Stu Silver, the writer and producer who created the 1980s sitcoms Webster and It’s a Living and penned the screenplay for the 1987 Billy Crystal-Danny DeVito dark comedy Throw Momma From the Train, has died. He was 76.
Silver died July 18 at Highland Hospital in Rochester, New York, of complications from prostate cancer, his son, Dan Silver, announced.
Silver also was a writer on the ABC sitcom Soap, also featuring Crystal, during its last three seasons (1978-81), and he worked on other comedies including the spinoff Benson, Bosom Buddies, Star of the Family, The New Odd Couple, Brothers and Good Grief.
He shared an Emmy nomination for outstanding comedy series for his work on Soap in 1981.
Silver, who was adopted, created Webster, which starred Emmanuel Lewis as the adopted son of characters played by real-life husband and wife Alex Karras and Susan Clark. The Chicago-set series ran for six seasons...
Silver died July 18 at Highland Hospital in Rochester, New York, of complications from prostate cancer, his son, Dan Silver, announced.
Silver also was a writer on the ABC sitcom Soap, also featuring Crystal, during its last three seasons (1978-81), and he worked on other comedies including the spinoff Benson, Bosom Buddies, Star of the Family, The New Odd Couple, Brothers and Good Grief.
He shared an Emmy nomination for outstanding comedy series for his work on Soap in 1981.
Silver, who was adopted, created Webster, which starred Emmanuel Lewis as the adopted son of characters played by real-life husband and wife Alex Karras and Susan Clark. The Chicago-set series ran for six seasons...
- 7/26/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
It’s one of the best cop shows of the 1960s! Detective Madigan’s police .38 is stolen by a mad-dog killer, forcing him to take extra risks just as more problems personal and professional close in on him. Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens and Harry Guardino give sterling performances, and the assured direction of Don Siegel keeps us on edge throughout. Siegel’s editing is extra-kinetic, and for warped screen villainy, Steve Ihnat’s maniac has no equal.
Madigan
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Techniscope) / 101 min. / Street Date September 12, 2022 / available through Powerhouse / £15.99
Starring: Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, Harry Guardino, James Whitmore, Susan Clark, Michael Dunn, Steve Ihnat, Don Stroud, Sheree North, Warren Stevens, Raymond St. Jacques, Bert Freed, Harry Bellaver, Frank Marth, Lloyd Gough, Virginia Gregg, Woodrow Parfrey, Conrad Bain.
Cinematography: Russell Metty
Film Editor: Milton Shifman
Visual Effects: Albert Whitlock
Original Music: Don Costa...
Madigan
Region B Blu-ray
Powerhouse Indicator
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Techniscope) / 101 min. / Street Date September 12, 2022 / available through Powerhouse / £15.99
Starring: Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, Harry Guardino, James Whitmore, Susan Clark, Michael Dunn, Steve Ihnat, Don Stroud, Sheree North, Warren Stevens, Raymond St. Jacques, Bert Freed, Harry Bellaver, Frank Marth, Lloyd Gough, Virginia Gregg, Woodrow Parfrey, Conrad Bain.
Cinematography: Russell Metty
Film Editor: Milton Shifman
Visual Effects: Albert Whitlock
Original Music: Don Costa...
- 8/20/2022
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Jerome Hellman, the producer of landmark films such as Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home has died. The Oscar winner’s wife, Elizabeth Empleton Hellman, confirmed Hellman’s May 26 passing saying simply, “we will miss him terribly.” He was 92.
Hellman’s films helped define the “New Hollywood” of the 1970s. He tended to work repeatedly with a circle of top-notch collaborators and the films Hellman produced came from iconic directors such as John Schlesinger, Hal Ashby, George Roy Hill, Irvin Kershner and Peter Weir.
That Hellman would win Best Picture for Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy in 1970 was, at the very least, improbable. Hellman was going through a tough divorce. The film was based on a little-known novel. Schlesinger didn’t think Dustin Hoffman was right to play Ratso Rizzo. But Hellman fought for the Graduate actor. Also, the film was X-rated and dealt with homosexuality, prostitution and a gritty slice of...
Hellman’s films helped define the “New Hollywood” of the 1970s. He tended to work repeatedly with a circle of top-notch collaborators and the films Hellman produced came from iconic directors such as John Schlesinger, Hal Ashby, George Roy Hill, Irvin Kershner and Peter Weir.
