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Actor Samuel French, known for roles in Martin Scorsese’s film Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as Fear the Walking Dead, and Joe Haladin: The Case of the Missing Sister, has died at the age of 45. Per Entertainment Weekly, French passed away on May 9 of cancer, according to his friend and collaborator Paul Sinacore.

“Samuel was a dear friend and an incredible actor,” said Sinacore, who directed French in the upcoming film Towpath. Sinacore added that the movie “wouldn’t exist” without French and his “incredible intensity he brought to the role of Detective Bernard Crooke.”

Sinacore continued, “Together we were on an extraordinary journey, giving everything we had to realize a shared creative vision. Samuel carried a fire for acting that burned in every frame — unfiltered, fearless, and alive. He gave himself completely to the work, and it showed. I am deeply saddened by his loss and...

Samuel French has sadly died at the young age of 45.

The actor was best known for playing undercover FBI agent Cj Robinson in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.

French died on Friday (May 9) following a battle with cancer. His friend, writer-director Paul Sinacore, told THR that he passed in his birthplace of Waco, Texas.

Sinacore says that French appears in his upcoming movie Towpath, which will be his final film.

Keep reading to find out more…

“Samuel was a dear friend and an incredible actor,” Sinacore told THR. “Towpath wouldn’t exist without him, and the incredible intensity he brought to the role of Det. Bernard Crooke set the tone for the entire film. Together we were on an extraordinary journey, giving everything we had to realize a shared creative vision.”

He added, “Samuel carried a fire for acting that burned in every frame — unfiltered, fearless and alive.

Samuel French, a Texan actor known for his role as undercover FBI agent Cj Robinson in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” died this morning in Waco, Texas following a years-long battle with cancer. He was 45.

Born on January 26, 1980, French’s family moved to Clifton, Texas when he was 3. He graduated from high school there before moving to Austin and eventually Dallas, landing early acting credits on series like “Texas Rising” and “Fear the Walking Dead” as “Ben,” as well as film roles like “Pegasus: Pony With a Broken Wing,” “The Pro Bono Watchman” and a role in the 2024 crime thriller “Blood Dried Hands.”

French’s final performance will be as Detective Bernard Crooke in the crime drama/thriller “Towpath,” written and directed by Paul Sinacore. “Samuel was a dear friend and an incredible actor,” Sinacore said in a statement posted to Instagram. “Together we were on an extraordinary journey, giving...

Samuel French, an actor who has appeared in Killers of the Flower Moon and Fear the Walking Dead, has died. He was 45.

According to French’s friend and collaborator Paul Sinacore, who directed his final performance in the upcoming film Towpath, French died on May 9.

Sinacore remembered French as a “dear friend and an incredible actor,” praising his performance as Detective Bernard Crooke in Towpath, which also stars Eric Roberts and is now in post-production.

“Together, we were on an extraordinary journey, giving everything we had to realize a shared creative vision,” said Sinacore in a statement. “Samuel carried a fire for acting that burned in every frame — unfiltered, fearless, and alive. He gave himself completely to the work, and it showed. I am deeply saddened by his loss and only wish he could have seen the final cut. He was one of a kind, and he will remain in our hearts forever.

Samuel French, a Texas actor on the rise who portrayed the undercover FBI agent Cj Robinson in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, has died. He was 45.

French died Friday in a hospital in his birthplace of Waco, Texas, writer-director Paul Sinacore told The Hollywood Reporter. He had battled a cancer that spread through his body over the past couple of years.

French will be seen alongside Eric Roberts in his final film, playing a detective in Sinacore’s upcoming historical drama Towpath, set in 1964 during the civil rights movement. Watch the trailer here.

“Samuel was a dear friend and an incredible actor,” Sinacore said. “Towpath wouldn’t exist without him, and the incredible intensity he brought to the role of Det. Bernard Crooke set the tone for the entire film. Together we were on an extraordinary journey, giving everything we had to realize a shared creative vision.

Quick LinksAlfred Hitchcock’s Rope Was Based on the Real-Life Case of Leopold and LoebHitchcock’s Adaptation of Rope Dampened the Play’s Gay ThemesAlfred Hitchcock Used Unique Techniques When Filming Rope

This article explains the details of a real-life murder and may be disturbing to some readers.

The 1948 filmRope feels like somewhat of a departure for director Alfred Hitchcock. It takes place on a contained set with a cast of characters who almost never leave the room. As is common with Hitchcock, however, the tension is high as it turns out to involve a murder committed by two young college grads wanting to test their own intellectual abilities. The film was based on a 1929 play of the same name and was altered in some ways from its original version to fit the morality standards of the Hays Code. It also starred Jimmy Stewart, who would end up working with...

