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An American pro boxer literally wore Trump's border wall on his shorts for a fight -- then got the Living Crap Beat Outta Him by his Mexican opponent!! Rod Salka was trying to make a political statement Thursday night vs. Francisco Vargas during Golden Boy's ESPN event in Indio, California ... steppin' into the ring with brick-patterned trunks in red, white and blue, with his waistband reading -- "America 1st." Rod Salka wore “America 1st...

On this day in history as it relates to showbiz...

1040 King Duncan is killed in battle and King Macbeth succeeds him. Shakespeare fictionalizes everything later for Macbeth. So many theatrical productions and movies follow. Out damn spot!

1932 The 1932 Summer Olympics end. This is the Olympic year when gorgeous Buster Crabbe became a gold medalist (pictured left). Hollywood then snatched him right up for movie serials and action adventure franchises including Tarzan The Fearless

1945 Japan surrenders during Ww II (the six year war will last only two more weeks.) but movie makers all over the world have never stopped telling the war's infinite stories. On that same day Steve Martin is born in Waco Texas. It only takes him another 68 years to get the Oscar he totally deserved

1946 Two actor birthdays: Blacksploitation actor Antonio Fargas who became "Huggybear" on TV's popular Starksy & Hutch and Susan Saint James TV of McMillan & Wife...

The icon-establishing performances Marilyn Monroe gave in Howard Hawks’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and in Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot (1959) are ones for the ages, touchstone works that endure because of the undeniable comic energy and desperation that sparked them from within even as the ravenous public became ever more enraptured by the surface of Monroe’s seductive image of beauty and glamour. Several generations now probably know her only from these films, or perhaps 1955’s The Seven-Year Itch, a more famous probably for the skirt-swirling pose it generated than anything in the movie itself, one of director Wilder’s sourest pictures, or her final completed film, The Misfits (1961), directed by John Huston, written by Arthur Miller and costarring Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift.

But in Don’t Bother to Knock (1952) she delivers a powerful dramatic performance as Nell, a psychologically devastated, delusional, perhaps psychotic young woman apparently on...

'Humoresque': Joan Crawford and John Garfield. 'Humoresque' 1946: Saved by Joan Crawford Directed by Jean Negulesco from a screenplay by Clifford Odets and Zachary Gold (loosely based on a Fannie Hurst short story), Humoresque always frustrates me because its first 25 minutes are excruciatingly boring – until Joan Crawford finally makes her appearance during a party scene. Crawford plays Helen Wright, a rich society lush in love with a tough-guy violin player, Paul Boray (John Garfield), who happens to be in love with his music. Fine support is offered by Paul's parents, played by Ruth Nelson and the fabulous chameleon-like J. Carroll Naish. Oscar Levant is the sarcastic, wisecracking piano player, who plays his part to the verge of annoyance. (Spoilers ahead.) Something wrong with that woman The Humoresque scenes between Paul and his mother are particularly intriguing, as the mother conveys her objections to Helen by lamenting, "There's something wrong with a woman like that!

A rare revival of Rocket to the Moon, the 1938 play by Clifford Odets Awake And Sing, Golden Boy, starring Ned Eisenberg, starts performances tonight at the Theatre at St. Clement's. Directed by Obie and Lucille Lortel Award winner Dan Wackerman Counsellor-at-Law, Rocket to the Moon will play a limited engagement, opening Monday, February 23rd. Eisenberg graciously sat down and spoke with BroadwayWorld about taking on the role of Ben Stark in this seldom-performed Odets piece, working with Wackerman, and more...

A rare revival of Rocket to the Moon, the 1938 play by Clifford Odets Awake and Sing, Golden Boy will soonplay Theatre at St. Clement's. Directed by Obie and Lucille Lortel Award winner Dan Wackerman Counsellor-at-Law, Rocket to the Moon will play a limited engagement beginning February 10th at Theatre at St. Clement's 423 West 46th Street. Opening night is Monday, February 23rd. Check out photos of the cast below...

