News

Update, with additional casting: Producers have confirmed that Michael McKean will join the cast of Broadway’s upcoming revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross revival, joining the previously announced Kieran Culkin, Bill Burr and McKean’s old Better Call Saul cast mate Bob Odenkirk.

McKean’s casting in the role of George Aaronow was announced exclusively by Deadline in September.

Also new to the cast are Donald Webber Jr. as John Williamson, Howard W. Overshown (The Lehman Trilogy) as Baylen and John Pirruccello, making his Broadway debut, as James Lingk.

The production is set to open on Broadway in the spring of 2025. The complete cast, exact dates, full design team, and Broadway theatre will be announced at a later date. Jeffrey Richards and Rebecca Gold are the lead producers.

Exclusive, Previous Sept. 9: Michael McKean will join the previously announced Bob Odenkirk,...

The world premiere of Paramount Global’s “Watson” raised the curtain on this year’s Mipcom in Cannes. The series, set to premiere on Jan 26 on the CBS Television Network, sees “Reasonable Doubt” star Morris Chestnut as the iconic Dr. John Watson in a Sherlock Holmes spin focusing on Watson’s medical career.

“Watson” follows the titular character after the death of Holmes as he resumes his medical career as the head of a clinic specialized in rare disorders. The series is described as “a medical show with a strong investigative spine, featuring a modern version of one of history’s greatest detectives as he turns his attention from solving crimes to solving medical mysteries.”

“Watson” is produced by CBS Studios and distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution. Craig Sweeny (returning to the world of Sherlock after serving as a writer and executive producer on CBS’s “Elementary”) wrote the...

Angela Lansbury will be honored for her lifetime achievements at the 2022 Tony Awards.

The actress, who has won five Tonys over her 75-year career, will be receiving the 2022 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

“Angela Lansbury’s contributions to the stage are insurmountable,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League and Heather Hitchens, President and CEO of the American Theatre Wing. “From her groundbreaking role in ‘Mame; to her iconic performances in ‘Deuce’ and ‘Sweeney Todd,’ and most recently, in the revival of ‘A Little Night Music,’ Ms. Lansbury has given us a lifetime of unforgettable performances, and it is a great honor to present her with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Lansbury made her Broadway debut in 1957, when she starred in “Hotel Paradiso.” She won her first Tony less than a decade later for her 1966 performance in “Mame.” She also won Tonys for “Dear World...

The great stage, film and TV actor James Earl Jones will once again see his name up in lights: Broadway’s 110-year-old Cort Theater is being renamed in Jones’ honor.

The Shubert Organization announced today that the venue will become the James Earl Jones Theatre “in recognition of Mr. Jones’s lifetime of immense contributions to Broadway and the entire artistic community.”

The Cort has been closed for extensive renovation and construction work during the Covid pandemic, with the work expected to be finished this summer. The renamed James Earl Jones Theatre will include a newly built wing when it opens for productions following the construction work. Shubert plans to hold a formal dedication ceremony at that time.

In a statement, Jones said, “For me standing in this very building sixty-four years ago at the start of my Broadway career, it would have been inconceivable that my name would be on the building today.

Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes are finalizing details to host this year’s Academy Awards, multiple sources told Variety.

The three comic forces appear to be the only emcees in the mix for the March awards show, despite several scenarios that telecast creatives have been weighing. Producer Will Packer has been in meetings for weeks trying to find the right recipe for Hollywood’s biggest night.

Scenarios that “Girls Trip” filmmaker Packer had been toying with included a three-act structure, which would showcase a different pair of emcees every hour. A laundry list of top talent has met with Packer over the past weeks, including “Mad Men” star Jon Hamm who exited talks over the weekend, according to two additional sources.

ABC, which airs the annual show, declined to comment on the matter. The hosts will be formally announced on “Good Morning America” on Tuesday. Reps for Sykes,...

Los Angeles – At the 2013 Chicago International Film Festival awards ceremony at the Ambassador East, an older man started shooting me with a video camera in the bar area. Later that same man, Haskell Wexler, picked up a lifetime award at that ceremony. Haskell Wexler died on Dec. 27, 2015, at the age of 93.

Haskell Wexler, Oscar Winning Cinematographer

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Wexler won two Oscars for his cinematography, for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” – the last separate Oscar given for Black & White cinematography – and “Bound for Glory,” which was also notable for the first use of the Steadicam. The rest of his resume isn’t too shabby either, with Best Picture winners or nominations for “In the Heat of the Night, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” “America America” and “Coming Home.” Wexler had five Oscar nominations, including his wins, during his career.

Politics are a spectacle now more than ever, a trend encouraged by the current state of the media and content platforms that thrive on outrageous comments and destroyed reputations. In this climate, a film like Robert Gordon & Morgan Neville‘s “Best of Enemies” reminds the public that, though there’s always been an air of theatricality to political debates and expressing polarizing opinions, there used to be a certain elegance and sophistication in the way two ideological adversaries rallied behind their beliefs.

Their larger-than-life subjects are Gore Vidal, a prolific liberal writer, and William F. Buckley, a brilliant conservative debater, who were one another’s nemesis. Leading up to the 1968 presidential election the two intellectuals got a chance to make television history on ABC - then the least prominent of the broadcast networks - during 10 debates that felt like exhilarating boxing rounds in which the opponents replaced punches for a much more brutal arsenal of sharply written arguments.