Exclusive: Stereophonic, David Adjmi’s acclaimed Tony Award-winning play about a Fleetwood Mac-like ’70s rock band, has recouped its Broadway investment and will begin a West End engagement and national U.S. tour later this year, producers said today.

The twice-extended Broadway production is currently playing its final week at the Golden Theatre, where it will end its run Sunday, January 12, after 305 performances. The play made Tony history last spring by becoming Broadway’s most nominated play ever, going on to win five of its 13 nominations: Best Play, Best Director ( Daniel Aukin), Best Featured Actor (Will Brill), Best Scenic Design (David Zinn) and Best Sound Design (Ryan Rumery).

The West End engagement will begin in May 2025 at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre, and a U.S. national tour will launch in Seattle this October. Casting for the productions has not been announced.

The Broadway staging currently stars Benjamin Anthony Anderson,...

Mikey Madison, who got her start on the FX series “Better Things,” is among the discoveries of Oscar season with Sean Baker’s “Anora.” As the title character — a Russian American stripper in Brooklyn who allows herself to fall for a client — she is alternately hard-edged and sentimental. Who better to pair her with than a star who worked similar magic this year? Pamela Anderson, in Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl,” plays a Vegas stage performer who, like Anora, dreams of human connection. Anderson, like Madison, began her career on television, with “Baywatch.” In recent years, with the release of a memoir and a documentary about her life, Anderson has been having a renaissance, and Madison, who showed up with a notebook full of questions, was understandably awed.

Mikey Madison: How do you feel right now? I felt a little nervous when they called “action.”

Pamela Anderson:...

After scoring her first Golden Globe nomination for her star turn in The Last Showgirl, Pamela Anderson caught up with Deadline to tease upcoming projects and discuss what this long-awaited moment in her career means to her.

In terms of upcoming films for Anderson at present, the buzziest would have to be Paramount’s The Naked Gun reboot, in which she stars opposite Liam Neeson, who she says she adores. “It was physical comedy, so it’s completely different,” Anderson says. “I’m literally running into walls, so I’m really excited about that one.”

Then, there’s Rosebush Pruning, a thriller in which she stars opposite a slew of “incredible young actors” including Riley Keough, Elle Fanning, and Lukas Gage. That project called for “a very serious, classic style of acting,” Anderson says, “which is really fun to be around because it’s always the stuff I responded to.

Pamela Anderson and director Gia Coppola jointly received the Sun Valley Film Festival Pioneer Award on Dec. 6, the second day of the festival’s 2024 Winter Screening Series.

Appearing after a screening of their film “The Last Showgirl,” the duo accepted their belt buckle-shaped trophies from Svff executive director Teddy Grennan and director Candice Pate before sitting down for a conversation with Variety Senior Editor Todd Gilchrist.

Presented in partnership with Variety, Sun Valley’s Pioneer Award “recognizes trailblazers in front of and behind the camera.” The pair were eminently qualified for their collaboration on the film, which follows a veteran showgirl named Shelly (played by Anderson) contemplating the future of her career after the revue in which she appears abruptly announces plans to close.

Prior to making the film, Anderson had not only just released a memoir, a cookbook and a documentary about her life, but concluded an acclaimed run...

Carrie Robbins, whose more than 30 years as a Broadway costume designer saw her involvement in 1972’s Grease, for which she contributed the production’s signature poodle skirts, and the nuns’ habits of 1983’s Agnes of God, died following a brief illness with Covid on Friday, April 12, at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. She was 81.

Her death was announced by her friend Daniel Neiden.

Robbin’s Broadway career began somewhat inauspiciously with Leda and the Little Swan, a play that closed on Broadway before its scheduled opening at the Cort Theatre in 1968. Written by Amber Gascoigne and dealing with sex between generations of one family, Leda was called by William Goldman in his classic theater book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway “the hardest show of the season to sit through.”

Robbins rebounded quickly on Broadway with a revival of You Can’t Take It With You the following year, and,...

Exclusive: The annual NBC TV Writers Program from NBCU Launch is welcoming its 2024-25 class selected from a pool of 2,100 applicants: Bryce Cracknell, Domonic Diaz-Smith, Bixby Elliott, Helen Fernandez, Maia Henkin, Neda Jebelli, David Loong and Sebastián Rea.

