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Paul D’Amato, known for portraying Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken alongside Paul Newman in Slap Shot, passed away on Monday.

His cause of death is attributed to a prolonged struggle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain condition similar to Parkinson’s disease. D’Amato was 76 years old.

His longtime partner, Marina Re, confirmed his death on social media with a lengthy tribute.

In part, the tribute read the following, “He may have played tough bad guys, but a sweeter, kinder, more compassionate man. does not exist. Whether skiing down the slopes, riding his motorcycle, skating on the ice, rollerblading through the village, or kayaking on the lake, he lived life to the fullest.”

D’Amato’s extensive resume featured appearances on popular television shows such as The Six Million Dollar Man, Law & Order, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, along with numerous stage performances.

He was also involved in...

Paul D’Amato, the actor who played the gloriously vicious Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken opposite Paul Newman in Slap Shot, died Monday after a long battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain condition that is similar to Parkinson’s disease. D’Amato was 76.

The news was shared online by his longtime partner (and fellow actor) Marina Re.

D’Amato got the role in Slap Shot in part because he could hold his own on the ice. He played college hockey at Emerson and also for a team called The Reds in a Burlington, Vt, league in 1975.

But D’Amato also had screen presence, going toe to toe with Newman as his character’s wild-eyed nemesis from the Syracuse Bulldogs who earned his nickname through his scalpel-like skills with a hockey stick. Newman’s Reggie Dunlop called out McCracken by name during a pregame radio interview, referring to him as the...

Paul D’Amato, best known for playing Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken in hockey comedy “Slap Shot,” died after a four-year battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disease, on Monday in East Brookfield, Mass. He was 76.

“Slap Shot” co-star Steve Carlson confirmed the news in a post on X. “Rip Paul D’Amato,” he wrote. “Sending heart felt condolences to Family and fellow friends, actors.”

D’Amato’s other notable credits include best picture winner “The Deer Hunter,”, “Heaven’s Gate,” “Suspect” with Cher and Dennis Quaid, “F/X” and “Six Ways to Sunday.” Additionally, John Lindley Byrne, writer and artist of Marvel Comics’s “X-Men,” was said to have based the look of Wolverine on D’Amato in “Slap Shot.”

D’Amato was born in Worcester and later raised in Spencer, Mass. He began working as a stage hand when he was about 14, inspiring him to become an actor. Both an athlete and actor,...

Paul D’Amato, who portrayed the despicable goon Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken in the classic hockey movie Slap Shot and had a memorable scene in the best picture Oscar winner The Deer Hunter, has died. He was 76.

D’Amato died Monday at his home in East Brookfield, Massachusetts, after a four-year battle with progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare brain disorder, his fiancée, actress Marina Re, told The Hollywood Reporter.

“He was the most wonderful, sweetest guy, he fought so hard against this horrendous disease,” she said.

D’Amato also played a razor- and knife-wielding bad guy in Peter Yates’ Suspect (1987), starring Cher and Dennis Quaid, and appeared in other notable films including Heaven Can Wait (1978), F/X (1986) and Six Ways to Sunday (1997).

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, D’Amato ice skated since childhood, served with the National Guard and attended Emerson College in Boston, where he acted in school plays and was a...

Victor J. Kemper, the veteran cinematographer who shot more than 50 features, including Dog Day Afternoon, Eyes of Laura Mars, The Jerk and Slap Shot, has died. He was 96.

Kemper died Monday of natural causes in Sherman Oaks, his son, Steven Kemper, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Kemper earned his inaugural D.P. credit on Husbands (1970), written and directed by John Cassavetes, then shot Elia Kazan’s final feature, The Last Tycoon (1976) and Tim Burton’s first, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985).

Kemper also did six films for director Arthur Hiller — The Tiger Makes Out (1967), The Hospital (1971), Author! Author! (1982), The Lonely Guy (1984), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) and Married to It (1991) — and three in a row for Carl Reiner: Oh God! (1977), The One and Only (1978) and The Jerk (1979).

The New Jersey native said he had to wear ice skates when he photographed the hockey scenes in George Roy Hill’s Slap Shot (1977) and...

“Supernatural” leading man Jensen Ackles made his directorial debut on the show in the sixth season and then went on to direct a handful more. But after Season 11’s “The Bad Seed,” it seemed like he was taking a break from pulling double duty on the demon-hunting CW drama. His work in front of the camera kept him busy, as did the twins who turned his family of three into a family of five. But when the show was renewed for a 15th and final season, he knew he had to sit back in the director’s seat one more time.

“It was a little bit like the first time I did it just — just a little hesitant on a few things — but really, once I started rolling it was like riding a bike,” Ackles tells Variety. “We’ve got such a solid crew up here, from all the department heads all the way down.

