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10 articles from 2009
Free Flick Fridays: Brighton Beach Memoirs
16 October 2009 1:00 AM, PDT | TribecaFilm.com | See recent Tribeca Film news »
Brighton Beach Memoirs Dir. Gene Saks (1986) Brighton Beach Memoirs was the first play in Neil Simon's Eugene Trilogy, which followed the autobiographical exploits of a nice kid growing up middle class and Jewish in the titular nabe. Matthew Broderick originated the role of Eugene on Broadway, which made him a star, and he was busy on the Great White Way in Biloxi Blues when the inevitable film version came around. So subbing for Broderick in Saks' film is the actor Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernie's), whose relatable neurosis carries over into the tale of a fifteen-year-old boy in 1937 who loves girls, would like to have sex at some point, and also loves baseball. With uberWASP Blythe Danner (mother of Gwyneth Paltrow, of course, who visited Brighton Beach in Two Lovers, er, as a Wasp) as the Jewish mother whose presence guilts the boy into future success. It's heartwarming, relateable stuff, »
Free Flick Fridays: Brighton Beach Memiors
16 October 2009 1:00 AM, PDT | TribecaFilm.com | See recent Tribeca Film news »
Brighton Beach Memoirs Dir. Gene Saks (1986) Brighton Beach Memoirs was the first play in Neil Simon's Eugene Trilogy, which followed the autobiographical exploits of a nice kid growing up middle class and Jewish in the titular nabe. Matthew Broderick originated the role of Eugene on Broadway, which made him a star, and he was busy on the Great White Way in Biloxi Blues when the inevitable film version came around. So subbing for Broderick in Saks' film is the actor Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernie's), whose relatable neurosis carries over into the tale of a fifteen-year-old boy in 1937 who loves girls, would like to have sex at some point, and also loves baseball. With uberWASP Blythe Danner (mother of Gwyneth Paltrow, of course, who visited Brighton Beach in Two Lovers, er, as a Wasp) as the Jewish mother whose presence guilts the boy into future success. It's heartwarming, relateable stuff, »
Golden Girls Pay Tribute To Arthur
26 April 2009 4:30 PM, PDT | WENN | See recent WENN news »
Veteran actresses Betty White and Rue McClanahan have paid tribute to their Golden Girls co-star Bea Arthur, who died on Saturday.
The actress passed away peacefully in her sleep at her Los Angeles home after losing her battle with cancer aged 86, according to personal assistant Dan Watt.
Arthur, who starred in the hit show from 1985 until 1992, won an Emmy Award for her role as Dorothy Zbornak in the sitcom, which chronicled the lives of three retirees in Miami.
And co-stars White and McClanahan fondly recall the seven happy years they spent with Arthur on the series.
McClanahan tells Entertainment Tonight. "(Thirty-seven) years ago she showed me how to be very brave in playing comedy. I'll miss that courage. And I'll miss that voice."
White adds, "I knew it would hurt, I just didn't know it would hurt this much. I'm so happy that she received her Lifetime Achievement Award while she was still with us, so she could appreciate that.
"Bea was such an important part of a very happy time in my life and I have dearly loved her for a very long time. How lucky I was to know her."
Born in 1922, Arthur grew up in New York and earned a degree as a medical laboratory technician, before enrolling in a drama course at the New School of Social Research in the city.
She shot to fame in her twenties with numerous stage roles and won critical acclaim for her performance in a 1964 production of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway.
Arthur also landed a Tony Award for her turn as Vera Charles in 1966 musical Mame - and composer Jerry Herman was taken aback by her natural acting ability and comic timing.
He says, "There was no one else like Bea. She would make us laugh during Mame rehearsals with a look or with a word. She didn't need dialogue. I don't know if I can say that about any other person I ever worked with."
The actress moved on to television in her fifties and won the starring role in 1970s show Maude, for which she also won a coveted Emmy Award, before landing her part in The Golden Girls.
