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☆ Oscars’ In Memoriam Segment Honors Aleksei Navalny, Among Film Greats
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-10 | by ( Julia Jacobs | More About Julia Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The in memoriam segment at the Academy Awards opened not with a Hollywood star, but with a clip of Aleksei A. Navalny from “Navalny,” the Oscar-winning 2022 documentary about the Russian opposition leader who died last month in a Russian prison. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing,” read a quote of Navalny’s on the screen. Taking a moment to recognize those in the film industry who have died since the previous Oscars ceremony, the telecast also paid tribute to stars such as Harry Belafonte, the barrier-breaking performer and activist, and Chita Rivera, the Broadway star who also appeared in films, as well as filmmakers such as Norman Jewison, the lauded director behind “In the Heat of the Night,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Moonstruck.”

Persons: Aleksei A, “, ”, Navalny’s, Harry Belafonte, Chita Rivera, Norman Jewison Organizations: Academy, Hollywood, Broadway Locations: memoriam, “

NEW YORK (AP) — Carl Weathers, a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action movie and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, facing-off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and teaching golf in “Happy Gilmore,” has died. Matt Luber, his manager, said Weathers died Thursday. Most recently, Weathers has starred in the Disney+ hit “The Mandalorian,” appearing in all three seasons. Photos You Should See View All 45 ImagesCreed, who appeared in the first four “Rocky” movies, memorably died in the ring of 1984’s “Rocky IV,” going toe-to-toe with the hulking, steroided-using Soviet Ivan Drago, played by Dolph Lundgren. “When I found football, it was a completely different outlet,” says Weathers told the Detroit News.

Persons: — Carl Weathers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Happy Gilmore, ”, Matt Luber, Weathers, “, Jackson ”, ” Weathers, Creed, Sylvester Stallone, you’ve, Rocky, Ivan Drago, Dolph Lundgren, James Brown, showgirls, Sam, Drago, Michael B, Jordan’s Adonis, Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura, Jackson, Gilmore, Adam Sandler, Dick Wolf’s, Woody Strode, “ Spartacus ”, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, I’ve, San Diego State University —, ___ Mark Kennedy Organizations: NFL, Daily, Disney, Chicago, Detroit, San Diego State University, Oakland Raiders, Detroit News, Raiders, Canadian Football League, San Francisco State University Locations: Hollywood, America, ”, Disney’s, New Orleans, —

☆ ‘The Greatest Night in Pop’ Review: They Were the World
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Glenn Kenny | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In late 1984 the singer and activist Harry Belafonte was both impressed and perturbed by “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” a British charity single featuring a cast of pop stars. The proceeds from the project went to Ethiopian famine relief. Belafonte complained to the music manager Ken Kragen, “We have white folks saving Black folks and we don’t have Black folks saving Black folks.”Such was the spur for the 1985 song “We Are the World.” The creative nucleus was Black: its writers, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson; Stevie Wonder (who didn’t get a writing credit but, as relayed in the film, was invaluable to the whole creative process); and the producer-arranger Quincy Jones. How the project turned into a one-night-only superstar fest — “If a bomb lands on this place,” a droll Paul Simon quipped while surveying the room, “John Denver’s back on top” — is chronicled in “The Greatest Night in Pop,” directed by Bao Nguyen.

Persons: Harry Belafonte, ”, Belafonte, Ken Kragen, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, “ John Denver’s, “, Bao Nguyen Locations: British

NEW YORK (AP) — Norman Jewison, the acclaimed and versatile Canadian-born director whose Hollywood films ranged from Doris Day comedies and “Moonstruck” to social dramas such as the Oscar-winning "In the Heat of the Night," has died at age 97. Throughout his long career, Jewison combined light entertainment with topical films that appealed to him on a deeply personal level. (Jewison lost out for best director to Mike Nichols of "The Graduate"). Among those who encouraged Jewison while making “In the Heat of the Night”: Robert F. Kennedy, whom the director met during a ski trip in Sun Valley, Idaho. Jewison shifted to feature films in 1963 with the comedy “40 Pounds of Trouble,” starring Tony Curtis and Suzanne Pleshette.