Above: Us poster for Forbidden (Frank Capra, USA, 1932)

In honor of the month-long retrospective of the films of the great Barbara Stanwyck starting today at Film Forum in New York, I thought I’d select my favorite Stanwyck posters. Brooklyn-born Ruby Catherine Stevens made 85 films over 37 years in Hollywood so there is an awful lot to choose from. But the remarkable thing about looking back at these posters is how artists seemed to have had a hard time capturing her likeness. The poster for one of her earliest films, Capra’s 1932 Forbidden, above, captures her beautifully, but the poster for Stella Dallas (1937), her first Oscar-nominated role (she never won, shockingly), seems to be of a different actress entirely. As for the sexed-up illustration on the flyer for The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933), in that she looks more like Jean Harlow. Some of my favorite posters for her films are the Swedish and Danish designs,...

New York — A couple of stars from TV's "Chuck" and "Smash" will soon be dating on Broadway.

Producers said Monday that Zachary Levi and Krysta Rodriguez will headline the new romantic musical comedy "First Date" by "Gossip Girl" writer Austin Winsberg.

The music and lyrics are by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner.

"First Date" centers on an uptight young investment banker who meets a serial-dater at a local bistro. A chorus of diners become various characters – family members, clergy and old lovers.

The show will be seen at The Longacre Theatre beginning July 9 with an opening set for Aug. 8.

The rest of the cast includes Sara Chase ("Arrested Development"), Kristoffer Cusick ("Wicked"), Blake Hammond ("Sister Act"), Kate Loprest ("Boardwalk Empire," and Vicki Noon ("Wicked").

The show, co-produced by The 5th Avenue Theatre, played at A Contemporary Theatre in Seattle last year. It will be directed by Bill Berry, the producing...

Tony Awards 2013: Tom Hanks, Nora Ephron, Cicely Tyson, Tom Sturridge among nominees (photo: Tom Hanks in Lucky Guy) The Tony Awards 2013 nominations were announced earlier today. Missing in action is a whole array of film celebrities, though a few managed to be included in this year’s shortlist. (See also: “Tony Awards 2013: Scarlett Johansson, Sigourney Weaver, Jessica Chastain ‘Snubbed.’“) Two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks (Philadelphia, Forrest Gump) is in the running for Best Actor in a Play for Lucky Guy, which is also up for the Best Play Tony Award. Written by Nora Ephron, who directed Hanks and Meg Ryan in two of their biggest box-office hits, Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail, Lucky Guy traces the rise, fall, and rebirth of New York tabloid columnist Mike McAlary. Ephron, among whose other film credits include the Meryl Streep / Amy Adams comedy Julie & Julia and, as a screenwriter,...

There were plenty of surprises in the Tony nominations this morning, starting with the fact that the most-recognized show was Cyndi Lauper’s Kinky Boots (with 13 total nominations, including Best Musical) — and not presumed front-runner Matilda (with 12). Of course, the Roald Dahl-inspired Matilda might have picked up a tying 13th nomination had the four young actresses rotating in the title role not been ruled ineligible for Best Actress in a Musical (the quartet will share special Tony honors instead).

Plenty of familiar Hollywood names made the cut for nominations, including three in the Best Actor in a Play category:...

New York — The Cyndi Lauper-scored "Kinky Boots" has earned a leading 13 Tony Award nominations, with the British import "Matilda: The Musical" close behind with 12. Tom Hanks, making his Broadway debut, earned a nod as leading man in a play.

"Kinky Boots" is based on the 2005 British movie about a real-life shoe factory that struggles until it finds new life in fetish footwear. Lauper's songs and a story by Harvey Fierstein have made it a crowd-pleaser.

"I walked my dog early this morning so I'd be back in time to listen to the announcement. It's so great. It's so great. I'm done crying a little bit. But I'm still thrilled and a little stunned," Lauper said.

The haul did not match the record number of nominations for a musical, which is 15, set by "The Producers" in 2001 and "Billy Elliot" in 2009. "The Book of Mormon" nabbed 14 Tony nods in 2011.

"Lucky Guy,...

The sex is in the heel, indeed! The Harvey Fierstein-Cyndi Lauper musical Kinky Boots (based on the 2005 British film) dominated the Tony nominations, garnering 13 Tony nominations, including a best score nod for Lauper for her first-ever musical. Trailing not far behind were Matilda (12 nods), whose four tweens sharing the title role will be recognized with a special award on Tony night, Pippin (10 nods), and Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella (9 nods).

