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The 1976 action series "Charlie's Angels" was a massive success for a very simple reason: the lead actresses were dazzling. Yes, the premise was fun, but most of the show's fans will sooner talk about how the original Angels -- Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, and Farrah Fawcett -- were objects of their crushes. The makers of "Charlie's Angels" seemingly spent just as much time filming the Angels running in slow-motion as they did setting up plots or working on character development. 

The series followed three recent graduates of the LAPD's police academy who, despite their excellent fighting and crime-stopping skills, are given menial, sexist jobs that do not challenge them. Instead, they pursue a job with a secretive private investigation company, run by a wealthy, off-screen benefactor named Charlie Townsend (John Forsythe). He gives them assignments in secret (Charlie has a lot of enemies) and nicknames them his "Angels." 

The series progressed for five seasons,...

Sally Field's 1996 psychological thriller has become a global Netflix hit nearly three decades after its release. Field is a highly decorated actress whose career has spanned over six decades, starting during the 1960s with the sitcoms Gidget and The Flying Nun before transitioning to acclaimed dramatic roles. Field won her first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1980 for Norma Rae, her second for Places in the Heart in 1985, and earned an additional nomination for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln in 2013.

Though she's best known for starring in acclaimed dramas, Field has shown some versatility and also ventured into darker territory with roles in thrillers. This includes suspenseful projects such as Sydney Pollack's Absence of Malice in 1981, in which she played a journalist entangled in an ethical dilemma. At the height of the genre's popularity in 1996, Field starred in the psychological thriller, Eye for an Eye, delivering a gripping performance...

Geoffrey Deuel, a popular television and film actor of the 1960s and '70s, has passed away at 81. Perhaps most well known for his beloved portrayal of Billy the Kid opposite John Wayne in Chisum or his time on the long-running soap opera The Young and The Restless, Deuel was also the younger brother of another actor, Peter Duel, who died tragically from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1971.

The news was confirmed via The Hollywood Reporter, and also conveyed in a Facebook post on Deuel's account in a statement made by his wife, Jacqueline. "At midnight last night Geoffrey passed away and is with Peter," she wrote. "God took my 'knight in shining armor' gently." According to THR's reporting, Deuel died on Sunday, December 22, while in hospice care in Largo, Florida after enduring a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Who Were Geoffrey Deuel and Peter Deul?

Born on January 17, 1943, in New York,...

Veteran actor Geoffrey Deuel, best known for playing Dave Campbell in the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, has died. He was 81. According to an obituary on EverLoved.com, Geoffrey passed away on Sunday, December 22, 2024. His wife, Jacqueline Deuel, later confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter, revealing he died in hospice care in Largo, Florida, after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Born on January 17, 1943, Geoffrey was the younger brother of the late actor Peter Deuel, who was known for portraying Hannibal Heyes (aka Joshua Smith) on the popular ABC Western series Alias Smith and Jones. Geoffrey debuted on-screen in the military TV drama Twelve O’Clock High in 1966. He continued to appear on TV in small roles throughout the late 1960s, including spots on Occasional Wife, The Monkees, The Invaders, Bonanza, The Flying Nun, The F.B.I., Mod Squad, and Mannix. One of Geoffrey’s most memorable...

Geoffrey Deuel, the younger brother of tragic Alias Smith and Jones actor Peter Duel who portrayed the famed outlaw Billy the Kid in the John Wayne-starring Chisum, has died. He was 81.

Deuel died Sunday in hospice care in Largo, Florida, after a battle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife, Jacqueline Deuel, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The square-jawed Deuel appeared on many TV shows from the mid-1960s through the mid-’70s, showing up on The Monkees, The Invaders, The FBI, The Flying Nun, Medical Center, Mannix, Adam-12, The Mod Squad, Mission: Impossible, The Streets of San Francisco, Ironside, Cannon and The Young and the Restless, among others.

In his film debut, Deuel was “introduced” to moviegoers in the opening credits of Andrew V. McLaglen’s Chisum (1970), and a reviewer in The New York Times wrote that he “cut a personable swath” as a particularly vengeful Billy the Kid.

Toian Matchinga, who guest-starred three times on the 1960s CBS series The Wild Wild West and appeared on such other shows as Death Valley Days, I Dream of Jeannie and The Odd Couple, has died. She was 82.

Matchinga, who later in her acting career went by her birth name, Caryn Matchinga, died Sunday of natural causes at home in Belmont, Massachusetts, her family announced.

