Even if you don’t immediately recognize the name Frances Sternhagen, there’s still a good chance that you’ve seen her acting in something at some point over the decades. Sternhagen has stage and screen credits going back decades, and over that time she racked up Emmy nominations and Tony wins. Sadly, it’s being reported today that she passed away of natural causes this past Monday, at the age of 93.
Sternhagen earned her first screen credit on the TV show Producers’ Showcase in 1955, and went on to work on 75 other projects, including the Burt Reynolds comedy Starting Over, the Sean Connery sci-fi classic Outland, Independence Day – the 1983 drama, not the alien invasion movie; Dudley Moore’s Romantic Comedy, the John Lithgow / Morgan Freeman drama Resting Place, the Michael J. Fox drama Bright Lights, Big City and the Michael J. Fox comedy Doc Hollywood, Tales from the Crypt, The Outer Limits,...
Sternhagen earned her first screen credit on the TV show Producers’ Showcase in 1955, and went on to work on 75 other projects, including the Burt Reynolds comedy Starting Over, the Sean Connery sci-fi classic Outland, Independence Day – the 1983 drama, not the alien invasion movie; Dudley Moore’s Romantic Comedy, the John Lithgow / Morgan Freeman drama Resting Place, the Michael J. Fox drama Bright Lights, Big City and the Michael J. Fox comedy Doc Hollywood, Tales from the Crypt, The Outer Limits,...
- 11/29/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Frances Sternhagen, a Tony-winning actress with many decades on the stage and screen, died Monday of natural causes in New Rochelle, N.Y.
She was known for her recurring role as the regal grandmother of Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) on “ER” and as Cliff’s mother on “Cheers,” for which she was twice nominated for Emmys.
“Frannie, as she was known to her family, friends, and colleagues was a hardworking, award-winning, beloved and celebrated actress for over 60 years. Her foundation was the theater, but she was known for roles in film, television, and spoken arts. She was versatile – adept at comedy as well as drama, character roles and leading ladies,” her family said in a statement.
Sternhagen made a distinct impression in her role as the doctor who helps Sean Connery’s cop in Peter Hyams’ 1981 sci-film “Outland” and in “Misery,” she played the sheriff’s wife Virginia, who was...
She was known for her recurring role as the regal grandmother of Dr. Carter (Noah Wyle) on “ER” and as Cliff’s mother on “Cheers,” for which she was twice nominated for Emmys.
“Frannie, as she was known to her family, friends, and colleagues was a hardworking, award-winning, beloved and celebrated actress for over 60 years. Her foundation was the theater, but she was known for roles in film, television, and spoken arts. She was versatile – adept at comedy as well as drama, character roles and leading ladies,” her family said in a statement.
Sternhagen made a distinct impression in her role as the doctor who helps Sean Connery’s cop in Peter Hyams’ 1981 sci-film “Outland” and in “Misery,” she played the sheriff’s wife Virginia, who was...
- 11/29/2023
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
André Bishop will conclude his 33-year leadership tenure at Lincoln Center Theater in June 2025 at the conclusion of the non-profit theater company’s 40th anniversary 2024-25 season.
Bishop, whose celebrated tenure as Lct’s Artistic Director and more recently Producing Artistic Director included the premieres of such acclaimed new works as Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia and Arcadia, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig, and The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel, to name a very few, announced his intended departure today.
“My years at Lincoln Center Theater have been happy ones,” he said in a statement, “and I will miss working with all my friends and colleagues. But the time has come, as it inevitably does, for the next generation to step in and step up. I look forward to that. Lct has...
Bishop, whose celebrated tenure as Lct’s Artistic Director and more recently Producing Artistic Director included the premieres of such acclaimed new works as Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia and Arcadia, Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Wendy Wasserstein’s The Sisters Rosensweig, and The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel, to name a very few, announced his intended departure today.
