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Logan “Stan” Garner, a train coordinator for movie and TV productions who often played a train conductor on film, died May 20 in Arizona. He was 83.

Born in Pasadena, he lived in Southern California until moving to Arizona in 2007. Garner was a founding partner with Short Line Enterprises, where he restored and operated 19th century steam locomotives and passenger cars for museums and excursion trains.

After film and TV producers began requesting trains, the company created a movie railroad backlot, which was used for productions until the late 1980s. As owner of the Train Source, he became a sought-out train coordinator, assembling locomotives, providing passenger and freight cars, creating sets for train crossings, tracks and stations and providing personnel for TV productions.

He became a SAG member and was often cast as a train conductor or railroad worker in productions.

Garner worked on over 300 feature films, TV episodes, movies of the week and music videos.

Although some of the most famous works about the Holocaust appear in other media — “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” for example, among books and Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” in films — television is the medium that has brought the horror of the Nazis’ murder of six million Jews to the most people around the world. The importance of shining a light on the evil plan behind the Holocaust may be even more crucial today, as the Nazi agenda of white supremacy has made an unfortunate return in these times, once again rising (and even flourishing) in countries around the world.

Even taking on a subject as horrifyingly specific as the Holocaust, television has responded by telling the story in many different ways — through epic miniseries, dramas about Jewish prisoners, adventures of both rescuers and rebels and even a look into the Nazi psyche itself (“Conspiracy”).

No matter...

Veteran character actress Elizabeth Hoffman, perhaps best known for her role as Beatrice Reed Ventnor, mother of the titular sisters played by Swoosie Kurtz, Sela Ward, Patricia Kalember and Julianne Phillips, on NBC’s ’90s drama series Sisters, has died. Hoffman passed away of natural causes on Aug. 21 at her home in Malibu, CA, her son Chris confirmed to Deadline’s sister pub THR. She was 97.

Born in Corvallis, Or, Hoffman made her television debut recurring as Miss Mason on Little House on the Prairie in 1980. The following year she made her feature film debut as the lead in Frank Laloggia’s supernatural horror film Fear No Evil.

Hoffman also is known for her portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt in The Winds of War, the television miniseries directed and produced by Dan Curtis, which spanned the earliest years of World War II, from the Nazi blitzkrieg of Poland in 1939 to the...

Elizabeth Hoffman, best known for starring in NBC‘s Sisters in the ’90s (pictured above), died at the age of 97. The veteran actress passed away on August 21 in her home in Malibu, according to her son Chris (via The Hollywood Reporter). Hoffman was born on February 8, 1926, and started out in theater before her first onscreen role came via Little House of the Prairie; she appeared in three episodes of the series from 1980 to 1981. She also appeared in the film Fear No Evil in 1981. In the years following her episodes of Little House on the Prairie, Hoffman appeared on shows such as The Greatest American Hero, The Winds of War, The A-Team, Blue Thunder, and Hunter. Her other TV roles included L.A. Law, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Matlock, and thirtysomething, leading up to the aforementioned NBC series. Hoffman played Eleanor Roosevelt in two miniseries, The Winds of War in 1983 and War and Remembrance,...

Elizabeth Hoffman, the actress who portrayed Beatrice “Bea” Reed Ventnor in NBC’s ’90s family drama Sisters, died of natural causes at her home in Malibu, Calif. on Aug. 21. She was 97 years old.

The news was confirmed by Hoffman’s son Chris to The Hollywood Reporter.

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On Sisters, the actress played mom to four daughters played by Swoosie Kurtz, Sela Ward, Patricia Kalember and Julianne Phillips. The...

Although some of the most famous works about the Holocaust appear in other media — “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” for example, among books and Steven Spielberg‘s “Schindler’s List” in films — television is the medium that has brought the horror of the Nazis’ murder of six million Jews to the most people around the world. The importance of shining a light on the evil plan behind the Holocaust may be even more crucial today, as the Nazi agenda of white supremacy has made an unfortunate return in these times, once again rising (and even flourishing) in countries around the world.

Even taking on a subject as horrifyingly specific as the Holocaust, television has responded by telling the story in many different ways — through epic miniseries, dramas about Jewish prisoners, adventures of both rescuers and rebels and even a look into the Nazi psyche itself (“Conspiracy”).

SEE2023 Emmy...

Chaim Topol, who became professionally known solely by his last name in a career that included starring in “Fiddler on the Roof” on stage and screen and co-starring in the James Bond movie “For Your Eyes Only” and the sci-fi film “Flash Gordon,” died Thursday in Tel Aviv after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 87 years old.

Topol’s death was confirmed by Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, who described him as a “gifted actor who conquered many stages in Israel and overseas, filled the cinema screens with his presence and especially entered deep into our hearts.”

