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Veteran actor and former child star Lee Aaker has sadly passed away. Famous for starring as the orphan Rusty alongside his German shepherd pal on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin in the 1950s, Aaker reportedly had a stroke and died on April 1 near Mesa, Arizona. The actor was 77 years old.

Paul Petersen, a former Donna Reed Show star who now serves as an advocate for former child stars, told THR that Aaker had been battling drug and alcohol abuse. By the end, the actor was left with one "surviving relative that could not help him," with Aaker's death certificate listing him as an "indigent decedent." Petersen was helping to get him a proper burial.

"You are around just to please everyone," Petersen added of former child actors, "and when there's nothing left, they are done with you."

Aaker is perhaps best known for playing Rusty, a young boy raised by U.

Lois Laurel Hawes, the only daughter of famed comedian Stan Laurel, has died. She was 89.

Hawes died Friday after a long illness at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Calif., family spokesman Tyler St. Mark announced.

She was married to actor Rand Brooks — who played Scarlett O'Hara's first husband, Charles, in Gone with the Wind and sidekick Lucky Jenkins in a series of Hopalong Cassidy films — and then to writer-actor Tony Hawes.

Her mother was the first of Laurel's four wives, silent-movie actress Lois Neilson. Her brother, also named Stanley, died nine days after his...

Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...

Hattie McDaniel as Mammy in ‘Gone with the Wind’: TCM schedule on August 20, 2013 (photo: Vivien Leigh and Hattie McDaniel in ‘Gone with the Wind’) See previous post: “Hattie McDaniel: Oscar Winner Makes History.” 3:00 Am Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943). Director: David Butler. Cast: Joan Leslie, Dennis Morgan, Eddie Cantor, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Errol Flynn, John Garfield, Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan, Dinah Shore, Alexis Smith, Jack Carson, Alan Hale, George Tobias, Edward Everett Horton, S.Z. Sakall, Hattie McDaniel, Ruth Donnelly, Don Wilson, Spike Jones, Henry Armetta, Leah Baird, Willie Best, Monte Blue, James Burke, David Butler, Stanley Clements, William Desmond, Ralph Dunn, Frank Faylen, James Flavin, Creighton Hale, Sam Harris, Paul Harvey, Mark Hellinger, Brandon Hurst, Charles Irwin, Noble Johnson, Mike Mazurki, Fred Kelsey, Frank Mayo, Joyce Reynolds, Mary Treen, Doodles Weaver. Bw-127 mins. 5:15 Am Janie (1944). Director: Michael Curtiz. Cast: Joyce Reynolds, Robert Hutton,...

There is nothing wrong with Gone with the Wind. Yes, it’s a bit racist. Heck, it’s a lot racist and you get to cringe listening to Clark Gable say things like “darkie.” The black characters are mostly shameful, and the film revels in the greatness and loss of the South. There are interesting ambiguities, though. Rhett Butler (Gable) recognizes that the civil war is stupid and bound for failure, but later on enlists. Okay, there’s a lot wrong with the film, but it’s also one of those films of such grand dramatic heft that it is also undeniable. My review of Gone with the Wind after the (Kris Kross will make you Jump) jump.

It’s hard not to wrestle with the history of the film, and Spike Lee has decidedly dismissed it. He’s not unfair for doing so; there are a lot of problems with the text.

Gone with the Wind is set to hit both DVD and Blu-ray in a new five disc 70th Anniversary box set on December 1st. Here is the official press release from Warner Home Video:

Winner of 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and still history's all time domestic box-office champion ($1.5 billion), Gone with the Wind has long been considered the most celebrated motion picture of all time. On November 17, Warner Home Video will honor the romantic epic with a stunningly restored and remastered version, available for the first time on Blu-ray. Gone with the Wind [70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition] is sure to be a "must-have" for collectors of classic films, available both in Blu-ray as well as on DVD.

The highlight of this new Blu-ray version of Gone with the Wind is how it looks and sounds. As they've done with Wizard of Oz, Warner Home Video continues to maximize what the Blu-ray format...

Gone With the Wind actor Rand Brooks has died at the age of 84. The screen star - who played Scarlett O'Hara's ill-fated first husband Charles Hamilton in the 1939 classic - succumbed to cancer at his Santa Barbara, America home on Monday. Ironically, Brooks didn't hold his most famous role in the multi Oscar-winner with high regard though, saying, "It didn't help my career. It hurt it at the time. It was such an asinine role. He was so in love it was sickening. I got typecast that way." Despite his reservations, Brooks became a successful leading man and provided screen siren Marilyn Monroe with her first screen kiss in 1948's Ladies in the Chorus. He retired from acting in 1966 to start Professional Ambulance Service, which became the largest private ambulance 9-1-1 paramedic provider in Los Angeles County.