Norman Lear not only knew about television, but the late TV icon was also an influential art collector along with his wife of 37 years, Lyn Davis Lear.
And now, several pieces from the Lears’ art collection will hit the Christie’s auction block, including David Hockney’s 1967 “A Lawn Being Sprinkled.” When the “All in the Family” creator bought the work in 1978 for $64,000, it marked the highest price paid for a piece by the British artist. Christie’s estimates it will bring in $25-$35 million after debuting during the 20th Century Evening Sale in New York City on May 16. “I remember when I first met Norman, he had a gallery,” Lyn Davis Lear told me. “He loved showing people art.”
David Hockney’s “A Lawn Being Sprinkled.”
Norman Lear was introduced to the local Los Angeles art scene in the 1970s by agent-turned-television-producer Richard “Dick” Dorso. “They were great friends...
And now, several pieces from the Lears’ art collection will hit the Christie’s auction block, including David Hockney’s 1967 “A Lawn Being Sprinkled.” When the “All in the Family” creator bought the work in 1978 for $64,000, it marked the highest price paid for a piece by the British artist. Christie’s estimates it will bring in $25-$35 million after debuting during the 20th Century Evening Sale in New York City on May 16. “I remember when I first met Norman, he had a gallery,” Lyn Davis Lear told me. “He loved showing people art.”
David Hockney’s “A Lawn Being Sprinkled.”
Norman Lear was introduced to the local Los Angeles art scene in the 1970s by agent-turned-television-producer Richard “Dick” Dorso. “They were great friends...
- 5/14/2024
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
“Gaslit,” the upcoming Starz limited series about Martha Mitchell (Julia Roberts), who blew the whistle on her husband John Mitchell (Sean Penn), Richard Nixon’s attorney general, won’t tell the same familiar story about the Watergate scandal, showrunner Robbie Pickering says.
Instead, Pickering’s goal is to “correct the record.”
“I have a 4-and-a-half-year-old daughter and I don’t want her to learn about Watergate in the same way that I learned about it,” Pickering said Wednesday during a Television Critics Association panel. “I want her to know that Martha Mitchell played an instrumental role in it, and she wasn’t just some drunk crazy lady. She was right. She was the first person to publicly blow the whistle on these people. Hopefully, we can correct the record a little bit with this show.”
The infamous break-in at the Watergate hotel is the background, not the focus, of the series,...
Instead, Pickering’s goal is to “correct the record.”
“I have a 4-and-a-half-year-old daughter and I don’t want her to learn about Watergate in the same way that I learned about it,” Pickering said Wednesday during a Television Critics Association panel. “I want her to know that Martha Mitchell played an instrumental role in it, and she wasn’t just some drunk crazy lady. She was right. She was the first person to publicly blow the whistle on these people. Hopefully, we can correct the record a little bit with this show.”
The infamous break-in at the Watergate hotel is the background, not the focus, of the series,...
- 2/3/2022
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
It’s been a cold and dreary Covid winter, but Dionne Warwick has been making the days brighter. The legendary singer and activist took over her Twitter account in December and has been showing off her humor, positivity, and love for younger artists. From shouting out Taylor Swift to questioning why performers use “the” in their stage names, Warwick has been taking advantage of her time at home to connect with both longtime and brand-new fans.
And Twitter isn’t the only place we’ve seen the “Walk on By” crooner over the last year.
And Twitter isn’t the only place we’ve seen the “Walk on By” crooner over the last year.
- 2/11/2021
- by Brittany Spanos
- Rollingstone.com
Sybrina Fulton, mother of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012, announced Saturday she is entering the race for Miami-Dade County Commission. Fulton is running to fill a seat in District 1 vacated by term-limited Commissioner Barbara Jordan. The mayor of Miami Gardens is also running to fill the District 1 seat.
Fulton is not the first member of the Mothers of the Movement, a group of activist mothers whose African American sons were killed by gun violence, to seek political office. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-ga) was...
Fulton is not the first member of the Mothers of the Movement, a group of activist mothers whose African American sons were killed by gun violence, to seek political office. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-ga) was...
