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The 4th of July is just around the corner, and ahead of the holiday, viewers are taking in an adaptation of one of America's great literary heroes featuring one of the country's cinematic heroes. The Hunt for Red October, the 1990 film that marked the feature debut of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, is blowing up on iTunes' PVOD charts, jumping all the way to the eighth spot in the U.S. In its rise, the classic Cold War film has also leapfrogged some heavyweights like Rami Malek's The Amateur, 28 Days Later, and the recently-released Bring Her Back from Danny and Michael Philippou. Directed by John McTiernan, it was powered by the talents of James Bond legend Sean Connery in a complex role as a rogue Soviet Navy captain, while Alec Baldwin, as Ryan, was tasked with deducing his motives.

The Hunt for Red October was a hit from the moment it was released,...

Earning an Academy Award is one of the greatest achievements an actor can attain in Hollywood, and several performers have managed this feat at incredibly advanced ages. While many may feel Hollywood is a young person's game, certain actors have consistently done astounding work for decades and have earned awards into their 70s, 80s, and even 90s. The oldest Academy Award winners include some of the greatest actors who ever lived.

While there are plenty of incredible actors who have shockingly never received an Academy Award, these performers show that it’s never too late to achieve that esteemed honor. From the unmatched achievement of Katharine Hepburn’s four Oscar wins at age 74 to recipients who were inching close to 100 years old, while many have criticized the Academy’s biases, these honors prove actors don’t let ageism stand in the way of Oscar greatness. These were the oldest actors to ever win Academy Awards.

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In this age of superhero movies, we rarely see a blockbuster take over the conversation in pop culture. Yes, I know there is Top Gun: Maverick, Barbie, and Oppenheimer but the true era of blockbusters is long gone and so are the movie stars there were times when blockbusters were all the rage and in this list, we are talking about that time, 1990s. Countless films were released in the 1990s and several of them became blockbusters but now many people don’t even remember them and even if they do they are not talking about them. So, we took it upon ourselves to create a list of the best 10 forgotten blockbusters that were released in the 1990s.

Air Force One (Rent on Prime Video) Box Office: $315.2 Million Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79% Credit – Sony Pictures

Air Force One is...

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Canary Black is a spy action thriller film directed by Pierre Morel from a screenplay by Matthew Kennedy. The Prime Video film follows Avery Graves, an exceptional CIA agent whose husband is kidnapped by terrorists to blackmail her into stealing sensitive information that would betray her country. Canary Black stars Kate Beckinsale in the lead role with Rupert Friend, Ray Stevenson, Saffron Burrows, Ben Miles, and Michael Brandon starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the explosive action, thrilling story, and compelling characters in Canary Black here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Salt (Netflix & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Columbia Pictures

Salt is a spy action thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce from a screenplay by Kurt Wimmer. The 2010 film follows Evelyn Salt, an exceptional CIA agent who is wrongfully accused of killing the Russian president.

Dune 2 Star Timothee Chalamet Movies Ranked As Per Rotten Tomatoes. (Photo Credit – IMDb)

Timothee Chalamet is being lauded for his fantastic performance in Denis Villeneuve’s epic saga Dune 2. The film was released in the theatres on Friday, and it’s a visual treat for moviegoers. The film is one of the top-rated ones across various platforms, but Chalamet, over his short career span, has given several high-rated films.

Chalamet won hearts with his lively performance as Willy Wonka in last year’s Wonka. It became his career’s highest-grossing film as a leading man. But it seems Dune 2 might take away that title soon. He is essaying the character of Paul Atreides, and his ascension in this part has been remarkably shown. Scroll below for more.

Timothee Chalamet’s character Paul seemed a bit lost in the first film but understood his purpose and became a leader in Dune 2.

A revolutionary, an alien, an actor in drag, a missing journalist and an alcoholic lawyer. It was a mixed bag of Best Picture nominees at the 55th Academy Awards ceremony, but in the end there weren’t a lot of surprises. The epic film with the most nominations won the most awards; however, a fantasy film that garnered a surprising nine nominations won the hearts of millions and cemented a place in film history. The Best Director and three of the four acting winners were first-time nominees, and the fourth acting winner was on a record-setting streak that would last decades, while a couple nominees were on losing streaks. The hosts were also a bit of a mixed bag, with Liza Minnelli, Dudley Moore, Richard Pryor and Walter Matthau joining forces to steer the event. Let’s flashback 40 years to the ceremony on April 11, 1983.