In films, Matchinga appeared for Don Siegel in Madigan (1968), for Irvin Kershner in Up the Sandbox (1972) and NBC’s Raid on Entebbe (1977) and, in her final onscreen role, for Costa-Gavras in Mad City (1997).

The Ohio native booked gigs on The Wild Wild West, which starred Robert Conrad and Ross Martin, in 1965, 1967 and 1969. Her résumé also includes episodes of The Wackiest Ship in the Army, The Rat Patrol, The Flying Nun, The Big Valley, Rango, Ellery Queen and Rich Man, Poor Man.

Caryn Lee Matchinga was born in Painesville,...

As she said when she collected her second Oscar for Best Actress, Sally Field hasn’t had an orthodox career. Plucked out of a drama class when she was barely out of high school Field was cast as the perky surfer girl Gidget for one season on TV. She then did three seasons in the preposterous series “The Flying Nun.” Not exactly the kind of work that would portend a serious new actress had arrived. In fact at the age of 24, Field found herself to be somewhat of an industry joke.

While many sitcom stars who fell into obscurity, Field managed to turn her career around. She began working with famed acting teacher Lee Strasberg and slowly things started to change for her. She found work in a series of well regarded TV movies and won an Emmy for the miniseries “Sybil” about a child abuse victim that developed 16 different...

Nobody Wants This, Netflix’s hit series about an interfaith relationship between Adam Brody’s rabbi and Kristen Bell’s podcast host, enjoyed a smooth path to a prompt season two renewal. The same can’t be said for CBS’ similarly themed sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie, which debuted 54 years ago.

Created by Bernard Slade (The Flying Nun), the series provided an early-career role for Meredith Baxter as Bridget, a wealthy Irish-Catholic teacher who weds Bernie (David Birney), a Jewish cab driver.

“I’d only been a working actor for a very short time, so I was thrilled to have a job,” Baxter, who would later play mom to Michael J. Fox on Family Ties, recalls to The Hollywood Reporter. “David had been a known stage actor for some years and had some feelings about working with such a newbie.”

The show premiered Sept. 16, 1972, in the coveted time slot between All in the Family...

Alan Hale, Jr. became a performer as part of his family's legacy. His mother was actress Gretchen Hartman who appeared in dozens of films in the 1910s, while his father, Alan Hale (real name: Rufus Edward MacKahan) racked up hundreds of credits in the silent era, typically as a reliable sidekick to Errol Flynn. Hartman retired from acting in 1929, and Hale, Sr. continued to work until his death in 1950. Alan Hale, Jr. first appeared on the screen as an infant, "starring" opposite his mother. Hale made his Broadway debut in 1931, when he was only 10, appearing in a very, very short-lived show called "Caught Wet" (it opened and closed in the same month). In 1933, Hale played uncredited role in William Wellman's Depression-era drama "Wild Boys of the Road," and it may be the first movie a casual observer would recognize him in. 

Staring in 1941, Hale began his acting career in earnest,...

Many of the most popular sitcoms of all time have mundane premises — a group of friends hang out in a coffee shop, brainy nerds share an apartment, office workers struggle with their incompetent boss. But sometimes, Hollywood creatives go out on a limb and pitch something a little wackier, and dumbass networks occasionally make those ideas into reality — a reality that’s usually pretty terrible.

Here are eight supremely dumb sitcom premises that should have been laughed right out of the pitch room…

1 Cavemen

I wish I could say this was the only television commercial turned into a network comedy on this list, but that would be a lie. It is, however, the only one that stars Nick Kroll as a Neanderthal struggling to make it in the suburbs. Relatable.

2 My Mother the Car

It would have been easy to populate this entire list with sitcoms of the 1950s and 1960s,...

Kim Kahana, the stunt performer, teacher, coordinator and war hero who played Chongo on the kids show Danger Island and doubled for Charles Bronson in several action films, has died. He was 94.

Kahana died Monday of natural causes at his home in Groveland, Florida, his wife, Sandy Kahana, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Kahana, 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds, taught stunts to many thousands of students since the mid-1970s in six-week courses that took place in Chatsworth, California, and Central Florida. Many went on to have thriving careers in show business.

He also had six different black belt degrees — he taught martial arts, too — and worked as a professional bodyguard protecting Hollywood types.

A native of Hawaii, Kahana appeared in his first film as a biker in the Marlon Brando-starring The Wild One (1953) and was an extra in other movies before he realized that stunt performers got paid more than he did.

Over the past decade, Zendaya has risen from Disney Channel TV star to Emmy-winning actress and star of blockbuster films like “Dune: Part II.” She is the latest in a handful of performers who shot to stardom on TV before becoming a movie superstar. Tour our gallery featuring the 25 best to make the leap from television to films.

