dead

Jennifer Runyon, a film and television actor known best for her roles on “Ghostbusters,” “A Very Brady Christmas” and “Charles in Charge,” has died. She was 65.

Runyon died Friday, according to a Sunday statement reportedly posted to her social media account, which has since gone private.

“This past Friday, our beloved Jennifer passed away. It was a long and arduous journey that ended with her surrounded by her family,” the statement read, according to ABC7. “She will always be remembered for her love of life and her devotion to her family and friends. Rest in peace our Jenn.”

“Bewitched” actor Erin Murphy shared in a Sunday post on Facebook and Instagram that Runyon died “after a brief battle with cancer.”

“Some people you just know you’ll be friends with before you even meet,” Murphy wrote in her tribute. “She was a special lady.”

On the 1980s sitcom “Charles in Charge,” Runyon portrayed Gwendolyn Pierce, a fellow college student of the show’s titular live-in housekeeper (portrayed by Scott Baio) and the target of his affections.

In his Facebook tribute, fellow “Charles in Charge” actor Willie Aames described Runyon as a “dear dear friend, muse, and encourager.”

“From the moment we met on set all those decades ago- I knew you ‘got me,’” wrote Aames. “Watching you slip away these last few months was one of the hardest times of my life… I can still hear your voice so clearly. No one will ever be able to fill the massive hole that’s been left in our hearts… ever.”

A Chicago native, Runyon made her television debut as Sally Frame in the long-running soap opera “Another World.” She also appeared in episodes of “Magnum, P.I.,” “Quantum Leap” and “Murder, She Wrote.” Runyon also portrayed the grown-up Cindy Brady in “A Very Brady Christmas.”

Her film credits include the 1984 classic “Ghostbusters,” where she appeared as one of the students participating in the ESP study conducted by Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman.

On Instagram, Runyon’s daughter Bayley Corman, an actor who has appeared on TV shows such as “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” “Bel-Air” and “Running Point,” described her mother as “the kindest most compassionate person i’ve ever known.”

“All of the best parts of me came from you,” Corman wrote in her tribute. “i would give anything for one more day together.”

Tommy DeCarlo, a longtime fan of Boston who became the classic rock band’s lead singer in the late 2000s, has died. He was 60.

DeCarlo died Monday following a battle with brain cancer, his family announced on Facebook.

“[H]e fought with incredible strength and courage right up until the very end,” the family’s statement said. “During this difficult time, we kindly ask that friends and fans respect our family’s privacy as we grieve and support one another.”

Born April 23, 1965, in Utica, N.Y., DeCarlo said he first started listening to Boston — the 1970s rock band known for its instrumental overtures and hits including “More Than a Feeling,” “Don’t Look Back” and “Peace of Mind” — as a young teenager, according to the group’s website. The vocalist credited his love for Boston’s original frontman Brad Delp and his desire to sing along with him on the radio for helping to develop his own singing voice.

After Delp’s death in 2007, DeCarlo, then a manager at a Home Depot, sent a link to his MySpace page filled with Boston covers as well as an original song in tribute to Delp to the Boston camp, hoping for a chance to participate in a tribute show for the singer. They kindly turned down his offer.

But eventually, Boston founder and lead songwriter Tom Scholz heard DeCarlo’s cover of “Don’t Look Back” and invited the singer to perform a few songs with the band at the tribute. That tribute show would be DeCarlo’s first time ever performing with any band in front of a crowd, but it wouldn’t be his last. He continued to perform with the band at live shows for years, and even joined them on some tracks for their 2013 album, “Life, Love & Hope.”

DeCarlo also formed the band Decarlo with his son, guitarist Tommy DeCarlo Jr. In October, the singer announced he was stepping away from performing due to “unexpected health issues.”

“[P]erforming and sharing music with all of you around the world has been one of the greatest joys of my life,” DeCarlo wrote in his Facebook post. “I can’t thank you all enough for the incredible love, support, and understanding you’ve shown me and my family during this time. It truly means the world to us.”

Joe McDonald, lead singer and songwriter of Country Joe and the Fish — the band known for its resounding anti-war chant at Woodstock — has died. He was 84.

His wife, Kathy McDonald, announced his death Sunday morning. He died Saturday in his Berkeley home due to complications from Parkinson’s disease.

As a formative member of the American counterculture in the 1960s and ‘70s, McDonald leaves a legacy of bridging contemporary political satire and brazen anti-war sentiments with the early sounds of acid rock.

“We’re just so proud of him. He’s our hero. He instilled in us that we have to speak up when we can, on whatever platform we can, about issues that we feel are important,” said his daughter Seven McDonald, a film producer, music manager and writer.

“While he was a very serious, earnest activist, he also had such an acute sense of cynical humor that is so fantastic and was capable of scathing satire,” her brother Devin added. “He’s most famous for that, but he also did so many heartfelt benefits for different causes.”

The siblings, who spent their childhoods on the road and in recording studios with him, joke that he was always doing a benefit show.

The musician was born on Jan. 1, 1942, in Washington to Worden McDonald and activist Florence (Plotnik) McDonald, who were both members of the Communist Party. The family soon moved to the Southern California city of El Monte, where Joe McDonald was raised.

His musical roots reach back to when his father taught him to play the guitar at 7 years old. But before embarking on his career in music, McDonald enlisted in the Navy at age 17. He served as an air traffic controller at the Atsugi, Japan, air facility for three years. Upon coming back to the states, he tried out college for a short time before dropping out and moving to Berkeley.

Before experimenting with an early variation of Country Joe and the Fish alongside guitarist Barry Melton in the mid-1960s, McDonald started a small magazine called Rag Baby. Once the group was solidified, they decided to turn their folksy roots electric and made the move to San Francisco — just before the city’s legendary Summer of Love.

The group, born out of the Bay Area psychedelic rock scene, was soon signed by Vanguard Records and in 1967 released its debut album “Electric Music for the Mind and Body.” At the time the band’s label and producer were hesitant to let the musicians fully express their politics, and excluded the soon-to-be-hit anti-war anthem “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” with the catchy chorus that began, “And it’s 1, 2, 3 what are we fighting for?”

Instead, they went with tracks like “Superbird,” a spoof of President Lyndon B. Johnson, which received little to no backlash. When the second album came around, the band was allowed to run with “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag” as the title track. Trouble started to arise with the anti-Vietnam war anthem when the group changed the beginning chant of F-I-S-H to a more profane four letter word that starts with an “F.”

They performed this altered cheer at a gig in Massachusetts, where McDonald received a charge for inciting an audience to lewd behavior and a $500 fine. With this police run-in, Country Joe and the Fish received a slew of press, riling up the public ahead of their Woodstock performance.

The moment the band members began this chant at Woodstock became arguably the biggest moment of their careers, with over 400,000 people joining in. It’s a moment of protest that has gone down in history.

Not long after the festival, the band went their separate ways. McDonald continued to release solo music that stuck with the similar themes of politics and the Vietnam War.

“He took the toll for taking the stand,” said Seven. “He was not the biggest pop star, because he just opted to speak his mind and do his thing.”

In 1986, McDonald released “Vietnam Experience,” an album full of songs analyzing its long-term impacts on his generation. And in 1995 he was “the driving force” according to an Associated Press story, behind a war memorial to honor Berkeley veterans killed in the Vietnam War.

He told The Times in 1986 that he had “an addiction to Vietnam … I’ve been doing work with veterans now for 15 years, and I probably know more about Vietnam veterans than any other person in the entertainment industry.”

