Journalist and author Lou Cannon, who was widely considered the nation’s leading authority on the life and career of President Reagan, died Friday in a Santa Barbara hospice. He was 92.
His death was caused by complications from a stroke, his son Carl M. Cannon told the Washington Post, where his father served for years as a White House correspondent.
The elder Cannon covered Reagan’s two-term presidency in the 1980s, but his relationship with the enigmatic Republican leader went back to the 1960s, when Reagan moved from acting to politics.
Cannon interviewed Reagan more than 50 times and wrote five books about him, but still struggled to understand what made Reagan who he was.
“The more I wrote,” Cannon told the Reno Gazette-Journal in 2001, “the more I felt I didn’t know.”
Cannon was born in New York City and raised in Reno, Nev., where he attended the University of Nevada in Reno and later San Francisco State College.
After service in the U.S. Army, he became a reporter covering Reagan’s first years as governor of California for the San Jose Mercury News. In 1972, Cannon began working for the Washington Post as a political reporter.
Cannon recalled first encountering Reagan in 1965 while assigned to cover a lunch event for reporters and lobbyists and being surprised by Reagan’s command of the room when he spoke.
Reagan was beginning his campaign for governor by proving he could answer questions and “was not just an actor reading a script.” At the time, the word actor was “a synonym for airhead. Well, Reagan was no airhead,” Cannon said in a 2008 interview at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum.
To Cannon’s surprise, the reporters and lobbyists mobbed Reagan after the event was over to get his autograph. Cannon introduced himself.
“I remember those steely eyes of his. I thought he had this great face, but his eyes are tough,” Cannon said. “His eyes are really something.”
On the phone later, Cannon’s editor asked him what he thought of Reagan. He replied, “I don’t know anything, but if I were running this thing, why would anybody want to run against somebody that everybody knows and everybody likes? Why would you want him to be your opponent?
“I predicted that Reagan was going to be president, but I didn’t have any idea he was going to be governor,” Cannon said. “I was just so struck by the fact that he impacted on people as, not like he was a politician, but like he was this celebrity, force of nature that people wanted to rub up against. It was like seeing Kennedy again. They wanted the aura, the sun.”
In 1966, Reagan was elected governor by a margin of nearly 1 million votes and Cannon found himself “writing about Ronald Reagan every day.”
Reagan’s political opponents in California and Washington consistently underestimated him, assuming the former actor could be easily beaten at the ballot box, Cannon said. Reagan ran for president unsuccessfully twice, but had the will to keep trying until he won — twice.
“Reagan was tough, and he was determined, and you couldn’t talk him out of doing what he wanted to do,” Cannon said. “Nancy couldn’t talk him out of what he wanted to do, for god’s sakes. And certainly no advisor could or no other candidate. Ronald Reagan wanted to be president of the United States.”
Cannon’s first book on the president, “Reagan,” was published in 1982. In 1991 he published “President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime,” which is regarded as a comprehensive biography of the 40th president.
Mr. Cannon’s first marriage, to Virginia Oprian, who helped him research his early books, ended in divorce. In 1985, he wed Mary Shinkwin, the Washington Post said. In addition to his wife, he is survived by three children.
IF you’re dreaming of going somewhere picturesque and peaceful, there’s a certain stunning cottage calling your name.
Residing in one of Wales‘ beautiful peninsulas, the white-washed home – known as Bwthyn Trehilyn – is incredibly popular for holiday bookings.
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Bwthyn Trehilyn on Strumble Head is a gorgeous rural cottageCredit: Under The ThatchIt features a private garden, ideal for a quiet breakfast outdoorsCredit: Under The ThatchRural views are plentiful around the propertyCredit: Under The Thatch
This isn’t only because it boasts six bedrooms, scenic views and the perfect step away to disconnect from the hubbub of busy, daily life.
It just so happens to be owned by a famous TV star.
Comedian, actor and television presenter Griff Rhys Jones took ownership of the now-beautiful cottage when it was in a rather derelict state.
It was once part of a collection of stone properties that collectively formed a working Pembrokeshire farm.
But now Bwthyn Trehilyn is enjoying a new lease of life as a holiday rental, thanks to becoming the fifth property renovated by Griff.
Under the Thatch, a company who curate collections of the most refined holiday homes in Wales, announced Bwthyn Trehilyn as the top-selling accommodation for 2025.
Visitors adored the charm of the building, as well as its thoughtfully updated interiors including its adjoining servants’ wing, a former mill, and a granary.
Interior designers did their best to keep some of the interior’s original character, incorporating vintage furniture relevant to the period and restoring wooden ceiling beams.
Though one of the main sells for travellers was its location, being only a short walk away from the Abermawr beach.
The beach features a private lake, ideal for watching a stunning rural sunset melt into the water or an evening of fishing.
It only took a stroll through the area back in 2004 for Griff to decide he just had to snap up the cottage and return it to its former beauty.
Interior designers renovating the cottage kept an old-world feel insideCredit: Under The ThatchIt features vintage furniture and beautiful colour combinationsCredit: Under The ThatchModern features have been intertwined into the property, tooCredit: Under The Thatch
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who wants to spend some time revisiting Rob Reiner’s indelible mark on pop culture.
For many of us, it was already that time of year when we pop in our DVD of “When Harry Met Sally…” or figure out which streaming service has it in its library (or digitally rent it, if none do), and passively recite every quotable moment until Harry’s breathless declaration of love on New Year’s Eve necessitated our full performance. It was a comfort watch in the best sense because of how joyous and hopeful it left so many of us, even cynics, feeling. This year, as the tradition now becomes layered with sadness following the tragic deaths of Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, there’s at least comfort in knowing all the Hollywood magic he brought to life (whether he was directing, or starring in a production) that was full of humanity, humor and heart, and accompanied us at different stages of our lives, can continue to do so. Members of our film team took a look at some of Reiner’s best films, many of which can be streamed. And TV critic Robert Lloyd reminded us of Reiner’s contributions to television, particularly through shows like “All in the Family” and “New Girl” (“Lettuce, tomato, lettuce, meat, meat, meat, cheese, lettuce” — iykyk).
But if it’s all too soon, we get it. Maybe our other streaming recommendations can provide an escape — one is a TV drama about a disillusioned Broadway director returning home to his amateur community theater, and the other is a mystery thriller with an unlikely duo teaming up to investigate the case of a missing girl.
Also in this week’s Screen Gab, “Emily in Paris” actor Samuel Arnold stops by Guest Spot to tell us about the behind-the-scenes adventures of the show’s Italian-set fifth season.
ICYMI
Must-read stories you might have missed
Julianne Hough near the Dolby Theatre at the 97th Academy Awards earlier this year. The Oscars are moving to YouTube, sending shock waves through Hollywood.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
What the Oscars moving to YouTube means for broadcast TV: The Academy Awards will stream on YouTube beginning in 2029, ending a more than five-decade run on broadcast television and marking the show’s biggest distribution shift in its history.
Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
Harry McNaughton as Charlie Summers, a disillusioned Broadway director returning home to his amateur community theatre in “Happiness.”
(Andi Crown Photography / PBS)
“Happiness” (PBS app, pbs.org)
What could be better, at this festive time of year, or any other time, than a backstage musical comedy set in an amateur theatrical company in New Zealand’s fifth-largest city? Harry McNaughton plays Charlie Summers, whose Broadway dream dies when he’s fired as the director of a “Cats” revival and, losing his work visa, returns home to New Zealand for what he hopes will be only a couple of days. Naturally, it turns out otherwise, with Charlie drawn reluctantly into the production of a new musical, “The Trojan Horse,” at the Pizazz theater, run by his mother (Rebecca Gibney) and stocked with a original twists on classic characters: a dictatorial director, the always-cast leading lady, a talented ingénue, a buff electrician with a great voice and the shy high school music teacher who wrote it, making themselves and their desires quickly felt. (There’s a feminist thrust to the plot.) The songs are tuneful and witty, the performances fun, the atmosphere charged but charming. Presented in six 20-minute episodes as part of “Masterpiece Theater.” — Robert Lloyd
Emma Thompson as private investigator Zoë Boehm and Ruth Wilson as art conservationist Sarah Trafford in “Down Cemetery Road.”
(Matt Towers / Apple TV)
“Down Cemetery Road” (Apple TV)
Nothing says the holidays like a gripping crime drama where everyone’s a suspect! Apple TV’s smart and unvarnished British series follows Zoë Boehm (Emma Thompson), a private investigator who hasn’t the time or bandwidth for social niceties, shows of emotion or combing her hair. She’s thrown together with homemaker and art restorer Sarah Tucker (Ruth Wilson), a passive suburbanite who likes 4 Non Blondes.
Their sparring personalities create the undeniable chemistry that’s at the heart of this eight-part series, while the drama’s unexpected turn of events and fast pacing make it hard to hit pause. The two women are connected when a deadly residential explosion rocks Sarah’s neighborhood. A woman was killed, but her young daughter, who made it out alive, has mysteriously disappeared. The quest to find the girl pulls the odd-couple investigators into a complex and dangerous cover up by the Ministry of Defense, and they discover the explosion was in fact an orchestrated assassination.
Morwenna Banks’ adaptation of Mick Herron’s debut novel of the same name, “Down Cemetery Road” also features the PTSD-plagued Downey (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), the villainous Amos (Fehinti Balogun), bumbling agent Hamza Malik (Adeel Akhtar) and his sociopathic boss, C (Darren Boyd). But it’s Thompson’s gruff character who gets the best lines, such as the one she says to a potential client: “I don’t drink Prosecco and I don’t bond emotionally.” The show has already been renewed for a second season. — Lorraine Ali
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Samuel Arnold as Julien in Season 5 of “Emily in Paris.”
(Netflix)
Every office needs a deliciously snarky employee who is too fabulous to work, but still manages to grace the room with their presence to boost the vibe. In “Emily in Paris,” that person is Julien. The quippy, sharply dressed and gossip-loving character, played by Samuel Arnold, has been a bright spot in the series over its run. Initially the guy who liked to remind Emily she was une ringarde American, he’s softened his stance on his fish-out-of-water colleague. But as the Agence Grateau luxury marketing team ventures to Italy this season, which is now streaming, his side eye shifts focus to a new co-worker. Over email, Arnold shared what it was like shooting outside their usual setting and the animated series he returns to over and over. — Yvonne Villarreal
The Grateau team spent time in Italy this season. Some filming took place in Rome and Venice. What’s a memory or experience that stands out from filming there? Did any place there become a go-to spot for you when you weren’t shooting?
Rome was incredible, both on and off screen. One moment that really stands out is when Ashley Park and her choreographer, Carlye Tamaren, taught us one of Ashley’s dance routines. Everyone did so well — and Bruno Gouery was absolutely hilarious. When we weren’t filming, one of our favorite meeting spots was the rooftop at the Minerva Hotel. It’s stunning. In Venice, we would all gather in Bruno Gouery’s room and play a pirate dice game that Lucien Laviscount introduced us to. The city itself felt like a dream.
The series revolves around Emily and her fish-out-of-water experience of building a new life in Paris. How would this series look if it were titled “Julien in Paris”? Five seasons in, what would a slice of his life look like if you could pitch it to Darren Star?
If the show were called “Julien in Paris,” it probably wouldn’t be very exciting — Julien is a Parisian. He has Paris on lock. I like to think he sees himself as the prince of the city. Now, Julien in New York City — opening his own marketing firm there — that’s a different story. I can already feel the drama.
Julien is very discerning and could spot the games Genevieve was playing. How do you think he handled her, and the position he was in, knowing this secret could damage Emily and Mindy’s friendship?
I think Julien handled it pretty well. It’s not a great position to be in. When one friend hurts another, the right thing to do is to encourage the person at fault to do the right thing. And when someone like Genevieve — played by the absolutely lovely Thalia Besson — tries to stir up trouble, Julien definitely knows how to deal with that in the best possible way.
With all the love triangles (and squares), who would you, Samuel, pick for Emily — Gabriel or Marcello? And for Mindy — Nicolas or Alfie?
I don’t think I should be picking men for those women. What I can say is that they should follow their hearts and embrace whatever comes with that. Honestly, we should all try to do the same.
What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?
I recently watched “Safe House” [Netflix], with Lucien Laviscount as a badass action hero. The casting is great, the ending really catches you off guard, and Lucien does his own stunts — which makes it even more impressive.
What’s your go-to comfort watch — the movie or TV show you always come back to?
“Rick and Morty” [Hulu]. It never gets old. It’s funny, packed with pop-culture references — which I love — and the voice acting is just incredible.
Director Paul Feig has proved himself to be the preeminent purveyor of the finest high-camp trash one can find at the movie theater these days — and that’s a compliment. If he’s serving up the trash, then call me a raccoon, because I’m ready to dive in.
Feig’s special sauce when it comes to these soapy, female-driven thrillers like “A Simple Favor” and now “The Housemaid,” adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from a “BookTok” sensation by Freida McFadden, is clearly his comedy background. The filmmaker understands exactly the tone to deploy here; you can feel his knowing winks and nudges to the audience with every loaded glance, stray graze or wandering camera movement. It’s as if he’s saying to us and all the tipsy ladies in the audience: Check this out — LOL, right? LOL indeed, Mr. Feig.
“The Housemaid” is an erotic crime thriller that deploys silly sexual stereotypes and fantasies like the naughty maid and then flips them on their head. In the opening scene, the drably dressed, bespectacled Millie (Sydney Sweeney) interviews for a live-in maid position with the warm and friendly wife and mother Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) in her gorgeously appointed Long Island mansion designed by her wealthy husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar of “Drop”).