On the play side, the celebrated revival of Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy proved strong as its boxer lead character, with 8 nods. Tom Hanks guns for Egot territory with a...

Tony Awards 2013: Stage-Movie connection ranges from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Kinky Boots to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (photo: Emilia Clarke, Cory Michael Smith in Breakfast at Tiffany’s) [See previous post: "Tony Awards 2013 Nominations: Tom Hanks, Sigourney Weaver Among Potential Contenders."] Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, possibly up for a 2013 Tony Award in the Best Revival of a Play category, was made into an Academy Award-nominated movie in 1966. Mike Nichols directed Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, George Segal, and Sandy Dennis, from a screenplay by Ernest Lehman. Taylor and Dennis won Oscars as, respectively, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. In this latest Broadway revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the stars are Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, Madison Dirks and Carrie Coon. Peter Masterson’s 1985 film version of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful, another possible Best Revival nominee, earned Geraldine Page a Best Actress Academy...

New York -- Two stories born in Britain are vying for America's biggest theater prize.

"Kinky Boots" and "Matilda" are each a virtual lock to get a Tony Award nomination Tuesday for best musical and each show will be eager to capture as many nods as possible in the other 25 categories.

The nominations will be announced from The New York Public Library for Performing Arts in a televised event co-hosted by Tony winner Sutton Foster and "Modern Family" star Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

"Kinky Boots" is based on the 2005 British movie about a real-life shoe factory that struggles until it finds new life in fetish footwear. Songs by pop icon Cyndi Lauper and a story by Harvey Fierstein have made it a crowd-pleaser, albeit in open-minded New York. Touring potential is key for Tony voters.

"Matilda," the import from London, is a witty musical adaptation of the beloved novel by Roald Dahl...

New York — It's been a knockout in Germany. Now Sylvester Stallone hopes a musical based on his beloved boxing film "Rocky" will also be a hit on Broadway.

Producers said Sunday they plan to get "Rocky" up and punching at the Winter Garden by February following a successful debut in Hamburg last fall.

Based on the Oscar-winning 1976 film, the musical features a score by "Ragtime" veterans Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and a story by Thomas Meehan, who wrote "The Producers" and "Hairspray."

Originally written in English but translated into German for its world premiere and billed as "Rocky: Das Musical," the show is produced by Stallone and Stage Entertainment USA.

"The reason I think it has worked so well there and why I think it'll work on Broadway is that, yes, it's a story about boxing, but the real story is actually an intimate, powerful and gritty and...

From a silent Hitchcock movie to the story of a boxer who dreams of being a great violinist, Danny Leigh explores cinema's enduring love of the fight game

Boxing was there at the very dawn of cinema. As early as 1894, film-makers were shooting prize fights: the fast and furious physical spectacle was perfect for the new medium of motion pictures. Soon, scores of directors had been drawn to boxing – not just for the violence but for the drama of fighters' lives. In 1927, Hitchcock made The Ring, a silent tale of a pugilistic love triangle that is his one and only original screenplay. While many boxing movies reached greatness, even the most ordinary could still thrill with a canny sprinkling of what became genre staples: wise old trainers, crooked promoters, fixes, comebacks, wives who can't bear to look. In fact, plenty of boxing films are really about the women behind the men.

Looking back at 2012 on what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2012—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2012 to create a unique double feature.

All the contributors were asked to write a paragraph explaining their 2012 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.

How would you program some...

The opportunity to see a full-scale production of an Odets play should be motivation enough for any theater aficionado; like the chance at a title match, it doesn't come along very often. It's not a knock-out, but Golden Boy lands some mean punches, winning by decision.

While notably winded and running out of room at the end of the third round, this production has some very powerful scenes, capturing a moment in American history when plays had large casts and socialism was popular enough in corners of the U.S. to make moneyed men truly uncomfortable. (Note: If you label President Obama as a Socialist, please read more on the subject.) Taking on the imperial juggernaut of capitalism in a boxing ring that works as a metaphor, it is the story of a battle for the soul of a country being fought over the future of one young man's life.