We had a chance to have a lengthy conversation with co-director Morgan Neville, whose film “Twenty Feet from Stardom” earned him an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014. Neville wanted to explore a completely different aspect of American culture in “Best of Enemies,” one that is as relevant now as it was over 40 years ago: the crucial importance of the way we argue, civil discourse, and debate.

Aguilar: I honestly didn't know about these two characters prior to watching the film. How did you become aware of them? You were probably not born yet or were very young when these debates took place.

Morgan Neville: I was born the year before these debates. I was one-year-old when they happened, so I wasn’t paying a lot of attention [Laughs]. I knew who Buckley and Vidal were growing up being a political junkie. I actually used to work for Gore Vidal as a fact-checker right out of college. It was one of my very first jobs. We came across a bootleg copy of these debates like five years ago from a friend of a friend. They were just transfixing and we started to think, “There is something here that’s interesting, that’s so contemporary and so foreign to what I’m used to seeing on TV.” It just seemed like something I wanted to investigate, and so here we are five years later [Laughs].

Aguilar: They are certainly bigger-than-life characters. Did you notice this right away when watching the debates?

Morgan Neville: Yes, you only find characters like this in Nöel Coward plays [Laughs]. They are unlike people you see today. You don’t see people like this on TV. You don’t see people like this anywhere today. They lived these kind of huge lives that were at the center of so many things: politics, television, media. If you look at them they were such polymaths. Vidal was a novelist, an essayist, a playwright, a screenwriter, and many other things. Buckley started a magazine, hosted a TV show, lead a political movement, and was a master debater. They were multihyphenates in a way that you rarely see anymore.

Aguilar: Regardless of what anyone thinks of their opinions we have to admit they were very passionate about their views. Do you think some of that passion for one's beliefs is gone from politics and culture in general?

Morgan Neville: Yes. They believed the stakes were incredibly high for what they were doing. They truly believed that the other person was evil and that the other’s ideas would ruin America. They weren’t just fighting about 1968, they were fighting about the empire. They were fighting about everything from the Founding Fathers till today. When you see pundits arguing on TV today, they never seem to be very sincere. You always know what they are going to say before they say it. You don’t get the sense that they feel the stakes are all that high, even though the stakes are, of course, incredibly high. They all seem to be playing at it as though it’s a game, which for them it is.

Aguilar: Tell me about the arduous labor of finding all these footage from many decades ago to piece this story together.

Morgan Neville: It was a massive hunt for footage. One of the big treasures was ABC itself. They have an amazing archive and we found some much stuff buried in cans of films that had never seen the light of day. After spending so many years working on it, we kept turning up more things, these little nuggets that would make our day. For an archive documentary like this you kind of live or die by the strength of your material.

Aguilar: Besides telling Buckley and Vidal’s story, you also tackle a piece television history and ABC. Would you you say these debates were game-changers in terms of how we relate to news and broadcast programming?

Morgan Neville: The actual ABC story was the story we didn’t know when we started making it. We knew about Vidal, Buckley, and these debates, but what we didn’t really understand was how they came to be and that is was really an act of desperation that lead to this happening. That’s fascinating. We felt like, of course, what they were doing then was so different from what we have today, but we didn’t understand the connection until we really started getting into it. I don’t want to say that if it weren’t for these debates television would be completely different today because I think in some ways it was inevitable, but this was certainly one of those crystallizing moments for how television viewed news commentary. They realized that commentary got ratings, it’s cheap, and it’s easy.

Aguilar: It seems as if these debates could have only happened out of desperation because ABC threw this two polarizing agents into a formula and they didn’t know how it would turn out. They were taking a chance.

Morgan Neville: Yes. I don’t think ABC was expecting it to get this explosive. I think they thought that there was going to be some good friction and some sparks, but I don’t think they expected it to get as out of control as it did. I think initially they were a little embarrassed about it until they realized how successful it was. News at that times was seen as a public service and news departments of networks were seen as having a higher calling. News department were not the profit centers of networks as they are now.

Aguilar: When you are making a film like this that’s so polarizing in terms of the opinions the subjects express, how do you keep it as objective as possible and avoid taking sides based on your own opinions?

Morgan Neville: I thought it was important from the beginning not to take sides because it’s very easy to get caught in the arguments Once you start doing that half the people are going to agree with you and half the people are going to disagree with you. I think you’d fall into the same trap we are in now as a country. We wanted to make a film about how we argue and say, “Can we at least have some agreement about how we should talk to each other, what civil discourse is about, and about what debate can do for us?" We should agree on a common set of facts not just all go to our own corners and to our own cable channels and tell each other what we want to hear.

Aguilar: Although the debates took place over 40 years ago, they feel so relevant. You are also sort of introducing these characters to a new audience that perhaps didn't know bout them.

Morgan Neville: I kind of feel like people under 40 don’t know who these guys are. We realized that people don’t really remember who they are. We didn’t even know until we were making it how much educating we had to do to let people know who they were. But I felt like regardless of whether or not you know who they are, there’s still a kind of drama and a theatricality to it that should draw you in even if you don’t know who they are.

Aguilar: While watching the film I couldn't help but think about Siskel and Ebert, two big and contrasting personalities that, though in a different context, were tough on each other but also respected one another. Did they ever cross your mind while working on "Best of Enemies" ?