Persons: — Norman Jewison, Doris Day, Oscar, “, Jeff Sanderson, Jewison, Jim Crow, ”, Rod Steiger, Sidney Poitier, James Baldwin, ’ Bosley Crowther, Bonnie, Steiger, Mike Nichols, Robert F, Kennedy, nodded, ‘, ’, Cher, Steve McQueen, Thomas, Denzel, Washington, Rubin “, ” Carter, Malcolm X, Spike Lee, shouldn’t, Lee, ” Jewison, Margaret Ann Dixon, Dixie, Kevin, Michael, Jennifer Ann, Agnes, God ”, Lynne St, David, Judy Garland, Danny Kaye, Harry Belafonte, Tony Curtis, Suzanne Pleshette, James Garner, McQueen, Edward G, Robinson, Carl Reiner, Eva Marie Saint, Alan Arkin, Sylvester Stallone, Jimmy Hoffa, Al Pacino, Bruce Willis, Michael Caine, Tilda Swinton, ____, Bob Thomas Organizations: Canadian, New York, Hollywood, ‘, Denzel Washington, Washington, Governor General’s Performing Arts, Canadian Film Centre, Toronto Film, Victoria College, BBC, CBC, Universal, MGM, Cincinnati, Vietnam, AP Entertainment Locations: Canadian, Philadelphia, Clyde, Sun Valley , Idaho, Mississippi, Canada, Toronto, London, Hudson

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Filmmaker Yance Ford was in a “Sundance haze” when he took a meeting with Netflix following the premiere of “Strong Island” in 2017. “Strong Island” would go on to get an Oscar nomination, too, as would its Sundance and Netflix peer “Icarus,” which would win best documentary in 2018. “Netflix understood what ‘Strong Island’ was doing and what it could say to a big, broad audience.”Ten years after “The Square,” an acquisition that put Netflix documentaries on the map, the streamer is back at the 40th Sundance Film Festival with an eye towards acquisitions and two very different originals. “We really were the new kids on the block trying to persuade filmmakers that having the reach of the platform was something that was really important,” Del Deo said. “I think it's going to put a lot of smiles on people,” Del Deo said.

Persons: Yance Ford, “, Miss Simone, ” Liz Garbus, Nina Simone, Ford, ” Ford, ’, ”, Bao Nguyen’s, ” Adam Del Deo, Lisa Nishimura, Del Deo, It’s, “ Crip, they’ve, Garbus, John Legend, ” Garbus, ” “, Simone ”, Harry, Meghan ”, Nishimura, Jon Batiste, Barbie ”, —, Lionel Richie, Harry Belafonte, Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Cyndi Lauper, Dionne Warwick, Huey Lewis, ” Del Deo, Nguyen, it’s, ” Nguyen Organizations: Netflix, Sundance, Associated Press, Toronto, Eccles Locations: CITY , Utah, America, Park City , Utah, Brazil, France, Garbus, “, Telluride, Vietnam

