Dick clark prods

Benedict Cumberbatch is to lead and EP Netflix ’s Eric , playing a puppeteer whose son goes missing in 1980s Manhattan. Netflix has set cast on the Abi Morgan -penned show from Chernobyl producer Sister and the likes of Gaby Hoffman, McKinley Belcher II, Dan Fogler and Phoebe Nicholls will star opposite Cumberbatch. Cast is rounded out by Clarke Peters, Ivan Morris Howe, David Denman, Bamar Kane, Adepero Odyue, Alexis Molnar and Roberta Colindrez. The six-parter follows Vincent Anderson (Cumberbatch), a grief-stricken puppeteer on a leading TV show whose young boy goes missing and who finds solace through his friendship with Eric, the monster that lives under his son’s bed. The Split scribe Morgan’s Little Chick is producing with Sister and Morgan EPing alongside Cumberbatch, Jane Featherstone, Lucy Dyke and Lucy Forbes. “Eric is a dark and crazy journey into the heart of 1980’s New York, and the good bad and ugly world of Vincent,” said Morgan. “The chance … [Read more...] about Benedict Cumberbatch To Lead & EP Netflix’s ‘Eric’ From Abi Morgan & Sister

George R. Robertson , who played Chief Hurst (later Commissioner) in the first six Police Academy films during a half-century screen career, has died. He was 89. His family said he died January 29 at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto but did not give other details. Robertson had been working in TV and films for nearly 15 years when he was cast as the strict but fair Chief Henry Hurst in Police Academy , the 1984 cop farce starring Steve Guttenberg. The film was a left-field hit and went on to spawn a franchise that spanned seven films during the next decade, including one a year through 1989. He appeared in the first six but not the Moscow-set final one in 1994. The movies followed the antics of a group of misfit police recruits who are assembled after their city’s newly elected female mayor announced that the department must take on anyone who applies. Co-stars included Kim Cattrall, Bubba Smith, Debralee Scott and Michael Winslow. Born on April 20, … [Read more...] about George R. Robertson Dies: ‘Police Academy’s Chief Hurst Was 89

With negotiations for a new set of SAG-AFTRA film and TV contracts set to begin May 5 , the plight of the unions’ lowest-paid members is coming to light. Data obtained by Deadline shows that earnings for SAG’s film and TV extras have been in a steep decline during the past 10 years, leaving fewer and fewer of them eligible for SAG’s basic health plan. Data collected by the SAG Pension and Health Plans shows that during the past decade, the number of SAG members who have qualified for SAG health benefits based on their earnings from extra work alone has plummeted by more than 67%, down from 2,782 in 2003 to only 905 in 2011, the most recent year for which those numbers have been made available (see chart 1). Related: SAG-AFTRA Working On Wide-Ranging Casting Diversity Report The numbers began their precipitous plunge in 2004, when the SAG Pension and Health Plans raised the earnings needed to qualify for basic health coverage from $7,500 a year to $11,000, an … [Read more...] about SAG-AFTRA Extras Squeezed Out Of Health & Pension Plans As Their Annual Earnings Continue To Plunge

Ireland will be competing in the Eurovision Song Contest this year without the services of John Lydon, after the former Sex Pistols singer failed last night in his bid to represent the country. One of the wildest men of British music in his 1970s punk heyday, Lydon, aged 67, had entered the Irish leg of the competition with his song ‘Hawaii’, inspired by his wife Nora who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Prior to competing, Lydon – possibly one of the more unexpected names to ever appear on a Eurovision bid – had explained he wanted to raise awareness of the disease. But after he and five other acts performed on Ireland’s Late Late Show show on Friday night, voting viewers, as well as national and international juries of music experts, elected the band Wild Youth instead, and it will be them competing in Liverpool in May. The official draw for this year’s Contest was carried out this week, and Ireland will join 14 other countries in the first semi-final. 10 will go on to … [Read more...] about Former Sex Pistols Star Fails In Ireland Eurovision Bid

Jim Mahoney was one of Hollywood’s go-to guys. He spent 60+ years in public relations, guiding the public images of Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra, Steve McQueen, Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Christie Brinkley, Peggy Lee, and hundreds more. He was on the front lines when Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped, and was at the party at Peter Lawford’s house the night Marilyn Monroe died. He was also there with the Rat Pack in Las Vegas. Now age 95, Mahoney has captured all of that in a memoir, Get Mahoney!: A Hollywood Insider’s Memoir. “Get Mahoney!” was the phrase often used when stars and their handlers knew trouble was brewing and needed to keep their names out of the press. Mahoney was good at his job, and frequently referred to himself as a better “suppress” agent than press agent. “It was about ‘taming the lion’ – both the press and the clients themselves,” Mahoney said. That sometimes involved making arrangements with the authorities and media to keep … [Read more...] about Jim Mahoney, PR To Sinatra, McQueen, Gable, Explores 60 Years Of Hollywood In Memoir: “It Was About Taming The Lion”

Terry Moore , the 94-year old Oscar nominated actress ( Come Back, Little Sheba ) will attend the US premiere of her new biopic Silent Life: The Story of the Lady In Black at the Sedona International Film Festival on Feb 19. Directed by Vladislav Alex Kozlov , and written by Kozlov and Ksenia Jarova, Moore, stars in the film alongside Isabella Rossellini ( Blue Velvet ),  Franco Nero ( Django ), Sherilyn Fenn ( Twin Peaks ), Paul Rodriguez ( Clifford ) and Monte Markham ( Dallas ). Dreamer Pictures produces with Kozlov also producing, and Joy Boileau, Tyler Cassity, and Yogu Kanthiah, serving as executive producers. Shot in Santa Clarita., Silent Life tells the story of Rudolph Valentino, the first Hollywood superstar and male sex symbol, as he ponders the most important philosophical questions of human existence from his deathbed. After Valentino’s unexpected death in 1926, the mysterious Lady in Black (Moore) who claims to be the last love of … [Read more...] about Oscar Nominee Terry Moore Returns To Film In Vladislav Alex Kozlov‘s Rudolph Valentino Biopic ’Silent Life’

TMZ/Getty Quavo has honored his late nephew and Migos co-captain Takeoff on his new track … and it’s incredibly moving material. For the new single "Without You," Quavo created a lyric visualizer featuring him sitting solemnly in the studio … as a giant blunt burned in his hand. The lyrics are just as somber … Quavo laments over the good times he and Takeoff shared while also shedding light on the fact that the family took the loss hard this past Christmas. The video concludes with Quavo’s lyrics being folded into a paper rocket ship and blasting off into space, a clear tribute to Takeoff’s rocket mantra. The timing of the track's release doesn't appear to be a coincidence, either. Takeoff’s suspected killer Patrick Xavier Clark posted $1 million bond on Wednesday night … the same time Quavo posted the track, so he definitely wanted to offset the narrative. … [Read more...] about Quavo Drops Takeoff Tribute Single ‘Without You’