News

Sunday’s SAG Awards ceremony will return to its normal two-hour live format on TNT and TBS. One of the highlights each year is the special In Memoriam segment. It’s been a particularly rough year with over 100 deaths of prominent actors and actresses who were likely members of SAG/AFTRA. Show producers typically are able to include approximately 40-50 people in a tribute. The 2021 segment saluted 55 people because they had responsibility for 14 months instead of 12.

Among that group will certainly be previous SAG president Ed Asner, who was also a life achievement award recipient. That honorary award was also presented to Sidney Poitier and Betty White, who both died this past year.

SEECelebrity Deaths 2022: In Memoriam Gallery

Who else might be featured in the 2022 tribute? Look for Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis, Oscar nominees Ned Beatty, Peter Bogdanovich and Dean Stockwell, plus Emmy champs Louie Anderson, Michael Constantine, Charles Grodin,...

Veteran actress Joan Copeland, known for her roles in numerous daytime soap operas and the sister of playwright Arthur Miller, has died. She was 99. According to Variety, Copeland passed away the morning of January 4 in her New York City home. The long-tenured actress had been retired since 2011 after making her final on-screen appearance in the short film Love Is Like Life But Longer. Having made her Broadway debut in 1948 in Sundown Beach, Copeland would go on to star in several more Broadway productions, including Detective Story (1949), Not for Children (1951), and Handful of Fire (1958). She received much praise for her performance in the 1977 Broadway revival of Pal Joey and won the Drama Desk Award for The American Clock (1981), written by her brother Miller. Copeland started her television career in the 1950s, making guest appearances on shows such as Suspense and The Web. She would go on to land starring roles in various soap operas,...

Joan Copeland, the younger sister of legendary playwright Arthur Miller whose decades-long Broadway career included performances in two of her brother’s plays, died Tuesday at age 99.

The actress, whose TV credits included multiple daytime soap operas and NBC’s “Law & Order,” passed away in her sleep in her Manhattan home, her son, Eric Kupchik, told The Hollywood Reporter. Kupchik did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Copeland starred in Miller’s 1968 play “The Price” and later won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Rose Baum in Miller’s 1980 Depression-era play “The American Clock.” The music-loving character was inspired by their mother, Augusta.

“Arthur didn’t write the part for me, but it’s one of the few roles I didn’t have to audition for my brother,” she said in a 2012 interview. “I’ve had to audition for several of his plays,...

Joan Copeland, who graced both the stage and screen for decades as a Broadway star and soap opera actress, died the morning of Jan. 4 in her New York City home, Copeland’s family confirmed to Variety. She was 99.

Copeland’s career included performances on numerous daytime soap operas — including “Search for Tomorrow” (1967-72) “Love of Life” (1960-63), “The Edge of the Night” (1956) and “How to Survive a Marriage” (1974).

As one of the first members of The Actors Studio, she made her Broadway debut in 1948 as Nadine in “Sundown Beach.” Her other Broadway credits include “Detective Story,” (1950) “Coco,” (1969) and “45 Seconds From Broadway” (2001).

Copeland was the sister of playwright Arthur Miller, who died in 2005. She appeared in one of Miller’s plays, “The American Clock” (1980), a performance for which she earned a Drama Desk award.

“From the time I was a little girl I had the stage bug,” Copeland told The New...

Joan Copeland, an actress whose Broadway career began in the 1940s and would include acclaimed performances in a 1976 revival of Pal Joey and in the 1980 premiere of The America Clock, written by her brother, the playwright Arthur Miller, died today at her home in New York City. She was 99.

One of the original members of the renowned Actors Studio, Copeland also had numerous film credits and recurring roles on such daytime serials as Search for Tomorrow and One Life to Live. Copeland’s death was first reported by the Broadway World website.

Copeland made her Broadway debut in 1948’s Sundown Beach, following it up the next year in Detective Story. She also appeared in Not For Children (1951), Handful of Fire (1958), Tovarich (1963), Something More! (1964), The Price (1968), Coco (1969), Two By Two (1970), Checking Out (1976), and 45 Seconds From Broadway (2001).

She was nominated for Drama Desk Awards for Pal Joey (1976) and The American Clock (1981), winning for the latter.

• Fangoria "Romero was right" wonderful piece on modern life, resonant horror, and zombie movies

• The Telegraph Jamie Dornan, who had such a great onscreen year, says 2021 was actually the hardest year of his life

• Gr8ter Days Joan Copeland, sister of Arthur Miller has passed away at age 99

Eyes Wide Shut, new animated films, and several "best of" lists are after the jump...

1981: Another Life premiered on Cbn.

1984: Days of our Lives' Howie walked down the aisle as Hope.

1997: Port Charles premiered on ABC.

2007: As the World Turns' Noah arrived in Oakdale."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into d ifferent and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1964: On Another World, Russ (Joey Trent) admitted to Jim (Leon Janney) that he did not feel smart enough to succeed in school.

1966: On Morning Star, Hank Stover (Warren Remmerling), Bill Riley (Edward Mallory) and Katy Elliott (Elizabeth Perry) turned to Eric Manning (Ron Jackson) for assistance.

