News

Worldwide distribution rights to filmmaker Oliver Stone’s documentary “JFK: Destiny Betrayed” have been acquired by Agc Television, the content studio announced Sunday.

Stone’s 1991 film “JFK” reignited interest in John F. Kennedy’s presidency and assassination, and renewed demands to open sealed files that could shed light on his tragic end in 1963. Many of those files have now been declassified.

In this three-part series, Stone and writer James Dieugenio assemble the pieces of the puzzle and expose little-known but hugely consequential aspects of JFK’s life, career, foreign policy actions and murder. Accessing the new evidence in Kennedy’s assassination and under-reported coverage of his far-reaching policy speeches that threatened the status-quo, Stone puts Kennedy’s assassination in context politically with interviews, documents and forensics reports.

Also Read: Christopher Lawford, Actor and JFK's Nephew, Dies at 63

“This documentary film represents an important bookend to my 1991 film,” Stone said in a statement.

1962: Search for Tomorrow's Marge was upset when adoption

plans fell through. 1982: Sft made its NBC debut.

1982: The first daytime episode of Capitol aired on CBS.

2004: All My Children's Kendall told Bianca her baby was dead."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1962: On Search for Tomorrow, Marge Bergman (Melba Rae) reeled from Monica's (Barbara Baxley) decision to not give Jimmy up for adoption. She later went to friends Joanne (Mary Stuart) and Arthur Tate (Terry O'Sullivan) for solace.

1962: On As the World Turns,...

1985: General Hospital's Robert and Anna explained to Robin why

they hadn't told her the truth about being her parents.

1995: Stone Cates died. 2006: Sonny and Robin remember Stone

on the anniversary of his death. 2011: Robin talked to Stone

on the bridge."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1946: The Guiding Light aired for the final time on NBC Radio, sponsored by General Mills. Irna Phillips had been in a prolonged lawsuit with Emmons Carlson over rights to the show, leading NBC to cancel the series for the second time.

General Hospital spoilers for next week’s episodes of ABC’s legendary sudser tease that there is lots of soapy melodrama about to go down, and we’re warning you, keep the tissues handy! But before we get to the spoilers for next week, it’s fitting to remember a Gh alum who passed away this week. Fans will remember actor Christopher Lawford from his 2003 stint in Port Charles as Senator Jordan. Lawford debuted as a daytime television actor on the now-defunct ABC soap, All My Children where the talented actor played Philip “Charlie” Brent Jr. from 1992-1995. Last week, Sam (Kelly Monaco) […]

The post General Hospital spoilers for next week: Jason plays with Sam, Liesel is a wild card, Mike does something horribly wrong, how long will Oscar survive? appeared first on Monsters and Critics.

There is sad news to report from the soap world. All My Children and General Hospital alum Christopher Lawford has died. Lawford was reportedly afflicted with a medical emergency while inside a yoga studio on September 4. According to TMZ, law enforcement sources said no foul play is suspected in his death. An autopsy has been scheduled although it is not known when the results will be made public. Christopher Lawford was 63 years old. Lawford debuted as a daytime television actor on the now-defunct ABC soap, All My Children. From 1992-1995 the talented actor played Philip ‘Charlie’ Brent Jr. In […]

The post Christopher Lawford: All My Children and General Hospital alum dead at age 63 appeared first on Monsters and Critics.

Christopher Lawford, one of John F. Kennedy’s nephews and an actor on shows including “General Hospital” and “Frasier,” died on Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 63.

His relatives confirmed that he passed away in Vancouver, Canada. Lawford appeared in the aforementioned shows, as well as “All My Children” and the 2013 film, “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.”

TMZ reported that his death stemmed from a “medical emergency” at a yoga studio earlier that night, and appeared to be from “natural causes.”

Lawford’s cousin, Patrick J. Kennedy, tweeted, “To the world he was an author, actor, & activist, but to the recovery community he was a pioneer – living proof that long-term recovery was possible,” referring to Lawford’s drug addiction and subsequent sobriety. Lawford had spoken openly about his addiction, penning a book about it in 2016 titled “Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption.”

Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of Robert F.