Topol began his long association with the starring role of Tevye the milkman in the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” in 1967, appearing in the West End production, which ran for 2,030 performances. He starred in Norman Jewison’s 1971 film version, which carried a budget estimated at $9 million and garnered a domestic gross of $80 million.

You may be surprised to learn that the first Hollywood film that dealt with the Holocaust was released during the height of World War II. The 1944 Andre De Toth film, “None Shall Escape” shows a group of Polish-Jews gunned down by the Nazis while they are being forced into boxcars for deportation. Over the subsequent decades, the horrors of the Holocaust have been depicted on the big screen in such classics as 1959’s “The Diary of Anne Frank”; 1982’s “Sophie’s Choice,” for which Meryl Streep won her first Best Actress Oscar; and Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning 1993 masterpiece “Schindler’s List.”

The Holocaust, in which six million Jews died during World War II, has also been the subject of numerous lauded TV movies and miniseries. The latest is Barry Levinson’s acclaimed “The Survivor,” which premiered last September at the Toronto Film Festival and on HBO and HBO Max. The film, Levinson...

"Basic Instinct" star Sharon Stone poses for "Harper's Bazaar" (Spain) magazine, photographed by Juankr, wearing Oscar de la Renta, Gucci and Stella McCartney:

After modelling in television commercials and print advertisements, Stone made her film debut as an extra in "Stardust Memories" (1980), followed by a speaking part in the horror feature "Deadly Blessing" (1981)...

..."Irreconcilable Differences" (1984), "King Solomon's Mines" (1985), "Cold Steel" (1987), "Action Jackson" (1988), "Above the Law" (1988) and "Total Recall" (1990).

Her breakout role as 'Catherine Tramell" in director Paul Verhoeven's "Basic Instinct" (1992), earned Stone a 'Golden Globe Award' nomination for 'Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama'.

She received further critical acclaim in director Martin Scorsese's "Casino (1995), garnering an 'Academy Award' nomination for 'Best Actress', receiving two more 'Golden Globe Award' nominations for her roles in "The Mighty" (1998) and "The Muse" (1999).

Other notable film roles include "Sliver" (1993), "The Specialist" (1994), "The Quick and the Dead" (1995), "Last Dance" (1996), "Sphere" (1998), "Catwoman" (2004), "Broken...

Dave is a sap.

He's the kind of guy whose idea of an exciting date includes average pasta at an average restaurant, raving about it for hours.

It's no wonder he's no good at love.

Shane Nepveu plays Dave, a guy who, after he raves about the aforementioned average pasta, loses his girlfriend, Denise (Christine Turturro).

She dumps him when his dimwitted raving makes her realize that their relationship started without sparks, and it fizzled even more in the waning days.

Twelve months later, Dave still has a pic of him and Denise as the wallpaper on his phone, and his cousin, Morris (Briana Marin), has had enough.

Trying to get him out of the bubble of misery he's safely ensconced himself in will take a herculean effort, which is beyond even her commendable skill set.

Morris is the gal who races toward a party and easily becomes its life force.

Everyone’s favorite pot-smoking teddy bear is headed to Peacock.

The streaming service has handed a straight-to-series order to Ted, a live-action prequel based on the 2012 film of the same name, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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Seth MacFarlane will serve as writer and executive producer on the 10-episode series, and is currently in negotiations to reprise his voiceover role. Neither Mark Wahlberg nor Mila Kunis, who starred in the first film, are currently attached.

Exclusive: The movie Arlington Road is eying a return as a TV series inspired by the 1999 neo-noir thriller. Paramount+ is in early stages of development on the project, from the film’s director Mark Pellington.

The Alienist co-executive producer Seth Fisher is writing the TV series adaptation. CBS Studios and Village Roadshow Television are co-producing.

Pellington, who is set to direct the potential series, executive produces with Fisher.

The 1999 paranoid thriller movie stars Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack and Hope Davis. Ehren Kruger wrote the script, which won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Nicholl Fellowship in 1996. The film tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their plot. Watch a trailer below.

In addition to Arlington Road, Fisher has a high-profile series in the works at UCP: Fisher and...

Elan Mastai is developing a series adaptation of his novel “All Our Wrong Todays” at Peacock with Seth MacFarlane onboard as an executive producer.

The project is described as a mind bending time travel love story that explores alternate versions of ourselves in dramatically surprising and often unexpected ways.

Mastai will adapt the novel for the screen. MacFarlane and Erica Huggins will executive produce via Fuzzy Door Productions, with Fuzzy Door’s Rachel Hargreaves-Heald overseeing the project. Amy Pascal and Rachel O’Connor of Pascal Pictures will also executive produce. UCP will serve as the studio. Fuzzy Door is currently under a rich overall deal at UCP.

