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Over the course of a screen acting career that stretched across fifty years, Charles Cyphers racked up 100 credits, but he’s best known for his collaborations with John Carpenter, having appeared in the director’s Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, Someone’s Watching Me!, Elvis, The Fog, and Escape from New York. His most popular character was Sheriff Leigh Brackett from the 1978 Halloween, a role he reprised in 1981’s Halloween II and, after a forty year absence from the Halloween franchise, 2021’s Halloween Kills. Sadly, we’ve lost this great character actor, as Variety reports that Cyphers has passed away “from a brief illness” at the age of 85.

Cyphers’ manager Chris Roe confirmed his passing to Variety and provided the following statement: “Charles was a lovable and sensitive man. He always had the best stories, and you got a full performance while he told you. He was a close friend and...

In the "The Simpsons" episode "Flaming Moe's, the put-upon bartender Moe Szyslak (Hank Azaria) finds his bar struggling to stay afloat in the wake of increased job satisfaction and family bliss in the city. Homer (Dan Castellaneta) suggests Moe try a new cocktail. Homer then reveals the recipe for a cough syrup-infused drink — the Flaming Homer — that becomes more flavorful after you set it on fire. Moe mixes one and it's an instant hit. Moe also instantly claims credit for inventing the drink, much to Homer's consternation.

The redubbed Flaming Moe is a huge success, and Moe's dive bar quickly grow into a massive event space where Aerosmith performs. Eventually Homer, fed up with not receiving any credit or money, reveals the secret ingredients and Moe's quickly returns to being a dive.

This episode, written by Robert Cohen, was inspired by a similar "rivalry" between "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening and...

Susan Sullivan, best known for her roles in soaps like Falcon Crest, A World Apart and Another World, recently opened up about her health revealing she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

The actress shared a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, a photo in the hospital with tanks of oxygen.

“Life‘s surprising little turns try to be ready for them with humor and hope. On we go,” she captioned the post.

Life‘s surprising little turns try to be ready for them with humor and hope. On we go. pic.twitter.com/wdWI4FicHq

— Susan Sullivan (@realssullivan) October 17, 2023

A day later, Sullivan gave her followers an update on her health sharing she had undergone surgery and said it was a “successful” operation.

“Thanks for all the lovely comments and concerns. I had lung cancer. The surgery was successful. The healing process is a struggle,...

Mike Hagerty, the prolific character actor who recently starred in HBO’s critically acclaimed dramedy “Somebody Somewhere,” died Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 67.

Bridget Everett, who played Hagerty’s on-screen daughter in “Somebody Somewhere,” shared the news via her Instagram on Friday.

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A post shared by Bridget Everett (@bridgeteverett)

A veteran character actor with over 100 credits in various television shows and movies, Hagerty was also known for his recurring role in the hit NBC sitcom “Friends,” where he played Mr. Treeger, the superintendent of the apartment complex that the majority of the main cast lived in. He also was a main cast member on Fox’s “The George Carlin Show” and on HBO’s “Lucky Louie.” Born and raised in Chicago, Hagerty was noted for his distinctive mustache and thick Chicago accent and got his start as a performer at the city’s famed improv theater company Second City.

Mike Hagerty, best known for his roles on Somebody Somewhere, as the building super Mr. Treeger on Friends and as the surly owner of a used-clothing store on Seinfeld, has died. His death April 29 was confirmed by Bridget Everett, who plays his daughter on the HBO comedy. No cause was given.

“With great sadness, the family of Michael G. Hagerty announced his death yesterday in Los Angeles,” wrote Everett on Instagram. “A beloved character actor, his love of his hometown of Chicago and his family were the cornerstones of his life. … He will be sorely missed.”

HBO said statement: “We are very saddened to hear about the sudden passing of Mike Hagerty. A member of the HBO family for many years, his most recent role as Bridget Everett’s father in Somebody Somewhere showed his special talent for bringing heart to a performance. Mike was a joy to work with...

Character actor Mike Hagerty — who appeared on shows including Friends, Cheers, The George Carlin Show, and Curb Your Enthusiasm — died Thursday at age 67.

Comedian Bridget Everett, who stars in HBO’s Somebody Somewhere, shared the news of his death on Instagram Friday. “With great sadness, the family of Michael G. Hagerty announced his death yesterday in Los Angeles. A beloved character actor, his love of his hometown of Chicago and his family were the cornerstones of his life,” she wrote. No cause of death was given.

Hagerty — known for his thick mustache,...

Mike Hagerty, a veteran character actor known for his comedic, nondescript everyman roles in shows like “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Seinfeld,” “Friends” and as a series regular in HBO’s “Somebody Somewhere,” has died. He was 67.