Morgan Neville: I saw “Life Itself,” the Roger Ebert documentary, and certainly when I watched them bickering in that film I was thinking about Vidal and Buckley because I was already working on this film. Sometimes we have our perfect foils or you can call them their bête noir, the person who brings out both the best and the worst in you because you disagree with them so completely. Yet, you understand and respect them enough to give it your all. I feel like underneath that kind of hatred between Vidal and Buckley was respect, because if you didn’t respect somebody you wouldn’t take it so personally and you wouldn’t be so prepared.

Aguilar: Something that's very interesting is Vidal's work as a screenwriter. He seemed to have had a talent for discussing politics via entertainment.

Morgan Neville: It’s very interesting. He wrote a lot and even his fiction and screenwriting are all around the same themes. He was interested in power and corruption, hubris, and the close-mindedness of our society and his films play that out. “The Best Man,” which was a play made into a movie and which I loved, says so much of what Gore once said about politics and he’d done that just before these 1968 debates.

Aguilar: Both Buckley and Vidal were giving a performance during this debates. They created a persona for this appearances.

Morgan Neville: Absolutely, Vidal and Buckley both understood that television was a theatrical medium. Gore was a playwright and a screenwriter, he knew how to deliver a good line, and Buckley was a master debater. He was one of the debate champions at Yale and really understood that debate is theater and that it’s about delivering a good line. They had a very similar skill set coming from slightly different backgrounds and that’s why it was such a perfect match.

Aguilar: When the big moment in the film happens and Buckley loses his cool, it comes a cross as a really provocative occurrence for the time. Today we see worst things on any reality show or TV in general.

Morgan Neville: People didn’t do that on TV then and often if people do it on TV now, if it’s on a reality show or on the news show, you get the sense that they are just handing it out to the camera. In this case it was the opposite, the last thing Buckley wanted to do on camera was to lose his cool.

Aguilar: Do you feel like you've gotten to know these two people closely by making the film?

Morgan Neville: Absolutely, they are both very complex men, which is what makes it so rewarding to make a film like this. You don’t mind spending so much time getting into the character because both of these characters were so rich. I came to understand them much, much better. Because I was much more familiar with Vidal when we started, Buckley was a revelation for me just in terms understanding things about him that I didn’t know. In spite of his political leanings he didn’t really like to talk about politics when he was on camera. Speaking in public was mostly a trend for liberals. That I didn’t know.

Aguilar: Did the fact that you knew Vidal from working with him made a difference in your approach?

Morgan Neville: I don’t think it actually really did, bu since I knew him I came with some knowledge. We actually interviewed Gore for the film too about a year and a half before he died. We decided not to use it because Gore had already gotten the last word in a way. To have Gore speak and not Buckley, because he had already died, felt somehow unfair and would tilt the film to one side, which we didn’t want to do.

Aguilar: Do you think that under other circumstances Vidal and Buckley could have been the best of friends rather than the best of enemies?

Morgan Neville: Yeah, you wonder. Today everybody is a “frenemy” [Laughs]. I don’t know if being a “frenemy” means you are an enemy but you are kind of winking at it and you play along at the enemy side of it, which is so much of what we see in news media now. There is an alternate universe where they are good friends but God knows where that universe is.

Aguilar: It probably wouldn’t have been as interesting.

Morgan Neville: Yeah, I probably wouldn’t have made a film about it [Laughs].

Aguilar: In terms of your career as a filmmaker, do you feel like the stakes and expectations are the stakes higher after winning an Oscar? "Best of Enemies" is definitely a departure in terms of subject matter from "Twenty Feet from Stardom"

Morgan Neville: No, the stakes are always high. You always want to make the best film you can. If anything I feel more relaxed after the Oscar. I feel like I have a chance to just tell the stories I want to tell and it’s actually been really nice. I’m so happy that this is the next film I’m putting out because it’s a whole other area I’m interested in that people wouldn’t know about. But they are both films about divas [Laughs].

Aguilar: What’s your next project now that "Best of Enemies" is hitting theaters?

Morgan Neville: I’m working on a Yo-Yo Ma film, which is almost done, and I’m working on Keith Richards documentary.

"Best of Enemies" opens today in Los Angeles at The Landmark and in NYC at IFC Center and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas...

Producers of the upcoming Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play You Can't Take It With You announce that Tony Award winner Elizabeth Ashley Take Her, She's Mine, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Gore Vidal's The Best Man joins the production in the role of The Grand Duchess Olga and Byron Jennings The Merchant of Venice, Inherit the Wind joins in the role of Mr. Kirby.

Producers of the upcoming Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play You Can't Take It With You announce two-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Rose Byrne 'Damages,' Bridesmaids, Neighbors and Tony Award nominee Annaleigh Ashford Kinky Boots, Wicked, 'Masters of Sex', join previously announced Tony Award and Outer Critics' Circle winner James Earl Jones Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Fences, The Great White Hope and Tony Award nominee Kristine Nielsen Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike in the show. Byrne, who is making her Broadway debut, will be playing Alice Sycamore and Ashford will play her sister, Essie Sycamore.

Producers of the upcoming Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize winning drama You Can't Take It With You announce that Tony Award nominee Kristine Nielsen Vonya and Sonia and Masha and Spike joins previously announced Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle winner James Earl Jones Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Fences, The Great White Hope as Penelope Sycamore in the cast. Further casting will be announced soon.

Singer/songwriter Lou Reed.

I interviewed Lou Reed in spring of 2003 in conjunction with the release of his latest album, The Raven. A hero of mine since childhood, our chat did not start out well. As I entered his office in Soho, he greeted me with a look combining contempt and outright revulsion: "Oh you little yuppie punk, please say something stupid so I can throw your ass outta my office," it seemed to say. Happily, Reed warmed up over the next two hours and we had a terrific chat about many things, recorded below.

