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Hollywood will get to hear Elizabeth Taylor’s voice once more in the newly-released HBO documentary, Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes. Nanette Burstein helms the project that relies on 40 hours of lost interviews of the actress throughout 1984. One of the most devastating topics covered in the documentary is the death of her third husband Mike Todd.

Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra | 20th Century Fox

The death of the producer came at a time when Taylor was acting in the 1958 film, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The production of the film was already going through several troubles and Taylor’s husband’s death halted it for a month. She was allegedly forced to return to the film by MGM, the studio behind the film.

Elizabeth Taylor Was Forced To Film One Of Her Most Prominent Films Amidst A Personal Tragedy Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | MGM

Elizabeth Taylor was married eight times,...

The Emmy Awards grew up on March 7, 1955. For the first time, the ceremony was broadcast nationally on NBC. Steve Allen, the star of “The Tonight Show,” was the host of the 7th annual awards honoring the best of 1954 programming which was telecast from the Moulin Rouge nightclub on Sunset Boulevard.

One of the seminal live dramas of the 1950’s, Reginald Rose’s searing “12 Angry Men,” which aired on CBS “Studio One,” earned the most Emmys that evening winning with three. The taut drama about a jury of a dozen men decided the fate of a young man accused of murder starred Robert Cummings, Franchot Tone, Edward Arnold and Walter Abel. For years, only an incomplete kinescope of the show, which was adapted into the Oscar-nominated 1957 film, existed.

Finally, a complete copy of the show was discovered in 2003. Rose told me in a 1997 L.A. Times interview that he came up...

Less than four weeks before Eva Marie Saint (“On the Waterfront”) bested Claire Trevor (“The High and the Mighty”) in the 1955 Best Supporting Actress Oscar race, the pair were jointly defeated by Judith Anderson (“Macbeth”) in the Emmy category of Best Single Performance by an Actress. This made them the first of 63 women to compete for the top film and TV performance honors in a single year. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out who has followed in their footsteps.

Seventeen members of this group prevailed at the Oscars but lost at the Emmys while another 18 did the opposite. The only actress who has ever won both awards in a 12-month span is Holly Hunter (1993-1994 – Emmy: “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom”; Oscar: “The Piano”). An even dozen women – from Lee Grant (1971; 1976-1977) to Olivia Colman (2019; 2020-2022) – each achieved such dual nominations on more than one occasion.

Less than four weeks before Eva Marie Saint (“On the Waterfront”) bested Claire Trevor (“The High and the Mighty”) in the 1955 Best Supporting Actress Oscar race, the pair were jointly defeated by Judith Anderson (“Macbeth”) in the Emmy category of Best Single Performance by an Actress. This made them the first of 63 women to compete for the top film and TV performance honors in a single year. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out who has followed in their footsteps.

Seventeen members of this group prevailed at the Oscars but lost at the Emmys while another 18 did the opposite. The only actress who has ever won both awards in a 12-month span is Holly Hunter (1993-1994 – Emmy: “The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom”; Oscar: “The Piano”). An even dozen women – from Lee Grant (1971; 1976-1977) to Olivia Colman (2019; 2020-2022) – each achieved such dual nominations on more than one occasion.

Hitchcock's villains terrify through their ability to blend into society while ruthlessly pursuing their sinister goals. They exude unsettling menace through sheer competence and manipulation. The performances of actors like James Mason, Judith Anderson, and Barry Foster bring depth and nuance to these villainous characters, highlighting their cold-blooded duplicity. Hitchcock's villains are not overtly monstrous, but rather expose the evil lurking within humanity itself, making them some of cinema's most enduring and haunting antagonists.

Alfred Hitchcock is celebrated for creating some of cinema’s most powerful horror films, featuring unforgettable and chilling villain performances. As the master of suspense, Hitchcock built tension through an uncanny ability to craft a creeping sense of unease and impending doom simmering below the surface of everyday life. Though not frightening in a conventional sense, Hitchcock's villains exude a more unsettling menace through their sheer competence and relentless pursuit of their sinister goals. Unlike masked slasher villains,...

Yes, it’s getting darker a bit earlier and the temps are finally (whew) easing up and cooling off. So many folks are thinking of Fall, and aside from sweaters and pumpkin spice everything, Halloween is on their minds (and in the aisles of several retail chains). And we’re ready for some good scary flicks, and not family-friendly fare like the failed reboot of Haunted Mansion. Now we’ve already hit the high seas with Dracula, maybe we could get a modern twist on the classic monster folklore. Is the setting for this flick another rotting ship or a decaying estate or castle? Nope, it’s a locale even more frightening, high school (Carrie White and Buffy Summers would heartily agree). And the villain? For this gory lil’ indie, it’s not clear exactly who or what is the actual Perpetrator.

Could it be nearly eighteen-year-old Jonny (Kiah McKirnan)? After all,...

