Explore ‘The Golden Girls’ Cast and Legacy Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux Betty White as Rose Nylund Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo “Thank you for being a friend.”
Airing from 1985 to 1992, with seven seasons in total, The Golden Girls was a smash hit during its entire run. It was popular for addressing a demographic that rarely saw the spotlight on television or in Hollywood: senior women.
Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo, Betty White as Rose Nylund, and Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux in the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC)
The sitcom was conceptualized by writer Susan Harris. Before The Golden Girls, she was most renowned for creating the series Soap, which parodied daytime soap operas such as The Young and the Restless.
Soap lasted for four seasons and was marred by controversy due to Harris’s insistence on including...
Airing from 1985 to 1992, with seven seasons in total, The Golden Girls was a smash hit during its entire run. It was popular for addressing a demographic that rarely saw the spotlight on television or in Hollywood: senior women.
Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo, Betty White as Rose Nylund, and Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux in the 1985 sitcom The Golden Girls (Credit: NBC)
The sitcom was conceptualized by writer Susan Harris. Before The Golden Girls, she was most renowned for creating the series Soap, which parodied daytime soap operas such as The Young and the Restless.
Soap lasted for four seasons and was marred by controversy due to Harris’s insistence on including...
- 5/31/2024
- by Hanna Callora
- Your Next Shoes
Carla Gugino has been tapped to play Hollywood screen legend Vivien Leigh in the forthcoming biopic “The Florist.”
The film is directed by Nick Sandow (star of “Orange is the New Black”) and will explore Leigh’s struggle with bipolar disorder in the 1960s, as she prepares to lead the Broadway production of John Gielgud’s Chekhov adaptation of “Ivanov.” Screenwriter Jayce Bartok (“The Cake Eaters”) put the script together based on a box of love letters.
Leigh earned her place in cinema history as Scarlett O’Hara, the central character in 1939’s “Gone With the Wind,” opposite Clark Gable. Leigh also played the landmark role of Blanche DuBois opposite Marlon Brando in 1951’s “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
“I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to excavate a woman as complex, contradictory, and compelling as Vivien. From the moment I read the script, I knew ‘The Florist’ was a journey I had to pursue,...
The film is directed by Nick Sandow (star of “Orange is the New Black”) and will explore Leigh’s struggle with bipolar disorder in the 1960s, as she prepares to lead the Broadway production of John Gielgud’s Chekhov adaptation of “Ivanov.” Screenwriter Jayce Bartok (“The Cake Eaters”) put the script together based on a box of love letters.
Leigh earned her place in cinema history as Scarlett O’Hara, the central character in 1939’s “Gone With the Wind,” opposite Clark Gable. Leigh also played the landmark role of Blanche DuBois opposite Marlon Brando in 1951’s “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
“I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to excavate a woman as complex, contradictory, and compelling as Vivien. From the moment I read the script, I knew ‘The Florist’ was a journey I had to pursue,...
- 4/30/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
In Tennessee Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire," Blanche DuBois desperately clings to certain beliefs. She is keenly intent on reinforcing the societal values and morals inherent in her aristocratic lineage, shunning realism for the magic of a nostalgic past that hides something darker, and repressing her guilt with the help of self-soothing mechanisms. When faced with the terrible nature of reality, which culminates in the character of her brother-in-law Stanley, Blanche is forced to reckon with the cycles of the violence that mark her existence, along with the precious fantasies woven to protect herself from true growth or healing. When she smashes a mirror, the delusions also shatter, with fantasy having no hold on her perception of reality anymore.
The mirror-smashing scene is seminal to understanding Blanche in Williams' play, and "On the Waterfront" director Elia Kazan's film adaptation of the story also dramatizes this to chilling effect,...
The mirror-smashing scene is seminal to understanding Blanche in Williams' play, and "On the Waterfront" director Elia Kazan's film adaptation of the story also dramatizes this to chilling effect,...
- 4/20/2024
- by Debopriyaa Dutta
- Slash Film
On what would be his 100th birthday, Marlon Brando remains synonymous not with acting, but great acting — even if this ranked list of all his performances represents what may be the most wildly uneven filmography for any talent of his caliber. But that’s the power of Brando: A handful of his performances are so great and influential they shook up the art of acting forever. Even among his lesser performances, there’s compelling work deserving of rediscovery.
In order to best exemplify what made him such a singular onscreen presence, we ranked all 39 of his films (and one TV appearance), reflecting a spectrum as wide as the man’s broad shoulders. Based on the quality of Brando’s performances rather than the overall films themselves, there are some placements that may surprise you; for example, as great as Brando is in “The Godfather,” it’s still just the fourth-best...
In order to best exemplify what made him such a singular onscreen presence, we ranked all 39 of his films (and one TV appearance), reflecting a spectrum as wide as the man’s broad shoulders. Based on the quality of Brando’s performances rather than the overall films themselves, there are some placements that may surprise you; for example, as great as Brando is in “The Godfather,” it’s still just the fourth-best...
- 4/3/2024
- by Wilson Chapman and Noel Murray
- Indiewire
Since the inception of the Academy Awards, the U.S.-based organization behind them has always strived to honor worldwide film achievements. Their extensive roster of competitive acting winners alone consists of artists from 30 unique countries, three of which first gained representation during the 2020s. The last full decade’s worth of triumphant performers hail from eight countries, while 42.1% of the individual actors nominated during that time originate from outside of America.
The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...
The academy’s history of recognizing acting talent on a global scale dates all the way back to the inaugural Oscars ceremony in 1929, when Swiss-born Emil Jannings (who was of German and American parentage) won Best Actor for his work in both “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh.” Over the next three years, the Best Actress prize was exclusively awarded to Canadians: Mary Pickford (“Coquette”), Norma Shearer (“The Divorcee”), and Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill...
- 3/18/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
By delivering performances that add up to almost four and a half hours, the four acting Oscar winners of 2024 came within six minutes of setting a new academy record for highest single-year screen time average. Ultimately, they landed in fifth place with a mean of one hour, four minutes, and 57 seconds, thus becoming only the 12th winning quartet (and sixth in 10 years) to exceed 60 minutes.
Newly crowned Best Actor and Actress champs Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) are credited with a whopping 81% of their foursome’s screen time total, respectively clocking in at 1:53:10 and 1:37:19 and outpacing all of the 2024 nominees by at least four minutes. Supporting honorees Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”) gave the fourth and sixth shortest nominated performances of the year, reaching individual screen times of 23:50 and 25:29.
Considering this group’s screen time percentages,...
Newly crowned Best Actor and Actress champs Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) are credited with a whopping 81% of their foursome’s screen time total, respectively clocking in at 1:53:10 and 1:37:19 and outpacing all of the 2024 nominees by at least four minutes. Supporting honorees Robert Downey Jr. (“Oppenheimer”) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”) gave the fourth and sixth shortest nominated performances of the year, reaching individual screen times of 23:50 and 25:29.
Considering this group’s screen time percentages,...
- 3/12/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Since 1940, the record for highest average screen time between same-year lead acting Oscar winners has been held by Robert Donat and Vivien Leigh (“Gone with the Wind”), whose mean of one hour, 54 minutes, and 43 seconds will likely never be surpassed. Nonetheless, there is a brand new pair in second place, as 2024 Best Actor and Actress champs Cillian Murphy (“Oppenheimer”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) came within 10 minutes of dethroning the long-reigning duo. Indeed, both together and separately, their especially lengthy performances inspired several brushes with Oscars screen time history.
