Veteran actress Rita Gam dies at age 88

LOS ANGELES -- Rita Gam, who had a lengthy acting career on film, television and stage, has died.

Publicist Nancy Willen says the actress died in Los Angeles of respiratory failure. She was 88.

Gam starred with Gregory Peck in 1954's "Night People" and 1971's "Shoot Out" and with Jack Palance in 1954's "Sign of the Pagan" and she also starred in the film "Hannibal," "King of Kings" and "No Exit." Her television credits included "The Rockford Files" and "Mannix."

She was born in Pittsburgh on April 2, 1927, and made her Broadway debut in 1946 before going on to a decades-long career in film and television.

Gam was married to the late director Sidney Lumet from 1949 until 1955, and was a close friend of Grace Kelly. Gam was one of Kelly's bridesmaids when she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

She is survived by a daughter and son from her marriage to publisher Thomas Guinzburg, and three grandchildren.

Watch Adele take on ‘fuckers’ Islamic State as she dedicates song to victims of Brussels attack

Adele dedicated a song to the victims of the attacks in Brussels last night, as well as taking aim at the terrorists behind the atrocity.

On the last night of her six night stint at The O2 in London, the Glastonbury headliner dedicated ‘Make You Feel My Love’ to the 30 people killed in Belgium on Tuesday (March 22). Hundreds more were left injured after a series of explosions caused devastation at the city’s airport and a train station in the Belgian capital. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.

“This is Make You Feel My Love and this is for Brussels,” said Adele at The O2. Fan shot footage of the moment can be seen below.

Turning her attention to the terrorists, she added: ‘We’re all here for the same reason. I’m hoping you’ve all come to be entertained by me. I’m here to entertain you, so we’re all united, so that makes us much better than them fuckers. You’re on, you fuckers”

After the performance of her Bob Dylan cover, Adele told the sold out crowd she “had never been so moved in my life at one of my shows. Thank you very much for doing that.

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Why Zack Snyder Never Considered Grant Gustin's Flash For Justice League

The director talks about the Batman v Superman mythos, and 300's future, too. Daisy Ridley confirms talks for Tomb Raider. David Benioff hypes the next season of Game of Thrones. Plus wild new Jungle Book cast pictures, and what to expect on tonight’s Flash, iZombie, and Agents of SHIELD. So many Spoilers!

Justice League

Zack Snyder tells the New York Daily News that the television incarnation of the Flash, played by Grant Gustin, was never considered for the film, due to the show’s much lighter tone:

I just don’t think [Gustin] was a good fit. I’m very strict with this universe and I just don’t see a version where... that (tone is) not our world.

Even if Grant Gustin is my favorite guy in the world, and he’s very good, we made a commitment to the multiverse, so it’s just not a thing that’s possible.

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Iron Man

The Russos tell Forbes about a theoretical future for a post-Downey-Jr. Tony Stark:

I think if and when he is done with the character, I think you will find that Iron Man might disappear for a while. I think the only way that you could reboot that character is to give a generational gap that would allow another actor to at least have a chance to redefine that character without the enormous spectre of Robert hanging over it. There are so many characters in the Marvel universe that can pick up the ball and run without it through the next phase or two before you need to see Iron Man again, frankly.
Tomb Raider

Daisy Ridley confirms she has indeed been in talks to star in the video game reboot:

I’m waiting for someone to say ‘I want you, let’s do it’. Absolutely, I’m trying to fill up my calendar.




Zack Snyder says he wants to take the framework of the film and use it for other historical battles for a franchise:

We’ve been talking a lot about sort of different incarnations of ‘300.’ We’ve been talking about is there a way, possibly, we move out of Ancient Greece and use it as a framing device for other conflicts that happened throughout history.

I think I mentioned that we talked about the Revolutionary War version, and we talked about the Alamo, and we’ve talked about there’s a battle in China, a ‘Lost Legion’ kind of concept, any of those kinds of things are on the table.

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Batman v Superman

Zack Snyder talks about the film’s logo:

The thing that’s kinda cool about the Batman suit [and] our Batman logo is that the dimension is the same as the Man of Steel logo, the bottom of the bat. So I said, “No, it’s cool. It’s okay. It’s mythologically okay.


Meanwhile Deborah Snyder discusses Wonder Woman’s power levels in this movie and her solo film:

I think that Zack and Geoff Johns sat down and outlined these stories, many of them at least. Really, we did a chart with what their powers were, like what Superman’s powers were, and I think you see a little bit of Wonder Woman. So we get a sense of her power, but we didn’t want to do too much because obviously Patty [Jenkins] is going to build up to that and we’re going to learn how she discovers her powers in that movie.


Geoff Johns talks about Aquaman’s involvement in the film, as well as his reputation as a character:

It’s massive. Jason [Momoa] and I were talking about Aquaman and I love that people underestimate the character. I feel like hopefully we’ll be able to share the love that we have as readers of the character because the jokes about him are fun, but he’s got so much depth to him, no pun intended. It’s really great to see him finally on the big screen.

