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When you hear the name Martin Scorsese, your brain probably flashes a rapid-fire montage of gangsters, Catholic guilt, De Niro staring into the void, DiCaprio yelling on yachts, and needle drops that hit harder than most directors’ entire careers. The man doesn’t just make movies, he creates seismic cultural moments. Scorsese’s filmography spans over five decades, and he’s dabbled in everything from period romance and rock docs to violent epics soaked in sin. The craziest part? Even his so-called “misses” are more interesting than most directors’ greatest hits.

But not all Scorsese films are created equal. Some changed cinema forever. Some were ahead of their time. And a few are just interesting detours. So, whether you’re a lifelong Scorsese disciple or just watched Killers of the Flower Moon and realized you’ve got a lot of homework to do, this ranking is for you.

We’re...

Lynn Hamilton — Sanford and Son and The Waltons actress — died at 95 on Thursday, June 19, 2025. On Friday, June 20, Hamilton’s publicist, Rev. Calvin Carson, took to Facebook and Instagram to announce her death. “With profound gratitude and admiration, we celebrate the extraordinary life of iconic actress Alzenia ‘Lynn’ Hamilton-Jenkins, whose remarkable legacy continues to uplift and inspire,” he wrote. “Her illustrious career, spanning over five decades, has left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment, motivating audiences across the globe through her work as a model, stage, film, and television actress.” In the announcement, Carson highlighted Hamilton’s impressive career, including “captivating performances” as Donna Harris in Sanford and Son and Verdie Grant Foster in The Waltons. Other “notable works” included Roots: The Next Generation, A Dream for Christmas, Generations, The Jesse Owens Story, The Practice and Lady Sings the Blues. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Calvin Carson (@calvincarson67) Additionally,...

Lynn Hamilton, best remembered for her roles in Sanford and Son and The Waltons, recently passed away at the age of 95. While tributes have poured in for her long and versatile career, one of her most overlooked roles is now gaining attention in light of her death, her guest appearance on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

It wasn’t just any episode, either. Hamilton appeared in one of the show’s most memorable outings. The show also featured none other than legendary director Martin Scorsese. Though known for wildly different reasons in entertainment, the two shared a surprising connection through this HBO show.

Lynn Hamilton and Martin Scorsese didn’t share a scene

In Season 4’s standout episode, The Survivor, Hamilton played a Holocaust survivor invited to a dinner party that quickly spirals into awkward chaos. Her character becomes the center of an uncomfortable standoff when another guest, who had previously appeared on the reality show Survivor,...

Lynn Hamilton, known for her role in iconic 1970s sitcoms like Sandford and Son, has passed away.

According to a statement shared to Instagram by her former publicist, Rev. Calvin Carson, Lynn passed away Thursday (June 19) at the age of 95.

Keep reading to find out more…

According to the statement, the actress passed away at her Chicago home due to natural causes and was surrounded by “her grandchildren, loved ones and caregivers.” She was married to playwright Frank Jenkins from 1964 through his death in 2014 and she had one child.

Lynn was best known for playing the role of Donna Harris in Sandford and Son and the role of Verdie Foster in the historical drama The Waltons, among other TV shows, films, and theater productions.

The statement shared by Lynn‘s former publicist states, “Her illustrious career, spanning over five decades, has left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment,...

Lynn Hamilton, the veteran actress best known for her television roles on The Waltons, Sanford and Son and Generations, has died at the age of 95, her publicist Calvin Carson shared on Instagram.

Carson added that she “transitioned peacefully” on Thursday, surrounded by her “grandchildren, loved ones and caregivers.”

“With profound gratitude and admiration, we celebrate the extraordinary life of iconic actress Alzenia ‘Lynn’ Hamilton-Jenkins, whose remarkable legacy continues to uplift and inspire. Her illustrious career, spanning over five decades, has left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment, motivating audiences across the globe through her work as a model, stage, film, and television actress,” he wrote, in part.

Born on April 25, 1930 in Yazoo City, Ms and raised in Chicago, Hamilton graduated from the Goodman School of Drama, being the sole Black actor among her peers. She soon gained experience performing with a South Side theater company, per The Hollywood Reporter,...

Lynn Hamilton, a retired actress who had a recurring role as Donna Harris in “Sanford and Son,” died on June 19. She was 95.

Hamilton died in her home in Chicago of natural causes, according to a Facebook post from her former manager and publicist, Rev. Calvin Carson.

“Her illustrious career, spanning over five decades, has left an indelible mark on the world of entertainment, motivating audiences across the globe through her work as a model, stage, film and television actress,” he wrote.