“My years at Lincoln Center Theater have been happy ones,” he said in a statement, “and I will miss working with all my friends and colleagues. But the time has come, as it inevitably does, for the next generation to step in and step up. I look forward to that. Lct has...
- 9/22/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Warner Bros. has already celebrated its centennial with a segment during the Academy Awards, the publication of a studio-supported book (Warner Bros.: 100 Years of Storytelling) and, most recently, a barrage of festivities emanating from Turner Classic Movies. TCM’s programming for all of April is being devoted to Warners films, and at the 14th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, running April 13-16, many studio masterpieces, some recently restored and remastered, will be shown on big screens around town. Here are 10 that this THR Hollywood history buff highly recommends.
Footlight Parade (1933)
Ninety years ago, during the depths of the Great Depression, Americans sought escape from their troubles with light movies like this backstage musical. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and highlighted by some of choreographer Busby Berkeley’s most kaleidoscopic dance numbers, it was a giant hit at the box office.
Footlight Parade (1933)
Ninety years ago, during the depths of the Great Depression, Americans sought escape from their troubles with light movies like this backstage musical. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, starring James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and highlighted by some of choreographer Busby Berkeley’s most kaleidoscopic dance numbers, it was a giant hit at the box office.
- 4/12/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
James Douglass West, who worked as a child actor alongside Roddy McDowall and Natalie Wood and spent a decade as a writer on Lassie, has died. He was 93.
West died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Studio City, his son, Daniel West, told The Hollywood Reporter.
For the big screen, West penned the original screenplay for the musical Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959), starring married couple Keely Smith and Louis Prima, and wrote California (1963), a Western starring Jock Mahoney.
West served for about a year as a story editor for writer-producer Charles Marquis Warren on NBC’s The Virginian, then joined the writing staff of CBS’ Lassie in 1963.
He was on the job during the 1964-65 season when the collie’s family (played by June Lockhart, Hugh Reilly and Jon Provost) move to Australia and Lassie gets paired with a Forest Service Ranger portrayed by Robert Bray.
Campbell Soup,...
West died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Studio City, his son, Daniel West, told The Hollywood Reporter.
For the big screen, West penned the original screenplay for the musical Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959), starring married couple Keely Smith and Louis Prima, and wrote California (1963), a Western starring Jock Mahoney.
West served for about a year as a story editor for writer-producer Charles Marquis Warren on NBC’s The Virginian, then joined the writing staff of CBS’ Lassie in 1963.
He was on the job during the 1964-65 season when the collie’s family (played by June Lockhart, Hugh Reilly and Jon Provost) move to Australia and Lassie gets paired with a Forest Service Ranger portrayed by Robert Bray.
Campbell Soup,...
- 3/8/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Miiko Taka, who made her film debut with a starring turn opposite Marlon Brando in Sayonara, the 1957 Korean War-set drama about “defiant desire,” has died. She was 97.
News of her death was posted Jan. 4 on social media by a grandson. Details of her death were not available, with her son informing The Hollywood Reporter through a spokesperson that his family did not want to participate in an obituary.
Taka also appeared with Glenn Ford and her Sayonara co-star Miyoshi Umeki in the war comedy Cry for Happy (1961), alongside Bob Hope in A Global Affair (1963), opposite James Garner (another Sayonara actor) in Norman Jewison’s The Art of Love (1965) and with Cary Grant in his last film, Walk Don’t Run (1966), set during the Tokyo Olympics.
Directed by Joshua Logan and adapted by Paul Osborn from a 1954 novel by James Michener, Sayonara featured Brando as U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Lloyd...
News of her death was posted Jan. 4 on social media by a grandson. Details of her death were not available, with her son informing The Hollywood Reporter through a spokesperson that his family did not want to participate in an obituary.
Taka also appeared with Glenn Ford and her Sayonara co-star Miyoshi Umeki in the war comedy Cry for Happy (1961), alongside Bob Hope in A Global Affair (1963), opposite James Garner (another Sayonara actor) in Norman Jewison’s The Art of Love (1965) and with Cary Grant in his last film, Walk Don’t Run (1966), set during the Tokyo Olympics.