“The Ten Commandments” is the 1956 epic religious drama feature produced, directed and narrated by Cecil B. DeMille, based on the 1949 novel “Prince of Egypt” by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, the 1859 novel “Pillar of Fire” by J. H. Ingraham, the 1937 novel “On Eagle's Wings” by A. E. Southon and the “Book of Exodus”, found in the ‘Bible’, starring Charlton Heston (“Planet of the Apes”):

“…the ‘Ten Commandments’ dramatizes the biblical story of the life of ‘Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince who becomes the deliverer of the enslaved ‘Hebrews’ and leads the ‘Exodus’ to ‘Mount Sinai’, where he receives the ‘Ten Commandments’…”

Cast also includes Yul Brynner (“Westworld”) as ‘Rameses’, Anne Baxter as ‘Nefretiri’, Edward G. Robinson as ‘Dathan’…

…Yvonne De Carlo (“The Munsters”) as ‘Sephora’, Debra Paget as ‘Lilia’, John Derek as ‘Joshua, Sir Cedric Hardwicke as ‘Seti I, Nina Foch as ‘Bithiah’, Martha Scott as ‘Yochabel’, Judith Anderson as ‘Memnet...

Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.

The Movie: "Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror"

Where You Can Stream It: Shudder and AMC+

The Pitch: Shudder's four-episode docuseries tells the story of queer horror in cinema. It's not just a history lesson, though — it's also wildly entertaining, spicing up its talking-head style cultural commentary with deep-cut archival footage, illustrated readings of historical documents, and a fabulously catchy soundtrack from frequent RuPaul collaborator ShyBoy. It's also the only documentary out there inspired enough to cultivate a wide-ranging conversation that includes "Hannibal" creator Bryan Fuller (who executive produced), gay icon Jennifer Tilly, famed monster actor Doug Jones, author Carmen Maria Machado, roughly a third of the cast of "Yellowjackets," a blood-soaked Alaska Thunderf*** 5000, and /Film's own B.J. Colangelo,...

The Bat

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1959 / 1.85: 1 / 80 Min.

Starring Agnes Moorehead, Vincent Price

Written by Crane Wilbur

Directed by Crane Wilbur

Crane Wilbur’s The Bat is a murder mystery starring Agnes Moorehead and Vincent Price—but the real mystery is how Hollywood managed to pair these diabolically funny entertainers in only one film. They shared little to no screen time in 1951’s The Adventures of Captain Fabian and 1957’s The Story of Mankind, but in Wilbur’s mild-mannered horror show, Moorehead and Price are toe to toe—and generate enough chemistry for a dozen lovably corny crime thrillers just like The Bat.

Despite Price’s presence it’s Moorehead’s show; she plays Cornelia Van Gorder, a prolific mystery writer in the mode of Mary Roberts Rinehart—who, not coincidentally, wrote The Circular Staircase, the source material for the The Bat. As the no-nonsense Van Gorder, Moorehead’s steely...

Click here to read the full article.

Eileen Ryan, an actress who appeared on Broadway and in films and TV shows in collaborations with her late husband, actor-director Leo Penn, and her two-time Oscar-winning son, Sean Penn, died Sunday at her home in Malibu, a publicist announced. She was 94.

Survivors also include another son, composer-songwriter Michael Penn. Her youngest boy, actor Chris Penn, died in 2006.

Ryan gave up her acting career — once turning down the lead in a John Frankenheimer-directed film — to become a full-time mother. However, she returned to take small parts in such projects as At Close Range (1986), where she played the grandmother of characters portrayed by Sean and Christopher.

One of three sisters, Eileen Annucci was born in New York on Oct. 16, 1927. She made her Broadway debut in 1953 in Sing Till Tomorrow, then worked alongside Judith Anderson, George C. Scott and Larry Hagman in 1958 in Comes a Day.

The third ‘Essential’ noir collection is easily [Imprint]’s best, with two genuine classics of the style plus two excellent and equally entertaining thrillers. The directors are first-rank: Lewis Milestone, Mitchell Leisen, William Dieterle and William Wyler. Top stars are present too: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lisabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas, William Holden, Alexis Smith, Edmond O’Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Fredric March. The high-quality suspense and jeopardy are uniquely noir: The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, No Man Of Her Own, The Turning Point and The Desperate Hours. [Imprint] taps bona fide experts for the xtras.

Essential Film Noir Collection 3

Blu-ray (Region-Free)

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, No Man Of Her Own, The Turning Point, The Desperate Hours

Viavision [Imprint] 148, 149, 150, 151

1946 – 1955 / B&w / 1:37 Academy (3), 1:78 widescreen (1) / 411 min. / Street Date August 31, 2022 / Available from Viavision [Imprint] / au 139.95 , Amazon / 136.64

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lisabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas; Barbara Stanwyck, John Lund, Lyle Bettger; William Holden, Alexis Smith,...

In 1977, Lewis Arquette (41) and his daughter, Rosanna Arquette (18), both made their TV acting debuts, with him appearing on an episode of “Alice” and her playing a role in the movie “Having Babies II.” Six years later, she became the first member of her family to earn Emmy recognition with her lead performance in the NBC film “The Executioner’s Song,” which told the true story of Gary Gilmore (Tommy Lee Jones) and his demands to be executed for committing double murder. Arquette played Nicole Baker, a young single mother who dated Gilmore shortly before the killings.