Steve McQueen was one of the first people to become a household name from a TV series, with the hit “Wanted Dead or Alive” from 1958 to 1961, before becoming one of the most famous movie stars in the world. He was soon followed by Clint Eastwood and James Garner, who also made the leap from western/adventure series to big screen success.

SEEClint Eastwood movies: 20 greatest films ranked worst to best

In the decades since, some of our most beloved film stars got their starts on TV series, across all genres. Sally Field...

Over the past decade, Zendaya has risen from Disney Channel TV star to Emmy-winning actress and star of blockbuster films like “Dune: Part II.” She is the latest in a handful of performers who shot to stardom on TV before becoming a movie superstar. Tour our gallery featuring the 25 best to make the leap from television to films.

Steve McQueen was one of the first people to become a household name from a TV series, with the hit “Wanted Dead or Alive” from 1958 to 1961, before becoming one of the most famous movie stars in the world. He was soon followed by Clint Eastwood and James Garner, who also made the leap from western/adventure series to big screen success.

In the decades since, some of our most beloved film stars got their starts on TV series, across all genres. Sally Field from sitcoms “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun” and Jamie Foxx...

Bruce Kessler, a race car driver who became a TV director as well as a noted yacht designer, died April 4 in Marina Del Rey, Calif. after a brief illness. He was 88.

His brother Stephen confirmed his death.

Kessler started racing at the age of 17 and at 21, he crashed at night during thte 24 Hours of Le Mans, bailing out of the car before it burst into flames. He survived two more crashes before retiring from racing at 26 in 1962.

His first film, the Formula One short “The Sound of Speed,” represented the U.S. at the Cannes Film Festival. The technical expertise he brought to the film led to him being hired as technical advisor on racing and chase sequences for movies, and he served as second unit director for Howard Hawks on “Red Line 7000.”

With the help of Hawks as mentor, Kessler became a director for dozens of TV movies...

Bruce Kessler, who directed episodes of shows including The Monkees, It Takes a Thief, The Rockford Files, McCloud and The Commish when he wasn’t driving race cars, designing boats or circling the globe in a yacht, has died. He was 88.

Kessler died Thursday at his home in Marina del Rey after a brief illness, his brother, author and columnist Stephen Kessler, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Survivors also include his wife, actress Joan Freeman, perhaps best known as the love interest of Elvis Presley’s character in Roustabout (1964). She and Kessler were together for 54 years and married for 33.

Kessler served as second-unit director on Howard Hawks’ Red Line 7000 (1965), an action film about stock cars that starred James Caan, before embarking on a three-decade career as a director for television.

His credits included The Flying Nun, Adam-12, Marcus Welby, M.D., Get Christie Love!, Baretta, Switch, CHiPs, The A-Team, The Greatest American Hero,...

Screen and stage actress, Sally Field, is one of Hollywood's most beloved modern stars known for her memorable performances in classics such as Norma Rae and Steel Magnolias. Born in Pasadena, California, Field initially started her career on television and gained attention for her role as the surf-loving teenager in the 1960s hit series, Gidget, and went on to star in ABC's The Flying Nun. She made her feature film debut in the 1976 comedy-drama, Stay Hungry with Jeff Bridges and became a box office sensation after starring alongside Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit.

Lew Palter, who played Isidor Straus in James Cameron’s Titanic and a Supreme Court justice in First Monday in October, has died. He was 94.

Palter died of lung cancer May 21 at his Los Angeles home. CalArts, where Palter was a longtime faculty member, shared news of his death on Twitter.

“It is with great sadness that we share the news that longtime #calartstheater faculty Lew Palter has passed away. Lew retired from @CalArts in 2013, having served our community since 1971 as an acting teacher, director, and mentor.”

Among his students at CalArts was Cecily Strong, said it was Palter who encouraged her to try out for improv/sketch comedy group The Groundlings, leading to her breakout role on SNL.

“Lew loved the craft of acting, and taught his students to do the same,” said CalArts School of Theater Dean Travis Preston in a statement. “He fostered deep curiosity, care, intellect,...

The hardest thing for a popular sitcom to do is to maintain a consistent level of quality from beginning to end. All-time great sitcoms like Seinfeld, Friends, M.A.S.H., and others were able to sustain and expand their viewership by delivering highly entertaining episodes from start to finish.

Related: 10 Saddest Deaths In Sitcoms

Of course, for every classic sitcom that kept viewers entertained throughout their tenure, several popular sitcoms overstayed their welcome. From star-making vehicles and misguided spinoffs to shows still on the air, there has been no shortage of popular sitcoms with far more lackluster episodes than impressive ones over the years.