- 5/19/2019
- by Peter Wade
- Rollingstone.com
Plenty of posh European directors make a breakout movie but fail the transition to a commercial Hollywood picture. Oscar-winning British filmmaker Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) is defying the odds by fashioning a smart hybrid genre movie that combines his sophisticated sensibility with an accessible, aspirational story that’s enriching and fun. What’s harder to gauge: Where does “Widows” fall on the awards spectrum?
The Fox movie wowed critics and audiences at its Toronto debut and played the international fall festival circuit, winding up at AFI Fest before it opens wide November 16. Impeccably crafted by such Oscar perennials as McQueen and Denis Villeneuve’s go-to editor Joe Walker, composer Hans Zimmer, production designer Adam Stockhausen, and lead actress Viola Davis, the ensemble movie is a crowdpleaser nourished by its provocative gender-bending plot and social realism. It could be a factor in several Oscar categories.
Back in 1983, McQueen was...
The Fox movie wowed critics and audiences at its Toronto debut and played the international fall festival circuit, winding up at AFI Fest before it opens wide November 16. Impeccably crafted by such Oscar perennials as McQueen and Denis Villeneuve’s go-to editor Joe Walker, composer Hans Zimmer, production designer Adam Stockhausen, and lead actress Viola Davis, the ensemble movie is a crowdpleaser nourished by its provocative gender-bending plot and social realism. It could be a factor in several Oscar categories.
Back in 1983, McQueen was...
- 11/12/2018
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
It was a familiar dilemma for Viola Davis. What to do with her hair?
The star of the upcoming film “Widows” needed to know what kind of wig or extensions she should wear to play Veronica Rawlins, the leader of an unlikely band of robbers scrambling to pull off a dangerous heist. Director Steve McQueen’s answer shocked the Emmy-, Tony- and Oscar-winning actress.
“I said, ‘Your own hair is beautiful — just wear it that way,’” recalls McQueen. “Veronica is a wash-and-go kind of girl.”
For Davis, the decision to appear on-screen in close-cropped, curly hair was liberating and represented an important social statement.
“You’re always taught as a person of color to not like your hair,” she says. “The kinkier it is, the so-called nappier it is, the uglier it is.”
McQueen stressed that he was interested in reflecting reality. More women looked like her, he told the actress,...
The star of the upcoming film “Widows” needed to know what kind of wig or extensions she should wear to play Veronica Rawlins, the leader of an unlikely band of robbers scrambling to pull off a dangerous heist. Director Steve McQueen’s answer shocked the Emmy-, Tony- and Oscar-winning actress.
“I said, ‘Your own hair is beautiful — just wear it that way,’” recalls McQueen. “Veronica is a wash-and-go kind of girl.”
For Davis, the decision to appear on-screen in close-cropped, curly hair was liberating and represented an important social statement.
“You’re always taught as a person of color to not like your hair,” she says. “The kinkier it is, the so-called nappier it is, the uglier it is.”
McQueen stressed that he was interested in reflecting reality. More women looked like her, he told the actress,...
- 9/4/2018
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Documentarian Charles Ferguson won an Oscar for “Inside Job,” a 2010 film that examined the system-wide corruption at the root of the then-ongoing financial crisis. And his new film, “Watergate – Or: How We Learned to Stop an Out of Control President,” which screened at Telluride Aug. 31 in advance of a theatrical release Oct. 12 and a television bow on History Nov. 2, ratifies that he is a director adept at explaining the ties between various players in the midst of complex crises. The lengthy documentary, presented in two parts with an intermission, provides a worthwhile primer for those who are unschooled in the Nixon presidency, the chaos it unleashed, and how the law eventually brought it to heel.
The element of the film’s early going that works most well is an analysis of Nixon’s mentality towards Vietnam, and the ways in which his paranoid refusal to lose fueled, and was fueled by,...
The element of the film’s early going that works most well is an analysis of Nixon’s mentality towards Vietnam, and the ways in which his paranoid refusal to lose fueled, and was fueled by,...
- 8/31/2018
- by Daniel D'Addario
- Variety Film + TV
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