“I’ve always believed that the veterans are a basic element to the understanding of war,” he added, “and the understanding of war is the only path to peace.”

McDonald is survived by his wife of 43 years, Kathy; his five children, Seven, Devin, Ryan, Tara Taylor and Emily; a brother, Billy; and four grandchildren.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

If you are anything like me, you felt pretty out of sorts this week, not sure how to process the news that we are suddenly, apparently, a nation again at war. It can make the movies seem frivolous — a glorious, privileged sandbox to stick your head in — but it is also times like these that make them seem most vital and necessary: a place to focus energy and anxiety and maybe figure things out.

I was particularly struck by something New York Times critic Wesley Morris said in an appearance on the podcast “The Big Picture.” He was ostensibly talking about the downside of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger news (“These people are f— with our dreams here” is how he began) but he landed on why movies matter in their moment, crucial to “how we develop as a culture, how we come to understand ourselves as a people, what this country ought to or should look like 40 years from now.”

The week’s big new release is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” a sort-of adaptation of 1935’s “Bride of Frankenstein” starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale that is also very much its own thing, purpose-built to drive some people up a tree and already sharply dividing critics.

Christian Bale and Jessie Buckley in the movie “The Bride!”

(Niko Tavernise / Warner Bros. Pictures)

In her largely positive review, Amy Nicholson calls the movie “an unhinged scream,” adding, “‘Every wacky second, you’re well aware how perilously close it is to falling apart at the seams. This spiritual sequel to ‘Frankenstein’ is a romantic tale of obsession, possession and fantasy — adjectives that also apply to its filmmaker, Maggie Gyllenhaal, who expends massive quantities of energy jolting it to life. She succeeds by the skin of her teeth.”

I interviewed Gyllenhaal about “The Bride!” — including the significance of that exclamation point in the title. There have been numerous reports about a back-and-forth between the filmmaker and execs at Warner Bros. and Gyllenhaal didn’t shy away from talking about it. She had specific praise for Pam Abdy, co-chair and co-chief executive of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group.

“Something really alive was born, and I think the movie is better for the work that she and I did together,” Gyllenhaal told me. “I know that’s an unusual thing to say. I know that you have lots of people saying like, ‘Ah, the studio f— my movie up.’ That is not my experience. It’s really not.”

Louis Malle’s ‘…and the Pursuit of Happiness’

A scene from Louis Malle’s documentary “…and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

(Janus Films)

On Saturday, in a co-presentation of 7th House at the Philosophical Research Society and El Cine, the will be a 16mm screening of director Louis Malle’s 1986 “…and the Pursuit of Happiness,” a documentary made for television that explores the immigrant experience in America. The French-born filmmaker traveled across the U.S. interviewing recent arrivals from all walks of life.

Writing about the film in 1988, The Times’ Kevin Thomas called it “an often amusing and always insightful survey of the contemporary emigre experience. … an irresistible array of vignettes depicting cultural accommodation and assimilation in all its variety.”

I got on a video call this week with 7th House programmer Alex McDonald and El Cine founder Mariana Da Silva to talk about why this movie matters now.

The movie is streaming on the Criterion Channel right now. Why was it important to also put this movie in front of audiences right now?

Alex McDonald: I think Mariana and I are on the same page with this. I never let streaming or home video availability deter programming. Growing up, the theater was a holy place, a cathedral of congregation. I feel like these films are meant to be seen with an audience. And thankfully, I feel like our audience recognizes that as well, even if the film is out there. Particularly in our current moment, it’s a very prescient film and it’s one that will be all the more powerful within community.

Mariana Da Silva: I agree fully. One of the biggest things within our program is the communal aspects — just seeing the same people come back, that trust that develops with the audience. The best part I love about going to movie theaters is standing outside with people I maybe would never speak to and having a conversation about a film.

A scene from Louis Malle’s documentary “…and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

(Janus Films)

Do you respond to a movie like this as a sort of time capsule of how things were, or is it important to you that it is saying something about what’s happening right now?

McDonald: That’s something I’m very conscious of when I program repertory titles. When I program social, politically minded films, a lot of what I’m trying to do is to show that the issues within these things have not really changed — the ways in which things have progressed, the way in which we have regressed. Malle has such a humane view on all of these people in the film. He narrates but he doesn’t really editorialize. He just sort of observes, and in doing so, he’s making the most compelling argument for the richness of diversity and everything that these people contribute to this country, what they lose in assimilation, what they have to give up and what they bring. There’s a complexity to it. There are certainly dissenting voices in it and those resonate differently now.

It wasn’t perfect then. Obviously, there’s always been conflict, but I think there was an open-heartedness that has really shifted. And this is kind of a poignant reminder of what we need to try to get back to and recognize.

Da Silva: If we were able to have these conversations more openly, it would put us all on an even playing field. Humans are flawed. There’s been a lot of miseducation. In this moment, especially for me as somebody who is an immigrant, I feel like there’s so many people who I know who are so liberal and so aware, but then they don’t really understand the experience of the immigrant. And it’s not their fault in any capacity. They just haven’t been exposed to somebody like me before.

I think we can all come together on the things we celebrate, but we also need to be very open and come together on the things that we differ on too.

Points of interest

‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ in 35mm

George Clooney, left, and David Strathairn in the 2005 movie “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

(Melinda Sue Gordon / Warner Independent Pictures)

On Sunday afternoon at the Los Feliz Theater, as part of the American Cinematheque’s ongoing “Sunday Print Edition” series, there will be a 35mm screening of George Clooney’s “Good Night, and Good Luck,” introduced by The Times’ own Rosanna Xia.

Starring David Strathairn as pioneering television journalist Edward R. Murrow at the height of the McCarthy era, the film was nominated for six Oscars, including picture, director, actor and original screenplay.

As Kenneth Turan wrote in his original review, “‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ couldn’t be more unlikely, more unfashionable — or more compelling. Everything about it — its look, its style, even its sound — stands in stark opposition to the trends of the moment. Yet by sticking to events that are half a century old, it tells a story whose implications for today are inescapable. … The son of a TV anchorman, Clooney had the nerve to believe that a drama of ideas could be as entertaining as ‘Desperate Housewives.’ He insisted that a fight for America’s soul, a clash of values over critical intellectual issues like freedom of the press and the excesses of government, had an inherent intensity that would carry everything before it. And it does.”

‘Days and Nights in the Forest’ 4K restoration

An image from Satyajit Ray’s 1970 drama “Days and Nights in the Forest.”

(Janus Films)

Now playing at the Laemmle Royal in a new 4K restoration undertaken by the Film Foundation is Satyajit Ray’s 1970 “Days and Nights in the Forest.” In this examination of masculinity and class, four male friends drive from the bustling city of Kolkata to a rural village, mixing with the locals with volatile results.

In a special video introduction, Wes Anderson, a longtime admirer of Ray, admits he lifted a scene from “Days and Nights” for one of his own films — 2023’s “Asteroid City” — and says, “Anything by Satyajit Ray must be cherished and preserved, but ‘Days and Nights in the Forest,’ I think you will agree, is one of the special gems among his many treasures.”

‘Grease 2’ returns

Michelle Pfeiffer on the set of “Grease 2” in 1981.