1963: Search for Tomorrow's Marian faced troubled times.

1974: How to Survive a Marriage premiered on NBC.

1980: As the World Turns' Mary was shocked to see Joyce.

2005: Young and the Restless' Drucilla and Phyllis faced off."History speaks to artists. It changes the artist's thinking and is constantly reshaping it into different and unexpected images."

― Anselm Kiefer

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On The Edge of Night, Sara (Teal Ames) had a drink at the bar with the man she recognized from the photo, Roy Benson. When Mike (John Larkin) arrived, Sara pretended he was her boyfriend which caused the man to leave. Mike had Willy (Edward Holmes) follow him.

1981: Another Life premiered on Cbn.

1984: Days of our Lives' Howie walked down the aisle as Hope.

1997: Port Charles premiered on ABC.

2007: As the World Turns' Noah arrived in Oakdale."All true histories contain instruction; though, in some, the treasure may be hard to find, and when found, so trivial in quantity that the dry, shrivelled kernel scarcely compensates for the trouble of cracking the nut."

― Anne Brontë in "Agnes Grey"

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1964: On Another World, Russ (Joey Trent) admitted to Jim (Leon Janney) that he did not feel smart enough to succeed in school.

1966: On Morning Star, Hank Stover...

1963: Search for Tomorrow's Marian faced troubled times.

1974: How to Survive a Marriage premiered on NBC.

1980: As the World Turns' Mary was shocked to see Joyce.

2005: Young and the Restless' Drucilla and Phyllis faced off."History is a vast early warning system."

― Norman Cousins

"Today in Soap Opera History" is a collection of the most memorable, interesting and influential events in the history of scripted, serialized programs. From birthdays and anniversaries to scandals and controversies, every day this column celebrates the soap opera in American culture.

On this date in...

1957: On The Edge of Night, Sara (Teal Ames) had a drink at the bar with the man she recognized from the photo, Roy Benson. When Mike (John Larkin) arrived, Sara pretended he was her boyfriend which caused the man to leave. Mike had Willy (Edward Holmes) follow him.

1963: On Search for Tomorrow, Marian Rand (Jane...

On Saturday, September 12, 2015, William V. Madison, author of Madeline Kahn Being the Music, A Life University Press of Mississippi, 2015, will host a musical tribute to the late singing actress as part of Metropolitan Room's Gone Too Soon series, produced by Joseph Macchia. Directed by Peter Napolitano, The Music Of Madeline Kahn will feature several friends amp colleagues of the comic legend, including her co-stars from Richard Rodgers' Two by Two, Walter Willison and Joan Copeland, with Lawrence Leritz, guest star on 'Cosby'. They will be joined by performers from theatre, cabaret amp opera who have been inspired by Kahn, including Ann Harada Avenue Q, Smash. Jeff Cubeta serves as music director.

Polly Bergen: Actress on Richard Nixon's 'enemies list' (image: Polly Bergen publicity shot ca. late 1950s) (See previous article: "Polly Bergen Movies: First U.S. Woman President.") As discussed in the previous post, despite its deceptively progressive premise — the first United States woman president as a palpable reality — Kisses for My President, written by veteran Paramount screenwriter Claude Binyon (Search for Beauty, The Gilded Lily) and newcomer Robert G. Kane (whose sole other movie credit was the poorly received Arnold Schwarzenegger comedy Western Villain), was an unabashedly reactionary, "traditional family values" effort. Ironically, Polly Bergen, for her part, was a liberal-minded, politically active Democrat. At around the time Kisses for My President was released, Bergen, along with Gregory Peck, James Garner, and other Hollywood personalities, publicly came out against California's Proposition 14, a 1964 ballot initiative that would have nullified the Rumford Fair Housing Act, thus paving the way for...

By Roger Friedman

HollywoodNews.com: The greatest American play? Quite possibly Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman,” set in 1949 and revived last night on Broadway in a production that is outstanding. Mike Nichols directed and reinvented Miller’s classic, with Philip Seymour Hoffman as Willy Loman, Andrew Garfield (the new movie Spider Man) as Biff, Linda Emonds as Willy’s wife Linda, and Finn Wittrock as Happy. This is a historic production, quite possibly the best ever (and there have been many great ones starring Dustin Hoffman, Brian Dennehy, Lee J. Cobb, George C. Scott). Thursday night’s star studded opening was the second time I’ve seen this production, and it’s only gotten more devastating, deep, emotional, and overwhelming. Philip Seymour Hoffman is our generation’s Jason Robards. He is perfection as Willy Loman in all aspects–from Willy’s wrestling with his past (the father and...