Arthur married twice - first to producer and director Robert Alan Aurthur and then to director Gene Saks from 1950 to 1978. The couple adopted two sons.
She is survived by a sister, her children Matthew and Daniel and two granddaughters. »
Bea Arthur was a true 'Golden Girl'
26 April 2009 2:31 PM, PDT | Gold Derby | See recent Gold Derby news »
Bea Arthur, who died Saturday at 86, was the winner of two Emmy Awards for her starring roles on classic sitcoms "Maude" and "The Golden Girls." Before becoming an unexpected TV star in the 1970s, Bea Arthur enjoyed a long and celebrated career in the theater. She won a Tony Award for featured actress in a musical in 1966 for the role of Vera Charles, bosom buddy to "Mame." Married at the time to theater director Gene Saks, who helmed this tuner adaptation of the play "Auntie Mame," Arthur made no secret of the fact that she would have loved to play the part of the glamourous title character, a part that went to Angela Lansbury. With her basso voice and deadpan delivery, Arthur had to settle for the sidekick role, which turned out to be a natural for her — the man-eating, gin-drinking actress Vera. When the movie version was made in »
- tomoneil
Bea Arthur Dies at Age 86
25 April 2009 9:30 PM, PDT | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »
Over the past 15 months or so, it's been our sad duty to report about more deaths in Hollywood than we've cared to—it seems as though entertainment personalities have been falling faster than leaves on an autumn day. In fact, the entire past 15 months have felt like one long autumn, if we're honest.
And it's happened again. Those of you who fondly remember The Golden Girls, or if you want to go back a bit further into the '70s, Maude, will be sorry to learn that Bea Arthur has died of cancer at the age of 86.
Spokesman Dan Watt said that Arthur died Saturday morning at her home in Los Angeles, her family by her side.
It's likely Arthur will be best remembered for her role in Maude. Arthur's comic timing and deadpan delivery became legendary shortly after her opinionated and irascible Maude first appeared on Norman Lear's »
Golden Girls Star Beatrice Arthur Dies
25 April 2009 1:15 PM, PDT | PEOPLE.com | See recent PEOPLE.com news »
Beatrice Arthur, the larger-than-life actress who scored on Broadway as the original matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof and the hard-drinking actress in Mame before she went on to star in the groundbreaking '70s TV series Maude and, in the '80s, the beloved sitcom The Golden Girls, died early Saturday morning. She was 86. Dan Watt, a spokesman for Arthur's family, told the Associated Press that the star had been suffering with cancer, though he did not specify what kind. She died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family by her side, said Watt, who remembered Arthur as "a brilliant and witty woman." Maude, which debuted on CBS in 1972 (and ran until 1978) was a spin-off of the hit All in the Family. As the liberal cousin of archconservative Archie Bunker's wife Edith, the much-married Maude wasn't afraid to broach such controversial (especially for TV at the time) topics as abortion and civil rights.
Golden Girls, a popular NBC Saturday-night staple from 1985 to 1992, featured Arthur as the outspoken Dorothy Zbornak, who shared a Florida home with three other retired women, including her mother, played by Estelle Getty - who died last July, at 84. The other stars were Rue McClanahan and Betty White.
Born Bernice Frankel in New York City but raised in Maryland, where her parents ran a women's clothing store, Arthur debuted on the Off Broadway stage in New York in the 1940s, with her Broadway musical triumphs - though her singing voice was deep and scratchy - in the mid-'60s.
Married and divorced twice, Arthur took her stage name (in part) from her first husband, the screenwriter, director and producer Robert Alan Aurthur, whose credits include the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz. With second husband, Mame director Gene Saks, she adopted two sons, Matthew, 47, and Daniel, 44. They survive her.
