Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom entered the awards race with impressive credentials. One of two films last year featuring the late Chadwick Boseman, George C. Wolfe’s Netflix film also reunites star Viola Davis with the work of playwright August Wilson, a winning combination that landed her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 2016’s Fences.
This time, the intimate setting is a Chicago studio in 1927, where blues singer Ma Rainey (Davis) and her band prepare for what will be a fraught recording session.
Coleman Domingo, who plays blues musician Cutler, explains during the film’s panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film award-season event that Wilson’s 1982 drama still has much to say about today. Referring to the assembled talent, he says, “Everyone here has been gifted with the tremendous responsibility to tell the story of Ma Rainey and her band and the blues. The blues is America. The blues is...
This time, the intimate setting is a Chicago studio in 1927, where blues singer Ma Rainey (Davis) and her band prepare for what will be a fraught recording session.
Coleman Domingo, who plays blues musician Cutler, explains during the film’s panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film award-season event that Wilson’s 1982 drama still has much to say about today. Referring to the assembled talent, he says, “Everyone here has been gifted with the tremendous responsibility to tell the story of Ma Rainey and her band and the blues. The blues is America. The blues is...
- 1/23/2021
- by Joe Utichi
- Deadline Film + TV
Inner Sanctum Mysteries—Franchise Collection
Blu ray
Mill Creek Entertainment
1943, 1944, 1945 / 63, 64, 61, 62, 66 Min. / 1.33:1
Starring Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carroll Naish, Evelyn Ankers
Cinematography by Virgil Miller, Paul Ivano, Maury Gertsman
Directed by Reginald LeBorg, Harold Young, John Hoffman, Wallace Fox
For the first eight years of his career, Lon Chaney Jr. was just a face in the crowd—that all changed with 1939’s Of Mice and Men. The role of Lennie Small, a man-child who didn’t know his own strength, elevated the 33 year old actor to stardom but also typecast him as the perennial victim of circumstances—a B movie Hamlet. Offscreen, Chaney behaved more like Falstaff—his favorite pastimes were drinking, brawling, and more drinking. If Hollywood began to view him as a loose cannon, the actor sealed his own fate when he signed on as Larry Talbot, a discontented aristocrat who was more at home baying at the moon.
Blu ray
Mill Creek Entertainment
1943, 1944, 1945 / 63, 64, 61, 62, 66 Min. / 1.33:1
Starring Lon Chaney Jr., J. Carroll Naish, Evelyn Ankers
Cinematography by Virgil Miller, Paul Ivano, Maury Gertsman
Directed by Reginald LeBorg, Harold Young, John Hoffman, Wallace Fox
For the first eight years of his career, Lon Chaney Jr. was just a face in the crowd—that all changed with 1939’s Of Mice and Men. The role of Lennie Small, a man-child who didn’t know his own strength, elevated the 33 year old actor to stardom but also typecast him as the perennial victim of circumstances—a B movie Hamlet. Offscreen, Chaney behaved more like Falstaff—his favorite pastimes were drinking, brawling, and more drinking. If Hollywood began to view him as a loose cannon, the actor sealed his own fate when he signed on as Larry Talbot, a discontented aristocrat who was more at home baying at the moon.
- 1/2/2021
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
When Brian Dennehy died this past April at the age of 81, the “Everyman” character actor of extraordinary complexity left behind memorable performances in such films as 1979’s “10,” 1982’s “First Blood,” 1985’s “Cocoon” and “Silverado” and 1990 “Presumed Innocent,” countless TV appearances and gut wrenching, Tony Award-winning turns as Willy Loman in the 1999 revival of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and as James Tyrone in the 2000 revival of Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night.”
“He was a towering, fearless actor taking on the greatest dramatic roles of the 20th century,” Robert Falls, artistic director of the Goodman Theater in Chicago, told the New York Times. “There were mountains that had to be climbed, and he no problem throwing himself into climbing them.”
Dennehy was nominated for six Emmys including for his terrifying performance as serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the 1992 miniseries “To Catch a Killer” and won...
“He was a towering, fearless actor taking on the greatest dramatic roles of the 20th century,” Robert Falls, artistic director of the Goodman Theater in Chicago, told the New York Times. “There were mountains that had to be climbed, and he no problem throwing himself into climbing them.”
Dennehy was nominated for six Emmys including for his terrifying performance as serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the 1992 miniseries “To Catch a Killer” and won...
- 1/1/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Sony Classics’ “The Father” is an act of daring; it could have gone wrong in so many ways, but it works like gangbusters.
The film marks the movie debut of writer-director Florian Zeller, whose background is as a novelist and playwright; in many cases, that would send warning signals.
What’s more, it all takes place in one location, the apartment of Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), so it might have turned out to be a photographed stage play. Third, it toys with the audience, keeping them off-balance about what is real and what’s not.
Those are potential danger areas, but the film is so good that it defies all logic.
Movie adaptations of plays, from Eugene O’Neill to Neil Simon, usually look like filmed theater, and that’s Ok; they’re still enjoyable. But it’s magic when a filmmaker can set his movie in one space, yet it seems like pure cinema.
The film marks the movie debut of writer-director Florian Zeller, whose background is as a novelist and playwright; in many cases, that would send warning signals.
What’s more, it all takes place in one location, the apartment of Anthony (Anthony Hopkins), so it might have turned out to be a photographed stage play. Third, it toys with the audience, keeping them off-balance about what is real and what’s not.
Those are potential danger areas, but the film is so good that it defies all logic.
Movie adaptations of plays, from Eugene O’Neill to Neil Simon, usually look like filmed theater, and that’s Ok; they’re still enjoyable. But it’s magic when a filmmaker can set his movie in one space, yet it seems like pure cinema.
- 12/18/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
It’s a collaboration that was decades in the making. George C. Wolfe, who has helped bring the words of everyone from Tony Kushner to Nora Ephron to life in acclaimed productions, says it was in the mid-1990s when playwright August Wilson first raised the prospect of working with him.
“He said, ‘I want you to direct one of my plays,’” Wolfe recalls. “And I said, ‘Let me read it so I can make sure I have something to offer.’ He said, ‘Well, I haven’t written it yet.’”
