News

Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. died of a lung condition, according to his death certificate obtained by TMZ. The actor died in Santa Monica on March 29 at the age of 87.

According to the report, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Copd), was the main cause of death, TMZ says, with heart failure and atrial fibrillation contributing factors.

A cause of death was not known at the time of Gossett’s passing last month.

His family announced the death in a statement on March 29: “It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning.” It continued, “We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”

The first Black actor to win a Best Supporting Oscar, Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn. He made his stage debut at 17 in a school production of You Can’t Take It with You...

Louis Gossett Jr., who won an Emmy for his role in the groundbreaking TV miniseries Roots and an Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman, died Thursday night in Santa Monica. He was 87.

His death was first reported by his nephew to the Associated Press. No cause of death was given.

“It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning,” his family said in a statement obtained by Deadline. “We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”

The first Black actor to win a Best Supporting Oscar, Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn. He made his stage debut at 17 in a school production of You Can’t Take It with You and soon would successfully audition for the Broadway production Take a Giant Step, then perform in a star-making supporting...

Bruce Lee changed the cultural landscape. But he never lived to see just how he influenced martial arts and martial arts movies, the image of Asian men on screen, numerous directors from Ang Lee, who is planning on making a movie about Bruce Lee starring his son Mason, and Quentin Tarantino, action stars such as Jackie Chan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, comedians such as Eddie Murphy and Margaret Cho and singers including LL Cool J and RZA.

Lee was just 32 when he died on July 23, 1973 of what was described as “death by misadventure.” There have been numerous theories of what actually caused his death. One forensic scientist announced he died of cerebral edema due to a reaction to ingredients in the medication Equagesic he had taken. A 2022 study in the Clinical Kidney Journal stated that the cerebral edema was caused by hyponatremia-a lack of sodium in his blood. (Lee actually underwent surgery...

Veteran actress Barbara Bosson, best known for her Emmy-nominated role in the NBC police drama Hill Street Blues, has died. She was 83. In an Instagram post, Bosson’s son, Jesse Bochco, confirmed her passing on Sunday, February 19. “More spirit and zest than you could shake a stick at,” he wrote alongside a photo of his mother holding him when he was a child. “When she loved you, you felt it without a doubt. If she didn’t, you may well have also known that too. Forever in our hearts. I love you Mama.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by @jessebochco Born on November 1, 1939, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, Bosson got her first taste of acting in the 1969 crime thriller Bullitt in an uncredited role. From there, she went on to appear in several TV shows throughout the 1970s, including Mannix, Longstreet, Alias Smith and Jones, McMillan & Wife, Griff, and Richie Brockelman,...

Barbara Bosson, the Emmy-nominated actor best known for her work on the acclaimed police drama “Hill Street Blues,” died Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 83.

Bosson’s son, director and producer Jesse Bochco, confirmed the news via a tribute on Instagram.

“More spirit and zest than you could shake a stick at. When she loved you, you felt it without a doubt. If she didn’t, you may well have also known that too,” Boncho wrote in his post. “Forever in our hearts. I love you Mama. Barbara “Babs” Bosson Bochco 1939-2023.”

Bosson married “Hill Street Blues” co-creator Steven Bochco in 1970, after the two met while attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Over the course of her career, Bosson starred in multiple series created by Bochco, including “Hooperman,” “Cop Rock,” and “Murder One.” The two divorced in 1997, and Bochco died in 2018 at age 74 from leukemia.

Born in 1939 in Charleroi, Pennsylvania,...

Approaching "The Haunting of Hill House" like a marathon feature film, writer-director Mike Flanagan aimed to retain as much of Shirley Jackson's bestselling story as much as possible, while expanding material -- the queer identity of Theodora, for example, could be more explicit than it could in 1959. But as with any Flanagan tale, every moment must justify itself and serve the greater story.

Monologues are vulnerable in the editing room due to their potential to lose viewer interest -- an actor has to really sell it for an audience to sit through a two or three minute speech. The "Oculus" director doesn't seem to mind; in fact, he tells Vulture that "a monologue paints a vivid mental picture if it's done right." "Hill House" features plenty of them, but one monologue was especially worth fighting for. He tells Vulture:

"I fought hard for each of the monologues in the show,...

Roger E. Mosley, best known for his role as the helicopter pilot Theodore “T.C.” Calvin in the CBS television series “Magnum P.I.,” died early Sunday morning. He was 83 years old. No further details about Mosley’s death are available at this time.

Mosley’s daughter confirmed the news of his death through a tribute post on her Facebook.

“Roger E. Mosley, my father, your friend, your ‘coach Mosley’ your ‘Tc’ from Magnum P.I., passed away at 1:17am,” she wrote. “He was surrounded by family as he transcended peacefully. We could never mourn such an amazing man. He would hate any crying done in his name. It is time to celebrate the legacy he left for us all. I love you daddy. You loved me too. My heart is heavy but I am strong. I will care for mommy, your love of almost 60 years. You raised me well and she is in good hands.

