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Born in New York City on May 18, 1924, Priscilla Pointer made her screen acting debut in 1954 and, over the course of a career that lasted 60 years, went on to rack up more than 90 other credits. Sadly, trades like The Hollywood Reporter have broken the news today that Pointer passed away in an assisted living facility in Ridgefield, Connecticut on April 28, 2025 at the age of 100, just twenty days shy of her 101st birthday.

Pointer’s first acting credit came on the 1954 TV show The New Adventures of China Smith. For years, she turned her focus to the stage, working with her first husband, Jules Irving, at the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop and the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center. Then, she returned to the screen with an episode of N.Y.P.D. in 1969. From there, she would appear in such films and TV shows as The High Chaparral, Death Takes a Holiday, McCloud, Adam 12,...

Gone, but not forgotten.

Linda Lavin died Dec. 29, 2024, due to complications from lung cancer. At the time of her death, the beloved 87-year-old actress had filmed seven of 10 episodes of Mid-Century Modern, Hulu's new comedy starring Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and Nathan Lee Graham as gay best friends who decide to live together in Palm Springs.

Lavin's role of Sybil Schneiderman, the mother of Bunny (Lane), has been receiving Emmy buzz following the sitcom's premiere on March 28. She currently ranks among the top 10 for Best Comedy Supporting Actress, according to the Gold Derby odds. To date, only 11 actresses have received posthumous Emmy nominations, so Lavin would be in rare company, indeed.

Here's a clip of one of Lavin's final scenes from Mid-Century Modern. Sybil's spicy side is in full display as she yells at a stranger on the phone who's trying to con her, with Lavin delivering perfect comedic timing.

It’s Sunday in New Orleans, and James L. Brooks has manners on the mind. The 84-year-old, who has maxed out his multihyphenate talents over the course of a legendary career that’s still firing on all cylinders six decades later, is in the Big Easy for reshoots on Ella McCay, the 20th Century Studios comedy that marks his return to the director’s chair after 15 years, and he’s thinking about how people respond to him in public.

“The thing about New Orleans is that when you make eye contact with somebody, that person is going to smile at you and say something pleasant,” he says with a grin of his own over Zoom. “That’s how the manners are here, and it’s amazing to be around. I’m going to try and make that happen in Los Angeles when I go home. I’ll let you know how the experiment works out.

James L. Brooks is heading to Las Vegas.

The veteran creative, who has maxed out his multihyphenate talents during a career that spans six decades, will be adding another honor to his long list of accolades when CinemaCon presents him with a Cinema Vérité trophy for his big-screen accomplishments.

The special honor will be presented during the Walt Disney Studios presentation inside the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on April 3. It comes ahead of the release of his newest film, Ella McCay, set for release from 20th Century Studios on Sept. 19. Written and directed by Brooks, the comedy follows the complicated politics that arise when a young woman’s stressful career clashes with a chaotic family life.

It stars Emma Mackey in the title role opposite a cast that includes Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Spike Fearn, Ayo Edebiri, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Jack Lowden, Becky Ann Baker, Joey Brooks with Albert Brooks and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Harvey Laidman, a veteran television director who helmed episodes of such shows like The Waltons, Matlock and Magnum P.I., died Jan. 3 at the age of 82.

Per previous reporting by The Hollywood Reporter, his son, Dan Laidman, said his father died of cancer in a hospice facility in Simi Valley, Calif.

Laidman, who worked as a TV director across three decades, was born in 1942 in Cleveland to a librarian mother and an electrical contractor father. In his youth, he spent three formative summers working with the legendary Kenley Players theater company in Warren, Ohio, which hosted numerous productions with big-name Broadway, film and TV stars.

Laidman studied electrical engineering at Kent State University before transferring to USC, where he earned a degree in cinema in 1964. Thereafter, he worked at Kttv and Lorimar Productions and graduated from the Directors Guild of America Producer Training program. In 1975, he got his first directing assignment on The Waltons.

Harvey Laidman, a veteran TV director who helmed multiple episodes of such series as The Waltons, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, the original Matlock and 7th Heaven, has died. He was 82.

Laidman died of cancer on Jan. 3 in a hospice facility in Simi Valley, his son, Dan Laidman, told The Hollywood Reporter.

During his three-decade-plus career, he also directed installments of The Blue Knight, Family, Hawaii Five-o, Hunter, Kojak, Eight Is Enough, The Incredible Hulk, Lou Grant, Knots Landing, Falcon Crest, Airwolf, Knight Rider, Magnum, P.I., Jake and the Fatman, Silk Stalkings and Jag.

Laidman served as assistant director and unit production manager on the second and third seasons of CBS’ The Waltons from 1973-75, then advanced to the director’s chair to call the shots on 11 episodes of the beloved period drama from 1975-81.

He also helmed 10 episodes of CBS’ Scarecrow and Mrs. King from 1985-87; 33 episodes of NBC...