NBCU Launch is the umbrella brand that houses the comprehensive inclusion efforts across NBCUniversal’s entertainment TV portfolio. The program was created to help develop emerging episodic TV writers whose distinct points of view and lived experiences provide unique perspectives to the writers’ room. It prepares writers to be staffed on scripted series with the long-term goal of developing the next generation of showrunners.

The NBC TV Writers Program includes talent from various socio-economic backgrounds, geographic locations, racial and ethnic backgrounds, people with disabilities, the LGBTQ+ community and veterans, among other communities.

The new class will develop an original pilot under the mentorship and guidance of NBCU programming executives. They will participate...

Exclusive: Multiple Emmy-nominated showrunner Steve Yockey has signed with CAA for representation.

Yockey is the developer and showrunner of Netflix’s upcoming Dead Boys Detectives, based on the DC Comics characters created by Neil Gaiman. Yockey wrote the first episode and serves as showrunner alongside co-showrunner Beth Schwartz.

Previously, Yockey developed off the book of the same name and served as showrunner on Max’s comedy series The Flight Attendant, starring Kaley Cuoco, which ran for two seasons. The series received nine Emmy Award nominations in its first season, including two for Yockey, Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for writing the pilot episode, in addition to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, and WGA and PGA Award nominations for New Series.

Both The Flight Attendant and Dead Boy Detectives are produced by Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, where Yockey is in an overall deal.

Robert Patrick, a pioneering playwright in the Off Off Broadway movement who later won wider acclaim for the 1975 Broadway staging of his play Kennedy’s Children, died in his sleep at home in Los Angeles on Sunday, April 23. He was 85.

His death was announced by Jason Jenn, a longtime friend and associate.

The Broadway production of Kennedy’s Children starred Shirley Knight, who won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress, beating out a competitive roster that included Meryl Streep, Mary Beth Hurt and Lois Nettleton.

The play, which focused on a group of former 1960s activists reuniting and reminiscing in a Lower East Side bar, was adapted by Patrick for a 1982 TV movie that starred Knight, Jane Alexander, Lindsay Crouse and Brad Dourif, among others.

Robert Patrick O’Connor was born in Kilgore, Texas to migrant workers, later joining the Air Force for a stint cut short when a poem...

Exclusive: Sophia Bush (Good Sam) and Jeremie Harris (Fargo) will star alongside Simona Brown in MPI Original Films’ drama Freedom Hair from Oscar nominee Dianne Houston, which is currently in production in Atlanta.

The film written and directed by Houston and produced by MPI is based on the true story of Melony Armstrong (Brown), a determined mother who sets out to start a natural hair braiding business to achieve financial independence, but must overcome unexpected obstacles imposed by a powerful cosmetology cartel and the state of Mississippi. Melony’s efforts led to thousands of African American women in Mississippi following in her footsteps and realizing their own entrepreneurial dreams.

Bush will play the lawyer Dana, who helps Melony in her fight, with Harris as Melony’s loving husband, Kevin. Stacey Parks, Lana Link, and Rob Pfaltzgraff are producing, with Armstrong, Kim Coleman and Nick Reid exec producing. Bush is represented by CAA,...

The Flight Attendant creator Steve Yockey is expanding his relationship with Warner Bros., signing an exclusive, multi-year overall deal with WB Television Group. Under the pact, his first with the studio, Yockey will develop, create, and produce original programming to be produced by Warner Bros. Television for all platforms, including HBO Max, external streaming services, cable, and the five broadcast networks.

Yockey created, executive produces and serves as showrunner of Wbtv’s hit one-hour comedy The Flight Attendant, from star Kaley Cuoco’s Yes, Norman Productions and Berlanti Productions, which recently completed production on its second season for HBO Max. The series received nine Emmy nominations in its first season, with Yockey receiving noms for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. He was also nominated for a WGA award for New Series, along with a PGA award nom. The Flight Attendant was also nominated for best...

Exclusive: Playwright Will Eno, whose credits include Broadway’s The Realistic Joneses and the Pulitzer Prize finalist Thom Pain (Based on Nothing), has signed with ICM Partners for representation in all areas.

Eno’s critically acclaimed The Realistic Joneses appeared on Broadway in 2014 after a premiere run at the Yale Repertory Theatre. The Drama Desk Award winner, which featured Michael C. Hall and Toni Collette on Broadway, was named USA Today’s “Best Play on Broadway,” topped the The Guardian’s 2014 list of American plays and was included in The New York Times’ “Best Theatre of 2014.”