Murphy was specifically awarded for one hour, 53 minutes, and 10 seconds of acting work, while Stone clocked in slightly lower at one hour, 37 minutes, and 19 seconds. Understandably, each far outpaced all of their fellow nominees, respectively landing 27 and 22 minutes above their lineups’ averages. Their own average of one hour, 45 minutes, and 15 seconds makes them only the second pair of lead victors to exceed 100 minutes.
Murphy was specifically awarded for one hour, 53 minutes, and 10 seconds of acting work, while Stone clocked in slightly lower at one hour, 37 minutes, and 19 seconds. Understandably, each far outpaced all of their fellow nominees, respectively landing 27 and 22 minutes above their lineups’ averages. Their own average of one hour, 45 minutes, and 15 seconds makes them only the second pair of lead victors to exceed 100 minutes.
- 3/12/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
The Academy Awards have been handing out a Best Actress trophy since the very first ceremony in 1928. Janet Gaynor for a combo of “7th Heaven,” “Street Angel” and “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” was the first recipient for his leading roles. The most recent champ was Renee Zellweger for “Judy.”
Since then, only one woman has won the category four times: Katharine Hepburn for “Morning Glory,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “The Lion in Winter” and “On Golden Pond.” Next with three is Frances McDormand. The ladies with two lead wins have included Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Glenda Jackson, Vivien Leigh, Luise Rainer, Meryl Streep and Hilary Swank. Streep holds the record of most lead nominations at 17.
The oldest winner was Jessica Tandy (“Driving Miss Daisy”) at age 80. The oldest nominee was Emmanuelle Riva (“Amour”) at age 85. The youngest winner...
Since then, only one woman has won the category four times: Katharine Hepburn for “Morning Glory,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “The Lion in Winter” and “On Golden Pond.” Next with three is Frances McDormand. The ladies with two lead wins have included Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Jodie Foster, Glenda Jackson, Vivien Leigh, Luise Rainer, Meryl Streep and Hilary Swank. Streep holds the record of most lead nominations at 17.
The oldest winner was Jessica Tandy (“Driving Miss Daisy”) at age 80. The oldest nominee was Emmanuelle Riva (“Amour”) at age 85. The youngest winner...
- 3/11/2024
- by Tony Ruiz, Marcus James Dixon and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Pageantry. Screw ups. Touching tributes. Private beefs made public. There are plenty of reasons to watch the Oscars. But they all amount to partaking in, witnessing, movie history in its many forms — the high art, the gossip, the record-breaking moments when an arthouse director becomes a household name.
However, there are a lot of ways to set a record. There are big moments like Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King tying the record with 11 trophies or Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite becoming the first film not in English (or silent) to win Best Picture. And then, beyond those sit the oddities and records that are nearly impossible to break. Give me records like Walter Brennan winning three Best Supporting Actor awards because, as a former extra, he was popular with the Union of Film Extras, who were allowed to vote. At least, the story goes, they were allowed...
However, there are a lot of ways to set a record. There are big moments like Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King tying the record with 11 trophies or Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite becoming the first film not in English (or silent) to win Best Picture. And then, beyond those sit the oddities and records that are nearly impossible to break. Give me records like Walter Brennan winning three Best Supporting Actor awards because, as a former extra, he was popular with the Union of Film Extras, who were allowed to vote. At least, the story goes, they were allowed...
- 3/10/2024
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
By delivering performances that averaged out to 98 minutes in length, the five women who competed for the 2023 Best Actress Oscar achieved the category’s all-time highest screen time mean, shattering a record that had stood for over half a century. They will continue to hold that distinction until at least 2025, as the present lineup’s average falls below those of the last two groups. What’s more, this is the first year since 2020 that the lead actress contenders have less collective screen time than their male counterparts.
The 2024 Best Actress nominees have an average screen time of one hour, 14 minutes, and 33 seconds, or 52.18% of their respective films. Exactly 23 minutes and 24 seconds and 16.70 percentage points separate them from last year’s record-breaking group. In terms of actual time, their average is the 12th highest in the category’s 96-year history, while their percentage mean is the 32nd lowest.
The last 10 recipients...
The 2024 Best Actress nominees have an average screen time of one hour, 14 minutes, and 33 seconds, or 52.18% of their respective films. Exactly 23 minutes and 24 seconds and 16.70 percentage points separate them from last year’s record-breaking group. In terms of actual time, their average is the 12th highest in the category’s 96-year history, while their percentage mean is the 32nd lowest.
The last 10 recipients...
- 3/5/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
David O. Selznick, one of the most famous producers in Hollywood history, almost passed on his most famous movie.
According to Time, Selznick's story editor, Kay Brown, found author Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" and tried to convince the producer to adapt it into a movie. (You can read her actual note to him here.) But when Selznick first read the synopsis and realized it was a Civil War story, he passed on the project, reportedly because it was too similar to a movie he had recently made, 1935's "So Red the Rose," which was a financial disappointment. No trailers for "So Red the Rose" are available on YouTube or any other legal streaming platform, but this tribute video contains some footage from the film. Watching that, it's easy to see why Selznick may have been hesitant to greenlight "Gone with the Wind" -- there are plenty of surface-level similarities,...
According to Time, Selznick's story editor, Kay Brown, found author Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" and tried to convince the producer to adapt it into a movie. (You can read her actual note to him here.) But when Selznick first read the synopsis and realized it was a Civil War story, he passed on the project, reportedly because it was too similar to a movie he had recently made, 1935's "So Red the Rose," which was a financial disappointment. No trailers for "So Red the Rose" are available on YouTube or any other legal streaming platform, but this tribute video contains some footage from the film. Watching that, it's easy to see why Selznick may have been hesitant to greenlight "Gone with the Wind" -- there are plenty of surface-level similarities,...
- 3/3/2024
- by Ben Pearson
- Slash Film
Just 30 minutes after final voting for the Screen Actors Guild Awards wrapped up, I made a last-minute switch in my best actress prediction — from Lily Gladstone in “Killers of the Flower Moon” to Emma Stone in “Poor Things.” Let this be a lesson: Second-guessing yourself is seldom a good idea.
Lily Gladstone made history as the first Native American and Indigenous person to clinch an individual SAG Award for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman, in Martin Scorsese’s gripping crime saga. With a lead actress (drama) Golden Globe and a SAG Award now under her belt, Gladstone’s award-season momentum continues to be formidable. Historically, only seven performers have failed to win the Oscar after winning the unique combination of Globe and SAG:
1995: Lauren Bacall (“The Mirror Has Two Faces”) lost to Juliette Binoche 2001: Russell Crowe (“A Beautiful Mind”) lost to Denzel Washington (“Training Day...
Lily Gladstone made history as the first Native American and Indigenous person to clinch an individual SAG Award for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman, in Martin Scorsese’s gripping crime saga. With a lead actress (drama) Golden Globe and a SAG Award now under her belt, Gladstone’s award-season momentum continues to be formidable. Historically, only seven performers have failed to win the Oscar after winning the unique combination of Globe and SAG:
1995: Lauren Bacall (“The Mirror Has Two Faces”) lost to Juliette Binoche 2001: Russell Crowe (“A Beautiful Mind”) lost to Denzel Washington (“Training Day...
- 2/25/2024
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
By respectively receiving Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations for “American Fiction,” Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown made history as the first two Black male cast mates to compete in separate categories for the same film. They are also the eighth pair of performers to earn academy recognition for playing brothers and constitute the 28th case of Oscar-nominated sibling characters overall. Check out our photo gallery of this and the previous 27 examples, which date as far back as 1948.
At this point, the only two people who have won Oscars for playing siblings in the same film are “A Streetcar Named Desire” cast mates Vivien Leigh (Best Actress) and Kim Hunter (Best Supporting Actress). Best Actor champ Lee Marvin can technically also be counted alongside them since he was honored for portraying twin brothers in “Cat Ballou.”