But all is not what it seems, for applicant and employer. Both are hiding dark secrets but Nina hires Millie nevertheless. Millie, without any other options, gratefully accepts.
When Millie moves into the maid’s quarters in the attic, she discovers that the Winchester home isn’t as picture-perfect as it seemed. Little things are off: She can’t open her window, the groundskeeper, Enzo (Michele Morrone), glowers at her constantly, items go missing and CeCe (Indiana Elle), Nina’s daughter, is exceedingly cold.
Then there are the big things that are off, like Nina’s wild mood swings and the vicious gossip about her mental health among the other Stepford wives of the area. Millie realizes she’s in over her head with Mrs. Winchester, but her saving grace is the warm and handsome Mr. Winchester. Is that where this is going? Of course it is, we all groan together, happily.
“The Housemaid” is like “Gaslight” meets “Jane Eyre,” with a dash of “Rebecca,” and all the various roles are lightly scrambled, infused with a much sexier, nastier streak than any of those mannered mindbenders. Feig stylishly waltzes us through this steamy, twisty mystery with ease, but not necessarily sophistication — this is the kind of frothy entertainment that you can still enjoyably comprehend after a glass or two (which in fact might enhance the experience).
But it doesn’t fly without an actor of Seyfried’s caliber, who can summon unpredictable mayhem from her fingertips. Nor would it function without Sweeney, who works best in a register somewhere between ditzy blond and tough little scrapper. Both actors exude an element of the unhinged that simmers right below the doe-eyed blond surface and we know we should be a little (or a lot) afraid of these women. The film also doesn’t make sense without a heartthrob like Sklenar, since we need to fall in lust with his gorgeous exterior and intoxicatingly cuddly aura for this all to eventually make sense.
There’s not much more to say without giving it all away, so prepare to titter, gasp, scream and cheer for this juicy slice of indulgent women’s entertainment. Go on, you deserve a little treat this holiday season.
Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.
‘The Housemaid’
Rated: R, for strong/bloody violent content, sexual assault, sexual content, nudity and language
Gil Gerard, the actor who became a childhood hero to many for his lead performances in the 1979 movie “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” and its subsequent TV incarnation, died early Tuesday, his wife announced on social media. He was 82.
“Early this morning Gil — my soulmate — lost his fight with a rare and viciously aggressive form of cancer,” Janet Gerard wrote Tuesday evening on Facebook. “From the moment when we knew something was wrong to his death this morning was only days.”
She was by Gerard’s side when he died in hospice care, she added as she placed another post — a pre-written message from the actor to his family, friends and fans — on her husband’s Facebook page.
“If you are reading this, then Janet has posted it as I asked her to,” the actor wrote. “My life has been an amazing journey. The opportunities I’ve had, the people I’ve met and the love I have given and received have made my 82 years on the planet deeply satisfying.”
The post was followed by myriad comments in which fans spontaneously recalled Gerard’s work as Buck Rogers and shared the influence he had on their lives.
“Your time as Buck Rogers was way too short but it has stayed with me in my childhood memories for 45+ years,” one man wrote. “Your hero was brave, macho, but also kind, compassionate, and fair. I feel as if that was representative of the man you truly were. Thank you for being the kind of ‘make believe’ hero that we should all want to be in real life.”
Another fan replied, “[H]aving met him, I can say he was all that. On and off the screen.”
Wrote another, “Like many here, I grew up watching Gil as Buck Rogers. He was cool… and he was funny… and he was nice. I was happy to find him here after all these years… still cool… still funny… still nice. It was a highlight when he ‘liked’ one of my comments. We’ll keep an eye out for you… 500 years into the future!”
“With our show, the reason people liked it was the humor and the fact that it was colorful and upbeat and it had heroes in it,” he said, chatting at a comic convention in Anaheim. “It was family entertainment. I think it’s great to deal with more serious issues, but you can do it with humor — look at what ‘All in the Family’ dealt with. You can be serious without being relentlessly dark and heavy.”
He also had wishes for the future direction of sci-fi projects, which at the time he observed were “very dark, almost hopeless.” And, he said, “wet.”
“Have you noticed how much rain they get in the future now? Everything is rainy and muddy. I don’t understand, either, how come everybody is so dirty when there’s so much water around everywhere,” Gerard observed with what seemed to be a healthy sense of humor. “Look at ‘Waterworld’ — they live in a place with no land and everyone’s covered in dirt. I don’t get it. You think they’d fall overboard and get clean once in a while.”
Gilbert Cyril Gerard was born Jan. 23, 1943, in Little Rock, Ark., and trekked to New York City in 1969 to give acting a shot, studying at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.
He drove a taxi to pay the bills and, according to his website, one day a fare told him to show up on the set of the movie “Love Story.” Ten weeks of work on the film followed and his career took off. At first Gerard appeared primarily in commercials, representing companies including Ford, Coca-Cola and Proctor & Gamble until he landed the role of former POW Dr. Alan Stewart on NBC’s “The Doctors.” He put on the white coat and stethoscope for more than 300 episodes of that daytime drama from 1973 to 1976.
Then an agent lured him to the West Coast, where auditions got him noticed by NBC. NBC’s interest led to his casting in the title role in Universal Pictures’ “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century,” starring alongside Erin Gray as Col. Wilma Deering and Pamela Hensley as Princess Ardala.
As William “Buck” Rogers, Gerard played a 20th century astronaut who had come out of suspended animation 500 years in the future, only to discover a planet in ruins. In 1979 dollars, the film earned more than $21 million worldwide, or about $100 million when adjusted for inflation.
His career outside of “Buck Rogers” included appearances on mainstream shows abundant in that era — “Baretta,” “Hawaii 5-0,” “CHiPs” and “Little House on the Prairie” among them — as well as more obscure TV movies with delightful titles: “Reptisaurus,” “Nuclear Hurricane” and “Bone Eater.” “Sidekicks” in the mid-1980s, a couple of years after the release of the Oscar-nominated 1984 movie “The Karate Kid,” saw him playing a cop who becomes the guardian of a pre-teen martial-arts expert. A stint on the short-lived 1990 series “E.A.R.T.H Force” earned him some light snark from The Times’ then-critic Howard Rosenberg.
But Gerard also appeared in successful mainstream films including “The Nice Guys” starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling and “The Big Easy” with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin.
Gerard was married and divorced four times before exchanging vows with Janet Gerard in the 2010s. Among his wives was model and actor Connie Sellecca, whom he was married to from 1979 until their divorce was finalized in 1987. They had one child, a son.
In addition to addictions to alcohol and drugs, the actor battled his weight starting in the 1980s, with the once-trim leading man eventually seeing his health suffer as he topped 300 pounds, according to a 1990 interview with People. He later chronicled his 2005 mini gastric-bypass surgery in the 2007 Discovery Health special “Action Hero Makeover.”