Arquette received her nomination five days before her 24th birthday, making her the fifth youngest woman to compete for the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress award at the time. In the nearly four decades since, she has dropped to 10th place on the list. Of the nine younger actresses who rank higher than her,...

In 1977, Lewis Arquette (41) and his daughter, Rosanna Arquette (18), both made their TV acting debuts, with him appearing on an episode of “Alice” and her playing a role in the movie “Having Babies II.” Six years later, she became the first member of her family to earn Emmy recognition with her lead performance in the NBC film “The Executioner’s Song,” which told the true story of Gary Gilmore (Tommy Lee Jones) and his demands to be executed for committing double murder. Arquette played Nicole Baker, a young single mother who dated Gilmore shortly before the killings.

Arquette received her nomination five days before her 24th birthday, making her the fifth youngest woman to compete for the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress award at the time. In the nearly four decades since, she has dropped to 10th place on the list. Of the nine younger actresses who rank higher than her,...

After starring in over 80 features and racking up four Best Actress Oscar nominations, Barbara Stanwyck ended her 35-year film career in 1964. The 57-year-old, who had first ventured into TV acting eight years earlier, only accepted small screen roles from then on and quickly found success on the ABC western “The Big Valley.” In 1983, she appeared on the first installment of the four-part limited series “The Thorn Birds” and was ultimately rewarded with her fifth Emmy nomination and third win.

“The Thorn Birds,” an adaptation of the novel by Colleen McCullough, starred Stanwyck in the role of Mary Carson, a wealthy widow who sets out to ruin the romantic conquests of a much younger man after he scorns her advances. At 76, she was originally the second oldest winner and fourth oldest nominee in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress category. Nearly four decades later, she ranks as the 10th oldest contender,...

After starring in over 80 features and racking up four Best Actress Oscar nominations, Barbara Stanwyck ended her 35-year film career in 1964. The 57-year-old, who had first ventured into TV acting eight years earlier, only accepted small screen roles from then on and quickly found success on the ABC western “The Big Valley.” In 1983, she appeared on the first installment of the four-part limited series “The Thorn Birds” and was ultimately rewarded with her fifth Emmy nomination and third win.

“The Thorn Birds,” an adaptation of the novel by Colleen McCullough, starred Stanwyck in the role of Mary Carson, a wealthy widow who sets out to ruin the romantic conquests of a much younger man after he scorns her advances. At 76, she was originally the second oldest winner and fourth oldest nominee in the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress category. Nearly four decades later, she ranks as the 10th oldest contender,...

Bill Robinson, a talent agent and manager who represented stars like Carol Burnett, Robert Duvall, Maggie Smith, and Audrey Hepburn, has died. He was 92.

His family shared he died on August 6 in his Malibu home after a long illness.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

“I knew Bill for many, many years…since 1959. We met while I was doing the Gary Moore Show. Later on, he became my manager when I was doing my show. But not just my manager. He was one of my closest friends in the world. I loved him very much… and I will miss him,” Burnett said in a statement.

Throughout his career, Robinson also represented the likes of Judith Anderson, Alan Arkin, Tony Bill, Peter Falk, James Garner, Glenda Jackson, Waylon Jennings and Jayne Mansfield, among many more.

It was Robinson that gave Mike Medavoy his first job as an agent and the...

Bill Robinson, a veteran talent agent who represented the likes of Robert Duvall, Alan Arkin and Carol Burnett, died on Aug. 6 in Malibu after a long illness, his family announced. He was 93 years old.

“I knew Bill for many, many years…since 1959,” Burnett said. “We met while I was doing the ‘Gary Moore Show.’ Later on, he became my manager when I was doing my show. But not just my manager. He was one of my closest friends in the world. I loved him very much… and I will miss him.”

Over the years, Robinson has represented Judith Anderson, Tony Bill, Peter Falk, James Garner, Glenda Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Jayne Mansfield and Maggie Smith, among others. He also gave Mike Medavoy, currently the chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures as well as former chairman of Tri-Star Pictures, his first job as an agent.

Robinson got his start as an agent in the McA mail room,...

Click here to read the full article.

Bill Robinson, the well-liked talent agent and manager who represented the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Carol Burnett, James Garner and Robert Duvall during his long career, has died. He was 92.

Robinson died Aug. 6 at his home in Malibu after a long illness, his family announced.

Robinson’s clients also included Judith Anderson, Tony Bill, Glenda Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Jayne Mansfield and Maggie Smith, and he gave Mike Medavoy (real first name: Morris) his first job as an agent.

“‘You’re gonna have a hard time in this business as a Morris,’ Bill Robinson told me when he hired me … at his agency,” Medavoy, the producer and studio executive, wrote in his 2002 book, You’re Only as Good as Your Next One: 100 Great Films, 100 Good Films, and 100 for Which I Should Be Shot.

“‘You got a middle name?’ ‘Mike,’ I told him.