The other seven films on this list for which only one...
At this point, the only two people who have won Oscars for playing siblings in the same film are “A Streetcar Named Desire” cast mates Vivien Leigh (Best Actress) and Kim Hunter (Best Supporting Actress). Best Actor champ Lee Marvin can technically also be counted alongside them since he was honored for portraying twin brothers in “Cat Ballou.”
The other seven films on this list for which only one...
- 2/13/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Anne Edwards, dubbed “The Queen of Biography” for her work on best-selling books about the actresses Vivien Leigh and Katharine Hepburn, as well as 14 other celebrity biographies, died on Jan. 20 in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 96 and her daughter said she passed from lung cancer at a senior living facility.
In addition to her biographies, the prolific writ.er had eight novels, three children’s books, two memoirs and one autobiography.
A child performer on radio and the stage, Ms. Edwards sold her first screenplay in 1949, when she was 22.
Her first novel, the mystery The Survivors arrived in 1968; and her first biography, of Judy Garland, in 1975.
Her “Vivien Leigh: A Biography” (1977) spent 19 weeks on The New York Times’s hardcover best-seller list.
Edwards also wrote biographies of Maria Callas, Ronald Reagan, Barbra Streisand and Diana, Princess of Wales.
Her...
In addition to her biographies, the prolific writ.er had eight novels, three children’s books, two memoirs and one autobiography.
A child performer on radio and the stage, Ms. Edwards sold her first screenplay in 1949, when she was 22.
Her first novel, the mystery The Survivors arrived in 1968; and her first biography, of Judy Garland, in 1975.
Her “Vivien Leigh: A Biography” (1977) spent 19 weeks on The New York Times’s hardcover best-seller list.
Edwards also wrote biographies of Maria Callas, Ronald Reagan, Barbra Streisand and Diana, Princess of Wales.
Her...
- 2/1/2024
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Clark Gable is the Oscar-winning matinee idol who starred in dozens of films before his untimely death in 1960, but how many of those titles are classics? Let’s take a look back at 12 of Gable’s greatest movies, ranked worst to best.
After appearing in bit parts in a number of films, Gable shot to stardom with his performance in “A Free Soul” (1931) as a gangster who bewitches a young woman (Norma Shearer) whose attorney father (Lionel Barrymore) helped him beat a murder rap. From there forward, the actor’s persona as a raffish leading man who’s every guy’s best friend and every gal’s dream became cemented in a number of subsequent roles.
He won an Oscar just three years later for Frank Capra‘s screwball classic “It Happened One Night” (1934), in which he played a newspaper reporter traveling with a spoiled socialite (Claudette Colbert). The film...
After appearing in bit parts in a number of films, Gable shot to stardom with his performance in “A Free Soul” (1931) as a gangster who bewitches a young woman (Norma Shearer) whose attorney father (Lionel Barrymore) helped him beat a murder rap. From there forward, the actor’s persona as a raffish leading man who’s every guy’s best friend and every gal’s dream became cemented in a number of subsequent roles.
He won an Oscar just three years later for Frank Capra‘s screwball classic “It Happened One Night” (1934), in which he played a newspaper reporter traveling with a spoiled socialite (Claudette Colbert). The film...
- 1/26/2024
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
For the second time in six years, the Best Actress category looked to be on track to feature nominees from films nominated for Best Picture. But just like six years ago, it came up short — and it once again involved Margot Robbie.
Annette Bening (“Nyad”), Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) made the Best Actress cut on Tuesday. Every film but “Nyad” is nominated for Best Picture. Gladstone, Hüller, Mulligan and Stone were all expected to get in, but Bening was in seventh place in the odds. Now a five-time nominee, she made it in over Robbie, who was in fifth place in the odds and headlines Best Picture nominee “Barbie” (Robbie is nominated as producer).
Six years ago, it was the reverse situation with Robbie. She earned her first career Oscar nomination for her...
Annette Bening (“Nyad”), Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) and Emma Stone (“Poor Things”) made the Best Actress cut on Tuesday. Every film but “Nyad” is nominated for Best Picture. Gladstone, Hüller, Mulligan and Stone were all expected to get in, but Bening was in seventh place in the odds. Now a five-time nominee, she made it in over Robbie, who was in fifth place in the odds and headlines Best Picture nominee “Barbie” (Robbie is nominated as producer).
Six years ago, it was the reverse situation with Robbie. She earned her first career Oscar nomination for her...
- 1/24/2024
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
In the 95-year history of the Academy Awards, 88 films have each received nominations for both Best Actor and Best Actress. Although there have been 19 cases of two or more movies doing so in a single year, there hasn’t been such an occurrence since 1996, when both lead lineups included performers from “Dead Man Walking” and “Leaving Las Vegas.” However, according to Gold Derby’s late-stage 2024 Oscar nominations predictions, that nearly three-decade gap is set to soon be closed by costar pairs from “Killers of the Flower Moon” and “Maestro.”
The vast majority of the Oscars prognosticators who’ve been shaping our odds all season agree that Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) will all clinch academy mentions for their lead performances. The last such quartet consisted of eventual winners Nicolas Cage (“Leaving Las Vegas”) and Susan Sarandon (“Dead Man Walking”) and their respective costars,...
The vast majority of the Oscars prognosticators who’ve been shaping our odds all season agree that Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”) and Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan (“Maestro”) will all clinch academy mentions for their lead performances. The last such quartet consisted of eventual winners Nicolas Cage (“Leaving Las Vegas”) and Susan Sarandon (“Dead Man Walking”) and their respective costars,...
- 1/21/2024
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Before the 2023 Academy Awards, only “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Network” had won three Oscars for acting. The former won its hat trick in 1952 with Vivien Leigh taking home Best Actress, Karl Malden claiming Best Supporting Actor, and Kim Hunter winning Best Supporting Actress. Then, in 1976, “Network” won Best Actor for Peter Finch (posthumously), Best Actress for Faye Dunaway, and Best Supporting Actress for Beatrice Straight. Those two movies stood alone as the only pictures to win three acting Oscars until 2023 when “Everything Everywhere All at Once” produced wins for Michelle Yeoh (Best Actress), Jamie Lee Curtis (Best Supporting Actress), and Ke Huy Quan (Best Supporting Actor). These three films now have the joint-highest number of acting wins in Oscars history as no film has ever managed to reign victorious in all four acting categories.
Plenty of movies have had four nominations for acting, including “American Hustle” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Plenty of movies have had four nominations for acting, including “American Hustle” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once.
- 12/27/2023
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
Mark Shelmerdine, the BAFTA L.A. co-founder and producer who is credited with reviving Alexander Korda’s London Films, died Oct. 26 in Santa Barbara after a long illness. He was 78.
Shelmerdine was diagnosed with a rare form of bile duct cancer in 2016. After being treated in a trial program between Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center and Houston Methodist Hospital, he received a liver transplant in 2018 and became the longest living survivor among those in the program. Friend and fellow producer Brian Eastman confirmed the news of Sherlmerdine’s death to Variety.
Shelmerdine got his start in the entertainment industry after joining the Taylor Clark group, led by the Scottish businessman Robert Clark. As the group’s company secretary and finance director, Shelmerdine was placed in charge of preparing weekly reports and analyses on the box office returns of the Caledonian Associated Cinema and ABC Cinema chains, which Clark owned.
Shelmerdine was diagnosed with a rare form of bile duct cancer in 2016. After being treated in a trial program between Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center and Houston Methodist Hospital, he received a liver transplant in 2018 and became the longest living survivor among those in the program. Friend and fellow producer Brian Eastman confirmed the news of Sherlmerdine’s death to Variety.