(Vinnie Zuffante / Getty Images)

The Cinematic Void series at the American Cinematheque will show 1982’s pastiche musical “Grease 2” on Monday. Directed by choreographer-turned-filmmaker Patricia Birch, the film is, of course, a sequel to 1978’s megahit “Grease” but it is also very much its own thing. Largely dismissed on initial release, it has found a growing following over the years thanks in large part to its extremely engaging young cast, including an on-the-rise Michelle Pfeiffer.

In his initial review (more complementary than one might expect), Kevin Thomas wrote, “There’s so much youthful talent and vitality in ‘Grease 2’ that it’s depressing to discover it is so unblushing and relentless and paean to ignorance. … This is a pity, because Birch displays an organic sense of how to make dance evolve out of the kids’ everyday activities — converging en mass at Rydell High on the first day of school or having fun at the bowling alley. But Birch has scant opportunity beyond letting us know she cares for these ignoramuses, most of who seem likable enough beneath aggressively crude exteriors.”

Anti-fascist films at UCLA

Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer in the 1948 drama “Arch of Triumph.”

(Enterprise-UA / Photofest)

The ongoing series at the UCLA Film and Television Archive titled “From John Doe to Lonesome Rhodes: Anti-fascism from the Archive” hits a real stride this weekend for two nights of restored rarities. On Friday comes a restored 35mm print of 1948’s “Arch of Triumph,” directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Charles Laughton in a romantic drama of refugees in 1938 Paris. Also playing is Arthur Ripley’s rare 1944 emigree drama “Voice in the Wind.”

Much of the press around the film at the time of its release had to do with the challenge of bringing the racier aspects of the novel by Erich Maria Remarque (“All Quiet on the Western Front”) to the screen. As producer David Lewis told The Times’ Philip K. Scheuer, “I promise you that as Joan, Ingrid Bergman will set the town on its ear. They’ll never think of her as anything but sexy again.”

Saturday brings the world premiere of the 35mm restoration of Walter Comes’ 1947 “The Burning Cross,” in which a returning veteran is recruited into the KKK. John Reinhardt’s 1948 “Open Secret,” about antisemitism, will also play in a 35mm restoration.

The series concludes next week with a 35mm screening of Elia Kazan’s 1957 “A Face in the Crowd,” starring Andy Griffith in an examination of the dark side of populist politics and media manipulation.

Annabel Schofield, a model who was a fixture in 1980s L.A. nightlife and landed a guest-starring role in the 11th season of the CBS series “Dallas,” has died after a battle with cancer that spread to her brain. She was 62.

Schofield died Saturday in Los Angeles, according to the Hollywood Reporter, which confirmed the news via model and designer Catalina Guirado.

“I hate asking for help,” she wrote in December on a GoFundMe campaign she organized apparently out of necessity. “I’ve done it so much, but I have no choice. I have no other means of support. The small amount I was left by my dad has gone a long time ago, and any unemployment I was due was eaten up by the pandemic. I know begging for help is not sustainable in the long term, but I’m praying this ENT doctor will be able to remove this large tumor and I’ll finally be able to get back to a normal life, and to start working again.”

The final update was from Jan. 18, after she had emergency surgery to remove that tumor, and her mood was one of momentary relief. Boldface names donating to the cause included composer Hans Zimmer, singer-songwriter Donovan Leitch and actor Lisa Edelstein.

Born in Llanelli, Wales, on Sept. 4, 1963, she was the daughter of movie producer John D. Schofield, whose credits included “As Good as It Gets” and “Jerry Maguire.” Schofield started modeling in London, a city she later described to Mirror80 as being on the cutting edge of 1980s fashion with “the New Romantics, the tail end of punk, Vivienne Westwood, Katharine Hamnett, Body Map, Buffalo style … and all the resulting street styles.”

“[I]n London we ALL dressed up, both boys and girls all the time; especially for the clubs,” she told the retro-style outlet in 2012. “I really miss that sartorial creativity. Now it seems that girls just want to show as much flesh as possible.”

She worked with brands including Versace, Yves St. Laurent, Revlon, Avon and Levi’s, according to a biography posted in connection with a novel she wrote, and appeared on more than 60 magazine covers and in more than 120 TV commercials.

Schofield gained international recognition for a late ’80s jeans commercial that had her speeding through the desert in a black Ferrari, then screeching to a stop after spotting a strapping young man standing on the side of the road in jeans and a white T-shirt. Rolling down the passenger-side window, she said, “Excuse me. Are those Bugle Boy jeans you’re wearing?” Getting an affirmative answer, she told the man, “Thank you,” then rolled up her window and sped away, leaving him in the dust.

At the height of her modeling career, THR said, Schofield up and moved from London to L.A. She landed that “Dallas” guest-star gig in 1988. It was only her second acting credit, after a 1982 role in a movie about an adventurer who frees an aquatic monster that forces locals to sacrifice virgins. That movie, “Bloodtide,” was executive produced by her father.

As Laurel Ellis in the nighttime drama, Schofield entranced Clayton Farlow, played by Howard Keel. But there was no romance between their characters: In one episode, Laurel told matriarch Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) — who would later marry Clayton — that Clayton was “almost a father figure” to her, and she had simply been trying to show him “what a wonderful man” he was. “Nothing ever happened between us,” Laurel told Miss Ellie.

Off the set of the hit series, “L.A. was having a moment” at that time, event producer David Rodgers told The Times in 2006. “Melrose Avenue was cool, Helmut Newton was out every night with Annabel Schofield, Greg Gorman, Herb Ritts, Sandra Bernhard, Barbara and Timothy Leary and Tina Chow. We saw a different mix then; it wasn’t just about celebrities. No one wore designer clothes. It was about, ‘Are you cool now?’”

Schofield’s other acting credits included lead roles in 1996’s “Exit in Red” with Mickey Rourke and “Midnight Blue” (1997) with Harry Dean Stanton and Dean Stockwell.

After the turn of the millennium, Schofield went behind the camera as a producer for several projects. She also worked as her father’s assistant on movies he executive produced including “The Brothers Grimm,” “Doom” and “How Do You Know.” The last was written and directed by James L. Brooks and starred Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson.

She formed her own boutique production company, Bella Bene Productions, in 2010, and into September 2022 the company was working on short films, events and fashion campaigns, according to Schofield’s posts on Facebook.

That novel she wrote, by the way, was “The Cherry Alignment,” released in late 2013. The semi-autobiographical story “follows the roller-coaster life of the witty, uninhibited and gorgeous Angelika Douglas; a legendary ’80’s supermodel, actress and full-time bon vivant.” Amazon has it filed under “Erotica,” in the “Humorous” sub-category.

Schofield’s friends remembered her fondly, leaving tributes on Instagram over the weekend.

“She was beautiful inside and out: a model, actress, producer, animal lover, warm and weird in the best way possible,” writer and friend Merle Ginsberg wrote Sunday on social media. “She will be so missed. But at least she won’t suffer anymore.”

“RIP Annabel Schofield — an old friend and a truly gifted, beautiful British actress and top model whose career in print, television and film took her from the UK to Hollywood,” British TV producer, journalist and entertainment personality Sean Borg wrote Sunday. “You fought so hard, Annabel. You had such a special light about you. You will be missed by so many. Fly high and rest in peace.”

Andrew Gunn, a film producer on live-action Disney favorites including “Freaky Friday” and “Sky High,” has died. He was 56.

Gunn died Monday at his Toronto home following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, according to an obituary.

