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In 1843, a Scottish surgeon named James Braid published a book with the fun-to-say title of "Neurypnology," which is often cited as the earliest known instance of modern-day hypnosis used for medical purposes. The practice and terminology of hypnosis began to spread through the psychology community through the rest of the 19th century and into the 20th, and it was used openly during wartime as a valuable psychological tool for combatting Ptsd. By the 1950s, hypnosis was has found mainstream approval around the world. 

Of course, the mainstreaming of hypnosis caused some people to freak out a little. The thought that a hypnotist could put you to sleep and implant mental suggestions they could control, effectively making you their slave, frightened some people who didn't fully understand its medical applications. It didn't help that hypnosis had also proliferated as a popular form of stage entertainment,...

Whether he's piloting the Millennium Falcon, cracking a whip, or telling Gary Oldman to get off his plane, Harrison Ford is one of our great movie stars. He's possessed with a sly charisma that can't be matched, even when he's playing a grump. In his golden years, Ford's grown very selective about his big screen roles, often relegating himself to installments in franchises like "Star Wars," "Indiana Jones," "Blade Runner," and (with "Captain America: Brave New World") the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He loves money, and I can't blame him.

For all of the riskier roles Ford has avoided in the world of film, his late career pivot to television, however, has been a welcome surprise. He's hilarious in the Apple TV+ comedy series "Shrinking" as Paul, a senior therapist who also acts as the mentor figure for just about every character on the show. On the other side of that...

Alice Hirson, who played a confidante of Barbara Bel Geddes’ Miss Ellie Ewing on Dallas and the mother of Ellen DeGeneres’ character on the comic’s groundbreaking ABC sitcom, has died. She was 95.

Hirson died Friday of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her son David Hirson told The Hollywood Reporter. She had been there for about a year.

From 1969-93, Hirson appeared on such daytime soap operas as CBS’ The Edge of Night as Stephanie Martin; on NBC’s Another World and its spinoff, Somerset, as Marsha Davis; on ABC’s One Life to Live as Eileen Siegel; on ABC’s General Hospital as Mrs. Van Gelder; and on ABC’s Loving as Dr. Lisa Helman.

On the big screen, she played the wife of Colonel Thornbush (Robert Webber), head of the paratrooper unit known as the Thornbirds, in Private Benjamin...

Star Trekis a franchise that is well known for featuring diplomatic solutions as often as it features physical fights. Because they are not as physically strong as some of the other major races in the franchise, namely the Klingons and the Vulcans, human characters in Star Trek: The Original Series often rely more on wit than on strength.

Sometimes human characters on Star Trek: The Original Series still needed to engage in a physical altercation, with some human characters clearly more adept at fighting than others. Over the course of the series' original three seasons, a handful of human characters aboard the Starship Enterprise and beyond proved that they were capable of handling fights when they had to.

Dr. McCoy Could Fight When He Had To

One of the most important characters in Star Trek: The Original Series, Doctor Leonard McCoy was essential to the dynamics between characters on the series,...

In Stuart Rosenberg's 1967 prison film "Cool Hand Luke," Lucas Jackson (Paul Newman) is thrown into a Florida penitentiary in the early 1950s for drunkenly cutting the heads off of parking meters. He is sentenced to two years hard labor working on a chain gang, and soon learns that the Floridian penal system is bleak and aggressive. The warden (Morgan Woodward) attempts to use modern, sensitive language to deal with the prisoners ("What we have here is failure to communicate"), but it's a gross juxtaposition given how cruel he is; the warden will give miscreants "a night in the box," a small wooden shack, as punishment for the smallest slights. 

Partway through the movie, Luke and his fellow prisoners are taken out to a field next to a remote country home. The prisoners haven't seen a woman for a long time -- some of them in years -- so when...

A surprising amount of "Star Trek" worldbuilding manifests in beverages. It does make sense, though, since not all alien worlds out there would have the same drinks that us Earthlings do. Take Klingon bloodwine; it's only natural that a warrior race literally drinks blood. The crystal-blue colored Romulan ale is consistently described as under embargo in the Federation; naturally, two warring powers don't conduct legal trade. While Cardassian Kanar is not consistently colored, it proved surprisingly integral to the arc of Damar (Casey Biggs), who takes solace in a bottle and must pull himself out of it to be a resistance leader during "Deep Space Nine."

"Star Trek: Lower Decks" is a love letter to each corner of the franchise's history. Sure enough, the latest episode has some beverage-related Easter eggs. In "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place," the U.S.S. Cerritos takes a trip to the Ferengi homeworld of Ferenginar.