The esteemed British filmmaker Richard Attenborough...

What do the 55th annual Academy Awards which took place April 11, 1983 have in common with the upcoming 95th Oscars?

Steven Spielberg and John Williams.

Back in 1983, Spielberg’s beloved “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” was nominated for nine Academy Awards including film, director and score. This year, the 76-year-old Spielberg and Williams, 91, are both nominated for “The Fabelmans.” The filmmaker’s semi-autobiographical drama is in contention for eight Academy Awards including film, director, screenplay and score.

The 55th Oscars made history with Ben Kingsley becoming the first actor of Indian descent to win the best actor Oscar for his extraordinary portrayal of “Gandhi” while Louis Gossett Jr. become the first black actor to win in the supporting category with his iconic turn as tough-nosed D.I. in “An Officer and a Gentleman.” This year, history could be made again in the best actress category. Malaysian Chinese performer Michelle Yeoh has the chance...

There wasn't a hotter author in the early 1990s than Tom Clancy. When the one-time insurance salesman took a crack at writing a Cold War military thriller in 1982, the resulting novel, "The Hunt for Red October," rocketed from niche page-turner to full-blown national bestseller (thanks in part to praise from then President Ronald Reagan). The book's hero, CIA analyst Jack Ryan, quickly became Clancy's James Bond through whom the author explored a shifting balance of global power as the Soviet Union gradually broke apart. By 1996, Clancy had authored seven Ryan adventures, promoting his protagonist nearly every step of the way until he inevitably became President of the United States in "Debt of Honor."

Though the books quickly became hopelessly convoluted and, finally, unreadably nonsensical, the character was immensely franchisable as a big-screen hero. With the box-office success of John McTiernan's "The Hunt for Red October" in 1990, it looked like...

The first film to feature Tom Clancy's stalwart and honest action hero Jack Ryan was John McTiernan's 1990 thriller "The Hunt for Red October." In the early parts of McTiernan's film, a rogue Soviet submarine called Red October, captained by Marko Ramius (Sean Connery), has broken off from the Soviet fleet and may be planning an unauthorized nuclear strike in the United States. Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) pieces together some information about Ramius and concludes that he is not striking the U.S., but defecting. He is given three days to track down the Red October, confront Ramius, and confirm his suspicions. 

"Red October" was successful enough to spawn a briefly popular subgenre of steely espionage thrillers that persisted throughout the front end of the decade. Jack Ryan would return in the hit films "Patriot Games," and "Clear and Present Danger" (with Harrison Ford as Ryan) and "The Sum of All Fears...

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "The Hunt for Red October" (1990)

Where You Can Stream It: Netflix

The Pitch: It's the mid-1980s, and the Cold War is nearing its bitter, drawn-out end. Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius is made the Commanding Officer of the Red October, the Soviet Navy's most advanced ballistic missile submarine and a vessel capable of avoiding detection by passive sonar. When Ramius abruptly goes rogue, lying to his crew and telling them they are to carry out missile drills off the east coast of North America, the CIA is quick to assume the worst and takes steps to try and stop Ramius before he launches a nuclear strike.

However, CIA intelligence analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) comes to suspect...

Click here to read the full article.

From its first edition back in 1946, Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival been dedicated to celebrating the extremes of filmmaking, from the most avant-garde experimental through cutting-edge arthouse and political cinema to best of the Hollywood genre movies.

The filmmaking quartet that Locarno has picked this year for its achievement honors is a near-perfect reflection of this approach.

Here is a closer look at them.

Jason Blum

With his Blumhouse Production outfit, American producer Jason Blum pioneered and mastered a model of combining strict budget control (typically under 5 million per film) with tremendous creative freedom to produce global horror franchises, including Paranormal Activity, The Purge and Insidious, as well as fostering a new generation of directing talent, backing such debut features as Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash and Jordan Peele’s Get Out, both of which earned Blum an Oscar nomination for best picture. Much studied,...

Click here to read the full article.

Legendary political director Costa-Gavras (Z, Missing) will receive this year’s lifetime achievement award from the Locarno International Film Festival.

The Greek filmmaker, who has been making social-activist cinema for nearly 60 years, will be honored at the 75th edition of the Swiss festival on Aug. 11.

Locarno will also screen two of Costa-Gavras’ early works, that are now rarely seen: Shock Troops from 1967 and The Sleeping Car Murders (1965).