Hagerty’s death was announced by one of his “Somebody Somewhere” co-stars Bridgett Everett on behalf of his family on Friday. No cause of death was provided. Reps for Hagerty did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

“I loved Mike the instant i met him. He was so special. Warm, funny, never met a stranger. We are devastated he has passed. Mike was adored by the entire cast and crew of ‘Somebody Somewhere.’ Our thoughts are with his wife and family,” Everett wrote.

Born in Chicago and an alum of the Second City comedy troupe, Mike Hagerty was known for his thick Chicagoan accent and mustache and blue-collar charm that helped him...

Character actor Mike Hagerty, who most recently starred opposite Bridget Everett on the HBO comedy Somebody Somewhere, has died at the age of 67. A cause of death has not been disclosed.

“With great sadness, the family of Michael G. Hagerty announced his death yesterday in Los Angeles,” Everett shared on Instagram Friday. “A beloved character actor, his love of his hometown of Chicago and his family were the cornerstones of his life. Mike, a devoted husband, is survived by his wife Mary Kathryn, his sister Mary Ann Hagerty [and] her wife Kathleen O’Rourke, and their daughter Meg. He will be sorely missed.

Patrick Carlin, author, actor, podcaster, comedy writer and brother of stand-up legend George Carlin, has died. He was 90.

Carlin’s death was confirmed by Kelly Carlin, daughter of George Carlin, yesterday via Twitter.

“My dear Uncle Patrick has moved onto the spirit world. He’s currently spinning tunes, smoking a jay with my Aunt Marlane and shooting the shit with his brother. He was a philosopher and a tough mofo all wrapped up in one,” Kelly wrote in a tribute to her uncle.

My dear Uncle Patrick has moved onto the spirit world. He’s currently spinning tunes, smoking a jay w/my Aunt Marlane and shooting the shit w/ his brother.

He was a philosopher & a tough mofo all wrapped up in one. pic.twitter.com/DyY0WupZGv

— Kelly Carlin (@kelly_carlin) April 17, 2022

Patrick Carlin wrote for 1994’s The George Carlin Show, the one-season Fox sitcom that starred the namesake stand-up comic,...

Patrick Carlin, a comedy writer and performer who was a major influence on his younger brother George Carlin, died Saturday at Kaiser Permanente hospital in Hollywood. He was 90.

Carlin’s death was confirmed by Kelly Carlin, his niece and daughter of George Carlin. George Carlin died at age 71 in June 2008.

“His uniqueness was that he was a philosopher and a tough mofo,” Carlin told Variety about her uncle, who was her father’s only sibling. She described Patrick as a protector of George during their years growing up in a tough Irish neighborhood on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

“Pat was the street fighter and my dad was the jester,” Carlin observed. George Carlin dedicated a chapter to his brother in his postumously published 2009 memoir “Last Words, A Memoir.” The chapter was titled “The Ace of Aces, the Dude of Dudes.”

“He was my dad’s hero,” Kelly Carlin said.

Exclusive: SAG Award winner Iqbal Theba has signed on to star in Land of Gold, a drama from writer-director Nardeep Khurmi, which is currently in production in Oklahoma.

Pic centers on Kiren, a first-generation Punjabi trucker and anxious father-to-be, who stumbles across a 10-year-old undocumented Mexican-American named Elena during a cross-country trip. As Kiren helps her to find her way home, the pair connect over a shared history and evolving expectations of what family truly is.

Theba will play Kiren’s father, Gurinder, who is older than his years, losing his memory and dreaming of better days.

Land of Gold was the winner of the $1 million dollar Grand Prize at the 2021 Tribeca/AT&T Untold Stories pitch competition, and will premiere at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, subsequently being distributed by Warner Bros. and HBO Max.

Keertana Sastry is producing the film with Pallavi Sastry and Simon Taufique.

Theba...

Alex Rocco, a veteran character actor most famous for starring in Hollywood classic "The Godfather," has died. He was 79.

Rocco's daughter, Jennifer Rocco, revealed the actor's passing in a series of Facebook posts, writing that her father passed away on July 18 after a long, private battle with cancer. Jennifer Rocco thanked his fans for their support, writing, "I know he is watching over us."

Alex Rocco's prolific career spanned decades, but the actor became synonymous with "The Godfather," the 1972 Oscar-winning film in which he played casino owner Moe Greene. In a 2012 interview with The A.V. Club, Rocco said that that role was "without a doubt, my biggest ticket anywhere. I mean that literally."

Rocco parlayed that fame into a lengthy, eclectic resume in both film and television. He starred most recently on Starz series "Magic City," "Episodes," and "Maron," and also appeared on shows including "The Simpsons," "The Facts of Life,...

Alex Rocco, an Emmy Award winner for his turn as seasoned colleague to Jon Cryer’s Famous Teddy Z in the 1989 CBS sitcom, died on Saturday at the age of 79.

