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Jamie Lee Curtis is finally an Oscar-nominated actress, and “Michelle Yeoh is the reason,” she emotionally tells Variety. “Michelle Yeoh is the reason that for the rest of my life, you will say, ‘Oscar-nominated actress Jamie Lee Curtis.'”

Curtis, 64, is raw, unassuming, and undeniably grateful for this time in her life and the five decades that have preceded it. Curtis is the daughter of two Oscar-nominated actors — Tony Curtis (1958’s “The Defiant Ones”) and Janet Leigh (1960’s “Psycho”) — and the wife of the brilliant British comedian and filmmaker Christopher Guest (who is working on the sequel to “Spinal Tap”). After 38 years together, what’s her secret to a long-lasting marriage? “I will not be in the sequel to Spinal Tap,” she jokes.

On this episode of the award-winning Variety Awards Circuit Podcast, Curtis opens up about receiving her first Oscar nomination, thanks to her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Naomi Ackie gives audiences a glimpse into the life of Whitney Houston in director Kasi Lemmons’ new biopic “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” and the new film is packed with a number of Houston’s hits.

Working with movement coach Polly Bennett and vocal coaches Tangela Large, Bridgette Jackson and Denise Woods, Ackie also underwent physical transformation with the help of numerous wigs and false teeth to cover the natural gap in her two front teeth.

Ackie doesn’t sing most songs in the film — she lip syncs to Houston’s perfect tracks instead — but she mimics Houston’s style of singing with great detail. She steps in for performances by Houston that were not recorded, such as “Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah” and “Jesus Loves Me” from her choir-singing days. Ackie also portrays a nervous Whitney who is thrust onstage by her mother, who knows Clive Davis is in attendance,...

Who will be included for the special “In Memoriam” segment for Sunday night’s Oscars 2021 ceremony? With last year’s Academy Awards happening over 14 months ago, it means an even larger number of film veterans have died. Producers will hopefully be offering a longer remembrance and not leaving out people for the sake of time.

Superstar actor Chadwick Boseman died late last summer and is a nominee as Best Actor for his role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Previous Oscar winners from acting categories show who will likely be honored include Sean Connery, Olivia de Havilland, Cloris Leachman and Christopher Plummer. Past acting nominees include Hal Holbrook, Ian Holm, Shirley Knight, George Segal, Cicely Tyson, Max von Sydow and Stuart Whitman.

SEE2021 Oscars presenters: Last year’s winners Renee Zellweger, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, Brad Pitt returning

Almost all of the near 100 people on the list below were Academy members.

Even though Sunday’s SAG Awards ceremony will be shortened to just one pre-taped hour on TNT and TBS, the special In Memoriam segment will still be a highlight. Since the 2020 event aired on January 19, it will be over 14 months until the one on April 4. That means even more actors, actresses and members of SAG/AFTRA will hopefully be honored than the 40 people in the tribute last year.

Chadwick Boseman died last August and is a four-time nominee for the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday. The two individual nominations are for his leading role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and his supporting performance in “Da 5 Bloods.” Those two films also are nominated for the top ensemble category.

Oscar winners who have died in the past 14 months include Sean Connery, Olivia de Havilland, Cloris Leachman and Christopher Plummer. Academy Award nominees include Boseman, Kirk Douglas, Hal Holbrook, Ian Holm,...

Many TV legends and contributors were included for the “In Memoriam” segment on Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony for ABC. But producers are always forced to omit some of the 100+ insiders who died since the last ceremony. Who was left out of the group that was honored?

With dozens of television veterans having died since last year’s mid-September ceremony, people certainly included were these six TV Academy Hall of Fame members:

Diahann Carroll

Leonard Goldberg (executive at 20th Century Fox and ABC; producer of “Charlie’s Angels” and more)

Jim Lehrer (anchor/reporter of “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour)

Regis Philbin

Carl Reiner

Fred Silverman

SEECelebrity Deaths 2020: In Memoriam Gallery

Even though he wasn’t known for his TV work, blockbuster film actor Chadwick Boseman was featured in the final slot. NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant was not mentioned, even though the event was being held in the Staples Center.

For Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony on ABC, producers will have the always difficult task of assembling a memoriam segment. Even though the event hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will be virtual, it’s a certainty they will include the popular “In Memoriam” on the show.