“Gil likely saved my life. I was badly in need of weightloss surgery. I was resistant…then i saw a documentary on Gils weight loss journey. It was the impetus I needed as Gil was a hero of mine growing up,” a fan wrote Tuesday on Gerard’s posthumous Facebook post. “I thanked him via email several years ago and he was gracious and kind. I will miss him.”
Gerard appeared to be quite grateful and gracious at the end of his life.
“It’s been a great ride, but inevitably one that comes to a close as mine has,” he wrote in that final prepared post. “Don’t waste your time on anything that doesn’t thrill you or bring you love. See you out somewhere in the cosmos.”
“No matter how many years I got to spend with him it would have never been enough,” Janet Gerard said in closing in her own message on Facebook. “Hold the ones you have tightly and love them fiercely.”
In addition to his wife, Gerard is survived by actor Gilbert Vincent “Gib” Gerard, 44, his son with Sellecca.
A fan has been left stunned after they spotted an Oscar-nominated actor alongside his huge popstar girlfriend at a London pub.
The pair were filmed in a busy boozer playing cards and ordering drinks, going seemingly unnoticed by the other punters around them.
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A fan has been left stunned after they spotted an Oscar-nominated actor alongside his huge popstar girlfriend at a London pubCredit: tiktok/@izabelle29012Paul Mescal and Gracie Abrams were filmed in a busy boozer playing cards and ordering drinksCredit: tiktok/@izabelle29012The pair went seemingly unnoticed by the other punters around themCredit: tiktok/@izabelle29012
The VIP guests, were none other than actor Paul Mescal and his popstar girlfriend Gracie Abrams, who were sat in the middle of a busy North London pub.
In a video uploaded to TikTok the pair can be seen playing cards on a table together, in the beer garden of The Canonbury Tavern at night.
Paul looked inconspicuous in a cap whilst ordering drinks for the pair inside at the bar.
The fan took pics of the star as he ordered seemingly going unnoticed by the other punters around him.
The eagle-eyed fan captioned the video: “Paul Mescal & Gracie Abrams playing cards in Canonbury.”
In the second clip which showed the pics of the A-lister at the bar, she wrote: “Part two of seeing Paul Mescal, Got to keep one of the cards they were playing with.”
Fans flocked to the comments in disbelief over the pair’s unexpected appearance, one user penned: “NO WAY.”
A second added: “Is that really them ??? when was this omg.”
A worker of the pub revealed that she’s even served the star before, they wrote: “ I work at this pub and I’ve served him before (crying laughing emoji).”
They were spotted again this year having picnics and drinks in a park in June, before they were snapped getting close at Glastonbury ahead of Gracie’s set, that same month.
An insider said: “Obviously there weren’t really gyms around in the Sixties.
“The Beatles weren’t dead-lifting between gigs.
“Macca was always pretty lean and flexible — he has always been really into yoga — but this is a very different aesthetic to that of a burly gladiator, and Paul has been keeping his body pretty ripped, even after filming stopped.
“Sir Paul McCartney is also famously a vegetarian, whereas Paul mainly lives on a high protein steak, chicken and eggs diet.
“There also weren’t whey protein shakes back in the Beatles’ day.”
Oscar-nominated actor Paul was ordered to lose some muscle and put on some fat for his next big roleCredit: APThe couple were first linked in June 2024 when they were snapped having a romantic dinner date at celebrity haunt BRAT RestaurantCredit: GettyPaul attended Gracie’s Glastonbury set back in JuneCredit: stellamccartney/Instagram
Rob Reiner was born into the lineage of comedy thanks to his father, television pioneer Carl Reiner, and he first gained recognition as an actor, including his Emmy-winning role on “All in the Family.” And while there is certainly a streak of humor through almost all of his films, what marks Reiner’s work as a director is his astonishing versatility, able to switch styles from one project to the next with remarkable ease. The run of films that begins with his feature directing debut, 1984’s “This Is Spinal Tap,” on through 1986’s “Stand by Me,” 1987’s “The Princess Bride,” 1989’s “When Harry Met Sally…,” 1990’s “Misery,” 1992’s “A Few Good Men” and 1995’s “The American President” is simply breathtaking for its mastery across the specrum of popular Hollywood moviemaking.
‘This Is Spinal Tap’ (1984)
Harry Shearer, left, Christopher Guest and Michael McKean in the movie “This Is Spinal Tap.”
(Archive Photos / Getty Images)
Though not strictly the first to explore the form, Reiner’s first feature as director more or less cemented the concept of the “mockumentary,” presenting itself as a documentary on the (fictional) rock band Spinal Tap. Reiner appeared onscreen as Marty DiBergi, director of the faux film-within-the-film, forming a neat transition from his career as an actor to director. And while this year’s sequel “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues” was not particularly well received, the legacy of the original, still among the most quotable comedies ever made, remains untouchable. — Mark Olsen
‘The Sure Thing’ (1985)
Made amid the teen sex comedy craze of the 1980s, Reiner’s second film, about two college students sharing a cross-country car trip together, had something special and different about it — namely the performances of John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga, who both brought an openhearted tenderness to a story that might have toppled into cynicism. The emotional earnestness that would often come through in Reiner’s work first emerged here, making what could have been a run-of-the-mill exercise into something more. — M.O.
‘Stand by Me’ (1986)
Wil Wheaton, left, River Phoenix, Jerry O’Connell and Corey Feldman in the movie “Stand by Me.”
(Columbia Pictures)
Based on a novella by Stephen King, “Stand by Me” is about four boys — played by Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell and River Phoenix — who find their friendship tested during a particularly eventful Labor Day weekend of 1959. Approaching the story with a mix of dewy nostalgia and incisive clarity, the film earned Reiner the first of three nominations from the Directors Guild of America. — M.O.
‘The Princess Bride’ (1987)
Robin Wright and Cary Elwes in the movie “The Princess Bride.”
(20th Century Fox / Kobal / REX / Shutterstock)
It would be inconceivable to not include “The Princess Bride” in any consideration of Reiner’s best, as the swashbuckling fantasy romance embodies a sense of playful inventiveness and anything-can-happen ethos. An elderly man reads a story to his grandson as the action comes to life in the tale of a farm boy and a princess who are fated to be together, if only they can overcome all manner of trials and challenges. The movie has now enchanted multiple generations of children and adults alike. — M.O.
‘When Harry Met Sally…’ (1989)
Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in the movie “When Harry Met Sally…”
(Castle Rock Entertainment)
As much as any other movie, “When Harry Met Sally…” (scripted by Nora Ephron) has come to embody the modern romantic comedy with its will they-won’t-they tale of two good friends who come to realize they may also work as something more. Grounded by the charming performances of Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal, as well as a strong supporting cast including Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby, the film has a rare warmth. It was Reiner’s mother Estelle who delivered the unforgettable punchline, “I’ll have what she’s having.” — M.O.
‘Misery’ (1990)
Kathy Bates and James Caan in “Misery.”