That Hellman would win Best Picture for Schlesinger’s Midnight Cowboy in 1970 was, at the very least, improbable. Hellman was going through a tough divorce. The film was based on a little-known novel. Schlesinger didn’t think Dustin Hoffman was right to play Ratso Rizzo. But Hellman fought for the Graduate actor. Also, the film was X-rated and dealt with homosexuality, prostitution and a gritty slice of...
- 5/28/2021
- by Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Heady. Intellectual. Gassy. These are some of the terms applied to the wave of brain-based sci-fi started by 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and lasting until the arrival of more action led material, namely Star Wars (1977). Coming hot on the heels of Kubrick’s epic was Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), an awkwardly titled yet fascinating and suspenseful look at the perils of AI sentience. Damn you, computers. All the way to cyberhell.
Released by Universal in April, Colossus actually received good notices from critics who appreciated the film’s attempts at suspense crossed with intelligent discourse on the wages of war; audiences simply shrugged and moved on, denying the film the sequel it deserved. Oh well - Colossus standing alone is apropos considering the events that transpire.
We open on a Colorado mountainside, as Dr. Charles Forbin (Eric Braeden - The Young and the Restless) triple checks the gargantuan banks of...
Released by Universal in April, Colossus actually received good notices from critics who appreciated the film’s attempts at suspense crossed with intelligent discourse on the wages of war; audiences simply shrugged and moved on, denying the film the sequel it deserved. Oh well - Colossus standing alone is apropos considering the events that transpire.
We open on a Colorado mountainside, as Dr. Charles Forbin (Eric Braeden - The Young and the Restless) triple checks the gargantuan banks of...
- 5/30/2020
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
“Early Dirty”
By Raymond Benson
The filmmaker who made the iconic Clint Eastwood vehicle, Dirty Harry in 1971 also made something of an early test-run three years earlier in the form of a crime picture called Madigan. Starring Richard Widmark as a tough, cynical, and world-weary police detective in New York City, Madigan displays the same look, feel, and grit that the later Eastwood police procedural exhibits. And, like Harry Callahan, Dan Madigan doesn’t always follow the rules.
Don Siegel had been a solid craftsman since the 1950s, responsible for such works as Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the admirable remake of The Killers (1964), and Coogan’s Bluff (1968). Likewise, Madigan is a well-made thriller with a hard-boiled plot and realistic characters portrayed by an excellent cast that includes Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, and James Whitmore.
The tale begins when Madigan (Widmark) and his partner...
By Raymond Benson
The filmmaker who made the iconic Clint Eastwood vehicle, Dirty Harry in 1971 also made something of an early test-run three years earlier in the form of a crime picture called Madigan. Starring Richard Widmark as a tough, cynical, and world-weary police detective in New York City, Madigan displays the same look, feel, and grit that the later Eastwood police procedural exhibits. And, like Harry Callahan, Dan Madigan doesn’t always follow the rules.
Don Siegel had been a solid craftsman since the 1950s, responsible for such works as Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954), the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the admirable remake of The Killers (1964), and Coogan’s Bluff (1968). Likewise, Madigan is a well-made thriller with a hard-boiled plot and realistic characters portrayed by an excellent cast that includes Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, and James Whitmore.
The tale begins when Madigan (Widmark) and his partner...
- 11/24/2019
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Manhattan detective Richard Widmark is up the creek without his .38 special — a maniac killer has stolen it. He’s desperate to get it back, while his personal and professional problems pile up. Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens and Harry Guardino give sterling performances, but the assured direction of Don Siegel is what keeps us on edge throughout. The classic crime saga pushed the limits of the incoming Ratings System — yet provided a style template for a decade of Universal cop shows. Siegel utilizes blunt jarring cutting effects to make its violence feel extra-intense — and for warped screen villainy, Steve Ihnat’s Barney Benesch has no equal — he has less than three minutes of screen time, but you’ll never forget him.
Madigan
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Techniscope) / 101 min. / Street Date November 12, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, Harry Guardino, James Whitmore, Susan Clark,...
Madigan
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1968 / Color / 2:35 widescreen (Techniscope) / 101 min. / Street Date November 12, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Richard Widmark, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens, Harry Guardino, James Whitmore, Susan Clark,...
- 11/16/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Murder strikes a private college. In the new security guard’s efforts to find the killer, he uncovers sordid secrets and multiple unsavory conspiracies. Triple-threat Burt Lancaster boasts directing and screenwriting credits here, and heads a large, exemplary cast of suspects in a mystery that implicates practically all of them in something illegal.