Roger E. Mosley, best known for his role as helicopter pilot Theodore “T.C.” Calvin in “Magnum, P.I.” died Sunday, his family reports. He was 83.

“Roger E. Mosley, my father, your friend, your “coach Mosley” your “Tc” from Magnum P.I., passed away at 1:17am,” his daughter, Ch-a, posted on Facebook Sunday morning. “He was surrounded by family as he transcended peacefully.”

The actor is fondly remembered for his leading role, which he played alongside Tom Selleck, in the original “Magnum, P.I.” series that ran from 1980 to 1988.

Facebook/Ch-a Mosley Also Read:

Pink Floyd Founder Calls Biden a ‘War Criminal,’ Accuses President of ‘Fueling the Fire in Ukraine’ (Video)

Born in Watts section of Los Angeles, Mosley made his acting debut in 1971 with minor roles in episodes of “Canon” and “Longstreet.” He went on to play Monk in “Terminal Island,” alongside Phyllis Davis and future co-star Tom Selleck.

After...

Blake Lively is remembering her late dad. On Thursday, June 10, the Gossip Girl alum shared a touching photo of herself and her father, Ernie Lively, who died on June 3 at 74, to her Instagram Story. In the pic, which Blake captioned with a brown heart, she is nuzzled against her dad's shoulder. Thus far, the star has not issued a statement on her dad's passing.  Ernie most notably starred on the sitcom The Dukes of Hazzard as Longstreet B. Davenport. He also made guest appearances in shows like TV shows like The X-Files, Seinfeld, Murder, She Wrote and The West Wing. The father of eight, whose children Jason, Eric, Robyn and Lori are also actors, even starred...

Peter Mark Richman, an actor who appeared on series including “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Dynasty,” has died at the age of 93, according to a representative.

Richman, a Philadelphia native, died of natural causes Thursday morning in Woodland Hills, California.

Prior to getting his start as a New York theater actor, Richman worked as a pharmacist and earned a degree from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science. He would go on appear on Broadway in productions of “A Hatful of Rain” and “Masquerade,” in addition to starring in Edward Albee’s original New York production of “The Zoo Story.”

As a playwright, Richman penned the one-man play “4 Faces,” and starred in the film version of the piece. His other writing credits include “A Medal for Murray,” as well as novels and short-story collections like “Hollander’s Deal” and “The Rebirth of Ira Masters.”

Richman’s screen credits include “Friendly Persuasion,...

Veteran character actor Peter Mark Richman, whose myriad TV credits included Dynasty, Three’s Company and Santa Barbara, died on Thursday of natural causes. He was 93.

Born in Philadelphia and a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science, Richman first pursued acting on the New York stage as a member of the Actors Studio. His Broadway credits included A Hatful of Rain, Masquerade and a 400-plus performance run as Jerry in Edward Albee’s original production of The Zoo Story.

More from TVLineDrag Race Recap: Which of Season 13's 'Losers' Earned Their Ru-demption?Did MacGyver Just Kill Off...

Peter Mark Richman, who made numerous film and TV appearances including recurring roles in “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Three’s Company,” and toplined the early 1960s series “Cain’s Hundred,” died Thursday in Woodland Hills, Calif. He was 93.

Richman was born in Philadelphia and worked as a pharmacist before joining the Actors Studio in New York. Starting his career onstage, he appeared in “End as a Man,” “A Hatful of Rain,” “Masquerade” and “The Zoo Story.”

He moved to Hollywood to appear in William Wyler’s “The Friendly Persuasion,” going on to appear in films including “Black Orchid,” “The Strange One,” “Naked Gun 2” and “Friday the 13th Part 8.”

In “Cain’s Hundred,” he starred as Nick Cain, a former underworld lawyer gone straight. Though it only ran for one season, the series led to hundreds more TV gigs on shows including “The Twilight Zone,” “The Outer Limits,” “Murder She Wrote,...

Peter Mark Richman, a star of Broadway, film and television who had guest starring roles on more than 500 TV shows, including a recurring role as Rev. Snow on the classic sitcom Three’s Company, died today in Woodland Hills, Calif. of natural causes. He was 93.

Born on April 16th, 1927 in Philadelphia, Richman’s career as an actor, playwright, author and artist spanned eight decades.

After graduating from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science as a licensed pharmacist in two states, he found his first opportunities on the New York stage as a member of the Actors Studio. He starred in Calder Willingham’s End as a Man.

In addition to tours and productions across the US, he appeared on Broadway in A Hatful of Rain and Masquerade. He also portrayed “Jerry” in more than 400 performances of Edward Albee’s original NY production of The Zoo Story.