The Flying Nun (1967–1970) Stream On Prime Video

The Flying Nun was a supremely popular fantasy sitcom that turned Sally Field from an unknown network TV star into a major movie star. The ridiculous premise involves Sister Bertrille, a nun with the ability to fly due to her 90-pound frame and magical habit.

Betty Gilpin in Mrs. Davis (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/Peacock) Background: Sally Field in The Flying Nun (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images), Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act (Afro Newspaper/Gado/Contributor), Black Narcissus (John Kobal Foundation/Contributor), Siobahn McSweeney in Derry Girls (Netflix...

Betty Gilpin in Mrs. Davis (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/Peacock) Background: Sally Field in The Flying Nun (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images), Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act (Afro Newspaper/Gado/Contributor), Black Narcissus (John Kobal Foundation/Contributor), Siobahn McSweeney in Derry Girls (Netflix...

Carol Locatell, who had a memorable turn as the foulmouthed mother Ethel Hubbard in Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning and worked alongside Burt Reynolds in three films, has died. She was 82.

Locatell died April 11 at her home in Sherman Oaks after a long battle with cancer, her husband, songwriter and record producer Gregory Prestopino, told The Hollywood Reporter. They were together for 50 years.

Locatell moved from Los Angeles to New York in the mid-1980s to shake up her career, and from her first audition there she landed a part on Broadway in Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound, which premiered in 1986. She then appeared in The Shadow Box in 1994 and in The Rose Tattoo a year later.

She first met Reynolds when she auditioned for him for a role in Simon’s Chapter Two at his dinner theater in Jupiter, Florida. She worked with him in Paternity...

Carol Locatell was born on December 13, 1940 – a date that happens to have been a Friday the 13th. So it seems very fitting that when she embarked on an acting career, her role in the 1985 slasher Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (watch it Here) would turn out to become the role she was best known for. Locatell delivered a hilarious performance in that film, making the foul-mouthed Ethel Hubbard someone fans have been having fun watching for nearly forty years now. Sadly, Locatell is no longer with us. She passed away recently at the age of 82. Ron Sloan, who played Ethel’s dimwitted son Junior in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, broke the news of her passing on social media last night.

Sloan wrote,

Dearest friends, fans, and Horror family,

With great sadness, it breaks my heart to announce that my Friday the 13th Part 5 Mom, (Ethel Hubbard) Carol Locatell has passed away.

Smokey and the Bandit was one of the biggest surprise hits of the 1970s, and its cast was packed with superstars and future icons of the screen. Released in 1977 to decent reviews, the film's real power came from its cultural impact and overwhelming popularity with audiences. The movie was non-stop action that found a way to blend its car-centric narrative with a fair amount of humor and character as well. The cast of the film was really what helped it shine, and Smokey and the Bandit quickly became a favorite in the Southern United States.

Its lead, Burt Reynolds, was already a household name for his work in other notable redneck-exploitation films, but his turn as the Bandit elevated him to the level of superstardom. It was the first of several Reynolds and Hal Needham films, and the director helped create some of Reynolds' most iconic characters. Besides established stars,...

Sally Field received the lifetime achievement award at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday.

Andrew Garfield presented Field with her award. He called Field “one of the greatest actors to have ever lived.”

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Garfield praised Field calling her a “North star” and urged “people under 30” to watch Field’s first television series, Gidget. He commended her for playing complex women...

Receiving the SAG Life Achievement Award on Feb. 26 has a special meaning to Sally Field. “It’s my tribe,” she says of her fellow actors. “It’s the group I most wanted to be respected by and to be included in, and that means a lot to me.” And while she says she has yet to write her speech, that’s understandable — the actor has been busy with promotion for her latest film, “80 for Brady,” now in theaters.

Field joins the likes of Robert De Niro, Sidney Poitier and Rita Moreno who have previously

been bestowed with the honor. Field spoke about her career, working with Lee Strasberg and being a sports fan with Variety.

How much fun was it to play this character and star with Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in “80 for Brady?”

So much of what there is on the screen is us having a good time.

The Screen Actors Guild presented legendary comic actor Eddie Cantor with the first annual Life Achievement Award back in 1962. Over the past six decades, the award for ‘outstanding achievement in fostering ideals of the acting profession” has been given to such Hollywood icons as Stan Laurel, Bob Hope, Barbara Stanwyck, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Frank Sinatra, James Cagney, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. More recently, Mary Tyler Moore, Charles Durning, Debbie Reynolds, Rita Moreno, Carol Burnett, Helen Mirren and Robert De Niro have received the honor.

