lady Melania Trump.
The 71-year-old Emmy winner appeared on the hit Bravo late night show wearing a navy cashmere sweatshirt with the words “Free Melania” sewn on the front — a phrase that has been circulating the internet since Donald Trump’s presidential campaign launched, implying that the Slovenian former fashion model is trapped in her marriage.
Bergen, who was on the show alongside her Home Again costar Reese Witherspoon, was first photographed wearing the garment on Sept.
The 71-year-old Emmy winner appeared on the hit Bravo late night show wearing a navy cashmere sweatshirt with the words “Free Melania” sewn on the front — a phrase that has been circulating the internet since Donald Trump’s presidential campaign launched, implying that the Slovenian former fashion model is trapped in her marriage.
Bergen, who was on the show alongside her Home Again costar Reese Witherspoon, was first photographed wearing the garment on Sept.
- 9/14/2017
- by Dave Quinn
- PEOPLE.com
(See previous post: Fourth of July Movies: Escapism During a Weird Year.) On the evening of the Fourth of July, besides fireworks, fire hazards, and Yankee Doodle Dandy, if you're watching TCM in the U.S. and Canada, there's the following: Peter H. Hunt's 1776 (1972), a largely forgotten film musical based on the Broadway hit with music by Sherman Edwards. William Daniels, who was recently on TCM talking about 1776 and a couple of other movies (A Thousand Clowns, Dodsworth), has one of the key roles as John Adams. Howard Da Silva, blacklisted for over a decade after being named a communist during the House Un-American Committee hearings of the early 1950s (Robert Taylor was one who mentioned him in his testimony), plays Benjamin Franklin. Ken Howard is Thomas Jefferson, a role he would reprise in John Huston's 1976 short Independence. (In the short, Pat Hingle was cast as John Adams; Eli Wallach was Benjamin Franklin.) Warner...
- 7/5/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Now as I was young and fuzzy, mired in what we were assured was a university education, just beginning to pull my head out of my… Okay, look – no need for vulgarity here. Let’s leave it at this: I was pulling my head from the sand and becoming aware of kinds of culture other than what I was being fed to us by radio and movies (that Bob Hope! What a stitch!) and that alien entity in the living room we called “the teevee” or “the television” or simply “the set.”
(No need for further elaboration: we had only two sets, the one in the living room and the one Mom kept tucked away somewhere and that we saw only on the most festive of occasions, such as Christmas and the like, Oh, and full disclosure; I’m not sure we ever really had a holiday meal on the family set.
(No need for further elaboration: we had only two sets, the one in the living room and the one Mom kept tucked away somewhere and that we saw only on the most festive of occasions, such as Christmas and the like, Oh, and full disclosure; I’m not sure we ever really had a holiday meal on the family set.
- 5/11/2017
- by Dennis O'Neil
- Comicmix.com
Make people laugh and they won't even realize you're making them think. Over the past 50 years, women have broken through the glass ceiling time after time, shattering stereotypes and thumbing their noses at the old chestnut that "Women aren't funny." Fact: Anybody who says women aren't funny doesn't want them to be funny. We're looking back on the 50 funniest women of the past 50 years, their contributions to comedy, and their enduring legacies that inspire men and women alike. These are the 50 women who have helped (and are helping) to introduce the next class of hilarious women, which will inevitably include Amy Schumer, Lena Dunham, Mindy Kaling, Tig Notaro, Chelsea Handler, Maria Bamford, Aubrey Plaza, and Kate McKinnon. Keep in mind this list only includes women who are primarily performers in movies, television, and standup comedy. That's why you don't see legends like Nora Ephron, Anne Beatts, and Elaine May here.