Mastai currently works as a writer and supervising producer on the hit NBC drama series “This Is Us.” His feature credits include “What If” and “The Samaritan.” “All Our Wrong Todays” was originally published in 2017 and has since been translated into 24 languages.

He is...

Seth MacFarlane and Chadwick Boseman are teaming as executive producers on a limited series about the Little Rock Nine that is currently in development at Universal Content Productions (Ucp).

The untitled series is set in 1957 after the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education. 14 year-old Carlotta Walls is among the first black students to attend the all-white Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. She walks into an unexpectedly violent struggle against integration, which suddenly turns her and the other black students into civil rights icons.

The series is based on the best-selling memoir “A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High” by Carlotta Walls, now known as Carlotta Walls Lanier, the youngest member of The Little Rock Nine and the first African American female to graduate from the integrated school.

Eisa Davis is the writer on the project and will also executive produce.

Seth MacFarlane has set his first project under his overall deal with NBCUniversal inked earlier this year. Ucp has put in development The Winds of War (working title), a limited series based on Herman Wouk’s The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, with MacFarlane and Seth Fisher (The Alienist) set to pen the adaptation and executive produce.

The Winds of War is the epic story of one American family’s turbulent voyage across the continents and across the years that spanned the Second World War.

Family Guy and The Orville creator MacFarlane and Fisher will executive produce with Fuzzy Door’s Erica Huggins. Ucp, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio. Rachel Hargreaves-Heald is the executive in charge for Fuzzy Door.

“We are thrilled to announce The Winds of War (and War and Remembrance) as the first of many projects we are developing with Fuzzy Door.

Seth MacFarlane has set up his first project under the bumper overall deal he signed with NBCUniversal earlier this year.

The “Family Guy” and “American Dad” creator is developing a limited series called “The Winds of War” (working title), based on Herman Wouk’s novels “The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance.”

The project hails from Ucp, a division Universal Studio Group, and MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door Productions banner.

It is described as telling the epic story of one American family’s turbulent voyage across the continents and across the years that spanned the Second World War.

MacFarlane will write and executive produce the project, which is being shopped around to broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, alongside Seth Fisher.

“I can’t think of a more exciting project with which to launch my creative partnership with Ucp than Herman Wouk’s ‘The Winds of War.; I’ve been a...

Seth MacFarlane is adapting Herman Wouk’s “The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance” novels into a limited series for Universal Content Productions, marking the first project under his new overall deal at NBCUniversal.

MacFarlane’s show, which is based on both of those Wouk books and goes by the working title “The Winds of War,” tells “the epic story of one American family’s turbulent voyage across the continents and across the years that spanned the Second World War,” per Ucp, a division of Universal Studio Group.

The “Family Guy” creator will co-write the script and exec produce alongside Seth Fisher (“The Alienist”), with MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door partner Erica Huggins also executive producing. Rachel Hargreaves-Heald is the executive in charge for Fuzzy Door. Ucp plans to shop the show to broadcast networks, cablers and streaming platforms.

Also Read: Seth MacFarlane Moves From 20th Century Fox to NBCU With 5-Year,...

Bob Cobert, the Grammy- and Emmy-nominated composer of television’s “Dark Shadows” and “The Winds of War,” died of pneumonia Feb. 19, in Palm Desert, Calif. He was 95.

Cobert’s themes for the 1960s Gothic horror soap “Dark Shadows” – “great spook music,” he once called it – were his most popular compositions, and “Quentin’s Theme” (for the character played by David Selby) became a top 10 hit in 1969 as recorded by the Charles Randolph Grean Sound, earning a Grammy nomination as Best Instrumental Theme.

The “Dark Shadows” score, the first daytime soap to generate a best-selling soundtrack album, cemented Cobert’s partnership with the series’ creator-producer Dan Curtis, who continued to employ Cobert on nearly all of his television and film projects for the next four decades.

They did four features and more than two dozen television films together. Their largest-scale project was “The Winds of War,” the 18-hour 1983 miniseries based on...

"Basic Instinct" star Sharon Stone poses for the November 2019 issue of "Harper's Bazaar" (Spain) magazine, photographed by Juankr, wearing Oscar de la Renta, Gucci and Stella McCartney:

After modelling in television commercials and print advertisements, Stone made her film debut as an extra in "Stardust Memories" (1980), followed by a speaking part in the horror feature "Deadly Blessing" (1981)...

..."Irreconcilable Differences" (1984), "King Solomon's Mines" (1985), "Cold Steel" (1987), "Action Jackson" (1988), "Above the Law" (1988) and "Total Recall" (1990).

Her breakout role as 'Catherine Tramell" in director Paul Verhoeven's "Basic Instinct" (1992), earned Stone a 'Golden Globe Award' nomination for 'Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama'.