Two-time Oscar and three-time Emmy Award winning Sally Field is the latest recipient of the Life Achievement Award. The 76-year-old actress, who came to fame as the ultimate teenager “Gidget” in the 1965-66 ABC sitcom, is currently starring with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno in the hit feature comedy “80 for Brady.” She appeared with Jim Parsons last year in the drama...

They might not have won seven Super Bowls like star quarterback Tom Brady, but the talented actors in 80 for Brady, including Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno, and Lily Tomlin, have won some of the most prestigious awards given to entertainers. Based on a true story, the movie follows four Brady-loving best friends trying to get to Super Bowl Li in 2017, with plenty of misadventures along the way. As a pleasant mix of slapstick humor, heartfelt poignancy, and tear-jerking drama, the road trip comedy makes the most of each of the women's many talents.

Fonda, Field, Moreno, and Tomlin have been actively making movies, appearing on television, performing on Broadway, and creating music for decades. Some of them, like Fonda and Tomlin, have shared the screen several times in '80s classics like 9 to 5 and recently in Netflix's Frankie & Grace. Moreno just appeared in the successful Spielberg remake of West Side Story,...

Sally Field will receive the SAG Life Achievement Award at the upcoming 2023 Screen Actors Guild Awards ceremony.

Field is the 58th recipient of the guild’s highest honor that has previously been bestowed on the likes of Betty White, Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro and her “80 for Brady” co-stars Rita Moreno and Lily Tomlin.

“Sally is an amazing actor with an enormous range and an uncanny ability to embody any character,” says Fran Drescher, SAG-AFTRA president. “She has an enduring career because she is authentic in her performance and always projects likability and humanity – she just connects. That’s part of why she has sustained her massive fandom and incredibly rich and layered career. Sally is a massive star with a working actor’s ethos – just keep doing the work, being as good as you can.”

Given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,...

Sally Field will receive the 2023 SAG Life Achievement Award at the 29th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Feb. 26.

The award is giving annually to an actor who exhibits the “finest ideals of the acting profession.” Field, a two-time Oscar winner, has also received a SAG Award, three Emmys, two BAFTA Awards, the New York Film Critics prize, the National Board of Review Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Award and the National Society of Film Critics honor, among many more.

In 2012, the actress was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2015 received the National Medal of Arts from President Obama. Additionally, she received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2019.

Her career credits include Places in the Heart, Norma Rae, Lincoln, Smokey and the Bandit, Absence of Malice, Kiss Me Goodbye, Steel Magnolias, Forrest Gump, An Eye for an Eye, Mrs. Doubtfire, Hooper, Stay Hungry and Hello,...

Exclusive: The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has been celebrating the 75th anniversary of The Actors Studio with special screenings and in-person conversations on Sunday nights in August and September. Of course, the studio is the thespian mecca and home to so many in the profession looking to hone their craft and work out their approach to their art. The guru teacher most associated with it was the great Lee Strasberg, and it even had its own long-running TV series Inside The Actors Studio in which so many stars came back to share secrets of success that had to much to do with the teaching of Method acting, or at least that was how it was labeled.

Not every actor is a fan of the “Method,” and just this week there was a trade headline straight out of a Toronto Film Festival panel where Succession star Brian Cox minced no words,...

Larry Storch, the stand-up comic turned ubiquitous television actor who made an indelible impression as the bumbling Corporal Randolph Agarn on the 1960s sitcom F Troop, has died. He was 99.

His death was announced on his Facebook page. “It is with the heaviest of hearts that we share with you the news our beloved Larry passed away in his sleep overnight. We are shocked and at a loss for words at the moment. Please remember he loved each and every one of you and wouldn’t want you to cry over his passing. He is reunited with his wife Norma and his beloved F Troop cast and so many friends and family.”

Born in New York City – his Bronx accent would be used to enduring effect in his comic portrayals – Storch began his show business career as a stand-up comic and parlayed his popularity to a prolific and long-lasting television career,...

Maureen Arthur, an actress best remembered for her performance as secretary Hedy La Rue in Broadway’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and its 1967 screen adaptation, died June 15 of natural causes in Beverly Hills. She was 88.

Arthur’s friend, the actor Ilene Graff, announced the news on Facebook. “The world is a little less sparkly without her,” wrote Graff, “but I am so glad I got to be her friend. Her memory will definitely be a blessing.”