The Midnight Man
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date February 26, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Linda Thorpe, Cameron Mitchell, Morgan Woodward, Harris Yulin, Robert Quarry, Joan Lorring, Lawrence Dobkin, Ed Lauter, Mills Watson, Charles Tyner, Catherine Bach, Bill Lancaster, Quinn K. Redeker, Peter Dane, Linda Kelsey, William Splawn, Nick Cravat.
Cinematography: Jack Priestley
Film Editor: Frank Moriss
Original Music: Dave Grusin
Written by Roland Kibbee, Burt Lancaster from a book by David Anthony
Produced and Directed by Roland Kibbee & Burt Lancaster
Carrying a reputation as an intelligent low-key murder mystery, 1975’s...
The Midnight Man
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1974 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 117 min. / Street Date February 26, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Linda Thorpe, Cameron Mitchell, Morgan Woodward, Harris Yulin, Robert Quarry, Joan Lorring, Lawrence Dobkin, Ed Lauter, Mills Watson, Charles Tyner, Catherine Bach, Bill Lancaster, Quinn K. Redeker, Peter Dane, Linda Kelsey, William Splawn, Nick Cravat.
Cinematography: Jack Priestley
Film Editor: Frank Moriss
Original Music: Dave Grusin
Written by Roland Kibbee, Burt Lancaster from a book by David Anthony
Produced and Directed by Roland Kibbee & Burt Lancaster
Carrying a reputation as an intelligent low-key murder mystery, 1975’s...
- 2/5/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
In his 1972 essay “Notes on Film Noir”, film critic-turned-screenwriter/director Paul Schrader wrote on how the genre was “not defined…by conventions of setting and conflict, but rather by the more subtle qualities of tone and mood.” It’s a mood best described as ‘you’re screwed, pal.’
Cynicism has always been at the heart of film noir, a genre full of desperate characters clinging to the shadows of world that’s forgotten them. It’s a cynicism born out of post-War disillusionment and anxiety that spawned the genre’s heyday from the early-40s all the way through the mid-1950s when suddenly “Dragnet” and “Leave it To Beaver” were reaffirming America’s squeaky-clean Eisenhower-era view of itself.
But with the post-Watergate 70s and Cold War 80s came a new slew of anxieties as the genre evolved, this time with less Hollywood restrictions. That meant more sex, more violence,...
Cynicism has always been at the heart of film noir, a genre full of desperate characters clinging to the shadows of world that’s forgotten them. It’s a cynicism born out of post-War disillusionment and anxiety that spawned the genre’s heyday from the early-40s all the way through the mid-1950s when suddenly “Dragnet” and “Leave it To Beaver” were reaffirming America’s squeaky-clean Eisenhower-era view of itself.
But with the post-Watergate 70s and Cold War 80s came a new slew of anxieties as the genre evolved, this time with less Hollywood restrictions. That meant more sex, more violence,...
- 3/9/2018
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
This nearly forgotten Sci-fi masterpiece should have been a monster hit. For some reason Universal didn’t think that a computer menace was commercial — the year after 2001. The superior drama sells a tough concept: the government activates a defense computer programmed to keep the peace. It does exactly that, but by holding the world hostage while it makes itself a God above mankind.
Colossus: The Forbin Project
Region B Blu-ray
Medium Rare UK
1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date March 27, 2017 / Available from Amazon UK £6.99
Starring: Eric Braeden, Susan Clark, Gordon Pinsent, William Schallert, Leonid Rostoff, Georg Stanford Brown, Willard Sage, Alex Rodine, Martin Brooks, Marion Ross, Dolph Sweet, Robert Cornthwaite, James Hong, Paul Frees, Robert Quarry.
Cinematography: Gene Polito
Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted
Visual Effects: Albert Whitlock, Don Record
Original Music: Michel Colombier
Written by James Bridges, from a novel by D.F. Jones
Produced by Stanley Chase
Directed by Joseph Sargent...
Colossus: The Forbin Project
Region B Blu-ray
Medium Rare UK
1970 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 99 min. / Street Date March 27, 2017 / Available from Amazon UK £6.99
Starring: Eric Braeden, Susan Clark, Gordon Pinsent, William Schallert, Leonid Rostoff, Georg Stanford Brown, Willard Sage, Alex Rodine, Martin Brooks, Marion Ross, Dolph Sweet, Robert Cornthwaite, James Hong, Paul Frees, Robert Quarry.
