James Douglass West, who worked as a child actor alongside Roddy McDowall and Natalie Wood and spent a decade as a writer on Lassie, has died. He was 93.
West died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Studio City, his son, Daniel West, told The Hollywood Reporter.
For the big screen, West penned the original screenplay for the musical Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959), starring married couple Keely Smith and Louis Prima, and wrote California (1963), a Western starring Jock Mahoney.
West served for about a year as a story editor for writer-producer Charles Marquis Warren on NBC’s The Virginian, then joined the writing staff of CBS’ Lassie in 1963.
He was on the job during the 1964-65 season when the collie’s family (played by June Lockhart, Hugh Reilly and Jon Provost) move to Australia and Lassie gets paired with a Forest Service Ranger portrayed by Robert Bray.
Campbell Soup,...
West died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Studio City, his son, Daniel West, told The Hollywood Reporter.
For the big screen, West penned the original screenplay for the musical Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959), starring married couple Keely Smith and Louis Prima, and wrote California (1963), a Western starring Jock Mahoney.
West served for about a year as a story editor for writer-producer Charles Marquis Warren on NBC’s The Virginian, then joined the writing staff of CBS’ Lassie in 1963.
He was on the job during the 1964-65 season when the collie’s family (played by June Lockhart, Hugh Reilly and Jon Provost) move to Australia and Lassie gets paired with a Forest Service Ranger portrayed by Robert Bray.
Campbell Soup,...
- 3/8/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Netflix is revealing new details about Sandra Oh‘s forthcoming college-set comedy series from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Titled The Chair, the six-episode satire — created and co-written by Benioff’s real-life wife, actress Amanda Peet — finds the Killing Eve star playing the first female and woman of color to head up the English Department at the (fictional) Pembroke University. It’s set to premiere on Aug. 27.
More from TVLineMae Whitman Addresses Good Girls' Precarious Fate: 'We Would Like Very Much to Not Get Cancelled'Grey's Anatomy's Sandra Oh Dashes Fans' Hopes That She Will Ever...
Titled The Chair, the six-episode satire — created and co-written by Benioff’s real-life wife, actress Amanda Peet — finds the Killing Eve star playing the first female and woman of color to head up the English Department at the (fictional) Pembroke University. It’s set to premiere on Aug. 27.
More from TVLineMae Whitman Addresses Good Girls' Precarious Fate: 'We Would Like Very Much to Not Get Cancelled'Grey's Anatomy's Sandra Oh Dashes Fans' Hopes That She Will Ever...
- 5/12/2021
- by Michael Ausiello
- TVLine.com
Sandra Oh is set to star in a new Netflix dramedy series that hails from Amanda Peet, Variety has learned.
The six-episode half-hour series is titled “The Chair” and centers on the Chair of an English department at a major university, who will be played by Oh. Jay Duplass is also attached to star in an unspecified role. Peet will serve as writer, executive producer, and showrunner on the series, while Annie Julia-Wyman co-wrote the pilot. David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Bernie Caulfield will serve as executive producers along with Oh.
Oh currently stars in the critically-acclaimed BBC America series “Killing Eve,” for which she has been nominated for three Emmy Awards — two for acting and one for co-executive producing. She won a Golden Globe for the series in 2019 in the best actress in a drama series category. Oh is also known for her roles in shows like “Grey’s Anatomy.
The six-episode half-hour series is titled “The Chair” and centers on the Chair of an English department at a major university, who will be played by Oh. Jay Duplass is also attached to star in an unspecified role. Peet will serve as writer, executive producer, and showrunner on the series, while Annie Julia-Wyman co-wrote the pilot. David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, and Bernie Caulfield will serve as executive producers along with Oh.
Oh currently stars in the critically-acclaimed BBC America series “Killing Eve,” for which she has been nominated for three Emmy Awards — two for acting and one for co-executive producing. She won a Golden Globe for the series in 2019 in the best actress in a drama series category. Oh is also known for her roles in shows like “Grey’s Anatomy.
- 2/21/2020
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has ordered The Chair, a new six-episode half-hour dramedy starring and executive produced by Killing Eve‘s Sandra Oh and co-starring Jay Duplass. It hails from Amanda Peet (The Romanoffs) and Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
Written and executive produced by Peet, who also serves as showrunner, The Chair centers on the chair of an English department at a major university. Annie Julia Wyman co-wrote the pilot.
Peet and Oh executive produce with Benioff, Weiss and Bernie Caulfield.
