Hollywood Star Jackie Cooper Dies at 88

Actor Jackie Cooper, from the film School's Out. Hal Roach (producer), Robert F. McGowan (director), film released 22 November 1930, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation / Hal Roach Studios.

Hollywood Star Jackie Cooper Dies at 88
Wednesday, 4 May 2011

U.S. actor Jackie Cooper, who entertained millions as both a child star and an adult, has died at age 88.

Cooper's family says the actor died of old age Wednesday at a California nursing home.

Cooper rose to fame in the early 1930s as a star of the Our Gang comedy series, playing a mischievous blonde-haired boy with a perpetual crush on his schoolteacher, Miss Crabtree.

Our Gang led to bigger parts in feature films, including 1931's Skippy. It was for this role that Cooper made history, becoming, at age nine, the youngest performer ever nominated for a Best Actor Oscar.

After serving in World War II, a grown-up Cooper made a comeback on stage and as the star of two hit television series – The People's Choice, playing a small town politician, and Hennesey, where he portrayed a Navy doctor. He also made a successful return to films, playing newspaper editor Perry White in the Superman series.

Recalling the threat that directors would use to make him cry on camera as a child, Cooper named his popular autobiography Please Don't Shoot My Dog.

Prominent US Film Director Sidney Lumet Dies at 86

Sidney Lumet at the September 2007 Toronto International Film Festival (Photo: gdcgraphics)

Prominent US Film Director Sidney Lumet Dies at 86

Saturday, 9 April 2011

Sidney Lumet, who directed such Hollywood film classics as Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and Network, has died at the age of 86.

Lumet, with more than 50 films to his credit over the last six decades, died Saturday of lymphoma at his home in New York.

Lumet began his professional career at the age of 4, on a radio show in the late 1920s, and later appeared in Broadway plays in New York. But he achieved his greatest success as a film director. One of his best was his first, the 1957 courtroom drama 12 Angry Men. It portrayed 12 jurors as they tried to reach a verdict in the trial of a young Hispanic man wrongly accused of murder.

Lumet's films often depicted the grittier side of New York, such as Dog Day Afternoon, the true-life story of two social misfits who tried to rob a bank on a hot summer afternoon. Another film, Serpico, explored the corruptibility of New York police officers.

Critics often said his most memorable film was Network, a scathing view of the television business. American film aficionados can often recall a memorable line from the movie, when a crazed newscaster, played by actor Peter Finch, exhorted his audience to open their windows and shout, “I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!”

Lumet received four best director nominations for Oscars in Hollywood's annual celebration of the film industry but never won. He was awarded an honorary Oscar in 2005 for “brilliant services” to screenwriters and actors over the years.

Elizabeth Taylor Laid to Rest During Private Service

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor Laid to Rest During Private Service
March 25, 2011

Hollywood acting legend Elizabeth Taylor was given a small, private funeral Thursday at Forest Lawn cemetery outside Los Angeles, the same cemetery where her good friend, entertainer Michael Jackson was buried.

Taylor's family and close friends attended the hour-long service that started 15 minutes later than planned, at Taylor's request. A spokeswoman said in a statement Taylor wanted the service to include the announcement - "She even wanted to be late for her own funeral."

Actor Colin Farrell read a poem at the service and Taylor's grandson, Rhys Tivey, performed a trumpet solo of "Amazing Grace."

Forest Lawn is the burial place of many Hollywood celebrities, including Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Walt Disney.

Taylor died Wednesday in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. She had been in the hospital for six weeks. The 79 year old actress had suffered from a number of medical conditions over the years.

Taylor won  two best actress Academy Awards for her performances in Butterfield 8 in 1960 and Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf in 1966.

Elizabeth Taylor update

Elizabeth Taylor from the trailer for the film The Last Time I Saw Paris, 1954.

Hollywood Icon Elizabeth Taylor Dead at 79
Wednesday, 23 March 2011

Legendary Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor has died at the age of 79.

A statement from Taylor's family says she died peacefully, with her children at her side.

The veteran actress, known for movies such as National Velvet, which made her a star at the age of 12, and Cleopatra, had been suffering from congestive heart failure. She had been hospitalized in Los Angeles for the past six weeks.

Taylor won Academy Awards for her role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Butterfield 8. In later years, she was a spokeswoman for humanitarian causes, notably AIDS research, helping raise millions of dollars. That work gained her a special Oscar in 1993.

Born in London to American parents, Taylor moved to Los Angeles before World War II, and went from child star to Hollywood starlet to a movie icon sometimes called the most beautiful woman in the world.

She appeared in more than 50 Hollywood films, teaming up with other major stars in the 1940s and '50s to make such movies as Raintree Country, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer.

In 1963, Taylor was paid $1 million to star opposite Richard Burton in the epic Cleopatra. Their on-screen romance turned into a real-life love affair, and they married a year later, divorced and then got married again before divorcing for a final time in 1976.

In all, Taylor married eight times, making her almost as famous for her off-screen drama as for her beauty and acting ability. Her friendship with pop icon Michael Jackson also made her a constant source of stories for the press.

She had a passion for jewels and jewelry and introduced her own perfumes, including one called White Diamonds.

France awarded her the prestigious Legion of Honor in 1987 and Britain's Queen Elizabeth made her a dame, the female equivalent of a knight, in 2000.

In 2001, Taylor received the Presidential Citizens Medal from former U.S. president Bill Clinton for her efforts to spur more AIDS research and better care.

In a joint statement, Mr. Clinton and his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, called Taylor one of America's “greatest talents and fiercest advocates for HIV/AIDS research.” They said the lives of many people around the world will be longer and better because of Taylor's AIDS work.