Actor who won fame as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and crimesolving medical examiner Quincy

Television was the medium that conferred stardom on the actor Jack Klugman, who has died aged 90. In a long, distinguished career that also embraced theatre and film, he was principally identified with two television characters: Oscar Madison, the slovenly, down-to-earth, cigar-smoking flatmate of the neurotically neat Felix Unger (Tony Randall) in the long-running comedy series The Odd Couple (1970-75; in the play and film, Felix's surname was spelt Ungar), and Quincy in Quincy, Me (1976-83), a crime-solving medical examiner.

Born in a poor neighbourhood of Philadelphia, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Klugman had a tough childhood. His father, a house painter, died young, forcing his mother to make hats in her kitchen to buy food and clothing for her six children. Young Jack, who worked as a street peddler, later observed: "Poverty can teach lessons that privilege cannot.

On Thursday, December 6, BroadwayWorld.com was there for the opening night of Lincoln Center Theaters 75th Anniversary production of the Clifford Odets classic Golden Boy, directed by Bartlett Sher, at the Belasco Theatre 111 West 44 Street, the same theatre where the play premiered in 1937.CHeck out photos of the show's stars in the BroadwayWorld.com series 'In The Spotlight' by acclaimed photographer Walter McBride below...

New York – Nothing hammers home the anemia of many new plays being presented on Broadway today quite like the comparison of watching a robust nugget from the national theatrical canon such as Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy. That’s especially true in a production as thoughtfully conceived and vividly inhabited as Bartlett Sher’s riveting 75th anniversary revival for Lincoln Center Theater. Performed on the same stage where it premiered in 1937, this grave assessment of the cost of the American Dream still thrums with a heartfelt humanism both soaring and tragic. It’s a wonderful stroke of synergistic coincidence that the Metropolitan

read more...

Due to a delay in the start of technical rehearsals caused by last weeks storm, Lincoln Center Theater has announced that its been forced to postpone previews, by one night, of its 75th Anniversary production of the Clifford Odets classic Golden Boy, directed by Bartlett Sher. Previews will now begin this Friday, November 9 at 8pm, having been originally scheduled to begin Thursday, November 8. Opening night for Golden Boy will remain as originally scheduled, on Thursday, December 6 at 645pm, at the Belasco Theatre 111 West 44 Street, the same theatre where the play premiered in 1937. Ticket holders to the November 8 performance should return their tickets to their point of purchase for a refund or exchange.

Lincoln Center Theater previously announced that Michael Aronov, Danny Burstein, Sean Cullen, Dagmara Dominczyk, Ned Eisenberg, Brad Fleischer, Karl Glusman, Jonathan Hadary, Daniel Jenkins, Danny Mastrogiorgio, Dion Mucciacito, Seth Numrich, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Tony Shalhoub, Yvonne Strahovski and David Wohl will be featured in its 75th Anniversary production of the Clifford Odets classic Golden Boy, to be directed by Bartlett Sher, beginning performances Thursday, November 8 and opening Thursday, December 6 at the Belasco Theatre 111 West 44 Street, the same theatre where the play premiered in 1937. The cast and creative team met the press earlier today and BroadwayWorld brings you full coverage below...

Lincoln Center Theater previously announced that Michael Aronov, Danny Burstein, Sean Cullen, Dagmara Dominczyk, Ned Eisenberg, Brad Fleischer, Karl Glusman, Jonathan Hadary, Daniel Jenkins, Danny Mastrogiorgio, Dion Mucciacito, Seth Numrich, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Tony Shalhoub, Yvonne Strahovski and David Wohl will be featured in its 75th Anniversary production of the Clifford Odets classic Golden Boy, to be directed by Bartlett Sher, beginning performances Thursday, November 8 and opening Thursday, December 6 at the Belasco Theatre 111 West 44 Street, the same theatre where the play premiered in 1937.The cast and creative team met the press earlier today and BroadwayWorld brings you a photo preview below. Be sure to check back later for full coverage...

By Sam Negin

Theater Editor & Columnist

***

A number of casting and production notices have come up lately and unexpectedly caught my attention. It seems to me, for starters, that a number of these celebrities are coming to Broadway for no other reason than to get themselves a Tony.