The spinoff concept is as old as television itself, but its origins were humble.

Spinoffs began as creative experiments, allowing networks to capitalize on popular characters and extend the success of a hit show.

The idea was simple: take a beloved character, place them in a new setting, and hope the magic of the original show followed.

(Ollie Upton/HBO)

One of the first examples of this was The Andy Griffith Show (1960), a spinoff of The Danny Thomas Show.

Audiences quickly fell in love with Sheriff Andy Taylor’s small-town wisdom and charm, and the show became a hit in its own right.

Its success even spawned its own spinoffs, like Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., which followed the lovable but bumbling Gomer as he joined the Marines.

These early spinoffs were often straightforward, focusing on quirky characters and simple premises.

(CBS/Screenshot)

In the same era, The Beverly Hillbillies...

Warning! This post contains spoilers for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

This post contains mentions of abuse and murder.

Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story briefly refers to Dominique Dunne's real-life trial, making it hard not to wonder what happened to her. Serving as a followup to Ryan Murphy's hit show Dahmer Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story centers on Jos and Kitty Menendez's murders, who were killed by their own sons, Lyle and Erik. Like the first season of the Netflix true-crime show, Monsters, too, attempts to present a neutral perspective on the central real-life crime instead of solely framing the titular brothers as "monsters."

Given how Netflix's Monsters has received mixed reviews like its predecessor, not everyone seems to be on board with the show's approach towards true crime. However, it is still interesting...

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is shining the spotlight on a completely separate murder – one that happened a decade before the brothers’ trial.

Episode 7 of the series – titled “Showtime” – features a long dinner party scene where Nathan Lane’s character Dominick Dunne breaks down the Menendez case as he sees it through the context of having sat through his own daughter’s murder trial. It’s also a trial that earned significant media attention a decade earlier.

Dunne’s daughter Dominique was a 22-year-old rising actor fresh off a lead role in 1982’s “Poltergeist.” She was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend John Sweeney after their breakup on Oct. 30, 1982. Sweeney confessed to the murder – and an attempt to kill himself after – when the police arrived on the scene.

Here’s what we know about Dominique, the night she was killed, and where Sweeney and the rest of her family is today.

Ambition has almost always been a thorny issue for television’s fictional females. When Mary Richards applied for a secretarial job at a local television station in Minneapolis on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in the 1970s, she ended up as an associate producer by the end of the interview. News director Lou Grant gave her the elevated title so he could pay her less, implicitly signaling that there was a price for women moving up the career ladder. It was an ingenious way for the writers on the show to set Mary on a career path without making her appear overly ambitious and thus, less feminine. Mary didn’t negotiate and was grateful for the unexpected promotion.

Approximately 50 years later, stand-up comic Deborah Vance, played by the inimitable Jean Smart, on “Hacks” finds herself navigating a similar conundrum when she discovers that her dream job, a spot as a...

Frank Griffin, who nosed out another makeup artist to work with Steve Martin on Roxanne, just one of the 20 movies they did together, has died. He was 95.

Griffin died Wednesday of cancer at his home in Studio City, his daughter Roxane Griffin, a veteran Hollywood hairstylist (Avatar, Transparent, 80 for Brady), told The Hollywood Reporter.

Frank Griffin started out in Hollywood as an actor and studio laborer before turning to makeup in the mid-1960s, and he went on to work on Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Scarecrow (1973), Westworld (1973), Cinderella Liberty (1973), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Urban Cowboy (1980), Midnight Run (1988), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Vacation (1983), Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985).

Survivors also include his sister Debra Paget, who starred in such films as Broken Arrow (1950), Love Me Tender (1956) — Elvis Presley’s first movie — and The Ten Commandments (1956).

His other two sisters were actresses as well: Lisa Gaye,...

Betty A. Bridges, an actress and the mother of Diff’rent Strokes star Todd Bridges who appeared on her son’s sitcom, Hill Street Blues, Ally McBeal and many other shows, has died. She was 83.

Bridges died Wednesday in hospice care at Todd’s home in Phoenix, publicist Elizabeth Much announced.

During her four-decade career, Betty Alice Bridges appeared on everything from Police Woman, Good Times, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Charlie’s Angels, Wonder Woman and Quincy, M.E. to Flamingo Road, Lou Grant, Dallas, NYPD Blue, ER and Scrubs.

The Dallas native also was seen in such films as A Night at the Roxbury (1998) and Building Bridges (2000), a 45-minute documentary about Todd, who as a child actor in Hollywood dealt with his share of trouble.

Bridges was a manager and acting coach, too; she co-founded Kane Bridge Academy, and among her students were Nia Long, sisters Reina and Regina King, Sanaa Lathan,...

Betty A. Bridges, who guested on dozen of popular TV series during a 40-year career ranging from Good Times and Charlie’s Angels to Lou Grant and Hill Street Blues to ER and 2 Broke Girls and later was a prominent acting coach, died August 27. She was 83.