Richard Widmark reportedly used his clout to amp up this revisionist western, but the result seems forced at best, and hampered by Universal’s TV-grade production values. The sober screenplay brings in good ideas but the execution can’t quite hold its own with the more progressive westerns of the genre-changing years 1968-’69. A cast of familiar faces makes much of it look fresh: Carroll O’Connor’s venal saloon keeper steals the show, while interesting casting gives us Lena Horne as Widmark’s romantic partner.

Death of a Gunfighter

Region B Blu-ray

Powerhouse Indicator

1969 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 94 min. / working title Patch / Street Date February 27, 2023 / available from Powerhouse Films UK / £15.99

Starring: Richard Widmark, Lena Horne, Carroll O’Connor, David Opatashu, Kent Smith, Jacqueline Scott, Morgan Woodward, Larry Gates, Dub Taylor, John Saxon, Darleen Carr, Michael McGreevey, Royal Dano, James (Jimmy) Lydon, Kathleen Freeman, Harry Carey Jr., Walter Sande, Victor French.

Cinematography:...

If you're a law-abiding citizen with no experience of life behind bars, a good prison movie is a window into a harsh world far removed from regular day-to-day life. There is something so intense about the idea of incarceration that makes it great for drama, and also lends itself to symbolism and metaphor beyond the usual narrative beats of violent inmates, old lags, sadistic screws, and suspenseful escapes.

I recently had a discussion around this with a friend regarding "The Shawshank Redemption." He keeps his kids well away from any screen violence while I have watched the movie with my seven-year-old daughter. Why, he wanted to know, did I think a film containing brutal beatings, suicide, and sexual assault was suitable for her? Well, we skipped some of the darker stuff, and I felt the story's overall message of resilience, hope, and friendship was the important thing, reflected in how...

For Sunday’s Oscars 2020 ceremony on ABC, producers had a difficult decision of which film industry people would make the cut and who would unfortunately be left out of the “In Memoriam.” For the segment, for the song “Yesterday” performed by Grammy champ Billie Eilish.

Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam gallery for the year of 2019 and the just launched gallery for 2020.

SEE2020 Oscars: Full list of winners (and losers) at the 92nd Academy Awards

Over 100 people in the film industry, many of them academy members, have passed away in the past 12 months. Here is a list of the some of the names included in the tribute:

Danny Aiello (actor)

Jim Alexander (sound)

Bibi Andersson (actor)

Ben Barenholtz (executive)

Kobe Bryant (producer)

Diahann Carroll (actor)

Seymour Cassel (actor)

William J. Creber (production designer)

Doris Day (actress)

Stanley Donen (director)

Kirk Douglas (actor/producer)

Robert Evans (executive)

Peter Fonda (actor)

Robert Forster (actor)

Harriet Frank,...

One of the most significant additions to the Academy Awards ceremony around 30 years ago has been the In Memoriam segment. Producers find the perfect blend of music, photos and clips for the short annual presentation.

Which of the past Oscar winners and nominees from many different branches will be featured this Sunday, February 9, on the Oscars 2020 ceremony for ABC? Some of the most likely to be included will be acting nominees Danny Aiello, Diahann Carroll, Doris Day, Kirk Douglas, Peter Fonda, Robert Forster, Sylvia Miles, Michael J. Pollard and Rip Torn. How about major creatives such as Stanley Donen, Robert Evans, Buck Henry, Andre Previn and John Singleton?

Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam gallery for the year of 2019 and the just launched gallery for 2020.

SEEWho is Performing at the Oscars 2020?: Full List of Presenters and Performers

Over 100 people in the film industry, many of them academy members, have...

Sunday’s telecast of the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Awards will feature a special In Memoriam segment devoted to many of the actors and actresses who have died since last year’s ceremony in late January. Sure to be among those saluted include Oscar-nominated actresses Diahann Carroll and Doris Day, plus nominated “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” actor Luke Perry. Visit our own Gold Derby memoriam gallery for the year of 2019.

The 26th annual ceremony will be live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, January 19, at 8:00 p.m. Et; 5:00 p.m. Pt. The SAG life achievement award will be presented to Robert De Niro.

SEE2020 SAG Awards nominations: Full list of Screen Actors Guild Awards nominees

Over 100 people in SAG/AFTRA have passed away in the past 12 months. Which of the following 50+ names will also be featured in the televised tribute?

Julie Adams

Danny Aiello

Jed Allan

Bibi Andersson...

Actor Morgan Woodward, known for playing "The Man with No Eyes" in Cool Hand Luke and a recurring guest role on Dallas, died Friday on February 22 morning at his home in California, the Fielder House Museum in Arlington, Texas. He was 93.

Thomas Morgan Woodward was born in Fort Worth, Texas, September 16, 1925. He was educated in the public schools of Arlington, graduated from high school in 1944, then enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps Pilot Training Program. This was natural, as he had been flying since the age of sixteen.