“He was a courageous and modest man always doing for others before himself. His love of family, friends, motorcycles and tattoos will long be remembered by those who knew him,” his wife Jane Bellamy Gunn said in a statement to USA Today. She told the outlet that Andrew had been diagnosed with Bulbar-onset ALS, a form of the neurodegenerative disease affecting the neck and face, in September 2025 after experiencing symptoms for more than two years.

The Canadian film producer was best known for his work on family friendly Disney comedies starting in the 2000s. Gunn launched his own production company, Gunn Films, in 2001 and had an exclusive first-look deal with Walt Disney Pictures.

Among his earliest hits was the 2003 body-swap comedy “Freaky Friday,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a mother-daughter duo who wake up one morning in each other’s bodies. The remake was made after Gunn had pitched the movie to then-studio president Nina Jacobson.

Andrew Gunn, center, with director Mark Waters, left, and Jamie Lee Curtis on the set of “Freaky Friday” in 2003.

(Ron Batzdorff / Disney Entertainment)

“Andrew Gunn … was a producer with great passion and emotionality which added so much to what makes those movies special,” Curtis wrote in her tribute posted to Instagram on Wednesday. “His legacy lives on, and he will be missed.”

Gunn was also the producer on the 2005 superhero comedy “Sky High,” as well as films based on iconic Disney theme park attractions, including “The Country Bears” (2002) and “The Haunted Mansion” (2003). His most recent credits include “Cruella” (2021), the fashion-forward origin story of “101 Dalmations” villain Cruella de Vil, as well as the next-gen sequel “Freakier Friday” (2025).

Born July 15, 1969, in Toronto, Gunn moved to L.A. to earn a master’s degree from the Annenberg School at USC, according to Deadline. He began his Hollywood career in the late 1990s, working at John Hughes’ Great Oaks Entertainment where he contributed to the development of films such as “101 Dalmatians” (1996), “102 Dalmatians” (2000) and “Flubber” (1997).

Gunn is also credited with helping establish the Disney Writers Program in 2001, where he championed and mentored up-and-coming writers.

“Andrew Gunn took a chance on a very green 29 year old from nowhere and gave him a screenwriting career and more than that…a family in my adopted city,” said “Clifford the Big Red Dog” writer and Disney Writers Program alum Blaise Hemingway in his Instagram tribute.

“Andrew fostered a fraternity of writers who did EVERYTHING together,” Hemingway added. “Lunches, Friday movies, happy hours at Mo’s, kid’s birthday parties. Alongside Andrew, we rewrote, roundtabled, did triage on productions in crisis…you name it. It was crazy, unhinged, and so [f—] fun. And despite the leather jackets and tattoos, Andrew was a softy who got a kick out of his writers’ knuckle-headed antics. He was a great mentor.”

Gunn is survived by his wife Jane; his children Isabelle and Connor Gunn; mother Anne Gunn; and siblings Hilary Knight, Graeme Gunn and Cameron Gunn.

Todd Meadows, a crewmember on one of the fishing vessels featured on the long-running reality series “Deadliest Catch,” has died. He was 25.

Rick Shelford, the captain of the Aleutian Lady, announced in a Monday post on Facebook and Instagram that Meadows died Feb. 25. He called it “the most tragic day in the history of the Aleutian Lady on the Bering Sea.”

“We lost our brother,” Shelford wrote in his lengthy tribute. “Todd was the newest member of our crew, he quickly became family. His love for fishing and his strong work ethic earned everyone’s respect right away. His smile was contagious, and the sound of his laughter coming up the wheelhouse stairs or over the deck hailer is something we will carry with us always.

“He worked hard, loved deeply, and brought joy to those around him,” he added. “Todd will forever be part of this boat, this crew, and this brotherhood. Though we lost him far too soon, his legacy will live on through his children and in every memory we carry of him.”

A fundraiser set up in Meadows’ name described the deckhand from Montesano, Wash., as a father to “three amazing little boys” who died “while doing what he loved — crabbing out on Alaskan waters.”

According to the Associated Press, Meadows died after he was reported to have fallen overboard around 170 miles north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

“He was recovered unresponsive by the crew approximately ten minutes later,” Chief Petty Officer Travis Magee, a spokesperson with the Coast Guard’s Arctic District, told the AP. The Coast Guard is investigating the incident.

Meadows was a first-year cast member of “Deadliest Catch,” the Discovery Channel reality series that follows crab fishermen navigating the perilous winds and waves of the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. The show debuted in 2005. No episodes from Meadows’ season has aired.

Deadline reported that the show was in production on its 22nd season when the incident occurred, with the Shelford-led Aleutian Lady being the last of the vessels still out at sea at the time. Production has subsequently concluded, per the outlet.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Todd Meadows,” a Discovery Channel spokesperson said in a statement that has been widely circulated. “This is a devastating loss, and our hearts are with his loved ones, his crewmates, and the entire fishing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

Meadows is the latest among “Deadliest Catch” cast members who have died. Previous deaths include Phil Harris, a captain of one of the ships featured on the show, who died after suffering a stroke while filming the show’s sixth season in 2010. Todd Kochutin, a crew member of the Patricia Lee, died in 2021 from injuries he sustained while aboard the fishing vessel, according to an obituary. Other cast members have died from substance abuse or natural causes.

US President Donald Trump says Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes. Israeli officials cite “growing signs” he’s dead. Iranian state media deny the claim, saying Khamenei remains in command. At least 201 reported killed as Iran retaliates.

Outrage in New York after 56-year-old Rohingya refugee Nurul Amin Shah Alam, nearly-blind and medically vulnerable, was found dead days after US Border Patrol agents released him at a Tim Hortons restaurant miles from home. Officials say it was a “courtesy ride”.

THE Wire star Bobby J. Brown has died after sustaining injuries in a barn fire.

Bobby, 62, who portrayed Officer Bobby Brown in the HBO drama series, passed away on Wednesday.

The actor’s daughter revealed he died of inhalation, according to TMZ, which first reported the news.

His cause of death was ruled diffuse thermal injury and smoke inhalation, per the Maryland Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

His death was determined to be an accident.

The blaze reportedly started when Bobby went inside the barn to jump-start a vehicle.

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He then called out to a family member to fetch a fire extinguisher, but the flames had already engulfed the barn by the time they returned.

Bobby appeared in many other TV and film projects, including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Veep, and We Own This City.

According to his IMDb page, Bobby originally was a professional boxer and won five Golden Glove Championships before transitioning to acting.

His first recurring role was on Law & Order: SVU, where he portrayed an NYPD officer.

The former athlete has also shared the screen with Academy Award winners Robert DeNiro, Renee Zellweger, and James Franco.

In April 2022, the TV star’s son, Bobby Brown II, shared snapshots from the premiere of We Own This City.

He posed with his father and the show’s lead, Jon Bernthal, outside the event.

“It always great to celebrate my dads accomplishments. He always set the bar high and he still inspires me to this day,” Bobby’s son sweetly wrote in his caption.

Feb. 25 (UPI) — Cuban border guards shot and killed four people on a U.S.-flagged speedboat that approached to about a nautical mile off the island nation’s coast Wednesday, the Cuban Embassy in the United States said.

The Embassy said the speedboat, registered in Florida, opened fire on the Cuban vessel, injuring its commander. The Cuban border guard boat with five service members had approached the speedboat to identify those aboard.

The incident took place near Cayo Falcones in the Villa Clara province.

“As a consequence of the confrontation, as of the time of this report, four aggressors on the foreign vessel were killed and six were injured,” the statement from the Embassy said. “The injured individuals were evacuated and received medical assistance.