Considering both are legends of the theater, it’s odd that it has taken this long for Wolfe and Wilson to come together, and that their long-gestating partnership is taking place not in their more familiar medium of the stage but on film. Wolfe is directing Netflix’s adaptation of Wilson’s second play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which hits the streaming service on Dec.
“He said, ‘I want you to direct one of my plays,’” Wolfe recalls. “And I said, ‘Let me read it so I can make sure I have something to offer.’ He said, ‘Well, I haven’t written it yet.’”
Considering both are legends of the theater, it’s odd that it has taken this long for Wolfe and Wilson to come together, and that their long-gestating partnership is taking place not in their more familiar medium of the stage but on film. Wolfe is directing Netflix’s adaptation of Wilson’s second play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which hits the streaming service on Dec.
- 12/11/2020
- by Jenelle Riley
- Variety Film + TV
It is staggering to think that Sophia Loren has been making movies for 70 years, initially appearing uncredited in such films as 1950’s “Tototarzan” and “Quo Vadis” before becoming a full-fledged star in mentor Vittorio De Sica’s 1954 comedy anthology “The Gold of Naples.” And she became the first performer to win an Oscar for a foreign language film for De Sica’s harrowing World War II drama “Two Women,” which opened in the U.S. in 1961. She received two more Oscar nominations for Italian productions: DeSica’s “Marriage Italian Style” and Ettore Scala’s 1977 “A Special Day.”
After a decade’s hiatus from features, Loren has made a triumphant return to film in her son Edoardo Ponti’s poignant “The Life Ahead,” currently streaming on Netflix. The 86-year-old actress has received some of the strongest reviews of her career and loud Oscar buzz for her performance as an aged prostitute...
After a decade’s hiatus from features, Loren has made a triumphant return to film in her son Edoardo Ponti’s poignant “The Life Ahead,” currently streaming on Netflix. The 86-year-old actress has received some of the strongest reviews of her career and loud Oscar buzz for her performance as an aged prostitute...
- 12/4/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
New Works Provincetown has commissioned its second and third projects. The developmental theater lab will help support a new play by Kevin Powell (“The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy’s Journey into Manhood”), developed with and directed by Oliver Butler (“What the Constitution Means to Me”). It has also commissioned a new musical, “Maiden Voyage,” from composer Carmel Dean (“Renascence”) and lyricist/playwright Mindi Dickstein.
“Maiden Voyage” is inspired by the true story of the 1989-1990 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, in which the first ever all-female sailing team battled sexism to complete a grueling endurance test. This story was also chronicled in the recent, acclaimed documentary “Maiden.”
Kevin Powell’s untitled play will explore the question of what is a man?
New Works Provincetown was founded by producer Mark Cortale. The creative teams for both shows are scheduled to begin week-long writing retreats in Provincetown between late...
“Maiden Voyage” is inspired by the true story of the 1989-1990 Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, in which the first ever all-female sailing team battled sexism to complete a grueling endurance test. This story was also chronicled in the recent, acclaimed documentary “Maiden.”
Kevin Powell’s untitled play will explore the question of what is a man?
New Works Provincetown was founded by producer Mark Cortale. The creative teams for both shows are scheduled to begin week-long writing retreats in Provincetown between late...
- 12/1/2020
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Five random things that happened on this day (October 26th) in history...
1881 The Gunfight at the Ok Corral lasted just 30 seconds on this day but it's been immortal since via the movies and television where it's been depicted dozens of times, most famously in Gunfight at the Ok Corral (1957) and Tombstone (1993).
1931 Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra opens on Broadway starring Alice Brady (who will win an Oscar later that decade for In Old Chicago). But it takes 16 years for a film version to premiere which disappoints but nabs an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Drama win for Rosalind Russell...
1881 The Gunfight at the Ok Corral lasted just 30 seconds on this day but it's been immortal since via the movies and television where it's been depicted dozens of times, most famously in Gunfight at the Ok Corral (1957) and Tombstone (1993).
1931 Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra opens on Broadway starring Alice Brady (who will win an Oscar later that decade for In Old Chicago). But it takes 16 years for a film version to premiere which disappoints but nabs an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Drama win for Rosalind Russell...
- 10/26/2020
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
American poet and former U.S. Poet Laureate Louise Gluck was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for Literature Thursday, the world’s highest literary honor, “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal,” said the Nobel Committee.
She is the first American woman to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993 and one of only 16 women since the awards, established in the will of Alfred Nobel, began in 1901.
Nobel Committee chair Anders Olsson praised Gluck’s striving for clarity. “Glück seeks the universal, and in this she takes inspiration from myths and classical motifs, present in most of her works.”
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded by The Swedish Academy in Stockholm.
Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, said in a video presentation Thursday, that he had informed Gluck of the award earlier in the day. “It came as surprise. A welcome one.
She is the first American woman to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993 and one of only 16 women since the awards, established in the will of Alfred Nobel, began in 1901.
Nobel Committee chair Anders Olsson praised Gluck’s striving for clarity. “Glück seeks the universal, and in this she takes inspiration from myths and classical motifs, present in most of her works.”
The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded by The Swedish Academy in Stockholm.
Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, said in a video presentation Thursday, that he had informed Gluck of the award earlier in the day. “It came as surprise. A welcome one.
- 10/8/2020
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
There is no confusion quite like the confusion that accompanies the break-up rebound — the heart trying to open itself up again to the world, against the white-knuckle grip of that older love. It’s a charged energy that budding NYC pop artist Softee navigates deftly on her new song, “Crush.”
Softee is the DIY project of Nina Grollman, a Julliard-trained actress who made her Broadway debut opposite Denzel Washington in a 2018 production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, and later starred as Scout Finch in the recent revival of To Kill a Mockingbird.
Softee is the DIY project of Nina Grollman, a Julliard-trained actress who made her Broadway debut opposite Denzel Washington in a 2018 production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh, and later starred as Scout Finch in the recent revival of To Kill a Mockingbird.
