Red Carpet International

Friday, November 25, 2016

Florence Henderson: Brady Bunch matriarch dies at 82

Florence Henderson: Brady Bunch matriarch dies at 82

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-38102188

Florence Henderson, known to millions for her role as matriarch Carol Brady in The Brady Bunch, has died aged 82.

According to her representatives, she died on Thursday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, a day after being admitted to hospital.

First shown in 1969, The Brady Bunch told of single parents with children who marry to form a "blended" family.

Born in 1934 in southern Indiana, the actress began her career in theatre before turning to television.

She made her first stage appearance in New York at 19 - a one-line role in a play called Wish You Were Here.

She went on to land the female lead in a tour of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma!, which eventually took her to Broadway in 1954.

She subsequently played Maria in The Sound of Music and Nellie Forbush in South Pacific.

But her career nearly ended in 1965 when she suddenly lost her hearing while appearing in The King and I in Los Angeles.

She was diagnosed with a hereditary condition called osteosclerosis and had corrective surgery in both ears.

The Brady Bunch, which initially ran until 1974, brought her and her co-stars international fame.

"We had to have security guards with us," she later recalled. "We couldn't go out by ourselves. We were like the Beatles!"

The show went on to return in various forms, among them a 1995 film in which she played the mother of her former character.

"It's such a gentle, innocent, sweet show, and I guess it proved there's always an audience for that," the actress said in 1999.

Oscar-winning actresses Marlee Matlin and Patricia Arquette are among those who have marked her passing on Twitter.

Pop star Boy George has also paid tribute, saying he "grew up with the Brady Bunch", while talk show host Larry King described her as "America's mom".

Maureen McCormick, who played Brady's oldest daughter Marcia in the hit TV series, said she had been "a dear friend for so very many years".

Henderson was a contestant on Dancing in the Stars in 2010 and appeared on the show days before her death in support of McCormick, a contestant in the most recent series.

The actress made numerous TV appearances outside of The Brady Bunch and was the first female guest host of The Tonight Show.

She also made cameo appearances in such comedy films as Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star and Fifty Shades of Black.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Jackie Chan is honored with a Lifetime Achievement Oscar at the Governor's Ball

After 56 years, 200 films and innumerable injuries, Jackie Chan wins an Oscar

Courtesy of https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/nov/14/jackie-chan-wins-honorary-oscar-at-governors-awards

The Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan had star billing at the Governors awards on Saturday night, in which the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences handed out four honorary Oscars.

Introducing Chan, Tom Hanks acknowledged that the blend of slapstick comedy and martial arts virtuosity for which the star became famous was “historically underrepresented at the Oscars”.

“Standing here is a dream,” said Chan at the podium. “After 56 years in the film industry, making more than 200 films, breaking so many bones, finally this is mine.”

The actor, 62, said winning the award marked the fulfilment of an ambition he’d conceived 23 years ago when touching one of the statuettes at Sylvester Stallone’s house. Stallone was in attendance at the event, alongside Denzel Washington, Lupita Nyong’o, Nicole Kidman, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Judd Apatow, Helen Mirren and Amy Adams.

Other honorees included documentary maker Frederick Wiseman, 86, for his work including Titicut Follies, High School, Public Housing and La Danse. “I think it’s as important to document kindness, civility and generosity of spirit as it is to show cruelty, banality and indifference,” said Wiseman in his speech.

Speaking to the LA Times after the event, Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney said Wiseman’s observational accounts of everyday people were ever more important. “[His work] is really a revelation, and, even after Trump’s election, it gives you a tremendous sense of hope,” said Gibney. “Because you see this kind of willingness on a local level to get together and solve some problems.”

Editor Anne V Coates, 90, and casting director Lynn Stalmaster, 88, also picked up awards; the latter, who worked on West Side Story, The Graduate, Harold and Maude and Tootsie, among others, was introduced by actor Jeff Bridges as “the master caster”. Meanwhile, the British-born Coates, 90, whose work includes Lawrence of Arabia, The Elephant Man and Out of Sight, said she had enjoyed a career that involved staring into the eyes of leading men.

Last year’s awards – honouring Spike Lee, Debbie Reynolds and Gena Rowlands – were dominated by talk of diversity, ahead of the resurgence of the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. This year, Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs flagged the changes that had been made over the summer to try to address what some see as an overly white and male make-up of the membership.

“We’re not at the mountaintop yet, but we can see the peak up ahead,” she said. “Imagine the difference it will make when we open our industry to reflect the complete mosaic and diversity of our world and the movements and conversations it can trigger.”