Christopher Lawford, a veteran actor and activist whose uncles were Ted, Robert and President John Kennedy and was the son of Peter Lawford, has died. He was 63. His cousin Kerry Kennedy announced the news on social media but gave no details:

We mourn the loss of my cousin Christopher Lawford, Rest in Peace.

Pictured here with our family at the 2004 Democratic Convention and with his wonderful son, David. pic.twitter.com/GLlCvN7xkv

— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) September 5, 2018

Lawford had dozens of film and TV credits during a 30-year acting career. He appeared in features ranging from Impulse and The Doors to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Thirteen Days — a Cuban Missile Crisis tale that featured his uncles JFK and Rfk as characters. He also guested on such popular TV series as Frasier, Silk Stalkings, Chicago Hope and The O.C. He also appeared on the daytime soaps All My Children and General Hospital.

10:45 Am Pt:  Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, Lawford was at a yoga studio Tuesday night when he had a medical emergency and later died. Our sources say the death appears to be from "natural causes." The coroner is performing an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. Actor Christopher Lawford, the son of Peter Lawford and Patricia Kennedy, has died ... TMZ has confirmed. Christopher -- a longtime Hollywood actor -- appeared on "General Hospital,...

1962: Search for Tomorrow's Marge was upset when adoption

plans fell through. 1982: Sft made its NBC debut.

1982: The first daytime episode of Capitol aired on CBS.

2004: All My Children's Kendall told Bianca her baby was dead."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1962: On Search for Tomorrow, Marge Bergman (Melba Rae) reeled from Monica's (Barbara Baxley) decision to not give Jimmy up for adoption. She...

Christopher Kennedy Lawford, the son of actor Peter Lawford and President John F. Kennedy's sister Patricia, married Mercedes Miller in Maui, Hawaii, over the weekend. Lawford, 59, met his bride, a yoga teacher, 34, in Maui, where they both live part time. It's his second marriage. (He has three children from his first marriage to Jeannie Olsson.) The theme for Sunday's wedding was Hawaiian, from the food to the flowers. The décor featured tropical and native plants from Maui, as well as orchids, peonies, roses and a bleached driftwood arch, which the couple stood under as they exchanged vows. The groom,...

Christopher Kennedy Lawford, the son of actor Peter Lawford, and President John F. Kennedy's sister, Patricia, married Mercedes Miller in Maui, Hawaii, over the weekend. Lawford, 59, met his bride, a yoga teacher, 34, in Maui, where they both live part time. It's his second marriage. (He has three children from his first marriage to Jeannie Olsson.) The theme for Sunday's wedding was Hawaiian, from the food to the flowers. The décor featured tropical and native plants from Maui, as well as orchids, peonies, roses and a bleached driftwood arch, which the couple stood under as they exchanged vows. The groom,...

Is former "Real Housewives of New York" castmember Kelly Bensimon's next role a real Kennedy housewife?

The reality star was spotted getting close and cuddly with none other than Christopher Kennedy Lawford, an author and a nephew of President Kennedy, at the recent Caron Renaissance Save-a-Life gala at NYC's Capitale. Lawford, who penned the book "Symptoms of Withdrawal: A Memoir of Snapshots and Redemption" about recovering from his addiction to drugs and alcohol, is a public advocacy consultant for Caron Treatment Centers.

At the event, Bensimon and Lawford were joined at the hip, clowning around and taking lots of photos together in the celebrity-packed social scene, which included guests Russell Simmons, Melissa George, Eliza Dushku, Scott Sartiano, Jacqueline Sherry Coombe, Avi Oster, artist Nicholas Forker and Lori Levine.

When we asked her about the obvious flirtation, Bensimon was coy about her new friendship, but was certainly in no state of denial.

Tommy Davidson is hosting an unusual, one-man art exhibit at the SoHo Gallery, 12350 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604 on June 10, 2010, 5-8pm.

Guests will watch renowned artist Hollenstein create an original work of vibrant colors and distinct lines which he will execute from the treads of his wheelchair. The Hollenstein-signature artwork will include hand prints of over a dozen celebrities and benefit Shane's Inspiration, a children’s charity.