She received further critical acclaim in director Martin Scorsese's "Casino (1995), garnering an 'Academy Award' nomination for 'Best Actress', receiving two more 'Golden Globe Award' nominations for her roles in "The Mighty" (1998) and "The Muse" (1999).

Other notable film roles include "Sliver" (1993), "The Specialist" (1994), "The Quick and the Dead" (1995), "Last Dance...

Herman Wouk, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and author of novels including “The Caine Mutiny” and “The Winds of War,” has died. He was 103.

According to the Associated Press, he was just 10 days away from his 104th birthday. His literary agent, Amy Rennert, has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment, but she told the AP that he died in his sleep in Palm Springs, California.

“The Caine Mutiny,” which was released in 1951 won Wouk the Pulitzer Prize and was then adapted into the 1954 film starring Humphrey Bogart. The film, directed by Edward Dmytryk, scored seven Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture. It was also adapted into a stage play which first played on Broadway in 1954.

Also Read: Doris Day Remembered as a 'True Star' by Paul McCartney, Goldie Hawn and More: 'World's Sweetheart'

His later novels include “The Winds of War” (1971) and “War and Remembrance” (1978), which were adapted...

Herman Wouk, who authored books that became legendary films and TV programs including The Caine Mutiny and The Winds of War, died today in his sleep in Palm Springs, the Associated Press reports. He was 103.

Wouk published about a dozen novels and a handful of plays and nonfiction books during a 70-year career, and many became landmark screen adaptations. His World War II novel The Winds of War hit bookstores in 1971 and was followed by the 1978 sequel War and Remembrance. Both were turned into smash ABC miniseries — with Winds of War airing in 1983 and War and Remembrance in 1988. Both starred Robert Mitchum as Capt. Victor “Pug” Henry and earned multiple Emmys.

Born on May 27, 1915 in the Bronx, Wouk — like so many other young Americans — join the Armed Forces after Pearl Harbor, serving in the Navy. He began writing while off watch aboard ship. And his best-known works chronicled seaman during...

Herman Wouk, the author of novels adapted to the big and small screen, including “The Caine Mutiny,” “Marjorie Morningstar,” “The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance,” has died. He was 103.

“The Caine Mutiny,” a 1951 bestseller that won Wouk the Pulitzer Prize, was memorably adapted into the 1954 film starring Humphrey Bogart, who played the paranoid, mentally unstable captain of a Navy minesweeper whose actions drive his subordinates to mutiny. That pic, directed by Edward Dmytryk and also starring Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray, drew seven Oscar nominations, including those for best picture and screenplay for Stanley Roberts.

Wouk relied upon his wartime experiences not only for “The Caine Mutiny,” but for his later novels “The Winds of War” (1971) and “War and Remembrance” (1978). These expansive works, which followed one character, Navy Commander Victor “Pug” Henry, through seemingly every important moment in WWII, were adapted into the highly successful ABC miniseries of the same name.

He also starred in All Creatures Great And Small and Sense And Sensibility.

Actor Robert Hardy, best known for his roles in All Creatures Great And Small and Harry Potter, has died aged 91.

His family said Hardy had a “tremendous life” and “a giant career in theatre, television and film spanning more than 70 years”, according to the BBC.

Hardy played senior vet Siegfried Farnon in hit BBC series All Creatures Great And Small from 1978-1990.

He also found a new generation of fans when he was cast as Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter franchise.

Hardy had roles in Little Dorrit (2008), Middlemarch (1994), Sense And Sensibility (1995) and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965).

He played Winston Churchill several times, most famously in Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (1981), for which he won a Bafta, but also in Bomber Harris (1989) and War And Remembrance (1988) and an episode of Agatha Christie’s Marple (2006).

Known for his roles in BBC series All Creatures Great And Small, and the Harry Potter movies — as well as myriad portrayals of Winston Churchill — British actor Robert Hardy has died. His family told the BBC today that Hardy had a “tremendous life.” He was 91. Hardy’s career spanned more than 70 years, and saw him recognized for six incarnations of Churchill including in 1981’s PBS mini Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years; 1988’s ABC miniseries War And Remembrance…...

Mike Connors passed away today of leukemia at a hospital in Tarzana, CA. He was 91.

Connors is best known for his role as Joe Mannix on the CBS series Mannix that ran from 1967-1975.

He was good guy, a private detective who could take a punch like none other. 

Kreker J. Ohanian was born in Fresno, California in 1925. Of Armenian descent, the actor was told to change his name because it sounded too much like George O'Hanlon.

Connors began his film and television career in 1952 under the name Touch (a nickname he earned in college) Connors. 

Early on in the 1950s, he had a bevy of small roles in westerns such as Gun Smoke, Have Gun, Will Travel and Maverick. 