First up came the announcement that Renee Zellweger will star in a Broadway-bound adaptation of the 1961 film The Hustler. Though it has not been announced what role Ms. Zellweger will play, the choice to cast her is hard for me to wrap my brain around. To me, what that made the film so memorable were the performances of Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. They were so strong that I don’t even remember there being a woman in the film other than in the background.

Would Zellweger take on Newman or Gleason’s role? I vaguely remember Piper Laurie playing a bit part in the film,...

Exclusive: CBS‘ off-cycle untitled Rob Greenberg comedy pilot will be shot in-cycle after production has been pushed to January. The project, from CBS TV Studios and the Tannenbaum Co., centers on a young guy (Chris Smith) who finds camaraderie living among three more experienced guys he meets in a short-term rental complex, including Gil (Kal Penn) and Frank (Tony Shalhoub). CBS gave the project an off-cycle pilot order on July 10. Two weeks later, it cast Smith and Penn. Shalhoub came on board in mid-August but casting of the fourth male lead stalled. Shalhoub signed for the pilot a week after an announcement that he will star in Lincoln Center Theater’s 75th anniversary production of Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy on Broadway, beginning November 8. The plan was for him to shoot the pilot before segueing to stage rehearsals. But because of difficulties casting the fourth lead, production on the pilot was postponed,...

By Sam Negin

Theater Editor & Columnist

***

A new Broadway season is about to begin and, with it, new life has been brought to my posts. After over 900 posts, 50 comments, over 325 Tony nominees and over 75 winners in the two-and-a-half years I blogged independently about the Tony Awards, I am proud to be joining the team at ScottFeinberg.com.

Without any further ado, I would like to begin with a look ahead at the Broadway shows that will be coming up this year. I have made this list as comprehensive as I could given what information is available but, as is often the case, there is much more data available right now about the fall season (September through the winter holidays) than the spring season (Christmas through the Tony Awards in June) on Broadway. I will update this post with more details as information becomes available.

The list of shows we expect to see this year,...

Lincoln Center Theater under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer has announced that Michael Aronov, Danny Burstein, Bill Camp, Sean Cullen, Dagmara Dominczyk, Ned Eisenberg, Brad Fleischer, Karl Glusman, Jonathan Hadary, Daniel Jenkins, Danny Mastrogiorgio, Dion Mucciacito, Seth Numrich, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Tony Shalhoub, Yvonne Strahovski and David Wohl will be featured in the 19 member cast of its 75th Anniversary production of the Clifford Odets classic Golden Boy, to be directed by Bartlett Sher, beginning performances Thursday, November 8 and opening Thursday, December 6 at the Belasco Theatre 111 West 44 Street, the same theatre where the play premiered in 1937. Additional casting for Golden Boy will be announced at a later date.

By Samuel Negin

The current Broadway season is just picking up and new productions for next season are already under way. Lincoln Center will bring Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy back to Broadway for the play’s 75th anniversary in a production to be directed by Bartlett Sher. The production will begin previews on November 8, with opening night set for December 3. According to Broadway.com, “Golden Boy is the story of Joe Bonaparte, a young, gifted violinist who is torn between pursuing a career in music and earning big money as a prize fighter.”

Click to read more…...

Lincoln Center Theater has announced two productions that will open this fall a 75th Anniversary production of the Clifford Odets classic Golden Boy, to be directed by Bartlett Sher beginning performances Thursday November 8 and opening Monday, December 3 at a Broadway theatre to be announced and the New York premiere of Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike a new play by Christopher Durang, to be directed by Nicholas Martin, beginning performances Thursday, October 25 and opening Monday, November 12 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater 150 West 65 Street.

Actor best known as the warm and authoritative Colonel Potter in M*A*S*H

The actor Harry Morgan, who has died aged 96, was best known as Colonel Sherman T Potter, commander of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in M*A*S*H, the wonderfully witty and sharp television series set in an army camp during the Korean war. He played Potter, an expert surgeon and a father figure in the camp, from 1978 until 1983.