“In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region.”

Cuban officials didn’t identify those aboard the Florida-registered speedboat.

The Embassy said authorities were investigating the incident to “fully clarify the events.”

This is a developing story.

Lauren Chapin, the former child actor best known for portraying Kathleen Anderson in the 1950s series “Father Knows Best,” has died. She was 80.

The actor’s son, Matthew Chapin, announced on Facebook that his mother succumbed to her “long hard fought battle” with cancer after five years. He did not disclose additional details about her death or her condition. He said in his post he is “at a complete loss for words right now.”

“Please keep my sister and family in your thoughts and prayers as we go through this incredibly tough time,” Matthew Chapin added.

Lauren Chapin, a Los Angeles native born on May 23, 1945, began her screen career in the 1950s with a minor role in 1954’s “A Star Is Born” starring Judy Garland and James Mason, appearances in TV including the anthology series “Lux Video Theatre” and the family sitcom “Father Knows Best.”

“Father Knows Best” aired from 1954 to 1960 — bouncing between networks CBS and NBC — and starred Robert Young as the patriarch of the middle-class Anderson family. Chapin’s Kathleen, also “Kathy” and nicknamed “Kitten,” was the youngest of Jim Anderson Sr. (Young) and Margaret Anderson‘s (Jane Wyatt) three children. Her screen siblings were played by Elinor Donahue and Billy Gray.

The Emmy-winning sitcom, which ran for more than 200 episodes over six seasons, comprised the bulk of Chapin’s screen career. Chapin followed up her time on “Father Knows Best” with a single appearance on “General Electric Theater,” and nearly two decades later a role in 1976’s “The Amorous Adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza” and two “Father Knows Best” reunion specials. In 1980, she appeared alongside Gary Coleman in the film “Scout’s Honor.”

She would not return to the screen until the late 2010s, starring as an elderly school bus driver in the YouTube series “School Bus Diaries” from 2016 to 2017, according to IMDb.

Off-screen, Chapin was an evangelist who shared her faith through public speaking, ministry and outreach, according to her website. She also concerned herself with various charitable efforts and work as a talent agent, channeling her experience to guide rising stars, including a young Jennifer Love Hewitt. Chapin’s website notes her accolades, including five Junior Emmy awards for child actress and “Honorable Mayor” titles from Oklahoma, Texas and Florida for her charity work.

In 1989, she penned “Father Knows Best: The Lauren Chapin Story,” which chronicled her time on the beloved sitcom but also illuminated the emotional and sexual abuse she allegedly endured from several family members off-screen. The memoir also concerned itself with Chapin’s post-”Father Know Best” life, including struggles with drug addiction, suicide attempts, troubled marriages and legal trouble.

“Lauren Chapin’s story reminds us that while fame may introduce a person to the world, it is perseverance, honesty, and compassion that define a life well lived,” says the description on Chapin’s website.

She is survived by her son, her daughter Summer and her brother Michael Chapin, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Oliver “Power” Grant, the close Wu-Tang Clan affiliate who oversaw the group’s enormously popular Wu Wear fashion line, has died. He was 52.

Grant’s death was confirmed by social media posts from several Wu-Tang members including Method Man, who wrote “Paradise my Brother safe Travels!!” under a post of the two together.

“We couldn’t have done it without him,” GZA wrote in his own post. “Wu wouldn’t have come to fruition without Power. His passing is a profound loss to us all.”

The group members’ posts did not cite a cause of death. The news was first reported by outlets including Okayplayer and Hot 97.

Grant, a childhood friend of Wu-Tang co-founder RZA’s older brother, was a crucial figure in the sprawling New York hip-hop collective’s ascent. Though he was not a performing member of the group, he helped raise capital for early recording sessions and structured Wu-Tang’s finances and record deals — no small feat for a collective with such a vast archipelago of group and solo projects.

“We knew that if a brother got a deal for 150k, he could keep the majority of it, but it also would facilitate and help the other brothers,” he told Passion of the Weiss in 2011. “It was part of our core and movement for us to spread the money around and help brothers eat, without a project out. It was like we were trust fund babies.”

His work set a precedent for autonomy and creative control as hip-hop became a commercial juggernaut in the ’90s.

“Everything that we learned was hard knock life, you figure it out as you go along, and take cues from those that are actively doing things,” he said. “I wasn’t a rapper, but the thrill of being a part of going and where they went, it was the inspiration for how it ended up that lead us all to going back, soaking up what we’d absorbed and coming back with ‘Protect Ya Neck.’”

He was also the driving force behind Wu Wear, the group’s wildly popular fashion line that netted tens of millions in revenue and became a fixture of ’90s hip-hop iconography. The line was later revamped as Wu-Tang Brand, and relaunched as Wu Wear in 2017. He also had cameos as an actor alongside Method Man in the 1998 hip-hop classic “Belly” and 1999’s “Black and White,” and served as an executive producer for the group’s many LPs.

Search and rescue workers are looking for more than 40 people who remain missing as towns reel from torrential rainfall.

Torrential rainfall has caused floods across the state of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil, killing at least 23 people.

Dozens of emergency workers, some with disaster-trained search dogs, combed through mounds of debris on Tuesday in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, which recorded at least 18 deaths.

They were on the lookout for the more than 40 people who have been missing since the rains began on Monday.

“We’ve been here since last night to see if they survive underground,” Livia Rosa, a 44-year-old seamstress, told the news service AFP.

She explained that several of her relatives were buried in the mud. “Hope is the last thing to die.”

Rainfall in the region is expected to continue for the coming days, complicating rescue efforts.

Images of the initial floods show mud and sludge clogging areas of Juiz de Fora, after a swollen river veered off course.

At least 440 people were displaced in the city, located about 310km (192 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro. At least seven deaths were also recorded in the nearby town of Uba.

The mayor of Juiz de Fora, Margarida Salomao, said that at least 20 landslides had been reported in the area, and some homes collapsed.

“Many people were inside their homes at night when it was raining,” Major Demetrius Goulart of the fire brigade told AFP. “We have hope. We found a boy this morning. He was inside a house, under the rubble. It took the team two hours of work.”

At least 108 officials from the Minas Gerais fire department have been deployed to Juiz de Fora, and 28 to Uba.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the government would assist in any way it could and offered his support to those affected.

“Our focus is to ensure humanitarian assistance, the restoration of basic services, support for displaced people, and aid for reconstruction,” he wrote in a social media post.

Salomao said in a social media post that the province has experienced its wettest February on record.

“There were more than 180mm [of rain] in four hours, intense, destructive and persistent,” he said, calling it “the saddest day of my administration”.

“Here, we remain fully committed and prioritising saving lives.”

Katherine Short, the daughter of actor and comedian Martin Short, has died. She was 42.

Her death was confirmed by her family.

“It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” the family said in a statement. “The Short family is devastated by this loss and asks for privacy at this time. Katherine was beloved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world.”

A law enforcement source told The Times that Short, an L.A. social worker, died by an apparent suicide.

This post will be updated as the story develops.

KELLY Osbourne has clapped back at cruel trolls who have attacked her over her weight loss amid grieving her dad Ozzy.

The reality TV star was spotted front row at London Fashion Week on Sunday and her attendance sparked some awful abuse.

Kelly, 41,has denied the use of weight loss jabs, but has become the target of a slew of online abuse.

The singer and TV star has now called out the vicious online trolls for subjecting her to the string of vile comments.