(Archive Photos / Getty Images)
Reiner named his production company Castle Rock Entertainment in honor of his deep love for Stephen King’s fiction and after making a splash with “Stand by Me,” there was no way he wasn’t going do something scarier as a follow up. (You get a hint in “When Harry Met Sally” — look at the hardcover Crystal is skimming.) King’s captive-author nightmare gets classed up by two knockout performances calibrated in perfect harmony: Kathy Bates’ psycho fan, a turn that earned her an Oscar, and James Caan as the bedbound writer. At the time, Caan was an actor in need of a second chance. Reiner was it. — Joshua Rothkopf
‘A Few Good Men’ (1992)
Jack Nicholson, left, and Tom Cruise in the movie “A Few Good Men.”
(Mondadori Portfolio / Mondadori via Getty Images)
Reiner seemingly conquered yet another movie genre with this tightly wound military courtroom thriller and received his only Academy Award nomination, for best picture. Reiner was also recognized with nominations from the Directors Guild, Producers Guild and Golden Globes for the film. Written by Aaron Sorkin and featuring a cast that includes Tom Cruise and Demi Moore, this has Jack Nicholson’s volcanic delivery of the now-legendary line, “You can’t handle the truth!” — M.O.
‘The American President’ (1995)
Michael Douglas and director Rob Reiner on the set of “The American President.”
(Archive Photos / Getty Images)
A president as a romantic lead? Such things actually happened during the Clinton era. Reiner injects warmth and realism to Sorkin’s swaggering original script, loaded with wonky dialogue and walk-and-talks. But it’s the careful steering of Michael Douglas as a widowed U.S. leader and rising star Annette Bening as an extra-persuasive eco-lobbyist that distinguish this gentle comedy, one that seems positively alien to our current climate. Widely known for his vigilant activism in later years, Reiner’s on-screen politics were no less optimistic. — J.R.
‘Rumor Has It’ (2005)
Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner in the movie “Rumor Has It.”
(Melissa Moseley / Warner Bros. Pictures)
Not many would dare to take on a sort-of sequel to a movie as beloved as “The Graduate,” but Reiner brought a casual ease to the tale of a woman, played by Jennifer Aniston, who believes her mother and grandmother were the inspiration for Charles Webb’s original source novel. Though reviews at the time largely savaged the movie, it now seems just the kind of self-assured studio comedy audiences yearn for, buoyed by Shirley MacLaine’s outrageous performance as a woman who may be the real Mrs. Robinson. — M.O.
‘Albert Brooks: Defending My Life’ (2023)
Albert Brooks, left, and Rob Reiner in the documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life.”
(HBO)
Reiner received two Emmy nominations for this documentary tribute to comedian, actor and filmmaker Albert Brooks, a friend of Reiner’s since the two met as teenagers at Beverly Hills High. It’s captured as an expansive conversation with the two sharing a meal in a restaurant. As much as the film is a portrait of Brooks, it also reflects Reiner’s own unique position as someone who knew show business and its ups and downs with a rare intimacy. — M.O.
Rob Reiner, a writer, director, producer, actor and political activist whose career in Hollywood spanned more than six decades and included some of the most iconic titles in movie history, was found dead Sunday with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, at the home they shared in Brentwood. He was 78.
“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michele and Rob Reiner,” a spokesperson for the family said in a statement Sunday. “We are heartbroken by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time.”
Reiner will be remembered as the director of the seminal 1980s rom-com “When Harry Met Sally,” the actor whose character “Meathead” faced off regularly against Archie Bunker, and the political activist who backed early childhood programs in California and railed loudly for years against President Trump.
The oldest child of comedian Carl Reiner and singer Estelle Reiner, Robert Reiner was born March 6, 1947, in the Bronx, N.Y. Raised by a father who won 11 Primetime Emmys and a Grammy in addition to the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, Rob Reiner attended Beverly Hills High School and studied film at UCLA. He then went to work in Hollywood as an actor and writer before moving on to directing and producing.
Reiner’s writing credits in the 1960s included “The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” “The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour” and the TV movie “Where the Girls Are.” In the 1970s, he wrote several episodes of “All in the Family” as well as the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast in 1978 and episodes of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”
Reiner married Penny Marshall, star of TV’s “Laverne & Shirley,” in 1971 and adopted Tracy, the daughter Marshall had from a previous marriage. Reiner and Marshall divorced in 1981.
He wrote for the first “Comic Relief,” hosted by Robin Williams, Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg. That and the dozen “Comic Relief” telethons that followed raised awareness and money to fight poverty in the U.S. and elsewhere.
“This Is Spinal Tap” in 1984 further established Reiner’s comedic sensibilities in the American milieu. His work took a dramatic turn when he directed the 1986 adaptation of Stephen King’s novella “Stand by Me,” which starred Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell, but he returned to comedy with 1987’s “The Princess Bride” starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright and Mandy Patinkin. Also in 1987, he co-founded production company Castle Rock Entertainment.
Then he directed what would emerge as one of the most beloved rom-coms ever — “When Harry Met Sally,” starring Crystal and Meg Ryan.
On the set of the movie he met photographer Michele Singer and the two married in 1989, the year the film came out. They went on to have three children, Jake, Nick and Romy, born in 1991, 1993 and 1997, respectively.
Reiner was finally nominated for a best picture Academy Award in 1994 for “A Few Good Men,” starring Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise, though the movie lost out that year to Clint Eastwood’s Western “Unforgiven.”
Reiner’s work had sweeping cultural impacts. Three of his movies, “When Harry Met Sally,” “The Princess Bride” and “This is Spinal Tap,” are on the National Film Registry. The phrase “up to eleven,” coined in “This Is Spinal Tap” during an improvised sequence between Reiner and Christopher Guest, is in the Oxford English Dictionary.
“It’s weird that something that we just threw off like that suddenly becomes part of the lexicon of our lives,” Reiner said on NPR’s “Fresh Air” in September. “It’s very strange how these things have taken root.”
In 2015, Reiner was the producer on “Being Charlie,” a drama based on his family’s struggles while son Nick was addicted to hard drugs and rotating in and out of rehabs and homelessness.
“It was very, very hard going through it the first time, with these painful and difficult highs and lows,” Reiner told The Times in 2015. “And then making the movie dredged it all up again.”
Growing up, Reiner balanced conflicting feelings about his relationship with his own father, who was someone he strongly admired. But he also felt as though his father didn’t fully know him. That dichotomy inspired a scene in “Stand by Me” when Gordie declares his father hates him.
“Loving your father and looking up to your father doesn’t necessarily mean you’re feeling that back,” Reiner said on “Fresh Air” in September, recalling how writing that scene made him cry. Reiner, added, however, that he had two “great guides” in his life, his father, who died in 2020, and “All in the Family” creator Norman Lear.
Reiner was a writer on “The 40th Kennedy Center Honors” in 2017, capping a career that included myriad variety show writing credits. “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” which he directed, was his final project as a scribe. “Spinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale,” due out in 2026, was his final directing credit.
