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When it comes to champions of forgotten sex symbols, you can’t do much better than Quentin Tarantino.

Snubs from the annual Oscars in memoriam segment are always uncomfortable, but 2023 was an especially awkward year for the Academy. Leslie Jordan, Anne Heche, Tom Sizemore, Paul Sorvino, and more celebrities who had recently passed were excluded from the ceremony. For the late Stella Stevens — a blonde bombshell known for decades of TV and film, and who at 83 had died just one month earlier from advanced Alzheimer’s disease — facing disrespect from the industry was always routine.

“I wrote letters to the Motion Picture Academy,” said filmmaker Andrew Stevens, Stella’s only son. With hundreds of credits to his name, the director, producer, and actor makes himself as busy as his late mother but is best known for appearing in 1978’s “The Boys in Company C.” Speaking with IndieWire earlier this January,...

Actors don't get to choose how they break out. Obviously, given the dearth of opportunities, they're lucky to call themselves "working actors" in the first place. And when you're just starting out, the last thing you should do is refuse work -- unless there's something better and fully guaranteed on the horizon.

Consider the case of Tina Louise. Born in 1934, the beautiful young woman had a multitude of fashion modeling offers in the 1950s, but what she really wanted to do was act. Louise studied under the influential acting teacher Sanford Meisner in Manhattan, and she began booking Broadway gigs in 1952 starting with a role in the Bette Davis-led revue "Two's Company." She co-starred in the hit 1956 musical adaptation of "Li'l Abner" as Appassionata Von Climax, and made a splashy film debut in Anthony Mann's comedy "God's Little Acre." The latter earned her a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer,...

Tony Mordente, the actor, dancer and choreographer who starred in the original Broadway and big-screen versions of West Side Story before carving out a long career as a TV director, has died. He was 88.

Mordente, who lived in Henderson, Nevada, died Tuesday, his family announced.

Mordente also worked on Broadway as an actor, understudy and/or assistant choreographer in Li’l Abner, Bye Bye Birdie and Ben Franklin in Paris.

The Brooklyn native portrayed A-Rab on stage in West Side Story, which premiered at the Winter Garden Theatre in September 1957, and played Action, another member of the Jets gang, in the 1961 United Artists adaptation. (David Winters was given the part of A-Rab in the movie.)

He married West Side Story castmate Chita Rivera, who of course played Anita, in December 1957. “A Jet marrying a Shark. It was quite a thing,” he said in a 1963 interview. (Rivera died in January.)

Mordente began...

Los Angeles – Stella Stevens had a prolific and adventurous career, especially considering all the famous co-stars and directors she encountered over her 60 year run. She began near end of the studio system in the late 1950s, and worked through the first decade of the post millennium. Stevens was 84 years old when she passed away February 17th, 2023, in her native Los Angeles.

Her leading men were as diverse as Glenn Ford, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, Jason Robards and Ernest Borgnine. The directors included Vincente Minnelli, Peter Bogdonovich, John Cassavetes, Sam Peckinpah and Jerry Lewis (he also directed “The Nutty Professor”).

Stella Stevens in Chicago circa 2011

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Stella was born in Mississippi as Estelle Egglston, and her family moved to Memphis soon thereafter. After an early marriage and divorce, she became interested in acting and modeling while at Memphis State University.

Stella Stevens, the screen siren of the 1960s who brought sweet sexiness to such films as The Nutty Professor, Too Late Blues and The Ballad of Cable Hogue, has died. She was 84.

Stevens died Friday in Los Angeles, her son, actor-producer-director Andrew Stevens, told The Hollywood Reporter. “She had been in hospice for quite some time with Stage 7 Alzheimer’s,” he said.

Shining brightest in light comedies, the blond, blue-eyed actress appeared as a shy beauty contestant from Montana in Vincente Minnelli’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963), portrayed a headstrong nun in Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows! (1968) opposite Rosalind Russell and frolicked with the fun-loving Dean Martin in two films: the Matt Helm spy spoof The Silencers (1966) and How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life (1968).

Stevens also starred opposite Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), a movie she said she detested.

Her signature role, however, came in The Nutty Professor (1963), produced,...