Shelmerdine got his start in the entertainment industry after joining the Taylor Clark group, led by the Scottish businessman Robert Clark. As the group’s company secretary and finance director, Shelmerdine was placed in charge of preparing weekly reports and analyses on the box office returns of the Caledonian Associated Cinema and ABC Cinema chains, which Clark owned.
- 12/2/2023
- by Valerie Wu
- Variety Film + TV
Mark Shelmerdine, the Emmy-nominated producer who remade Alexander Korda’s dormant London Films label into an independent production powerhouse behind projects including I, Claudius, has died. He was 78.
Shelmerdine died Oct. 26 in Santa Barbara after a long illness, friend and fellow producer Brian Eastman told The Hollywood Reporter. After being diagnosed with a rare form of bile duct cancer in 2016, he had a life-saving liver transplant in 2018.
In the 1980s, Shelmerdine co-founded the Los Angeles branch of BAFTA and the Association of Independent Television Producers, which helped shape the sector that now dominates British TV production. He also published self-help books written by his late wife, Susan Jeffers.
The first of three children, Shelmerdine was born on March 27, 1945, in Buckinghamshire, England. His father, Dick, worked as a police office in Singapore and the Bahamas and as a postmaster in Gloucestershire, England.
Shelmerdine started out as an accountant at Coopers & Lybrand and Taylor Clark Ltd.
Shelmerdine died Oct. 26 in Santa Barbara after a long illness, friend and fellow producer Brian Eastman told The Hollywood Reporter. After being diagnosed with a rare form of bile duct cancer in 2016, he had a life-saving liver transplant in 2018.
In the 1980s, Shelmerdine co-founded the Los Angeles branch of BAFTA and the Association of Independent Television Producers, which helped shape the sector that now dominates British TV production. He also published self-help books written by his late wife, Susan Jeffers.
The first of three children, Shelmerdine was born on March 27, 1945, in Buckinghamshire, England. His father, Dick, worked as a police office in Singapore and the Bahamas and as a postmaster in Gloucestershire, England.
Shelmerdine started out as an accountant at Coopers & Lybrand and Taylor Clark Ltd.
- 11/29/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
(Welcome to Did They Get It Right?, a series where we look at Oscars categories from yesteryear and examine whether the Academy's winners stand the test of time.)
With all the milestones that have occurred throughout the 95-year history of the Academy Awards, there are still plenty of accomplishments that have not transpired. No Black woman has ever been nominated for Best Director, and no Black person has ever won that category. No animated film has ever won Best Picture, and no documentary has ever been nominated. I do believe all of these things will eventually happen in the future. As the diversity of the industry steadily increases and Academy membership gradually expands, these sorts of things must happen as time moves on.
But there is one thing I remain skeptical about when it comes to Oscars milestones. It has nothing to do with representation, nor does it have to...
With all the milestones that have occurred throughout the 95-year history of the Academy Awards, there are still plenty of accomplishments that have not transpired. No Black woman has ever been nominated for Best Director, and no Black person has ever won that category. No animated film has ever won Best Picture, and no documentary has ever been nominated. I do believe all of these things will eventually happen in the future. As the diversity of the industry steadily increases and Academy membership gradually expands, these sorts of things must happen as time moves on.
But there is one thing I remain skeptical about when it comes to Oscars milestones. It has nothing to do with representation, nor does it have to...
- 11/12/2023
- by Mike Shutt
- Slash Film
Vivien Leigh was the two-time Oscar winner who made only a handful of films before her untimely death in 1967 at the age of 53. Yet several of those titles remain classics. Let’s take a look back at 10 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in British India, Leigh appeared in a number of roles on both the stage and screen in England, including a production of “Hamlet” opposite her husband, Laurence Olivier.
She came to international attention after landing the coveted role of Scarlet O’Hara in David O. Selznick’s massive adaptation of Margaret Mitchell‘s bestseller “Gone with the Wind” (1939). Leigh was far from the first choice to embody the headstrong Southern belle who pines after a married man (Leslie Howard) while wedding another (Clark Gable) against the backdrop of the Civil War. Yet the relatively unknown thespian beat out the likes of Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert,...
Born in British India, Leigh appeared in a number of roles on both the stage and screen in England, including a production of “Hamlet” opposite her husband, Laurence Olivier.
She came to international attention after landing the coveted role of Scarlet O’Hara in David O. Selznick’s massive adaptation of Margaret Mitchell‘s bestseller “Gone with the Wind” (1939). Leigh was far from the first choice to embody the headstrong Southern belle who pines after a married man (Leslie Howard) while wedding another (Clark Gable) against the backdrop of the Civil War. Yet the relatively unknown thespian beat out the likes of Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert,...
- 10/28/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Emma Stone won the Best Actress Oscar in 2017 for her role as an actress trying to make it big in Damien Chazelle‘s “La La Land.” Stone has also earned two Best Supporting Actress bids, the first in 2015 for “Birdman” and the second for “The Favourite” in 2019. She reteams with the latter’s director, Yorgos Lanthimos, for Searchlight Pictures’ “Poor Things.” The film, which is out in US theaters on Dec. 8, follows Stone as Bella Baxter — a woman brought back to life by a scientist (Willem Dafoe) and subsequently goes on a journey of self-discovery, meeting a variety of people along the way including a lawyer (Mark Ruffalo) and a potential suitor (Ramy Youssef).
Stone’s performance is remarkable here, as many critics have noted.
Nick Schager (The Daily Beast) declared that Stone will “blow your mind” in the movie, writing: “Nothing overshadows Stone’s odd, amusing and affecting performance as Bella,...
Stone’s performance is remarkable here, as many critics have noted.
Nick Schager (The Daily Beast) declared that Stone will “blow your mind” in the movie, writing: “Nothing overshadows Stone’s odd, amusing and affecting performance as Bella,...
- 10/27/2023
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
From left: Lili Taylor in The Conjuring (New Line Cinema), Vivien Leigh in Psycho (Universal), Drew Barrymore in Scream (Dimension)Graphic: The A.V. Club
The only thing scarier than the horror movies Hollywood makes are the real-life stories that inspire them. For decades, horror films have thrived by using the...
The only thing scarier than the horror movies Hollywood makes are the real-life stories that inspire them. For decades, horror films have thrived by using the...
- 10/9/2023
- by Phil Pirrello
- avclub.com
“This was not planned. I think the way you know is I walked in here covered with my child’s seaweed snack all over my sweatshirt.”
Greta Lee is infectious and is so damn grateful this breakout moment is happening to her when she’s 40.
When she comes in for her sit-down interview with Variety, she’s laidback and so charismatic, like your old buddy at college you had one too many martinis with on a Thursday night party but still laughed about it til’ this day.
You wouldn’t think she’s enjoying the clout of having played in two major features in 2023. One is her leading role as Nora, a New York City playwright who reconnects with her childhood love in A24’s “Past Lives” from debut director and writer Celine Song. The other is the voice of Lyla, the Spider-Society’s AI assistant in the animated blockbuster sequel,...
Greta Lee is infectious and is so damn grateful this breakout moment is happening to her when she’s 40.
When she comes in for her sit-down interview with Variety, she’s laidback and so charismatic, like your old buddy at college you had one too many martinis with on a Thursday night party but still laughed about it til’ this day.
You wouldn’t think she’s enjoying the clout of having played in two major features in 2023. One is her leading role as Nora, a New York City playwright who reconnects with her childhood love in A24’s “Past Lives” from debut director and writer Celine Song. The other is the voice of Lyla, the Spider-Society’s AI assistant in the animated blockbuster sequel,...