- 9/21/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
On Nov. 27, 1929, three years after Greta Garbo’s American film debut, Variety described her as “the most mysterious of Hollywood stars.” More than 50 years later, in 1981, a Variety story began “Given that Greta Garbo still remains the most elusive, mysterious and speculated about film personality on the planet…”
It’s rare for any star to maintain public interest for so long. And it’s especially notable that she maintained interest, even decades after her final film, by trying to avoid attention.
In a career of only 15 years, Garbo gave fans her acting talent but nothing of herself — no details of her life, never addressing rumors or speculation. In a brief 1929 item, Variety said “Practically nothing has ever been known personally about Miss Garbo, she being a publicity-shunner and the toughest of all stars to interview.” In her heyday, she had as much impact on fashion and daydreams as Lady Gaga and Beyonce,...
It’s rare for any star to maintain public interest for so long. And it’s especially notable that she maintained interest, even decades after her final film, by trying to avoid attention.
In a career of only 15 years, Garbo gave fans her acting talent but nothing of herself — no details of her life, never addressing rumors or speculation. In a brief 1929 item, Variety said “Practically nothing has ever been known personally about Miss Garbo, she being a publicity-shunner and the toughest of all stars to interview.” In her heyday, she had as much impact on fashion and daydreams as Lady Gaga and Beyonce,...
- 9/18/2020
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
With the Emmy Awards nominations set for Tuesday, it is a good time to back at a few of the greatest Emmy-winning and Emmy-nominated performances from some of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
Ingrid Bergman, “The Turn of the Screw” (1959)
The Oscar-winning Swedish actress certainly ended the 1950s on a different note than she began the decade. After making her U.S. film debut opposite Leslie Howard in 1939’s “Intermezzo,” Bergman became one of the top Hollywood stars earning her first Oscar for 1944’s “Gaslight.” Married with a young daughter, she shocked the U.S. when she had an affair and became pregnant by famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini during the production of “Stromboli.” She was even denounced in Congress for her affair. The couple did marry, have three children including actress Isabella Rossellini and made several films together before they divorced in 1957. All was forgiven by 1956 when she won...
Ingrid Bergman, “The Turn of the Screw” (1959)
The Oscar-winning Swedish actress certainly ended the 1950s on a different note than she began the decade. After making her U.S. film debut opposite Leslie Howard in 1939’s “Intermezzo,” Bergman became one of the top Hollywood stars earning her first Oscar for 1944’s “Gaslight.” Married with a young daughter, she shocked the U.S. when she had an affair and became pregnant by famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini during the production of “Stromboli.” She was even denounced in Congress for her affair. The couple did marry, have three children including actress Isabella Rossellini and made several films together before they divorced in 1957. All was forgiven by 1956 when she won...
- 7/24/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
by Cláudio Alves
The 1950s and 60s marked a time when the Academy Awards loved few things more than prestigious stage play adaptations. This was particularly true of the acting categories, where dozens of such movies scored multiple nominations. Comparing the Tony nods with the Oscars' is to find many of the same roles, like Tennessee Williams' heroines, Eugene O'Neill's human wrecks, Clifford Odet's tragic characters, and Edward Albee's domestic demons. For a short period, the Tonys were even better precursors for an Oscar victory than the Golden Globes. Still, even these trends have exceptions and one of the saddest was the 1961 movie based on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun…...
The 1950s and 60s marked a time when the Academy Awards loved few things more than prestigious stage play adaptations. This was particularly true of the acting categories, where dozens of such movies scored multiple nominations. Comparing the Tony nods with the Oscars' is to find many of the same roles, like Tennessee Williams' heroines, Eugene O'Neill's human wrecks, Clifford Odet's tragic characters, and Edward Albee's domestic demons. For a short period, the Tonys were even better precursors for an Oscar victory than the Golden Globes. Still, even these trends have exceptions and one of the saddest was the 1961 movie based on Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun…...
- 6/23/2020
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
“I think I’m… quite ready for another adventure!” -Bilbo Baggins
Ian Holm, esteemed knighted British actor and standout of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Alien, is dead at the age of 88, having succumbed to complications from Parkinson’s disease. Holm passed away in a London hospital peacefully near his family and caregiver, as his agent confirmed to The Guardian, referring to the late actor as “charming, kind and ferociously talented,” and that “we will miss him hugely.”
Holm stood as a peer amongst other knighted legends like Ian McKellen and Laurence Olivier, but he never saw himself as a marquee-dominating movie star type, having maintained the grounded approach of a working actor. It’s a conceit evidenced by the way in which he selected roles across his 60-year career on stage and screen, rarely revisiting thematically similar characters, lest he become typecast. However, it’s also the...
Ian Holm, esteemed knighted British actor and standout of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Alien, is dead at the age of 88, having succumbed to complications from Parkinson’s disease. Holm passed away in a London hospital peacefully near his family and caregiver, as his agent confirmed to The Guardian, referring to the late actor as “charming, kind and ferociously talented,” and that “we will miss him hugely.”
Holm stood as a peer amongst other knighted legends like Ian McKellen and Laurence Olivier, but he never saw himself as a marquee-dominating movie star type, having maintained the grounded approach of a working actor. It’s a conceit evidenced by the way in which he selected roles across his 60-year career on stage and screen, rarely revisiting thematically similar characters, lest he become typecast. However, it’s also the...
- 6/19/2020
- by Joseph Baxter
- Den of Geek
Dismiss it as a gimmick. Or a genius stunt. Or praise it as a metaphor for recovery. In any case, if you ask Matt Shakman he’ll tell you that he wanted to help deliver a wake-up call to audiences — a positive signal at a time when ticket buyers have fallen into a state of slumber. Hence the arrival of The Present, a riveting interactive Zoom magic show produced by the Geffen Theater Group (reviewed by Deadline on May 27).
Shakman, artistic director of the Geffen, has lately delivered wake-up calls in other arenas as well, exhibiting a propensity for innovative and obstreperous humor. In so doing, he has displayed the sort of versatility that may be required of filmmakers hoping to break through in the post-pandemic epoch.
In directing the pilot of Hulu’s The Great, Shakman hilariously vandalized the reign of Catherine the Great –- a satiric counter-narrative to...