Several months later, I attended his sold-out concert at the Wiltern in L.A. Backstage, I shook his hand and told him how much I enjoyed the show.. He managed a smile, patted my shoulder, and said "Nice work."

Rip Lou, and thanks for it all.

Lou Reed Quothes The Raven

By

Alex Simon

Editor's...

Primary Stages Casey Childs, Founder amp Executive ProducerAndrew Leynse, Artistic Director Elliot Fox, Managing Director, continues their 29th season with a new production of their acclaimed 1995 Obie Award winner, The Model Apartment, by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald MarguliesShipwrecked, Time Stands Still, Dinner with Friends, Sight Unseen. Directed by Evan Cabnet A Kid Like Jakeat Lincoln Center Theater, The Performers on Broadway, the production will feature Mark Blum The Assembled Parties and Gore Vidal's The Best Man on Broadway, Diane Davis Old Acquaintance on Broadway, Regrets Only at Mtc, two-time Obie Award-winner Kathryn Grody The Marriage of Bette amp Boo, Top Girls, A Mom's Life, and Hubert Point-Du Jour Angels in America and The BrotherSister Plays Off-Broadway. The Model Apartment runs through November 1 at Primary Stagesat 59E59 Theaters. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from opening night below...

Primary Stages Casey Childs, Founder amp Executive ProducerAndrew Leynse, Artistic Director Elliot Fox, Managing Director, continues their 29th season with a new production of their acclaimed 1995 Obie Award winner, The Model Apartment, by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald MarguliesShipwrecked, Time Stands Still, Dinner with Friends, Sight Unseen. Directed by Evan Cabnet A Kid Like Jakeat Lincoln Center Theater, The Performers on Broadway, the production will feature Mark Blum The Assembled Parties and Gore Vidal's The Best Man on Broadway, Diane Davis Old Acquaintance on Broadway, Regrets Only at Mtc, two-time Obie Award-winner Kathryn Grody The Marriage of Bette amp Boo, Top Girls, A Mom's Life, and Hubert Point-Du Jour Angels in America and The BrotherSister Plays Off-Broadway. The Model Apartment runs through November 1 at Primary Stagesat 59E59 Theaters. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from opening night below...

Primary Stages Casey Childs, Founder amp Executive ProducerAndrew Leynse, Artistic Director Elliot Fox, Managing Director, continues their 29th season with a new production of their acclaimed 1995 Obie Award winner, The Model Apartment, by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald MarguliesShipwrecked, Time Stands Still, Dinner with Friends, Sight Unseen. Directed by Evan Cabnet A Kid Like Jakeat Lincoln Center Theater, The Performers on Broadway, the production will feature Mark Blum The Assembled Parties and Gore Vidal's The Best Man on Broadway, Diane Davis Old Acquaintance on Broadway, Regrets Only at Mtc, two-time Obie Award-winner Kathryn Grody The Marriage of Bette amp Boo, Top Girls, A Mom's Life, and Hubert Point-Du Jour Angels in America and The BrotherSister Plays Off-Broadway. The Model Apartment runs through November 1 at Primary Stagesat 59E59 Theaters. BroadwayWorld brings you highlights below...

Primary Stages continues its 29th season with a new production of their acclaimed 1995 Obie Award winner, The Model Apartment, by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies Shipwrecked, Time Stands Still, Dinner with Friends, Sight Unseen. Directed by Evan Cabnet A Kid Like Jake at Lincoln Center Theater, The Performers on Broadway, the production will feature Mark Blum The Assembled Parties and Gore Vidal's The Best Man on Broadway, Diane Davis Old Acquaintance on Broadway, Regrets Only at Mtc, two-time Obie Award-winner Kathryn Grody The Marriage of Bette amp Boo, Top Girls, A Mom's Life, and Hubert Point-Du Jour Angels in America andThe BrotherSister Plays Off-Broadway. The Model Apartment runs September 24 - November 1 at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters. Opening night is Tuesday, October 15 at 7Pm.

Primary Stages continues its 29th season with a new production of their acclaimed 1995 Obie Award winner, The Model Apartment, by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies Shipwrecked, Time Stands Still, Dinner with Friends, Sight Unseen. Directed by Evan Cabnet A Kid Like Jake at Lincoln Center Theater, The Performers on Broadway, the production will feature Mark Blum The Assembled Parties and Gore Vidal's The Best Man on Broadway, Diane Davis Old Acquaintance on Broadway, Regrets Only at Mtc, two-time Obie Award-winner Kathryn Grody The Marriage of Bette amp Boo, Top Girls, A Mom's Life, and Hubert Point-Du Jour Angels in America andThe BrotherSister Plays Off-Broadway. The Model Apartment runs September 24 - November 1 at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters. Opening night is Tuesday, October 15 at 7Pm.

Wallace Beery movies: TCM offers a glimpse into Beery’s extensive filmography (photo: Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery in ‘Min and Bill’) According to the IMDb, the Wallace Beery Filmography features nearly 240 movie titles, including shorts and features, spanning more than three decades, from 1913 to 1949 — the year of his death at age 64. You’ll be able to catch about a dozen of these Wallace Beery movies on Saturday, August 17, 2013, as Turner Classic Movies continues with its "Summer Under the Stars" series. (See “TCM movie schedule: Wallace Beery from Pancho Villa to Long John Silver.”) Wallace Beery, much like fellow veteran Marie Dressler, with whom he co-starred in Min and Bill and its sequel, Tugboat Annie, was a Hollywood anomaly. At age 45, the ugly, coarse-looking actor became a top box-office draw in the United States after languishing in supporting roles, usually playing villains, throughout most of the silent era. Beery and Dressler,...

