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Exclusive: Hulu is not proceeding with its planned limited series about Sammy Davis Jr., starring Elijah Kelley as the Candy Man, from Lee Daniels and 20th Television.

I hear 20th Television will be shopping the project to other buyers and plans to attach additional high-level talent before taking it out as part of an aggressive effort to find a new home.

The studio recently was able to set another streaming series, The Spiderwick Chronicles (co-production with lead studio Paramount TV Studios), at Roku, following Disney+’s decision not to move forward with it.

The pickup reversals for both shows come amid a content spend cut across all divisions of Hulu and Disney+ parent Disney, which the company announced earlier this year. Additionally, all media companies have been reevaluating their streaming strategies by cutting programming costs with a renewed focus on profitability.

Hulu ordered the long-gestating Sammy Davis Jr. limited series in April 2022. In February,...

Exclusive: Kimberly Harrison (The Crossover) has been tapped as showrunner for Hulu’s limited series about Sammy Davis Jr. from Lee Daniels and 20th Television, which stars Elijah Kelley as the Candy Man.

Written by Daniels and Thomas Westfall based on Will Haygood’s biography, In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr., and inspired by Alex Haley’s interview of Davis, the yet untitled eight-episode series explores the entertainer’s life through the lens of his racial identity and his complex relationship with the Black community.

Related: 2023 Hulu Pilots & Series Orders

It centers on Davis (Kelley), who rose from childhood stardom on the vaudeville stage to become one of the most famous African American entertainers of the 1950s and ’60s (and the only Black member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack). At the same time, he spent most of his career surrounded by controversy and ridicule – over...

Hulu is giving a member of the Rat Pack the limited-series treatment, picking up an eight-episode drama about singer/actor Sammy Davis, Jr., from executive producer Lee Daniels (Empire).

Based on Wil Haygood’s book In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr., the untitled project explores “Sammy’s life through the lens of his racial identity and his complex relationship with the Black Community,” per the official synopsis.

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Hulu has given Lee Daniels’ Sammy Davis Jr. series a full season order with Elijah Kelley starring as the late music legend. The so far untitled limited series will consist of eight episodes and is based on Wil Haygood’s book In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr., per Deadline. Daniels will direct the first two episodes, and Kelley will help create the show’s original music. The series premiere date and other casting announcements will be made at a later time. “Sammy Davis, Jr. rose from childhood stardom on the vaudeville stage to become one of the most famous African American entertainers of the 1950s and ’60s (and the only Black member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack),” the logline describes. “At the same time, he spent most of his career surrounded by controversy and ridicule — over his affairs with white film stars, his 1960 marriage to Swedish actress May Britt,...

Lee Daniels’ long-gestating Sammy Davis Jr. biographical series has been ordered at Hulu, with Elijah Kelley set to play the lead role.

The untitled series has received an eight-episode order at the streamer. Based on the book “In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.,” the series is described as an exploration of Davis’ life through the lens of his racial identity and his complex relationship with the Black community.

Davis rose from childhood stardom on the vaudeville stage to become one of the most famous African American entertainers of the 1950s and ’60s and the only Black member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack. At the same time, he spent most of his career surrounded by controversy and ridicule — over his affairs with white film stars, his 1960 marriage to Swedish actress May Britt, his conversion to Judaism, his closeness to the Kennedys and later Richard Nixon, and...

The candy man is coming to Hulu. The streamer has ordered eight episodes of a limited series about Sammy Davis, Jr. from Lee Daniels and 20th Television. It’s based on the Wil Haygood book In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr.

Multi-hyphenate performer Elijah Kelley will portray the title role in the untitled series, having starred in NBC’s The Wiz Live! and New Line’s Hairspray. He previously collaborated with Daniels on Lee Daniels’ The Butler and Fox’s Star.

2022 Hulu Pilots & Series Orders

Here’s the official logline: Sammy Davis, Jr. rose from childhood stardom on the vaudeville stage to become one of the most famous African American entertainers of the 1950s and ’60s (and the only Black member of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack). At the same time, he spent most of his career surrounded by controversy and ridicule–over his affairs with white film stars,...

MGM has launched development on a Sammy Davis Jr. biopic with Lena Waithe and Rishi Rajani producing through their Hillman Grad banner, along with Sight Unseen’s Julia Lebedev and Eddie Vaisman.