She died at the Phoenix home of her son, Diff’rent Strokes and reality TV star Todd Bridges, where she had been in hospice care. Rep Elizabeth Much confirmed her death to Deadline, but no cause was given.

Born on August 1, 1941, Betty Bridges got her screen start guesting on such 1970s TV shows as Police Woman, Charlie’s Angels and Norman Lear’s Good Times and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. She continued to work consistently for much of the next four decades, mostly in TV. She made guest appearances in popular series including Wonder Woman; What’s Happening!!; Quincy, M.E.; CHiPs; Lou Grant; Diff’rent Strokes...

Patt Shea, the Norman Lear regular who co-wrote the 1979 series finale of All in the Family and co-created and worked on two spinoffs of the fabled sitcom, Archie Bunker’s Place and Gloria, has died. She was 93.

Shea died April 12 of natural causes on her birthday at her home in Sherman Oaks, her son Michael Shea, a director and assistant director, told The Hollywood Reporter. The family chose to wait until this week to publicly announce her death.

“Patt Shea was a trailblazer in comedy writing,” Michael noted. “Her success as a writer in groundbreaking sitcoms was only matched by her generosity and compassion for people.”

Jack Shea, her husband of 59 years, died in 2013. He directed dozens of episodes of such Lear-connected sitcoms as The Jeffersons, Silver Spoons and Sanford and Son and served as president of the DGA from 1997-2002, part of a half-century of dedicated service to the guild.

Peter Marshall, Emmy-award winning game show host of “Hollywood Squares,” died of kidney failure Thursday in Encino. He was 98.

His wife Laurie said in a statement that he died at home.

Emmy-nominated 19 times, with five wins, he hosted more than 5,000 episodes of the original version of game show “The Hollywood Squares” and appeared in dozens of movies, stage musicals and TV shows.

Marshall was born Ralph Pierre Lacock in Huntington, W.V. He started his career as an NBC Radio page and usher at Paramount Theater. He served in the Army, working as a d.j. for Armed Forces Radio.

Marshall developed a comedy act with Tommy Noonan, touring the country and appearing on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” As a contract player at 20th Century Fox, he appeared in films including “Ensign Pulver,” “The Rookie” and “Annie.”

He was hired to host NBC’s long-running “The Hollywood Squares” starting in 1966, featuring regulars like Paul Lynde,...

In 2024, Donald Glover earned his fifth acting Emmy nomination for his dramatic star turn on “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” Since most of his earlier bids came for his work on the comedy series “Atlanta,” he was welcomed into a group of 17 other actors with lead or supporting bids for both program genres. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out who preceded him in joining this club.

To date, the only actors who have won Emmys as both comedy and drama series regulars are Ed Asner (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”; “Lou Grant”), Carroll O’Connor (“All in the Family”; “In the Heat of the Night”), Alan Alda (“M*A*S*H”; “The West Wing”), and John Lithgow (“3rd Rock from the Sun”; “The Crown”). Another five men on this roster only won for their dramatic roles, while three more only succeeded on their comedy bids.

Every actor included in this gallery was nominated...

In 2024, Donald Glover earned his fifth acting Emmy nomination for his dramatic star turn on “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” Since most of his earlier bids came for his work on the comedy series “Atlanta,” he was welcomed into a group of 17 other actors with lead or supporting bids for both program genres. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out who preceded him in joining this club.

To date, the only actors who have won Emmys as both comedy and drama series regulars are Ed Asner (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show”; “Lou Grant”), Carroll O’Connor (“All in the Family”; “In the Heat of the Night”), Alan Alda (“M*A*S*H”; “The West Wing”), and John Lithgow (“3rd Rock from the Sun”; “The Crown”). Another five men on this roster only won for their dramatic roles, while three more only succeeded on their comedy bids.

Every actor included in this gallery was nominated...

If the 1950s and '60s were the golden age of the television sitcom, the 1970s were its in-the-pocket prime. And when risk-averse TV execs saw the astronomical ratings of hit sitcoms like "All in the Family," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and "M*A*S*H," they exploited this ratings-rich phenomenon by diving into the same-but-different world of spinoffs.

Norman Lear's "All in the Family" was the '70s spinoff king with seven total offshoots, but James L. Brooks and Allan Burns' "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" proved plenty durable by spawning "Rhoda," "Phyllis," and "Lou Grant." Of these, "Rhoda" was by far the biggest hit. Valerie Harper's four seasons as Mary Richards' lovably vivacious neighbor more than confirmed she could carry a series of her own. So, Brooks and Allan sent Rhoda back to her hometown of New York City, where she immediately found love (her...

Betty Anne Rees, who portrayed tough women who weren’t very nice in The Unholy Rollers and Sugar Hill, two 1970s offerings from the B-movie factory American International Pictures, has died. She was 81.

