March is Women’s History Month which commemorates and encourages the “study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.” And who better to study, observe and celebrate than Mae West and her place in movie history.
Talk about pushing the envelope. West wrote plays-usually revolving around sex-which landed her in jail. She never met an innuendo she didn’t like. West film comedies were popular and controversial. She was banned from NBC Radio-her name couldn’t even be mentioned-for over a decade. West even guest starred on a 1964 episode of CBS’ “Mr. Ed.” West has inspired several female performers over the decades including Madonna and remained true to herself up until her death in 1980 at the age of 87.
West didn’t look at any other actress of the day. Sources say she was 5’ to 5’ 2” (rumor is that she wore eight-inch platform heels on stage...
Talk about pushing the envelope. West wrote plays-usually revolving around sex-which landed her in jail. She never met an innuendo she didn’t like. West film comedies were popular and controversial. She was banned from NBC Radio-her name couldn’t even be mentioned-for over a decade. West even guest starred on a 1964 episode of CBS’ “Mr. Ed.” West has inspired several female performers over the decades including Madonna and remained true to herself up until her death in 1980 at the age of 87.
West didn’t look at any other actress of the day. Sources say she was 5’ to 5’ 2” (rumor is that she wore eight-inch platform heels on stage...
- 3/29/2023
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Donna Douglas played Elly May Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies, which aired on CBS from 1962 to 1971. Her co-stars were Buddy Ebsen (Jed Clampett), Irene Ryan (Granny), and Max Baer Jr. (Jethro Bodine). They played the Clampetts, who struck oil on their property in the Ozarks. The family took their newfound riches and moved to Beverly Hills, California, where their hillbilly lifestyle clashed with the city folks. Since the Emmy-nominated sitcom’s cancellation, all Beverly Hillbilllies cast members have died except one (Baer Jr.). So, what was Donna Douglas’ net worth at her death?
Donna Douglas beat 500 other actors for her role in ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’? Publicity photo of Donna Douglas as Elly May Clampett from ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ | Bettmann via Getty Images
Donna Douglas was born and raised in Louisiana, where she won Miss Baton Rouge and Miss New Orleans in 1957.
The beauty queen moved to New York City to pursue a career in showbiz.
Donna Douglas beat 500 other actors for her role in ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’? Publicity photo of Donna Douglas as Elly May Clampett from ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ | Bettmann via Getty Images
Donna Douglas was born and raised in Louisiana, where she won Miss Baton Rouge and Miss New Orleans in 1957.
The beauty queen moved to New York City to pursue a career in showbiz.
- 2/18/2023
- by Stacy Feintuch
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
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Gayle S. Maffeo, the three-time Emmy-nominated producer who worked on the first season of Roseanne and all eight seasons of another hit ABC sitcom, the Tim Allen-starring Home Improvement, has died. She was 81.
Maffeo died Friday at her home in Los Angeles after a brief battle with cancer, her daughter, Laura, announced.
Maffeo had produced specials starring Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny and George Burns in the 1960s and ’70s before she segued to sitcoms including Nell Carter’s Gimme a Break!, Dabney Coleman’s Buffalo Bill, Mary Tyler Moore’s Mary, Head of the Class and Open All Night.
She served as senior vp television for Matt Williams and David McFadzean’s Wind Dancer Productions, where she produced Roseanne in 1988-89, Home Improvement from 1991-99 and other shows such as Carol Burnett’s Carol & Company, Dan Aykroyd’s Soul Man, Thunder Alley and Buddies.
Gayle S. Maffeo, the three-time Emmy-nominated producer who worked on the first season of Roseanne and all eight seasons of another hit ABC sitcom, the Tim Allen-starring Home Improvement, has died. She was 81.
Maffeo died Friday at her home in Los Angeles after a brief battle with cancer, her daughter, Laura, announced.
Maffeo had produced specials starring Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny and George Burns in the 1960s and ’70s before she segued to sitcoms including Nell Carter’s Gimme a Break!, Dabney Coleman’s Buffalo Bill, Mary Tyler Moore’s Mary, Head of the Class and Open All Night.