Of her powerful stage and TV persona, which often found her cast in the same sort of role, Arthur once said, "Look - I'm 5-feet-9, I have a deep voice and I have a way with a line. What can I do about it? I can't stay home waiting for something different. I think it's a total waste of energy worrying about typecasting." »
- Stephen M. Silverman
Review: 'The Odd Couple' on DVD
24 March 2009 2:54 PM, PDT | Comicmix.com | See recent Comicmix news »
You know the music. You know the set-up and you’ve seen it played out in countless variations. Still, there is nothing like the original. Paramount’s Centennial Collection continues today with two more classic releases, including Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple.
Based on his box office smash play (which in turn was inspired by his brother’s life), Neil Simon took the story of two mismatched divorced men trying to live together and made a sad state of affairs hilarious.
On Broadway, the inimitable Walter Matthau was matched with Art Carney, fresh from his run with Jackie Gleason, but for the film, Paramount exec Robert Evans went for Jack Lemmon, who played previously with Matthau in The Fortune Cookie. On screen, the two had chemistry in spaces and it was necessary to make this work. One is a sports writer slob, the other a high-strung metrosexual (long before the word existed) news writer. »
- Robert Greenberger
The Odd Couple: Centennial Collection - 2 Disc
24 March 2009 8:37 AM, PDT | The Scorecard Review | See recent Scorecard Review news »
DVD Review The Odd Couple: Centennial Collection - 2 Disc Directed by: Gene Saks Cast: Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau Running Time: 1 hr 45 mins Rating: G Due out: 3/24/09 Plot: Based on Neil Simon's award winning play, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau are Felix and Oscar, two best friends who decide to live with each other out of necessity. Hilarious chaos ensues when their radically different lifestyles begin to drive each other crazy. Who's It For? Fans of comedies and overall great films. This re-release of The Odd Couple will invite and re-invite viewers into the famous filthy apartment co-habitated by the neurotic Felix and the disgusting Oscar. Movie: The chemistry of Lemmon and Matthau has prevailed in other movies, but here it's easy to see why this is »
DVD Round Up, Mar. 23, 2009: ‘Lilo & Stitch,’ ‘The Odd Couple,’ ‘To Catch a Thief’
23 March 2009 1:02 PM, PDT | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »
Chicago – A Disney movie and two all-time classics being inducted in Paramount’s “Centennial Collection” make up this week’s version of the “DVD Round-Up,” your safety net for titles that may have slipped by your home entertainment radar.
The Round-Up, HollywoodChicago.com’s famous recurring column about lesser Blu-Ray and DVD titles that may have slipped through your fingers at the store recently, brings you three catalog titles being reissued for DVD in new two-disc editions.
“Lilo & Stitch: 2-Disc Big Wave Edition,” “The Centennial Collection: The Odd Couple,” and “The Centennial Collection: To Catch a Thief” will all be released on March 24th, 2009.
“Lilo & Stitch: 2-Disc Big Wave Edition”
Photo credit: Disney Piggy-backing on the more awesome and high-profile Blu-Ray release for “Bolt,” Disney is giving fans a chance to catch up on one of their bigger titles from the early part of the decade, 2002’s “Lilo & Stitch,” now »
- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
[DVD Review] The Odd Couple: The Centennial Collection
20 March 2009 2:39 PM, PDT | JustPressPlay.net | See recent JustPressPlay news »
The Odd Couple really is a great movie. Some of its initial themes of suicide and heartbreak really stand the test of time, and while the humor is altogether far too dry and expositional for most modern tastes, there are still laughs to be had. But unfortunately, as a whole the movie hasn’t dated well.
Unlike more dramatic films of the same era, the film suffers greatly when viewed from a modern perspective. The slow pacing of the comedy and the squeaky-clean manner the would-be vulgar characters sets it firmly in a time unknown to the younger generation. While other, more socially and politically pointed films of the 1960s have perhaps only become more relevant, The Odd Couple has only been hurt by the passage of time. It doesn’t show how comedy has evolved over the years, as it’s cemented so distinctly in a bygone era, and »
- Saul Berenbaum
10 articles from 2009
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles. News articles are published for the entertainment of our users only. The news items do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the site responsible for the article in question to report any concerns you may have.
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