Reiner was nominated five times for supporting actor Emmys for his “All in the Family” work, winning in 1974 and 1978. He was up for two Emmys in 2024 for the documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life.”
A staunch liberal, Reiner also emerged as a force in California politics and child welfare and education issues, and campaigned for presidential candidates including former Vice President Al Gore, endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president and spoke up for President Biden’s reelection. Reiner was also an unapologetic critic of President Trump.
He campaigned in California against tobacco use and in 1998 saw the passage of Proposition 10, which called for a tax on tobacco products to be spent on early childhood programs. Reiner became chairman of the First 5 California Children and Families Commission in January 1999. He resigned in March 2006 amid accusations that the commission had used tax money to boost his campaign for the ultimately unsuccessful Proposition 82, which would have raised income taxes on wealthy Californians to pay for preschool for 4-year-olds. An audit later concluded that he and the commission had not violated state law.
“Rob Reiner has always put California’s kids first, and I thank him for the great work he has done over the last seven years,” then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement at the time. “Because of Rob’s efforts, California has become a national leader in providing early childhood health and education services for our youngest children and their families.”
Times editor Brittany Levine Beckman contributed to this report.
“He was so happy, content and excited about the future. The sweetest, kindest soul. He just went to sleep and didn’t wake up.
“.I can’t imagine how the next days and weeks will unfold but I know we are able to cope – love always helps. I am him and he is me.
“Sleep tight Barney. Dad x… Appreciate your kindness and sensitivity towards the family at this time.”
Tributes have flooded in for the comedian’s son, including from fellow comedy star John Bishop.
He said: “Justin this is so heartbreaking. I remember the kind fun little boy who grew to be a man to be proud of.
“There are no words. All of our love goes out to all of you at this time.”
Actor Steve Evets, who starred alongside Justin in Looking for Eric, wrote: “Justin, my heart goes out to you and all your family and friends of Barney.
“I can never imagine the grief you all must be in right now…
“I know my words are meaningless to you all but please take my best wishes to you all at this terrible loss.”
Comedy legend Justin played Young Kenny in Peter Kay‘s sitcom Phoenix Nights.
The Channel 4 show first aired in 2001 and lasted for two series, with Justin cast as the role of idiotic handyman Kenny.
In one iconic episode, he walks around with his face painted like a tiger for days because of a dodgy face painting job at a family fun day.
The stand-up comedian went on to star in the blockbuster film Looking For Eric alongside football legend Eric Cantona.
From 2010 to 2011 he starred in Harold Brighouse’s play Zack at the Royal Exchange in Manchester.
He also spent a year playing Dean Upton on Coronation Street between 2014 and 2015.
Justin has starred on Michael McIntyre‘s Comedy Roadshow, Celebrity Mastermind and Still Open All Hours.
He wrote and appeared in his own BBC Radio 4 show Everyone Quite Likes Justin.
The comedy legend played Young Kenny in Peter Kay‘s sitcom Phoenix NightsCredit: Getty
The sale of Warner Bros. — whether in pieces to Netflix or in its entirety to Paramount — is stirring mounting worries among Hollywood union leaders about the possible fallout for their members.
Unions representing writers, directors, actors and crew workers have voiced growing concerns that further consolidation in the media industry will reduce competition, potentially causing studios to pay less for content, and make it more difficult for people to find work.
“We’ve seen this movie before, and we know how it ends,” said Michele Mulroney, president of the Writers Guild of America West. “There are lots of promises made that one plus one is going to equal three. But it’s very hard to envision how two behemoths, for example, Warner Bros. and Netflix … can keep up the level of output they currently have.”
Last week, Netflix announced it agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s film and TV studio, Burbank lot, HBO and HBO Max for $27.75 a share, or $72 billion. It also agreed to take on more than $10 billion of Warner Bros.’ debt. But Paramount, whose previous offers were rebuffed by Warner Bros., has appealed directly to shareholders with an alternative bid to buy all of the company for about $78 billion.
Paramount said it will have more than $6 billion in cuts over three years, while also saying the combined companies will release at least 30 movies a year. Netflix said it expects its deal will have $2 billion to $3 billion in cost cuts.
Those cuts are expected to trigger thousands of layoffs across Hollywood, which has already been squeezed by the flight of production overseas and a contraction in the once booming TV business.
Mulroney said that employment for WGA writers in episodic television is down as much as 40% when comparing the 2023-2024 writing season to 2022-2023.
Executives from both companies have said their deals would benefit creative talent and consumers.
But Hollywood union leaders are skeptical.
“We can hear the generalizations all day long, but it doesn’t really mean anything unless it’s on paper, and we just don’t know if these companies are even prepared to make promises in writing,” said Lindsay Dougherty, Teamsters at-large vice president and principal officer for Local 399, which represents drivers, location managers and casting directors.
Dougherty said the Teamsters have been engaged with both Netflix and Paramount, seeking commitments to keep filming in Los Angeles.
“We have a lot of members that are struggling to find work, or haven’t really worked in the last year or so,” Dougherty said.
Mulroney said her union has concerns about both bids, either by Netflix or Paramount.
“We don’t think the merger is inevitable,” Mulroney said. “We think there’s an opportunity to push back here.”
If Netflix were to buy Warner Bros.’ TV and film businesses, Mulroney said that could further undermine the theatrical business.
“It’s hard to imagine them fully embracing theatrical exhibition,” Mulroney said. “The exhibition business has been struggling to get back on its feet ever since the pandemic, so a move like this could really be existential.”
But the Writers Guild also has issues with Paramount’s bid, Mulroney said, noting that it would put Paramount-owned CBS News and CNN under the same parent company.
“We have censorship concerns,” Mulroney said. “We saw issues around [Stephen] Colbert and [Jimmy] Kimmel. We’re concerned about what the news would look like under single ownership here.”
That question was made more salient this week after President Trump, who has for years harshly criticized CNN’s hosts and news coverage, said he believes CNN should be sold.
The worries come as some unions’ major studio contracts, including the DGA, WGA and performers guild SAG-AFTRA, are set to expire next year. Two years ago, writers and actors went on a prolonged strike to push for more AI protections and better wages and benefits.
The Directors Guild of America and performers union SAG-AFTRA have voiced similar objections to the pending media consolidation.
“A deal that is in the interest of SAG-AFTRA members and all other workers in the entertainment industry must result in more creation and more production, not less,” the union said.
SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said the union has been in discussions with both Paramount and Netflix.
“It is as yet unclear what path forward is going to best protect the legacy that Warner Brothers presents, and that’s something that we’re very actively investigating right now,” he said.
It’s not clear, however, how much influence the unions will have in the outcome.
“They just don’t have a seat at the ultimate decision making table,” said David Smith, a professor of economics at the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. “I expect their primary involvement could be through creating more awareness of potential challenges with a merger and potentially more regulatory scrutiny … I think that’s what they’re attempting to do.”