Directed by Joshua Logan and adapted by Paul Osborn from a 1954 novel by James Michener, Sayonara featured Brando as U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Lloyd...
- 1/14/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Netflix is developing a miniseries based on John Steinbeck’s massive 700-page novel “East of Eden,” as reported on Tuesday. Florence Pugh is the first cast member announced, though it is unclear who she’ll be playing. (Will a modern spin change the story—a California tale loosely based on the Biblical trope of Cain and Abel—into the story of two sisters? Crazier things have happened!)
The most exciting news, however, is how this production is “keeping it in the family,” so to speak. Zoe Kazan has been announced as writer and executive producer. Her grandfather, the legendary Elia Kazan, directed the 1955 adaptation starring James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris, Burl Ives, and Jo Van Fleet, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Kazan was nominated for Best Director, Paul Osborn was nominated for Best Screenplay, and Dean was nominated for Best Actor, posthumously.
Zoe Kazan’s last...
The most exciting news, however, is how this production is “keeping it in the family,” so to speak. Zoe Kazan has been announced as writer and executive producer. Her grandfather, the legendary Elia Kazan, directed the 1955 adaptation starring James Dean, Raymond Massey, Julie Harris, Burl Ives, and Jo Van Fleet, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Kazan was nominated for Best Director, Paul Osborn was nominated for Best Screenplay, and Dean was nominated for Best Actor, posthumously.
Zoe Kazan’s last...
- 6/22/2022
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
Back when interracial marriage was a shady topic (are those dark days coming back?) the U.S. military had some adjustment issues. Full integration of the ranks didn’t remove the anti- Japanese bigotry. James Michener’s novel has been transformed into a big-scale romance, with Marlon Brando coming to terms with a split in loyalty between the flag and his private life. The big shock is that the Paul Osborn’s screenplay doesn’t let the military off easy.
Sayonara
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 147 min. / Street Date November 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Marlon Brando, Patricia Owens, James Garner, Martha Scott, Miiko Taka, Miyoshi Umeki, Red Buttons, Kent Smith.
Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks
Film Editors: Philip W. Anderson, Arthur P. Schmidt
Production Design: Ted Haworth
Original Music: Irving Berlin, Franz Waxman
Written by Paul Osborn from the novel by James Michener
Produced by William Goetz...
Sayonara
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1957 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 147 min. / Street Date November 14, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Marlon Brando, Patricia Owens, James Garner, Martha Scott, Miiko Taka, Miyoshi Umeki, Red Buttons, Kent Smith.
Cinematography: Ellsworth Fredericks
Film Editors: Philip W. Anderson, Arthur P. Schmidt
Production Design: Ted Haworth
Original Music: Irving Berlin, Franz Waxman
Written by Paul Osborn from the novel by James Michener
Produced by William Goetz...
- 11/21/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
David O. Selznick’s marvelous romantic fantasy ode to Jennifer Jones was almost wholly unappreciated back in 1948. It’s one of those peculiar pictures that either melts one’s heart or doesn’t. Backed by a music score adapted from Debussy, just one breathy “Oh Eben . . . “ will turn average romantics into mush.
Portrait of Jennie
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W w/ Color Insert / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date October 24, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Cecil Kellaway, David Wayne, Albert Sharpe.
Cinematography: Joseph H. August
Production Designers: J. MacMillan Johnson, Joseph B. Platt
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin, also adapting themes from Claude Debussy; Bernard Herrmann
Written by Leonardo Bercovici, Peter Berneis, Paul Osborn, from the novella by Robert Nathan
Produced by David O. Selznick
Directed by William Dieterle
Once upon a time David O. Selznick’s Portrait of Jennie was an...
Portrait of Jennie
Blu-ray
Kl Studio Classics
1948 / B&W w/ Color Insert / 1:37 flat Academy / 86 min. / Street Date October 24, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, Cecil Kellaway, David Wayne, Albert Sharpe.