The world also said goodbye to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who died Nov. 29. Political Cartoons View All 1277 ImagesAnother political figure who died this year was former U.S. first lady Rosalynn Carter, who died Nov. 19. Among the entertainers who left the world this year was singer Tina Turner, who died May 24. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2023 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___Fred White, 67. A Hall of Fame forward who helped the Chicago Blackhawks win the 1961 Stanley Cup Final.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin, Vladimir Putin’s, Henry Kissinger, Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy Carter, Silvio Berlusconi, Dianne Feinstein, James Buckley, James Abourezk, Nigel Lawson, Pervez Musharraf, Sandra Day O’Connor, Li Keqiang, Martti Ahtisaari, United Nations Bill Richardson, Gov, Sheila Oliver, Theodoros Pangalos, Tina Turner, Ike Turner, Suzanne Somers, Matthew Perry, Raquel Welch, Richard Belzer, Chaim Topol, Jacklyn Zeman, Lance Reddick, Alan Arkin, Paul Reubens, David McCallum, Richard Roundtree, Tom Sizemore, Jimmy Buffett, Sinéad O’Connor, Rita Lee Jones, Burt Bacharach, David Crosby, Fito Olivares, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Astrud Gilberto, Coco Lee, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, Cormac McCarthy, William Friedkin, Bob Barker, Jerry Springer, Louise Glück, Jeff Beck, Mary Quant, Kaija Saariaho, Lloyd Morrisett, Fred White, Maurice, Verdine White, Ken Block, Walter Cunningham, Fay Weldon, ” Jan, Russell Pearce, Charles Simic, Lynette “ Diamond ” Hardaway, Donald Trump, Diamond, Constantine, Jan, Tatjana Patitz, George Michael’s, Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Presley, Robbie Knievel, Evel Knievel, Ray Cordeiro, Elmo, Cookie, Gina Lollobrigida, Chris Ford, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Cindy Williams, Shirley, “ Laverne, Billy Packer, Sylvia Syms, Alex ”, Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield, “ Papa, Rollin ’ Stone, Tom Verlaine, Patti Smith, Bobby Hull, Paco Rabanne, Harry Whittington, Dick Cheney, Hsing Yun, ”, San Jose ”, Carlos Saura, Spain’s, Hugh Hudson, Oscar, “ Greystroke, Hans Modrow, David Jude Jolicoeur, Huey “, ” Smith, Little Richard, Lloyd Price, “, Leiji Matsumoto, Yamato ”, Tim McCarver, Stella Stevens, Jerry Lewis’s, John Munch, Ahmed Qureia, Betty Boothroyd, Ricou Browning, Gill, Gérard Latortue, Fontaine, Barbara Everitt Bryant, Ryan ”, Kenzaburo Oe, Judy Heumann, Gary Rossington, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Georgina Beyer, Traute Lafrenz, Rose, Peterson Zah, Tevye, Robert Blake, Jiang Yanyong, Bud Grant, Dick Fosbury, Pat Schroeder, Gloria Bosman, Jacqueline Gold, Britain’s Ann Summers, John Wick ”, John Jenrette, Juana La, Willis Reed, Darcelle, Paul O’Grady, Lily Savage, Emperor ”, Hedda Kleinfeld Schachter, Margaret Thatcher, Ben Ferencz, Nuremberg, Elisabeth Kopp, Michael Lerner, Jack Lipnick, “ Barton Fink, Bugsy Calhoun, Anne Perry, Thomas Pitt, William Monk, Al Jaffee, magazine’s, Charles Stanley, Richard Riordan, Todd Haimes, Tony Awards, Barry Humphries, Tony, Dame Edna Everage, Len Goodman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, Emmett Till, LeRoy “ Lee ” Carhart, Larry “, ___ Gordon Lightfoot, Tori Bowie, Vida, Grace Bumbry, Rock ”, Ovelha, Denny Crum, Heather Armstrong, Bobbie Spencer, Rolf Harris, Kenneth Anger, Doyle Brunson, Jim Brown, Timothy Keller, Andy Rourke, Ray Stevenson, Thor ”, Ed Ames, George Maharis, Carroll Cooley, Miranda, John Beasley, Kaija, George Winston, Ipanema ”, Robert Hanssen, Richard Snyder, Simon & Schuster, Françoise Gilot, Pablo Picasso —, Pat Robertson, Theodore “ Ted ” Kaczynski, Roger Payne, Treat Williams, Glenda Jackson, Daniel Ellsberg, Richard Nixon, Big, George Frazier, Lee Sarokin, Rubin “, ” Carter, Winnie Ewing, Sheldon Harnick, Jerry Bock, “ Fiorello, John