Other celebrity supporters scheduled to attend include Sterling Beaumon (Lost), Kate Linder (Young & The Restless), Lorna Scott (Wanted), Michael Papajohn (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Lily Holleman (urFrenz), Michael Colyar (Last Comic Standing), Christopher Kennedy Lawford, Judy Tenuta and Matthew Borlenghi (General Hospital), among many others.

Read more...

Actor Martin Sheen is set to destroy his good-guy image in a shocking new book, which will expose his past booze-fuelled rages and alcohol problems.

The former TV president has teamed up with writer Christopher Kennedy Lawford to reveal all about his darkest days in Moments of Clarity.

In the book Sheen says, "When I drank, it gave me permission to do things that I normally would not do."

And he tells Lawford that he regrets being so violent towards his children when they were young.

In a book extract, obtained by America's the Globe, the former West Wing star recalls one morning when his actor son Charlie - then 16 - became the victim of his father's bad temper.

Sheen explains Charlie had come into his sleeping parents' bedroom to look for lunch money and when he found his mum's purse was empty, he swore and woke his father, who punched him to the ground.

Sheen remembers, "He looked up at me and for the first time in my life I saw myself. I saw what I looked like in his eyes. I was a monster. I was this raging lunatic who would physically assault his son."

The veteran actor changed his ways at that point, but still fears Charlie's infamous problems with drugs and alcohol were a result of his own bad parenting.

He adds, "I taught him everything he knew. I never got into drugs that way, but I used to drink with the lads on a few occasions."...

Things are going pretty well for Alec Baldwin--he's relatively adored for the work he's doing on "30 Rock", he won a Golden Globe for it the other night, and people have pretty much almost forgotten about that pesky leaked voicemail in which he screamed and cursed at his young daughter and called her a pig...almost. But things weren't always coming up roses for Baldwin. Alec Baldwin recently wrote about being an alcoholic in his younger years--and what it was that finally set him straight.In "Moments of Clarity," a new book comprised of essays about personal addictions, compiled by actor Christopher Kennedy Lawford, Baldwin writes about d ...

Alec Baldwin has confessed that he knew he had an alcohol addiction when he was drinking wine while driving in the middle of the afternoon. In his contribution to Christopher Kennedy Lawford's book Moments Of Clarity, the 30 Rock star admitted to a dependency on drink, drugs and video games. "I would play video games from 9am to 11am, and I would wind down," he said. "I'm driving down the road, I'm having a drink, It's 4 O'clock; I'm supposed to have a drink. But one day I went, 'I don't (more)...

Alec Baldwin realised he was an alcoholic when he found himself drinking wine while driving at 4pm in the afternoon.

The actor began boozing heavily when his acting career took off in his early 20s, and the habit soon took a grip on his life.

He reveals he would regularly party all night, drinking and snorting cocaine, and then spend hours obsessively playing videogames in an arcade before he could sleep.

Baldwin makes the revelation in Christopher Kennedy Lawford's new book Moments of Clarity, in which a group of celebrities discuss their addictions and how they turned their lives around.

The 30 Rock star writes, "I would play video games from 9am to 11am, and I would wind down.

"I'm driving down the road, I'm having a drink, It's 4 o clock; I'm supposed to have a drink. But one day I went, 'I don't see anybody else in their car with a plastic takeout container filled with ice and wine. They're drinking coffee and they're drinking diet coke. They're not drinking wine'."

Six weeks before his 27th birthday, Balwin joined a support group, and kicked the addiction for good.

He adds, "God got me sober. That day God was a black, 65-year-old retired postal worker named Lenny. Lenny said, you never have to feel this way again if you don't want to."

Moments of Clarity also features contributions from Tom Arnold and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Jamie Lee Curtis, Alec Baldwin, Judy Collins and Lou Gossett Jr. are among a host of entertainers whose struggles with drug and alcohol addiction are detailed in a new tell-all book.

Author Christopher Kennedy Lawford shares celebrity rehab stories in his new book Moments of Clarity.

In the tome, singer Collins - now sober for 13 years - reveals, "I had been drinking around the clock for four years. My instrument - the voice that had brought me success and saved my sanity - was coming apart."