Shakman, artistic director of the Geffen, has lately delivered wake-up calls in other arenas as well, exhibiting a propensity for innovative and obstreperous humor. In so doing, he has displayed the sort of versatility that may be required of filmmakers hoping to break through in the post-pandemic epoch.
In directing the pilot of Hulu’s The Great, Shakman hilariously vandalized the reign of Catherine the Great –- a satiric counter-narrative to...
- 5/29/2020
- by Peter Bart
- Deadline Film + TV
“It’s one of the best experiences of my career,” declares Nathan Lane. He’s speaking about playing Lewis Michener, a grizzled detective on Showtime’s “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels.” The story gives events from 1938 Los Angeles a supernatural bent and allows Lane to bring his character to surprisingly dark places. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
“This is about what’s happening now, seen through this historical perspective,” explains Lane. Series creator and writer John Logan was adamant that the show not merely be a pretty period piece. The show is not afraid to dive headfirst into the racism and tension of the time period. The questions permeating every story beat are “how does history repeat itself? Are the monsters within us?”
See Natalie Dormer (‘Penny Dreadful: City of Angels’) on her shapeshifting role: ‘It’s really healthy to scare yourself’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
Lane’s detective is often seen as...
“This is about what’s happening now, seen through this historical perspective,” explains Lane. Series creator and writer John Logan was adamant that the show not merely be a pretty period piece. The show is not afraid to dive headfirst into the racism and tension of the time period. The questions permeating every story beat are “how does history repeat itself? Are the monsters within us?”
See Natalie Dormer (‘Penny Dreadful: City of Angels’) on her shapeshifting role: ‘It’s really healthy to scare yourself’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
Lane’s detective is often seen as...
- 5/4/2020
- by Sam Eckmann
- Gold Derby
“Pipe Dreams”
By Raymond Benson
Back in 1973, producer Ely Landau and his wife Edie launched a daring and unprecedented cinema series that played in the U.S. for two “seasons,” with a total of fourteen titles (but only thirteen were shown), all renowned works—classic and modern—originally produced on the stage. It was called the American Film Theatre. (A review of a DVD box set of the entire series appeared on Cinema Retro previously. Click here to read.)
The concept tried something different. The directive was to take a great stage play, not change a word, and in most cases, use the actual play script as the screenplay. The next step was to hire an accomplished film director to interpret the text for the film medium but stay faithful to the play. Sometimes the director was the same person who helmed the original stage production. A further step was...
By Raymond Benson
Back in 1973, producer Ely Landau and his wife Edie launched a daring and unprecedented cinema series that played in the U.S. for two “seasons,” with a total of fourteen titles (but only thirteen were shown), all renowned works—classic and modern—originally produced on the stage. It was called the American Film Theatre. (A review of a DVD box set of the entire series appeared on Cinema Retro previously. Click here to read.)
The concept tried something different. The directive was to take a great stage play, not change a word, and in most cases, use the actual play script as the screenplay. The next step was to hire an accomplished film director to interpret the text for the film medium but stay faithful to the play. Sometimes the director was the same person who helmed the original stage production. A further step was...
- 4/22/2020
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Veteran character actor Brian Dennehy, known for a wide variety of roles in film, TV and on the stage, died Wednesday night (April 15) at the age of 81, according to Variety.
The Golden Globe and Tony-winning star passed away in New Haven, Connecticut from natural causes. A statement posted on Twitter by his daughter, actress Elizabeth Dennehy, said, “It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian, passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related. Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife Jennifer, family and many friends.”
Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on July 9, 1938. He served in the Marines from 1959 to 1963, and later attended Columbia and Yale, earning a master’s degree in dramatic arts from the latter university. He worked briefly as a stockbroker before making both his film and TV debuts...
The Golden Globe and Tony-winning star passed away in New Haven, Connecticut from natural causes. A statement posted on Twitter by his daughter, actress Elizabeth Dennehy, said, “It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian, passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related. Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife Jennifer, family and many friends.”
Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on July 9, 1938. He served in the Marines from 1959 to 1963, and later attended Columbia and Yale, earning a master’s degree in dramatic arts from the latter university. He worked briefly as a stockbroker before making both his film and TV debuts...
- 4/16/2020
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Brian Dennehy, the prolific character actor who could easily jump between comedy and drama on stage and screen, died Wednesday from natural causes in Connecticut. He was 81.
Dennehy’s daughter, Elizabeth Dennehy, confirmed his death Thursday on Twitter, writing, “It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related. Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife Jennifer, family and many friends.”
It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father,...
Dennehy’s daughter, Elizabeth Dennehy, confirmed his death Thursday on Twitter, writing, “It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related. Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife Jennifer, family and many friends.”
It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father,...
- 4/16/2020
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Brian Dennehy, the winner of two Tonys in a career that also spanned films including “Tommy Boy,” “First Blood” and “Cocoon,” and television roles including “Dynasty” and “Death of a Salesman,” died on Wednesday night in New Haven, Conn. He was 81.
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian, passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related. Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife, Jennifer, family and many friends,” his daughter, actress Elizabeth Dennehy, tweeted on Thursday.
His agency ICM also confirmed the news.
In the 1995 comedy “Tommy Boy,” Dennehy was Big Tom, the father of Chris Farley’s character Tom, who takes over the family’s auto parts business with David Spade after his father dies. In Ron Howard’s 1985 hit “Cocoon,” Dennehy played the leader of the alien Antareans who...
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that our father, Brian, passed away last night from natural causes, not Covid-related. Larger than life, generous to a fault, a proud and devoted father and grandfather, he will be missed by his wife, Jennifer, family and many friends,” his daughter, actress Elizabeth Dennehy, tweeted on Thursday.
His agency ICM also confirmed the news.
In the 1995 comedy “Tommy Boy,” Dennehy was Big Tom, the father of Chris Farley’s character Tom, who takes over the family’s auto parts business with David Spade after his father dies. In Ron Howard’s 1985 hit “Cocoon,” Dennehy played the leader of the alien Antareans who...
- 4/16/2020
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
There’s never a bad time to be reminded of and introduced to great cinematic works and their authors and filmmakers, but 2020 is turning out to be a particularly necessary time for cultural enrichment and artistic nourishment. At home.