Goodenough, Peg Yorkin, Sue Johanson, Yan Mingfu, John Berylson, James Lewis, poisonings, Mikala Jones, André Watts, Jane Birkin, Kevin Mitnick, San Francisco ”, Frank Sinatra, Lady Gaga, Hugh “ Sonny ” Carter Jr, Jimmy, Randy Meisner, Herman, Angus Cloud, Fezco, ” O’Neill, ___, Mark Margolis, Hector Salamanca, Saul, Sixto Rodriguez, flamed, Robbie Robertson, Tom Jones, Magoo, Timbaland, Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Clarence Avant, Quincy Jones, Bill Withers, Ada Deer, Jerry Moss, Herb Alpert, Alpert, Michael Parkinson, Muhammad Ali, Miss Piggy, Jiri Cerny, Betty Tyson, Richard Nixon’s, John Warnock, Ron Cephas Jones, Howard Hubbard, Samuel “ Joe ” Wurzelbacher, Joe, Barack Obama, Gil Brandt, Tom Landry, Tex Schramm, Bill Richardson, Steve Harwell, Shabtai Shavit, Jordan, Ian Wilmut, Dolly, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Roy Kidd, Eno Ichikawa, Michael McGrath, Fernando Botero, Giorgio Napolitano, Matteo Messina Denaro, Michael Gambon, Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter ”, Mankombu Sambasivan, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Hosni Mubarak, Tim Wakefield, Dick Butkus, Michael Chiarello, Michael Chiarello ”, Masters, Burt Young, Paulie, Sylvester Stallone, Hughes Van Ellis, Kevin Phillips, Louise Meriwether, Mark Goddard, Major Don West, Rudolph Isley, Isley, unblinking, Piper Laurie, Chrissy Snow, Bobby Charlton, Bishan Bedi, Richard Moll, Xi Jinping, Wu Zunyou, Chandler Bing, Ken Mattingly, Bob Knight, Frank Borman, Steve Norton, Don Walsh, Mariana Trench, Terry R, Taylor, Daisaku Ikeda, Herbie Hancock, Bobby Ussery, George “ Funky ” Brown, Joanna ”, Marty Krofft, Pufnstuf, Donny, Marie ”, Terry Venables, Tim Dorsey, Serge A, Frances Sternhagen, ” “, Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, Gerald Ford, Shane MacGowan, Bernard McGhee Organizations: Wagner Group, Russian, White House, U.S, Supreme, United Nations, Greek Foreign, Republican, Hong, Boston Celtics, NBA, NBC, CBS, Television, Fame, Chicago Blackhawks, ”, New, of Fame, Louis Cardinals, “, Palestinian, Israel, South Dakota Democrat, Arab, Arab American U.S, Britain’s, Commons, . Census Bureau, Alabama ”, Zealand, Navajo, Minnesota Vikings, People, Playboy, Capitol, Juana La Cubana, New York Knicks, Guinness, World Records, Hollywood, Treasury, Southern Baptist Convention, Los Angeles, Roundabout Theatre Company, Air Force, Harlem Globetrotters, Janeiro Games, baseball’s, Germany’s Bayreuth, NCAA, Hall of Famer, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Legion, Ames, Phoenix, FBI, Simon &, Christian Broadcasting Network, Republican Party, Christian Coalition, Harvard, Feminist Majority Foundation, “ Little, Communist Party, Millwall, New York Philharmonic, San, Brigade, Wing, Eagles, HBO, of Indian Affairs, M, Police, Carpenters, Adobe Systems, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Dallas Cowboys, escapist, Democratic, Zulu, Eastern, AA, Broadway, Communist, U.S . Senate, Red Sox, Yankees, Boston, Chicago Bears, Major, Isley Brothers, New York Times, Manchester United, India, Indiana, Nevada — Resorts, Atlantic City —, Navy, Associated Press, Soka Gakkai, Kentucky Derby, Kool, The, European, Barcelona, Tottenham, City Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Bakhmut, Russian, U.S, Finnish, New Mexico, New Jersey, British, Greece, American, Hong Kong, Italian, America, New York, Spanish, catwalks, Texas, Taiwan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, San, New Orleans, Rosebud, Arab American, Haiti, “, African, Brooklyn, London, Los, Mississippi, United States, Rivers, Georgia, Savannah, Louisville, New York City, Irish, HBO’s “ Rome, Brazilian, Ipanema, Moscow, Virginia, Montana, Vietnam, Canada, Asia, Chicago, Hawaii, France, South Africa, Wisconsin, Los Angeles, Czech, Eastern Kentucky, Colombian, ”, California, Tulsa, Finland, China, Nevada, Atlantic City, Florida, Berkshire

