News

Writer-producer-developer Norman Lear, who revolutionized American comedy with such daring, immensely popular early-‘70s sitcoms as “All in the Family” and “Sanford and Son,” died on Tuesday. He was 101.

Lear’s publicist confirmed to Variety that he died at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes. A private service for immediate family will be held in the coming days.

“Thank you for the moving outpouring of love and support in honor of our wonderful husband, father, and grandfather,” Lear’s family said in a statement. “Norman lived a life of creativity, tenacity, and empathy. He deeply loved our country and spent a lifetime helping to preserve its founding ideals of justice and equality for all. Knowing and loving him has been the greatest of gifts. We ask for your understanding as we mourn privately in celebration of this remarkable human being.”

Lear had already established himself as a top...

Amazon Freevee has given the greenlight to “Clean Slate,” a new comedy from Norman Lear’s Act III Productions, starring Laverne Cox and comedian George Wallace. The original comedy has been in development at Freevee since February 2021, back when the ad-supported streamer was known as IMDb TV.

“Clean Slate,” which comes from Cox, Wallace and Dan Ewen, centers on car wash owner Henry (Wallace), whose estranged child comes home to Alabama after 17 years. But he must do some soul searching as he comes to terms with the fact that his adult child is a trans woman, Desiree (Cox). There’s no word yet on an episodic order, when the series might shoot or an estimated premiere date.

Ewen serves as executive producer and writer on “Clean Slate,” and he has story credit along with Cox and Wallace. Cox will also serve as an executive producer on the show, while Wallace is a producer.

It’s a very happy birthday for TV legend Norman Lear, who gets to celebrate with a bonus present: The new take on Lear’s syndicated 1970s series “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” has landed in script development at TBS.

As reported in February, “Schitt’s Creek” star Emily Hampshire is developing a fresh version of “Mary Hartman,” along with Jacob Tierney (“Letterkenny”). After being shopped by Sony Pictures TV to buyers this spring, the project has landed at TBS. The news comes as Lear, who was born in 1922, celebrates his 99th birthday.

“The kick of kicks as I turn 99 today is learning that TBS is developing ‘Mhmh’ and will allow us to make a new version of it starring Emily Hampshire,” Lear said in a statement. “As someone who believes his 99 years on this planet is owed to the amount of laughter he enjoyed through the years, here’s to the next 99. Bless you all!

“Schitt’s Creek” star Emily Hampshire has signed on to star as the title character in a new, updated version of Norman Lear’s 1970s syndicated hit “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”

Hampshire will also be an executive producer on the project, and co-write the script with Jacob Tierney (“Letterkenny”), who will serve as showrunner. Sony Pictures TV is planning to shop the show to buyers in the coming weeks.

It’s the latest series remake to come out of the Lear cannon, following the recent critically acclaimed reimagining of “One Day at a Time,” and an animated take on “Good Times” that is currently in the works. Lear and Brent Miller’s Act III Prods. is developing the new “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” with Sony, with Lear and Miller as executive producers alongside Hampshire and Tierney.

“Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” reunites Hampshire with Tierney, as Hampshire previously starred in Tierney’s film “The Trotsky.

Fred Willard, the comic actor known for his genial but dunderheaded characters, has died. He was 86.

Willard died Friday night at his home in Los Angeles of natural causes. Willard’s daughter, Hope Mulbarger, said the actor died “very peacefully.”

“He kept moving, working and making us happy until the very end. We loved him so very much,” Mulbarger said. Willard has a role in the upcoming Netflix comedy series “Space Force” opposite Steve Carell.

Willard was married for 50 years to Mary Willard, a playwright and collaborator with her husband. She died in 2018 at the age of 71.

After getting his start in improv comedy with Second City, Fred Willard was an astonishingly ubiquitous presence especially on TV but also in movies for decades, almost always in small but memorable roles.

The New York Times said in 2008: “He has become the king of the deadpan cameo, the guy who makes...

Fred Willard, comedic actor best known for “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Best in Show” and “Waiting for Guffman,” and, most recently as Phil Dunphy’s father on “Modern Family,” died Friday night of natural causes. He was 86.

“My father passed away very peacefully last night at the fantastic age of 86 years old. He kept moving, working and making us happy until the very end,” his daughter Hope Mulbarger said in a statement. “We loved him so very much!”

Willard was a master at playing characters who weren’t the brightest of bulbs, a feat he perfected in Rob Reiner’s “This Is Spinal Tap,” along with a number of Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries, including “Waiting for Guffman,” “Best in Show,” “A Mighty Wind” and “For Your Consideration.”

Also Read: Lynn Shelton, Director of 'Mad Men' and 'Glow' Episodes, Dies at 54

Guest’s wife, Jamie Lee Curtis,...

Veteran character actor Orson Bean, a regular on shows like “To Tell the Truth” and “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” and star of “Being John Malkovich,” died Friday night at age 91 after he was struck and killed by a car in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles coroner’s office confirmed Bean’s death in a “traffic-related” accident to the Associated Press. L.A. Police Capt. Brian Wendling told ABC that a man had been walking in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles when he was clipped by a vehicle, causing him to fall. Then a second driver struck him again.

According to ABC, Bean’s wife of 27 years, actress Alley Mills, was at the scene at the time of the accident.

Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2020 (Photos)

Born in Vermont, Dallas Frederick Burrows (Orson Bean was a stage name) was the son of George Burrows, one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Police Academy actress Debralee Scott has died at her home in Florida of natural causes. She was 52. Scott, who appeared as Mrs Fackler in the 1984 comedy and its third installment Police Academy 3: Back In Training in 1986, was also known to US TV audiences for her roles in 1970s shows Welcome Back, Kotter and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Scott also had bit parts in movie classics Dirty Harry and American Graffiti. Her policeman fiance John Levi was killed in the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.