New York — John Grisham's first novel, which was made into a star-filled film, is now heading to a Broadway stage.

Producers said Tuesday that an adaptation of "A Time to Kill" will begin performances at the John Golden Theatre this fall. An earlier version was staged at Washington's Arena Stage in 2011.

"A Time to Kill" was Grisham's first novel and it was made into a 1996 movie starring Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock and Samuel L. Jackson. It's a courtroom thriller set in Mississippi that centers on a white lawyer defending a black father who has killed the man who raped his young daughter.

The task of boiling down the book's 600-plus pages to two acts was handed to Tony Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes, who wrote "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" and "Curtains."

No cast was announced. In Washington, Broadway actor Sebastian Arcelus, who has appeared mostly in musicals, played the...

Producers Daryl Roth and Eva Price announced today that Tony Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes' stage adaptation of A Time to Kill, John Grisham's best-selling novel, will open on Broadway on October 20, 2013 at the John Golden Theatre 252 West 45th Street. This new Broadway play holds the distinction of being the first-ever John Grisham property to be adapted for the stage. Ethan McSweeny Gore Vidal's The Best Man will direct, with previews beginning September 28th. Additional information, including the complete casting and creative team, will be announced shortly.

“Yes, they deserved to die and I hope they burn in hell!” Ok, so it might not be Samuel L. Jackson bellowing this famous line to the rafters of the Golden Theatre this fall. (Or could it? Mr. Jackson did tread the boards just a few years ago, actually.) But whomever is cast in the Broadway adaptation of John Grisham’s hot-blooded legal thriller, expect some fireworks.

Coming off an acclaimed run at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage in 2011, A Time to Kill will feature a script by Rupert Holmes (who knows a thing or two about mysteries as...

Don’t Torture A Duckling is one of the most intricately woven, original giallo films ever made, and definitely one of my favorite Italian giallo films of all time. Numerous interviews credit Don’t Torture A Duckling (1972) as Lucio Fulci’s personal favorite, and it firmly established him as a major talent in the suspense genre in Italy. Don’t Torture A Duckling never saw a theatrical release in North America in the 1970s, and the film wasn’t released on VHS until 1999 when it was released in both VHS and DVD format by Anchor Bay Entertainment. Even though the time of VHS had come and gone by 1999, Anchor Bay released the film on VHS to appease horror video fans like myself. Blue Underground released the same version of the film again in 2007, but only on DVD and Blu-Ray. Currently, you can buy Don’t Torture A Duckling on VHS...

Some acting careers are made by a single role. Think Brando’s Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Robert DeNiro’s Johnny Boy in Mean Streets (1973), Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jack in the box office behemoth Titanic (1997).

A similar connection can happen on a more personal basis. You watch a movie and an actor — for whatever magical, alchemical reason – clicks with you. You suddenly remember the other times you’ve seen him or her, you want to know more about what they’ve done, what they’re going to do. From that moment, their name in the credits means something to you.

And in that great, romantic way Hollywood dream-making works, they may not even be stars; never were, never will be. But they are somebody you respond to, somebody’s who work touches you.

For me, Charles Durning was one of those actors. At the news of his passing on Christmas Eve,...

Five time Emmy and Tony Award winner John Larroquette Night Court, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Gore Vidal's The Best Man appears alongside Matt Lutz A Walk to Remember and Broadway's Bonnie amp Clyde and Autumn Hurlbert Broadway's Legally Blonde and MTV's Legally Blonde The Search for Elle Woods in the multiple-award winning short musical comedy film Sudden Death Check it out below...

Five time Emmy and Tony Award winner John Larroquette Night Court, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Gore Vidal's The Best Man appears alongside Matt Lutz A Walk to Remember and Broadway's Bonnie amp Clyde and Autumn Hurlbert Broadway's Legally Blonde and MTV's Legally Blonde The Search for Elle Woods in the multiple-award winning short musical comedy film Sudden Death...

Election Day is just around the corner, and depending on your view of the current state of The Republic, you can look at that day in one of two ways:

It’s a national celebration of history’s greatest, most successful democracy, demonstrating our ability to freely choose our leadership and peacefully see the baton of power passed to the next man;

Or –

It’s a national embarrassment, history’s greatest, most successful democracy squandering it’s hard-won freedoms in a campaign for leadership poisoned by oversimplification, appeals to gut-level fears rather than the intellect, claims and charges plagued by inflation, distortion, and outright falsehood, and warped and distorted by the infusion of tens of millions of dollars from vested interests.

Either way, we still have to get through the day.

So, for those of you who just want to pull the shades and wait for the noise to die down,...

Tony® Award-winning production designer Derek McLane will serve as designer for the 85th Academy Awards® telecast, show producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron announced today. This will be McLane’s first time designing an Oscar set.

Over his career, McLane has designed sets for numerous Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, several of which have been nominated for Tony Awards. He received four nominations and won Best Scenic Design of a Play in 2009 for his work on 33 Variations. McLane’s other Broadway credits include The Heiress, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Follies, Anything Goes, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Grease and I Am My Own Wife.