- 9/30/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Years after his death in 2003, two-time Oscar-winning director Elia Kazan remains both an influential and controversial figure, respected and reviled in equal measure. Let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Kazan started his career as a stage actor, soon transitioning into directing. He mounted several landmark productions, including the original run of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Throughout his career he received three Tony awards for Best Director of a Play: “All My Sons” in 1947, “Death of a Salesman” in 1949, and “J.B.” in 1959.
He transitioned into filmmaking with “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” (1945). Two years later, he won his first Oscar for Best Director for “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947), which also took home Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Celeste Holm). A taboo-shattering drama about antisemitism, the film established Kazan as a director drawn towards contemporary, hot-button topics.
Kazan scored his second Best Director...
Kazan started his career as a stage actor, soon transitioning into directing. He mounted several landmark productions, including the original run of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Throughout his career he received three Tony awards for Best Director of a Play: “All My Sons” in 1947, “Death of a Salesman” in 1949, and “J.B.” in 1959.
He transitioned into filmmaking with “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” (1945). Two years later, he won his first Oscar for Best Director for “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947), which also took home Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress (Celeste Holm). A taboo-shattering drama about antisemitism, the film established Kazan as a director drawn towards contemporary, hot-button topics.
Kazan scored his second Best Director...
- 9/1/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Los Angeles, July 29 (Ians) The helmet worn by Robert Downey Jr in ‘Iron Man 3’, wands used in the Harry Potter film series, the mask worn by Ryan Reynolds in ‘Deadpool’ and a Captain America shield used by Chris Evans, are among a host of film paraphernalia set to go on sale.
The helmet, made of fibreglass material and with eyes that shine a blue-white colour, is being sold at an event from Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for US Dollars 50,000 to 70,000.
The Legends: Hollywood And Royalty auction, featuring more than 1,400 items, in Beverly Hills, California, in September will celebrate 100 years of Warner Bros, as per Evening Standard.
Previously announced items include three designer dresses worn by Diana, Princess of Wales which have not been seen in public for more than 30 years.
The auction will also see Star Wars, Stark Trek, Game Of Thrones and James Bond props...
The helmet, made of fibreglass material and with eyes that shine a blue-white colour, is being sold at an event from Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for US Dollars 50,000 to 70,000.
The Legends: Hollywood And Royalty auction, featuring more than 1,400 items, in Beverly Hills, California, in September will celebrate 100 years of Warner Bros, as per Evening Standard.
Previously announced items include three designer dresses worn by Diana, Princess of Wales which have not been seen in public for more than 30 years.
The auction will also see Star Wars, Stark Trek, Game Of Thrones and James Bond props...
- 7/29/2023
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
Casting is one of the hidden arts of Hollywood, and starting June 15, the second season of The Academy Museum Podcast, “Close Up on Casting,” hosted by the Museum’s Director and President Jacqueline Stewart, delves into often misunderstood art and influence of Hollywood casting.
The audio series draws inspiration from the museum’s galleries, Stewart said during a recent small press gathering and podcast preview for the episode centered on the Hitchcock film “Rebecca.” She saw that her curators had more research and intel to share than was possible to display in the audience-favorite Performance Gallery, packed with early Polaroids of actors, audition tapes, and casting directors’ notes, which deserves to be expanded. The typewritten list of actresses considered for producer David O. Selznick’s production of “Rebecca” (1940), for example, is priceless, with often snarky and misogynist descriptions by each name.
“It was really interesting to watch visitors imagine different...
The audio series draws inspiration from the museum’s galleries, Stewart said during a recent small press gathering and podcast preview for the episode centered on the Hitchcock film “Rebecca.” She saw that her curators had more research and intel to share than was possible to display in the audience-favorite Performance Gallery, packed with early Polaroids of actors, audition tapes, and casting directors’ notes, which deserves to be expanded. The typewritten list of actresses considered for producer David O. Selznick’s production of “Rebecca” (1940), for example, is priceless, with often snarky and misogynist descriptions by each name.
“It was really interesting to watch visitors imagine different...
- 6/8/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Los Angeles – Bonhams is delighted to present the collection of Olivia de Havilland, the Oscar-winning actress who starred in dozens of movies throughout the 1930s to the 1970s. De Havilland was the last surviving actress of Hollywood’s Golden Age, best known for her role as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in David O. Selznick’s Civil War epic, Gone with the Wind (1939), believed by many to be the greatest movie ever made. Bonhams will be selling her collection in two sales. Running online from May 13-23, Bonhams Los Angeles will offer memorabilia from Hollywood and mementos from co-stars, directors, and celebrity friends like Bette Davis, Vivien Leigh, Stanley Kramer, Errol Flynn, and more. This will be followed by a sale of decorative arts, furniture, and paintings from her Parisian townhouse at Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr in Paris this October. A portion of the proceeds from the sale will be donated...
- 5/11/2023
- by Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
What do the 76th annual Tonys have in common with the 17th annual awards?
Stephen Sondheim.
The late, great influential composer is represented in this year’s Tonys with the acclaimed, popular revivals of his 1979 classic “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Street” earning eight nominations and 1987’s “Into the Woods” receiving six.
Sixty years ago, it was Sondheim’s musical comedy “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” which dominated the Tony Awards with six wins: best musical, best producer for Harold Prince, best director for George Abbott, best author for Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, leading actor for Zero Mostel and featured actor for David Burns. Ironically, Sondheim failed to earn a nomination for best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater. He would not win for his tunes until “Company” in 1971. Vying in that category were “Stop the World I Wanted...
Stephen Sondheim.
The late, great influential composer is represented in this year’s Tonys with the acclaimed, popular revivals of his 1979 classic “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Street” earning eight nominations and 1987’s “Into the Woods” receiving six.
Sixty years ago, it was Sondheim’s musical comedy “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” which dominated the Tony Awards with six wins: best musical, best producer for Harold Prince, best director for George Abbott, best author for Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart, leading actor for Zero Mostel and featured actor for David Burns. Ironically, Sondheim failed to earn a nomination for best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater. He would not win for his tunes until “Company” in 1971. Vying in that category were “Stop the World I Wanted...
- 5/8/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
‘Gone With The Wind’ To Get Trigger Warning For “Hurtful Or Harmful” Aspects Of 19th-Century Slavery
Gone With the Wind will now come with a trigger warning for those affected by descriptions of 19th century slavery in the Deep South.
The Daily Telegraph in the UK reports that publisher Pan Macmillan has decided readers could find depictions of the era “hurtful or indeed harmful,” and is adding a warning to new editions of Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel – published in 1936 and brought to the screen in 1939 starring Vivien Leigh and Clarke Gable as southern belle Scarlett O’Hara and her husband Rhett Butler.
In contract with recent issues of Agatha Christie works – which have been edited to remove content considered objectionable in 2023 – Mitchell’s copy has not been altered, but the warning gives notice of “shocking elements” and “the romanticization of a shocking era in our history.”
It adds: ‘The novel includes the representation of unacceptable practices, racist and stereotypical depictions and troubling themes, characterisation, language and imagery.
The Daily Telegraph in the UK reports that publisher Pan Macmillan has decided readers could find depictions of the era “hurtful or indeed harmful,” and is adding a warning to new editions of Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel – published in 1936 and brought to the screen in 1939 starring Vivien Leigh and Clarke Gable as southern belle Scarlett O’Hara and her husband Rhett Butler.
In contract with recent issues of Agatha Christie works – which have been edited to remove content considered objectionable in 2023 – Mitchell’s copy has not been altered, but the warning gives notice of “shocking elements” and “the romanticization of a shocking era in our history.”
It adds: ‘The novel includes the representation of unacceptable practices, racist and stereotypical depictions and troubling themes, characterisation, language and imagery.