With over 100 television veterans having died since last year’s mid-September ceremony, those expected to be honored would include such TV legends and TV Academy Hall of Fame members:

Diahann Carroll

Leonard Goldberg (executive at 20th Century Fox and ABC; producer of “Charlie’s Angels” and more)

Jim Lehrer (anchor/reporter of “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour)

Regis Philbin

Carl Reiner

Fred Silverman

SEECelebrity Deaths 2020: In Memoriam Gallery

Even though they weren’t known for their TV work, it’s very likely NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and blockbuster film actor Chadwick Boseman will be honored. Also among the dozens most likely included since they...

Allan Rich, an actor who was caught up in the Hollywood Blacklist of the 1950s but went on to have a 50-year film and TV career, has died. He was 94. His family said he died August 22 of progressive dementia at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, NJ, which is run by the Actors Fund.

A character actor with an instantly recognizable face, Rich had more than 130 roles in television and film, ranging from Serpico and The Gambler to some of the 1970s’ biggest TV shows and a memorable turn on Curb Your Enthusiasm. He also had supporting roles in four Broadway shows during the 1940s and ’50s before he was blacklisted.

Born on February 8, 1926, in the Bronx, Rich was a rising stage actor in the early 1950s when he name came up during the House Un-American Activities Committee led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy because the actor’s Theater Action...

Allan Rich, who was blacklisted in Hollywood early in his career and later found his niche as a versatile character actor in hundreds of roles, died on Aug. 22 at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, N.J. He was 94.

Rich’s notable feature film credits included playing district attorney Herman Tauber in Sidney Lumet’s “Serpico,” Judge Juttson in Steven Spielberg’s “Amistad,” and television executive Robert Kintner in Robert Redford’s “Quiz Show,” for which The New York Times reviewed his performance as having “the gruff assurance of a real executive.”

Rich was born Benjamin Norman Schultz on Feb. 8, 1926, in New York’s the Bronx. In 1943 he made his Broadway debut in “I’ll Take the High Road,” produced by Milton Berle. He became lifelong friends with Berle and went on to work with Edward G. Robinson, Claude Raines, Ralph Bellamy, Jack Palance, Kim Hunter and Henry Fonda.

The estate of Whitney Houston has officially announced that “Whitney,” an “intimate, definitive account of the superstar’s life and career,” will be released July 6. A powerhouse team of Oscar winners is at the helm of this documentary. Leading the charge is director, Kevin Macdonald, who won an Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2000 (“One Day in September”). He earned further acclaim for his 2006 biopic on Ugandan President Idi Amin, “The Last King of Scotland,” for which Forest Whitaker took home the Oscar for Best Actor and his 2012 feature about reggae legend Bob Marley (“Marley”).

For “Whitney,” Macdonald was granted exclusive rights to a vault of unheard music and never-before-seen video footage spanning the entirety of the late singer’s legendary career. Co-producing the film is Simon Chinn, a creative force who has won Best Documentary at the Academy Awards twice. In 2008 he took home the golden statue for “Man on Wire,...

On Wednesday, The Lone Ranger received multiple Razzie nominations, including the notorious Worst Picture nod. The next day, The Lone Ranger was nominated for an Oscar, for best makeup.

This isn’t the first movie to get nods from both ends of the spectrum. Since the Razzies first began back in 1981, 47 movies have been nominated for both “awards”– some even for the same exact person or song. Here’s a look at the club The Lone Ranger just joined:

The Competition

Oscar nods: Film editing, music (original song) for “People Alone” with music by Lalo Schifrin and lyrics by Wilbur...

Outrider Pictures

Not to be confused with a more recent film with the same name that was screened at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival, "The Dogwalker" deserves to have the "dog" part all for itself.

Originally shot in 1999 (it kicked around the festival circuit for a couple of years), this self-satisfied, streets-of-L.A. comedy about a glib slacker (Will Stewart) who gets a gig walking an old woman's mutt while her daughter (Stepfanie Kramer) and granddaughter (Nicki Aycox) slobber all over him in the process is rooted in the point-and-shoot school of improvisational filmmaking.

While the approach may have been liberating for writer-director Paul Duran and his cast, it's mighty tedious for the viewer who has to contend with unpleasant characters, hit-and-miss performances and awkwardly staged scenes.

Although it's nice to see old pros like John Randolph, Carol Gustafson and Allan Rich being offered some well-deserved work, it would have been nicer if Duran had bothered to actually write and direct something -- not to mention pick one tone and stick with it -- rather than to apparently wait for inspiration to strike while the camera was rolling. And rolling.