The untitled project is based on the 1996 biography “Sammy Davis Jr.: My Father,” written by Davis’ daughter Tracey Davis and Dolores A. Barclay. David Matthews is writing the script.

Davis began his career in the entertainment business as a child and became a sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro’s in West Hollywood after the 1951 Academy Awards. He starred with the rest of the Rat Pack — Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford — in the film “Ocean’s 11,” was the host of “The Sammy Davis Jr. Show” on television and recorded the number one song “The Candy Man.” He was widely criticized for endorsing President Richard Nixon in 1972. Davis passed away in 1990 at the...

MGM is in development on a biopic on the life of Sammy Davis Jr., the singer and Rat Pack legend, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Lena Waithe will produce the biopic along with Rishi Rajani, Julia Lebedev and Eddie Vaisman, and the untitled film will be based on a book by Davis Jr.’s daughter Tracey Davis called “Sammy Davis Jr.: My Father” that was published in 1996. The book looks at Tracey’s loving, but distant relationship with her celebrity father and how she even confronted him as they grew older. David Matthews will write the screenplay.

Here’s the full synopsis:

In his 60’s, groundbreaking entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. tries to pull off the biggest showbiz reunion in history — but first, he’ll have to mend all the relationships he’s broken along the way to stardom…Told in impressionistic flashbacks, the story of Sammy Davis,...

Exclusive: MGM has set a Sammy Davis Jr. biopic that will be based on Sammy Davis Jr.: My Father, a 1996 book written by Davis’ daughter Tracey Davis and Dolores A. Barclay. Studio has Hillman Grad’s Lena Waithe and Rishi Rajani producing with Sight Unseen’s Julia Lebedev and Eddie Vaisman. David Matthews is writing the script.

The project reunites Waithe with MGM’s Pamela Abdy, who most recently collaborated on Queen and Slim at Makeready. In the book, daughter Tracey recounted a loving but distant relationship with her father, describing how she confronted him and how they drew closer as she grew older. The movie will look at the singer’s later life. In his 60s, he tried to pull off the biggest showbiz reunion in history — but first, he had to mend all the relationships he’d broken along the way to stardom, including the one with his daughter.

Exclusive: Paramount Pictures is moving forward with a biopic of Sammy Davis Jr. Studio has set Charles Murray to write the script. The film is produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura; fellow musical icon Lionel Richie, latter of whom was instrumental in gathering rights from Sammy Davis Jr’s estate; and Mike Menchel. The movie is based on several resources, among them the singer’s 1965 memoir Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis Jr, which Davis wrote with Jane and Burt Boyar.

Menchel said after they set the project at Paramount under di Bonaventura’s deal, they searched long and hard for the right writer, and eventually found themselves on Murray’s doorstep. Physically, Charles Murray is the polar opposite of the wiry and diminutive film subject, nor would you confuse him with Arthur Murray for that matter. His credits as a writer/producer include the muscular dramas Sons of Anarchy and Luke Cage,...

Exclusive: Lee Daniels and his Lee Daniels Entertainment have teamed with Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman’s Playtone to develop a miniseries about dancer-singer-actor-musician Sammy Davis Jr., I have learned.

The project, titled Sammy, is still in preliminary stages, but I hear the producers are circling the 2003 book In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr. by Wil Haygood as source material.

For Lee, bringing Davis’ story to the screen has been a longtime passion; in 2013 there were reports about him eyeing a movie about the former Rat Pack-er that was in the works at HBO.

Meanwhile, Playtone brings in a strong track record with a slew of Emmy-winning miniseries including Band Of Brothers, The Pacific, John Adams and Olive Kitteridge.

There have been multiple attempts at a Sammy Davis, Jr. biopic, most recently a project set at Paramount Pictures last year with producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Lionel Richie...

The Sammy David Jr. biopic is set up at Paramount Pictures and it will be produced by Transformers producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. According to Deadline, the project is on the fast track and they are in the process of hiring a writer and director to take on the life of the iconic entertainer who could do it all.

The movie will be based on the 1965 memoir Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr. that he penned with Jane and Burt Boyar. Davis’ heirs are also joining a producing team, which will also include Lionel Richie.

Apparently, Richie was the key to getting all the right deals done to be able to bring Davis’ story to the big screen. In a statement, he said:

“I cannot tell you how excited I am about the signing of the Sammy Davis Jr. project with Paramount. I knew and loved Sammy dearly.