- 4/2/2023
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
In a four-decade career already marked by trailblazing and unprecedented achievement for female performers, Michelle Yeoh just notched a big one: becoming the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for best actress.
Yeoh’s Oscar-winning performance in A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once was the first time the Malaysia-born actress had been No. 1 on a Hollywood call sheet, playing a struggling laundromat owner and lifelong loser who finds herself the savior of the multiverse (and learns to reconcile with her long-suffering husband and estranged daughter in the process).
“Ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are past your prime,” said Yeoh, who at 60 was the oldest nominee in her category. “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities.”
With her win, Yeoh becomes the first woman of full Asian descent to earn best actress in Oscars history.
Yeoh’s Oscar-winning performance in A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once was the first time the Malaysia-born actress had been No. 1 on a Hollywood call sheet, playing a struggling laundromat owner and lifelong loser who finds herself the savior of the multiverse (and learns to reconcile with her long-suffering husband and estranged daughter in the process).
“Ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are past your prime,” said Yeoh, who at 60 was the oldest nominee in her category. “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities.”
With her win, Yeoh becomes the first woman of full Asian descent to earn best actress in Oscars history.
- 3/13/2023
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
With Michelle Yeoh’s historic win at Sunday’s Academy Awards for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the genre-bending sci-fi film has achieved a feat that has only happened twice before in Oscars history and for the first time in 46 years.
Alongside supporting cast members Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, Yeoh has made “Everything Everywhere” the third film in history to win three acting Oscars.
The first film to achieve that trifecta was “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1951, with Vivien Leigh winning Best Actress for her performance as the tragic Blanche DuBois with Kim Hunter and Karl Malden winning supporting Oscars for playing Stella Kowalski and Blanche’s potential husband Mitch, respectively.
Also Read:
Michelle Yeoh Is the First Asian Woman to Win a Best Actress Oscar
Twenty-six years later, Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet’s satire of broadcast news, “Network,” became the second film to achieve three acting wins.
Alongside supporting cast members Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, Yeoh has made “Everything Everywhere” the third film in history to win three acting Oscars.
The first film to achieve that trifecta was “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1951, with Vivien Leigh winning Best Actress for her performance as the tragic Blanche DuBois with Kim Hunter and Karl Malden winning supporting Oscars for playing Stella Kowalski and Blanche’s potential husband Mitch, respectively.
Also Read:
Michelle Yeoh Is the First Asian Woman to Win a Best Actress Oscar
Twenty-six years later, Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet’s satire of broadcast news, “Network,” became the second film to achieve three acting wins.
- 3/13/2023
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
The SAG Awards often match the Oscars for acting pretty closely, so when “Everything Everywhere All at Once” achieved an unprecedented clean sweep of all its categories including three individual acting races, the immediate question became, can it do the same thing at the Oscars? Only two films in history have ever won three acting trophies.
See‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ or ‘Everything Everywhere’ would be 9th film to win both supporting acting Oscars
“A Streetcar Named Desire” was the first. Adapted from Tennessee Williams‘s play, the 1951 film won Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actor (Karl Malden), and Best Supporting Actress (Kim Hunter). The only award it lost was Best Actor for arguably the film’s most iconic performance by Marlon Brando. That award went instead to Humphrey Bogart for “The African Queen.”
Then 1976’s “Network” pulled off the same feat, winning three awards out of a remarkable five acting nominations.
See‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ or ‘Everything Everywhere’ would be 9th film to win both supporting acting Oscars
“A Streetcar Named Desire” was the first. Adapted from Tennessee Williams‘s play, the 1951 film won Best Actress (Vivien Leigh), Best Supporting Actor (Karl Malden), and Best Supporting Actress (Kim Hunter). The only award it lost was Best Actor for arguably the film’s most iconic performance by Marlon Brando. That award went instead to Humphrey Bogart for “The African Queen.”
Then 1976’s “Network” pulled off the same feat, winning three awards out of a remarkable five acting nominations.
- 3/12/2023
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
For most actors, winning an Oscar is seen as the absolute pinnacle of a Hollywood career. For a select group of performers, though, one simply isn’t enough.
There have been 44 different actors to have won multiple awards, the first coming in 1937 when Luise Rainer became the original two-time Oscar darling.
Some manage to win every time they are nominated. Others, such as the inimitable Meryl Streep, have careers peppered with nominations, winning only when the so-called narrative dictates.
In 2021, Anthony Hopkins took home his second statuette, for his role in The Father. The year before, Renée Zellweger took home her second Oscar after playing Judy Garland in Judy.
In 2020, Mahershala Ali picked up his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Best Picture winner Green Book. He previously won for Moonlight in 2017.
Here are the actors with the most Oscar wins.
Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins picked up his second Oscar for The Father,...
There have been 44 different actors to have won multiple awards, the first coming in 1937 when Luise Rainer became the original two-time Oscar darling.
Some manage to win every time they are nominated. Others, such as the inimitable Meryl Streep, have careers peppered with nominations, winning only when the so-called narrative dictates.
In 2021, Anthony Hopkins took home his second statuette, for his role in The Father. The year before, Renée Zellweger took home her second Oscar after playing Judy Garland in Judy.
In 2020, Mahershala Ali picked up his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Best Picture winner Green Book. He previously won for Moonlight in 2017.
Here are the actors with the most Oscar wins.
Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins picked up his second Oscar for The Father,...
- 3/12/2023
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - Film
Celebrated director William Wyler directed 19 feature films in 1927 alone. To put that into perspective, Stanley Kubrick directed 13 in his whole career.
Wyler is one of the more towering figures in American cinema, holding the record for the greatest number of Oscar nominations for Best Director at 12, and has won three times for "Mrs. Miniver," for "The Best Years of Our Lives," and for "Ben-Hur." Additionally, his films have attracted more Oscar attention than any other filmmaker in history; 13 of them have been nominated for Best Picture, and he directed 14 Oscar-winning performances. If you are playing Trivial Pursuit and the question is about records at the Academy Awards, William Wyler is likely your best guess.
As one of the tentpoles of Hollywood's Golden Age, naturally, Wyler was afforded access to the best actors and actresses, and seemingly had his run of whatever projects he wanted. Throughout the 1920s, Wyler paid his...
Wyler is one of the more towering figures in American cinema, holding the record for the greatest number of Oscar nominations for Best Director at 12, and has won three times for "Mrs. Miniver," for "The Best Years of Our Lives," and for "Ben-Hur." Additionally, his films have attracted more Oscar attention than any other filmmaker in history; 13 of them have been nominated for Best Picture, and he directed 14 Oscar-winning performances. If you are playing Trivial Pursuit and the question is about records at the Academy Awards, William Wyler is likely your best guess.
As one of the tentpoles of Hollywood's Golden Age, naturally, Wyler was afforded access to the best actors and actresses, and seemingly had his run of whatever projects he wanted. Throughout the 1920s, Wyler paid his...
- 3/10/2023
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Gone With the Wind is an iconic film from the early days of Hollywood, starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. While the movie is still memorable today, it also is controversial. Part of the controversy has to do with the film’s portrayal of Black people and slavery. Another problematic aspect involves what occurred during production. But Gable wasn’t happy with the segregation on set.
Segregation on the ‘Gone With the Wind’ set American actor Clark Gable and British actress Vivien Leigh on the set of Gone with the Wind, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell and directed by Victor Fleming. | Metro-Goldwin-Mayer Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Many areas of the country saw segregation in the 1930s, but a few places experienced integration. According to ReelRundown, Lennie Bluett came from an integrated neighborhood in Culver City. He began acting in small roles and became an extra for Gone With the Wind.