Cinematography: Gene Polito
Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted
Visual Effects: Albert Whitlock, Don Record
Original Music: Michel Colombier
Written by James Bridges, from a novel by D.F. Jones
Produced by Stanley Chase
Directed by Joseph Sargent...
- 3/3/2018
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Arthur Penn’s detective movie is one of the best ever in the genre, one that rewards repeat viewings particularly well. Gumshoe Harry Moseby compartmentalizes his marriage, his job, his past and the greedy Hollywood has-beens he meets, not realizing that everything is interconnected, and fully capable of assembling a world-class conspiracy. Gene Hackman tops a sterling cast in the film that introduced most of us to Melanie Griffith.
Night Moves
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Melanie Griffith, Susan Clark, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Mars, Janet Ward, James Woods, Anthony Costello.
Cinematography: Bruce Surtees
Production Designer: George Jenkins
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by Robert M. Sherman
Directed by Arthur Penn
Night Moves is a superb detective thriller that plays with profound ideas without getting its fingers burned.
Night Moves
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1975 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 100 min. / Street Date August 15, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99
Starring: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Melanie Griffith, Susan Clark, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin, Kenneth Mars, Janet Ward, James Woods, Anthony Costello.
Cinematography: Bruce Surtees
Production Designer: George Jenkins
Film Editor: Dede Allen
Original Music: Michael Small
Written by Alan Sharp
Produced by Robert M. Sherman
Directed by Arthur Penn
Night Moves is a superb detective thriller that plays with profound ideas without getting its fingers burned.
- 8/15/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Actor, wrestler and American football star whose hardman roles included Mongo in Blazing Saddles
In Mel Brooks's 1974 film Blazing Saddles, the enforcer Mongo rides into town on a Brahma bull, and knocks out a horse with one punch. "Don't shoot him, it will just make him mad," the townspeople advise Sheriff Bart. Later, Bart asks Mongo about the things he's done. Looking up with puppy eyes, the hulking villain says: "Mongo only pawn in game of life."
Alex Karras, who has died aged 77, was a natural to play Mongo, with his larger-than-life body and rubbery face, which he could contort in exaggerated clowning, or soften to suggest his slyly sympathetic wit. Some of those skills he learned as a professional wrestler, and even as a novice actor he stole scenes from comedians as talented as Cleavon Little or Gene Wilder. Karras went on to have a successful career as a character actor,...
In Mel Brooks's 1974 film Blazing Saddles, the enforcer Mongo rides into town on a Brahma bull, and knocks out a horse with one punch. "Don't shoot him, it will just make him mad," the townspeople advise Sheriff Bart. Later, Bart asks Mongo about the things he's done. Looking up with puppy eyes, the hulking villain says: "Mongo only pawn in game of life."
Alex Karras, who has died aged 77, was a natural to play Mongo, with his larger-than-life body and rubbery face, which he could contort in exaggerated clowning, or soften to suggest his slyly sympathetic wit. Some of those skills he learned as a professional wrestler, and even as a novice actor he stole scenes from comedians as talented as Cleavon Little or Gene Wilder. Karras went on to have a successful career as a character actor,...
- 10/12/2012
- by Michael Carlson
- The Guardian - Film News
Alex Karras was a heavy hitter on the football field, and when he retired from pro sports he tackled Hollywood. Karras' death this morning from kidney failure saddened those who had the chance to work alongside him, be it on TV and movie sets or the gridiron. "My heartfelt condolences goes out to Susan, Katie, George, Renny, Peter and the entire Karras & Clark family," Emmanuel Lewis, who played Karras and real-life wife Susan Clark's adopted son on the 1980s hit Webster, said in a statement to E! News. "My prayers are forever with you guys. I had a very heavy heart this morning and I did not know why. I understand now. Rest in Peace, my friend." Mel Brooks,...
- 10/10/2012
- E! Online
Birthday shoutouts go to Mario Lopez (above), who is 39, Crystal Waters is 48, and the faboo Tanya Tucker is 54.We have the first cancellation of the fall season, and it's ... ta da! Made In Jersey, which apparently was a show on CBS. In ratings news, The New Normal was up a healthy 18%. Out thoughts are with the family of Alex Karras, who died today at the age of 77. After leaving football, he went on to a successful acting career, including memorable turns in Blazing Saddles and as gay bodyguard Squash in Victor/Victoria. And of course, he and wife Susan Clark endured five seasons on Webster. For National Coming Out Day, 30 Glbt athletes who came out in the past year. Big Bird's Gay History Revealed.Andrew Sullivan isn't feeling the concrete jungle, where dreams are made of.Jeff Davis is till looking for Teen Wolf Twins.