- 10/14/2014
- by Donna Dickens, Chris Eggertsen, Louis Virtel,
- Hitfix
A slew of classic Disney movies are hitting for the first time on Blu-Ray, including one double-pack release, and you’re going to want to make sure to pick these up. You haven’t paid attention to some of these titles for a while, and it’s about time you got the chance to catch them on Blu-Ray. The best part is that there’s a great mix of releases hitting. Bedknobs and Broomsticks is all but lost in the cultural consciousness, and it deserves a return. The Academy Award-winning movie from the year I was born is filled with a lot of fun and adventure, and like most Disney films, holds up well for a whole new generation.
The rest of the group covers a great spectrum, including two animated “big” titles, and a 10th Anniversary release. There’s a lot to expose your family to here, so check out all the info below,...
The rest of the group covers a great spectrum, including two animated “big” titles, and a 10th Anniversary release. There’s a lot to expose your family to here, so check out all the info below,...
- 8/6/2014
- by Marc Eastman
- AreYouScreening.com
A review of tonight's "Masters of Sex" coming up just as soon as I look like I should be sitting on Edgar Bergen's knee... "And then he said, 'I'll tell you what you're not, Rose. You're not your worst part.'" -Rose Because Bill's new employer is reluctant to reunite the Masters and Johnson team, "Kyrie Eleison" largely deals with the two of them trying to make their way without each other, at least until they can have their regular Dr. and Mrs. Holden assignation. There's a lot of set-up at the new hospital, including the introduction of Bill's new secretary Barbara — played by Betsy Brandt, a treat whenever she's in a more comic mode like this — and the amount of pressure he's under from Doug, and from the wealthy donors. Virginia, meanwhile, tries to care for Dr. DePaul as her cancer worsens, and explores what seems like a...
- 7/21/2014
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Hitfix
Oct. 30, 1938, started as a fairly typical Halloween Eve ... but it ended with many people convinced Martians were attacking.
The reason was one of the most famous hours in the history of broadcasting: "The War of the Worlds," Orson Welles' "Mercury Theatre on the Air" CBS radio adaptation of the H.G. Wells science-fiction novel. The 75th anniversary of the program, and its effect on untold numbers of terrified listeners, is marked by a new episode of PBS' "American Experience" Tuesday, Oct. 29 (check local listings).
Oliver Platt ("The Big C") narrates the account, which merges audio clips and comments from "witnesses" (actually actors voicing people's reactions from the time) with relevant interviews. Welles' daughter Chris Welles Feder and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich - who became a close friend of Welles - are among those recalling how latecomers thought the radio play was an actual newscast, prompting widespread fear before a disclaimer (purposely...
The reason was one of the most famous hours in the history of broadcasting: "The War of the Worlds," Orson Welles' "Mercury Theatre on the Air" CBS radio adaptation of the H.G. Wells science-fiction novel. The 75th anniversary of the program, and its effect on untold numbers of terrified listeners, is marked by a new episode of PBS' "American Experience" Tuesday, Oct. 29 (check local listings).
Oliver Platt ("The Big C") narrates the account, which merges audio clips and comments from "witnesses" (actually actors voicing people's reactions from the time) with relevant interviews. Welles' daughter Chris Welles Feder and filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich - who became a close friend of Welles - are among those recalling how latecomers thought the radio play was an actual newscast, prompting widespread fear before a disclaimer (purposely...
- 10/29/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
And to think, at one time there were skeptics who claimed that a Muppet film couldn’t be done! That only humans could star in successful films! Boy, did Jim Henson and co. prove them wrong! The Muppet Movie was a huge hit in 1979 and spawned decades of sequels. Now it is available in a Blu-ray/Digital combo pack that is loaded with terrific extras.
The Muppet Movie is essentially a road movie. After meeting a Hollywood agent and learning that a big film studio is holding auditions, Kermit the Frog hits the highway, picking up various friends on the way. First he meets Fozzie Bear, telling jokes in a nasty cafe. Then they meet Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and then Gonzo and his chicken friend Camilla, and then the incomparable Miss Piggy, and finally Rowlf the Dog. All of these guys decide to head for Tinseltown to hit the big time.