☆ Showbiz in 2023: Hollywood strikes, Beatles last song, 'Swift effect'
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] SAG-AFTRA actors and Writers Guild of America (WGA) writers walk the picket line outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California, U.S., July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - From strikes paralysing Hollywood to the Beatles releasing their last ever song, the world of entertainment provided many headlines this year. * The last Beatles song, featuring the voice of late member John Lennon and developed using artificial intelligence, was released. * Music superstars Taylor Swift and Beyonce kicked off their hugely successful concert tours, and both brought films of them to cinemas. "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" hauled in an estimated $126 million-plus globally in its opening weekend, a boost for cinemas after the Hollywood strike prompted studios to delay releases for titles like "Dune: Part Two."

Persons: Mike Blake, John Lennon, Charlie Watts, Madonna, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Kevin Spacey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ed Sheeran, Alec Baldwin, Rust, Halyna Hutchins, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Swift, Travis Kelce, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Tina Turner, Lisa Marie Presley, Harry Belafonte, Matthew Perry, Tom Sizemore, Julian Sands, Jeff Beck, Jane Birkin, Tony Benett, Sinead O'Connor, Michael Gambon, Marie, Louise Gumuchian, Frances Kerry Organizations: Writers Guild of America, Disney Studios, REUTERS, Hollywood, Beatles, Unions, New, Kansas City Chiefs, Thomson Locations: Burbank , California, U.S, United States, New Mexico

☆ Joey Evans Is Back. This Time He’s a Struggling Artist.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Brian Seibert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Those ancestors appear in the form of extraordinary tap dancers, including Dormeshia and Glover. And they keep reappearing throughout the show to remind Joey of his authentic self. This Joey, played by Ephraim Sykes, has a soul, and that soul expresses itself in the deeply rooted sound of Savion Glover’s tap dancing. Frank Sinatra played Joey for the sanitized 1957 film. Revivals at City Center in the 1960s starred Bob Fosse, years before he directed shows like “Chicago” that made Joey’s sleaze into a dominant style.

Persons: Joey, Ephraim Sykes, ” Beaty, Ossie Davis, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, ’ ” Glover, Jimmy Slyde, Lon Chaney, Chuck Green, Buster Brown, ”, ‘, Glover, Henry LeTang, “, Slyde, Chaney, ” Glover, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Bob Fosse Organizations: Dormeshia, Hollywood, City Center Locations: Glover, ‘ Da

☆ Tony Bennett, masterful stylist of American musical standards, dies at 96
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

US singer Tony Bennett (Anthony Dominick Benedetto) performs on stage during an invitation only concert at the newly opened Encore Boston Harbor Casino in Everett, Massachusetts on August 8, 2019. "No country has given the world such great music," Bennett said in a 2015 interview with Downbeat Magazine. The evening's performance resulted in the album, "Tony Bennett: MTV Unplugged," which won two Grammys, including album of the year. Bennett would win Grammys for his tributes to female vocalists ("Here's to the Ladies"), Billie Holiday ("Tony Bennett on Holiday"), and Duke Ellington ("Bennett Sings Ellington — Hot & Cool"). He also won two Emmy Awards — for "Tony Bennett Live By Request: A Valentine Special" (1996) and "Tony Bennett: An American Classic" (2007).

Persons: Tony Bennett, Anthony Dominick Benedetto, Bennett, Antonia Benedetto, Frank Sinatra, Lady Gaga, Sylvia Weiner, Bennett didn't, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Sinatra, Sinatra's, Cheek, Gaga, Carrie Underwood, Amy Winehouse, Winehouse, Oscar, Amy, Porter, George Gershwin, George Cory, Douglass Cross, Ralph Sharon, Ralph, Danny, David Letterman, Fred Astaire, Elvis Costello, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, — Bennett, Louis Armstrong, Barbra Streisand, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Long, Susan Crow Benedetto, Anthony, Anna, James Infirmary, Bel, Miriam Spier, you'll, it's Bing Crosby, Art Tatum, Lester Young, Stan Getz, Joe Bari, Rosemary Clooney, Arthur Godfrey's, Pearl Bailey, Bob Hope, Mitch Miller, Hank Williams, Miller, Chuck Wayne, Chico Hamilton, Art Blakey, Count Basie, Harry Belafonte's, Martin Luther King Jr, Selma, Bennett's, Johnny Mandel's Oscar, Clive Davis, Tony, Bill Evans, Patricia Beech, Sandra Grant, Susan, Johanna, Antonia, Dae, —, Benedetto — Organizations: Associated Press, American, MTV, Ellington, New, Frank Sinatra School of, Arts, Armed Forces Network, Armed Forces Radio, American Theater, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, Greenwich Village, Paramount Theater, Sinatra, Columbia Records, Count Basie Orchestra, Army, Civil Rights Movement, Carnegie Hall, Columbia, IRS, Kennedy, National Endowment, Arts Jazz, Smithsonian Museum of American Locations: Everett , Massachusetts, Francisco, New York, San Francisco, Little Rock , Arkansas, Astoria, New York City, Queens, Italian, Germany, Greenwich, Montgomery, Los Angeles

