By John H. Foote The casting of Nicole Kidman in a new film as television icon, the beloved Lucille Ball, known simply as Lucy, is drawing the wrath of Ball’s fans online. People are wondering why Kidman, best known for her work in intense drama, was cast as the hilarious comic, who proved to be…
By Alan Hurst George Segal had a pretty terrific run in films in the late sixties through the seventies, acclaimed initially for his dramatic work and then finding a nice groove as a solid comic performer. He passed away yesterday at the age of 87, still working as part of the long running ensemble on…
By Alan Hurst Christopher Plummer was perhaps the pre-eminent Canadian actor of his generation, one of the great Shakespearean actors in North America and England and a bona fide movie star for more than 55 years, thanks to a little film called The Sound of Music (1965). He passed away on Friday, ending one of…
By Alan Hurst Cloris Leachman passed away on January 27 after 94 well-lived years and a career that was in its eighth decade. Despite her age, the news came as a bit of a shock because she was still acting in major projects with surprising frequency – if you look at the credits on her…
By John H. Foote Two-time Academy Award winning actress and nominated five other times, groundbreaking artist Jane Fonda will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award at this year’s Golden Globe Awards. Fonda is a multiple Golden Globe winner and nominee, earning best Actress (Drama) for Klute (1971), Julia (1977) and Coming Home (1978), as well as…
By John H. Foote At the end of every calendar year, usually by Christmas, every film of importance has been released in L.A. and N.Y. in order to qualify for Academy Award consideration. Through the years some films have even missed those all important critics and guild awards because they remained unseen, The Wolf of…
By John H. Foote Sir Sean Connery passed this morning, the first James Bond is gone. Connery was a huge movie star for 40 years, inactive the last two decades but incredibly busy from 1960 to 2000. Considered the greatest of the actors to play 007, it was often forgotten just what a truly fine…
By John H. Foote Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, who blew audiences and critics minds with her towering performance as Effie, the pivotal role in Dreamgirls (2006), was handpicked by the great Aretha Franklin to portray the iconic singer in the film biography of her life. That film – Respect – has been getting Oscar buzz…
By John H. Foote The seventies cinema stands out as perhaps the finest in the history of cinema, an era dominated by urgent films, and movies that explored with welcome freedoms about what was happening in the world. Suddenly nudity was commonplace, sex was explored with honesty, language was equally honest as vulgarity became commonplace…
By Alan Hurst She was the last link to the Hollywood’s golden age, an actress who rose to prominence in the 1930’s and continued working until the late 1980’s. She starred in dozens of classic films throughout her career, won two Academy Awards, was one half of one of the most storied rivalries in Hollywood…