Rees died Monday at her home in Hemet, California, after a series of falls and a possible stroke, her niece, Kathleen Loucks, told The Hollywood Reporter. She also was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 1990s.

The Ohio native played Janet Ingram, the secretary for Fred MacMurray’s Steve Douglas, on the last of My Three Sons’ 12 seasons in 1971-72. (Abby Dalton was Janet on an episode three years earlier.)

In The Unholy Rollers (1972), directed by Vernon Zimmerman, Rees portrayed Mickey Martinez, a star of the Los Angeles Avengers roller derby team who does not get along with popular new player Karen Walker (1970 Playboy Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings).

The film, executive produced by Roger Corman...

Veteran character actor Tom Bower, best known for his roles in The Waltons and Die Hard 2, has died. He was 86. His passing was confirmed by his sister-in-law, Mary Miller, who told The Hollywood Reporter he died on Sunday, May 30, in his sleep at his home in Los Angeles, California. Born on January 3, 1938, in Denver, Colorado, Bower’s on-screen career began in the 1970s when he appeared in several classic television series. His early credits included The Rockford Files, The Bionic Woman, Lou Grant, Barnaby Jones, and, most notably, The Waltons, where he first played stunt pilot Rex Barker and then, more prominently, Dr. Curtis Willard, who married Mary Ellen (Judy Norton). Bower was later written out of The Waltons when it was revealed his character was killed off-screen during World War II. However, the character returned in an 1981 episode, only he was played by a different actor, Scott Hylands.

Tom Bower, the veteran character actor best known for prominent turns on The Waltons and in Die Hard 2, has died. A family member confirmed the news to Deadline’s sister publication The Hollywood Reporter. He was 86.

Bower never had what one might call a “breakout” part, but he was an actor one recognized from, well, everywhere. His more than 180 screen credits include appearances on The Rockford Files, Lou Grant, Quincy M.E., Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, The X-Files, Law & Order and many other TV staples of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s.

And he kept on working. In the past 15 years, Bower was on Ray Donovan, Bosch, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, The Office and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. He also played the father of Bob Odenkirk’s character on Lucky Hank and had a part in Vince Gilligan’s El Camino, A Breaking Bad Movie.

Detective Murtaugh sees a mysterious man pull out a weapon in the middle of a police station. He heroically jumps into action to protect, serve, and tackle. But it turns out it is just good ol’ Mel Gibson, who overpowers and flips this 50-year-old character, played by a 40-year-old actor, Danny Glover. Humiliated and hurt, Danny Glover spits out an iconic line that has come to define his career and become a meme, “I’m too old for this shit.” Danny Glover was too old for this shit three decades ago… but he has kept on grinding, making motion pictures ever since. But maybe Danny Glover is too old for this shit… if that “shit” is good movies. Oh, I kid! I kid!

Glover may not have any Oscars, but he did get a late start in his movie career, having broken out in his 40s. So, what has Danny Glover,...

Following his 2015 Emmy win for the final season of “Mad Men,” Jon Hamm took a large step back from TV stardom in order to beef up his film resume with titles such as “Baby Driver,” “Richard Jewell,” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” Now that he has made a splashy return to the small screen by playing new roles on “Fargo” and “The Morning Show” and reprising one on “Good Omens,” his Emmy nominations total could instantly rise from 16 to 19. If all of his possible 2024 bids come to fruition, he will be only the fourth person and second man to ever compete for three acting Emmys at once.

Hamm’s string of recent TV acting gigs began last July when he returned for season two Prime Video’s “Good Omens” as supporting character Gabriel – a humanoid version of the biblical archangel. He then fulfilled the new role of ambitious tech billionaire Paul Marks...

Barbara O. Jones, the admired actress who emerged from the L.A. Rebellion movement of Black filmmakers at UCLA in the 1970s to star in Haile Gerima’s Bush Mama and Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust, has died. She was 82.

Jones died Tuesday at her home in Dayton, Ohio, her brother, Raymond Minor, told The Hollywood Reporter.

“Rest In Peace & Power,” Dash wrote on Instagram.

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A post shared by Julie Dash (@dash_julie)

For Gerima, Jones portrayed an imprisoned woman fighting for social justice in the 36-minute short film Child of Resistance (1973) — the character was inspired by activist Angela Davis — and a welfare recipient in Watts who undergoes an ideological transformation in the filmmaker’s feature debut, Bush Mama (1979). Both films were made at UCLA.

Jones starred as a Ugandan nun questioning her faith in Dash’s 13-minute student film Diary of an...

In a very unsettled drama Emmy field, one of the few ostensible locks this year is Elizabeth Debicki. With 4/1 odds, she is the runaway favorite to take home the Best Drama Supporting Actress Emmy for her turn as Princess Diana on “The Crown,” which would make the Netflix series the sixth show to deliver two different winners in the category.