The veteran actor’s daughter Jennifer shared the news via her Facebook page, saying, “Rip Dad, be with Mom and [their son] Marc….I will see you but not for a while….” A cause of death was not given.

Perhaps best known as casino owner Moe Greene in the original Godfather film, Rocco’s myriad TV credits included the 1975 CBS drama Three for the Road, episodes of Police Story, The Rockford Files and Starsky & Hutch,...

Prolific television writer and producer Sam Simon has passed away, Deadline is reporting. Simon succumbed to the colorectal cancer that he had been fighting since 2012. He was 59.

Simon began his career in television working on animated features such as Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids as a storyboard artist. Having an interest in writing as well, Simon submitted a spec script for the television show Taxi, which subsequently led to the hiring of him as a writer and eventual showrunner for the series’ final season, where he first worked with James L. Brooks.

His path through television led him to the writing rooms of other luminary TV shows such as Cheers, Barney Miller, and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show, ultimately leading him to be a writer and producer on The Tracey Ullman Show, where he once again worked with Brooks.

Simon, Brooks, and Matt Groening eventually worked together to make The Simpsons,...

Clark Gregg, who plays Agent Coulson in a little movie called "Marvel's The Avengers," stopped by the Huffington Post offices on Monday for a chat. Oh, we spoke about "The Avengers." A lot. Which you'll have the chance to read on Tuesday. But, while Gregg was here, he also took the time to reflect on his days as a character actor in a slew of different projects that range from Indiana Jones to "The Usual Suspects" to "Sex and the City."

Ahead, the first memories that came Gregg's mind when asked about his diverse resume.

"The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles"

"Lunch at Hooters with George Lucas."

"The George Carlin Show"

"Maybe the worst work I ever did, and the closest I ever came to getting fired in the presence of one of my childhood heroes. I wasn't funny. It wasn't a funny line and I couldn't make it funny. And I was super nervous.

Alex Rocco, best known for his role as gangster Moe Greene in The Godfather, returns to his mobster roots as Carmine Falcone in Batman: Year One, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies.

The appearance in a Dark Knight-related project brings Rocco’s 44-year career full circle. The Massachusetts-born actor, who was once an adjunct member of Boston’s Winter Hill Gang, got his first on-screen role in the 1960s Batman television series.

Rocco appeared as the thug Block in the back-to-back episodes “A Piece of the Action” and “Batman’s Satisfaction,” which premiered on March 1 and 2, 1967. The episodes also featured the first true crossover appearance of Green Hornet and Kato on the Batman series (aside from a cameo popping out a window in the first season).

Since then, Rocco has been seen on primetime in everything from Get Smart, The F.B.I. and...

Mark Saks' résumé goes from comedy ("The George Carlin Show") to drama ("Numb3rs") and back again. His current projects include the prime-time dramas "Medium" and "The Good Wife," and he recently completed work on Showtime's miniseries "The Pillars of the Earth." Saks has offices in Los Angeles and New York but estimates that he currently spends about 80 percent of his time on the East Coast. "It depends on the season," he says. "But right now, 'The Good Wife' needs so much attention, I've been here most of the time in New York."Forecasting The Futurei'm probably the only person who ever wanted to be a casting director. I think it's pretty rare. I was an actor in high school and college, and I had been working at a summer stock for kids, and I was sort of doing their casting at an amateur level. My third year of college,...

George Carlin, stand-up comedian, actor and author, died Sunday night of heart failure. He was 71.

Known for his irreverent attitude, particularly his satiric and caustic observations on religion and language, Carlin was a popular counterculture figure.

He first came to national attention during the 1960s on "Laugh In," where he created such persona as the hippie-dippie weatherman. Carlin never lost his hippie sensibilities as he retained his beard and ponytail.

Carlin, who had a history of heart trouble, went into St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica on Sunday afternoon complaining of chest pain and died later that evening, said his publicist, Jeff Abraham. He had performed as recently as last weekend at the Orleans Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas.

Carlin was inducted into the Comedy Hall of Fame in 1994.

In 2004, Carlin was voted the No. 2 "Greatest Stand-up Comedian of All Time" by Comedy Central, behind Richard Pryor. He...

In2TV, an ad-supported broadband network from America Online and Warner Bros. Domestic Cable Distribution, added two new channels Wednesday representing more than a dozen series. Several of the full-length programs feature episodes that were never aired. The channel called Gone but Not Forgotten TV is designed to give new life to short-lived but fondly remembered series. Among these are the Emmy-winning The Ben Stiller Show, which co-stars Janeane Garofalo and Andy Dick; Center of the Universe with John Goodman, Ed Asner, Olympia Dukakis and Jean Smart; The George Carlin Show; and Max Headroom.