Stella Stevens, who starred with Elvis Presley in “Girls! Girls! Girls!” and with Jerry Lewis in “The Nutty Professor” as well as in disaster film “The Poseidon Adventure,” died Friday in Los Angeles. Her son, Andrew Stevens, said she had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. She was 84.

“Girls! Girls! Girls!” (1962) was one of the more generic Elvis films— there wasn’t all that much for Stevens to do — but Variety was keen on her performance in 1963’s “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” starring Glenn Ford and Shirley Jones in the story of a widower who’s romantically interested in one woman while his son wants him to marry another: “Stella Stevens comes on like gangbusters in her enactment of a brainy but inhibited doll from Montana. It’s a sizzling comedy performance of a kook.”

In “The Nutty Professor” (1963) or any other Jerry Lewis film, one might expect the...

Peter Palmer, who originated the title character in Broadway’s 1956 musical Li’l Abner and then reprised the role for the 1959 film adaptation, died Tuesday. He was 90.

His death was announced on Facebook by his son Steven Palmer, who noted that the actor died one day after his 90th birthday. No cause was given.

“As a family we knew this was coming and that’s why we had such a wonderful celebration of his birthday this weekend,” Steven Palmer wrote. “He enjoyed being celebrated by his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and friends and extended family. Gonna miss you, Pops.”

Palmer, who majored in music while playing football in the early 1950s for the Big Ten champs University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and routinely performed the National Anthem at games, was cast as Broadway’s naïve, muscle-bound hero of Dogpatch after producers saw him sing on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The Li’l Abner musical,...

Peter Palmer, the onetime college football player who starred in the Broadway and big-screen musical versions of Li’l Abner as the sweet-natured hillbilly title character from Dogpatch, USA, has died. He was 90.

Palmer died Wednesday on the day after his birthday, his son Steven Palmer announced on Facebook.

“As a family we knew this was coming and that’s why we had such a wonderful celebration of his birthday this weekend,” he wrote. “He enjoyed being celebrated by his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews and friends and extended family. Gonna miss you, Pops.”

After playing tackle ...

Billie Hayes, the actor who portrayed Witchiepoo on NBC’s “H.R. Pufnstuf,” has died. She was 96.

Hayes’ death was announced on her official website.

Hayes is best known for her portrayal of the comical witch Witchiepoo on Sid and Marty Krofft’s show “H.R. Pufnstuf” from 1969 to 1970. From there, Hayes reappeared as Witchiepoo on “The Paul Lynde Halloween Special” and the series finale of “The Banana Splits Adventure Hour.” Hayes also appeared as a witch in several other shows, including “Bewitched,” “Weenie the Genie,” “The Monkees” and “Lidsville.”

Marty Krofft paid tribute to Hayes in a statement to Variety: “In addition to being a very talented and special person, Margret Hamilton (Wicked Witch of the West/’Wizard of Oz’) once told me that Witchiepoo was the best witch ever. And as far as I’m concerned, there was no one better than Billie Hayes. She was a home run for us and ‘H.

She also voiced Mrs. Neederlander on “Transformers: Rescue Bots”

Billie Hayes, an actress who starred as the wacky villain Witchiepoo on the beloved 1969-70 children’s series “H.R. Pufnstuf,” died Thursday at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. She was 96.

Hayes’ family announced her death on Monday.

By the time she was squaring off with a psychedelic dragon over a talking flute on “H.R. Pufnstuf,” Hayes was already an established comic actress. She made her Broadway debut in 1956 in the ensemble cast of the aptly titled “New Faces of 1956,” which also featured a young Maggie Smith. That same year, Hayes originated the role of Mammy Yokum in the musical “Li’l Abner” and went on to star in the show’s 1961 film version.

However, it was Hayes’ cackling, conniving performance as Witchiepoo (short for Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo) that captured the imaginations of children across the country. Just 44 at the time of shooting,...

Tony Sokol Aug 31, 2019

Best known as Rhoda, Valerie Harper started as a dancer and never left the stage behind.

Valerie Harper, whose Rhoda Morgenstern character is an icon of television, died on Friday August 30, eight days after her 80th birthday.