William Wyler brought him west for the classic film,...

Festival favourites tend to have a reputation for not doing well at the Indian box-office, as they come with a preconceived notion of being artsy and catering to a niche audience. “Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota”, however, has a lot going for it that could entice a larger, mainstream audience. For starters, its promos make it seem like a superhero or a martial arts film, unlike any Bollywood has seen thus far. Secondly, it features a fresh, young cast in film that’s infused with nostalgic retro sounds and look. Finally, it is the sophomore directorial feature from writer/director Vasan Bala, who, along with Anurag Kashyap, wrote the excellent character study that was the serial killer film “Raman Raghav 2.0”. The film had its premiere in the Midnight Madness section at the Toronto International Film Festival 2018, winning the People’s Choice Award.

“Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota” is screening...

July 20 marks the 45th anniversary of the death of Bruce Lee, who had one of the briefest and most remarkable careers in Hollywood history. On July 23, 1973, Variety ran his 300-word obituary on page 7. He didn’t get star treatment because he wasn’t yet a star, at least in the English-speaking world. As Matthew Polly points out in his excellent new bio “Bruce Lee: A Life” (Simon & Schuster), Lee had a career in Asia as a child actor, a dancer (he won Hong Kong’s 1958 Cha-Cha Dance Championship with little brother Robert), a young star (nicknamed “Little Dragon” by his fans) and then a martial-arts practitioner and innovator. The rest of the world discovered him when “Enter the Dragon” opened in 1973, just one month after he died suddenly at age 32 of a brain aneurysm. Variety reviewer Whitney Williams enthused, “Lee socks over a performance seldom equaled in action (movies).” His charisma,...

Bruce Lee didn’t just face discrimination as a Chinese-American in the lily-white Hollywood of the 1960s. He also had to overcome bigotry against African-Americans, who he was discouraged from taking on as students of kung fu.

Lee’s quest to break down barriers for himself and his African-American students and friends is one focus of our latest “Shoot This Now” podcast, which you can listen to listen on iTunes or here:



Also Read: How Bruce Lee Fits Into Quentin Tarantino's New Movie (Podcast)

As Matthew Polly, author of the excellent new biography “Bruce Lee: A Life” tells us on the podcast, Lee’s first student of martial arts was an African-American man, Jesse Glover. But some kung fu traditionalists strongly opposed Lee’s teaching kung fu to African-Americans.

Lee’s boss, Ruby Chow, believed he was putting fellow Chinese-Americans in danger, according to Polly’s book. Polly quoted...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

The Los Angeles Comic Book And Science Fiction Convention presents Classic Movie Poster Artist Robert Tanenbaum, Jean Hale (In Like Flint), Sharyn Wynters (The Female Bunch), and Donna Loren (Bikini Beach) at the August 20, 2017 Show.

Robert Tanenbaum is a Movie Poster Artist with an over 50 year career illustrating every film genre such as Science Fiction, Horror, Comedy, War, Drama and Martial Arts. Robert has illustrated such Classic Movie Posters as A Christmas Story, Battle For The Planet Of The Apes, Cujo, Five Fingers Of Death, Black Christmas, Super Fly, The Color Of Money, My Bodyguard, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, The Iron Cross, The Eagle Has Landed, Ransom, Cleopatra Jones And The Casino Of Gold, Hot Potato, Mel Brooks High Anxiety and Silent Night, Evil Night. Robert’s art is featured on the first announcement that Jaws was being made into a Movie.

They may be best known today for their later roles, but these six stars all got their first break by playing super heroes on TV. Maybe these shows aren’t the most memorable or well-made super hero projects, and they aren’t the highlight of the actor’s career, but these little shows jump-started the careers of some future celebrities.

Bruce Lee

Started out as—Kato, the Kung-Fu fighting sidekick to the Green Hornet in the TV series The Green Hornet (1966).

After that—Lee had a recurring role in the detective series Longstreet before returning to Hong Kong to star in a highly successful trio of films; The Big Boss (1971); the Chinese Connection (1972) and the Way of the Dragon (1972). His first and only Hollywood film was Enter the Dragon (1973). Lee died young and his legend has grown ever since. He is considered by many as the greatest martial arts star in the history of film.

More and more great films keep coming to the blu-ray format and details and dates for two classic films have been released, as well as details on the more recent film, Gangster Squad. Come inside to check out all the details on the latest films coming to the blu-ray format.

It's hard to believe, but it's been fifty years since Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra film released in theaters. In order to commemorate the milestone Fox is releasing a special 50th Anniversary blu-ray with never before seen footage and a slew of other features, on May 21, 2013. Read the press release below for full details:

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is proud to announce that the four-time Academy Award® winning* classic Cleopatra, will be released on Blu-ray Disc for the first time May 21 in a special golden anniversary edition and is available for pre-order at major retailers.