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X-Men star Lucas Till named as new MacGyver

STEP aside Richard Dean Anderson, there’s a new MacGyver in town.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, 25-year-old Lucas Till will play MacGyver in the upcoming TV reboot.

Till is best known for playing Havok in X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past and he’ll reprise his role for the third time in X-Men: Apocalypse which is due out in May.

Till has shoes big shoes (and big hair) to fill, with Richard Dean Anderson previously starring as the secret agent from 1985 to 1992.

In the new show, which is being described as a “re-imagining” of the old one, Till’s MacGyver will “get recruited into a clandestine organisation where he uses his knack for solving problems in unconventional ways to help prevent disasters from happening”.

There’s no word yet if Till will rock a mullet like Anderson did in the MacGyver reboot. Here’s what he’d look like if he did:
Perfection.

Katy Perry to duet with Dolly Parton at ACM's

Katy Perry is to duet with Dolly Parton at the The 51st Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday April 3.

The 'Firework' hitmaker and country music legend will join forces to perform two of Dolly's classic hits including a mashup of 1971's 'Coat of Many Colors' and 1974's 'Jolene'.

The 70-year-old singer says it was all the 31-year-old pop beauty's idea to collaborate for the show.

Dolly told Rolling Stone Country: ''She got the big idea, 'Why don't we sing 'Jolene' together?' Because she loves that song and since it's going to be one of the [television] movies I go, 'Yeah, why not?'

''So I'm going to try to combine 'Coat of Many Colors' and 'Jolene.'''

On the night the '9 to 5' hitmaker will be honoured with ACM's Tex Ritter Award for her biopic of the same name of her song 'Coat of Many Colors'.

The prize has previously been given to movies such as 'Country Strong', which featured country star Tim McGraw.

On hearing she will receive the prestigious prize, she said: ''To be up there with the great stories like 'Coal Miner's Daughter' and 'O Brother' and 'Walk the Line', it's like you say, 'Wow, all those were feature films, and this one was just a movie of the week on

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Opera House restoration is a go

Hudson Opera House

Supporters of the Hudson Opera House's restoration gather in the opera house's performance hall before the building's restoration was officially announced. The performance hall is to be restored, an elevator is to be installed, and the masonry, windows and doors will be restored, among other improvements.

By Roger Hannigan Gilson Columbia-Greene Media

HUDSON — Supporters of the Hudson Opera House announced Monday they have secured the majority of their funding and are beginning renovations on the historic building.

Built in 1855 on Warren Street as Hudson's City Hall, the opera house was abandoned in 1962. Sections of the opera house were reopened in the 1990s, but the performance hall remained in disrepair until recently.

Supporters said at a press conference Monday morning a renovated opera house will economically benefit the city.

"I never felt arts got enough [credit] for economic development," said Assemblywoman Did Barrett, D-106.

Barrett, whose district includes Hudson, said she is proud to be part of the project.

"People in a season like this have been beating up on government, beating up on the state — but the state has been here for this project," she said.

Hudson Opera House co-Director Tambra Dillion said funding for the restoration came from a series of grants, including millions in grants from Empire State Development, the state's chief economic development agency.

Funding also came from the opera house's Board of Directors, a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture secured by U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand and Kinderhook Bank, as well as other state agencies, according to the Hudson Opera House.

Dillion said the funding was stocked up for a large restoration project, instead of doing the project piecemeal as funding became available.

"The decision was made to consolidate the project, [to] do it in one go," Dillion said.

"It's been a longtime coming," she added.

The opera house is trying to raise an additional $1.5 million on top of the $7 million already raised.

Hudson Opera House Sage General Manager Marie Carter said the $1.5 million would be for soft goods, such as chairs and additional lighting.

"The project's going forward no matter what," she said.

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Daisy Ridley has had 'conversations' about Lara Croft

Daisy Ridley has been talking to bosses about taking on the role of Lara Croft in the forthcoming prequel.

The 23-year-old actress was rumoured to play the younger version of the adventurous archaeologist in the action movie, which is set to tell the iconic video game character's origin story, earlier this month and she has now admitted the role is probably going to be hers, although she's still waiting for the green light.

Speaking to 'The Hollywood Reporter' at the Jameson Empire Awards in London last Sunday (20.03.16), she said: ''There have been conversations [with the producers and bosses] but I'm waiting for someone to say 'I want you, let's do it.' ''

And, although the brunette beauty has a jam-packed schedule this year, the London-born star is adamant she would ''absolutely'' embrace the chance to ''fill up'' her calendar if it meant she secured the gig.

If she bags the part of Lara - created by British gaming company Core Design in 1996 - she will replace Angelina Jolie, who was widely credited for making the movie adaptation of the video game franchise a huge success when she brought the busty British explorer Lara Croft to life in 2001 and then again in 'Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life' in 2003.

Few other details have been revealed for the film's plot, however, the last two video games in the series - with the most recent being 2015's 'Rise of the Tomb Raider - have focused on Lara at the start of her adventures.

Daisy made her breakthrough as Rey in the 2015 science-fiction blockbuster 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'.

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