"My dad has asked me to pass on this message," Harper’s daughter Cristina Cacciotti, confirmed on Twitter. “'My beautiful caring wife of nearly 40 years has passed away at 10:06 a.m., after years of fighting cancer. She will never, ever be forgotten. Rest In Peace, mia Valeria. -Anthony.'”

The Emmy winning actor was battling lung and brain cancer, according to Variety. When her brain cancer was first diagnosed in January 2013, Harper was told she had three months to live. While she was never cancer-free, she responded well enough to treatment to compete on Dancing with the Stars. Harper started in show business as a dancer, and her defining...

Rko's final in-house production is a good end-of-an-era film, a spirited and well-made musical comedy. Bright-eyed Jane Powell can't stop accepting marriage proposals, from nerdy Tommy Noonan, dreamboat kisser Cliff Robertson and zillionare Keith Andes. She imagines her future with each man in musical terms, through production numbers staged by Gower Champion. The Girl Most Likely DVD-r The Warner Archive Collection 1956 / Color / 1:78 enhanced widescreen / 98 min. / Street Date November 17, 2015 / available through the WBshop / 21.99 Starring Jane Powell, Cliff Robertson, Keith Andes, Kaye Ballard, Tommy Noonan, Una Merkel, Kelly Brown, Judy Nugent, Frank Cady, Joseph Kearns, Marjorie Stapp, Robert Banas. Cinematography Robert H. Planck Film Editor Doane Harrison Original Music Nelson Riddle Choreographer Gower Champion Written by Devery Freeman, Paul Jarrico (uncredited) Produced by Stanley Rubin Directed by Mitchell Leisen

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

From roughly 1925 to 1957, the powerful men in charge of the big studios controlled most aspects of production. That...

Everyone knows that a Sadie Hawkins dance is the yearly high school tradition in which the girls ask guys out – even if they have no idea who Sadie Hawkins is. In fact, most people probably know this even if their particular high school didn't offer any such opportunity to reverse gender norms.

Why, then, is it so celebrated? Well, for one it's long been a staple of pop culture and of teen-centered TV shows in particular. In fact, a lot of people may have only ever experienced a Sadie Hawkins dance through TV. And TV shows are still doing it today,...

In 1956, Al Capp's cherished Li'l Abner comic strip about the rural inhabitants of Dogpatch, U.S.A. got the Broadway treatment, and was met with a lot of enthusiasm and success. It was quickly adapted to film by Paramount in 1959. To the joy of musical theater enthusiasts, the film is remarkably faithful to its source material and even retained a majority of the original Broadway cast. Even in 2014, people still speak fondly of the Li'l Abner film, and now Masterworks Broadway is releasing the Li'l Abner Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on CD for the first time.

Sosie Bacon may only be 21, but she has a lot going for her. On top of being 2014's Miss Golden Globe, through her father Kevin Bacon, she is connected to nearly everyone in Hollywood - including every other previous Miss Golden Globe, most of whom are also the daughters (or sons) of industry power players. And while some have a connection through their famous parents, others, such as Laura Dern (who happens to have famous parents), are also connected through their own work. Don't believe us? Here's how you get from young Ms. Bacon to all of her famous predecessors,...

Project Runway has become something of a caricature of itself in the past few years, but let's never forget how amazing this show was and -- sometimes -- still is. The reason it remains my favorite reality competition show of allllll time (excepting perhaps The Mole) is its judges are such callous buzzards. So offensively dismissive. So haughty in their derision. So unnecessarily mean. So everything I want my children to be. Ten seasons in, Michael Kors is still the most damning character on that panel, and because he turns 53 today, I say we revisit his most hilarious and cutting barbs. So happy birthday, Mr. Kors! The crotch on your birthday is Insane.

(I've listed his quotes according to the garments he insulted. Scroll below each picture to read his legendary retort.)

1. Raymundo Balthazar's Barbie dress (season two)

Kors: "She looks like barefoot Appalachian Li'l Abner Barbie."