Remembering the moment before she checked into rehab, she adds: "I brought a jelly jar of vodka and drank it in the airport bathroom."

And actor Lou Gossett Jr. shares his own life-changing experience, which took place during a trip to South Africa.

Gossett reveals, "I was looking out at Robben Island, where Mandela spent 27 years in prison, and I burst into tears because there is absolutely nothing that ever happened in my life to compare to what that man went through and what his people went through. I said, 'What the hell am I doing?' I did worse to myself than any person, white or black, did to me."

The book is set to hit shelves in December.

Author Christopher Kennedy Lawford has put together a collection of moving stories told by celebrities who spent time in rehab facilities. In "Moments of Clarity," he talks with stars including Alec Baldwin, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lou Gossett Jr, and the legendary Judy Collins. "I had been drinking around the clock for four years. My instrument - the voice that had brought me success and saved my sanity - was coming apart," Judy Collins said after celebrating 13 years of sobriety. Lou Gossett Jr. was in South Africa when he had his wake up call that he had caused his own pain. Inspired...

John Turturro, Camryn Manheim, Jeffrey Tambor, S. Epatha Merkerson, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Lawford and Michael Clarke Duncan have joined the ensemble cast of the Anthony Hopkins-helmed indie Slipstream. Hopkins, Christian Slater, Stella Arroyave, Lisa Pepper, Kevin McCarthy, Gavin Grazer, Aaron Tucker and Lana Antonova already have joined the cast. Penned by Hopkins, Slipstream is a noir comedy about an actor and would-be screenwriter who, at the very moment of his meeting with fate, comes to discover that life is random and fortune is sightless as he is thrown into a vortex where time, dreams and reality collide in an increasingly whirling slipstream. The story is described as a complex, surreal and dreamlike tale of one man's journey.

Fox has teamed with Imagine Television and 20th Century Fox TV to develop a half-hour project starring actor Christopher Kennedy Lawford. The untitled project, to be penned by writer-producer Mark Reisman (NBC's Frasier), is loosely based on the life of Lawford, son of actor Peter Lawford of Rat Pack fame, and Patricia Kennedy, sister of President John F. Kennedy. Lawford would star as one of the members of the younger generation of Kennedys who is coming out of an extended adolescence rather late in life to enter the family business of politics very much on the ground floor, running for a small local office.

There's lots of sex in this low-budget comedy, but it's monstrously unfunny if one isn't in the ranks of horny, bored male yuppies that represent its de facto audience.

A one-joke movie stroked into a veritable marathon of screwing and wooden farce, writer-director-lead actor Mike Binder's "Sex Monster" is more big tease than anything-goes sleaze, reflecting the always nagging guilty consciousness of the leads.

A world premiere blind date at the U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival in Aspen, Colo., "Sex" won't be shagging many paying customers beyond a limited domestic release and unarousing exposure in post-theatrical markets.

Mariel Hemingway and Stephen Baldwin in the cast, heaps of gags about lesbianism and bisexuality, even the "Sex Monster Dancers" -- a half-dozen young gals bumping and grinding to Joe Cocker's "Woman to Woman" over the opening and closing credits -- all fail to lure one into Binder's smutty scenario.

While the direction could have been perkier, the real mood-killers are the screenplay and two-dimensional characterizations.

A successful housing contractor in L.A., Marty Barnes (Binder) is happily married but obsessed with the idea of talking his wife, winsome hairdresser Laura (Hemingway), into a threesome with another woman.

She at first reacts with mild umbrage but grows more used to the idea. He struggles to make it all sound healthy and natural, finally hitting on the concept of "home court advantage" -- i.e., a woman knows best how to make love to another woman.

Binder tries to flesh out the characters in the subsequent awkward scenes of Laura and Marty's mutual experimentation, but there are no serious obstacles to their dalliances with more than one new playmate, starting with her sweet, flirtatious co-worker Didi (Renee Humphrey). The big chuckle is that Laura becomes enthusiastically bisexual, with Marty quickly growing jealous of her all-night sessions that continue after he's withdrawn from action.