Paramount Pictures has set up a biopic following the legendary life of music icon Sammy Davis Jr., with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing through his first-look deal with the studio. The studio is said to be putting this project on the fast track to development, with the studio looking to hire a writer and director very soon. The project will be adapted from Sammy Davis Jr.s' 1965 memoir Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr., which the musician wrote with Jane and Burt Boyar.

Producing alongside Lorenzo di Bonaventura and his Only the Brave producing partner Mike Menchel will be another iconic musician, Lionel Richie. Richie was a key figure in obtaining all of the rights needed to put this project together. While Richie has a few acting credits to his name, this will mark his first foray into feature film producing. Here's what Richie had to say...

Exclusive: The biopic about Sammy Davis, Jr. now has been set up at Paramount Pictures, where producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has his overall deal. The project is on the development fast track, soon to be hiring a writer and a director to make the feature film about the dancer-singer-actor-musician to becoming a reality.

The movie will be based in large part on the 1965 memoir Yes I Can: The Story of Sammy Davis, Jr. that he penned with Jane and Burt Boyar.

Davis’ heirs are joining a producing team led by Lionel Richie, di Bonaventura and Mike Menchel. The latter two most recently joined forces for Only the Brave, the feature about the 19 firefighting heroes who died during the 2013 Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona.

Richie was the key to getting all the rights deals done to be able to bring Davis’ story to the masses. “I cannot tell you how excited...

Entertainment Studios has scored the global rights to the Sammy Davis, Jr.-themed biography "Deconstructing Sammy" with plans to adapt the great entertainer's life into a feature, a scripted TV series and a documentary. All will be released through its newly acquired distribution label Freestyle Releasing.

Matt Birkbeck penned the 2008 biography which follows Davis' small beginnings in Harlem to his struggles with racism, his rise as one of the members of the iconic Rat Pack, and his controversial relationships to actresses Kim Novak and May Britt.

All three projects are being developed at the same time with production on the motion picture targeting a Q2 2016 start. Meanwhile the TV series will delve into Davis' life through from the 1960s through to the 1980s.

Source: Deadline...

Robert Mitchum ca. late 1940s. Robert Mitchum movies 'The Yakuza,' 'Ryan's Daughter' on TCM Today, Aug. 12, '15, Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” series is highlighting the career of Robert Mitchum. Two of the films being shown this evening are The Yakuza and Ryan's Daughter. The former is one of the disappointingly few TCM premieres this month. (See TCM's Robert Mitchum movie schedule further below.) Despite his film noir background, Robert Mitchum was a somewhat unusual choice to star in The Yakuza (1975), a crime thriller set in the Japanese underworld. Ryan's Daughter or no, Mitchum hadn't been a box office draw in quite some time; in the mid-'70s, one would have expected a Warner Bros. release directed by Sydney Pollack – who had recently handled the likes of Jane Fonda, Barbra Streisand, and Robert Redford – to star someone like Jack Nicholson or Al Pacino or Dustin Hoffman.

What do actor Theodore Bikel, author Steven Pressman, who wrote the HBO Holocaust documentary Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus, and Tracey Davis, daughter of Sammy Davis Jr. and May Britt, have in common? They will all three be guests at this year’s St. Louis Jewish Book Festival! More than 49 writers make up this year’s lineup including award-winning producers, novelists, bakers, historians, and humorists – there’s something for everyone but We Are Movie Geeks is most interested in these three guests because of their contributions to cinema.

The venue is the Jewish Community Center – Staenberg Family Complex – 2 Millstone Campus Drive in St. Louis

Details and ticket info can be found at the Fest’s site Here

http://www.stljewishbookfestival.org/index.html

Theodore Bikel will speak Sunday, November 2, at 7pm – Tickets are $40

It’s not mentioned in the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival press release,...