2. Marla Duran...

Idw Publishing's "Li'l Abner" Vol. 4, available January 25, 2012, is written and illustrated by Al Capp :

"...sit a spell and meet 'Available Jones', Swami Riva', 'Big Stanislouse', 'Joe Btfsplk', 'Dorothy Lamour', 'Lorna Goon', 'Orville Wolf', 'Cherry Blossom', the parents of 'Gat Garson', 'Sadie Hawkins V', 'Dinsmore Jerque', 'J.P. Fangsby', 'Tiny Mite', that hog-wallowin' bundle of pulchritude, 'Moonbeam McSwine' and of course, 'Daisy Mae'..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Set in the backwoods of America, Winter's Bone eschews hillbilly cliche to create a moving drama of love and fortitude

Debra Granik's impressive second movie, Winter's Bone, adapted from a novel by Daniel Woodrell, takes place in President Truman's home state of Missouri and down near the border of Bill Clinton's native Arkansas. But the setting is of one of those pockets of impoverished rural America that have been in the backwoods for centuries in mountains ranges like the Adirondacks, the Appalachians and the Ozarks.

These white, Protestant communities are populated by the descendants of British immigrants who arrived in the 18th century and have retained old manners of speech, music and a tight-lipped clannishness from generation to generation. On occasion, the lives of these poor whites have become the subject of serious political attention. In the New Deal era of the 1930s, the Tennessee Valley Authority sought...

Written and illustrated by cartoonist Al Capp, the second volume of the complete "Li'l Abner" newspaper comic strip, presenting the daily strips and color Sundays from 1937 and 1938, features the first 'Sadie Hawkins Day', "...in which the womenfolk chase the menfolk, and whosoever gets caught is brought to the altar before 'Marryin' Sam' himself..."

"Li'l Abner", considered the inspiration for the characters in the CBS comedy TV series "The Beverly Hillbillies", featured a clan of hillbillies from the impoverished town of 'Dogpatch', Kentucky.

The strip ran in North American newspapers from 1934 to 1977, distributed by United Feature Syndicate.

Characters included voluptuous 'Daisy Mae Scragg' hopelessly in love with Li'l Abner, before getting 'hitched' and producing their first child, 'Honest Abe' in 1953.

The 'Shmoo' characters introduced to the strip in 1948, were fabulous creatures that bred exponentially, consumed nothing and eagerly provided everything that humankind could wish for.

Besides producing both milk (bottled,...

Famed fantasy artist Frank Frazetta has passed away at the age of 82. The Brooklyn-born artist was a child prodigy and though he dabbled in baseball and scouted for major league teams, he became a hall of fame graphic artist. He started in comics. and drew for Standard Publishing, EC and others, and was the assistant for Al Capp on Li'l Abner. He made his greatest impression after he began painting paperback covers, where he carved out a reputation for his muscular, visceral, primal works like the one seen here. That branched into movie poster work. Frazetta's work influenced [...]...

Famed fantasy artist Frank Frazetta has passed away at the age of 82. The Brooklyn-born artist was a child prodigy and though he dabbled in baseball and scouted for major league teams, he became a hall of fame graphic artist. He started in comics. and drew for Standard Publishing, EC and others, and was the assistant for Al Capp on Li'l Abner. He made his greatest impression after he began painting paperback covers, where he carved out a reputation for his muscular, visceral, primal works like the one seen here. That branched into movie poster work. Frazetta's work influenced [...]...

Legendary fantasy artist Frank Frazetta died this morning at age 82. The cause of death was a stroke. Born in 1928, Frazetta started drawing comic books at age 16, working on the pages of EC and National Comics by the early 1950s, even turning down offers from larger companies such as Walt Disney, who approached him many times. In the mid 1950s, Frazetta was an assistant to the legendary Al Capp who wrote and drew Li'l Abner. George Lucas once said that Frazetta's work on Buck Rogers was the inspiration for Star Wars. But it was in the world of paperback novel covers where Frazetta had his biggest impact, especially in the fantasy realm.

Iconic fantasy artist Frank Frazetta has passed away at the age of 82 after suffering a stroke, Robot 6 reports. The painter was best known for his cover illustrations of classic characters Conan The Barbarian and Tarzan in the 1960s. Frazetta's work also extended into comics, including such projects as Shining Knight for DC, and commissions from magazines and newspapers to draw Li'l Abner and Flash Gordon. (more)...