In addition to “Sanford and Son,” the actress held a recurring role on “The Waltons” as Verdie Grant Foster. She also made several TV appearances in sitcoms, soap operas and miniseries including, “Roots: The Next Generations” (1979), “The Golden Girls” (1985), “227” (1985), “Generations” (1989), “Dangerous Women” (1991) and “Port Charles” (1997).

Born in Yazoo City, Miss., Hamilton moved with her parents to Chicago Heights, Ill., at 12 years old. She attended Bloom High School but...

Lynn Hamilton, known in part for her roles in the classic TV shows The Waltons and Sanford and Son, has passed away.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, it has been reported that Hamilton died on Thursday at her home in Chicago, Illinois. According to her publicist, Rev. Calvin Carson, Hamilton died of natural causes. She was 95 years old.

Hamilton was born on April 25, 1930, in Yazoo City, Mississippi, to parents Nancy and Louis. Raised in Chicago, she graduated from the Goodman School of Drama Theater, but as the only Black performer in her class, she said "there weren't any roles" for her at the time. However, she continued to perform and gain experience after moving to New York in 1956. She would act on Broadway in the late 1950s and early 60s.

Hamilton made her feature film debut in 1959 with a role in the movie Shadows. She would later appear in the Sidney Poitier...

Lynn Hamilton, best known to TV audiences for work on Sanford and Son and The Waltons, has passed away at the age of 95.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hamilton died June 19 of natural causes at her home in Chicago.

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Hamilton recurred throughout Sanford and Son’s six-season run; she appeared in 22 episodes across six seasons,...

Lynn Hamilton, the versatile stage and screen actor best remembered as nurse Donna Harris on NBC’s “Sanford and Son,” died Thursday, 19 June 2025, at her home in Chicago. She was 95, her former manager and publicist, the Rev. Calvin Carson, confirmed, saying the cause was natural causes. Carson added in a Facebook statement that memorial details will be released once arrangements are finalized and invited fans to share tributes as the family mourns.

During six seasons on “Sanford and Son” (1972-77), Hamilton’s calm, competent Donna provided a counterweight to Redd Foxx’s irascible Fred Sanford and helped the sitcom become a breakthrough hit for Black-led television when it premiered 50 years ago. Her performance also resonated in prime-time drama as Verdie Foster, the dignified schoolteacher who sought literacy late in life on CBS’s “The Waltons,” a character fans still praise for humanizing racial issues in Depression-era Appalachia.

Born Alzenia Lynn Hamilton...

Lynn Hamilton, the theater-trained actress who portrayed the girlfriend of Redd Foxx’s character on Sanford and Son and the neighborly Miss Verdie on The Waltons, has died. She was 95.

Hamilton died Thursday of natural causes at her home in Chicago, her former manager and publicist, Rev. Calvin Carson, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Hamilton also starred as the matriarch Vivian Potter on the 1989-91 NBC daytime drama Generations — which had the unfortunate task of running up against CBS ratings juggernaut The Young and the Restless — and as Cissie Johnson, one of the ex-cons featured on the 1991-92 syndicated nighttime soap Dangerous Women.

She also played Cousin Georgia Anderson on the 1979 miniseries Roots: The Next Generations and had recurring roles as the snippy Emma Johnson on NBC’s 227 and as a judge on ABC’s The Practice.

The Chicago-raised actress made her big-screen debut in John Cassavetes’ Shadows (1959) and went...

Love it or hate it, "Sanford and Son" is one of the most groundbreaking American sitcoms of all time. The NBC series about a widowed get-rich-quick schemer (Redd Foxx) living in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood with his adult son (Demond Wilson) was an undeniable hit during its run. It ushered in a Golden Age of Black family sitcoms thanks to dynamic performances, frank dialogue written from a working-class Black perspective, and its often uproarious scripts. It was such a ratings juggernaut that it's often credited for killing off its much more sanitized competition, "The Brady Bunch."

"It was a groundbreaking series," Eric Deggans wrote in a series retrospective for the official Emmys website, noting that "Before 'Good Times' and 'The Jeffersons' would make TV history with powerful stories focused on Black families, 'Sanford and Son' would explore the prickly relationship between a middle-aged Black man and his son.

The Primetime Emmys are not necessarily known for honoring projects featuring casts that are primarily minority/people of color. The TV academy has never, for instance, given the Best Drama Series trophy to such a show. The statuette for Best Comedy Series has been won by a series featuring a largely minority cast precisely once: “The Cosby Show” in 1985. But the category of top limited/anthology/miniseries has paid golden tribute to programs with mostly minority casts a handful of times before, helping give Netflix’s “Beef” with its predominantly Asian American lineup a genuine shot to take home the biggest prize.