When Halle Berry won the 2002 Best Actress Oscar for “Monster’s Ball” and made history as the category’s first Black honoree, she dedicated it to several actresses of color who came before her. Appropriately, she began by mentioning Dorothy Dandridge, whose nomination for “Carmen Jones” in 1955 made her the first Black woman to compete for the lead prize. Although Dandridge’s life ended before Berry’s began, the two performers have always shared a special connection. Indeed, less than two years before she won her Oscar, Berry took home an Emmy for stepping into Dandridge’s shoes in the TV movie “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.”

The HBO movie was nominated for a total of nine Primetime Emmys and scored four craft awards in addition to Berry’s Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress win. Having triumphed at 34, the actress currently ranks as the 10th youngest champion in her category after initially placing one spot higher.

Less than one year after receiving a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for “Rebecca” (1940), Judith Anderson signed on to star in a three-month Broadway production of “Macbeth” alongside Maurice Evans. A dozen years later, the pair reunited to play the same characters in a TV adaptation, which resulted in Anderson winning a Primetime Emmy. Six years after that, Anderson and Evans both nabbed prizes for once again portraying the Shakespearean couple in a second NBC movie, marking the first instance of the Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actor and Actress Emmys going to performers from the same program.

Since taking home the inaugural Best TV Movie/Limited Series Actress award at 58, Anderson had ranked as the oldest winner in her category, and she broke her own record with her second win at 64. In the six decades since, the title has been passed twice to actresses in their late 70s, and...

A post-James Bond Daniel Craig and Oscar-nominee Ruth Negga currently are shaking things up on Broadway in the latest revival of “Macbeth,” Shakespeare’s tragedy of mayhem, power, murder and madness. The “Scottish play” has a reputation for being cursed because the Bard used real witches’ spells.

It certainly has fallen afoul of the Tony Awards over the years. Negga was nominated but Craig was snubbed. Of the 11 previous stagings of “Macbeth” since the start of the Tony Awards, only the 2008 revival merited nominations for both stars (Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood). Glenda Jackson reaped a bid in 1988 while Christopher Plummer was left in the wings.

The first recorded production of the play in New York was way back in 1768 at the John Street Theatre, which had been built the year before. Though the closing date is unknown, the theater was demolished in 1897. Lewis Hallam, who is the only known cast member,...

Righteous propaganda fuels the patriotic fire: Lewis Milestone and Robert Rossen’s blood-soaked ode to Norwegian resistance goes way over the top. These Norsemen and Norsewomen take up arms to fight their Nazi occupiers tooth and nail. Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan star; some of Hollywood’s best partake of the rah-rah celebration of suicidal vengeance: Walter Huston, Nancy Coleman, Helmut Dantine, Judith Anderson, Ruth Gordon, John Beal, Morris Carnovsky, Charles Dingle, Roman Bohnen, Richard Fraser, Art Smith, and a very young Virginia Christine. We’re all anti-Fascist freedom fighters on this bus!

Edge of Darkness

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1943 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 119 min. / Available at Amazon.com / Street Date January 18, 2022 / 21.99

Starring: Errol Flynn, Ann Sheridan, Walter Huston, Nancy Coleman, Helmut Dantine, Judith Anderson, Ruth Gordon, John Beal, Morris Carnovsky, Charles Dingle, Roman Bohnen, Richard Fraser, Art Smith, Monte Blue, Henry Brandon, Virginia Christine, Tom Fadden, Kurt Katch, Kurt Kreuger,...

“These Facists will never drive Norwegians out of Norway!”

Errol Flynn and Ann Sheridan in Edge Of Darkness (1943) will be available on Blu-ray February 22nd from Warner Archive. It can be purchased at the Warner Archive Amazon Store Here

In 1930, director Lewis Milestone won an Academy Award®* for his eloquent anti-war masterpiece, All Quiet on the Western Front. But with Edge of Darkness, made in 1943 during the dark days of the German blitzkrieg, Milestone displays no such pacifist sentiments. Indeed, this remarkable drama, set in a small Norwegian village, pays tribute to the heroic spirit of common people taking up arms against the Nazi invaders. Errol Flynn delivers a fine, understated performance as a common fisherman who leads the town’s resistance efforts, while Ann Sheridan’s strong character reflects the strength of all womankind. And featured in the superb ensemble cast are Walter Huston, Ruth Gordon, and Judith Anderson.

Westerns are populated with cowboys, gunslingers, bandits, Native American, horses, cows and buffalos. But the genre is much more complex than shoot-‘em-ups. In fact, the best Westerns are Shakespearean in nature exploring such universal subjects as love, hate, revenge, greed, power and good versus evil. One of the most popular sub-genres is the “ranch” Western where the patriarch or matriarch — remember Barbara Stanwyck in “The Big Valley”– governs with a strict and often violent hand. They act like they are above the law and often take legal matters into their own hand. They are often widowers or widows and have sons who run the spectrum from hero to villain.

Jane Campion’s highly acclaimed Netflix Oscar-contender “The Power of the Dog” falls into this sub-genre. Set in Montana in 1925, the story revolves around the charismatic but sadistic Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) who relishes being the master of a cattle rancher.