Greene built a reputation in the 1990s as one of Hollywood’s most memorable screen villains.
He played Zed, the sadistic security guard in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 hit Pulp Fiction, and ruthless mobster Dorian Tyrell opposite Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in The Mask the same year.
Edwards said: “Nobody played a bad guy better than Peter.
“But he also had, you know, a gentle side that most people never saw, and a heart as big as gold.”
With nearly 95 screen credits, Greene appeared in The Usual Suspects, Training Day, Blue Streak, and Laws of Gravity.
He also starred in Clean, Shaven – a 1993 indie film that earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of a man with schizophrenia.
A New York Times review said his performance turned the role “into a compellingly anguished, volatile character.”
Edwards revealed Greene was preparing to begin production in January on an independent thriller titled Mascots alongside Mickey Rourke.
After notifying the film’s writer-director Kerry Mondragón of the death, Edwards said “they were very upset.”
While Greene had a reputation for being difficult on set, his manager said it stemmed from high standards.
The actor was known for his role in The Mask, 1994Credit: AlamyGreene also starred in Clean, Shaven – a 1993 indie film where he portrays a man with schizophreniaCredit: Alamy
He was “a perfectionist who gave every job his all and wanted his performance to be just ‘right’,” according to Edwards.
“He worked with so many amazing actors and directors,” the manager said, adding that his role in The Mask was “arguably his best role.”
Peter Greene was born on October 8, 1965, in Montclair, New Jersey.
At 15, Greene ran away from home and lived on the streets of New York City, where he struggled with drug addiction.
Greene is survived by a sister and a brother.
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Greene pictured in The Rich Man’s Wife, with Halle BerryCredit: Alamy
Jim Ward, a prolific voice actor whose work spans Nickelodeon shows “Fairly OddParents,” “Danny Phantom” and video games including “Ratchet & Clank,” has died. He was 66.
Ward died Wednesday, his former radio co-host commentator Stephanie Miller announced. “Our Good friend, Jim Ward passed away yesterday,” she tweeted Thursday. “We’re going to spend the morning remembering his brilliance.”
She first broke the news Wednesday, informing her followers on X (formerly Twitter) of “one of saddest messages I have ever received from the amazing Mrs. Jim Ward.” The voice actor co-hosted and often appeared as a guest on Miller’s eponymous syndicated talk radio program from 2004 to 2021.
Ward’s wife, Janice Ward, confirmed to TMZ that he died because of complications from advanced Alzheimer’s disease and was receiving treatment in Los Angeles before his death.
Though Ward often imitated public figures on Miller’s show, he is best known for voicing a wide variety of characters, including real estate tycoon Doug Dimmadome (the famed owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome) and dogged news anchor Chet Ubetcha on “The Fairly OddParents.” He also voiced various roles in series “My Life as a Teenage Robot,” “Danny Phantom,” “Ben 10,” “The Replacements” and dozens of other animated shows. In 2009, he earned a Daytime Emmy for his performance in the revival of “Biker Mice From Mars.”
Butch Hartman, the creator and animator for “Fairly OddParents” and “Danny Phantom,” mourned his longtime collaborator on social media. “To say the voice over world has lost a giant is an understatement,” Hartman said on Instagram, hours after Ward’s death.
“Rest in peace, dear friend and thank you for blessing us with your incredible talent and charm,” Hartman added. “Love you, brother.”
In the realm of video games, Ward’s voice acting credits were plentiful and ranged from the adventure classic “Escape From Monkey Island” in 2000 to the anti-Nazi shooter “Wolfenstein” in 2009 to the western-themed “Red Dead Redemption II” in 2018. Most notably, Ward voiced camera-ready space hero Captain Qwark in Insomniac Games’ “Ratchet & Clank” franchise, from the original game’s release in 2002 to its re-release in 2016, and the sequels and various shorts in between.
Ward’s video game voice credits also include the inaugural “Call of Duty,” “Resident Evil 4,” “Final Fantasy XIII,” “BioShock 2,” “Fallout: New Vegas” and numerous gaming tie-ins for TV and film projects.
Characters stepping out of their plays to address an audience is hardly a new phenomenon. Playwrights have been breaking the fourth wall ever since that invisible barrier separating the actors from the audience was raised.
Sophocles, of course, didn’t need Oedipus to chat directly with the audience. He had a chorus to provide running commentary. Shakespeare, whose theatrical sensibility was informed as much by Renaissance and Classical poetry as by those pageant wagons boisterously bringing miracle plays directly into the lives of townsfolk, had no compunction about a character slipping out of the frame to help audience members arrange their imagination. He even enlists Rosalind in ”As You Like It” and Prospero in “The Tempest” to bid their audiences farewell.
The fourth wall, encoded in the architecture of the proscenium stage, fosters the illusion that audiences are eavesdropping on a cordoned off reality. As the modern theater embraced realism, plays were carefully designed not to wrench their auditors from their waking dream. Maintaining a semblance of truth, as Samuel Taylor Coleridge pointed out in the context of poetry, was necessary to procure “that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.”
“Willing” is a key word. Art invites complicity, and in the theater, audiences are in on the game. As Samuel Johnson sagely points out in his “Preface to Shakespeare,” “The truth is, that the spectators are always in their senses, and know from the first act to the last, that the stage is only a stage, and that the players are only players.”
How could it be otherwise? As Johnson reminds us, “If we thought murders and treasons real, they would please no more.”
In the Neoclassical era, playwrights were exhorted to observe the unities (of time and place, in particular) to facilitate an audience’s belief. But modern playwrights, particularly those who see their roles as storytellers, have resisted such superficial strictures.
The memory play, perfected by Tennessee Williams in “The Glass Menagerie,” asks the protagonist to serve also as narrator, setting the scene, reflecting on the action and fast-forwarding the story at will. Irish dramatist Brian Friel, a born raconteur, was a master of this use of direct address, writing monologues for his main characters that not only launched his tale but engulfed his audience in the right lyrical mood.
These writers create an environment in which characters can enter or exit the main storyline as if from a magic door. Audiences are cognizant of this portal, but they are encouraged to forget its existence when the drama ramps up, thereby allowing them to have their cake and eat it too.
A friend of mine hates when a character goes rogue and starts chatting up the audience. “Why are you talking to me?” she mumbles in faux outrage. “I paid to watch you talk to each other.”
Perhaps she considers it a dramatic cheat, as though the writer were copping out of the hard work of dramatization. But I have the opposite reaction. I find that playwrights are often at their liveliest when writing in a presentational mood. What they sacrifice in illusionist power, they gain in freedom.
In “Love! Valour! Compassion!,” Terrence McNally, a master of direct address, intensifies the emotional climax of his play by having his characters step forward and explain how and when they will die. This poignant comedy, about a group of gay male friends spending summer holidays together during the height of the AIDS epidemic, gathered the audience in a communal huddle of collective grief while urging survivors — everyone in attendance — to keep the faith.