The Goddess (1958) Direction: John Cromwell Cast: Kim Stanley, Lloyd Bridges, Steven Hill, Betty Lou Holland, Joan Copeland, Gerald Hiken, Patty Duke Screenplay: Paddy Chayefsky Oscar Movies Recommended Kim Stanley, The Goddess Paddy Chayefsky evokes a cynical Tennessee Williams in his screenplay for The Goddess, a Hollywood cautionary tale directed by veteran John Cromwell. Episodic in progression — the film is broken into three pulpy chapters — The Goddess serves as a spotlight for a daring Kim Stanley performance, playing within the middle-brow arena of melodrama even as it stages dark comedy and acute commentary. In The Goddess, Stanley is Emily Ann Faulkner, a broken woman from rural hickdom who has been abandoned by her irresponsible mother. (The child is portrayed by Patty Duke; Betty Lou Holland is persuasive as the selfish biological mother.) Emily is thus raised by relatives, primarily a Seventh Day Adventist aunt. Stardom, however, is her higher calling. [...]...

Opens

October 24

Brother Bear will be the last 2-D or cel animated feature cartoon to come out of Disney for a long time. Whether Disney, enthralled with the creative (and boxoffice) potential of 3-D computer animation, will ever return to traditional animation is an open question. But at least Disney bids farewell to 2-D in fine style. For Brother Bear is a playful movie that celebrates nature and the spirit world with striking imagery and a smooth blend of drama and comedy. The film should attract solid family business at the boxoffice.

Directors Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker along with producer Chuck Williams also have fun with the layout and design: The film starts off in an earthen color palette and the standard 1.85:1 format. Then, at the moment the movie's central character, a native American youth named Kenai, is transformed into a grizzly bear, the screen shifts to more saturated colors and Cinemascope or a 2.35:1 format, thus opening up the rich vistas of the Pacific Northwest of 10,000 years ago to our startled eyes. It's a grand moment.

The movie begins as an old man relates a story to a group of young people in a cave, a story about himself and his two brothers. Years before, Tanana (Joan Copeland), the village shaman, gave the youngest brother, Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix), a totem to guide him through life. The totem, a carved bear, the symbol of love, disappoints him. This red-blooded brave would have preferred an eagle, such as the one given to his eldest brother, Sitka (D.B. Sweeny), or even the wolf that belongs to his brother Denahi (Jason Raize).

Later that day, when he discovers a bear has made off with his basket of fish, he hunts the grizzly down only to become trapped in the confrontation. His older brothers race to the rescue, with Sitka sacrificing his life to save Kenai. Heartbroken, Kenai vows revenge against the grizzly. Despite warnings from Denahi and Tanana, Kenai tracks the grizzly down and kills the animal. At that moment, the Great Spirits in the sky transform Kenai into a bear himself. So when Denahi comes upon the scene, he assumes this bear has now killed a second brother and moves to attack the bear, forcing Kenai to flee.

Tanana appears to the young man in a bear's body to explain that he was transformed by Sitka and that Kenai can find Sitka on the "mountain where the light touches the earth." While pondering this, Kenai encounters two dumber-than-dirt Canadian-accented moose (Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas hilariously reprising their MacKenzie brothers routine as dimwitted moose). Neither Rutt nor Tuke has any idea where to find this mountain, but they do reappear occasionally for comic relief.

Becoming ensnared in a hunter's trap, Kenai is rescued by a chatterbox bear cub named Koda (Jeremy Suarez) who not only frees him but claims to know where the mountain is. Reluctantly, Kenai takes on the cub as his companion for an adventurous trek through lively forests, glacial caverns and a volcanic field, all the while being tracked by revenge-minded Denahi.

The relationship between the put-upon Kenai and the gabby Koda is more than a little reminiscent of other recent cartoon "road" movies, say, the laconic mammoth Manfred and Sid the chattering sloth in Ice Age or even the loquacious donkey and the cranky ogre in Shrek. But this odd-couple pairing does lead to solid laughs, fueled in no small part by the wonderful comic patter of Suarez as Koda.

All the voice actors in fact are terrific, especially Moranis and Thomas and later Michael Clarke Duncan as Tug, a jovial bear who welcomes fellow bears at the annual salmon run. The mix of 2-D and 3-D effects gives this post-Ice Age wilderness startling, painterly beauty. Disney animators fill the landscapes with spectacular water effects, billowing clouds, drifting snow, volcanic mud pots and the brilliant hues of the Northern Lights aurora. The Cinemascope format gives a vastness to the scenery as if this wilderness goes on forever. The film also benefits from melodic songs written by Phil Collins in his second Disney cartoon outing and his first collaboration (with Mark Mancina) on a film score.

BROTHER BEAR

Buena Vista Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures

Credits:

Directors: Aaron Blaise, Robert Walker

Producer: Chuck Williams

Screenwriters: Tab Murphy, Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, Steve Bencich, Ron J. Friedman

Songs: Phil Collins

Music: Mark Mancina, Phil Collins

Associate producer: Igor Khait

Editor: Tim Mertens

Art director: Robh Ruppel

Background stylist: Xiangyuan Jie

Voices:

Kenai/Bear: Joaquin Phoenix

Koda: Jeremy Suarez

Rutt: Rick Moranis

Tuke: Dave Thomas

Sitka: D.B. Sweeny

Denahi: Jason Raize

Tug: Michael Clarke Duncan

Tanana: Joan Copeland

Mabel: Estelle Harris

Running time -- 81 minutes

MPAA rating: G...