So the timing couldn’t be better for Stephen Farber and Michael McClellan’s new tome, “Cinema ’62,” an examination and celebration of 1962, which they boldly proclaim was “The Greatest Year at the Movies.”
For those cineastes who might challenge that proclamation, and substitute, say, 1939, 1999 or my particular favorite, 1969, for that vaunted honor, the book thankfully opens with an astute and succinct preface by Oscar-winning writer-
director Bill Condon.
“I’ve found that a cineaste’s ‘greatest year’ more often than not lines up with the early years of his or her adolescence,” observes Condon, expressing a theory I’d always assumed was mine alone. So with the question of subjectivity and...
So the timing couldn’t be better for Stephen Farber and Michael McClellan’s new tome, “Cinema ’62,” an examination and celebration of 1962, which they boldly proclaim was “The Greatest Year at the Movies.”
For those cineastes who might challenge that proclamation, and substitute, say, 1939, 1999 or my particular favorite, 1969, for that vaunted honor, the book thankfully opens with an astute and succinct preface by Oscar-winning writer-
director Bill Condon.
“I’ve found that a cineaste’s ‘greatest year’ more often than not lines up with the early years of his or her adolescence,” observes Condon, expressing a theory I’d always assumed was mine alone. So with the question of subjectivity and...
- 3/18/2020
- by Steven Gaydos
- Variety Film + TV
The jukebox musical — or “catalog musical,” as some on Broadway prefer to call it — has been running rampant for more than a decade now, leaving both triumphs and travesties in its wake. But even after we’ve seen the lives of Cher, the Temptations, Carole King, and the Four Seasons transformed into musicals — or the songs of Johnny Cash, the Go-Go’s, and Alanis Morissette used as scores for fictional stories — nothing quite prepares you for Girl From the North Country. Not the first, but certainly the best, musical featuring...
- 3/6/2020
- by David Browne
- Rollingstone.com
The Broadway community mourns the loss of multiple Tony Award winning producer Margo Lion, who died on January 24, 2020 at age 75. To commemorate her life and work, the Committee of Theatre Owners will dim the lights of the Jujamcyn Theatres the Al Hirschfeld, August Wilson, Eugene O'Neill, St. James, and Walter Kerr Theatres where Ms. Lion often collaborated and worked as well as the American Airlines, Bernard Jacobs, Helen Hayes, Neil Simon, New Amsterdam, Lincoln Center, Lyric Theatre, and Samuel J. Friedmans in New York for one minute on Saturday, February 29 at exactly 745pm.
- 2/20/2020
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
An improvised Eugene O’Neill ensemble barfly riff wrapped in the construct of a seemingly fly-on-the-wall documentary about the last day at an off-Strip Las Vegas bar, “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” pushes the envelope of nonfiction filmmaking in an exciting, immersive, and transporting way. The frame of the movie is intentional, the supposed regulars are the result of a casting process, the dialogue improvised, and it was primarily shot in New Orleans. But Bill and Turner Ross make virtues out of those concessions to dramatization and skillfully tease out some truths about improvised communities as well as the highlights and limitations of such alcohol-fueled connections.
Continue reading The Ross Brothers’ Boozy, Immersive ‘Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets’ Is A Barfly’s Happy-Sad Lament [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading The Ross Brothers’ Boozy, Immersive ‘Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets’ Is A Barfly’s Happy-Sad Lament [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
- 1/26/2020
- by Chris Barsanti
- The Playlist
“Smile for the camera, motherf—ers,” warns the graffiti outside the Roaring Twenties, a Las Vegas dive bar where spirits are high because the end is nigh. The boozers who’ve braved this dim red cave, in Bill and Turner Ross’ bitterly funny docufiction film “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets,” have signed on to play themselves in an improv exercise about a gang of regulars toasting the bar’s final 24 hours in business before, one grumbles, “it’ll become a Cvs.”
The Ross brothers have gambled that they can edit together a dramedy from organic ingredients. It’s an arthouse twist on the Murray-Bunim reality TV cocktail: Stir a dozen or so hand-picked heavy-drinkers into an actual bar with actual alcohol, and with a spritz of plot setup, these extroverts start talking about life, love, sex, war, family, politics, aging and regret. Though the title cautions violence, it’s evident that...
The Ross brothers have gambled that they can edit together a dramedy from organic ingredients. It’s an arthouse twist on the Murray-Bunim reality TV cocktail: Stir a dozen or so hand-picked heavy-drinkers into an actual bar with actual alcohol, and with a spritz of plot setup, these extroverts start talking about life, love, sex, war, family, politics, aging and regret. Though the title cautions violence, it’s evident that...
- 1/25/2020
- by Amy Nicholson
- Variety Film + TV
Stephen Crisman, a writer, director and producer of television documentaries, died Dec. 19 in Los Angeles after a battle with melanoma, a family spokesman announced. He was 69.
Before he became a filmmaker, Crisman worked at the Hard Rock Cafe outposts in London and New York. He was married to Oscar-nominated actress Mariel Hemingway from 1984 until their 2009 divorce.
Crisman did several documentaries for A&e's Biography series, including looks at the lives of Bob Dylan, Eugene O'Neill and Ernest Hemingway, Mariel's grandfather, and he wrote, directed and produced 2005's Hemingway's Cuba, hosted by his then-wife....
Before he became a filmmaker, Crisman worked at the Hard Rock Cafe outposts in London and New York. He was married to Oscar-nominated actress Mariel Hemingway from 1984 until their 2009 divorce.
Crisman did several documentaries for A&e's Biography series, including looks at the lives of Bob Dylan, Eugene O'Neill and Ernest Hemingway, Mariel's grandfather, and he wrote, directed and produced 2005's Hemingway's Cuba, hosted by his then-wife....
- 1/10/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Ron Leibman, who won a Tony Award for his role as Roy Cohn in 1993’s Angels In America: Millennium Approaches, and co-starred with Sally Field in the 1979 Oscar-winner Norma Rae, has died from complications of pneumonia.
Leibman also won a Primetime Emmy as Lead Actor In A Drama Series for his role as Martin ‘Kaz’ Kazinsky, a convict turned lawyer, in the 1978-79 crime drama Kaz, a short-lived series he created and co-wrote.