Twelve shows have won drama supporting actress more than once. Of those, seven shows have had one person triumph repeatedly, including “Lou Grant” for Nancy Marchand, who won a record four times, and most recently “Ozark” for three-time champ Julia Garner. The five shows that saw the wealth spread among its cast members are “St. Elsewhere”, “The West Wing”, “Hill Street Blues”, “The Practice” and “thirtysomething”. No show has had more than two cast members win the award.

Interestingly, Marchand (1980-82; her first win was in ’78), Roberts (1983), Woodard (1984), Thomas (1985), Bartlett...

Seven years ago, Donald Glover won his first two Emmys, Best Comedy Actor and Best Comedy Directing for “Atlanta.” While he missed out on nominations last year for the final season of his FX series — he did receive a writing bid for “Swarm” — Glover is back in the hunt this cycle with “Mr. & Mrs. Smith.” Inspired by the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie film of the same name, the spy series is competing in drama, which means Glover could become just the second man and third person to win lead Emmys in comedy and drama.

Carroll O’Connor is thus far the only male performer to have achieved this, having pocketed a record-setting four Best Comedy Actor Emmys for “All in the Family” in 1972 and three in a row from 1977-79 before adding a Best Drama Actor statuette for “In the Heat of the Night” in 1989. The only other member...

Since it’s about to wrap up its Netflix run after six seasons, “The Crown” has no chance of matching the record for most Best Drama Series Golden Globe nominations, which has been held since 2001 by seven-time contender “ER.” However, its appearances in five previous lineups give it the opportunity to make history in a different way, as its probable upcoming sixth program notice would make it the first concluded drama series to earn Golden Globes recognition for every one of its multiple seasons. This monumental achievement, which would occur five decades into the existence of this major category, truly shouldn’t be difficult for the ever-popular show to pull off, especially since it’s already a two-time Best Drama Series winner.

The yet-unseen sixth and final season of “The Crown” is currently ranked third on Gold Derby’s Best Drama Series Golden Globe predictions list, with the early odds heavily favoring HBO’s “Succession,...

Sitcoms are among some of the most beloved TV shows ever made. Unlike respected premium drama series like "The Wire," "Breaking Bad," or "True Detective," which regularly top lists of the greatest TV shows ever made, shows like "Friends," "Seinfeld," "Cheers," and "The Office" are beloved in a way that feels a lot more personal. Sitcoms are feel-good experiences, even when they're shows about nothing, and are the exact opposite of David Fincher's intense thrillers.

Which is why I can't shake the feeling that the auteur is making fun of himself with his latest effort. As /Film's Chris Evangelista wrote in his review of "The Killer," "I'm not saying Fincher is on the same level as a cold-blooded killer, but he clearly sees a lot of himself (and his approach to his work) in his latest protagonist." But if the director was trying to draw this parallel between the...

Seven top film producers will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2024 awards contenders. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Tuesday, November 28, at 6:00 p.m. Pt; 9:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Daniel Montgomery and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.

RSVP today to our entire ongoing contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (Lionsgate)

Synopsis: When her family moves from the city to the suburbs, 11-year-old Margaret navigates new friends, feelings, and the beginning of adolescence.

Bio: James L. Brooks was a three-time Oscar winner for “Terms of Endearment” and was also nominated for “Broadcast News,...

Shirley Jo Finney, a theater director and the star of Wilma (1977), has died. She was 74.

The Fountain Theatre announced Finney’s death on social media writing in an Instagram post, “With broken hearts, we share the sad news that director Shirley Jo Finney, a beloved member of our Fountain Family, passed away yesterday after a long illness.”

Some of the productions that Finney directed included Citizen: An American Lyric, Heart Song, In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size, The Ballad of Emmett Till, Yellowman, Central Avenue and From the Mississippi Delta.

Finney had been battling with cancer for eight months, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.

Finney starred in the television film Wilma, a biopic about track star Wilma Rudolph and the obstacles she faced to win three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics. In the television movie, Finney starred opposite Cicely Tyson, Jason Bernard, Denzel Washington and more.

Since 1991 (and primarily within the last 10 years), a total of six TV performers have earned recognition from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for reprising roles that had brought them Golden Globe nominations at least a decade earlier. With this and his own stellar HFPA track record in mind, Kelsey Grammer – the two-time Best TV Comedy Actor-winning star of “Frasier” – can more than reasonably be expected to join said prestigious club by scoring his ninth bid in the category (and first in 22 years) for the Paramount Plus revival of his beloved NBC sitcom. What’s more, he might actually make history as the first actor involved in such a situation to pull off a comeback victory.

Grammer collected his first eight Golden Globe nominations for “Frasier” between 1994 and 2002 and emerged triumphant in both 1996 and 2001. After saying goodbye to Dr. Frasier Crane 19 years ago, he is now set to lead a long-awaited...