The Muppet Movie is essentially a road movie. After meeting a Hollywood agent and learning that a big film studio is holding auditions, Kermit the Frog hits the highway, picking up various friends on the way. First he meets Fozzie Bear, telling jokes in a nasty cafe. Then they meet Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and then Gonzo and his chicken friend Camilla, and then the incomparable Miss Piggy, and finally Rowlf the Dog. All of these guys decide to head for Tinseltown to hit the big time.
- 8/19/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The That Puppet Game Show co-producer on how his father got the Muppets on screen, and why London feels like home
Above the entrance to The Jim Henson Company lot in Hollywood stands one cultural icon, Kermit the Frog, dressed as another, Chaplin's Little Tramp. Chaplin built this lot in 1917 and sold it in 1953 after Hollywood blacklisted him. Now it's an active working studio, the headquarters of a puppetry empire that bestrides the world like a green-felt colossus, and also a living memorial to the man who might be called the Other Dad to three generations of children raised on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show (I count myself among them). And it's a measure of the centrality to modern American popular culture of Henson's cast of characters, and their abiding universality, that Kermit's donning of Chaplin's outfit seems not sacrilegious, but entirely natural and right.
When I meet Brian Henson,...
Above the entrance to The Jim Henson Company lot in Hollywood stands one cultural icon, Kermit the Frog, dressed as another, Chaplin's Little Tramp. Chaplin built this lot in 1917 and sold it in 1953 after Hollywood blacklisted him. Now it's an active working studio, the headquarters of a puppetry empire that bestrides the world like a green-felt colossus, and also a living memorial to the man who might be called the Other Dad to three generations of children raised on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show (I count myself among them). And it's a measure of the centrality to modern American popular culture of Henson's cast of characters, and their abiding universality, that Kermit's donning of Chaplin's outfit seems not sacrilegious, but entirely natural and right.
When I meet Brian Henson,...
- 8/11/2013
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Before she was Murphy Brown and the star of such films as Carnal Knowledge, Candice Bergen grew up watching her father Edgar Bergen scratch his way to stardom with his arm up the back of the wooden puppet Charlie McCarthy. She has teamed with James Francis Trezza and Pam Widener to produce a feature film based on her father, based on her bestselling 1984 memoir Knock Wood. Barbara Turner, who was recently WGA Award nominated for scripting the HBO film Hemingway And Gelhorn, will write the script. She reunites with Trezza and Widener after their collaboration on Pollock. Putting an innovative twist on the biopic form, the picture will take the Pov of Charlie McCarthy as Edgar Bergen came of age during the early days of showbiz in America, from vaudeville to the Golden Age of radio, to features and the birth of television. The three-foot tall wooden puppet became a household name,...
- 4/30/2013
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline TV
Before she was Murphy Brown and the star of such films as Carnal Knowledge, Candice Bergen grew up watching her father Edgar Bergen scratch his way to stardom with his arm up the back of the wooden puppet Charlie McCarthy. She has teamed with James Francis Trezza and Pam Widener to produce a feature film based on her father, based on her bestselling 1984 memoir Knock Wood. Barbara Turner, who was recently WGA Award nominated for scripting the HBO film Hemingway And Gelhorn, will write the script. She reunites with Trezza and Widener after their collaboration on Pollock. Putting an innovative twist on the biopic form, the picture will take the Pov of Charlie McCarthy as Edgar Bergen came of age during the early days of showbiz in America, from vaudeville to the Golden Age of radio, to features and the birth of television. The three-foot tall wooden puppet became a household name,...
- 4/30/2013
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Chicago – This year marked the 40th anniversary of the premiere of “The Waltons,” one of the most beloved TV series of the 1970s. Two actresses who portrayed Mary Ellen and Erin Walton, Mary McDonough and Judy Norton, appeared at the “Hollywood Celebrities & Memorabilia Show,” along with Pamela Sue Martin of TV’s “The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries’ (1977).