“Derek is one of our most talented set designers, and we had a very successful collaboration with him on our recent Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying,” said Zadan and Meron. “We...

'They tied the elephant to the tree till it died and then sawed its face off – walk half a mile and there'll be another one. It's bad'

When Kristin Davis became involved with wildlife conservation, the combination of celebrity and cause probably seemed less incongruous. On holiday in a Kenyan safari park, the actor, who made her name as prim heiress Charlotte York in hit TV show Sex and the City, joined the hunt for a lost baby elephant when a Maasai elder waved down the truck in which she was travelling and raised the alarm.

She followed the trail for two days, and filmed what happened when the team found the animal, later named Chaimu after the lava rocks where she was found.

"She kept trying to charge us, she was so traumatised and angry. We had to cover her eyes and tie her feet, you feel so horrible...

Exclusive: Five-time Emmy winner John Larroquette has signed on for a heavily recurring role (seven out of 13 episodes) on the NBC midseason drama Infamous. It is an opulent soap in which a female detective (Meagan Good) returns undercover to the wealthy and troubled Bowers family she grew up in — as the maid’s daughter — to solve the murder of notorious heiress Vivian, who was once her closest friend. Larroquette will play Sen. Dwight Haverstock, a powerful politician who has a dark history with the family. The estranged best friend of Robert Bowers (Victor Garber), Haverstock is unpredictable with extreme appetites and big secrets. Larroquette, a Tony winner for How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, recently wrapped Gore Vidal’s The Best Man on Broadway.

"Full House" fans have long wondered whatever happened to predictability and though the answer to that question remains unclear, HufPost TV can tell you whatever happend to cast of the ABC hit family sitcom.

In honor of the 25th anniversary of "Full House," which debuted on September 22, 1987, HuffPost TV chatted with "Full House" alumni Dave Coulier, Jodi Sweetin, Lori Loughlin and more about their experiences on the show, favorite episodes, the awful late '80s hair and wardrobe, and what they're up to these days.

Below, find out which "Full House" role Dave Coulier also auditioned for, which castmember guest star Little Richard slapped, who slept on Bob Saget's couch before "Full House" ever debuted, where John Stamos and Lori Loughlin originally met, what Kurt Cobain has to do with "Full House" and how the cast reacted to its cancellation in 1995 after eight seasons.

Dave Coulier (Joey Gladstone)

Since...

"Full House" fans have long wondered whatever happened to predictability and though the answer to that question remains unclear, HufPost TV can tell you whatever happend to cast of the ABC hit family sitcom.

In honor of the 25th anniversary of "Full House," which debuted on September 22, 1987, HuffPost TV chatted with "Full House" alumni -- Dave Coulier, Jodi Sweetin, Lori Loughlin and more -- about their experiences on the show, favorite episodes, the awful late '80s hair and wardrobe, and what they're up to these days.

Below, find out what "Full House" role Dave Coulier also auditioned for, which castmember guest star Little Richard slapped, who slept on Bob Saget's couch before "Full House" ever debuted, where John Stamos and Lori Loughlin originally met, what Kurt Cobain has to do with "Full House" and how the cast reacted to its cancellation in 1995 after eight seasons.

Dave Coulier (Joey...

In its final week on Broadway, the hit British comedy One Man, Two Guvnors starring irrepressible Tony winner James Corden shattered the box office record at the Music Box Theatre, pulling in $853,518 (91 percent of the venue’s potential gross), according to figures from the Broadway League. That’s a remarkable achievement for a nonmusical production on the Great White Way. One Man is one of only three straight plays that have opened this year and recouped their producers’ initial investments (in this case, $3.25 million). The others are the acclaimed Tony-winning revival of Death of a Salesman starring Philip Seymour Hoffman,...

As the Republican National Convention played out last week, the Rnc of 1960 came alive every night on Broadway, in the form of Gore Vidal's The Best Man. John Stamos joined the cast this summer (replacing Eric McCormack) as the smug, slick Sarah Palin–meets–Rick Santorum candidate Joe Cantwell, who will say anything and stop at nothing to win his party's nomination, and his portrayal feels particularly timely. The production's coming to a close on September 9, with a fund-raiser performance on September 7 to benefit Stamos's favorite charity, Project Cuddle, which helps abandoned babies — the impetus of his hilarious guide to cuddling video. On his rare day off, Stamos chatted with Vulture about his celebrity backstage guests, Full House reunion plans, and what he'd like to do at the Oscars.I just saw your show yesterday ...Why didn't you come backstage and say, "Hi!"?Didn't realize that was an option.I...

With his megawatt grin, perfectly coiffed hair, bottomless charisma and likeability rating, John Stamos would have made one killer politician. Aside from the fact he swore years ago to never publicly comment on his personal beliefs, be they religious or political. But that doesn't mean Stamos shies away from hot button projects, like his latest play, Broadway's The Best Man.

As Senator Joseph Cantwell, the charlatan competing for the 1960 Presidential nomination, Stamos exudes a steely calm and magnetic power he's yet to capitalize on professionally. Before Stamos wraps up his critically acclaimed run alongside James Earl Jones, John Larroquette, Cybill Shepherd and Kristin Davis, he chatted with ETonline about the power of politics, how the current presidential election is influencing The Best Man and why it may next affect his Oikos Yogurt commercials.

ETonline: I was amazed while watching the show that, despite being written by Gore Vidal in the 60s, it was still...