In times of emergency, it’s natural to want to draw the public’s attention to the shared moment. The theater affords a space — one of the few left in our digitalized world — for this kind of reflective gathering.
Breaking the fourth wall is a tried-and-true method of calling an audience to attention. But a new breed of dramatist, writing in an age of overlapping calamities — environmental, political, economic, technological and moral — is retooling an old playwriting device to do more than inject urgency and immediacy in the theatrical experience.
Characters are not just stepping out of the dramatic frame — they are blurring the line between art and life. Performers are dropping their masks, or at the very least shuffling them, to force us to think harder about what we’re all doing in the theater as the world around us burns.
Kristolyn Lloyd, from left, Irene Sofia Lucio, Betsy Aidem and Audrey Corsa in the Broadway production of “Liberation” by Bess Wohl, directed by Whitney White.
(Little Fang)
Bess Wohl’s “Liberation,” one of the best plays of the year, is having its Broadway premiere this season at the James Earl Jones Theatre under the direction of Whitney White (who matches her fine ensemble job with “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”). The play, an imaginative account of a group of women banding together in a gymnasium during the early days of the women’s rights movement, begins with a performer checking in on us.
“Hi. Is everyone — is everyone good? Comfortable? Snacks unwrapped? Hello. Hi. Welcome.”
Lizzie, the author’s surrogate (luminously played by Susannah Flood), greets us with the skittish confidence that will turn out to be one of the character’s most charming qualities. She apologizes that theatergoers have had to lock their phones in Yondr pouches. (Cameras are off-limits in a production that has some nudity.) But she immediately confronts the question on everybody’s mind: How long is the play?
Honestly, it’s not even your fault, it’s like, this is the modern condition — not to sound grandiose, ‘this is the modern condition,’ but honestly — it’s like, you decide to come, you get dressed up — Well all right, you didn’t get dressed up — but you put on clothes, thank you for that. You put on clothes. You make your way through whatever you went through — the subway, the traffic, the hellscape that is Times Square — you finally get here, and then you hope that the entire experience will be as short as humanly possible.
Theatergoers seem thrilled that after all the effort they made to be there, they’re not being ignored as usual. But Wohl isn’t pandering to them. She’s connecting to them in the present before ushering them into the past.
Her project, as Lizzie explains in her introduction, is memory — memories belonging to her mother (who recently died) and to her mother’s friends, who set out to change the world. Blazing a trail for women’s equality, they help transform society, even if incompletely. A momentous accomplishment, but then why Lizzie asks, “Why does it feel somehow like it’s all slipping away? And how do we get it back?”
The play rewinds to the 1970s, to a local rec center in Ohio, where a few pioneering women with little in common, beyond the everyday sexism that has hemmed in their lives, form a consciousness-raising group. Lizzie’s mother, also named Lizzie (and also played by Flood) is the ringleader, but a tentative one — as apologetically undeterred as her daughter.
Wohl is writing a personal history that is not her own. She sets up her play to make clear that this theatrical re-creation is her attempt to understand what happened in those meetings of unlikely revolutionaries. She provides space for the women to object to her version of events and to challenge her interpretation of motives.
In one scene, in which Lizzie is about to meet the man who will become her husband, Lizzie the daughter and de facto author interrupts the play to enlist another actor (Kayla Davion, superb) to play her mother. Young Lizzie is understandably squeamish to enact a love scene with the man who will turn out to be her father.
The playfulness of Wohl’s style, while at times informal to the point of desultory, treats the past as an autonomous reality. The playwright can only engage her mother’s history from her position in the present. She can imagine, she can theorize, she can try to do justice. But she isn’t permitted to subjugate her characters to advance her own agenda, no matter how well-intentioned. The personal is political, as the feminist rallying cry has it, and Wohl has taken pains never to lose sight of this insight when imagining the complexities of the lives of others.
John McCrea, left, and Mihir Kumar in “Prince Faggot.”
(Marc J. Franklin)
“Prince Faggot,” by Jordan Tannahill, is built on the reaction to an effete photo of Prince George of Cambridge at the age of 4 that went viral. The play, originally produced by Playwrights Horizons and Soho Rep, is at off-Broadway’s Studio Seaview through Dec. 13. It imagines a queer life for William and Kate’s pride and joy as this young royal defiantly and decadently comes of age.
It’s a daring premise, full of presumption and not really defensible from the standpoint of a real-life boy who doesn’t deserve to be made the object of a sexual fantasia. But Tannahill doesn’t evade these tricky moral questions.
Performer 1 (Keshav Moodliar on the night I attended), who plays both the playwright’s surrogate and George’s future lover, debates the issues with the company. One by one, the queer and trans cast members share fictionalized personal stories, harking back to childhood moments before any declaration of identity was possible.
A thought experiment is under way in this seductively febrile production directed by Shayok Misha Chowdhury (whose play “Public Obscenities” was a 2024 Pulitzer Prize finalist). How might the lives of the characters (and by extension all our lives) be different if heterosexuality weren’t the default assumption?
Intellectual license granted, the company is allowed to run riot in a performance work that maintains a Brechtian distance between actor and role. A playwright’s note in the script clarifies that “with the exception of Performer 4’s final monologue” (which was “inspired by a rehearsal hall interview with actress N’yomi Allure Stewart”), the rest of the play, “including the direct address monologues, is fictional, written by the playwright, and any resemblance to real events is purely coincidental.”
The audience can’t help but be conscious of the daredevil performers impersonating these royal celebrities, intimate friends and overzealous handlers, exposing their bodies, if not their own biographies, in a work that realizes in performance Picasso’s assertion of art being “the lie that enables us to realize the truth.”
Gail Bean and Biko Eisen-Martin in “Table 17.”
(Jeff Lorch)
“Table 17,” Doug Lyons’ meta-theatrical rom-com, which ended its run at the Geffen Playhouse on Sunday, has its character routinely check in with the audience as Jada (Gail Bean) and Dallas (Biko Eisen-Martin) review what led to their breakup. The location for this amorous autopsy is a fashionable restaurant in which the host/pinch-hit server (gamely incarnated by Michael Rishawn) functions as the show’s bitchy chorus.
Lyons has the characters directly engage the audience in a production directed by Zhailon Levingston that incorporated the energy of British pantomime. Theatergoers were encouraged to express their feelings in a comedy that pays homage, as the playwright notes in his script, to such popular Black films as “Love & Basketball,” “Poetic Justice” and “Love Jones.”
The direct address monologues, Lyons stresses, should have “a stand-up comedy feel to them. In these moments the audience is no longer a spectator, but an active participant in the story.”
“Table 17” is more modest in its ambition than either “Liberation” or “Prince Faggot.” It mostly wants to divert. But there was something bracing about the circuitry it created with an audience. Theater wasn’t being imposed onto a paying public. It was instead a shared endeavor, mutually manufactured in yet another instance of a play letting down its guard to reach new levels of aliveness.