She served as senior vp television for Matt Williams and David McFadzean’s Wind Dancer Productions, where she produced Roseanne in 1988-89, Home Improvement from 1991-99 and other shows such as Carol Burnett’s Carol & Company, Dan Aykroyd’s Soul Man, Thunder Alley and Buddies.
- 9/14/2022
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Donna Douglas, who played Elly May Clampett on the CBS sitcom “The Beverly Hillbillies,” died Friday, NBC affiliate Wafb reports. She was 81.
TMZ reports that Douglas died at her home in Louisiana, surrounded by friends and family.
Born Doris Smith in Louisiana in 1933, Douglas appeared on “The Steve Allen Show” and “The Perry Como Show” before rising to notoriety on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” the comedy about a rural family who moved to Beverly Hills after patriarch Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) struck oil.
Douglas’ agent has not yet responded to TheWrap‘s request for comment.
See photos: Hollywood’s Notable Deaths of 2014
The series,...
TMZ reports that Douglas died at her home in Louisiana, surrounded by friends and family.
Born Doris Smith in Louisiana in 1933, Douglas appeared on “The Steve Allen Show” and “The Perry Como Show” before rising to notoriety on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” the comedy about a rural family who moved to Beverly Hills after patriarch Jed Clampett (Buddy Ebsen) struck oil.
Douglas’ agent has not yet responded to TheWrap‘s request for comment.
See photos: Hollywood’s Notable Deaths of 2014
The series,...
- 1/2/2015
- by Tim Kenneally
- The Wrap
On the surface it seemed one of the stranger matches of the 20th century: the serious, award-winning dramatic actress Anna Maria Louisa Italiano, and the man whose fertile imagination introduced both flatulence around an Old West campfire and a singing-dancing Adolf Hitler to the silver screen, Melvin Kaminsky. Or, as the world knew them, Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks. Asked about the couple's marriage, which lasted from 1964 until her death from uterine cancer in 2005, an introspective Brooks says in the new PBS American Masters documentary Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, "You know, it took because Anne and I both grew up during the marriage,...
- 5/19/2013
- by Stephen M. Silverman
- PEOPLE.com
Hip-hop got its start in the economic warzone of the South Bronx in the 70’s and 80’s, where from absolutely nothing, a creative and vital musical source grew. White Lines & the Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug, directed by Travis Senger, is an incredible story not only about a forgotten musician who was taken too soon, but how hip-hop came from its roots to became a multi-million dollar industry. - This year at the Tribeca Film Festival showcases short films in six different "thematic" programs. Wishful Thinking is a package dominated by characters making hard decisions, while Between the Lines examines subject matter that isn’t always what it seems at first. The package Flashback, made up of six documentary shorts, explore politics, music, race, and popular culture, and give a fascinating diversity in telling these stories. I’ve selected the best in my opinion that you should look out for,...
- 4/27/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
This year at the Tribeca Film Festival showcases short films in six different "thematic" programs. Wishful Thinking is a package dominated by characters making hard decisions, while Between the Lines examines subject matter that isn’t always what it seems at first. The package Flashback, made up of six documentary shorts, explore politics, music, race, and popular culture, and give a fascinating diversity in telling these stories. I’ve selected the best in my opinion that you should look out for, should you ever come across the film or its directors. James Cromwell is best known as an actor, particularly from Babe and The Green Mile, but he has been a lifelong activist for human rights. In the 1960s, he provided a safe house for affiliates with the Black Panthers, risking the ire of the police and his own social standing as a young white man in dangerous times. A .45 at 50th,...
- 4/27/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Kathryn Grayson, the lilting soprano who starred in the classic MGM musicals "Show Boat," "Kiss Me Kate" and "Anchors Aweigh," died Wednesday at her Los Angeles home. She turned 88 last week.Grayson's longtime companion and secretary, Sally Sherman, said Thursday that the actress died of natural causes.Grayson also was professionally linked with Howard Keel, with whom she co-starred in three movies. With him, Grayson sang and acted as the riverboat belle Magnolia in "Show Boat" (1951); as a Parisian dress shop owner in "Lovely to Look At" (1952) -- in which she sang Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" -- and as a high-strung actress in "Kiss Me Kate" (1953). Later in their careers, Grayson and Keel performed together in nightclubs -- she was a coloratura soprano, he was a baritone -- and toured in summer stock.Born as Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick on Feb. 9, 1922, in Winston-Salem, N.C., she...