In 1959, Connors got his first series regular role in Tightrope.

Tightrope was originally going to be called Undercover Man, and that makes sense. Connor's character was an undercover agent who...

Herman Wouk has never been one for half-measures. His two-volume World War II saga, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, ran to nearly 2,000 pages and was adapted into a corresponding pair of TV miniseries. His third novel, The Caine Mutiny, won a Pulitzer, spawned a Broadway play, and gave Humphrey Bogart a defining role of his career. Wouk’s meaty, breezy fiction (on the Navy, the Holocaust, Israel, Nixon, a starry-eyed Jewish girl who called herself Marjorie Morningstar) earned him millions of readers but precious few glowing reviews. Still, even as he aged out of both the cultural center and the typical human lifespan, the strict Orthodox Jew kept on writing. Last week, at the age of 100, he finally published a memoir — of sorts. Sailor and Fiddler skims his life story in two parts: “Sailor,” devoted to work and show business, and “Fiddler,” on Israel and...

By Todd Garbarini

Jeannot Szwarc’s 1980 film Somewhere in Time, which stars Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer, will be screened at the The Royale Laemmle Theater in Los Angeles. Based upon the novel by Richard Matheson (who also wrote the screenplay), the 103-minute film will be screened on Tuesday, December 15h, 2015 at 7:30 pm.

Actress Jane Seymour, who played Elise McKenna in the film, is scheduled to appear in-person along with director Jeannot Szwarc, to discuss the film and answer audience questions following the screening.

From the press release:

A 35th Anniversary Screening of Somewhere In Time (1980)

Tuesday, December 15, at 7:30 Pm at the Royal Theatre

Jane Seymour and the late Christopher Reeve star in Jeannot Szwarc’s heady romantic drama about a contemporary playwright who becomes obsessed with a 1912 photograph of a beautiful stage actress and finds a way to travel back in time to meet her.

Polly Bergen: 'Desperate Housewives' Emmy nominee; winner for 'The Helen Morgan Story' (photo: Felicity Huffman, Doug Savant, and Polly Bergen in 'Desperate Housewives') (See previous article: "Polly Bergen: Actress on Richard Nixon 'Enemies List'.") Polly Bergen began her lengthy — and to some extent prestigious — television career in 1950, making sporadic appearances in anthology series. She won an Emmy for Best Actress in a Single Performance – Lead or Supporting — beating Julie Andrews, Helen Hayes, Teresa Wright, and Piper Laurie — for playing troubled torch singer Helen Morgan (Show Boat) in the 1957 Playhouse 90 episode "The Helen Morgan Story," featuring veteran Sylvia Sidney as Morgan's mother. Curiously, Bergen's retelling of Helen Morgan's story was broadcast the same year that Ann Blyth starred in Michael Curtiz's Morgan biopic. Also titled The Helen Morgan Story, the film focused on the relationship between the singer and a...

Polly Bergen dead at 84: ‘First woman president of the U.S.A.,’ former mistress of Tony Soprano’s father Emmy Award-winning actress Polly Bergen — whose roles ranged from the first U.S.A. woman president in Kisses for My President to the former mistress of both Tony Soprano’s father and John F. Kennedy in the television hit series The Sopranos — died from "natural causes" on September 20, 2014, at her home in Southbury, Connecticut. The 84-year-old Bergen, a heavy smoker for five decades, had been suffering from emphysema and other ailments since the 1990s. "Most people think I was born in a rich Long Island family," she told The Washington Post in 1988, but Polly Bergen was actually born Nellie Paulina Burgin on July 14, 1930, to an impoverished family in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her father was an illiterate construction worker while her mother got only as far as the third grade. The family...

Emmy-winning actress and singer Polly Bergen, who in a long career played the terrorized wife in the original Cape Fear and the first woman president in Kisses for My President, died Saturday, according to her publicist. She was 84. Bergen died at her home in Southbury, Connecticut, from natural causes, said publicist Judy Katz, surrounded by family and close friends. A brunette beauty with a warm, sultry singing voice, Bergen was a household name from her 20s onward. She made albums and played leading roles in films, stage musicals and TV dramas. She also hosted her own variety series, was a popular game show panelist,...

Emmy-winning actress and singer Polly Bergen, who in a long career played the terrorized wife in the original Cape Fear and the first woman president in Kisses for My President, died Saturday, according to her publicist. She was 84. Bergen died at her home in Southbury, Connecticut, from natural causes, said publicist Judy Katz, surrounded by family and close friends. A brunette beauty with a warm, sultry singing voice, Bergen was a household name from her 20s onward. She made albums and played leading roles in films, stage musicals and TV dramas. She also hosted her own variety series, was a popular game show panelist,...