Segregation on the ‘Gone With the Wind’ set American actor Clark Gable and British actress Vivien Leigh on the set of Gone with the Wind, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell and directed by Victor Fleming. | Metro-Goldwin-Mayer Pictures/Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Many areas of the country saw segregation in the 1930s, but a few places experienced integration. According to ReelRundown, Lennie Bluett came from an integrated neighborhood in Culver City. He began acting in small roles and became an extra for Gone With the Wind.
- 3/9/2023
- by Victoria Koehl
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
In the time since Olivia Colman won the 2019 Best Actress Oscar for appearing in 49 minutes and 48 seconds of “The Favourite,” the academy has consistently given the same award to women with much higher amounts of screen time. All of the category’s last three champions delivered performances that are over 80 minutes in length and rank among the 22 longest ever honored here. Since four of the five current Best Actress nominees hit the 93-minute mark, this trend is practically bound to continue.
Reigning Best Actress victor Jessica Chastain earned the prize for her one hour, 36 minutes, and 42 seconds of work as Tammy Faye Bakker in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” which amounts to 76.45% of the film. Hers is the fifth longest of the 97 performances that have won this award, after those of Vivien Leigh (“Gone with the Wind”), Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”), Meryl Streep (“Sophie’s Choice”), and Olivia de Havilland (“To Each His Own...
Reigning Best Actress victor Jessica Chastain earned the prize for her one hour, 36 minutes, and 42 seconds of work as Tammy Faye Bakker in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” which amounts to 76.45% of the film. Hers is the fifth longest of the 97 performances that have won this award, after those of Vivien Leigh (“Gone with the Wind”), Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”), Meryl Streep (“Sophie’s Choice”), and Olivia de Havilland (“To Each His Own...
- 3/8/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Nicole Kidman has starred in Viking revenge sagas and superhero flicks, but the role that wreaked havoc on her body was an unlikely source of pain for the Australian icon. Moulin Rouge! proved to be a challenging production that led to a flurry of injuries, ultimately costing her a coveted role opposite another Hollywood star. Despite adversity in both her career and private life at the time, Kidman would emerge from Moulin Rouge! more popular than ever despite the production woes.
Nicole Kidman broke two ribs while filming ‘Moulin Rouge!’
Filming for Moulin Rouge! involved plenty of late nights as director Baz Luhrmann looked to perfect the movie’s signature dance routines. As Kidman explained on the Graham Norton Show, she was still on set at three in the morning on one occasion when she tumbled down steps in high heels. The result was a broken rib that made her...
Nicole Kidman broke two ribs while filming ‘Moulin Rouge!’
Filming for Moulin Rouge! involved plenty of late nights as director Baz Luhrmann looked to perfect the movie’s signature dance routines. As Kidman explained on the Graham Norton Show, she was still on set at three in the morning on one occasion when she tumbled down steps in high heels. The result was a broken rib that made her...
- 3/8/2023
- by Produced by Digital Editors
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
What was the last film to have three of its stars all win Oscars? How long has it been since Steven Spielberg has won an Oscar? Who was the first posthumous nominee? These questions are answered, along with more fun facts, tidbits and trivia.
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” would be just the third film to earn three Oscars in the acting categories. Michelle Yeoh is the favorite to win best actress, as is Ke Huy Quan in the supporting actor race. And Jamie Lee Curtis or Stephanie Hsu ould pull out a win as supporting actress. The first time that happened was at the 1952 ceremony when Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter won for “A Streetcar Named Desire,” followed 25 years later with Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight winning for “Network.”
Steven Spielberg has been nominated 22 times including three this year for “The Fabelmans”: best picture,...
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” would be just the third film to earn three Oscars in the acting categories. Michelle Yeoh is the favorite to win best actress, as is Ke Huy Quan in the supporting actor race. And Jamie Lee Curtis or Stephanie Hsu ould pull out a win as supporting actress. The first time that happened was at the 1952 ceremony when Vivien Leigh, Karl Malden and Kim Hunter won for “A Streetcar Named Desire,” followed 25 years later with Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight winning for “Network.”
Steven Spielberg has been nominated 22 times including three this year for “The Fabelmans”: best picture,...
- 3/8/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
For only the eighth time ever and first time since 1978, multiple films have simultaneously received at least four Oscar nominations for acting. “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which earned a collective total of 20 academy notices, are now the 39th and 40th films to have four or more of their performers recognized, and they could soon be added to the list of 25 films of this kind that scored at least one acting win. However, it is possible that one or both could follow the 13 other movies – including “The Power of the Dog” (2022) – that lost on all of their acting bids.
“The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” each ended up with one lead acting notice, for Colin Farrell and Michelle Yeoh, respectively. Farrell’s three nominated supporting cast mates are Kerry Condon, Brendan Gleeson, and Barry Keoghan, while Yeoh’s are Jamie Lee Curtis,...
“The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” each ended up with one lead acting notice, for Colin Farrell and Michelle Yeoh, respectively. Farrell’s three nominated supporting cast mates are Kerry Condon, Brendan Gleeson, and Barry Keoghan, while Yeoh’s are Jamie Lee Curtis,...
- 3/6/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” has had a great couple of days. The Oscar frontrunner won the top prize at the Producers Guild of America Awards on Saturday, proving that it can conquer the preferential ballot. The next day, it pulled off a historic sweep at Screen Actors Guild Awards with a record four wins for ensemble, lead actress for Michelle Yeoh, supporting actor for Ke Huy Quan and supporting actress for Jamie Lee Curtis. The triple individual wins — also a first for a film in SAG Awards history — were unexpected as Curtis upset odds-on favorite Angela Bassett (“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”), but they just speak to the movie’s strength. They also tee it up for a never-before-seen above-the-line sweep at the Oscars: “Everything Everywhere” can be the first film to win Best Picture, Best Director, a screenplay award and three acting prizes.
The multiversal hit is the runaway...
The multiversal hit is the runaway...
- 3/2/2023
- by Joyce Eng
- Gold Derby
‘Gone With the Wind’ Had Much Harsher, More Violent Slavery Scenes Cut From Original Shooting Script
The screenwriters working on “Gone With the Wind” went to “war” over the depiction of slavery – with more disturbing and violent elements eventually being cut from the 1939 blockbuster, according to a historian who discovered the scenes in an extremely rare original shooting script.
David Vincent Kimel, a history PhD student at Yale, wrote in The Ankler on Wednesday that he paid $15,000 for a shooting script that belonged to casting director Fred Schuessler. He says several writers pushed for a more realistic depiction of slavery and race relations during the Civil War and Reconstruction, but the scenes they wrote were ultimately cut.
“Gone With the Wind” has been criticized for decades over its sanitized version of slavery in the Antebellum South. HBO Max added a disclaimer to the film in 2020, saying it ignores “the horrors of slavery, as well as its legacies of racial inequality.”
“Gone With the Wind” was adapted from the 1936 epic novel,...
David Vincent Kimel, a history PhD student at Yale, wrote in The Ankler on Wednesday that he paid $15,000 for a shooting script that belonged to casting director Fred Schuessler. He says several writers pushed for a more realistic depiction of slavery and race relations during the Civil War and Reconstruction, but the scenes they wrote were ultimately cut.
“Gone With the Wind” has been criticized for decades over its sanitized version of slavery in the Antebellum South. HBO Max added a disclaimer to the film in 2020, saying it ignores “the horrors of slavery, as well as its legacies of racial inequality.”
“Gone With the Wind” was adapted from the 1936 epic novel,...
- 3/2/2023
- by Josh Dickey
- The Wrap
As we approach O-Day and the 95th Academy Awards on March 12, it’s always fun to go back and look at the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories and revel in some of the trivia and shockers that have gone down on the awards season’s biggest stage. This is the rare year when Meryl Streep isn’t in the running, as her 21 overall nominations in the acting categories are nearly double the number of her closest female pursuer, Katherine Hepburn, who has 12. However, Hepburn still holds the all-time Oscar record with four acting wins. Streep has a mere three.