Posting an unsavoury comment to her social media where a cyber bully claimed she “looked like a dead body”, Kelly responded: “Literally can’t believe how disgusting some human beings are! No one deserves this sort of abuse!”

Alongside her statement, she posted a collection of fans comments sticking up for the star and slamming the awful message.

Read more on Kelly Osbourne

RAW REVEAL

Kelly Osbourne pens heartfelt post about grief 7 months after dad Ozzy’s death

ALWAYS REMEMBERED

Sharon & Kelly Osbourne left in tears after Grammys tribute to Ozzy

Kelly continued sticking up for herself as she posted yet another comment dissecting her weight loss and appearance.

She said: “This too shall pass, but like, holy f**k.”

The TV legend has bee forced to fend off a torrent of online abuse since the tragic passing of her dad Ozzy Osbourne.

But, things escalated when snaps of Kelly at the Royal Ascot Millinery Collective at Claridge’s emerged.

Kelly has often been candid about struggling with her weight, telling fans her insecurity developed in her teen years – while starring on the hit reality show The Osbournes.

Talking on The Osbournes podcast last year, Kelly said: “I got pulled into the head of the agency’s office and he … gave me a whole speech about how I was too fat for TV and I needed to lose weight, and that if I lost weight, I would look better.

“And he was just saying, ‘You’re not a movie star, but you could be one if you lost weight.’”

Kelly recently penned an emotional message about grief seven months after 76-year-old Ozzy’s death.

She said: “Some grief doesn’t end. It changes shape. It becomes a weight you learn to carry, the ache woven it your day. Making it through doesn’t mean leaving it behind.

“It means finding strength to live and love and keep going even with forever resting heavily on your heart…”

The Black Sabbath singer died at home with wife Sharon, 73, and his kids by his side, back in July 2025.

Ozzy passed away weeks after he took to the stage one final time with his bandmates at Villa Park in Birmingham.

Kelly has previously told how she has been struggling since her dad died, and confessed to fans she’s been sleeping in her late father’s bed along with her mum Sharon.

Willie Colón, a legendary trombonist and pioneer of salsa music, has died. He was 75.

His death on Saturday was confirmed in a Facebook post by his longtime manager, Pietro Carlos.

News of the singer’s condition circulated on the web in recent days. Yonkers Voice News reported Colón was admitted to NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester hospital in Bronxville, N.Y., on Tuesday with respiratory problems and he appeared fragile.

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Born William Anthony Colón Román on April 28, 1950, to Puerto Rican parents in New York City, Colón first picked up the trumpet in school. It seemed like a natural choice for the former bugle-playing Boy Scout, who attended the youth program at the suggestion of his grandmother.

“So I could learn how to be a good boy,” said Colón in a 1988 interview with Associated Press.

By age 13, Colón had started a band and played at some weddings and in the bustling nightclubs of New York City. At one point, he forged a cabaret card, a mandated ID for musicians and entertainers between 1940 and 1967 who worked in establishments serving alcohol, which required individuals to be 18 years and older.

The thrilling 1960s Latin music scene in New York consumed Colón, who was deeply inspired by Latin jazz pioneer and bandleader Eddie Palmieri, once part of a main act at the Palladium Ballroom who went on to form La Perfecta, a Cuban conjunto that revolutionized the New York Latin music scene with its inclusion of two trombones, played by Barry Rogers and Jose Rodriguez, instead of the costly four-set trumpets.

But Colón’s instrumental preference changed once he heard the bodied timbre of Mon Rivera’s all-trombone brass lineup marching to a bomba beat. “It would knock my socks off,” said Colón in a 1988 interview with Associated Press, leading the singer to teach himself how to play the instrument.

By age 15, Colón was signed to Fania Records. Two years later at age 17, he went on to release his debut album, “El Malo,” a record that defined the fierce sounds of New York’s salsa scene, which Colón later described as the Latin equivalent of rap.

According to his former label, the name of “El Malo” was bestowed upon Colón by older musicians who sought to mock his trombone range at the time, though the young bandleader would find a way to use the label to his advantage.

On the LP, Colón’s sound moved away from the polished mambo sounds of orchestral bands decades prior, in large part due to Puerto Rican singer Héctor Lavoe, whose vocals can be heard in tracks like the gritty “El Malo” that vows to knock out any wanna-be street phony.

The pair would go on to record a total of 14 albums through 1973, with Lavoe’s talents for improvisation complementing Colón’s raw, aggressive trombone.

“Salsa came from the same kind of situation that rap does,” Colon said in a 1992 interview with The Times. “It was kind of a hybrid of a bunch of different elements. Hector had just come from Puerto Rico and didn’t speak English. I didn’t speak much Spanish, I was a little New York kid. We got together and just started with the same kind of irreverent, rebellious attitude, writing songs about the baddest guy on the block, drugs and sex. Before that, the lyrics and whole attitude of Latin music was, ‘Look at me dance, listen to those drums, I’m cutting sugar cane.’ It was a rural, folkloric emphasis; we changed it to an inner-city kind of culture.”

Colón’s impact went beyond live music. The album cover of “El Malo,” which showed two serious profiles of Colón, depicted the singer as a sly bad boy, and ultimately gave rise to his gangster persona, which would be a throughline in future projects, including his sophomore 1968 album, “The Hustler” which featured the band with fitted suits, smoking cigars and placing bets in a pool hall. His 1970 album “Cosa Nuestra” featured Colón smoking a cigar while overlooking a dead body in broad daylight in Manhattan’s East River Bikeway. Most famously, his 1971 album, “La Gran Fuga,” depicted the singer on a fake FBI “Most Wanted” poster.

These mob-like depictions occurred long before cult-favorite films like Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 “The Godfather” and Brian De Palma 1983’s “Scarface” became the prominent gangster storylines various male acts venerate in their music.

By 1973, Colón and Lavoe split — allegedly due to Lavoe’s drug addiction leading to many missed concert performances — although the two would remain frequent collaborators until the latter’s death in 1993 due to complications of AIDS.

The Nuyorican musician would introduce Blades as the new singer of his orchestra, whom he had met years prior while visiting Panama during carnivals. They collaborated briefly on Colón’s 1975 LP “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly,” cementing their partnership in the 1977 album “Metiendo Mano,” which delved into socio-political themes, notably in their track “Pablo Pueblo,” which shares the story of a working class man with broken dreams halted by toils of daily life. Other tracks like “Plantación Adentro,” detailed the story of Camilo Manrique, a fictionalized enslaved character who died at the hands of a Spanish colonizer in 1745.

Many considered this album Colón’s first foray into intellectual salsa — in large part because of Blades, who had a knack for storytelling and political interests (he unsuccessfully ran for president of Panama in 1994) — that addressed colonialism and class disparities. Together they released three albums, including their 1978 “Siembra,” one of the bestselling salsa albums at that time; from the start, their track “Plastico” fused the popular disco music of the moment while addressing superficial beauty standards and colorism in Latin America.

According to 1996 reporting by The Times, “Siembra” delivered pulsating salsa rhythms that “carried messages of freedom at a time when most of Latin America was oppressed by military dictatorships.”

By 1982, Blades and Colón parted ways, but they collaborated again on projects like their 2005 LP “Tras La Tormenta” — which led the bandleader to sing for the first time in his career, “I had to start from zero, and it took me many years to feel comfortable,” Colón said.