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

Although her signature role arrived in the early ’60s with her scene-stealing performance on Broadway in How To Succeed…, she quickly became a familiar presence on television. Bachelor Father, Perry Mason and I Spy were a few of her early credits before Arthur moved more consistently to comedy: By the mid-1960s, she was guesting on Get Smart, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,...

Veteran actress Maureen Arthur, who appeared in numerous television series, including Mork & Mindy, Perry Mason, and The New Dick Van Dyke Show, has died. She was 88. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Arthur passed away on Wednesday, June 15, of natural causes at her home in Beverly Hills after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She is survived by her brothers Gerald and David, sisters-in-law Elaine and Marsha, and stepson Tom. Born on April 15, 1934, in San Jose, California, Arthur became a staple of television and films in the late 1950s through the 1970s, appearing in the series The Monkees, The Flying Nun, Sanford and Son, Laverne & Shirley, Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, and many more. However, she is perhaps best remembered for her role as Hedy La Rue in the 1967 film adaptation of the Broadway smash How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, a part she first portrayed on...

Maureen Arthur, the TV, film and stage actress best known for her role of dim-witted Hedy La Rue in the 1967 musical-comedy, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” died June 15 of natural causes. She was 88.

“I can’t overstate how important she was to me,” her friend actress Ilene Graff (“Heart of Dixie”) announced on Facebook Monday. “Her amazing talent and skill were only a small part of who she was. A tireless advocate for children in need, especially those with physical, emotional and/or intellectual challenges, she helped raise countless millions of dollars for them.”

The San Jose, California, native was a staple on television and in films in the late ’50s through the 1970s, appearing in such well-know series as “Perry Mason,” “The Monkees,” “The Flying Nun,” “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” “Sanford and Son,” “Laverne & Shirley,” “Mork & Mindy” and “Murder, She Wrote.”

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Mark Shields,...

Sally Field is so happy to be reunited with Dashiell Hammett.

The two-time Oscar-winning actor had been missing her cuddly Cavapoo — who’s nicknamed Dash — all morning while she was away rehearsing for “80 for Brady,” a road-trip movie she stars in with Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno about four best friends who travel to the 2017 Super Bowl to see New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in action.

When Field arrives at our Variety studio, she is joined by her furry companion (brought to her by her assistant), who winds up sharing some screen time with the actor for our cover shoot and video interview. The two had bonded during the pandemic.

“When I got him, I think it really saved my life because my focus was on this little dog,” Field recalls.

Field says that Covid presented a unique set of challenges, but the actor is no stranger to struggle.

Irma Kalish, the pioneering sitcom writer and producer who teamed with her late husband, Austin “Rocky” Kalish, on hundreds of television episodes, including emotional installments of All in the Family and Maude, has died. She was 96.

Kalish died Friday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her family announced.

The couple had written for such shows as My Favorite Martian, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun and F Troop but achieved a breakthrough in 1965 when they were hired by producer Ed Hartmann to write for My Three Sons and then for another CBS comedy, Family Affair, for which ...

Irma Kalish, the pioneering sitcom writer and producer who teamed with her late husband, Austin “Rocky” Kalish, on hundreds of television episodes, including emotional installments of All in the Family and Maude, has died. She was 96.

Kalish died Friday at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, her family announced.

The couple had written for such shows as My Favorite Martian, I Dream of Jeannie, The Flying Nun and F Troop but achieved a breakthrough in 1965 when they were hired by producer Ed Hartmann to write for My Three Sons and then for another CBS comedy, Family Affair, for which ...

John Erman, an Emmy-winning director-producer who helmed multiple episodes of such classic TV series as Star Trek, M*A*S*H and Peyton Place along with Part 2 of Roots and much of its sequel miniseries Roots: The Next Generations, has died. He was 85.

His friend, Charles Silver of SMS Talent, told Deadline that Erman died June 25 in New York City after a brief illness.

Born on August 3, 1935, in Chicago, Erman began his show business career as an actor, including an unbilled role in 1955’s Blackboard Jungle before working extensively as a casting director. His first job in that role was with Jim Lister at Republic Studios in New York, and Erman would go on to work with numerous Hollywood legends in this capacity, from Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland to Woody Allen, Angela Lansbury and Ann-Margret — with whom he’d have a long-running working relationship.

He got his first shot...

The always delightful Doctor Z hangs with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante while discussing a few of his favorite monkey movies.