Costa-Gavras is perhaps best known for his political thrillers Z (1969), a look at the Greek military coup of 1967, which won the best international feature Oscar in 1970 as well as the Oscar for best editing for Françoise Bonnot, and for Missing (1982), a dramatization of the CIA’s involvement in the coup d’état in Chile in 1973, which starred Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek and which was nominated for four Oscars, winning best-adapted screenplay honors for Costa-Gavras and co-writer Donald E. Stewart.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Behemoth (Zhao Liang)

There’s just one thing missing from Zhao Liang’s visually masterful documentary Behemoth: a before image of what this wasteland of coal and rock used to be before God’s beast was unleashed. That creature — as represented by the industrial machine — devours the mountains of Mongolia, exploding large formations into rubble to be separated by the Sichaun people acting as minions. These citizens become the cause and effect,...

Just three years after winning an Academy Award as a supporting actress, Meryl Streep took another Oscar home as Best Actress. Watch the video above as Sylvester Stallone announces her name for the 1982 film “Sophie’s Choice,” and the pregnant Streep drops her speech at the podium before she receives the trophy. Sly refers her to as the “marvelous” Meryl Streep when opening the envelope.

SEEOscars flashback: Meryl Streep exclaims ‘Holy mackerel’ winning her 1st Oscar for ‘Kramer vs. Kramer’ [Watch]

When Streep first heard that William Styron’s novel about a Holocaust survivor who befriends two eccentric young men in New York City was being turned into a film, she knew she had to play the part. She reportedly begged writer/director Alan J. Pakula for the part on bended knee. Only after Ursula Andress, Magdalena Vasaryova and Liv Ullman proved unavailable, was Streep granted the role of Sophie Zawistowski.

MaryAnn’s quick take… Sure, millions of Native people dead and ancient cultures destroyed, but who has to live with that? All the good soldiers who were just following orders, that’s who. Won’t someone think of the white man? I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto) women’s participation in this film

(learn more about this)

You know what the real white man’s burden is? Living with the guilt of the colonialism, oppression, and genocide you are party to. I mean, look at North America. Sure, millions of Native people dead and ancient cultures destroyed, but who has to live with that? All the good soldiers who were just following orders, that’s who. No one talks about that, do they? Won’t someone think of the white man?

Scott Cooper (Black Mass,...

The fact that America’s past isn’t without its horrific nightmares of misguided violence and oppression shouldn’t be lost on anyone, especially not with everything that’s going on here today. Our history runs red with the blood of men, women, and children who fought to survive against a force that thought themselves superior because of the color of their skin. White Europeans staked claim upon their arrival, killing the Native Americans with gunfire, alcohol, and disease before chasing them off west. They brought slave ships full of Africans as unpaid laborers, property to be bought and sold. And after the latter won their freedom as a result of the Civil War, the former remained in invisible chains—the discovery of gold in the Black Hills eventually tightening them further.

Scott Cooper’s Hostiles (based on an unrealized manuscript by the late Donald E. Stewart) isn’t about that fight per se.

Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures has released the first trailer for Hostiles, which reunites director Scott Cooper and Christian Bale after their 2013 drama Out of the Furnace. The movie is slated to hit theaters in late December, which could make this an early favorite for the 2018 Oscars, although we still have quite some time before the awards season picture starts fully coming together. Still, this drama has been tearing through the prestige festival circuit, debuting at Telluride in September before appearing at the Toronto International Film Festival, Rome Film Fest and more, as it gets ready to debut at AFI Fest in Los Angeles next week.

Set in 1892, Hostiles tells the story of a legendary Army Captain (Christian Bale), who after stern resistance, reluctantly agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief (Wes Studi) and his family back to tribal lands. Making the harrowing and perilous journey from Fort Berringer, an...

Based on an original story by Donald E. Stewart, Hostiles is director Scott Cooper’s follow-up to Black Mass, Crazy Heart, and Out of the Furnace. Set in 1892, the film...

The Toronto International Film Festival may be known more as a platform for fall season movies than a market, but there are plenty of strong films in each year’s lineup looking for U.S. distribution. While films ranging from the Margot Robbie vehicle “I, Tonya” to Louis C.K.’s “I Love You, Daddy” landed sturdy deals during Tiff, many other highlights remain homeless. Here’s a look at a few of them, presented in the hopes that distributors will take note.