In honor of the iconic film’s 50th anniversary,...

The awesomeness of John C. Reilly’s Bruce Lee t-shirt in Step Brothers is about to be topped. Now, 40 years after its release, martial arts classic Enter the Dragon is set to be released with a collector’s Blu-ray giftset, which includes new special features, a collectible card, and even an embroidered patch.

Here is a portion of the news release:

Burbank, Calif., March 4, 2013 – Enter the Dragon, one of martial arts icon Bruce Lee’s last films, will debut June 11 on Blu-ray in the Enter the Dragon 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition giftset from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The film, which helped bring interest in the Asian martial arts genre to mainstream Western cinema, has been re-mastered for its 40th anniversary, and will now feature new bonus materials, such as the featurette, No Way as Way, on the legacy of Bruce Lee, plus other featurettes and commentary. Memorabilia — which includes collectible art cards,...

Every now and then you can tell someone is special. Every now and then you know just when something becomes an event, a trend-setter. That’s exactly who Bruce Lee was and his Enter the Dragon remains. All marital arts films are measured against this one and now Warner Home Video is giving us a 40th anniversary edition. Here are the details: Burbank, Calif., March 4, 2013 – Enter the Dragon, one of martial arts icon Bruce Lee’s last films, will debut June 11 on Blu-ray™ in the Enter the Dragon 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition giftset from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The film, which helped bring interest in the Asian martial arts genre to mainstream Western cinema, has been re-mastered for its 40th anniversary, and will now feature new bonus materials, such as the featurette, No Way as Way, on the legacy of Bruce Lee, plus other featurettes and commentary. Memorabilia — which includes collectible art cards,...

With the new documentary I Am Bruce Lee about to hit theaters, WhatCulture felt it was as good a time as any to recall Bruce Lee’s 10 Most Memorable On-Screen Moments:

10. Bruce vs James Garner’s Office (Marlowe)

One of Bruce’s celebrity students was screenwriter Sterling Silliphant. Silliphant, who won an Oscar for In the Heat of the Night, became good friends with Bruce and wrote a part for him in the 1969 film Marlowe.

Bruce plays a heavy sent to warn private investigator Phillip Marlowe (James Garner) off a case. Bruce does this by demolishing the guy’s office with a flurry of kicks and chops, and a flying kick that takes out an overhead light. This scene was Bruce’s first appearance in a feature-length Hollywood picture.

9. One on One Against The Boy Wonder (Batman)

Yes, this one makes the list — but purely for the novelty factor. The...

This Entry Was Updated On February 1On the subject of somewhat forgotten actors...   I'm writing to you today because it's January 31st and that was the birthday of the late James Franciscus, who would be 76 today.  Probably best recalled now for only Beneath The Planet Of The Apes (1970), Franciscus was part of a crop of handsome TV actors (he was the original star of The Naked City TV series) in the late fifties who longed for movie star status (and likely watched with burning resentment in the sixties as Steve McQueen shot past them all).  Franciscus tried for that brass ring several times (anyone remember Youngblood Hawke from 1964?) only to return again and again to series television to support his family.  Jane Fonda's "first" (according to her recent autobiography), Franciscus had a reasonably successful acting career by most standards, but was reportedly bitter that he never gained real leading...

By Spencer Lloyd Peet

Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none There have been many books written about the charismatic ‘King of Kung Fu’ Bruce Lee since his untimely death in 1973. None, however, have captured his passion for filmmaking quite like Bruce Lee: Legends of the Dragon by Steve Kerridge. This three volume pictorial history of the making of his third Hong Kong action film, Way of the Dragon, follows ‘The little Dragon’ through true timeline from April to August 1972 in Italy and Hong Kong. Each book is lavishly illustrated with several rare and unseen photos that have come from the Bruce Lee Estate archive and the personal collection of Bruce’s friends and colleagues. Many of those who were involved in the film, such as Bruce’s business partner Raymond Chow, actor and American Karate Champion Chuck Norris, leading Lady Nora Miao and production manager Chaplin Chang, share their stories.

I

Back In The Spotlight: Marilyn Mason Returns To The Screen With Model Rules

Interview by Tom Lisanti

Actress Marlyn Mason, best remembered as Elvis’ leading lady in The Trouble with Girls (1969) and James Franciscus’ trusty assistant/companion on TV’s Longstreet (1971-72), has come out of a self-imposed 10-year retirement to star in Model Rules (2008) a short film directed by Ray Robison that she also produced and wrote on location in Medford, Oregon where she has been residing these past few years. In it she plays an aging artist's model who envisages being with one of the men sketching her.

The movie came from an idea Marlyn had after researching what it took to become a real life artist’s model back in 2004. She shelved the proposal but when a friend suggested she enter a Fiction Writing contest, a former writing partner, comedian Vince Valenzuela, reminded her about becoming...