This newfound independence gave rise to some of Colón’s most famous songs, including his 1995 track “Talento de Televisión,” an upbeat song with his signature trombone wailing in the backdrop as he sang about an attractive woman with a lack of talent.

Many across Latin America might be familiar with his 1989 song “El Gran Varon” — which narrated the story of a trans woman who is rejected by her father and presumably dies of AIDS — a landmark salsa song that brought awareness to LGBTQ+ themes during the AIDS crisis. Colón would later serve as a member of the Latino Commission on AIDS. “El Gran Varon” is an anthem to this day.

Colón released more than 40 albums in all.

He also acted, taking roles in films including 1982’s “Vigilante,” the 1983 sports drama “The Last Fight,” as well as one-episode stints in TV shows like “Miami Vice” and “The Cosby Show.” He was even featured in Bad Bunny’s “Nuevayol” music video, cutting a slice of cake; the 31-year-old superstar pays homage to the singer in its lyrics: “Willie Colón, me dicen el malo, ey. Porque pasan los años y sigo dando palo”/ “Willie Colón, they say I’m bad, because the years come and I’m still hitting.”

In his later years, he became more involved in politics. In 1994, he unsuccessfully went up against U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel of the Bronx in the Democratic primary. He also ran as a Democrat for Public Advocate in 2001, focusing on community issues, education and AIDS awareness, but failed to gain the popular vote. In 2008, he endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton over Barack Obama in the primary election.

On May 26, 2014, after graduating from Westchester County Police Academy, Colón was sworn in as a deputy sheriff for the Department of Public Safety, later becoming deputy lieutenant.

As President Trump took office in his first term, Colón’s politics shifted in support of the right-wing candidate, and he said he would be open to performing at his inauguration in 2017.

Billboard magazine named him one of the most influential Latino artists of all time in 2018.

Colón is survived by his wife, Julia Colón, and his four sons and grandsons.

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

This week we lost two towering figures with the deaths of Robert Duvall and Frederick Wiseman.

Duvall, who died at 95 at his home in Virginia, was known as an actor for roles in films such as “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and countless more. As a director, his work included “The Apostle” and a handful of other projects.

Robert Duvall in the movie “Apocalypse Now.”

(CBS Photo Archive / Getty Images)

The movies team published a list of 10 of our favorite performances, including “Tender Mercies,” for which he won an Academy Award, as well as “Network,” “The Great Santini” and “Widows.”

Wiseman, who died at 96 in Cambridge, Mass., directed more than 45 documentary features beginning with 1967’s “Titicut Follies” on through 2023’s “Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troigros.” His work was known for its rigorous examinations of systems and institutions, giving viewers insights into why things functioned the way they did.

Frederick Wiseman, photographed at the Venice Film Festival in 2014.

(David Azia / Associated Press)

“The institution is also just an excuse to observe human behavior in somewhat defined conditions,” Wiseman told the Associated Press in 2020. “The films are as much about that as they are about institutions.”

Tribute screenings have already started to pop up in tribute to Duvall, with presumably more for both men on the way.

‘Sunshine’ in 35mm

Rose Byrne in the 2007 movie “Sunshine.”

(Alex Bailey / Twentieth Century Fox)

The collaboration between director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland has yielded an ongoing examination of societies in varying stages of collapse, lately in their recent revival of the “28 Years Later” series. Among their other works is 2007’s “Sunshine,” which, while seen as something of a disappointment on initial release, has only grown in esteem in the years since. The Academy Museum will screen the movie on 35mm Friday in the Ted Mann Theater.

In 2057, Earth is freezing as the sun has begun to die. An international crew of astronauts — including Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong and Chris Evans — are dispatched with the improbable mission of reigniting the sun. When they encounter another ship along the way, things begin to go very wrong.

In his review, Kenneth Turan wrote, “Not reflected in a synopsis is the way screenwriter Garland has made ‘Sunshine’ a thoughtful genre film, one with philosophical concerns about God, man and morality. It’s not for nothing that Icarus’ talking computer echoes Hal of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’ Garland and Boyle also have devoted time and effort to character psychology, to making the members of the Icarus’ crew into recognizable people and not Hollywood stick figures. … All these good things enable us to buy into ‘Sunshine’s’ story for a considerable span, creating a palpable tension that underlines that no one should feel safe in the far reaches of space.”

John Horn also wrote an extensive production story on the film. Referring to delays in the editing process, which caused a delay in the film’s release, Boyle said, “No director, unless they are contractually obligated, will ever go back and do a sequel set in space. When I finished it in January, I would have said no, it wasn’t worth it. Because I fell out with everybody. To make these movies, you have to be so uncompromising and scorch all of the ground in front of you.”

Slamdance Film Festival

Vondie Curtis-Hall in the movie “The Projectionist,” the opening night film of the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival.

(Slamdance Film Festival)

The Slamdance Film Festival has launched its second year in Los Angeles, running through Feb. 25 with screenings at the DGA, Landmark Sunset and 2220 Arts + Archives. The virtual edition of the festival will run from Feb. 24–March 6 on the Slamdance Channel.

The festival opened with the world premiere of Alexandre Rockwell’s “The Projectionist.” Starring Vondie Curtis-Hall along with Kasi Lemmons and Kevin Corrigan, the film tells the story of a lonely film projectionist confronting his past.

Rockwell, who, in 1992 won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance with “In the Soup,” lauded Slamdance as “a festival that embodies the vital spirit of independent film better than anywhere.”

Among other notable titles in this year’s program is “The Untitled Ruby Slippers Documentary” directed by Seth Gordon and Nikki Calabrese, the story of the theft and recovery of one of the most famous pieces of Hollywood movie memorabilia. Gordon’s “The King of Kong” premiered at Slamdance in 2007.

Points of interest

‘A Thousand and One’

Teyana Taylor in the movie “A Thousand and One.”

(Aaron Ricketts / Focus Features)

Teyana Taylor is an Oscar nominee for her performance in “One Battle After Another.” (She’s also a recent guest on “The Envelope” podcast.) She got that role after “One Battle” director Paul Thomas Anderson saw Taylor’s performance in “A Thousand and One,” written and directed by A.V. Rockwell. Vidiots will show the movie Saturday.

In the film Taylor plays Inez, recently released from jail in New York City and attempting to reconnect with her son who has been in the foster system. When an opportunity presents itself, she impulsively abducts him and tries to get them set up in a new life together.

In her review of the film, Katie Walsh noted that Taylor “brings to her astonishing performance the coiled physicality of a panther ready to pounce.” Walsh added, “The film is utterly absorbing, anchored by the unpredictable performance of Taylor, playing a hopelessly complicated, but deeply caring woman. When faced with dire circumstances, she survives, then dares to imagine a life for Terry beyond the cycle she’s experienced, forging a family unit she never had.”

Sonaiya Kelley spoke to both Rockwell and Taylor about the film. Taylor said of the part, “I was drawn to the role before I even read the whole script. … A lot of the emotions I put onto Inez were real emotions from real triggers.”

‘Dont Look Back’

Bob Dylan in the documentary “Dont Look Back.”

(Criterion Collection)

As part of an ongoing series, the Academy Museum will show D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 “Dont Look Back” in the David Geffen Theater with doc director Joan Churchill in person to introduce the film.

A pioneering work of cinema verité, the film tags along on Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, capturing a period of heady creative evolution. As Dylan plays a series of shows, he is also seen in various hotel rooms, cutting down journalists and others with a self-regarding wit.