With the long-delayed 74th Tony Awards set for Sept. 26 at the Winter Garden and streaming on Paramount + and a CBS special, let’s take a deep dive into Tony Awards history and look back at the first decade. Broadway was bristling with excitement post World War II. Young playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and William Inge breathed new life into the Great White Way. And new talents electrifying audiences included Marlon Brando, Julie Harris and Gwen Verdon. It was the perfect time for the creation of the Tony Awards in 1947. The Antoinette Perry Awards or Theatre Excellence were named after the legendary theater actress who was co-founder of the American Theatre Wing; she had died in 1946.

The first annual Tony Awards took place on April 6, 1947 at the Waldorf Astoria and was broadcast on radio on Wor and Mutual Network radio. There was no categories for best play or musical,...

Half a decade has passed since Lin-Manuel Miranda finished his Broadway run as the star of “Hamilton,” but the adulation for his work just keeps coming. The Tony-winning smash, which Miranda also wrote, experienced a surge in popularity after a filmed version featuring the entire original cast premiered on Disney+ last July. Miranda and six of his castmates have been recognized for their acting, which makes most of them part of an exclusive group of performers who have earned Tony and Emmy bids for the same role.

Just as they did at the 2016 Tonys, leading men Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr. face each other directly in this year’s Best Movie/Limited Actor Emmy race. Nominated for their supporting turns are Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Anthony Ramos, and Phillipa Soo. Ramos is the only one to have not originally competed at the Tonys, as that slot was instead filled by Christopher Jackson.

When Halle Berry won the 2002 Best Actress Oscar for “Monster’s Ball” and made history as the first Black recipient of the award, she dedicated it to several actresses of color who came before her. Appropriately, she began by mentioning Dorothy Dandridge, whose nomination for “Carmen Jones” in 1955 made her the first Black woman to compete for the lead prize. Although Dandridge’s life ended before Berry’s began, the two performers have always shared a special connection. Indeed, less than two years before she won her Oscar, Berry took home an Emmy for stepping into Dandridge’s shoes in the TV movie “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge.”

The HBO movie was nominated for a total of nine Primetime Emmys and scored four craft awards in addition to Berry’s Best Movie/Limited Actress win. Having triumphed at 34, the actress currently ranks as the 10th youngest champion in her category after initially placing one spot higher.

Less than one year after receiving a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for “Rebecca” (1940), Judith Anderson signed on to star in a three-month Broadway production of “Macbeth” alongside Maurice Evans. A dozen years later, the pair reunited to play the same characters in a TV adaptation, which resulted in Anderson winning a Primetime Emmy. Six years after that, Anderson and Evans both nabbed prizes for once again portraying the Shakespearean couple in a second NBC movie, marking the first instance of the Best Movie/Limited Actor and Actress Emmys going to performers from the same program.

Since taking home the inaugural Best Movie/Limited Actress award at 58, Anderson had ranked as the oldest winner in her category, and she broke her own record with her second win at 64. In the 60 years since, the title has been passed twice to actresses in their late 70s, and a total of nine older...

Though the Continental Congress severed political connections with Great Britain on July 4, 1776, with the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. has never detached with their obsession with the British Royal Family. Just look at 2021 Emmy nominations.

The fourth season of Netflix’ “The Crown” reaped 24 bids — the show has already won 10 Emmys — including series, for leads Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II, Emma Corrin as Diana, the Princess of Wales and Josh O’Connor as Prince Charles and for supporting players Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher, Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret and Emerald Fennell as Camilla Parker Bowles. And Oprah Winfrey’s blockbuster interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was nominated for best hosted nonfiction series or special.

There has been a lot of Emmy love over the years for the British monarchs. So make yourself cup of tea, heat up your scone or crumpet — with lemon curd, natch — keep...

“Ted Lasso,” “The Mandalorian,” “Hacks,” “The Flight Attendant,” “The Crown” and “The Queen’s Gambit” are among the top nominees for the 73rd annual Primetime Awards, which are set for Sept.19 on CBS with Cedric the Entertainer, who stars on the network’s sitcom “The Neighborhood,” set to host. But this is now, but what about the Emmys 60 years ago.

Dick Powell hosted the 13th Emmy Awards which took place at the famed Moulin Rouge Nightclub in Los Angeles on May 16, 1961. There were just three broadcast networks as well as local channels and National Education Television, now known as PBS.

History was made when The Flintstones” became the first animated series to be nominated in a main category: program achievement in the field of humor. It would be nearly 50 years before another animated series, “The Family Guy,” contended for a top award.

Veterans such as Jack Benny and Red Skelton were among the winners,...

When not making tons of money collaborating with James Stewart, Anthony Mann directed some really grim westerns. This mini-epic spells out the ugly real-life Code of The West: seizing land and establishing private empires. Walter Huston’s T.C. Jeffords maintains his sprawling fiefdom through economic tyranny (he prints his own money and expects banks to accept it) — and by simple violence, murdering the people that have lived on ‘his’ land for generations. Barbara Stanwyck is the feisty heir who wages generational war on her piratical father. It’s the darkest and most subversive of Huac-era ‘noir’ westerns.