“Beef” tied with “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” for the most nominations among all non-regular series programs with 13. It’s presently in the lead among Gold Derby voters in the limited series race with 16/5 combined odds. Its star Ali Wong is also in first place among limited lead actresses,...

1953: Search for Tomorrow's Jo tried to help a mystery patient.

1979: Ryan's Hope's Rae wanted to make Frank jealous.

1989: Daytime soap opera Generations premiered on NBC.

2001: Passions aired a Jerry Springer parody."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...

1939: Primetime radio soap opera Those We Love was canceled and taken off the air by NBC's Blue Network. It was the story of the Marshall family of Westbridge, Connecticut, and featured Universal starlet Nan Grey. It was canceled so abruptly the story was left in limbo which outraged fans.

1973: Nancy Pinkerton debuted as Dorian Lord on One Life to Live.

1978: Dallas' Pam revealed her pregnancy but later lost the baby.

1996: All My Children's Marian played a revealing tape to hurt Tad.

2001: General Hospital's Skye announced she was a Quartermaine."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...

1968: On Dark Shadows, Jeff (Roger Davis) dozed off in a chair in the living room of the...

1967: Dark Shadows' Jason discovered bite marks on Willie's arm.

1978: Ryan's Hope's Pat wanted a divorce from Delia.

1983: General Hospital's Holly & Robert shared a dance.

2007: Jessica Leccia debuted as Natalia on Guiding Light."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...

1938: Radio serial Your Family and Mine premiered. "Share the hopes and fears, the loves and triumphs of the Wilbur family in this thrilling story-Your Family and Mine.

1953: Search for Tomorrow's Jo tried to help a mystery patient.

1979: Ryan's Hope's Rae wanted to make Frank jealous.

1989: Daytime soap opera Generations premiered on NBC.

2001: Passions aired a Jerry Springer parody."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...

1939: Primetime radio soap opera Those We Love was canceled and taken off the air by NBC's Blue Network. It was the story of the Marshall family of Westbridge,...

A big TV reunion in New Jersey, The Munsters reboot gets a director, some strange reports regarding the new Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol movie, and a new Star Trek documentary. All this, Pan Am, and some TV history...

The Waltons

Our friend Marc Berman notes that there will be a special 40th anniversary screening of The Homecoming: A Christmas Story on Friday night in New Jersey. The movie that spawned The Waltons will be shown and will be followed by a special Q&A panel discussion with Richard Thomas, Mary McDonough, Judy Norton, Kami Cotler, Jon Walmsley, Eric Scott, David Harper, and David Huddleston. Some of those who didn't appear in the movie but were in the series will also take part, including Michael Learned, Lynn Hamilton, Leslie Winston, Hal Williams, Ellen Geer, and Radames Pera. Tickets are $20 each. Hopefully, someone will film the event for...

On this date in...

1977: All My Children expanded to an hour on a full-time basis.

Celebrating a birthday today are:

Lynn Hamilton (ex-Alice, Port Charles; ex-Selita, Sunset Beach; ex-Vivian, Generations; ex-Mae, The Young And The Restless) - 80

William Roache (Ken, Coronation Street) - 78

Katherine Bruce (ex-Sandy, Dark Shadows) - 69

Gina Torres (ex-Magdalena, One Life To Live) - 41

Casey Deidrick (Chad, Days Of Our Lives) - 23

Also celebrating a birthday today is We Love Soaps' Damon L. Jacobs. Happy Birthday, Damon! Check out his series, "40 Lessons of 40 Years," at shouldless.com.

For nine seasons on CBS, The Waltons was a part of a weekly tradition for television viewers. It was a staple of Thursday nights for so long that many were a little lost when it finally went off the air in 1981.

Based on Spencer's Mountain by Earl Hamner Jr. and a 1963 Henry Fonda movie of the same name, The Waltons revolves around a large family living in rural Virginia. The family, living on Walton's Mountain, is played by Ralph Waite, Michael Learned, Will Geer, Ellen Corby, Richard Thomas, Jon Walmsley, Mary Beth McDonough, Eric Scott, Judy Norton-Taylor, David W. Harper, and Kami Cotler.

The mountain setting is also home to several other townspeople played by Mary Jackson, Helen Kleeb, Joe Conley, Ronnie Claire Edwards, Lynn Hamilton, and Robert Donner.

As the series wore on, the family grew through weddings and births. There were also a few notable cast changes. Thomas...