Below you can see...
Below you can see...
- 10/10/2012
- by snicks
- The Backlot
Detroit — Alex Karras was one of the NFL's most feared defensive tackles throughout the 1960s, a player who hounded quarterbacks and bulled past opposing linemen.
And yet, to many people he will always be the lovable dad from the 1980s sitcom "Webster" or the big cowboy who famously punched out a horse in "Blazing Saddles."
The rugged player, who anchored the Detroit Lions' defense and then made a successful transition to an acting career, with a stint along the way as a commentator on "Monday Night Football," died Wednesday. He was 77.
Karras had recently suffered kidney failure and been diagnosed with dementia. The Lions also said he had suffered from heart disease and, for the last two years, stomach cancer. He died at home in Los Angeles surrounded by family members, said Craig Mitnick, Karras' attorney.
"Perhaps no player in Lions history attained as much success and notoriety for what...
And yet, to many people he will always be the lovable dad from the 1980s sitcom "Webster" or the big cowboy who famously punched out a horse in "Blazing Saddles."
The rugged player, who anchored the Detroit Lions' defense and then made a successful transition to an acting career, with a stint along the way as a commentator on "Monday Night Football," died Wednesday. He was 77.
Karras had recently suffered kidney failure and been diagnosed with dementia. The Lions also said he had suffered from heart disease and, for the last two years, stomach cancer. He died at home in Los Angeles surrounded by family members, said Craig Mitnick, Karras' attorney.
"Perhaps no player in Lions history attained as much success and notoriety for what...
- 10/10/2012
- by AP
- Huffington Post
Former football star and actor Alex Karras has died, two days after suffering kidney failure and being transferred to hospice care. He was 77. Karras, a lineman for the Detroit Lions from 1958 to 1970, made the news last spring when he was joined more than 3000 former players filing suit against the NFL, as part of the controversy over whether the league has done enough to protect players from head injuries. Susan Clark, Karras’ wife of 32 years and a frequent co-star during his acting days, has said that Karras blamed the hits he took for the dementia that ...
- 10/10/2012
- avclub.com
After returning to his Los Angeles home to spend his last days with his family, former Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras has died.
He had been returned home from a California hospital after experiencing kidney failure earlier this week. Karras had lived through a long struggle with kidney disease, heart disease, dementia and stomach cancer, a family spokesperson says. He was 77.
"Alex was known to family and friends as a gentle, loving, generous man who loved gardening and preparing Greek and Italian feasts," his family said in a written statement, via CNN.
Lions president Tom Lewand released a statement after Karras was released from the hospital earlier this week, saying, "The entire Detroit Lions family is deeply saddened to learn of the news regarding the condition of one of our all-time greats, Alex Karras. Perhaps no player in Lions history attained as much success and notoriety for what he...
He had been returned home from a California hospital after experiencing kidney failure earlier this week. Karras had lived through a long struggle with kidney disease, heart disease, dementia and stomach cancer, a family spokesperson says. He was 77.
"Alex was known to family and friends as a gentle, loving, generous man who loved gardening and preparing Greek and Italian feasts," his family said in a written statement, via CNN.
Lions president Tom Lewand released a statement after Karras was released from the hospital earlier this week, saying, "The entire Detroit Lions family is deeply saddened to learn of the news regarding the condition of one of our all-time greats, Alex Karras. Perhaps no player in Lions history attained as much success and notoriety for what he...
- 10/10/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
We’ve lost another ’80s sitcom legend. Alex Karras, 1960s football legend-turned-Webster-star, died at age 77 of kidney failure this morning in his Los Angeles home. The former Detroit Lions defensive tackle was one of the first big (literally) football players to parlay his size and charisma into a successful acting career. While still playing for the Lions, he played himself in the 1968 movie Paper Lions, and after being retired from the team, he ventured into TV, working for Monday Night Football from 1974-76. That’s when he also found a new set of fans for playing Mongo in Mel Brooks‘ Blazing Saddles.
And then in 1983, he was welcomed by an entirely new generation of TV viewers when he and real-life wife Susan Clark played the adoptive parents to adorable Emmanuel Lewis in Webster.
Earlier this year, Karras joined other former players in a lawsuit against the NFL, charging...
And then in 1983, he was welcomed by an entirely new generation of TV viewers when he and real-life wife Susan Clark played the adoptive parents to adorable Emmanuel Lewis in Webster.