“Bodied”

If Eminem got a PhD in English without sacrificing his hip-hop talent, he might have turned out something like Adam (Calum Worthy), the scrawny white hero of Joseph Kahn’s “Bodied.” Kahn’s long-awaited follow-up to his snarky teen slasher comedy “Detention” is a hyper-stylized rap satire that plays out like Scott Pilgrim stumbling into “8 Mile” and stealing the spotlight. Set in an assaultive world of underground...

Bale stars as an oppressive army officer seeking redemption in the Old West in Scott Cooper’s striking, if somewhat glib, take on the genre

Related: Loving Pablo review – Javier Bardem's Escobar flick fails to sniff out new lines

The sight of a baby being shot is something which sets the tone, the feel, and the body language of this brutal and self-regarding Western from writer-director Scott Cooper, based on an unproduced screenplay by the late Donald Stewart, who scripted the The Hunt For Red October.

Continue reading...

The Telluride Film Festival is about a lot more than Oscars. Co-directors Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger certainly set out to program the year’s likeliest Oscar contenders, including Joe Wright’s Gary Oldman vehicle “Darkest Hour,” Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” starring Saoirse Ronan, Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” starring Sally Hawkins, and “Battle of the Sexes,” starring a luminous Emma Stone as real-life hero Billie Jean King.

But Telluride was also a crucible for conversations about the state of the motion picture industry throughout the weekend, as Netflix and Amazon threw parties and checked out several high-profile movies without distribution — including Francis Ford Coppola’s musically-enhanced “The Cotton Club Encore” — that banked on the festival boosting their critical and audience cred before top buyers.

Here’s what we learned over the Labor Day weekend:

1. Christian Bale is fat.

The subject of two well-deserved weekend tributes...

The Telluride Film Festival is about a lot more than Oscars. Co-directors Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger certainly set out to program the year’s likeliest Oscar contenders, including Joe Wright’s Gary Oldman vehicle “Darkest Hour,” Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” starring Saoirse Ronan, Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” starring Sally Hawkins, and “Battle of the Sexes,” starring a luminous Emma Stone as real-life hero Billie Jean King.

But Telluride was also a crucible for conversations about the state of the motion picture industry throughout the weekend, as Netflix and Amazon threw parties and checked out several high-profile movies without distribution — including Francis Ford Coppola’s musically-enhanced “The Cotton Club Encore” — that banked on the festival boosting their critical and audience cred before top buyers.

Here’s what we learned over the Labor Day weekend:

1. Christian Bale is fat.

The subject of two well-deserved weekend tributes...

“Hostiles,” a sturdy and characteristically brutal new Western from “Black Mass” director Scott Cooper, begins with somebody shooting a baby — that’s not a spoiler, just a warning. The year is 1892, and a settler named Rosalee Quaid (Rosamund Pike) is teaching her young daughters about the magical power of adverbs. Suddenly, their New Mexico homestead is raided by a band of Comanche renegades. They murder her husband, they shoot her two girls, and they fire a bullet directly into her infant son; Rosalee carries the lifeless bundle in her arms for days, because it’s that kind of movie — the only kind that Cooper knows how to make.

A few clicks south, Cavalry Captain Joseph Blocker (Christian Bale, broiling with his usual rage) is treating his Cheyenne prisoners with a similar degree of savagery. The point couldn’t be clearer, even though “Hostiles” spends the next 130 minutes underlining it with...

Hostiles, the Western drama that’s coming by way of Black Mass director Scott Cooper, has recruited Timothee Chalamet of Interstellar fame.

The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop, confirming that Chalamet now joins a cast that boasts Christian Bale – reuniting with Cooper after Out of the Furnance – Rosamund Pike, Jesse Plemons and Adam Beach, who will soon be rubbing shoulders with the remainder of Task Force X in next month’s Suicide Squad.

Chalamet, meanwhile, will assume the role of Private Philippe DeJardin, a member of the military stationed at an outpost in New Mexico. From what we understand, Scott Cooper’s period Western chronicles the story of an Army captain (Christian Bale) who escorts a Cheyenne chief through war-torn territory, utterly ignoring common sense and the very near and present danger.

Penned by Cooper himself along with the late, great Donald Stewart, Hostiles is a story of a decorated...

Out of the Furnace director Scott Cooper has been quietly assembling his band of Hostiles over the past few months, welcoming old cohort Christian Bale and, more recently, Rosamund Pike on board for the historical drama.

That preliminary cast has expanded by one today, with Variety revealing that Jesse Plemons has closed a deal to star opposite Bale and Pike in the period epic. Best known for his recurring role in Noah Hawley’s Fargo series, the casting coup represents a reunion between Plemons and Cooper, who worked together on mob thriller Black Mass. This time around, he’s been cast as a young soldier in the cavalry unit headed up by Bale’s legendary army captain.