As Charles Champlin said in his 1967 review, “The technical shortcomings deliberately enhance the atmosphere of claustrophobic chaos surrounding a pop idol on tour. And this, after all, is what the film is about. … [Dylan’s] milieu and its hangers-on are by no means uniformaly attractive. But after this skillful and exhaustive piece of film reportage, no one need ask what it and they and he are really like. The camera has become an X-ray.”

Road accidents, often linked to speeding, claim thousands of lives each year in Egypt.

A collision between a truck and a passenger pick-up in Egypt’s northeastern Port Said province has left 18 people dead, mostly fishermen, and three others injured, according to reports.

The crash at approximately 12:30pm local time (10:30 GMT) on Thursday occurred on the 30 June Axis highway, to the south of Port Said, according to Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram newspaper.

Survivors of the collision are being treated in hospital, and public prosecutors have launched an investigation into the circumstances of the accident, according to Al-Ahram.

Images from the scene of the accident posted online showed the aftermath of the crash, with a pick-up truck crushed between two large cargo trucks and debris scattered across the road, The Associated Press (AP) news agency reports.

AP said the pick-up truck was transporting fishermen to work at fish farms in the coastal Port Said area.

Attending the inaugural meeting of United States President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly sent his condolences to the victims of the collision and ordered that financial assistance be provided to relatives of the deceased and injured.

Madbouly said in a statement posted on Facebook that he was following up on the incident through reports from the governor of Port Said province.

Deadly road accidents are common on Egypt’s roads and claim thousands of lives each year in crashes often involving microbuses and heavy trucks. Speeding, poor road conditions, and lax enforcement of traffic laws have been cited as contributing factors in collisions.

In June last year, a truck collided with a minibus, killing 19 people, most of them teenage girls, according to local officials.

Actor Eric Dane, best known for wooing “Grey’s Anatomy” audiences as plastic surgeon Dr. Mark “McSteamy” Sloan, has died following a public battle with ALS.

A TV star whose career spanned from “Saved by the Bell” to “Euphoria” and beyond, Dane died Thursday, his publicist announced in a statement. He was 53.

“With heavy hearts, we share that Eric Dane passed on Thursday afternoon following a courageous battle with ALS. He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world,” the statement reads. “Throughout his journey with ALS, Eric became a passionate advocate for awareness and research, determined to make a difference for others facing the same fight. He will be deeply missed, and lovingly remembered always. Eric adored his fans and is forever grateful for the outpouring of love and support he’s received. The family has asked for privacy as they navigate this impossible time.”

Dane publicized his ALS diagnosis in April 2025. A former competitive swimmer and water polo player, he said ALS — also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease — initially caused the right side of his body to stop working. Prior to his death, the actor channeled his personal experiences with the condition to portray a firefighter living with ALS on TV and advocated for legislation related to the condition.

In Shonda Rhimes’ “Grey’s Anatomy,” Dane’s Sloan was a welcome addition to Seattle Grace Hospital’s staff of heartthrobs who couldn’t seem to keep their gloved hands off each other amid shifts of wild and dramatic cases. He first appeared in Season 2 of “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2006. Sloan, within minutes of his arrival, takes a punch to the face from Patrick Dempsey’s Dr. Derek Shepherd and introduces himself to Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey as one of the fellow “dirty mistresses” who broke up Shepherd’s marriage to ex-wife Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh).

Dane had initially agreed to appear in only one episode of the long-running ABC drama, but remained a fixture — and eye candy for fans — for more than 130 episodes until 2012. Nicknamed “McSteamy” for his looks, Sloan pursued relationships with Drs. Lexie Grey (Chyler Leigh), Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez) and Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) over the course of Dane’s tenure. His character was killed off early in Season 9 after a devastating Season 8 plane crash that also claimed the life of Leigh’s Lexie.

In 2021, Dane returned to “Grey’s Anatomy” for a cameo in Meredith’s COVID-19-induced dreams.

Prior to breaking out with “Grey’s,” Dane played minor roles in series including “Saved by the Bell, “Roseanne,” “Gideon’s Crossing” and “Charmed.” Dane followed up his “Grey’s Anatomy” tenure with appearances on the ABC spinoff “Private Practice,” a leading role in TNT’s “The Last Ship” and a stint as a secretive real estate developer and dad in HBO’s teen drama “Euphoria.”

He also appeared in several movies following “Grey’s Anatomy,” including “X-Men: The Last Stand,” “Marley & Me,” “Burlesque” and Garry Marshall’s “Valentine’s Day,” which reunited him with co-star Dempsey.

Dane did not plan to be an actor until he unexpectedly landed a role in his high school’s production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons,” but he “fell in love with it,” he told the Gulf Times in 2014.

“I was like this is the greatest feeling ever,” he added.

Eric William Dane was born Nov. 9, 1972, in San Francisco. His father, a Navy man-turned-architect, died of a gunshot wound when the actor was 7, leaving his mother to raise her two children with assistance from her parents.

Dane attended Sequoia High School and San Mateo High School but dropped out prior to graduation to pursue acting in Los Angeles.

He partied often in his 20s and first entered rehab at age 26. Amid his “Grey’s Anatomy” fame, Dane struggled with addition to painkillers and prescription medicine. He relapsed in 2007 during the Writer’s Guild of America strike, he recalled in 2024.

Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart bring their daughters to the March 2015 world premiere of “Cinderella” in L.A.

(Richard Shotwell / Invision / Associated Press)

“If you take the whole eight years I was on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ I was f— up longer than I was sober and that was when things started going sideways for me,” he said at the time. Notably, he entered rehab again in 2011 to address issues with prescription drugs he had been prescribed for a sports injury.

Dane also spoke openly about his struggles with depression, which reached a head in 2017 amid production on his series “The Last Ship.” During a 2017 “Today” appearance, Dane explained that he was taking medication to manage the disorder, which he said hit him “like a truck.”

“I had to take some time off,” he said at the time. “I went away, I took care of it, and I’m feeling great.”

Dane married “Loving” actor and model Rebecca Gayheart in 2004 in Las Vegas the same day he proposed to her. Infamously, their relationship was subject to scrutiny when in 2009 leaked video showed the spouses in the nude and intoxicated lounging in a bathtub with actor Kari Ann Peniche. Marty Singer, attorney for the spouses at the time, dismissed the controversy.

However, the couple separated in 2017 and Gayheart filed to divorce Dane in 2018, but the split was never finalized. Then in March 2025, right before he went public with his ALS, she filed a request to dismiss the original petition.

In Dane’s role after revealing his diagnosis, he appeared in an episode of the NBC medical drama “Brilliant Minds” as a heroic firefighter struggling to tell his family he has ALS. The episode aired in late November; Gayheart revealed in a late December New York magazine essay that the actor was receiving 24/7 nursing care and she was covering most of the caregivers’ missed shifts.

“We haven’t lived in the same home for eight years; he’s dated other people, I’ve dated someone,” Gayheart wrote in the essay, which discussed Dane’s diagnosis and how it had affected the family. “It’s a very complicated relationship, one that’s confusing for people. Our love may not be romantic, but it’s a familial love. Eric knows that I am always going to want the best for him. That I’m going to do my best to do right by him. And I know he would do the same for me.

“So whatever I can do or however I can show up to make this journey better for him or easier for him, I want to do that,” she continued. “And I want to model that for my girls: That’s what you do. That’s the right thing to do.”

Dane is survived by daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14, whom he shares with Gayheart.