- 2/18/2010
- backstage.com
Kathryn Grayson, the lilting soprano who starred in the classic MGM musicals "Show Boat," "Kiss Me Kate" and "Anchors Aweigh," died Wednesday at her Los Angeles home. She turned 88 last week.
Grayson's longtime companion and secretary, Sally Sherman, said Thursday that the actress died of natural causes.
Grayson also was professionally linked with Howard Keel, with whom she co-starred in three movies. With him, Grayson sang and acted as the riverboat belle Magnolia in "Show Boat" (1951); as a Parisian dress shop owner in "Lovely to Look At" (1952) -- in which she sang Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" -- and as a high-strung actress in "Kiss Me Kate" (1953).
Later in their careers, Grayson and Keel performed together in nightclubs -- she was a coloratura soprano, he was a baritone -- and toured in summer stock.
Born as Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick on Feb. 9, 1922, in Winston-Salem, N.C., she...
Grayson's longtime companion and secretary, Sally Sherman, said Thursday that the actress died of natural causes.
Grayson also was professionally linked with Howard Keel, with whom she co-starred in three movies. With him, Grayson sang and acted as the riverboat belle Magnolia in "Show Boat" (1951); as a Parisian dress shop owner in "Lovely to Look At" (1952) -- in which she sang Jerome Kern's "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" -- and as a high-strung actress in "Kiss Me Kate" (1953).
Later in their careers, Grayson and Keel performed together in nightclubs -- she was a coloratura soprano, he was a baritone -- and toured in summer stock.
Born as Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick on Feb. 9, 1922, in Winston-Salem, N.C., she...
- 2/18/2010
- by By Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Bea Arthur, whose acerbic wit and dry delivery delighted national TV audiences on such long-running shows as "Maude" and "The Golden Girls," died Saturday at age 86.
She died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, he added, declining to give details.
Arthur won two Primetime Emmys for lead actress in a comedy series, for "Maude" in 1977 and "Golden Girls" in 1988. In all, she received 11 Emmy nominations and nine Golden Globe noms.
With her dry, husky voice and domineering height, Arthur's deadpan style led her to national prominence as a guest star on "All in the Family," playing Archie Bunker's liberal cousin and political nemesis. Her acidic exchanges with Archie were so popular that producer Norman Lear spun the character off into her own show, "Maude." The politically charged sitcom ran for six years beginning in 1972, satirizing and...
She died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, he added, declining to give details.
Arthur won two Primetime Emmys for lead actress in a comedy series, for "Maude" in 1977 and "Golden Girls" in 1988. In all, she received 11 Emmy nominations and nine Golden Globe noms.
With her dry, husky voice and domineering height, Arthur's deadpan style led her to national prominence as a guest star on "All in the Family," playing Archie Bunker's liberal cousin and political nemesis. Her acidic exchanges with Archie were so popular that producer Norman Lear spun the character off into her own show, "Maude." The politically charged sitcom ran for six years beginning in 1972, satirizing and...
- 4/25/2009
- by By Duane Byrge
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Veteran singer Perry Como has died at his Florida home at the age of 88. The crooner, whose career stretched from the 1930s to the 1980s, died in his sleep at his home in Jupiter Inlet Beach Colony on Saturday. Como started out serenading customers in a barber shop and soared to fame with a relaxed singing style, scoring hits such as Till The End Of Time and And I Love You So. But it was through television that Como really achieved immortality - and he received an Emmy award in 1956 for his long-running The Perry Como Show. Como retired briefly in the early 1970s but could not resist going back to work and, well into his 60s, had more hit records. In 1980, 1982 and 1984 he was the host of Christmas specials on television, broadcast from Israel, Paris and London, respectively.
- 5/14/2001
- WENN
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