Taking place in 1892, Hostiles is rooted in a time when the actor’s skilful warrior “begrudgingly agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief and his family back to tribal lands. Making the...

Only three weeks ago, we brought you the news that Christian Bale was keen to collaborate once again with his Out of the Furnace director Scott Cooper for Hostiles, a period drama revolving around a dying Cheyenne war chief.

Pre-production is moving fast, too, with Deadline now reporting that Gone Girl actress Rosamund Pike has been tapped to star as a grieving widow who journeys “through the heart of darkness.” Rooted in 1892, Cooper’s latest directorial effort is about as far removed from both Out of the Furnace and Johnny Depp-fronted mob drama Black Mass as you can imagine, which has us all the more intrigued.

Taking point as a legendary army captain, Bale’s decorated fighter “begrudgingly agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief and his family back to tribal lands. Making the harrowing and perilous journey from an isolated Army outpost in New Mexico to the grasslands of Montana,...

Exclusive: Rosamund Pike will star alongside Christian Bale in the Scott Cooper-directed epic Hostiles. Cooper, who’s coming off Black Mass and the Bale-starrer Out Of The Furnace, is writing and directing this one. It is based on a nearly 30-year-old screenplay by Oscar-winner Missing scribe Donald Stewart. Cooper will produce together with John Lesher and Ken Kao, who is financing through his company Waypoint Entertainment. Production will begin in July. Set in 1892, Hos…...

Following one casting switch and one addition, Charlie McDowell‘s The Discovery is preparing to set forth. The One I Love helmer’s second feature was originally set to star Rooney Mara and Nicholas Hoult, but a recent report tells us the latter’s departed for Xavier Dolan’s The Death and Life of John F. Donovan; stepping into his place is Jason Segel, while Robert Redford‘s been cast in a key role. [THR]

As we learned last fall, the project, scripted by McDowell and Justin Lader, tracks a love story set one year after science has proven the afterlife’s existence. While millions commit suicide, “believing that [it] is like pushing a reset button,” the man (Segal) whose father (Redford) discovered the afterlife meets and falls in love with a woman (Mara) “whose life is tinged by a tragic past.”

Endgame and Protagonist Pictures are financing The Discovery, which will roll cameras this month.

Rosamund Pike ("Gone Girl," "Jack Reacher") is set to star alongside Christian Bale in the Scott Cooper-directed epic "Hostiles" at Waypoint Entertainment.

Based on a nearly 30-year-old screenplay by Oscar-winner scribe Donald Stewart, the 1892-set story follows a legendary Army captain who agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief and his family back to tribal lands.

Pike will play a widow who undertakes the perilous journey after the murder of her family on the plains. Cooper ("Black Mass," "Out Of The Furnace") is writing, directing and will produce with John Lesher and Ken Kao. Filming will begin in July.

Source: Deadline...

"Out of the Furnace" actor Christian Bale and director Scott Cooper are set to team for the western drama "Hostiles" which begins shooting this summer.

The story centers on a Native American-hating soldier, nearing retirement, who is given one last assignment: to escort an Indian chief back to his Montana reservation.

Along the way he comes across a young widow and fights back attacks by Comanche tribes - learning to respect the race he hates.

Donald Stewart ("The Hunt for Red October," "Patriot Games") penned the script which Cooper has since re-written. Jon Lesher and Ken Kao are producing.

Source: THR...

Before he went off to direct Johnny Depp in Black Mass, Scott Cooper teamed with Christian Bale for the Pittsburgh-set drama Out of the Furnace, and now they are looking to reteam. According to THR, a summer shoot is already in the works for the western titled Hostiles. Scripted by the late Donald Stewart with a pass from Cooper, it follows “a Native American-hating soldier, nearing retirement, who is given one last assignment: to escort an Indian chief back to his Montana reservation. In the process, he learns to respect the race he hates.”

Continuing her rise in Hollywood, Jessica Chastain is now getting into the production game, having launched her own company, Freckle Films. Teaming with American Honey producers Maven Pictures, they haven’t set their debut yet, but stay tuned. In the meantime, Chastain has also lined up a potential new role as The Wrap reports Aaron Sorkin...