☆ Tony Bennett, legendary American singer, dies at age 96
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Bill Trott | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/10] Singer Tony Bennett performs during Sinatra 100 - An All-Star Grammy Concert in Las Vegas, Nevada December 2, 2015. The star-studded tribute was held to mark the would be 100th birthday of legendary performer Frank Sinatra on December 12. The comedian was so impressed that he had the singer change his name to Tony Bennett and used him as an opening act. In 2016 a statue of Bennett was unveiled outside San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel, where Bennett first performed the song some 55 years before. "Tony Bennett has not just bridged the generation gap, he has demolished it," the New York Times wrote in 1994.

Persons: Tony Bennett, Sinatra, Frank Sinatra, Steve Marcus, Bennett, Sylvia Weiner, Gaga, Beatle Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin, Willie Nelson, Bono, Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Danny, Bob Hope, Anthony Dominick Benedetto, Joe Bari, Hope, Hank Williams, Basie, Count Basie, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, George, Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Singer, Harry Belafonte, Martin Luther King Jr, Belafonte, Jesse Jackson, Ralph Sharon, Danny Bennett, Sharon, Lady Gaga, Susan Crow, Patricia Beech, Sandra Grant, Bill Trott, Brendan O'Brien, Diane Craft, Jonathan Oatis, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, MTV, Partners, New York's Radio City Music, Columbia Records, Count Basie Orchestra, Twitter, New York Times, Thomson Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada, San Francisco, New York City, New York, Europe, New, Greenwich, Selma , Alabama, Francisco, San, Chicago

☆ Versatile Oscar-winning American actor Alan Arkin dies at 89
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] Actor Alan Arkin poses during the CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada April 23, 2015. Alan Arkin was honored with the CinemaCon Lifetime Achievement Award. His first major movie role also earned him an Oscar nomination - best actor for playing a Soviet sailor in the 1966 Cold War comedy "The Russians Are Coming! He appeared as a deaf-mute in the adaptation of Carson McCullers' novel "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" in 1968, drawing his second Academy Award nomination for best actor. "Did ANYONE have the range Alan Arkin had?

Persons: Alan Arkin, CinemaCon, Steve, Oscar, Adam, Matthew, Anthony, Arkin, Carl Reiner's, Sunshine, Audrey Hepburn, terrorizes Hepburn, Carson McCullers, Joseph Heller's, Ben Affleck's, Michael Douglas, Patton Oswalt, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen, Alan Wolf Arkin, Harry Belafonte, Suzanne, Will Dunham, Danielle Broadway, Bill Trott, Diane Craft, Nick Zieminski, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Caesars, National Association of Theatre Owners, REUTERS, Little, Oscar, Variety, The New York Times, CIA, New, Thomson Locations: Las Vegas , Nevada, Carlsbad , California, Soviet, Iran, Glengarry Glen Ross, Beverly Hills, New York City, Brooklyn, Los Angeles

☆ The Making of a New M.L.K. Biography: A Q&A With the Author, Jonathan Eig
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Benjamin P. Russell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Having written about Muhammad Ali, Al Capone, Jackie Robinson and other touchstones of the American imagination, Jonathan Eig says he recognizes a common trait in the disparate personalities he’s explored. “Most of them, if not all of them, have a serious streak of rebellion running through their lives,” Eig said. “King: A Life,” will be published on May 16 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Eig builds on the ongoing reappraisal of King’s legacy with new archival material and extensive interviews with people who lived, worked and fought at his side. Many of these interviews were conducted with some urgency: The window to speak to people who knew King personally is closing, Eig said.