The other central conceit is that many a woman longs to be, has been, or will be a lesbian. Once Laura gets started, she aggressively pursues Marty's engaged assistant (Missy Crider) and succeeds. Even Marty's sister is not safe around his voracious wife, while he periodically endures detection and treatment of a polyp on his colon from bored Dr. Berman (Kevin Pollak).

Baldwin and Taylor Nichols are refreshing diversions as Marty's bar pals, with the latter playing a larger role when his wife is drawn toward Laura. Christopher Lawford is suitably smug and judgmental as a conservative business partner whose trophy wife (Joanna Heimbold) has a wicked streak. The sweaty climax involves a business deal that Marty and Laura flub while their marriage and dignity survive.

SEX MONSTER

Molly-B Prods.

Writer-director: Mike Binder

Producers: Jack Binder, Scott Stephens

Executive producers: Peter Savarino, Jim Harbaugh, Marc Frydman

Color/stereo

Cast:

Laura: Mariel Hemingway

Marty: Mike Binder

Didi: Renee Humphrey

Billy: Taylor Nichols

Diva: Missy Crider

Dave: Christopher Lawford

Evie: Joanna Heimbold

Dr. Berman: Kevin Pollak

Murphy: Stephen Baldwin

Running time -- 97 minutes

No MPAA rating...

An affable comedy of manners about a Bronx pizza-maker who follows his thespian dreams to the West Village, "Kiss Me, Guido" serves as a light but promising mainstream entry for first-time writer-director Tony Vitale.

Screened this year at Sundance in the out-of-competition American Spectrum program, the picture serves up a good-natured skewering of gay and straight cultural stereotypes that makes up in warmth what it may lack in subtlety.

While definitely not your average Paramount fare, careful handling and enthusiastic word-of-mouth should take "Guido" beyond its specialized audience base.

Nick Scotti provides the right blend of Tony Manero machismo and gentle naivete as Italian-American Frankie Zito, a DeNiro/Pacino/Pesci-quoting wannabe who answers a Village Voice ad for a "GWM" roommate, believing the abbreviation to stand for "guy with money."

The GWM in question turns out to be Warren (Anthony Barrile), a Soho actor-choreographer recently dumped by his boyfriend who is having a little trouble making the rent. The mistaken-identity situation leads to the inevitable cultural clash, but ultimately, Frankie and Warren form a growing bond, cemented by the mutually respected power of disco music and the fact that Warren starred in one of Frankie's favorite martial arts movies.

Scotti, a former model making his feature film debut following a recurring role in a daytime soap, brings a light comic likability to the part. There's a sweetness to his swagger. Barrile, meanwhile, comes across as a low-key Nathan Lane in his portrayal of Scotti's perpetually sad-sack gay foil.

Also effective are Molly Price as Barrile's unlucky-in-love landlord, Meryl; Christopher Lawford as Warren's weasely ex-boyfriend, Dakota; and Domenick Lombardozzi as Scotti's faithful Bronx buddy, Joey Chips, who brings over the rest of Scotti's stuff, carefully folded in pizza boxes.

Writer-director Vitale, a New York Film Production veteran, admittedly employs a broad stroke here -- the "La Cage Aux Folles" influence is unmistakable -- and his across-the-board style of cultural parody will undoubtedly raise the ire of PC police, but he fills the story with enough clever bits to freshen up the farce.

Production values on this low-budgeter are solid, making good use of the Little Italy/Soho backdrops.

Music supervisor Randall Poster, meanwhile, plays deejay, helping to keep things moving with a nonstop disco mix.

KISS ME, GUIDO

Paramount

Director-screenwriter Tony Vitale

Producers Ira Deutchman, Christine Vachon

Executive producers Jane Barclay,

Tom Carouso, Sharon Harel,

Christopher Lawford

Director of photography Claudia Raschke

Production designer Jeffrey Rathaus

Editor Alexander Hall

Costume designer Victoria Farrell

Music supervisor Randall Poster

Casting Hopkins, Smith and Barden

Color/stereo

Cast:

Frankie Nick Scotti

Warren Anthony Barrile

Pino Anthony DeSando

Terry Craig Chester

Joey Chips Domenick Lombardozzi

Dakota Christopher Lawford

Meryl Molly Price

Running time -- 91 minutes

MPAA rating: R...