Cybill Shepherd is celebrating a duo of firsts - she recently made her Broadway debut in Gore Vidal's "The Best Man," and she also got engaged for the first time.

"I've never been engaged," the actress told Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Tuesday's Access Hollywood Live. "I've been married."

The former "Cybill" star has been married twice, but her engagement - to Andrei Nikolajevic - is new. Asked why she's never been engaged before, Cybill said, "Well, I was pregnant, so we kind of just got married."

The actress said she's enjoying being someone's fiancee.

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Kristin Davis will dedicate a performance of Broadway play The Best Man to its late writer Gore Vidal. Davis was said to be shocked at the news of Vidal's sudden death this week at his home in La. He had suffered from complications following pneumonia. She will dedicate an extra special performance to the Best Man playwright on Wednesday (August 8). The Sex and the City star took to Twitter to pay her respects. She wrote: "Rest in peace our brilliant writer - so sad to loose (sic) him. (more)...

Cast of his political play The Best Man, currently playing on Broadway, dedicate next week of performances to novelist and playwright, who died this week

Broadway theatres are to dim their lights on 3 August in memory of Gore Vidal, who died this week aged 86, and the cast of his play The Best Man, currently on at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, will dedicate the next week of performances to his memory.

The Broadway League said the lights would be dimmed for one minute at 8pm. Executive director Charlotte St Martin called Vidal's work both "timely and timeless".

The second revival of The Best Man opened in April to strong reviews, whith a stellar cast that included James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, John Larroquette, Candice Bergen, Eric McCormack, Michael McKean and Kerry Butler. The show currently stars Cybill Shepherd, John Stamos, Kristin Davis, Mark Blum and Elizabeth Ashley, in addition to Larroquette and Jones.

Broadway producers have announced a tribute to the late Gore Vidal. The Myra Breckinridge author died at his Hollywood Hills home on Tuesday (July 31) due to complications from pneumonia. Vidal penned the noted Broadway plays Visit to a Small Planet and The Best Man, which was recently revived on the New York stage by Eric McCormack. The Broadway League has now confirmed that New York City theatres will dim their lights at 8pm Et on Friday (August 3) to honor Vidal. Charlotte St Martin of the Broadway League shared his thoughts on Vidal's legacy in a press release. (more)...

Last week, the stars came out to 54 Below to catch Jenifer Lewis with Marc Shaiman, Andrea McArdle and Lea Delaria. Visitors included Academy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg, the legendary Bette Midler, Tony Award winners Nathan Lane, Tommy Tune, Dick Latessa and Cady Huffman, Emmy Award winner John Turturro, star of Broadway's Gore Vidal's The Best Man Cybill Shepherd, Dreamgirls and SIde Show composer Henry Krieger, Miss Abigaiil's Guide and The Brady Bunch star Eve Plumb, McArdle's Annie successor Shelley Bruce, and star of the upcoming Broadway production of Rebecca Karen Mason.

Novelist, playwright and essayist with a complete mastery of the scene he described

Gore Vidal, the American writer, controversialist and politician manqué, who has died aged 86, was celebrated both for his caustic wit and his mandarin's poise. His public career spanned seven decades and included 25 novels, numerous collections of essays on literature and politics, a volume of short stories, five Broadway plays, dozens of television plays and film scripts, and even three mystery novels written under the pseudonym Edgar Box. After 9/11 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, he returned to centre stage with a series of blistering pamphlets and public pronouncements that led many, including his former friend Christopher Hitchens, to pounce on him. But Vidal never looked back.

Despite his output as a novelist and playwright, many critics considered Vidal's witty and acerbic essays his best work. Often published first in such journals as the New York Review...

New York -- Broadway theaters will dim their marquee lights on Friday night in memory of Gore Vidal and the cast of his play "The Best Man" will dedicate the next week of performances to the author and playwright.

The Broadway League said Wednesday the lights will be dimmed for one minute at exactly 8 p.m. Edt Friday. Executive Director Charlotte St. Martin called Vidal's work both "timely and timeless."

Vidal died Tuesday in Los Angeles at age 86.

The second revival of his political play "The Best Man" opened in April with strong reviews and a stellar cast that included James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, John Larroquette, Candice Bergen, Eric McCormack, Michael McKean and Kerry Butler.

The show currently stars Cybill Shepherd, John Stamos, Kristin Davis, Mark Blum and Elizabeth Ashley, in addition to Larroquette and Jones.

"I'm honored to have been able to call Gore a close friend," said Shepherd in a statement.

Upon the news of writer Gore Vidal's death, of complications of pneumonia, the producer and stars of the Broadway revival of his hit play, The Best Man, offered glowing rememberances of the late literary and political icon. Jeffrey Richards, speaking on behalf of the entire company, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, "Gore Vidal was an original. He wrote novels, essays, plays, teleplays and films with grace, distinction, style, wit and wisdom. Not to mention that he was a master raconteur, an accomplished actor, a brilliant gadfly and an impishly gifted impersonator. "The company of Gore Vidal's The

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Broadway will dim its lights Friday night in honor of Gore Vidal, The Broadway League announced today.

The marquees of all Broadway theaters will be dimmed for one minute at 8:00 p.m. in his memory. Vidal, a prolific author and playwright, passed away Tuesday at age 86.

A revival of his play, The Best Man, is currently on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre starring James Earl Jones, Cybill Shepherd, John Larroquette and others. The show was originally performed in 1960. A movie version, which Vidal wrote the screenplay for, was released in 1964.