The Furies

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 435

1950 / B&w / 1:37 flat Academy / 109 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 20, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson, Gilbert Roland, Thomas Gomez, Beulah Bondi, Albert Dekker, John Bromfield, Wallace Ford, Blanche Yurka.

Cinematography: Victor Milner

Film Editor: Archie Marshek

Original Music:...

Christopher Plummer, the Canadian-born Shakespearean actor who starred in films including “The Sound of Music” and “Beginners,” died on Friday morning at his home in Connecticut. He was 91.

“Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his profession with great old fashion manners, self deprecating humor and the music of words,” said Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager of 46 years. “He was a national treasure who deeply relished his Canadian roots. Through his art and humanity, he touched all of our hearts and his legendary life will endure for all generations to come. He will forever be with us.”

An imposing theatrical presence with a well-cultivated, resonant voice, that critic John Simon once observed, “in its chamois mode, can polish mirrors,” Plummer was best known for playing Captain von Trapp in the Oscar-winning musical “The Sound of Music.” He also won an Oscar in 2012 for his supporting turn in the film “Beginners,...

Only a few days short of January’s end, 2021 has seen the loss of its first Oscar winner. Here’s how the Associated Press broke the news:

Cloris Leachman, an Oscar-winner for her portrayal of a lonely housewife in “The Last Picture Show” and a comedic delight as the fearsome Frau Blücher in “Young Frankenstein” and self-absorbed neighbor Phyllis on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has died. She was 94.

Leachman died in her sleep of natural causes at her home in Encinitas, California, publicist Monique Moss said Wednesday. Her daughter Dinah Englund was at her side, Moss said.

Remarkably those 94 years encompassed nine decades of work on the big and small(er) screen. A truly versatile actress, her knack for comedy wasn’t really showcased until nearly twenty years into her astounding career. As a tribute we offer a fond look back at the work of a true cinema “scene-stealer...

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

That haunting line opened Daphne Du Maurier’s treasured 1938 romantic thriller “Rebecca,” which was published in 1938. Lauded by critics, it quickly became a best-seller and has been in print ever since. And for good reason.

Du Maurier wraps readers around her little finger with this addictive tale of a timid young woman-her name is never mentioned-who meets and falls in love with an enigmatic wealthy widower, Maxim de Winter, while in Monte Carlo working as a paid companion to the obnoxious American, Mrs. Van Hopper. Max and the young woman soon fall in love. They marry and he takes her home to his gothic estate Manderley run with an iron-fist by the tightly wound housekeeper Mrs. Danvers who is obsessed with the late, charismatic Rebecca, the late wife of Maxim.

Two years after its publication, “Gone with the Wind” producer David O. Selznick...

by Jason Adams

How could I help myself, right? Tomorrow Netflix is unveiling director Ben Wheatley's re-do of Daphne Du Maurier's "celebrated novel" (I love that is how the book is credited on IMDb) starring Armie Hammer, Lily James, and most enticingly of all Kristin Scott Thomas as the housekeeper-with-secrets. And yet somehow, despite it being one of my favorite performances in a horror film, I haven't gotten around to given Judith Anderson, in that same role in Alfred Hitchcock's Oscar-winning 1940 film, her due with this series. No more! The time for dangerously caressing silky underthings is nigh I say, nigh!

Not that we've exactly been clammed up when it comes tot he subject of Judith Anderson's turn in Rebecca around these parts in the past...

De Winter of Our Discontent: Wheatley Wavers with Empty Remake of Du Maurier Classic

Remaking a property which was previously adapted by none other than Alfred Hitchcock, and one which netted him an Academy Award for Best Picture at that, would seem to be a recipe for failure. And such is unfortunately the case for the latest film by the sterling Ben Wheatley in his revamp of Daphne Du Maurier’s classic 1938 Gothic novel Rebecca.

Hitchcock’s 1940 version (read review) is a celebrated technical achievement, as well as a superb mastering of tone, headlined by Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, plus the iconic Judith Anderson as repressed lesbian Mrs.…...

Kristin Scott Thomas made her Hollywood debut in the 1986 Prince vehicle “Under the Cherry Moon.” It was not an acclaimed breakthrough. “It was what people like to call ‘a turkey,’” Thomas says in a crisp British accent that actually makes the word “turkey” sound elegant and prestigious. The reviews were vicious. “After being told you’re a better cure for insomnia than a glass of warmed milk, I’m amazed I ever got back in front of the camera,” Thomas says with a laugh.

Thomas stresses that the filming experience was wonderful. “To this day, I feel very, very lucky and privileged to have been involved,” she notes. “But it was all a difficult thing to take at the tender age of 24.” For her work, she got two Golden Raspberry Award nominations, for worst supporting actress and worst new star. She returned to France, where she has lived since the age of 19, and,...