Peet most recently was seen in The Romanoffs and Brockmire. The Chair reunites Peet with Duplass, with whom she worked in Togetherness, created by Jay and Mark Duplass. Her most recent play, Our Very Own Carlin McCullough, debuted in 2018 at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. She recently wrapped production on Season 2 of USA network’s anthology series Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story and...
Written and executive produced by Peet, who also serves as showrunner, The Chair centers on the chair of an English department at a major university. Annie Julia Wyman co-wrote the pilot.
Peet and Oh executive produce with Benioff, Weiss and Bernie Caulfield.
Peet most recently was seen in The Romanoffs and Brockmire. The Chair reunites Peet with Duplass, with whom she worked in Togetherness, created by Jay and Mark Duplass. Her most recent play, Our Very Own Carlin McCullough, debuted in 2018 at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. She recently wrapped production on Season 2 of USA network’s anthology series Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story and...
- 2/21/2020
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Ann Blyth movies: TCM schedule on August 16, 2013 (photo: ‘Our Very Own’ stars Ann Blyth and Farley Granger) See previous post: "Ann Blyth Today: Light Singing and Heavy Drama on TCM." 3:00 Am One Minute To Zero (1952). Director: Tay Garnett. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Ann Blyth, William Talman. Bw-106 mins. 5:00 Am All The Brothers Were Valiant (1953). Director: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Ann Blyth. C-95 mins. 6:45 Am The King’S Thief (1955). Director: Robert Z. Leonard. Cast: Ann Blyth, Edmund Purdom, David Niven. C-79 mins. Letterbox Format. 8:15 Am Rose Marie (1954). Director: Mervyn LeRoy. Cast: Ann Blyth, Howard Keel, Fernando Lamas. C-104 mins. Letterbox Format. 10:00 Am The Great Caruso (1951). Director: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Mario Lanza, Ann Blyth, Dorothy Kirsten, Jarmila Novotna, Richard Hageman, Carl Benton Reid, Eduard Franz, Ludwig Donath, Alan Napier, Pál Jávor, Carl Milletaire, Shepard Menken, Vincent Renno, Nestor Paiva, Peter Price, Mario Siletti, Angela Clarke,...
- 8/16/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ann Blyth today: Light songs and heavy drama on TCM Ann Blyth, a 1940s Universal leading lady best remembered for her Oscar-nominated performance as Joan Crawford’s cute-but-sociopathic teenage daughter in Warner Bros.’ Mildred Pierce, is Turner Classic Movies’ "Summer Under the Stars" star on Friday, August 16, 2013. Note: Today, Ann Blyth, one of the earliest surviving Oscar nominees in the acting categories, turns 85 years old. (See: “Ann Blyth Movies: TCM Schedule.”) (Photo: Ann Blyth ca. 1955.) First, the good news: Ann Blyth is a likable, talented actress and singer, and it’s great that TCM is dedicating a whole day to her movies. The bad news: As mentioned above, Ann Blyth was mostly (1944-1952) a Universal star; TCM is presenting only one of Blyth’s Universal movies, Brute Force (1947), which has been shown before. In other words, not a chance of finally having the opportunity to catch Ann Blyth in B...
- 8/16/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ann Blyth on TCM: Kismet, Rose Marie, Our Very Own 8:00 Pm Mildred Pierce (1945). A woman turns herself into a business tycoon to win her selfish daughter a place in society. Dir: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth, Eve Arden, Bruce Bennett. Bw-111 mins. 10:00 Pm Kismet (1955). In this Arabian Nights musical, the "king of the beggars" infiltrates high society when his daughter is wooed by a handsome prince. Dir: Vincente Minnelli. Cast: Howard Keel, Ann Blyth, Dolores Gray. C-113 mins. Letterbox Format. 12:00 Am All The Brothers Were Valiant (1953). Brothers on a whaling schooner become romantic rivals. Dir: Richard Thorpe. Cast: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Ann Blyth. C-95 mins. 2:00 Am Our Very Own (1950). The discovery that she's adopted shakes a young girl's sense of security. Dir: Dave Miller. Cast: Ann Blyth, Farley Granger, Joan Evans, Jane Wyatt. Bw-93 mins. 4:00 Am Rose Marie...
- 9/18/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Ann Blyth is Turner Classic Movies Star of the Evening tonight, as part of TCM's "The Essentials" film series. [Ann Blyth Movie Schedule.] Opera- and Broadway-trained Ann Blyth began her film career in the mid-1940s at Universal, appearing in light B musicals opposite Donald O'Connor and/or Peggy Ryan, among them The Merry Monahans, Chip Off the Old Block, and Babes on Swing Street. Blyth's big break came in 1945, when — following back surgery — she played Joan Crawford's pathologically selfish daughter Veda in Michael Curtiz's classic film noir-cum-melodrama Mildred Pierce. A well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination followed, and so did leads in darker, bigger-budgeted productions, among them Jules Dassin's Brute Force (1947), with Burt Lancaster; Zoltan Korda's A Woman's Vengeance (1948), opposite Charles Boyer; and Michael Gordon's film version of Lillian Hellman's Another Part of the Forest (1948), a prequel to The Little Foxes. Unfortunately, TCM isn't showing any of Blyth's hard-to-find Universal titles.