☆ Opinion: From Woody Woodpecker to Mickey Mouse
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. The term is credited to animator Walter Lantz, the creator of Woody Woodpecker. “While I would love to see a progressive in the White House, I am terrified of another Donald Trump presidency. Mickey Mouse warBill Bramhall/Tribune Content Agency“President Franklin Roosevelt launched a war against the Great Depression,” noted Julian Zelizer. “Women still have less access to the internet, with men being 21% more likely to be online than women globally.

☆ Work, Love, Dignity and Play: 10 Key Harry Belafonte Songs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Jon Pareles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Music was the springboard for Harry Belafonte’s lifework: a career that leveraged cultural recognition toward political goals, and that recognized artistic achievements as both pleasures in themselves and symbols to wield. But Belafonte arrived with a voice that could be a tender pop croon or a bluesy near-shout. Like many folk revivalists, Belafonte dug into the folk song archives at the Library of Congress, and he chose songs with full awareness of their historical implications and heritage. He was pointed in his selections, insisting on the dignity of the African diaspora. He sang work songs, love songs, spirituals, blues, calypsos and, as early as the 1960s, African music.

☆ Opinion: Harry Belafonte lived in – and transformed – two worlds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Opinion Gene Seymour | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Gene Seymour Jeremy Freeman/CNNBut history, as it often does, had other ideas for Belafonte, who died April 25 at 96, having lived a long, full life as both entertainer and activist. The times he lived in paved a smoother way for him than the one faced by his mentor and hero Paul Robeson. On the other hand, there was, relatively speaking, only so much Belafonte could do on the entertainment side. Here, as elsewhere in Belafonte’s life, the activism and the entertainment sides of his public life worked in tandem to buttress, offset and enhance the other. Join us on Twitter and FacebookAnd in a gratifying sense, the push-pull of history’s demands worked in Belafonte’s favor as a screen actor.

☆ Harry Belafonte’s complicated relationship with the civil rights movement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Nicquel Terry Ellis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

During the civil rights movement, he used his star power to fight against injustice, raising money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. cofounded and led. Dr. Martin Luther King, his wife Coretta Scott King, right, and Harry Belafonte at center marching near Montgomery, Alabama, on March 24, 1965. But his relationship with the civil rights movement wasn’t always simple. Archive Photos/Getty ImagesAfter King’s death in 1968, Belafonte expressed frustration in an interview with The Washington Post about his prominent role in the civil rights movement.

☆ Harry Belafonte, Singer, Actor and Civil-Rights Activist, Dies at 96
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Neil Shah | Jennifer Calfas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Harry Belafonte , one of the most groundbreaking Black entertainers in history and a lifelong activist who helped energize the civil-rights movement, died Tuesday morning in his New York home. Mr. Belafonte died of congestive heart failure, said Ken Sunshine, his spokesman.

CNN —Harry Belafonte, the dashing singer, actor and activist who became an indispensable supporter of the civil rights movement, has died, his publicist Ken Sunshine told CNN. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Belafonte, left, plays a school principal in a scene from the film "See How They Run" in 1952. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images Belafonte poses with the Emmy Award he won in 1960 for the musical special "Tonight With Belafonte." Fred Sabine/NBCU/Getty Images Belafonte and other recipients of Albert Einstein Commemorative Awards display their medallions after being honored in 1972. He is survived by his wife Pamela, his children Adrienne Belafonte Biesemeyer, Shari Belafonte, Gina Belafonte, David Belafonte, two stepchildren Sarah Frank and Lindsey Frank and eight grandchildren.

☆ Factbox: Facts about actor-activist Harry Belafonte
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

* Belafonte received a Tony Award in 1954 for his role in Broadway's "Almanac" and became the first Black actor to win an Emmy for a 1959 television variety special. * Belafonte received three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. * Although Belafonte and co-star Dorothy Dandridge were accomplished singers, their vocals in the 1954 movie "Carmen Jones" were sung by LeVern Hutcherson and Marilyn Horne. * Belafonte's movies often had racial themes. * Belafonte produced the 1984 movie "Beat Street," one of the first movies about break-dancing and hip-hop culture.