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again,” begins both Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 best-seller “Rebecca” and nearly every adaptation of the Gothic novel that has followed, including Alfred Hitchcock’s atmospheric 1940 best picture winner. With such a definitive version already on the books, why reboot “Rebecca”? Well, as the opening line itself suggests, one can and does return to the film’s tragi-romantic estate — shrouded in fog and mystery as it is — as often as one pleases. A fresh take may be foolhardy, but it’s not without interest, and “High Rise” director Ben Wheatley aims to entice those who may be visiting for the first time.

If Rebecca was the first Mrs. de Winter, and Joan Fontaine’s character was the second, what does that make the two wives in Wheatley’s latest update? The third and fourth? Or thirty-first and -second? No doubt, many out there...

“Rebecca” is a story about a second wife who is bombarded with reminders that she will never be as glamorous, as worldly, or as seemingly beloved as her predecessor. Netflix’s new “Rebecca,” directed by Ben Wheatley (“High Rise”), is a remake that constantly reminds us it will never be as suspenseful, as witty, or as unsettling as its own predecessor, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 adaptation of the popular novel by Daphne du Maurier.

This new “Rebecca” has its own sense of style, and it’s not above fully embracing the pulpy delights of du Maurier’s book, but unlike the unnamed second Mrs. de Winter, it can’t quite break free of the inevitable expectations placed upon it.

That anonymous heroine is played this time around by Lily James, and as the story begins, she’s supposed to be a mousy little nothing — except that she looks and comports herself...

Regina King now has double Emmy bookends. As expected, the “Watchmen” star won Best Limited Series/TV Movie Actress at Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards, making her the first actress to have multiple wins in the lead and supporting limited categories.

The Oscar winner took home her first two Emmys in supporting for “American Crime” in 2015 and ’16, and triumphed in lead for “Seven Seconds” in 2018. This is her fourth Emmy in six years.

With her second victory for “American Crime,” King became one of five women to have won the supporting category a record two times, alongside Jane Alexander, Judy Davis, Colleen Dewhurst and Mare Winningham. She is the only one to do so consecutively. The other four have been shortlisted in lead, but only Davis has ever won there, in 2001 for “Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows” on her fifth of seven bids in the category.

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Every romance has a beginning, and every romance has an end… sometimes the story of each can be a killer. Such are the intimations at the heart of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, which is being handsomely brought back to the screen by director Ben Wheatley in a new Netflix production. With Lily James and Armie Hammer stepping into the roles of a newlywed couple with more secrets than kisses, and Kristin Scott Thomas taking on the role of the most menacing housekeeper eveer, there is a lot to take in with the film’s first trailer.

Based on the 1938 Gothic novel of the same name, Rebecca was previously adapted to the screen in 1940 by director Alfred Hitchcock. That film, like the new one, focuses on an inexperienced young woman (James) who loses herself in a whirlwind romance with a rich and enigmatic man named Maxim de Winter (Hammer). After meeting at Monte Carlo,...

"Rebecca" is the new Brit-produced romantic thriller directed by Ben Wheatley from a screenplay by Jane Goldman, Joe Shrapnel, and Anna Waterhouse, based on the 1938 novel of the same name by author Daphne du Maurier, starring Lily James, Armie Hammer, Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Goodman-Hill, Keeley Hawes, Sam Riley and Ann Dowd, opening in theaters October 21, 2020:

Alfred Hitchcock's 1940 feature adaptation, winner of two Oscars, starred Laurence Olivier as the aristocratic widower 'Maxim de Winter', Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as psychotic housekeeper, 'Mrs. Danvers'.

"...in 'Rebecca', the heroine (Fontaine) is a paid companion to the wealthy but obnoxious 'Edythe Van Hopper' (Florence Bates), when she meets widower 'Maximilian de Winter' (Olivier) in Monte Carlo. They fall in love, and within two weeks they are married.

"Maxim takes his new bride to 'Manderley', his country house in Cornwall, England. The housekeeper, 'Mrs. Danvers'...

Kristin Scott Thomas takes on the role of the controlling and vindictive Mrs. Danvers in the first trailer for Ben Wheatley’s modernized take on “Rebecca” starring Lily James and Armie Hammer.

Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 book was first adapted for the screen in Alfred Hitchock’s 1940 film, which starred Hollywood royalty like Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson — and wound up winning the Oscar for Best Picture.

The new film plays on those same moody thrills, with Scott Thomas’ Danvers carefully turning the screws on James’ newly married character about the lingering presence of Rebecca, the deceased wife of Hammer’s character.

“She’s still here. Do you feel her?” Scott Thomas asks in the first trailer. “She was the love of his life. I wonder what she thinks of you, taking her husband, using her name.”

In “Rebecca,” a young newlywed arrives at her husband’s imposing...

Eighty years after mystery master Daphne du Maurier’s novel “Rebecca” was adapted by director Alfred Hitchcock into a now-classic movie for United Artists, filmmaker Ben Wheatley is returning to the source material for Netflix. “Rebecca,” releasing October 21 on the streaming platform, stars Lily James, Armie Hammer, Sam Riley, Kristin Scott Thomas (in the role of Mrs. Danvers that made Judith Anderson a wickedly iconic villain in the Hitchcock film), and Ann Dowd. Check out first look images from the film below.