Frank Marth, a veteran character actor whose career stretched from “Cavalcade of Stars” and “The Honeymooners” to “Hogan’s Heroes,” “M*A*S*H” and the miniseries “War and Remembrance,” has died at the age of 91, his wife Hope Holiday told TheWrap. Born in New York City, Marth began his acting career in the early days of television, when he was a regular on “The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse” and “Cavalcade of Stars.” Marth went on to appear in numerous episodes of Jackie Gleason’s “The Honeymooners” and “The Jackie Gleason Show.” In the 1950s he also appeared regularly on “The Phil Silvers Show,...

"Schindler's List" already looked like an instant classic the moment it was released 20 years ago this week (on December 15, 1993). Shot in timeless black-and-white, Steven Spielberg's based-in-fact account of Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who saved 1,200 Jews from the Polish city of Krakow during the Holocaust by putting them on his factory payroll, became a landmark film, becoming the definitive depiction of the Holocaust for many viewers around the world. It also made a star out of Ralph Fiennes, an A-lister out of Liam Neeson, and an Oscar-winner out of Spielberg, who proved once and for all that he was not just a director of kiddie fantasies.

Two decades have done nothing but burnish the film's reputation as an artistic masterpiece and educational tool. Still, even though everyone's seen it, there's plenty you probably don't know about how it got made, from the project's birth in a Beverly Hills luggage store,...

Their creations are towering achievements in genre entertainment, and on June 26 the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films will recognize the continually influential work of Richard Matheson, William Friedkin, and Vince Gilligan at the Saturn Awards.

From the Press Release

This year’s Saturn Awards ceremony will be hosted by actress Virginia Madsen, who won a Saturn Award as Best Actress for her performance in 1992’s Candyman and received an Oscar® nomination for Actress in a Supporting Role for 2004’s Sideways. Matheson, Friedkin, and Gilligan are all expected to attend the Saturn Awards ceremony at the Castaway Starlight Ballroom in Burbank, California.

“The recipients of this year’s special Saturn Awards have influenced generations of fans – not to mention other creative minds – and their accomplishments truly rank among the great contributions to science fiction, fantasy, and horror,” said Academy President Robert Holguin. “They have provoked our thoughts, invaded our dreams,...

Ray Richmond is a contributor to AwardsLine Just when everyone assumed that the original television miniseries was either dead or restricted to being the loss-leader indulgence of HBO, up pops History Channel’s Hatfields & McCoys in May to show the world that if you make a three-night event on a compelling subject with big stars (Kevin Costner, Bill Paxton) and a quality pedigree, the masses will still flock. Hatfields averaged nearly 14 million total viewers nightly, building to 14.3 million on Night 3 to become the most-watched entertainment telecast of all time on ad-supported cable. Despite that success, so few miniseries are being done that the TV Academy last year was obliged to merge TV movies and miniseries into a single category. There simply is no longer close to the number of ambitious, big-budget minis as were commissioned in the days of Roots (1977), Jesus Of Nazareth (1977), The Winds Of War (1983) and War And Remembrance...

I am a big fan of the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival. All the filmmakers have unmitigated passion for their craft which gives the festival a grassroots feel waiting for community support.

Most of the entries submitted to the ShortFest move on to bigger and better things such as being nominated for an Academy Award. This year, the selections are wide-ranging with varying themes from love to the horrors of war. Here are my picks to help you enjoy the fest.

.Friend Request Pending.

Dame Judi Dench stars in this funny and smart look at the world of social media. Directed by Chris Foggin, .Friend Request Pending. is part of the Opening Night: Make .Em Laugh and Modern Communication lineups. You will laugh and fall in love with this movie. Wait until you see Dench toss online acronyms like Lol and Omg. Even .The Avengers.. Loki aka Tom Hiddleston...

The history of cinema has had many long-running actor/director partnerships. What first springs to my mind is the long collaboration between actor John Wayne and director John Ford, which has inspired several film books and documentaries. More recently we’ve had the Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro team-ups ( although Leonardo DiCaprio may just catch up to Mr. D ). And now we have the eighth film that actor Johnny Depp has done with director Tim Burton since they first paired all the way back in 1990 for Edward Scissorhands ( Wow! ). After films based on children’s books, a low-budget filmmaker’s life, and a Broadway musical what have the duo decided to tackle now? Why, it’s a classic cult TV show from the late 1960′s : Dark Shadows. What’s their take on this supernatural soap opera?.

Time for a bit of disclosure here. During its original run on ABC television,...

Every writer has his or her way of settling down to write. Mine is to bring a Diet Pepsi and a pack of Salem cigarettes – yeah, yeah, I know… my bad – to my computer desk. Oh, yeah, and slipping in a CD.

Here’s the dope.

I’m pretty much out of the loop when it comes to music.