“For over six decades, Gore Vidal never stopped writing novels,...

While Gore Vidal, one of America's most accomplished author-essayists and playwrights is famous for many things, among them his feuds with other great thinkers and pointed critiques of American politics and culture. But he was also an accomplished Hollywood screenwriter. Vidal died July 31 from pneumonia at his Hollywood Hills home after a long illness at age 86. Vidal had over 40 film and television writing credits to his name, including Joseph L. Mankiewicz' subversive 1959 thriller "Suddenly Last Summer," in which Elizabeth Taylor faces lobotomy, MGM epic Oscar-winner "Ben Hur" (1959), Richard Brooks' 1956 "The Catered Affair," starring Ernest Borgnine (who also recently died) in one of his best dramatic roles as a struggling cabbie forced by pushy wife Bette Davis into a costly wedding for daughter Debbie Reynolds, and Jose Ferrer's Dreyfus biography "I Accuse!" His play "The Best Man" and novel "Myra...

Famed author author, playwright and commentator Gore Vidal passed away today at the age of 86. The sharp-tongued author, known for novels such as "Burr" and "Breckinridge" and plays like "The Best Man," was a cultural giant during the 1960s and 1970s, habitually appearing on television to verbally spar with foes like Norman Mailer and William Buckley.

Known as a celebrity figure with a personality that rivaled Truman Capote, Vidal also worked on a number of screenplays, one of which became a cult classic --"Caligula." It was originally produced in 1979, but major disagreements between Vidal and the producer, Bob Guccione, led the former to distance himself from the project. But in 2005, artist and filmmaker Francesco Vezzoli sought to return the legacy of "Caligula" to its rightful owner, creating a a short film, titled "Trailer for the Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula." In the faux-trailer, several Hollywood stars (including original "Caligula...

Gore Vidal, the writer recognized as one of the foremost authors and essayists of the last several decades, passed away yesterday at 86 years old. Vidal is currently represented on Broadway by the star-studded revival of The Best Man, which began a limited run on April 1, was twice extended, and will close on September 9. The Best Man also saw a Broadway run in 2000, at which time Vidal appeared on Theater Talk - view the appearance below.

Gore Vidal passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86 after succumbing to complications from pneumonia. Vidal was best known as an acclaimed author, playwright and essayist, but he also wrote some iconic Hollywood screenplays. As the New York Times noted, Vidal was even a contract writer for MGM.

It was there that he contributed to his most famous film, 1959's "Ben Hur." Directed by William Wyler and starring Charlton Heston, won 11 Academy Awards -- tied for the most ever with "Titanic" and "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King." Vidal isn't a credited screenwriter on the film -- according to Vidal, 12 versions of the script were written; he called it "gorgeously junky"-- but he gave the film a homoerotic subtext.

"I said, 'Look, let me try something. Let's say these two guys when they were 15 or 16 -- they had been lovers. Now, they are meeting again, and...

Author Gore Vidal has died at the age of 86. Vidal was a novelist, playwright, pundit and essayist. The author of such novels as "Lincoln" and "Myra Breckenridge," as well as the Tony-winning play "The Best Man," Vidal also worked as a journalist, appeared on TV as a pundit, and influenced a wide range of artists from playwrights to musicians.Many artists are tweeting their tributes.

Gore Vidal Quotes: Gay Ben-hur Subtext? (See previous post: “Caligula / The Best Man: Gore Vidal Controversial Movies.” Photo: Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur, Stephen Boyd as his childhood friend Messala, Ben-Hur.) Gore Vidal vs. Charlton Heston Speaking of Gore Vidal’s (controversial) movies, there’s no way not to mention the real-life Rashomon story pitting Vidal against his right-wing nemesis Charlton Heston. So, was he or wasn’t he? Judah Ben-Hur, I mean. According to Vidal, while working on the screenplay for William Wyler’s 1959 multiple Oscar-winning epic Ben-Hur, he inserted a romantic / sexual subtext into the “brotherly” friendship between Heston’s Ben-Hur and Stephen Boyd’s [...]...

Gore Vidal movies: The Best Man, Caligula, Suddenly Last Summer. (Photo: A young Gore Vidal.) Author, playwright, screenwriter, acerbic storyteller, and political commentator Gore Vidal died Tuesday, July 31, at his home in the Hollywood Hills. Vidal, who had been living in Los Angeles since 2003, was 86. Gore Vidal movies Details about Vidal’s life and literary career can be found elsewhere on the Web. But it’s good to remember that Gore Vidal was also a notable — though hardly prolific — screenwriter. After penning various television plays for anthology series such as Studio One and Omnibus, Vidal wrote the film version of Paddy [...]...

In a world more to his liking, Gore Vidal might have been president, or even king. He had an aristocrat's bearing – tall, handsome and composed – and an authoritative baritone ideal for summoning an aide or courtier.

But Vidal made his living – a very good living – from challenging power, not holding it. He was wealthy and famous and committed to exposing a system often led by men he knew firsthand. During the days of Franklin Roosevelt, one of the few leaders whom Vidal admired, he might have been called a "traitor to his class." The real traitors, Vidal would respond, were the upholders of his class.

The author, playwright, politician and commentator whose vast and sharpened range of published works and public remarks were stamped by his immodest wit and unconventional wisdom, died Tuesday at age 86 in Los Angeles.

Vidal died at his home in the Hollywood Hills at about 6:45 p.