Those who knew Morgan from films alone might have been surprised by his warm and authoritative performance as Potter. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, as a supporting actor, he played runtish bad guys and worms that seldom turned. He gradually began to reveal a more likable side, as a musician buddy of Glenn Miller (James Stewart) in The Glenn Miller Story (1954) and in the typically bland 50s TV sitcom December Bride (1954-58). Later, he played...

Harry Morgan might have been best known as Col. Sherman Potter on M*A*S*H, but that role was one of hundreds the Emmy-winning actor played in a career that spanned more than 60 years. Morgan, who died Wednesday at 96, also had a starring role as officer Bill Gannon on NBC's remake of Dragnet in the late '60s. In the years between Dragnet and M*A*S*H, he played a doctor on the NBC Western Hec Ramsey. But Morgan was best loved for his comedic side, perhaps best captured, aside from M*A*S*H, in his role...

Los Angeles — Harry Morgan wasn't a star and didn't need to be. In "M-a-s-h," "Dragnet" and so many other TV shows and movies, the veteran character actor proved as indispensable as any marquee name.

Imagine "M-a-s-h" without the no-nonsense but fair Army Col. Sherman Potter, who knew how to traverse the line between military discipline and wartime humanity.

Here's Potter, on his first day as commander of a Korean War hospital camp, discovering the moonshine-making operation run by his brilliant but wayward surgeons and holding his fire: "Had a still in Guam in World War II. One night it blew up. That's how I got my Purple Heart."

Or go back to the 1960s version of "Dragnet" and Morgan's tour of duty as police Officer Bill Gannon, playing droll foil to laconic Jack Webb's Sgt. Joe Friday. Or consider Morgan's stalwart judge at the center of an intellectual clash in "Inherit the Wind,...

Harry Morgan never planned to be an actor, yet he spent 10 years on one of the top TV series of all time, made 50 films and appeared on Broadway. He became one of the best-known character actors in Hollywood.

But it was Morgan’s portrayal of the fatherly Col. Sherman Potter on M-a-s-h for which Morgan became most famous, and he knew it.

“M-a-s-h was so damned good,” Morgan told The Associated Press. “I didn’t think they could keep the level so high.”

His wry humor, which helped net him an Emmy for the CBS-tv hit, carried onto the show.

Los Angeles — Harry Morgan never planned to be an actor, yet he spent 10 years on one of the top TV series of all time, made 50 films and appeared on Broadway. He became one of the best-known character actors in Hollywood.

But it was Morgan's portrayal of the fatherly Col. Sherman Potter on "M-a-s-h" for which Morgan became most famous, and he knew it.

"M-a-s-h was so damned good," Morgan told The Associated Press. "I didn't think they could keep the level so high."

His wry humor, which helped net him an Emmy for the CBS-tv hit, carried onto the show.

"He was an imp," said Mike Farrell, who starred as B.J. Hunnicutt in "M-a-s-h" along with Morgan and Alan Alda. "As Alan once said, there's not an un-adorable bone in the man's body. He was full of fun, and he was smart as a whip."

Morgan died Wednesday at...

Harry Morgan, who played Col. Sherman Potter on TV's M*A*S*H and Jack Webb's detective partner in Dragnet, died Wednesday at age 96. The actor died in his home in Los Angeles after suffering from pneumonia, his daughter-in-law Beth Morgan tells the Associated Press. "He was side-splittingly funny, a very gentle and loving father-in-law," Beth Morgan said. "He was very humble about having such a successful career." The Detroit-born Morgan became interested in acting while taking public speaking courses at the University of Chicago. Local theater stints led to a Broadway production of Golden Boy with Karl Malden and Lee J. Cobb.

Throughout November, Sos staffers will be discussing the movies that made them into film fanatics.

(click here for the full list)

Sunset Blvd.

Directed by Billy Wilder

Written by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder

1950 – USA

You must remember this. For me the love affair with movies began with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall and a world of smoke, cynicism and smouldering looks. I discovered a copy of Joe Hyams’ biography, Bogart and Bacall, while I was working at my local library around 1980. Obsessing over Hollywood’s most famous May-December romance soon led me to the black and white movies of the 40s, and many late nights watching Hawks, Huston, Curtiz and Billy Wilder.