After both making good on their recent efforts to become first-time lead acting Emmy contenders, formerly supporting “Succession” cast mates Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook are naturally expected to be similarly bumped up on the next Golden Globes ballot. If they do achieve their first Best TV Drama Actor and Best TV Drama Actress notices this winter, the on-screen siblings will join a group of 10 other Golden Globe nominees who succeeded in rebranding their initially supporting characters as lead ones. As it stands, said club has not welcomed a new member – regardless of genre or gender – in two full decades.

Culkin’s Golden Globes resume currently includes three fruitless featured bids for “Succession,” on which he was bested by Ben Whishaw, Stellan Skarsgård and O Yeong-su. Although Snook only has a 2022 supporting nomination for the HBO series to her name, she actually prevailed, even against awards magnet Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus...

Over the past 76 years, an equal number (55) of direct costar battles have occurred in each of the Primetime Emmys’ two drama supporting acting categories. The female list (which originated a full 20 years before the male one) includes 26 different drama programs, as opposed to 17 on the comedy side. Scroll through our chronological photo gallery to learn more about the Best Drama Supporting Actress category’s many cases of dual, triple, quadruple, or quintuple nominations.

Close to one-fifth of these showdowns are credited to five-time list entrants “Lou Grant” and “Hill Street Blues,” with “The West Wing” and “Grey’s Anatomy” accounting for four clashes apiece. Tied for third place with three distinct battles each are “St. Elsewhere,” “NYPD Blue,” “The Good Wife,” “Game of Thrones,” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

This gallery does not include performers who received nominations in this category for series on which they only made single-episode guest appearances. These...

Over the past 76 years, an equal number (55) of direct costar battles have occurred in each of the Primetime Emmys’ two drama supporting acting categories. The female list (which originated a full 20 years before the male one) includes 26 different drama programs, as opposed to 17 on the comedy side. Scroll through our chronological photo gallery to learn more about the Best Drama Supporting Actress category’s many cases of dual, triple, quadruple, or quintuple nominations.

Close to one-fifth of these showdowns are credited to five-time list entrants “Lou Grant” and “Hill Street Blues,” with “The West Wing” and “Grey’s Anatomy” accounting for four clashes apiece. Tied for third place with three distinct battles each are “St. Elsewhere,” “NYPD Blue,” “The Good Wife,” “Game of Thrones,” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

This gallery does not include performers who received nominations in this category for series on which they only made single-episode guest appearances. These...

In 1977, "Star Wars" created a powerful fandom. Suddenly the world was invested in a space princess who directed her own rescue, a farm boy with big dreams, and a rogue pilot who charmed his way into our hearts and bags of smuggled goods. For many people, this marked the beginning of their love of genre films, and there are very few places on the planet where the names Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia aren't recognized.

When we think about Leia Organa, the Princess/Senator/General that inspired a generation, it's almost impossible to imagine anyone but the late, great Carrie Fisher playing the role. However, that part went through auditions like any other. During a 2002 interview between Fisher and creator George Lucas on Fisher's show "Conversations from the Edge with Carrie Fisher" (via Comic Book Resources), Lucas revealed that the runner-up for her role ended up as a famous musician.

Matthew Broderick accepts that his legacy will always be tied to his role as Ferris Bueller in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and is proud of it. Despite not being an official member of the Brat Pack, Broderick's performance in the film made it a huge success and a fan favorite. Broderick has been recognized as Ferris Bueller by fans in his everyday life, showing the lasting impact of the character on pop culture.

Everything seemed to go Ferris Bueller’s fourth-wall breaking way. So, for Matthew Broderick, it’s a true case of life imitating art and vice versa. The actor rose to prominence after appearing as the protagonist in director John Badhams’ WarGames in 1983, but it was the lead role he landed in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) that movie fans will never forget. And Broderick is well aware that he’ll always be remembered as Mr. Rooney’s (Jeffrey Jones) arch-nemesis.

Ann Dowd is looking to make an Emmys comeback with perhaps her most complex take on Aunt Lydia yet in the most recent season of Hulu’s awards-favorite “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Based on Margaret Atwood‘s book of the same name, the show follows a dystopian future wherein a totalitarian society named Gilead has taken power and women are forced into child-bearing slavery. The series features Elisabeth Moss in the lead role while there are plenty of excellent supporting players including Yvonne Strahovski, Alexis Bledel, Samira Wiley, and the fearsome Dowd.

Dowd plays the brutal, iron-willed Aunt Lydia, who is one of the staunchest believers in Gilead and who will go to any means necessary to keep the women she is in charge of in place. She is violent, brutish, and terrifying to behold as she commands the screen and everyone around her. In season five, however, cracks begin to...

As soon as the third episode of the current season of “Succession” aired, viewers began speculating about whether certain previously Emmy-nominated cast members would change categories based on their characters’ new levels of prominence. The first to switch was Kieran Culkin, who is officially seeking his first lead notice for playing Roman Roy after competing twice as a featured player. If he does land in the Best Drama Actor lineup, he will be only the sixth man in Emmys history to have reaped lead and supporting bids for a single role on a single series.