Dr. Z – Tmtmm Pod Mentions

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Planet of the Apes (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Escape From The Planet of the Apes (1971)

Battle For The Planet of the Apes (1973) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Every Which Way But Loose (1978)

Any Which Way You Can (1980)

The Godfather Part II (1974) – Katt Shea’s trailer commentary

Schindler’s List (1993)

Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021)

King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

King Kong (1933)

Conan The Barbarian (1982)

Godzilla (1954) – Don Coscarelli’s trailer commentary

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Stalag 17 (1953)

In The Heat Of The Night (1967) – Michael Schlesinger’s trailer commentary

King Kong Escapes (1967)

Murders In The Rue Morgue (1932)

The Sorrow And The Pity (1972)

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

It Came From Beneath The Sea...

John Gabriel, an actor and singer best known for his role as Dr. Seneca Beaulac on the ABC soap opera “Ryan’s Hope,” has died. He was 90.

“It is with an unspeakably heavy heart that I share the news of my father’s passing,” Gabriel’s daughter, actress Andrea Gabriel, announced in an Instagram post Sunday, which included a headshot of her father and a photo of him walking her own the aisle on her wedding day. “John Gabriel was my hero, my role model, and my champion, but above all, my daddy. … I will love you forever.”

Andrea Gabriel did not provide further details on her father’s death, including the cause of his passing.

Gabriel, played Dr. Seneca Beaulac, the chief of staff at New York’s Riverside Hospital, on ABC’s “Ryan’s Hope” for 10 years, from 1975-1985, and again at the end of its run, from 1988-1989. In...

Arlene Golonka, best known for her portrayal of waitress Millie on the classic CBS sitcom The Andy Griffith Show and its spinoff Mayberry R.F.D., died Monday at a West Hollywood memory care facility following a battle with Alzheimer’s. She was 85.

Her death was announced by her friend, the literary agent Cary Kozlov.

Golonka, who made her Broadway debut in 1958’s short-lived The Night Circus before landing stage roles in 1962’s Come Blow Your Horn and 1963’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, already had made numerous appearances on television prior to her breakthrough role on The Andy Griffith Show in 1967, among them Car 54, Where Are You?, The Doctors, The Flying Nun and The Big Valley.

She made her first Griffith appearance on Oct. 16, 1967, in an episode that introduced her as Millie Hutchins, initially intended as a love interest for bookish bachelor Howard Sprague (played by Jack Dodson...

Sally Field will be taking the court for HBO’s scripted series about the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1980s.

The untitled series was ordered at HBO in December 2019. It is described as chronicling the professional and personal lives of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of sports’ most revered and dominant dynasties, in what came to be called the Showtime Era.

Field will star as Jessie Buss, mother of Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who will be played by John C. Reilly. As a young single mother, Jessie instilled in her son a love of math, money, and good times. Decades later, her son is a successful businessman – but he turns to her as a trusted advisor and bookkeeper.

Field is no stranger to television, having gotten her start on shows like “Gidget” and “The Flying Nun.” She most recently starred in the shows “Dispatches from Elsewhere” and “Maniac.” She is a three-time Emmy winner,...

Gregory Sierra, the actor known for his roles on “Barney Miller” and “Sanford and Son,” has died at the age of 83, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A family spokesperson told THR that Sierra died earlier this month after a long battle with cancer.

Sierra was best known for co-starring on the first two seasons of “Barney Miller” as the emotionally volatile Sgt. Miguel “Chano” Amanguale. He also appeared on three seasons of “Sanford and Son” as the Sanfords’ Puerto Rican neighbor Julio Fuentes.

His other TV credits include “Hill Street Blues,” “Soap,” “Miami Vice,” “Murder, She Wrote” and the short-lived “A.E.S. Hudson Street.” His film credits include “The Flying Nun,” “The Towering Inferno,” “The Trouble with Spies” and “Mafia!”

Gregory Sierra’s final acting credit was the long-delayed Orson Welles film “The Other Side of the Wind,” which was released on Netflix in 2018 with footage shot by the late director in the 1970s.

Gregory Sierra, who was a key part of two major 1970s sitcoms as Julio Fuentes on Sanford and Son and Sgt. Miguel “Chano” Amenguale on Barney Miller, has died. He was 83.

Sierra died Jan. 4 in Laguna Woods, California, from cancer, according to a family spokesman. His death just became public today.

Born in New York’s Spanish Harlem, Sierra worked with the National Shakespeare Company and in the New York Shakespeare Festival. He also appeared in off-Broadway plays and was a standby on Broadway for The Ninety Day Mistress in 1967.

Moving to Los Angeles, Sierra had guest appearances on such shows as It Takes a Thief, Medical Center, The High Chaparral, Mod Squad, The Flying Nun and Kung Fu.