Here are some other actress category factoids to chew on:
Should Cate Blanchett win Best Actress this year for her role in “Tar,” she would tie Streep, Ingrid Bergman and Frances McDormand for second place behind Hepburn among actresses with three triumphs apiece. All four of Hepburn’s wins...
Here are some other actress category factoids to chew on:
Should Cate Blanchett win Best Actress this year for her role in “Tar,” she would tie Streep, Ingrid Bergman and Frances McDormand for second place behind Hepburn among actresses with three triumphs apiece. All four of Hepburn’s wins...
- 2/28/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
Oscar-winning actor Clark Gable earned the name of “The King of Hollywood” thanks to his expansive career that spanned more than three decades and several genres. He wasn’t shy when it came to winning an award, but he also had a refreshingly unique take on the meaning behind such an accomplishment. Gable gave away the only Oscar he ever won to a child to teach them a lesson.
Clark Gable won an Oscar for ‘It Happened One Night’ Clark Gable | Getty Images
Gable won his first, and only, Oscar for the romantic comedy called It Happened One Night. The Frank Capra-directed film hit theaters in 1934, which was written by Robert Riskin based on Samuel Hopkins Adams’ short story.
The story follows a spoiled young woman named Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), who suddenly marries a sketchy King Westley. In response, her father (Walter Connolly) sends her away on his yacht,...
Clark Gable won an Oscar for ‘It Happened One Night’ Clark Gable | Getty Images
Gable won his first, and only, Oscar for the romantic comedy called It Happened One Night. The Frank Capra-directed film hit theaters in 1934, which was written by Robert Riskin based on Samuel Hopkins Adams’ short story.
The story follows a spoiled young woman named Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), who suddenly marries a sketchy King Westley. In response, her father (Walter Connolly) sends her away on his yacht,...
- 2/27/2023
- by Jeff Nelson
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the most-nominated film at this year’s Oscars, won the most SAG Awards ever Sunday night with four trophies. Final Oscars voting begins on Thursday, March 2, and it’s no longer a question about whether the A24 sci-fi comedy will win best picture, but how many statuettes it will take home. Probably a lot.
Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win a SAG lead actress film award. Seeing her emotion take hold of her was heartwarming and long overdue for an actress that should have already been nominated for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018). However, her speech may not have been as boisterous or memorable as we would like, especially for someone competing with Cate Blanchett, after winning BAFTA, Critics Choice and Globes for “Tár.” However, her co-star James Hong may have brought it home for Yeoh with his rousing...
Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian woman to win a SAG lead actress film award. Seeing her emotion take hold of her was heartwarming and long overdue for an actress that should have already been nominated for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018). However, her speech may not have been as boisterous or memorable as we would like, especially for someone competing with Cate Blanchett, after winning BAFTA, Critics Choice and Globes for “Tár.” However, her co-star James Hong may have brought it home for Yeoh with his rousing...
- 2/27/2023
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
For many years, the Baftas – Britain’s pre-eminent awards ceremony – has lagged behind its American cousin in terms of raw drama. Where the Oscars has had the Moonlight kerfuffle of 2017 and last year’s notorious “slap”, Baftas night has always been rather safe. Almost boring. This has been aided by the fact that, although the show has been broadcast in some form since 1956 when Vivien Leigh was hosting, it is generally aired on TV at least a few hours after news of the winners has broken. That kills both the innate tension of the prizegiving and also stifles the possibility for the sort of spontaneous carnage that has typified events at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. So it was a relief to find out that the 2023 incarnation, anchored by Richard E Grant, would be sort-of, almost, not-quite broadcast live.
And when you’re in the market for carefully manufactured mayhem,...
And when you’re in the market for carefully manufactured mayhem,...
- 2/19/2023
- by Nick Hilton
- The Independent - Film
The 76th BAFTAs take place on Sunday, February 19 at the Royal Festival Hall with Richard E. Grant hosting. Germany’s ‘”All Quiet on the Western Front” leads with 14 nominations, followed by 10 for “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and nine for “Elvis.”
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts was founded in April 1947 as the British Film Academy by luminaries including David Lean, Carol Reed, Charles Laughton, Laurence Olivier, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Lean was named chairman of the awards that would “recognize those which had contributed outstanding creative work towards the advancement of British film.” Eleven years later, the British Film Academy merged with the Guild of Television Producers and Directors.
The first awards were handed out on May 29, 1949 at the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square to honor films released in Britain in 1947-48. Best Picture went to William Wyler’s 1946 release “The Best Years of Our Lives,...
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts was founded in April 1947 as the British Film Academy by luminaries including David Lean, Carol Reed, Charles Laughton, Laurence Olivier, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Lean was named chairman of the awards that would “recognize those which had contributed outstanding creative work towards the advancement of British film.” Eleven years later, the British Film Academy merged with the Guild of Television Producers and Directors.
The first awards were handed out on May 29, 1949 at the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square to honor films released in Britain in 1947-48. Best Picture went to William Wyler’s 1946 release “The Best Years of Our Lives,...
- 2/16/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
It was the evening of February 29, 1940. The 12th Annual Academy Awards were scheduled to be held at the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, the same facility where Robert Kennedy would be assassinated some 28 years later. But on this night, a different sort of history would be made. Hattie McDaniel, the actress who starred as Mammy, the head slave at the fictional Southern plantation Tara in the Civil War epic “Gone with the Wind,” would accept an Oscar for supporting actress. In the process, she would become the first African American performer to be so honored.
Yet despite the undeniable progress inherent in McDaniel’s triumph, that night 83 years ago was rife with racist and humiliating overtones for McDaniel, the daughter of two former slaves. It began with her being barred from the “Gone with the Wind” world premiere on December 15, 1939 at the Loew’s...
Yet despite the undeniable progress inherent in McDaniel’s triumph, that night 83 years ago was rife with racist and humiliating overtones for McDaniel, the daughter of two former slaves. It began with her being barred from the “Gone with the Wind” world premiere on December 15, 1939 at the Loew’s...
- 2/15/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
For most actors, winning an Oscar is seen as the absolute pinnacle of a Hollywood career. For a select group of performers, though, one simply isn’t enough.
There have been 44 different actors to have won multiple awards, the first coming in 1937 when Luise Rainer became the original two-time Oscar darling.
Some manage to win every time they are nominated. Others, such as the inimitable Meryl Streep, have careers peppered with nominations, winning only when the so-called narrative dictates.
In 2021, Anthony Hopkins took home his second statuette, for his role in The Father. The year before, Renée Zellweger took home her second Oscar after playing Judy Garland in Judy.
In 2020, Mahershala Ali picked up his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Best Picture winner Green Book. He previously won for Moonlight in 2017.
Here are the actors with the most Oscar wins.
Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins picked up his second Oscar for The Father,...
There have been 44 different actors to have won multiple awards, the first coming in 1937 when Luise Rainer became the original two-time Oscar darling.
Some manage to win every time they are nominated. Others, such as the inimitable Meryl Streep, have careers peppered with nominations, winning only when the so-called narrative dictates.
In 2021, Anthony Hopkins took home his second statuette, for his role in The Father. The year before, Renée Zellweger took home her second Oscar after playing Judy Garland in Judy.
In 2020, Mahershala Ali picked up his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Best Picture winner Green Book. He previously won for Moonlight in 2017.
Here are the actors with the most Oscar wins.
Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins picked up his second Oscar for The Father,...
- 1/25/2023
- by Louis Chilton
- The Independent - Film
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