On the radio I listen to our local NPR (I love everything about that station); the local CBS sports station (especially during the football season – and during the past two or three weeks, the Peyton Manning-Tim Tebow-Mark Sanchez drama here in New York City has mesmerized me); Wrl-1600 Am (the progressive station that took over for Air America here); occasionally Wwor-710 Am (though the station has moved too far to the right for my tastes – at least they got rid of Lou Dobbs!); and CBS’s “oldies” station when I’m commuting.

My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1984)

"Among the most important retrospectives in years, War and Remembrance: The Films of Aleksei Guerman is also a bracing, deeply satisfying cinematic experience," begins Tony Pipolo at Artforum. To follow up on Maxim Pozdorovkin's Notebook piece, I'll be gathering pointers to further reading as the series runs at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York through Tuesday. Pipolo: "Though the Russian director's output is small, his track record is flawless. All five of his features are being screened in this, his first retrospective in North America, along with The Fall of Otrar (1991, directed by Ardak Amirkulov), a curious, almost minimalist epic about Genghis Khan, which Guerman produced and co-wrote in the lull between My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1984), his first international success, and Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998), an exhilarating comic masterpiece and one of the great films of the 1990s."

"Guerman's first solo picture...

Above and below: Khrustalyov, My Car!.

The joke about Aleksei German was always that he was great but only Russians liked him. Several years ago, I invited a non-Russian-speaker to a screening of Khrustalyov, My Car! (1998) at Brooklyn's Bam cinema. Ten minutes into the screening, an odd thing happened. I felt the urge to tell my companion to stop reading the subtitles.

The following scene prompted me: A middle-aged housekeeper opens the curtains and spikes her morning tea with cognac; someone polishes a shoe and talks about a veterinarian prone to lethargic sleep; a woman with a yoghurt facial scolds a senile lady for using a walker and, moments later, for taking a large kielbasa into bed with her. The old woman claims to be defenseless against sexual fantasies. Some words are misheard; a grocery receipt is scrutinized; a winter coat is sniffed in search of mothballs, two doll-like Jewish...

Last week, I got to speak to a man who has been in some of the most well known films of all time and who I’ve admired watching on the big screen for over 30 years. That man is John Rhys Davies who has starred in Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and who can forget Solomon’s Mines!

John has a new movie coming out next week called War of Resistance, which details the story of a group of Dutch resistance fighters in the second World War. I spoke to him about his new role as Eusi, a priest trying his best to hide from the Nazis in a safe house during the war. I couldn’t resist asking him about working with the likes of Steven Spielberg & Peter Jackson, and I certainly couldn’t help but inquire as to whether or not he...

We’ve received all the covers for DC Comics August solicitations, and Flashpoint promises that worlds will live, worlds will die, and the DC Universe will never be the sa– oh, sorry, that was the tagline for Crisis On Infinite Earths, back when I worked at Flashpoint. I’m so confused…

My favorite item for the month is pictured above, the Sergio Aragones version of Batman from Batman: Black & White. But there are some absolute art gems here, including Darwyn Cooke’s Jsa cover, and Frank Quitely’s redoing of Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson’s cover for Green Lantern #52.

As for the rest of the books, take a look… as usual, spoilers ahead:

War Of The Green Lanterns Aftermath #2

Written by Tony Bedard

Art by Miguel Sepulveda

Cover by Tom Fleming

1:10 Variant cover by Miguel Sepulveda

The blockbuster “War of the Green Lanterns” event has rocked the...

For a guy who first started talking about retiring back in 2002, Stephen King doesn't seem to be quite ready to settle down in the old rocking chair just yet. In fact, he has a new short story coming out in the May issue of The Atlantic.

According to Lilja's Library a new Stephen King short story, entitled "Herman Wouk is Still Alive," will be published in May's The Atlantic, which hits newsstands on April 19th. The story will be available on the Web and to subscribers a week prior.

For those unfamiliar with who Herman Wouk is, he's a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-winning Jewish American author with a number of notable novels to his credit, including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance. Winds of War was turned into a memorable seven-episode mini-series back in 1983. Wouk was born May 27, 1915, and in April of 2010 (at age 94) published his latest book,...

Chicago – Jane Seymour is a memorable beauty, and has found success in virtually all areas of the media. After breaking through with films such as “Live and Let Die” and “Somewhere in Time,” she was “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” for six seasons on TV. She returns with “Perfectly Prudence” on the Hallmark channel.

The television movie marks the second time Seymour has played Prudence McCoy, a British version of Martha Stewart. In this go around, new producers come in to remake Prudence’s show. One of the producers is played by Joe Lando, notable because he was Seymour’s Dr Quinn co-star throughout the series. Their on-screen chemistry is revived, and the complications of re-tooling Prudence gives this adventure a comic touch.