Born in New York City, Leibman graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University. He became a member of the Compass Players in the late 1950s, then joined the famed Actors Studio.
His television debut came in 1956 when he appeared as Johnny in The Edge of the Night. But he spent most of the 1960s on Broadway, appearing in everything from Shakespeare plays to Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
His film career began in 1970 with Where’s Poppa?...
Leibman also won a Primetime Emmy as Lead Actor In A Drama Series for his role as Martin ‘Kaz’ Kazinsky, a convict turned lawyer, in the 1978-79 crime drama Kaz, a short-lived series he created and co-wrote.
Born in New York City, Leibman graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University. He became a member of the Compass Players in the late 1950s, then joined the famed Actors Studio.
His television debut came in 1956 when he appeared as Johnny in The Edge of the Night. But he spent most of the 1960s on Broadway, appearing in everything from Shakespeare plays to Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night.
His film career began in 1970 with Where’s Poppa?...
- 12/6/2019
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Modern American drama was born in Provincetown when the Provincetown Players were founded in July, 1915. They are credited with changing American theater forever by birthing the careers of famous playwrights such as Eugene O'Neill and Susan Glaspell, who would eventually relocate to Greenwich Village to found the historic and famous Provincetown Playhouse. These revolutionary artists set the stage for Provincetown to become a hub for talented and innovative theatrical minds. Ever since, Provincetown has been an incubator for brilliant theatrical characters, many of whom would go on to become well-known on an international stage.
- 6/26/2019
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
7 random things that happened on this day (November 2nd) in showbiz history
1755 Marie Antoinette is born. She'll become infamous in life and a household name all around the world after her death at 37 by guillotine. She's been played in the movies by Diane Kruger, Kirsten Dunst, Michèle Morgan, Norma Shearer, Jane Seymour, and more.
1921 Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie" premieres on Broadway. The classic play will become a movie 9 years later starring Greta Garbo...
1755 Marie Antoinette is born. She'll become infamous in life and a household name all around the world after her death at 37 by guillotine. She's been played in the movies by Diane Kruger, Kirsten Dunst, Michèle Morgan, Norma Shearer, Jane Seymour, and more.
1921 Eugene O'Neill's "Anna Christie" premieres on Broadway. The classic play will become a movie 9 years later starring Greta Garbo...
- 11/2/2018
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies that have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. Perry Miller Adato (1920-2018) - Documentary Filmmaker. She primarily directed artist-focused biographical documentaries, including the Emmy-nominated Picasso: A Painter's Diary and the American Masters entries Eugene O'Neill: A Glory of Ghosts and Alfred Stieglitz: The Eloquent Eye, plus Georgia O'Keefe and Gertrude Stein: When This You See, Remember Me. She died on September 16. (Nyt) Marty Balin (1942-2018) - Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist. One of the founders...
- 10/4/2018
- by Christopher Campbell
- Movies.com
There was plenty to admire when playwrightdirector Young Jean Lee's Straight White Men opened at The Public Theater in November of 2014. Those familiar with the exceedingly non-traditional work of the Obie-honoree, whose past dramatic choices have included inserting a scene from Sesame Street about Mr. Hooper's death into a play about King Lear and having silent nude performers interact with audience members to explore the boundaries of comfort zones may have chuckled a bit at the thought of her stepping into theatrical territory more or less defined in this country by the naturalistic classics of dramatists like Arthur Miller and Eugene O'Neill.
- 7/24/2018
- by Michael Dale
- BroadwayWorld.com
As Broadway revs up for the Tony Awards, Theater Talk welcomes Tony nominated actors Joshua Henry and Jessie Mueller from Rodgers amp Hammerstein's Carousel, who along with the show's Musical Supervisor Andy Einhorn, perform excerpts from the show's classic 'Bench Scene' number and discuss its brilliant musical architecture with co-hosts Jesse Green of 'The New York Times' and Susan Haskins. Next, Tony-nominated director George C. Wolfe shares his insights into Eugene O'Neill's masterpiece The Iceman Cometh and how they have influenced his absorbing revival of this classic American play, starring Denzel Washington and David Morse. Jan Simpson of BroadwayRadio co-hosts with Haskins.
- 5/29/2018
- by Theater Talk
- BroadwayWorld.com
For the past 3 years, I have been able to cover the New Dramatists Luncheon, and each time, I am amazed at the people that I get to meet when doing a red carpet. It's nice to see some new faces and a dream to see the familiar ones. This year's honoree is 2x Academy Award winning Tony Award winning and current nominee for his performance in Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, Denzel Washington.
- 5/17/2018
- by Keith Price's Curtain Call
- BroadwayWorld.com
Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical family drama, Long Day's Journey Into Night, is widely regarded as one of the most powerful American plays of the 20th century. The acclaimed Bristol Old Vic production-which premiered in 2016 as the centerpiece of its 250th anniversary season-is helmed by award-winning theater and film director Sir Richard Eyre, and features unforgettable performances by stage, screen, Tony- and Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Ironsand renowned stage, screen, Oscar- and Olivier-nominated actress Lesley Manville.
- 5/14/2018
- by Review Roundups
- BroadwayWorld.com
by Nathaniel R
Did you know that Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) is currently treading the boards in London? She's nominated for a Best Actress Olivier Award for playing Mary Tyrone in the Eugene O'Neill drama Long Day's Journey Into Night (a classic role which already scored an Oscar nod for Katharine Hepburn and a Tony for Jessica Lange). Her last performance is the day of the Oliviers (April 8th) after which she presumably gets a wee break before coming back to America in May. She and Jeremy Irons will do the same show again at Bam in Brooklyn for American audiences.
Lesley's "Mary" is up against Imelda Staunton's "Martha" in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?! Clash Of The Epic Roles. If Imelda loses that contest to Lesley (they've both won Oliviers before) she still has another chance to win. She's double-nominated as she's also up for Best Actress in a Musical for Follies.