Cinematography: Joseph H. August
Production Designers: J. MacMillan Johnson, Joseph B. Platt
Original Music: Dimitri Tiomkin, also adapting themes from Claude Debussy; Bernard Herrmann
Written by Leonardo Bercovici, Peter Berneis, Paul Osborn, from the novella by Robert Nathan
Produced by David O. Selznick
Directed by William Dieterle
Once upon a time David O. Selznick’s Portrait of Jennie was an...
- 10/10/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Teresa Wright and Matt Damon in 'The Rainmaker' Teresa Wright: From Marlon Brando to Matt Damon (See preceding post: "Teresa Wright vs. Samuel Goldwyn: Nasty Falling Out.") "I'd rather have luck than brains!" Teresa Wright was quoted as saying in the early 1950s. That's understandable, considering her post-Samuel Goldwyn choice of movie roles, some of which may have seemed promising on paper.[1] Wright was Marlon Brando's first Hollywood leading lady, but that didn't help her to bounce back following the very public spat with her former boss. After all, The Men was released before Elia Kazan's film version of A Streetcar Named Desire turned Brando into a major international star. Chances are that good film offers were scarce. After Wright's brief 1950 comeback, for the third time in less than a decade she would be gone from the big screen for more than a year.
- 3/11/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, launches its 2013-2014 Season with Paul Osborn's On Borrowed Time, directed by Tony and Academy Award-winner Joel Grey. Performances will begin in Two River's Rechnitz Theater 21 Bridge Avenue today, September 14 and continue through Sunday, October 13. The opening night performance is Friday, September 20 at 800 p.m.
- 9/14/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Two River Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director John Dias and Managing Director Michael Hurst, launches its 2013-2014 Season with Paul Osborn's On Borrowed Time, directed by Tony and Academy Award-winner Joel Grey. Performances will begin in Two River's Rechnitz Theater 21 Bridge Avenue on Saturday, September 14 and continue through Sunday, October 13. The opening night performance is Friday, September 20 at 800 p.m..
- 9/4/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Chicago – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film with our unique social giveaway technology, we have 25 pairs of classic movie passes up for grabs to see 1958’s “South Pacific” with Mitzi Gaynor in person! For one night only, Mitzi Gaynor will be joined by film historian and author Leonard Maltin.
“South Pacific” comes to Chicago for one night only as part of Turner Classic Movies’ “Road to Hollywood” tour. The film also stars Rossano Brazzi, John Kerr, Ray Walston, Juanita Hall, France Nuyen, Russ Brown, Jack Mullaney, Ken Clark, Floyd Simmons, Candace Lee and Warren Hsieh from director Joshua Logan and writers Paul Osborn and Richard Rodgers.
To win your free “South Pacific” passes courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our unique Hookup technology below. That’s it! This special showing is on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Music Box Theatre in Chicago. The more social actions you complete,...
“South Pacific” comes to Chicago for one night only as part of Turner Classic Movies’ “Road to Hollywood” tour. The film also stars Rossano Brazzi, John Kerr, Ray Walston, Juanita Hall, France Nuyen, Russ Brown, Jack Mullaney, Ken Clark, Floyd Simmons, Candace Lee and Warren Hsieh from director Joshua Logan and writers Paul Osborn and Richard Rodgers.
To win your free “South Pacific” passes courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our unique Hookup technology below. That’s it! This special showing is on Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Music Box Theatre in Chicago. The more social actions you complete,...
- 3/16/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
hollywoodnews.com: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “Monday Nights with Oscar®” series will kick off 2011 with a screening of “Wild River” (1960), starring Montgomery Clift, on Monday, January 24, at 7 p.m. at the newly renovated Academy Theater at Lighthouse International in New York City. Two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jay Cocks (“The Age of Innocence,” “Gangs of New York”) will introduce the film.