Earlier this year, Karras joined other former players in a lawsuit against the NFL, charging...
- 10/10/2012
- by Sabrina Rojas Weiss
- TheFabLife - Movies
Webster star Alex Karras, who began his career as a football hero for the Detroit Lions, has died, the Associated Press reports. He was 77. Karras, who was suffering from kidney failure, died at home in Los Angeles surrounded by family members, including his wife, Susan Clark, the Canadian actress who also played his fictional wife on Webster, said Karras's attorney, Craig Mitnick Lions president Tom Lewand released the following statement upon learning of Karras's deteriorating health: "The entire Detroit Lions family is deeply saddened to learn of the news regarding the condition of one of our all-time greats, Alex Karras.
- 10/10/2012
- by Tim Nudd and Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Alex Karras has died. The football great-turned-tv and movie star of Webster and Blazing Saddles was 77, and had battled dementia. On Monday, it was reported Karras was near death after suffering kidney failure. The news moved his former team, the Detroit Lions, to pay prompt tribute. "Perhaps no player in Lions history attained as much success and notoriety for what he did after his playing days as did Alex," Lions president Tom Lewand said in the Monday statement. Along with real-life wife Susan Clark, Karras parented child-star Emmanuel Lewis in the 1983-89 family sitcom Webster. Before that, Mel Brooks fans knew Karras as the horse-punching, man-beast Mongo in the 1974 Western send-up, Blazing Saddles. Karras was probably never more of the zeitgeist then when he was part of the Howard Cosell-era Monday Night Football broadcast team for three seasons, from 1974-1976. Other credits included the teen comedy Porky's, which also costarred Clark, the Oscar-winning Julie Andrews musical Victor Victoria and the thriller hit, Against All Odds. "I guess I've always been a performer," Karras once said. "But if I'd have told anybody back in high school in Gary [his Indiana hometown] that I wanted to be an actor, they'd have had me quarantined."...
- 10/10/2012
- E! Online
Alex Karras, a former Detroit Lions football player who became an actor in projects like "Blazing Saddles" and "Webster", is reportedly near the end of his life after experiencing kidney failure. He has been released from a California hospital to spend time at home with his family.
"He may be dying of kidney failure because now his body is catching up to the deterioration of his mind," Craig Mitnick, the attorney Karras hired in his current lawsuit against the NFL, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Lions president Tom Lewand also released a statement, saying, "The entire Detroit Lions family is deeply saddened to learn of the news regarding the condition of one of our all-time greats, Alex Karras. Perhaps no player in Lions history attained as much success and notoriety for what he did after his playing days as did Alex."
The 77-year-old is currently at his home in...
"He may be dying of kidney failure because now his body is catching up to the deterioration of his mind," Craig Mitnick, the attorney Karras hired in his current lawsuit against the NFL, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Lions president Tom Lewand also released a statement, saying, "The entire Detroit Lions family is deeply saddened to learn of the news regarding the condition of one of our all-time greats, Alex Karras. Perhaps no player in Lions history attained as much success and notoriety for what he did after his playing days as did Alex."
The 77-year-old is currently at his home in...
- 10/10/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
The Apple Dumpling Gang
Directed by Norman Tokar
Written by Don Tait
Starring Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Bill Bixby, Susan Clark
Oh, my stupid memory. While I hadn’t exactly built up, in my mind, The Apple Dumpling Gang as a true live-action classic from Walt Disney Pictures, I clearly fooled myself. As I mentioned on the show, I have vague memories of watching this film and its sequel, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. The more I ponder those memories, the more I realize that I don’t remember the movies themselves so much as the experience of having watched them, renting them on VHS from my local library. I had a glimmer of watching Don Knotts and Tim Conway play bumbling thieves in the Old West…and that’s it. I had hopes for watching the 1975 film, which is apparently Disney’s most successful live-action film of the 1970s (not too shabby,...
Directed by Norman Tokar
Written by Don Tait
Starring Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Bill Bixby, Susan Clark
Oh, my stupid memory. While I hadn’t exactly built up, in my mind, The Apple Dumpling Gang as a true live-action classic from Walt Disney Pictures, I clearly fooled myself. As I mentioned on the show, I have vague memories of watching this film and its sequel, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again. The more I ponder those memories, the more I realize that I don’t remember the movies themselves so much as the experience of having watched them, renting them on VHS from my local library. I had a glimmer of watching Don Knotts and Tim Conway play bumbling thieves in the Old West…and that’s it. I had hopes for watching the 1975 film, which is apparently Disney’s most successful live-action film of the 1970s (not too shabby,...