Here’s Netflix’s official synopsis: “After a whirlwind romance in Monte Carlo with handsome widower Maxim de Winter (Armie Hammer), a newly married young woman (Lily James) arrives at Manderley, her new husband’s imposing family estate on a windswept English coast. Naive and inexperienced, she begins to settle into the trappings of her new life, but finds herself battling the shadow of Maxim’s first wife,...

The Bat

Blu ray

The Film Detective

1959 / 1.85:1/ 80 min.

Starring Vincent Price, Agnes Moorehead

Cinematography by Joseph Biroc

Directed by Crane Wilbur

Released during the dog days of summer in August of 1959, The Bat was an air-conditioned summer treat for the eight year-old unprepared for a blood and thunder horror movie – even if this mild thriller does star that consummate killer Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead as a novelist who dabbles in murder – the more gruesome, the better.

Price plays Malcolm Wells, a small-town doctor who’s just witnessed the confession of one John Fleming, a larcenous bank president who’s embezzled a fortune from his own vault. Knowing an opportunity when he sees it, Wells promptly shoots Fleming and sets off to find the loot, hidden in a creaky mansion called The Oaks. Waiting for him is Cornelia Van Gorder (Moorehead), a specialist in pulp fiction unaware that the...

Before Regina King won her Oscar for “If Beale Street Could Talk” (2018), she took home three Emmys in four years. She could make it four in six years in September if she nabs Best Limited/TV Movie Actress for “Watchmen,” and if she does, she’d also carve out her own slice of Emmy history as the first actress have two wins each in the lead and supporting limited categories.

King prevailed in this category in 2018 for “Seven Seconds.” The star also has double statuettes in supporting, going back to back for the anthology series “American Crime” in 2015 and ’16.

At the moment, King is one of five women to have won the supporting category a record two times, alongside Jane Alexander, Judy Davis, Colleen Dewhurst and Mare Winningham. King is the only one to do so consecutively. All of the other four have been nominated in lead, but only Davis has ever won there,...

by Jason Adams

As long as there have been haunted houses there have been housekeepers keeping them, and the role of the housekeeper in a horror film is a tried and true one that film-makers can and have spun off a dozen different ways. There's the strange and sapphic Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) in Rebecca; there's the seemingly good-natured but with a hell of a secret Mrs. Mills (Fionnula Flanagan) in The Others; and there's the bluntly unfriendly type typified by Mrs. Dudley (Rosalie Crutchley) in The Haunting who gets to speak the immortal line, "In the night. In the dark."

Guillermo Del Toro, would of course be familiar with all these tropes, which is why I think his spin on the role with the great Maribel Verdú in Pan's Labyrinth is so fascinating...

By Lee Pfeiffer

The Warner Archive has showcased another "B" movie and rescued it from relative obscurity with the release of "Lady Scarface". The 1941 movie is an Rko "Poverty Row" production with a low budget (i.e. there are almost no exterior shots) and abbreviated running time of only 66 minutes. The titular character is never referred to as such in the film. She's simply called Slade and she's a mysterious Chicago gangster who the police have been searching for under the assumption their prey is a man. Slade does bear a scar on her cheek but it would appear this was added simply to enable the producers to capitalize on the "Scarface" moniker in order to tie the film in with Paul Muni's classic gangster flick. Slade appears in the opening scene in which she and her gang rob a businessman and loot his safe. She ends up shooting him in cold blood.

Exciting new for fans of vintage crime films! Lady Scarface (1941) is now Available on DVD From Warner Archives

Stage titaness Dame Judith Anderson played the title role in this zippy thriller between twin Broadway triumphs as two of drama’s most illustrious villainesses, Lady MacBeth and Medea. The hunt is on for Chicago criminal mastermind Slade (Anderson), the sinister genius behind a series of daring and deadly robberies. Doggedly pursued by police lieutenant Bill Mason (Dennis O’Keefe), Slade continues to evade Mason because he assumes that Slade is a man. Luckily for the lieutenant, he has reporter Ann Rogers (Frances Neal) by his side, and she obtains a quest-changing clue for Mason – an envelope stuffed with Slade’s stolen loot and addressed to “Mary Jordan c/o the Leonard Sheldon Hotel.” Mason and Rogers head for New York to set a trap for Slade, only to find an unexpected Mary Jordan claiming the envelope.

Margot Robbie (“Mary Queen of Scots”) was among the more surprising nominations last week for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which was a big surge for her film after it had underperformed at other awards season events. Pundits had pegged Robbie and co-star Saoirse Ronan — both Oscar nominees for Best Actress just last year — as major contenders early on this season, but then another film about British royals, “The Favourite,” stole some of its thunder with critics and prognosticators. Is “Mary” once again in it to win it?

SEEwhat actresses have been nominated for playing royalty

Ahead of the film’s theatrical release on December 7, the 18th Whistler Film Festival opened with the Canadian premiere of “Mary,” which Director of Programming Paul Gratton introduced as a “feminist-revisionist” take and an “acting exercise above all.” True to its title, the film centers on Ronan as Mary Stuart, who navigates the politics...