Did you know that Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) is currently treading the boards in London? She's nominated for a Best Actress Olivier Award for playing Mary Tyrone in the Eugene O'Neill drama Long Day's Journey Into Night (a classic role which already scored an Oscar nod for Katharine Hepburn and a Tony for Jessica Lange). Her last performance is the day of the Oliviers (April 8th) after which she presumably gets a wee break before coming back to America in May. She and Jeremy Irons will do the same show again at Bam in Brooklyn for American audiences.
Lesley's "Mary" is up against Imelda Staunton's "Martha" in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?! Clash Of The Epic Roles. If Imelda loses that contest to Lesley (they've both won Oliviers before) she still has another chance to win. She's double-nominated as she's also up for Best Actress in a Musical for Follies.
- 3/7/2018
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Bradford Dillman, who starred with Dean Stockwell in the taut 1959 crime drama Compulsion and portrayed Edmund in the original Broadway production of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, has died. He was 87.
Dillman died Tuesday in Santa Barbara due to complications from pneumonia, family spokesman Ted Gekis announced.
The lanky, dark-haired Dillman also played Robert Redford's best friend J.J. in The Way We Were (1973), and his daughter Pamela said that it was this movie that "perfectly captured the essence" of her father, particularly during the scene on a boat when the actors reminisce about their lives and best moments.
Dillman...
Dillman died Tuesday in Santa Barbara due to complications from pneumonia, family spokesman Ted Gekis announced.
The lanky, dark-haired Dillman also played Robert Redford's best friend J.J. in The Way We Were (1973), and his daughter Pamela said that it was this movie that "perfectly captured the essence" of her father, particularly during the scene on a boat when the actors reminisce about their lives and best moments.
Dillman...
- 1/19/2018
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Director Sidney Lumet, whose gritty portraits of New York City earned him four Oscar nominations for Best Director for films such as Dog Day Afternoon and Network, died Saturday of lymphoma at his home in Manhattan; he was 86. Synonymous with the New York filmmaking scene, Lumet prowled the streets of his adopted hometown in a wide variety of films, working in the nascent medium of television in the early 1950s before making his feature film directorial debut in 1957 with the cinematic adaptation of the jury room classic 12 Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda. That film earned Lumet his first Oscar nomination and started a prolific career that would take him through crime dramas, Broadway and literary adaptations, occasional Hollywood films, and lacerating satires.
Born in Philadelphia to parents who were in show business -- his father was an actor and director, his mother a dancer -- he appeared in numerous Broadway plays as a child and young adult before serving three years in the Army during World War II and returning to New York to direct. Lumet's directorial style, described as "lightning quick" in an era when American cinema was still burdened by the limitations of decorative and expensive Hollywood films, earned him a successful career in television, where he adapted numerous plays for such early shows as Playhouse 90 and Studio One, and worked with the young Walter Cronkite on the news series You Are There. He directed a TV version of 12 Angry Men before turning it into a successful 1957 film, starring Henry Fonda as the lone dissenting juror in a murder trial; the film earned three Academy Award nominations (Best Picture, Director and Screenplay) and singlehandedly established Lumet's cinematic directing career.
Lumet alternated film and television work in the late 1950s and early 1960s -- including a television version of The Iceman Cometh starring Jason Robards -- before helming a number of acclaimed cinematic films in the early 1960s: the devastating adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) starring Katharine Hepburn and Ralph Richardson; the New York drama The Pawnbroker (1964), which earned Rod Steiger a Best Actor Oscar nomination; and the nuclear drama Fail-Safe (also 1964), starring Henry Fonda and Walter Matthau. Through the late 1960s and early 1970s some of Lumet's work was uneven -- adaptations of bestsellers The Group (1966) and The Anderson Tapes (1971) as well as Chekhov's The Sea Gull (1968) are admirable but not entirely successful -- but scored again throughout the 1970s. The crime drama Serpico (1973) helped cement Al Pacino's star status after The Godfather -- and earned the actor his first Best Actor Oscar nomination, and the actor and director paired again in 1975's Dog Day Afternoon, the story of a bank heist gone crazily awry; the film, now considered a modern classic, earned Lumet and Pacino Oscar nominations and some of the best reviews of their careers. In between those films, set in New York, Lumet took a literal and figurative jaunt with the successful adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (1974), an upper-class murder mystery set on a luxury European train that seemed as far from the seamy streets of Manhattan as possible.
In 1976, Lumet explored the themes of media exposure and saturation he delved into with Dog Day Afternoon even further with the scathing television satire and drama Network, starring William Holden, Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch. Lumet, along with screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, pioneered the idea (and condemnation) of what is now commonly thought of as reality TV in his story of a network anchorman (Finch) who suffers a breakdown on live television with the rallying cry "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!", and the television executive (Dunaway) who turns him into a folk hero, TV icon, and tragic figure, ultimately goading him into committing suicide live on television. The film, still potent and more lacerating than most explorations of modern media since, won Finch and Dunaway Oscars; Finch's award was posthumous, as the actor died in early 1977. It remains one of only two films to win three Academy Awards for acting (the third for supporting actress Beatrice Straight, who appeared onscreen for less than six minutes), the other being A Streetcar Named Desire.
After that string of commercial and financial hits, Lumet's career included a wide variety of films: adaptations of Broadway hits Equus (1977, fairly successful), The Wiz (1978, a musical flop but a strangely visionary view of New York), Deathtrap (1982, unexpected fun if not a perfect film); crime drama Prince of the City (1981, one of Lumet's most unheralded fims); courtroom drama The Verdict (1982, a big hit that earned star Paul Newman and Lumet Oscar nominations); Hollywood melodrama (1986's The Morning After, starring Jane Fonda); and indie drama (Running On Empty, the 1988 drama with River Phoenix in his only Oscar-nominated performance). Lumet's last film was the 2007 drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, which starred indie stalwarts Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Ethan Hawke, and Amy Ryan.
Lumet was married four times, first to actress Rita Gam, second to socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, and third to Gail Jones, daughter of Lena Horne. He married Mary Gimbel, who survives him, in 1980 and had two daughters with Ms. Jones, Amy Lumet and screenwriter Jenny Lumet, who scripted the drama Rachel Getting Married. Nominated for five Oscars (four for directing, one for screenplay), Lumet was awarded an honorary Academy Award at the 2004 Oscars.