Jane Seymour in Chicago, Promoting her Book, ‘Among Angels,’ December, 2010

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com.

Jane Seymour was born Joyce Frankenberg in Hayes,...

Fern Champion on Cameron DiazWe were working at New Line, casting 1994's "The Mask." The story that everybody knows now is that Anna Nicole Smith was the first choice because the men at New Line thought she was stunning. Didn't say she could walk and talk, but she was stunning. We needed someone to talk. The good news is Anna Nicole opted to do "Naked Gun 33 1/3." Oh, too bad. So Fern's back to the drawing board. I'm at my wit's end, because we had gone through all the top models and all the top actors, and nobody was pleasing New Line co-ceo Bob Shaye, executive producer Mike De Luca, and director and executive producer Chuck Russell.I called my girlfriend at the talent agency upstairs at the New Line building, and I said, "Is there anybody we haven't seen?" She said, "I have to tell you something: There's one gal; she hasn't done any acting.

As we all know, so many of the films coming out of Hollywood these days are based on established properties, often classic television series of the '60s and '70s. So in a sense, the Hollywood of today owes a debt of gratitude to the Hollywood of that bygone era, filled as it often was with fresh, groundbreaking concepts that today's baby boomers hold dear to their hearts. From the creators and producers, to the writers and actors, these individuals made lasting impressions on popular culture.

And so it was with actor Peter Graves, who's starring performance in one of Hollywood's most famous TV shows, Mission Impossible (1966-73) helped catapult creator/producer Bruce Gellar's CBS series into the upper echelons of television popularity. Sadly, Graves died yesterday of an apparent heart attack outside his Los Angeles home, a week away from his 84th birthday.

Of course, Graves' career consisted...

Veteran casting director Fern Champion launched her career more than 30 years ago in New York, casting for Sidney Lumet, John Badham, Alan Pakula, and Herbert Ross. When producer Robert Stigwood asked her to cast "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," she relocated to Los Angeles. Since that time her credits have grown to include "The Naked Gun," "Police Academy," and "The Mask." On television she cast the epic miniseries "War and Remembrance," "Beverly Hills, 90210," "The Highlander," and "Babylon 5," in addition to features for Lifetime and Hallmark. In the past year, she has cast several soon-to-be-released films, including a remake of Stephen King's "Children of the Corn," "The Kings of Appletown," "Tekken," and "The Awakening of Spring." For the past five years, she has worked with casting director Paul Ruddy.Submissions That Stand OutI absolutely look at the pictures and résumés of actors who don't have representation. If an...

HBO has signed an exclusive deal with independent producer David Kennedy to develop programming for the premium network across all genres.

Kennedy was president of Dan Curtis Prods. from 1997-2006, executive producing such TV movies as Saving Milly for CBS and the Emmy-nominated Our Fathers for Showtime. Following the death last year of his partner Dan Curtis (Dark Shadows, War and Remembrance), Kennedy formed his own company, Kennedy Films.

"As a producer, David has a fantastic track record," HBO Films & Miniseries senior vp Kary Antholis said. "His creative instincts and his perseverance in pursuing great material will be important assets to HBO, and we look forward to working closely with him as we continue to develop new programs for the network."

Added Kennedy: "No one uses the art form of television like HBO. They are fearless, they provoke, they educate and they entertain. The opportunity to develop programming exclusively for HBO is a producer's dream come true."

Kennedy also has served as senior vp programming and sales at Taft Entertainment Co.

Television producer/director Dan Curtis has died. He was 77. Curtis was diagnosed with a brain tumor four months ago and passed away at his home in Brentwood, California, Monday - 20 days after his wife Norma Mae Klein's death from heart failure. The director was best-known for his Emmy Award-winning mini-series War And Remembrance, and horror movies including Burnt Offerings, Trilogy of Terror and Shadow Of Fear. Curtis leaves behind two daughters, Cathy and Tracy.

Polly Bergen has been tapped to play the mother of the first female U.S. president on ABC's Commander in Chief. Bergen is taking on the role of Kate Allen, mom to Mackenzie Allen (Geena Davis), in the freshman drama series, which is produced by Touchstone Television in association with Steven Bochco Prods. Her first episode will be the Nov. 29 Thanksgiving-themed installment. Bergen actually had a role playing the first female president in the 1964 movie Kisses for My President opposite Fred MacMurray. Her other credits include ABC's 1988 miniseries War and Remembrance and the network's 1983 mini The Winds of War. She is repped by Joel Dean at TalentWorks and manager Jan MacCormack. Chief, created by Rod Lurie, airs at 9 p.m. Tuesdays. It's executive produced by Steven Bochco, Dee Johnson, Lurie and Marc Frydman.