Following World War II, Woodward entered Arlington State College, where he majored in music and drama. During this period, Woodward began his professional career with the renowned Margo Jones Repertory Theatre in Dallas. His ultimate goal however, was the Metropolitan Opera. Later, the slow emergence of grand opera in America convinced him that this was not a promising career to pursue.

Morgan Woodward, who appeared in more than 250 movies and TV shows during a 40-year acting career, died in Paso Robles, Calif. on Feb. 22 at age 93.

The versatile character actor played oil man Marvin “Punk” Anderson on TV show Dallas in 55 episodes from 1980-1987, but also had two appearances on the original Star Trek series, was Elder Morgan in the film Logan’s Run, and was a regular on the long-running Gunsmoke TV series. The veteran actor played hard-bitten or menacing types.

Woodward grew up in Arlington, Texas, one of five brothers. He obtained a pilot’s license and served in World War II in the Army Air Corps and in the Korean War in the Military Air Transport Command.

His acting career began at Arlington State College, where he majored in music and drama, but later returned to school and obtained a degree in corporate finance from the University of Texas...

Morgan Woodward, the silent, menacing mirrored-glasses boss dubbed "The Man with No Eyes" in Cool Hand Luke, has died. He was 93.

Woodward died Friday morning at his home in California, the Fielder House Museum in Arlington, Texas, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. They house a large portion of his film and television memorabilia in their "Woodward Room."

A stalwart of the Western genre, he guest-starred in a record 19 episodes of Gunsmoke (and its 1992 television movie), 12 episodes of Wagon Train, across nine seasons on Dallas as oil-man Marvin "Punk" Anderson and as Hugh O'Brian's deputy on ...

Morgan Woodward, the silent, menacing mirrored-glasses boss dubbed "The Man with No Eyes" in Cool Hand Luke, has died. He was 93.

Woodward died Friday morning at his home in California, the Fielder House Museum in Arlington, Texas, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. They house a large portion of his film and television memorabilia in their "Woodward Room."

A stalwart of the Western genre, he guest-starred in a record 19 episodes of Gunsmoke (and its 1992 television movie), 12 episodes of Wagon Train, across nine seasons on Dallas as oil-man Marvin "Punk" Anderson and as Hugh O'Brian's deputy on ...

Murder strikes a private college. In the new security guard’s efforts to find the killer, he uncovers sordid secrets and multiple unsavory conspiracies. Triple-threat Burt Lancaster boasts directing and screenwriting credits here, and heads a large, exemplary cast of suspects in a mystery that implicates practically all of them in something illegal.

The Midnight Man

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date February 26, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Burt Lancaster, Linda Thorpe, Cameron Mitchell, Morgan Woodward, Harris Yulin, Robert Quarry, Joan Lorring, Lawrence Dobkin, Ed Lauter, Mills Watson, Charles Tyner, Catherine Bach, Bill Lancaster, Quinn K. Redeker, Peter Dane, Linda Kelsey, William Splawn, Nick Cravat.

Cinematography: Jack Priestley

Film Editor: Frank Moriss

Original Music: Dave Grusin

Written by Roland Kibbee, Burt Lancaster from a book by David Anthony

Produced and Directed by Roland Kibbee & Burt Lancaster

Carrying a reputation as an intelligent low-key murder mystery, 1975’s...

1966: Dark Shadows' Victoria had questions about a painting.

1979: The Edge of Night's Jody was harassed.

1994: General Hospital's Lois made a surprise entrance.

1994: One Life to Live's Marty was furious about Todd's freedom."The best prophet of the future is the past."

― Lord Byron

"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...

1960: On Young Doctor Malone, Dr. Jerry Malone (William Prince) drove the shaken Marsha home after her traumatic discovery of her husband, Dr. Ted Powell (Peter Brandon), with another woman. Marsha was heartened to see Ted's car back at their house, but her dreams of reconciliation were crushed by her errant husband's desire for a divorce.

The final details have been released for Volume One of the Steve Canyon DVD set. Writing at the show’s blog, the production team stated, “Before we get to the good news I need to mention that the Volume 1 release has been regrettably delayed for (hopefully) only a week at this point. This is due to a number of factors (not the least of which is the massive logistics involving multiple discs/episodes/soundtracks) manufacturing issues, and our resolve to put out a superior product. Several of our celebrity commentaries have been added at the very last minute as well which has slowed us down (but I'm sure is worth it). in any eventI apologize for the delay and take full responsibility for it. thereforeI am resetting the counter to Tuesday November 25th today and am extending the $24.95 early-bird pre-order price to that date as well.”...