☆ Opinion | The Harry Belafonte Speech That Changed My Life
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Charles M. Blow | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the summer of 2013, I participated in a daylong series of talks at the Ford Foundation in Midtown Manhattan. The event, the Road Ahead for Civil Rights: Courting Change, was meant to mark the semicentennial of the civil rights movement. My panel was in the morning, but I stayed for the lunch session because Harry Belafonte was participating in it, along with the activist Dolores Huerta. I didn’t know the Belafonte my parents knew, the young, handsome calypso singer. But there were no notes that I could see; we were witnessing the brilliance of Belafonte in real time.

☆ Harry Belafonte, Folk Hero
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Wesley Morris | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

And rather than simply translate his hot-ticket cabaret act for American living rooms, Belafonte imagined something stranger and more alluring. “The bleaker my acting prospects looked,” Belafonte wrote, in “My Song,” his memoir from 2011, “the more I threw myself into political organizing.” That organizing took familiar forms — marches, protests, rallies. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with Coretta Scott King as the beneficiary, because Dr. King didn’t believe he could afford it. (“Martin began drafting his antiwar speech in my apartment.”) So, yes, Belafonte was near the psychic core and administrative center of the movement. But those bleak Hollywood prospects — some incalculable combination of racism and too-raw talent — kept Belafonte uniquely earthbound, doing a kind of cultural organizing.

☆ Harry Belafonte on His Artistic Values and His Activism
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Harry Belafonte, the singer, actor and activist whose wide-ranging success blazed a trail for other Black artists in the 1950s, died on Tuesday at age 96. A child of Harlem, Mr. Belafonte used his platform at the height of the entertainment world to speak out frequently on his music, how Black life was depicted onscreen and, most important to him, the civil rights movement. Here are some of the insights Mr. Belafonte provided to The New York Times during his many decades in the public spotlight, as they appeared at the time:His musicMr. Belafonte’s string of hits, including “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” and “Jamaica Farewell,” helped create an American obsession with Caribbean music that led his record company to promote him as the “King of Calypso.”But Mr. Belafonte never embraced that sort of monarchical title, rejecting “purism” as a “cover-up for mediocrity” and explaining that he saw his work as a mash-up of musical styles. He told The New York Times Magazine in 1959 that folk music had “hidden within it a great dramatic sense, and a powerful lyrical sense.” He also plainly conceded: “I don’t have a great voice.”

☆ Harry Belafonte, singer, actor and rights campaigner, dies at age 96 -New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

April 25 (Reuters) - Harry Belafonte, a singer, songwriter and groundbreaking actor who started his entertainment career belting "Day O" in his 1950s hit song "Banana Boat" before turning to political activism, died on Tuesday at age 96, the New York Times reported. (This story has been refiled to fix the case in the headline)Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Doina Chiacu;Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Harry Belafonte, calypso star and civil rights champion, dies at 96
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Alex Johnson | Diana Dasrath | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Singer Harry Belafonte speaks during a press junket at The Bing Decision Maker Series with the Sing Your Song Cast and Filmmakers on January 22, 2011 in Park City, Utah. American singer Harry Belafonte performing in a recording studio, circa 1957. By the early 1960s, Belafonte had become a force in the civil rights movement. A crowd of over 10,000 civil rights marchers gathers in the Manhattan Garment Center as Harry Belafonte sings at spiritual at a civil rights rally. A capacity audience of civil rights advocates turned out to watch a glittering array of theater personalities perform.

☆ Harry Belafonte, 96, Dies; Barrier-Breaking Singer, Actor and Activist
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Peter Keepnews | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

He provided money to bail Dr. King and other civil rights activists out of jail. His spacious apartment on West End Avenue in Manhattan became Dr. King’s home away from home. The suit was settled the next year, with Mr. Belafonte retaining possession.) In an interview with The Washington Post a few months after Dr. King’s death, Mr. Belafonte expressed ambivalence about his high profile in the civil rights movement. In Atlanta for a benefit concert for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1962, Mr. Belafonte was twice refused service in the same restaurant.

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