HollywoodChicago.com was at the event to interview all three ‘70s icons, with photographer Joe Arce producing his usual stellar portraiture.
Judy Norton, Mary Ellen Walton on “The Waltons”
Judy Norton was memorable as Mary Ellen Walton, adding a little passion to the often saccharine image of the TV family. She also gained a bit of notoriety after the series ended by posing for Playboy in the mid-1980s. She is still working in the business, as an actress, singer, writer and director. She recently appeared on the “Today” show, reuniting with...
HollywoodChicago.com was at the event to interview all three ‘70s icons, with photographer Joe Arce producing his usual stellar portraiture.
Judy Norton, Mary Ellen Walton on “The Waltons”
Judy Norton was memorable as Mary Ellen Walton, adding a little passion to the often saccharine image of the TV family. She also gained a bit of notoriety after the series ended by posing for Playboy in the mid-1980s. She is still working in the business, as an actress, singer, writer and director. She recently appeared on the “Today” show, reuniting with...
- 12/31/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
James Earl Jones, 2008 SAG Life Achievement Award recipient 1962 Eddie Cantor 1963 Stan Laurel 1965 Bob Hope 1966 Barbara Stanwyck 1967 William Gargan 1968 James Stewart 1969 Edward G. Robinson 1970 Gregory Peck 1971 Charlton Heston 1972 Frank Sinatra 1973 Martha Raye 1974 Walter Pidgeon 1975 Rosalind Russell 1976 Pearl Bailey 1977 James Cagney 1978 Edgar Bergen 1979 Katharine Hepburn 1980 Leon Ames 1982 Danny Kaye 1983 Ralph Bellamy 1984 Iggie Wolfington 1985 Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward 1986 Nanette Fabray 1987 Red Skelton 1988 Gene Kelly 1989 Jack Lemmon 1990 Brock Peters 1991 Burt Lancaster 1992 Audrey Hepburn 1993 Ricardo Montalban 1994 George Burns 1995 Robert Redford 1996 Angela Lansbury 1997 Elizabeth Taylor 1998 Kirk Douglas 1999 Sidney Poitier 2000 Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee 2001 Edward Asner 2002 Clint Eastwood 2003 Karl Malden 2004 James Garner 2005 Shirley Temple 2006 Julie Andrews 2007 Charles Durning 2008 James Earl Jones 2009 Betty White 2010 Ernest Borgnine 2011 Mary Tyler Moore James Earl Jones photo: Mark Hill/TNT...
- 9/8/2011
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
It has been over a decade since the Muppets have headlined a movie for theaters (1999's Muppets From Space), but for fans of the furry felted ones, the wait is over. Disney has finally gotten its act together and will put Kermit and company back on the big screen next Thanksgiving.
In a press release issued by Disney, The Muppets Movie has been moved from its original Christmas 2011 release date to November 23, 2011. The movie is currently under production and is being directed by James Bobin from a script by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller.
According to the press release, the film will continue the Muppet tradition of having big-name stars appear in cameos. Among the stars confirmed for the movie are Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Alan Arkin, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Billy Crystal, and Wanda Sykes. Personally, I love the Van Damme cameo idea. I just hope they...
In a press release issued by Disney, The Muppets Movie has been moved from its original Christmas 2011 release date to November 23, 2011. The movie is currently under production and is being directed by James Bobin from a script by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller.
According to the press release, the film will continue the Muppet tradition of having big-name stars appear in cameos. Among the stars confirmed for the movie are Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Alan Arkin, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Billy Crystal, and Wanda Sykes. Personally, I love the Van Damme cameo idea. I just hope they...