Culkin has appeared as a regular on all four seasons of “Succession” and achieved TV academy recognition in both 2020 and 2022. He was respectively bested in those supporting contests by Billy Crudup (“The Morning Show”) and his own “Succession” cast mate, Matthew Macfadyen. Among his strongest challengers in this year’s lead race are his on-screen brother and father,...

Nine years after he won his fourth and final acting Emmy for playing Walter White on “Breaking Bad,” Bryan Cranston has a solid shot at triumphing in the corresponding Best Drama Guest Actor category for reprising the role on the prequel series “Better Call Saul” on AMC. In fact, he has three chances to win at least his fifth acting Emmy this year since he could also earn notices for Best Movie/Limited Actor for Paramount Plus’ “Jerry and Marge Go Large” and for Best Drama Actor for Showtime’s “Your Honor.” If all three nominations come to fruition, he will be only the fourth person and second man to ever compete for three acting Emmys at once.

Cranston’s highly anticipated “Better Call Saul” appearance consists of several flashback scenes in which he reunites with his “Breaking Bad” cast mates Bob Odenkirk and Aaron Paul. His two episodes aired...

Back in the 1980s, John Larroquette dominated Best Comedy Supporting Actor at the Emmys. He won the category four times in a row (1985-88) for playing Dan Fielding on the NBC sitcom “Night Court.” Now, 35 years after his last win for the show and this time in Best Comedy Actor, he’s seeking to join an even more exclusive club of actors who have won five Emmys for playing the same character.

If Larroquette were to claim a fifth Emmy for playing Fielding, he would join three other performers who have also won that amount. Don Knotts won five times in Best Comedy Supporting Actor for his role as Deputy Sherrif Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show” in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967 and 1968. Ed Asner won three Emmys in Best Comedy Supporting Actor for playing Lou Grant on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” and then two for Best Drama Actor for the same character on the spin-off show,...

Gordon T. Dawson, who parlayed a stint as a costumer for Sam Peckinpah into a career as a writer and producer with credits including The Ballad of Cable Hogue, The Rockford Files, Bret Maverick and Walker, Texas Ranger, has died. He was 84.

Dawson died March 6 in West Hills Hospital of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his family announced.

A former firefighter, Dawson spent three months in a Columbia Pictures basement using a blowtorch, paraffin and glue to age the principal soldier uniforms for the Peckinpah-directed Major Dundee (1965). When the extras’ costumes did not match the ones Dawson had prepared, Peckinpah shut down production on the first day of shooting.

Dawson was summoned to the set in Mexico to age the other costumes, noting in the 1993 documentary Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron that he was “terrified” to meet the intimidating director. He needn’t have worried, though; Dawson fixed the other costumes,...

If you're a 90s kid like me, you probably know Bob Hoskins from playing Smee in "Hook" and private eye Eddie Valiant in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." I even remember him showing up in a standout "Frasier" episode where he played Dr. Crane's abrasive, cigar-addicted gym teacher, Coach Fuller. But if you look beyond his best-known roles, the man was one of the most versatile actors to ever do it. In fact, he started his film career not in charming, family-friendly projects, but by playing a ruthless London gangster.

"The Long Good Friday" is a 1980 crime thriller starring Hoskins as Harold Shand — a crime boss looking to go legit. Over the course of the film, Shand becomes increasingly violent and Hoskins portrays the gangster's struggles with his aggressive impulses with unsettling ease. But as we all now know, the actor was more than capable of playing much more diverse roles,...

Nearly five decades after achieving two consecutive Best TV Comedy Actor Golden Globe victories for “Happy Days,” Henry Winkler could now become the first man to ever be honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for both lead and supporting performances on comedy programs. The septuagenarian “Barry” cast member did not succeed on his first two Golden Globe bids for the HBO show, but his luck may change now that he is competing in a brand new category.

Ahead of the 80th Golden Globes, the HFPA established the Best TV Comedy/Drama Supporting Actor and Best TV Movie/Limited Series Supporting Actor categories as replacements for a catch-all one that had existed since 1971. Whereas Winkler was beaten in 2019 and 2020 by limited series actors Ben Whishaw (“A Very English Scandal”) and Stellan Skarsgård (“Chernobyl”), he now does not have to concern himself with losing to performers from non-continuing programs. His potential...

It’s hard to imagine Barbara Walters as anything other than a marquee-name, intrepid and pioneering journalist. But she didn’t get there overnight. A look back at the early career of the broadcast journalist, who died Dec. 30 at age 93, as documented in the pages of Variety shows the clear trajectory of a well-connected, industrious young woman who was destined to reach the summit of New York media and literati circles.

Variety’s coverage of Walters’ climb starting in the early 1950s also neatly tracks the rise of network TV news as a cultural force, and the subsequent evolution of TV news personalities into celebrities.