In this intense drama set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, Montgomery Clift plays Chuck Glover, a field agent for the Tennessee Valley Authority who must convince an elderly woman (Jo Van Fleet) to give up her property for a project, while he becomes romantically involved with her widowed granddaughter, Carol Baldwin (Lee Remick).
“Wild River” was directed and produced by Elia Kazan, from a screenplay by Paul Osborn based on novels by William Bradford Huie and Borden Deal. The film was restored by the Academy...
In this intense drama set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, Montgomery Clift plays Chuck Glover, a field agent for the Tennessee Valley Authority who must convince an elderly woman (Jo Van Fleet) to give up her property for a project, while he becomes romantically involved with her widowed granddaughter, Carol Baldwin (Lee Remick).
“Wild River” was directed and produced by Elia Kazan, from a screenplay by Paul Osborn based on novels by William Bradford Huie and Borden Deal. The film was restored by the Academy...
- 1/13/2011
- by HollywoodNews.com
- Hollywoodnews.com
Child actor who played Boy, the foundling son of Tarzan and Jane, in eight Hollywood films
After three hit Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller in the title role and Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane, MGM decided to give a son to the apeman and his mate in Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939). However, he had to be a foundling because, according to the Legion of Decency, the scantily clad jungle couple were not married, and presumably never had sex. "Boy", as he was named, was played by Johnny Sheffield, who has died aged 79 of a heart attack at his California home after falling off a ladder while pruning a tree.
In the Tarzan films, the fact that the orphaned offspring of a British couple killed in a plane crash in the jungle had an American accent was never explained. Neither Tarzan, whose dialogue was limited to grunts and monosyllables, nor Boy bore...
After three hit Tarzan movies starring Johnny Weissmuller in the title role and Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane, MGM decided to give a son to the apeman and his mate in Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939). However, he had to be a foundling because, according to the Legion of Decency, the scantily clad jungle couple were not married, and presumably never had sex. "Boy", as he was named, was played by Johnny Sheffield, who has died aged 79 of a heart attack at his California home after falling off a ladder while pruning a tree.
In the Tarzan films, the fact that the orphaned offspring of a British couple killed in a plane crash in the jungle had an American accent was never explained. Neither Tarzan, whose dialogue was limited to grunts and monosyllables, nor Boy bore...
- 10/27/2010
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0 Chicago – Twentieth Century Fox has pulled out all the stops for the 50th anniversary of one of the most beloved movie musicals of all time, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s classic “South Pacific”. With an entire supplemental disc of not just special features but an extended version of the film and one of the most pristine video transfers that Fox has yet produced, “South Pacific” is one of the best musical HD releases to date.
Having been a theatre student and lover of movie musicals from a young age, I’ve seen “South Pacific” several times, even if it’s never been what I would consider the cream of the crop when it comes to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s work. And yet, and this is the sign of a truly great Blu-Ray release, the film felt knew to me in HD. And despite the film’s overall flaws, the Blu-Ray release of it is absolutely flawless.
Having been a theatre student and lover of movie musicals from a young age, I’ve seen “South Pacific” several times, even if it’s never been what I would consider the cream of the crop when it comes to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s work. And yet, and this is the sign of a truly great Blu-Ray release, the film felt knew to me in HD. And despite the film’s overall flaws, the Blu-Ray release of it is absolutely flawless.
- 4/2/2009
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
This week we have the second installment of the weekly Production Update as I bring you all the latest films and casting announcements out of the trade papers as well as a couple of websites around the Net. I am previewing 22 film titles this week and a few of them are already in the database and linked where that is the case. One story, however, I am held from posting until today comes from Variety in which Anne Thompson does a little Twilight franchise rumor passing as she gives the following update on the potential directors for the third film in the franchise, Eclipse: Don't believe everything you hear about Twilight and its sequels. Things are heating up already on the third installment, Eclipse. They haven't even started the second one yet, New Moon. When you've got a robust franchise, filmmakers are eager to get on board. Word is,...
- 1/16/2009
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.