- 9/29/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Writer Blake Masters continued to work on the action comedy 2 Guns with Vince Vaughn set to star and the thriller Slipping Into Darkness but he kept extra busy joining the remake of the sci-fi thriller Colossus. According to Variety, Masters joined the remake of the 1970 movie about Russian and American forces racing to stop their respective super computers from starting a nuclear missile attack. Brian Grazer signed on to produce Colossus along with his Imagine Entertainment colleagues Erica Huggins and David J. Collins. Masters came aboard to tweak the original draft by Jason Rothenberg and work at updating the original film, Colossus: The Forbin Project, truly a Cold War-era thriller starring Susan Clark, Eric Braeden, and Mrs. Cunningham of Happy Days herself, Marion Ross.
- 7/18/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Writer Blake Masters continued to work on the action comedy 2 Guns with Vince Vaughn set to star and the thriller Slipping Into Darkness but he kept extra busy joining the remake of the sci-fi thriller Colossus. According to Variety, Masters joined the remake of the 1970 movie about Russian and American forces racing to stop their respective super computers from starting a nuclear missile attack. Brian Grazer signed on to produce Colossus along with his Imagine Entertainment colleagues Erica Huggins and David J. Collins. Masters came aboard to tweak the original draft by Jason Rothenberg and work at updating the original film, Colossus: The Forbin Project, truly a Cold War-era thriller starring Susan Clark, Eric Braeden, and Mrs. Cunningham of Happy Days herself, Marion Ross.
- 7/18/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Writer Blake Masters continued to work on the action comedy 2 Guns with Vince Vaughn set to star and the thriller Slipping Into Darkness but he kept extra busy joining the remake of the sci-fi thriller Colossus. According to Variety, Masters joined the remake of the 1970 movie about Russian and American forces racing to stop their respective super computers from starting a nuclear missile attack. Brian Grazer signed on to produce Colossus along with his Imagine Entertainment colleagues Erica Huggins and David J. Collins. Masters came aboard to tweak the original draft by Jason Rothenberg and work at updating the original film, Colossus: The Forbin Project, truly a Cold War-era thriller starring Susan Clark, Eric Braeden, and Mrs. Cunningham of Happy Days herself, Marion Ross.
- 7/18/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Like most members of Generation Y, ever since the Playstation Network went down I've been drifting aimlessly through my weekends. I finished the phenomenal Portal 2 (2011) just as the Psn closed down; leaving what I am told is a stellar co-op experience impossible. Yet, while my video game habit has suffered from this hacker induced technological and ludic disaster, another habit has been given some much needed breeze in its sails: movie watching. I'll be the first to admit that sometimes the last thing I want to do with my free time is watch movies. I tend to spend the bulk of my time doing it and, like any habit pushed to the highest levels of involvement, it can be draining. So I fasted, cinematically, for a few days and ended up purging myself on a glut of Errol Morris documentaries and a neo-noir that had evaded my noir cinephilia: Arthur Penn...
- 5/4/2011
- by Drew Morton
In 1978, NBC scored a surprise hit with Diff’rent Strokes, a family sitcom about a wealthy white man who adopts his black maid’s sons after she dies. The show mixed corny punchlines with issue-driven stories, and featured a breakout star in Gary Coleman, a cute little kid with a medical condition that stunted his growth. Five years later, ABC debuted Webster, a sitcom with two white parents and the even cuter, littler Emmanuel Lewis. The show was originally developed as Another Ballgame, with ex-nfl star Alex Karras and his real-life wife Susan Clark playing odd-couple newlyweds: he a ...
- 1/26/2011
- avclub.com
A few weeks ago, the release date of the two first seasons of Emily of New Moon was revealed. The first season will be released next week on April 20, and the second season on May 18. Moreover, Alliance Home Entertainment, a Canadian distributor, also announced that the third season of this drama will come out on June 22.
Obviously, the TV series is an adaptation of a novel written by Lucy Maud Montgomery who is best known for Anne of Green Gables, a classic of Canadian literature.
As in Anne of Green Gables, the novel/TV series Emily of New Moon takes place in Prince Edward Island, an Atlantic province of Canada, at a time when the world was making a transition between the 19th and 20th centuries. The story is centred on Emily Starr (Martha MacIsaac), an ophan who has been living in the town of New Moon with her rigid...