Eno’s play The Open House won the 2014 Obie Award, the Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, and a Drama Desk Award, and was included in both the Time Out New York and Time Magazine Top 10 Plays of the Year. The London premiere was directed by Sir Michael Boyd at The Print Room.

Some of...

Jane Milmore, a showrunner and Emmy-nominated writer who was a scribe on sitcoms including The Hughleys, Martin and The Wayans Bros, died Tuesday after a 15-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 64.

A showrunner with more than 300 hours of TV comedy to her credit, Milmore created and developed shows for Brooke Shields, Don Rickles, Olympia Dukakis and the Wayans brothers and wrote and produced for Bob Newhart, D.L. Hughley, Jamie Lee Curtis, Richard Lewis, John Goodman, Andrew Dice Clay and Martin Lawrence among others.

Milmore and her writing partner, Billy Van Zandt, were Emmy-nominated for 1990’s I Love Lucy: The Very First Show, and she won a People’s Choice Award and an NAACP Image Award for Martin and a Prism Award for The Hughleys. She co-created with Van Zandt Daddy Dearest, the 1993 sitcom starring Lewis and Rickles, and also appeared as an actress in more than a dozen TV shows.

The Marvel universe is expanding. Marvel Entertainment has set a multi-year deal with SiriusXM and Pandora to produce original, scripted podcast series based on their superhero characters, Marvel and SiriusXM announced Tuesday.

The podcasts will debut through SirirusXM and Pandora’s podcast channels beginning in 2020 and will each be 10 episodes long, focusing on original stories on the characters Wolverine, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Star-Lord, as well as a fifth series in which all four team up.

The deal also includes plans for unscripted talk shows and interview shows featuring celebrity guests, as well as themed live events, all of which will premiere in 2020.

Also Read: Thor & Loki Hit the Stage: Marvel Teams With Samuel French to License 1-Act Plays for High Schools

“Powerful stories are read, seen, and heard – and we believe audio is the next natural step to bring the Marvel Universe to fans around the world,” Dan Buckley,...

Exclusive: Just as Hollywood studios did a generation ago, Broadway producers are now actively investigating the potential of China as a newly maturing marketplace with vast revenue potential.

One company in the vanguard of this effort is Harmonia, a five-year-old specialist in connecting Chinese audiences with Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. It recently announced a production of King Kong , which is slated to open in Shanghai in 2021. Its roster of 2019-20 projects, all in English with a Western cast, include Off-Broadway’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which opened June 27 in Shanghai, as well as the Titanic and Madagascar musicals and a Northern Ireland production of Shh! We Have a Plan.

In 2020-21, Harmonia’s list of presenting projects in China and Asia (all English language with foreign casts) includes Jersey Boys, The Addams Family, The Color Purple and Beautiful.

Kenneth Dingledine, president of Harmonia, recently spoke to Deadline about the company’s ambitions.

After conquering the box office, Marvel superheroes like Thor and Loki are coming to a stage near you.

Marvel Entertainment is partnering with theatrical company Samuel French to produce a collection of three different one-act stage plays featuring the Marvel comics characters of Thor, Loki, Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel.

The plays are written specifically for a high school crowd and can be purchased to be licensed and staged as part of an educational theater market. The stories will explore themes of self-image, understanding vulnerability, adjusting to change, the importance of responsibility, and being true to oneself.

Concord Music has acquired 188-year-old theater publisher and licensing mainstay Samuel French, combining it with other assets in its burgeoning Concord Theatricals unit.

The deal, whose terms were not disclosed, “fulfills a significant and ongoing commitment to theater,” the company said.

Concord Theatricals represents a list of top-shelf musicals from the catalogs of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hart, George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill and Irving Berlin. Its roster also includes younger musical theater talent such as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adam Guettel, Jason Robert Brown, Shaina Taub and Michael John Lachiusa, as well as classics like A Chorus Line, Hello Dolly!, Bye Bye Birdie and Dreamgirls.

Through a joint venture called The Music Company, Concord Theatricals also works with Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Really Useful Group to license the composer and his collaborators’ shows including Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita.

In announcing the deal, Concord Theatricals...

The world's leading theatrical publishing and licensing company, Samuel French, announced today that The Secret Garden writing team Lucy Simon amp Marsha Norman, Doug Wright, and Antoinette Nwandu will be honored at the third annual Samuel French Awards. A special acknowledgement will also go to Heidi Ettinger, originating producer and Tony Award-winning set designer of The Secret Garden. Created to recognize the great work and unparalleled passion of theatre artists, as well as applaud their significant contributions to the industry, the Samuel French Awards will be presented in a private ceremony on Monday, October 29, 2018.