- 12/14/2010
- Cinelinx
"Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody" debuted on the Muppets' newly inaugurated YouTube channel just three weeks ago. But nearly ten million views later, it already feels like a signpost that we'll look back on fondly -- a goofy capper to a rotten decade, a bridge to whatever lies ahead, and perhaps a future time capsule, a reminder of what it felt like to be alive at this strange time. It's a pop culture upper in a league with two classic bubblegum chart-toppers that heralded the shift from '60s darkness to '70s hedonism: John Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" and the Captain & Tennille's cover of "Love Will Keep Us Together."
There's no world-shattering depth to those songs, just a straightforward reassurance that even though times are tough, as long as we're capable of having fun, things aren't quite as bad as they seem. "Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody" and the...
There's no world-shattering depth to those songs, just a straightforward reassurance that even though times are tough, as long as we're capable of having fun, things aren't quite as bad as they seem. "Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody" and the...
- 12/15/2009
- by Matt Zoller Seitz
- ifc.com
In 1939 the Academy gave an honorary Oscar to Edgar Bergen for creating a funny puppet. Some people may have thought that was silly. They also may have found it silly that a strange little "cartoon" called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs earned itself an honorary Oscar. The legendary Bob Hope was given a fistful of honorary Oscars over the course of his amazing career ... and I don't remember anyone calling Bob Hope a brilliant actor or influential filmmaker.
In other words, these "honorary" awards that are handed out by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) can be given for any old reason they feel like -- and I for one am thrilled that they've decided to give one to Roger Corman this year. My illustrious colleague Eric Snider clearly doesn't feel the same way, and I'm here to tell Eric he's dead wrong. Wonderfully funny and a snappy dresser,...
In other words, these "honorary" awards that are handed out by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) can be given for any old reason they feel like -- and I for one am thrilled that they've decided to give one to Roger Corman this year. My illustrious colleague Eric Snider clearly doesn't feel the same way, and I'm here to tell Eric he's dead wrong. Wonderfully funny and a snappy dresser,...
- 11/18/2009
- by Scott Weinberg
- Cinematical
In 1939 the Academy gave an honorary Oscar to Edgar Bergen for creating a funny puppet. Some people may have thought that was silly. They also may have found it silly that a strange little "cartoon" called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs earned itself an honorary Oscar. The legendary Bob Hope was given a fistful of honorary Oscars over the course of his amazing career ... and I don't remember anyone calling Bob Hope a brilliant actor or influential filmmaker.
In other words, these "honorary" awards that are handed out by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) can be given for any old reason they feel like -- and I for one am thrilled that they've decided to give one to Roger Corman this year. My illustrious colleague Eric Snider clearly doesn't feel the same way, and I'm here to tell Eric he's dead wrong. Wonderfully funny and a snappy dresser,...
In other words, these "honorary" awards that are handed out by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) can be given for any old reason they feel like -- and I for one am thrilled that they've decided to give one to Roger Corman this year. My illustrious colleague Eric Snider clearly doesn't feel the same way, and I'm here to tell Eric he's dead wrong. Wonderfully funny and a snappy dresser,...
- 11/18/2009
- by Scott Weinberg
- Cinematical
I know a thing or two about the legendary War of the Worlds broadcast of 1938. It served as the initial inspiration for my master's thesis covering what was called "First Person Singular," the then-revolutionary narrative technique Orson Welles employed in his radio dramas, and how his later film writing owed such a debt to those early days of radio. Before Welles, only 23 at the time of War of the Worlds, almost all radio dramas employed a narrator separate from the story, but Orson figured rightly that you could tell those stories more efficiently by giving the exposition to a central character.
Because of that, the approach allowed for the device in War of the Worlds of advancing the story through fake news reports. Problem was, even though there was a disclaimer before the broadcast that it was a work of fiction, roughly two million people thought it was a real alien invasion.
Because of that, the approach allowed for the device in War of the Worlds of advancing the story through fake news reports. Problem was, even though there was a disclaimer before the broadcast that it was a work of fiction, roughly two million people thought it was a real alien invasion.
- 10/30/2009
- by Colin Boyd
- GetTheBigPicture.net
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