Pop quiz: A science fiction landmark; a beloved classic rescued from obscurity by public television; two screwball comedies directed by the same Hollywood master 15 years apart; an almost ethereally beautiful western; an apocalyptic sociopolitical parable; a disemboweled silent epic; two gorgeous and epically scaled tales both taking place where politics, social upheaval and romance converge; a nearly unparalleled humanist drama; a hugely influential surrealist fantasy/romance; and two of the greatest horror films ever made– What do all of these films share in common?

Answer: They’re all inductees into the 2019 Muriel Awards Hall of Fame.

The Muriel Awards, a group of critics and writers gathered together by Mssrs. Paul Clark and Steve Carlson some 14 years ago (I have proudly been among their number since the beginning), have been voting on the year’s best since 2006, and since 2013 our august number has been compiling inductees for our own hall of fame.

1982: Days of our Lives' Salem Strangler "killed" Marlena.

1999: Pop group 98 Degrees sang on As the World Turns.

1999: The final episode of Melrose Place aired on Fox.

2005: Cassie Newman died on The Young and the Restless."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...

1966: "Mame" opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater. The show featured Frankie Michaels, the youngest Tony winner ever, who had been playing Tom Hughes on As the World Turns the previous two years. Michaels, who had just turned 11 when the show closed,...

1982: Days of our Lives' Salem Strangler "killed" Marlena.

1999: Pop group 98 Degrees sang on As the World Turns.

1999: The final episode of Melrose Place aired on Fox.

2005: Cassie Newman died on The Young and the Restless."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...

1966: "Mame" opened on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater. The show featured Frankie Michaels, the youngest Tony winner ever, who had been...

Over the last few decades – thanks in part to movies and TV shows like Dazed and Confused, Boogie Nights, Anchorman and HBO's Vinyl – there’s been a pronounced pop cultural tendency to reduce the 1970s to little more than a fabulous parade of campy signifiers like mirrored disco balls, brightly-painted muscle cars, platform shoes, bellbottomed jeans, tube tops, Afro hairdos, pornstaches and piles of cocaine.

It's an understandable impulse, of course. (Who doesn't love Afros or piles of cocaine?) But taking such a superficial approach to the seventies means glossing over the grittier,...

Chicago – The legendary Hanson Brothers, those child-like ice hockey enforcers from the classic sports film, “Slap Shot” (1977), will be in the Chicago area January 24th-26th, introducing the movie, signing autographs and greeting admirers at the Hollywood Palms Cinema in Naperville, Ill., and the Hollywood Blvd Cinema in Woodridge.

The real life 1970s hockey players who portrayed the three brothers – Dave Hanson (Jack Hanson), Steve Carlson (Steve Hanson) and Jeff Carlson (Jeff Hanson) – were based on real brothers in Pennsylvania minor league hockey, the Carlson brothers. Jack Carlson was the brother of Steve and Jeff in real life, and they played together in those Pennsylvania leagues. Jack couldn’t do the movie, so Dave Hanson stepped in, and the filmmakers took his last name and re-christened the threesome to iconic status. The Hanson Brothers forever represent the free-wheeling nature of that brilliant film, starring Paul Newman (which he called his...

Universal’s remake of the 1977 comedy classic Slap Shot is officially moving forward because it now has a director onboard. Dean Parisot, known for directing films such as the Jim Carrey comedy Fun with Dick and Jane, Home Fries, which starred Luke Wilson and Drew Barrymore, and sci-fi parody GalaxyQuest, will be the man in charge of the picture. The original starred Paul Newman as the fading player/coach of a minor league hockey team who, desperate to keep the team going, comes up with the idea to turn his team into a group of fighting hooligans. The Charlestown Chiefs put the Hanson brothers, played by David Hanson, Steve Carlson and Jeff Carlson, [...]...

Universal’s previously announced remake of the 70s comedy classic Slap Shot now has a director - Dean Parisot, who last helmed the Jim Carrey comedy Fun with Dick and Jane, will be the one bringing it to the screen. The original starred Paul Newman as the fading player/coach of a minor league hockey team. Trying to hype the Charlestown Chiefs for a possible move South, the coach ramps up interest by turning his team into a group of brawling thugs, know as the Hanson brothers – played by David Hanson, Steve Carlson and Jeff Carlson. Peter Steinfeld, whose credits include Drowning Mona, Analyze That, Be Cool and 21, is writing the screenplay. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will produce. The film has also spawned two direct-to-disc sequels. One in 2002, Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice, which starred Stephen Baldwin and Gary Busey, and last year, Slap Shot 3: The Junior League,...