Born in Philadelphia to parents who were in show business -- his father was an actor and director, his mother a dancer -- he appeared in numerous Broadway plays as a child and young adult before serving three years in the Army during World War II and returning to New York to direct. Lumet's directorial style, described as "lightning quick" in an era when American cinema was still burdened by the limitations of decorative and expensive Hollywood films, earned him a successful career in television, where he adapted numerous plays for such early shows as Playhouse 90 and Studio One, and worked with the young Walter Cronkite on the news series You Are There. He directed a TV version of 12 Angry Men before turning it into a successful 1957 film, starring Henry Fonda as the lone dissenting juror in a murder trial; the film earned three Academy Award nominations (Best Picture, Director and Screenplay) and singlehandedly established Lumet's cinematic directing career.
Lumet alternated film and television work in the late 1950s and early 1960s -- including a television version of The Iceman Cometh starring Jason Robards -- before helming a number of acclaimed cinematic films in the early 1960s: the devastating adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) starring Katharine Hepburn and Ralph Richardson; the New York drama The Pawnbroker (1964), which earned Rod Steiger a Best Actor Oscar nomination; and the nuclear drama Fail-Safe (also 1964), starring Henry Fonda and Walter Matthau. Through the late 1960s and early 1970s some of Lumet's work was uneven -- adaptations of bestsellers The Group (1966) and The Anderson Tapes (1971) as well as Chekhov's The Sea Gull (1968) are admirable but not entirely successful -- but scored again throughout the 1970s. The crime drama Serpico (1973) helped cement Al Pacino's star status after The Godfather -- and earned the actor his first Best Actor Oscar nomination, and the actor and director paired again in 1975's Dog Day Afternoon, the story of a bank heist gone crazily awry; the film, now considered a modern classic, earned Lumet and Pacino Oscar nominations and some of the best reviews of their careers. In between those films, set in New York, Lumet took a literal and figurative jaunt with the successful adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (1974), an upper-class murder mystery set on a luxury European train that seemed as far from the seamy streets of Manhattan as possible.
In 1976, Lumet explored the themes of media exposure and saturation he delved into with Dog Day Afternoon even further with the scathing television satire and drama Network, starring William Holden, Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch. Lumet, along with screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky, pioneered the idea (and condemnation) of what is now commonly thought of as reality TV in his story of a network anchorman (Finch) who suffers a breakdown on live television with the rallying cry "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!", and the television executive (Dunaway) who turns him into a folk hero, TV icon, and tragic figure, ultimately goading him into committing suicide live on television. The film, still potent and more lacerating than most explorations of modern media since, won Finch and Dunaway Oscars; Finch's award was posthumous, as the actor died in early 1977. It remains one of only two films to win three Academy Awards for acting (the third for supporting actress Beatrice Straight, who appeared onscreen for less than six minutes), the other being A Streetcar Named Desire.
After that string of commercial and financial hits, Lumet's career included a wide variety of films: adaptations of Broadway hits Equus (1977, fairly successful), The Wiz (1978, a musical flop but a strangely visionary view of New York), Deathtrap (1982, unexpected fun if not a perfect film); crime drama Prince of the City (1981, one of Lumet's most unheralded fims); courtroom drama The Verdict (1982, a big hit that earned star Paul Newman and Lumet Oscar nominations); Hollywood melodrama (1986's The Morning After, starring Jane Fonda); and indie drama (Running On Empty, the 1988 drama with River Phoenix in his only Oscar-nominated performance). Lumet's last film was the 2007 drama Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, which starred indie stalwarts Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Ethan Hawke, and Amy Ryan.
Lumet was married four times, first to actress Rita Gam, second to socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, and third to Gail Jones, daughter of Lena Horne. He married Mary Gimbel, who survives him, in 1980 and had two daughters with Ms. Jones, Amy Lumet and screenwriter Jenny Lumet, who scripted the drama Rachel Getting Married. Nominated for five Oscars (four for directing, one for screenplay), Lumet was awarded an honorary Academy Award at the 2004 Oscars.
- 4/9/2011
- by Mark Englehart
- IMDb News
Calista Flockhart is close to signing a deal to star in a play on London's West End. The former Ally McBeal, who is currently dating Harrison Ford, will take the lead in a production of Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Anna Christie from early next year. Anna Christie, which will be directed Ian Rickson, is about a Swedish woman sent away by her barge-captain father as a child, only to return 20 years later. Production spokesperson Sonia Friedman says, "We are in final negotiations and we're very close to doing this deal." Before finding fame in Ally McBeal, Flockhart came from a theatre background, starring in Broadway, New York plays The Three Sisters, The Glass Menagerie and Bash.
- 11/3/2003
- WENN
Closet song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman has found the perfect way of promoting his upcoming musical The Boy From Oz - he's taking charge of Broadway's Tony Awards in New York. The X2 star will make his Broadway debut as Peter Allen in the bio-musical this autumn, but he'll get a taste of the Big White Way on June 8 when he presents the Tonys at Radio City Music Hall, New York. Those joining the host to present awards include Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, 'N Sync star Joey Fatone, Christopher Reeve and Laurence Fishburne. The 57th annual Tonys are expected to be a big night for Eugene O'Neill's epic play Long Day's Journey Into Night, musical Hairspray, and stage spectacular Movin' Out.
- 5/21/2003
- WENN
Actor Willem Dafoe is enjoying being back in the theatre, especially with the group directed by his partner of 20 years, Elizabeth LeCompte. Oscar-nominated Dafoe is in Melbourne, Australia, with New York's The Wooster Group to deliver Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape. And Dafoe, who plays a rage-fuelled ship's stoker, is taking pleasure from being away from the filmsets of Hollywood. He says, "Film is fragmented and gets into lots of other people's hands. There are a lot of pleasures that theatre gives me. You get to perform uninterrupted." And for Dafoe, the biggest buzz in the expressionistic, language and music-driven play is the pace that has been set for him. He explains, "The rhythms I have to have are very fast. Elizabeth has pushed me into a fast rhythm - it's not what I usually feel comfortable doing."...
- 10/17/2001
- WENN
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