- 9/18/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Bette Davis, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Three on a Match Ann Dvorak on TCM Part I: Scarface, I Was An American Spy Another cool Ann Dvorak performance is her drug addict in Mervyn LeRoy's Three on a Match (1932), which features a great cast that includes Warren William, Joan Blondell, and a pre-stardom Bette Davis. Never, ever light three cigarettes using the same match, or you'll end up like Ann Dvorak, delivering a harrowing performance without getting an Academy Award nomination for your efforts. As Three on a Match's young Ann Dvorak, future Oscar nominee Anne Shirley is billed as Dawn O'Day. (And for those who believe that remakes is something new: Three on a Mach was remade a mere six years later as Broadway Musketeers: John Farrow directed; Ann Sheridan, Marie Wilson, and Margaret Lindsay starred.) I've never watched David Miller's family drama Our Very Own...
- 8/8/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
This week, on a very special episode of Reject Radio, we celebrate April Fool’s Day by talking seriously about great movies, director’s cuts and movies about people cutting other people up. Our very own Criterion Files writer Adam Charles teams up with Criterion Cast co-host Ryan Gallagher to convince me to become a member of the Criterion Cult. Junkfood Cinema specialist Brian Salisbury gets together with Gordon and the Whale editor (and VHS enthusiast) Brian Kelley as we all rejoice in the 25th anniversary of the ridiculous teen slasher flick April Fool’s Day and bathe in the acid bath of a few others. Plus, Jordan Hoffman of Ugo and Jeremy Smith from Aint it Cool go mano y mano in our Movie News Pop Quiz in an epic battle to save the world from impending destruction (and to talk about director’s cuts, when they work, and when they don’t). Loosen up your...
- 3/30/2011
- by Cole Abaius
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Actor who rose to fame in Hitchcock's Rope and Strangers On a Train, but refused to conform to Hollywood pressures
Early on in his career, the actor Farley Granger, who has died aged 85, worked with several of the world's greatest directors, including Alfred Hitchcock on Rope (1948) and Strangers On a Train (1951), Nicholas Ray on They Live By Night (1949) and Luchino Visconti on Senso (1953). Yet Granger failed to sustain the momentum of those years, meandering into television, some stage work and often indifferent European and American movies.
The reasons were complicated, owing much to his sexuality and an unwillingness to conform to Hollywood pressures, notably from his contract studio, MGM, and Samuel Goldwyn. Granger refused to play the publicity or marrying game common among gay and bisexual stars and turned down roles he considered unsuitable, earning a reputation – in his own words – for being "a naughty boy".
He was also the victim of bad luck,...
Early on in his career, the actor Farley Granger, who has died aged 85, worked with several of the world's greatest directors, including Alfred Hitchcock on Rope (1948) and Strangers On a Train (1951), Nicholas Ray on They Live By Night (1949) and Luchino Visconti on Senso (1953). Yet Granger failed to sustain the momentum of those years, meandering into television, some stage work and often indifferent European and American movies.
The reasons were complicated, owing much to his sexuality and an unwillingness to conform to Hollywood pressures, notably from his contract studio, MGM, and Samuel Goldwyn. Granger refused to play the publicity or marrying game common among gay and bisexual stars and turned down roles he considered unsuitable, earning a reputation – in his own words – for being "a naughty boy".
He was also the victim of bad luck,...
- 3/29/2011
- by Brian Baxter
- The Guardian - Film News
Phyllis Kirk, the star of horror classic House Of Wax, has died at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in California. She was 79. The actress died on Thursday from a post-cerebral aneurysm, according to her former publicist. Kirk shot to fame as a model in the 1940s before embarking on a Broadway stage career. She made her Hollywood debut after signing to Samuel Goldwyn Productions in Our Very Own. As well as her scream queen role alongside Vincent Price in 1953's 3-D masterpiece House Of Wax, Kirk is also remembered as the screen wife of Peter Lawford in hit TV series The Thin Man. She ended her career as a publicist for TV network CBS and retired in 1992 to concentrate on her activism - she was an outspoken opponent of the death penalty.
- 10/23/2006
- WENN
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