In films he was also a supporting actor in Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Getting Straight (1970), Papillon (1973), The Towering Inferno (1974) and the Orson Welles project The Other Side of the Wind.

Colleagues of legendary casting director Mike Fenton remembered the industry veteran as a tireless champion of actors who had a keen eye for talent, a great sense of humor and a full life outside of work with a wide circle of friends.

Fenton, who died Dec. 30 at the age of 85, had nearly 300 casting credits to his name and helped launch the careers of such stars as Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, Drew Barrymore and Robert Downey Jr. He won the Casting Society of America’s Artios Award in 1996 for Best Casting for TV Nighttime Special for “Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree” and again in 2000 Best Casting for TV Miniseries for “Arabian Nights”

Graham Yost, screenwriter and showrunner known for “Broken Arrow,” “Speed” and FX’s “Justified,” became friendly with Fenton through a running club dubbed Flying Squirrels that the casting pro founded in the 1980s. Yost met his wife, Connie, through the group.

Sally Field has been working in the industry since the mid 1960's. She began her career in television with short-lived series like, Gidget and The Flying Nun. Sally Field was working consistently, but became a household name in the '80s when she starred in the critically acclaimed film, Norma Rae, as the title character, earning her an Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in that film.

Related: The Oscars 5 Times The Academy Got Best Actress Right (And 4 They Got Wrong)

Sally Field has played some pretty iconic characters over the last fifty years and doesn't seem to be slowing down. In 2019, Sally Field was honored in the annual Kennedy Center Honors, just one of the many awards and recognitions she's earned from her work. Here are some of her best performances, ranked by Rotten Tomatoes.

James Henerson, who wrote numerous episodes for three of the 1960s more fantastical sitcoms – Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and The Flying Nun – died in his sleep June 18 at his home in Sherman Oaks. He was 84.

His death was confirmed by his son Matthew in an Instagram post.

Despite his extensive involvement writing for light fare like I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched and the TV-movie Holly Golightly (1969) and the mid-’60s Barefoot in the Park-like sitcom Love On A Rooftop, Henerson also wrote or produced grittier, more controversial fare such as 1985’s The Rape of Richard Beck, starring Richard Crenna as a male sexual assault victim, and Attica, a 1980 TV-movie about the prison uprising. Henerson was Emmy-nominated for Attica.

Other producing credits include Starman, the 1986-87 series, and the 1993 climate change miniseries The Fire Next Time, which he also wrote.

Henerson is survived by wife Marlene, sons Matthew and Evan,...

James Henerson, an Emmy-nominated writer and producer who worked on such shows as I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched and The Flying Nun, has died. He was 84.

Henerson died Thursday in his sleep at his home in Sherman Oaks, his sons, Matthew and Evan, announced.

A staff writer for the famed TV studio Screen Gems, Henerson also wrote episodes of The Partridge Family, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Combat!, National Velvet, Love on a Rooftop, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and The Second Hundred Years.

With partners Jim Hirsch and Michael Douglas, he produced the 1986-87 ABC series Starman, which ...

Anthony James, the lanky actor who frequently appeared as bad guys in films such as “In the Heat of the Night” and “Unforgiven,” has died at 77. James died of cancer on May 26, according to an obituary announcement from a funeral home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

James’ first film role was in the Best Picture winner from 1967 “In the Heat of the Night,” where he played Ralph, a mischievous and racist diner clerk alongside Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier. His final film role was then in another Best Picture winner, playing Skinny Dubois in Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Western “Unforgiven.”

His villainous roles were so distinctive that Hollywood took to calling similarly creepy and skinny roles as needing an “Anthony James type.” He also starred in films such as “High Plains Drifter,” “The Naked Gun 2 1/2” and “Vanishing Point.”

Also Read: Marge Redmond, Who Played Sister Jacqueline on 'The Flying Nun,...

Marge Redmond, a stage and screen actress best remembered for her role as Sister Jacqueline on the 1960s sitcom “The Flying Nun,” died in February at age 95.

Her death was not made public until May, when it was announced as part of a larger in memoriam layout in the latest SAG-aftra quarterly magazine. Her cause of death has not been disclosed.

Born in 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio, Redmond began acting as a young woman in Ohio before moving on to stage roles in New York and eventually film and TV roles in Los Angeles.

Among her film roles, she appeared in “The Trouble With Angels” and the Billy Wilder film “Fortune Cookie” in 1966, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Family Plot” in 1976, and the 1993 Woody Allen film “Manhattan Murder Mystery.”

Also Read: Larry Kramer, 'The Normal Heart' Playwright and AIDS Activist, Dies at 84

She was most often seen on television, and appeared...