Obviously, the TV series is an adaptation of a novel written by Lucy Maud Montgomery who is best known for Anne of Green Gables, a classic of Canadian literature.
As in Anne of Green Gables, the novel/TV series Emily of New Moon takes place in Prince Edward Island, an Atlantic province of Canada, at a time when the world was making a transition between the 19th and 20th centuries. The story is centred on Emily Starr (Martha MacIsaac), an ophan who has been living in the town of New Moon with her rigid...
- 4/14/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
According to the folks at TVshowsondvd.com, Emily of New Moon, a TV series that was aired on CBC from 1998 to 2000, will come on DVD. While the first season will hit the shelves on April 20, the second season will have its turn on May 18.
Obviously, the TV series is an adaptation of a novel written by Lucy Maud Montgomery who is best known for Anne of Green Gables, a classic of Canadian literature.
As in Anne of Green Gables, the novel/TV series Emily of New Moon takes place in Prince Edward Island, an Atlantic province of Canada, at a time when the world was making a transition between the 19th and 20th centuries. The story is centred on Emily Starr (Martha MacIsaac), an ophan who has been living in the town of New Moon with her rigid aunt Elizabeth (Susan Clark), her timid aunt Laura (Sheila McCarthy) and her cousin Jimmy (Stephen McHattie). Besides,...
Obviously, the TV series is an adaptation of a novel written by Lucy Maud Montgomery who is best known for Anne of Green Gables, a classic of Canadian literature.
As in Anne of Green Gables, the novel/TV series Emily of New Moon takes place in Prince Edward Island, an Atlantic province of Canada, at a time when the world was making a transition between the 19th and 20th centuries. The story is centred on Emily Starr (Martha MacIsaac), an ophan who has been living in the town of New Moon with her rigid aunt Elizabeth (Susan Clark), her timid aunt Laura (Sheila McCarthy) and her cousin Jimmy (Stephen McHattie). Besides,...
- 3/20/2010
- by anhkhoido@hotmail.com (Anh Khoi Do)
- The Cultural Post
Its beginning to smell a lot like Christmas but its not too late to get some great DVD’s for the movie lovers on your list. To help you decide just what to get, here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time.
Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as The Hangover, The Goods, Star Trek: the Original Series and the Blu-ray debut of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (shown above with Brad Pitt and Eli Roth).
Check them out:
Movies
Cake Boss ~ Buddy Valastro, Joey Faugno, Mary Sciarrone (DVD)
G-Force (Single Disc Widescreen) ~ Nicolas Cage, Jon Favreau (DVD and Blu-ray)
The Goods: Live Hard,...
Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies and TV shows such as The Hangover, The Goods, Star Trek: the Original Series and the Blu-ray debut of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (shown above with Brad Pitt and Eli Roth).
Check them out:
Movies
Cake Boss ~ Buddy Valastro, Joey Faugno, Mary Sciarrone (DVD)
G-Force (Single Disc Widescreen) ~ Nicolas Cage, Jon Favreau (DVD and Blu-ray)
The Goods: Live Hard,...
- 12/15/2009
- by Joe Gillis
- The Flickcast
You can definitely tell DVD companies are counting on everyone to have already bought all the videos they plan to give out this holiday season -- with the highlight of this week's releases being C Me Dance, I think you can see where this is going.
Actually, there are a couple of diamonds in the rough such as a two batches of Sherlock Holmes flicks (yeah, we know they're not full-on horror, but they're still loads of fun) with such masters as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee along with Murder by Decree from 1979 starring Christopher Plummer, James Mason, David Hemmings, and Susan Clark. We've also got a trio of one-namers like Fallen, Throttle, and Trunk. But without a doubt the pick of the week is Santa Claus Conquers the Martians from Cinema Insomnia's Slime Line.
Happy shopping!
- Debi Moore
Visit The Evilshop @ Amazon!
Got news? Click here to submit it!
Actually, there are a couple of diamonds in the rough such as a two batches of Sherlock Holmes flicks (yeah, we know they're not full-on horror, but they're still loads of fun) with such masters as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee along with Murder by Decree from 1979 starring Christopher Plummer, James Mason, David Hemmings, and Susan Clark. We've also got a trio of one-namers like Fallen, Throttle, and Trunk. But without a doubt the pick of the week is Santa Claus Conquers the Martians from Cinema Insomnia's Slime Line.
Happy shopping!
- Debi Moore
Visit The Evilshop @ Amazon!
Got news? Click here to submit it!
- 12/14/2009
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
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