Walters’ status as the daughter of Broadway producer, booking agent and nightclub owner Lou Walters surely afforded her an early entrée into attention from Variety. Her first few references always included a reference to her father’s showbiz pedigree. But it wasn’t long before...

This isn’t about favorites. Favorites are flimsy and can be overdone, like a song or a sandwich filling you tire of after choosing it one too many times. This is about rightness. Of all the Doctors in the Tardis, of all the Bonds in the Aston Martin, of all the Batmen in the Batsuit, there’s one that feels more right to you than the rest. They’re in technicolor while everybody else is in black and white (speaking figuratively if it’s William Hartnell).

Maybe they’re the one you first fell for as a kid, or maybe they’re the newest hire who made everything finally click into place. The point is that they’re yours, an actor in a role that is unchangingly, enduringly right.

You know your Bond, you may well know your Doctor and own the accompanying action figure/reproduction Sonic screwdriver. But who’s your on-screen Santa?...

"Cobra Kai" is such a phenomenon that when its initial streaming service, YouTube Red, crashed and burned, Netflix swooped in with the renewal. What started as a show subverting the "Karate Kid" franchise by picking up the story from the point of view of middle-aged former villain Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), transformed over five seasons into a sprawling mini-epic involving Lawrence, former archrival Daniel Larusso (Ralph Macchio), their families, a whole new generation of karate students, and the return of several old enemies and allies who cannot let the past go.

Once you've binged it multiple times, what next? Where else can you get the thrill of '80s heroes dealing with toxic masculinity and youthful characters supplanting them, bad guys realizing they're actually good, and lots of telenovela-level twists? Glad you asked. For some, or even all, of those TV show qualities elsewhere on your control panel, check out...

Over four decades after collecting back-to-back Best TV Comedy Actor Golden Globes for playing The Fonz on “Happy Days,” Henry Winkler could make history as the first man to ever be honored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for both lead and supporting performances on comedy series. According to Gold Derby’s predictions, the “Barry” cast member is the odds-on favorite in the newly established Best TV Comedy/Drama Supporting Actor category. Though he lost on his first two Golden Globe nominations for the HBO show, he may be set for success this time thanks to some rule changes.

Heading into the 80th Golden Globes, the HFPA has established the Best TV Comedy/Drama Supporting Actor and Best TV Movie/Limited Supporting Actor categories as replacements for the catch-all Best TV Supporting Actor one. Whereas Winkler’s “Barry” performance as acting teacher Gene Cousineau was beaten in 2019 and 2020 by those...

Actor Austin Stoker, best known for playing Lt. Ethan Bishop in director John Carpenter‘s 1976 classic Assault on Precinct 13, was born on October 7, 1930 in Trinidad… and sadly, it has been confirmed that he passed away on October 7th of this year. His 92nd birthday. Stoker’s wife Robin told The Hollywood Reporter that he died of renal failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She said, “His transition was beautiful.”

Born Alphonso Marshall, Stoker was in a dance troupe with fellow Trinidadian actor Geoffrey Holder (you may remember him as Baron Samedi in the James Bond movie Live and Let Die), and the pair moved to New York together to pursue careers in the entertainment industry. The Hollywood Reporter says, “In 1954, he played the steel drums on Broadway in Truman Capote and Harold Arlen’s House of Flowers, starring Pearl Bailey, Alvin Ailey and Diahann Carroll, then toured in...

Austin Stoker, the Trinidadian-American actor from Assault on Precinct 13 and Roots, has died. His wife Robin Stoker confirmed the actor’s death happened on Friday, October 7, his 92nd birthday.

Stoker reportedly died peacefully and surrounded by his loved ones due to renal failure. The actor is survived by his wife of over 40 years, his daughter Tiffany, his son Origen and his two grandsons Marcus and little Austin.

Born and raised in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Stoker began acting at the age of 11. When he was 16, he joined The Whitehall Players and four years later he would travel to NYC when he joined the dance troupe Holder Dance Company.

Related: Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery

Stoker would later be drafted by the U.S. Army and following his service was honorably discharged. He would continue preparing himself as an actor and one of his first television credits was in the series Mod Squad...

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Austin Stoker, the actor from Trinidad who starred as the heroic cop battling a band of marauding gang members inside a decommissioned police station in the John Carpenter thriller Assault on Precinct 13, has died. He was 92.

Stoker died Friday of renal failure on his birthday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, Robin, told The Hollywood Reporter. “His transition was beautiful,” she said.

Stoker also portrayed Macdonald, the human assistant of Roddy McDowall’s Caesar, in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), the fifth and final chapter in the original movie series, and he was Brick Williams, the love interest of Pam Grier’s private investigator, in Sheba, Baby (1975).

On the landmark 1977 ABC miniseries Roots, he played Virgil Harvey, father of Olivia Cole‘s Mathilda.

In the cult classic Assault on Precinct 13 (1976), Stoker starred as Lt. Ethan Bishop, who goes...