About a month ago, Christian Bale exited Michael Mann's brewing "Enzo Ferrari," citing fears that the weight gain needed for the role would endanger the health of the actor, who has definitely wildly bulked and slimmed down for roles in the past. The movie was going to shoot this summer, and leaving left a open slot on his calendar. But he's found a way to fill it. Christian Bale will reteam with his "Out Of The Furnace" director Scott Cooper for "Hostiles." Based on a reimagining of a manuscript by the late screenwriter Donald Stewart ("Missing," "The Hunt For Red October," "Patriot Games," "Clear And Present Danger") the western will follow an Army captain who is tasked with bringing a dying Cheyenne war chief and his family back to their tribal lands. Here's the synopsis:  Set in 1892, Hostiles tells the story of a legendary Army captain, who after stern resistance,...

Kenny Ireland has died aged 68. The 'Benidorm' actor - who played swinger Donald Stewart in the ITV comedy - passed away today (31.07.14) following a battle with cancer. The tragic news was confirmed by Scotland's Royal Lyceum Theatre, where Kenny was creative director for over a decade until 2003. The theatre said in a statement: ''We are greatly saddened to learn today that Kenny Ireland, Artistic Director of The Lyceum from 1992-2003 passed away this morning.'' Kenny was written out of the upcoming series of 'Benidorm' last month in order to focus on his recovery. An ITV spokesperson told MailOnline: ''We are terribly saddened...

Actor Kenny Ireland has died following a battle with cancer.

The 68-year-old performer was perhaps best known for playing swinger Donald Stewart in ITV's Benidorm.

He was also director of Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre from 1992 until 2003.

Ireland's character was written out of Benidorm in June in order for him concentrate on cancer treatment.

A spokesperson for ITV said: "We are terribly saddened to hear that Kenny Ireland has passed away, our thoughts are with his family at this time.

"He was a much loved actor, not only by the cast and crew on Benidorm but by the millions of fans out there.

"He appeared as Donald Stewart in Benidorm from the first episode and helped play a huge part in its success. He will be greatly missed."

Ireland was also known for his appearances in Victoria Wood As Seen On TV, including his role as Derek the handyman in Acorn Antiques.

Kenny Ireland is reportedly battling cancer.

The Benidorm star is said to have been written out of the latest series while he fights the disease, according to The Sun.

The actor - who plays Donald Stewart in the ITV comedy - is being supported by his family as he undergoes treatment.

The 68-year-old is also known for his roles in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Victoria Wood's As Seen On TV.

Ireland is yet to make an official statement regarding his health and future on the show.

Benidorm star Steve Pemberton recently revealed that he will not return to the series as part of the Garvey family.

"We've left Benidorm," he told What's On TV. "We filmed our scenes early on this year so we're going to be in the first episode or two of the new series, but then the whole Garvey family are leaving.

"It's a very sad time,...

Emmy-winning actress Sada Thompson has lost her fight against lung disease, aged 83.

The star died on Wednesday in Danbury, Connecticut.

Thompson launched her career on the stage in the 1950s, making her Broadway debut in 1959 musical Juno. She went on to portray multiple characters in the play Twigs, which landed her a Tony Award in 1972.

But she was perhaps best known for her role as TV matron Kate Lawrence on U.S. drama series Family, a role which earned her the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1978. Her performance on the show also garnered her three Golden Globe nominations.

Her other TV credits include appearances on legal drama Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law, Father Dowling Mysteries, hit sitcom Cheers and crime drama Law & Order.

Thompson's last screen role came in 2000 movie Pollack alongside Ed Harris.

She is survived by her husband of 61 years, Donald Stewart, and their daughter Liza Sgueglia, reports the New York Daily News.

Hollywoodnews.com: Academy Award-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian will receive the Writers Guild of America, West’s 2011 Laurel Award for Screen, honoring lifetime achievement in outstanding writing for motion pictures, to be presented at the 2011 Writers Guild Awards West Coast ceremony on Saturday, February 5, 2011, in Hollywood.

“Steven Zaillian’s best scripts not only function as intelligent, thought-provoking works that uplift and inspire audiences, but often, as in the case of his screenplays such as Schindler’s List, they act as witness to crucial chapters in our collective history. His impressive body of work provides a benchmark that all screenwriters aspire to,” said Wgaw President John Wells.

Zaillian is perhaps best known for his screenplay for the acclaimed Holocaust drama Schindler’s List, based on the novel by Thomas Keneally. In 1994, Zaillian received an Academy Award for his screen adaptation of Schindler’s List, as the film went on to garner multiple awards that year,...