Maximilian Schell dead at 83: Best Actor Oscar winner for ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ (photo: Maximilian Schell ca. 1960) Actor and filmmaker Maximilian Schell, best known for his Oscar-winning performance as the defense attorney in Stanley Kramer’s 1961 political drama Judgment at Nuremberg died at a hospital in Innsbruck, Austria, on February 1, 2014. According to his agent, Patricia Baumbauer, Schell died overnight following a "sudden and serious illness." Maximilian Schell was 83. Born on December 8, 1930, in Vienna, Maximilian Schell was the younger brother of future actor Carl Schell and Maria Schell, who would become an international film star in the 1950s (The Last Bridge, Gervaise, The Hanging Tree). Immy Schell, who would be featured in several television and film productions from the mid-’50s to the early ’90s, was born in 1935. Following Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938, Schell’s parents, Swiss playwright Hermann Ferdinand Schell and Austrian stage actress Margarete Schell Noé,...

"Precious" and "The Butler" director Lee Daniels is reportedly circling a telemovie biopic about Sammy Davis Jr. at HBO.

The story will be a interesting one - from the entertainer's early career and Rat Pack days to his controversial marriage to May Britt.

One issue is that of rights as there's a lot of legal issues about who owns what, and which books are optioned.

Tommy Davidson ("In Living Color") was previously linked to play Davis Jr., but reportedly that isn't going to happen now.

Source: Showbiz 411...

As a rather formal and fancy affair (at least in our humble opinion), the Oscars tend to shy away from controversial hosts — and Billy Crystal, who has now done the gig a whopping nine times — seemed like a safe choice.

Until he appeared in a "Midnight in Paris" parody alongside Justin Bieber… in blackface.

The 62-year-old comedy legend donned black makeup to reprise his famous "Saturday Night Live" impression of Sammy Davis, Jr. and asked the other (white as could be) version of himself, "Billy, is Biebs the young Sinatra or am I nuts?"

Jury's still out on whether the "Biebs" can lead the next generation's Rat Pack, but some definitely thought Crystal was nuts. Many Hollywood elite instantly hit Twitter to express their discomfort with the scene, but one person wasn't bothered one bit. Tracey Davis, Sammy Davis, Jr.'s daughter with his second wife, May Britt, told The Hollywood Reporter,...

The life story of the late singer, dancer and actor Sammy Davis Jr. will be developed for the stage and as a feature by Entertainment Studios, it was announced Thursday, on what would have been the entertainer’s 86th birthday. “Sammy Davis, Jr. was a phenomenal entertainer, icon, and American treasure whose inspirational story has to be told,” said Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Entertainment Studios. Entertainment Studios acquired the life rights to the story from Davis’s daughter Tracey Davis, whose mother is actress May Britt, the second of his three wives. Photos: Hollywood's Riches to Rags:

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Fifty years ago this week, Sammy Davis Jr. was roundly booed during the opening ceremony of the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. The incident was one of the saddest moments in the entertainer's life and pointed up the deep racial divide that was threatening to rip apart the Democratic Party and the country.

It was July 11, 1960, and in two days the convention would nominate John F. Kennedy as the Democrats' presidential nominee. It had been hot and smoggy that day as 7,000 delegates began pouring into the Sports Arena downtown.

The convention was called to order promptly at 5 p.m., and after the invocation, everyone stood as the color guard presented the flag -- the first with 50 stars presented at a national political convention as Hawaii had been admitted to the Union 11 months earlier.

Then came the introduction of the Hollywood celebrities who were packed into the crowded hall as guests of the convention.

How long has it been since we've watched a movie where my boyfriend Robert Mitchum valiantly fights a war and at some point winds up in a cave hiding from bad guys? Or one in which my boyfriend Robert Mitchum grapples (in a purely manly fashion, to be certain) with a love that can not be had? The answer, of course, is that it's been too long. It's also been too long since I wrote about a movie in which things blow up. So let's solve all these problems at once with a Korean war film in yummy Color by Deluxe called The Hunters.

Since my emotional interest in Rm isn't going to come as any surprise, let's start instead with the explosions. Dick Powell's The Hunters is about fighter pilots in the Korean War. They drink and smoke and wear jaunty pilot uniforms and get supersonic with some Really Old jets.

Beloved former Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr. died broke, in debt to the IRS, and left his estate in such a shambles that it still hasn't been straightened out.

And according to "Deconstructing Sammy" (due next month from Amistad/HarperCollins), by journalist Matt Birkbeck, Davis didn't have to die.

After a cancer diagnosis in August 1989, doctors recommended surgery on his throat that offered an 80 percent chance of survival. He opted instead for radiation, which had a slim 30 percent survival rate. Davis made his decision based on his dismal finances. If he couldn't sing, he reasoned, he couldn't make money.