I don’t know exactly when I first saw Wilder’s Sunset Blvd., but it was about 30 years ago and I have revisited it regularly. The film was significant because for the first time I felt a...

By most accounts, Harry Cohn was a royal son of a bitch.

For the uninformed, Harry Cohn was co-founder of Columbia Pictures, and the autocratic ruler of the studio from its founding in 1919 until his death in 1958. He was vulgar, crass, tyrannical, a screaming, foul-mouthed verbal bully i.e. a royal son of a bitch.

He was also a cheap son of a bitch.

Originally considered a “Poverty Row” studio, Cohn’s Columbia – at least at first – refused to build a roster of salaried stars as the other studios did. Cohn didn’t want the overhead or the headaches he saw saddling other studio chiefs with their contract talent. Cheaper and easier was to pay those studios a flat fee for the one-time use of their marquee value stars to give Columbia’s B-budgeted flicks an A-list shine. Columbia was considered such a nickel-and-dime outfit at the time that other...

A classy dame. A dynamite broad. A tough cookie. The language is definitely un-pc…and yet, it seems not only proper but singularly apt when talking about Barbara Stanwyck. It was the language of the day when her star soared off into the ascent, and it would remain so her over the course of a 60-year career on stage, film, and TV, it would be criminal to clean it up for politeness’ sake. It was the kind of language she unabashedly used herself in her later years, describing herself frankly, bluntly, and with characteristic modesty – as was her wont – as “…a tough old broad from Brooklyn.”

And, kiddo (as she’d probably say), she was. She had to be.

She was four-year-old Ruby Stevens when a drunk pushed her mother off a streetcar killing her, and her father, unable to cope, ran off. She bounced from one foster home to another,...

The longtime Hollywood manager and producer and former agent Hillard "Hilly" Elkins died of a heart attack on Wednesday evening. He was 81. "Hilly was a larger-than-life character, a legendary stage and film producer and a manager of many great talents," emails his close pal Jay Weston. "He started at 18 in the William Morris mailroom and there is a story that he delivered its mail personally to theatre magnet Lee Shubert each day wearing a homberg. One day, Lee Shubert called William Morris and asked for that fellow in the homberg. And he was immediately promoted to agent. At the time of his death, he was working on DiCaprio starring in Kurt Vonnnegut’s Cat’s Cradle because Hilly owned its screen rights. Beloved, humorous, charming, fun. He was an amazing man." According to his official bio, Elkins began in the Morris mailroom and moved up the ranks to head of the theatrical department.

Actor whose good looks and charm took him to the heights of Hollywood with films such as Some Like It Hot and The Defiant Ones

Born into a family of Hungarian Jews who had emigrated to the Us, Bernard Schwartz – the boy who became the actor Tony Curtis – could scarcely have dreamed of the wealth, fame and rollercoaster life that awaited him. Curtis, who has died aged 85, starred in several of the best films of the 1950s, including Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Defiant Ones (1958) and Some Like It Hot (1959). He enjoyed a long career thanks to his toughness and resilience (despite insecurities that demanded years of therapy).

He grew up in the Bronx, New York, the eldest of three sons. As a child, he was ill-treated by his mother, Helen, and spent time in an orphanage. One of his brothers, Robert, was a schizophrenic and the other, Julius, was...

Karl Malden, who vaulted to movie prominence by winning an Academy Award for best supporting actor in "A Streetcar Named Desire" but who is perhaps best known for his lead role on 1970s TV series "The Streets of San Francisco," died Wednesday of natural causes at home in Brentwood. He was 97.

With his craggy face and bulbous nose -- he liked to say he had "an open-hearth face" -- Malden didn't possess matinee-idol looks, but he projected a familiarity and a fire that made him identifiable as an average guy who could rise to the occasion. Audiences respected him for his down-to-earth, lunchpail style.

His collaborations with Marlon Brando and director Elia Kazan, both lifelong friends, resulted in his "Streetcar" Oscar for playing Brando's pal Mitch and a supporting actor nomination three years later for his portrayal of Father Barry, who counsels Brando's character to stand up to the dock racketeers in "On the Waterfront.