entertainment

The legendary US actor was nominated for seven Oscars and won for his role as a washed-up country singer in Tender Mercies.

Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall, best known for his work in The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has died aged 95, his wife has announced in a Facebook post.

“For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented,” Luciana Duvall said in a statement on Monday.

Duvall was best known for playing forceful roles such as his depiction of Tom Hagen, consigliere to the Corleone Mafia family in The Godfather.

He also played Lieutenant Colonel Bull Meechum in The Great Santini and the title character in Stalin, as well as broken-down and fallen characters in Tender Mercies and The Apostle.

Duvall, the son of a US Navy admiral and an amateur actress, grew up in Annapolis, Maryland in the United States. After graduating from Principia College in Illinois and serving in the US Army, he moved to New York City, where he roomed with Dustin Hoffman and befriended Gene Hackman when the three were struggling acting students.

After working on a variety of television shows, Duvall made a strong impression in his first forays onto the big screen, such as his first movie part as the mysterious recluse Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Duvall got the part at the suggestion of the film’s screenwriter, Horton Foote, who had liked Duvall’s work in one of his plays. Foote later wrote Tender Mercies, a 1983 film for which Duvall won the Academy Award for best actor as a washed-up country singer.

Duvall was nominated for another six Oscars, including for his work in Frances Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now. Duvall played the off-kilter, surfing-obsessed Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore.

The character’s famous line, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning”, became legendary.

In all, Duvall appeared in almost 100 movies. And when he grew weary of Hollywood, he made his own films. He wrote, directed and won an Oscar acting nomination for The Apostle, the story of a conflicted preacher.

Duvall did the same with Assassination Tango, a movie that allowed him to exhibit his passion for the tango and Argentina, where he met his fourth wife, Luciana Pedraza.

In later life, Duvall split his time between Los Angeles, Argentina and a farm in Virginia, where he converted the barn into a tango dance hall.

Tributes have poured in for beloved Canadian actress Catherine O’Hara, the Home Alone and Schitt’s Creek star who died this week at age 71.

US media outlets reported on Friday that O’Hara died at her Los Angeles home after a brief illness.

Born and raised in Toronto, O’Hara began her acting career in the 1970s at The Second City improvisational theatre and later performed on iconic Canadian comedy show SCTV.

Her break into movies came in 1980 with Double Negative, alongside her longtime collaborator Eugene Levy, as well as John Candy.

But she became widely known to a global audience when she played Macaulay Culkin’s mother in 1990’s Home Alone.

“It’s a perfect movie, isn’t it?” she told People magazine in 2024. “You want to be part of something good, and that’s how you go.”

More recently, younger audiences embraced O’Hara for her role as the matriarch of a rich family that loses its wealth in Schitt’s Creek, where she again starred alongside Levy, as well as his son, Dan.

Her turn as Moira Rose won her an Emmy award for best actress in a comedy series in 2020.

Here’s a look at how actors, politicians and others are remembering O’Hara:

Macaulay Culkin

“Mama. I thought we had time. I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you. I heard you. But I had so much more to say. I love you. I’ll see you later,” Culkin wrote on Instagram.

Eugene Levy

Levy got his start alongside O’Hara at Second City and on SCTV, and he later starred with her in several projects, including Christopher Guest’s Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and Waiting for Guffman.

In a statement, Levy said “words seem inadequate to express the loss” he felt after her death. “I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over fifty years,” he said.

“From our beginnings on the Second City stage, to SCTV, to the movies we did with Chris Guest, to our six glorious years on Schitt’s Creek, I cherished our working relationship, but most of all our friendship. And I will miss her.

“My heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke, and the entire O’Hara family.”

Dan Levy

“What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years,” Levy, who played O’Hara’s character’s son David Rose on Schitt’s Creek, wrote on Instagram.

“Having spent over fifty years collaborating with my Dad, Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family. It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it. I will cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

“Over 5 decades of work, Catherine earned her place in the canon of Canadian comedy — from SCTV to Schitt’s Creek,” Carney wrote on X.

“Canada has lost a legend. My thoughts are with her family, friends, and all those who loved her work on screen. She will be dearly missed.”

Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Trudeau hailed O’Hara as “a beloved Canadian icon with a rare gift for comedy and heart”.

“She made people laugh across generations and helped bring Canadian storytelling to the world in a way only she could. My thoughts are with her family, friends, and everyone who found joy in her work,” Trudeau wrote on X.

Seth Rogen

Rogen, who starred alongside O’Hara in the series The Studio, said he told O’Hara when he first met her that he thought “she was the funniest person [he’d] ever had the pleasure of watching on screen”.

“Home Alone was the movie that made me want to make movies. Getting to work with her was a true honour,” Rogen wrote in an Instagram post.

“She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous … she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it. This is just devastating. We’re all lucky we got to live in a world with her in it.”

Even the Harry Potter star in the cast failed to save this 1990s film from ridicule

A forgotten period drama based that was slated by viewers has just been made available for free streaming.

Emily Bronte’s classic and controversial novel Wuthering Heights has inspired countless film and TV adaptations, with the most recent starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi hitting cinema screens in a matter of days.

However, years before Emerald Fennell adapted the page-turner for the big-screen in 2026, there was another that released back in the nineties. It starred Ralph Fiennes as the brooding Heathcliff opposite Juliette Binoche as Catherine Earnshaw, while Peter Kosminsky sat in the director’s chair.

Despite the starry cast, the 1992 release struggled to win over critics in particular with one calling it a “failed” adaptation. Meanwhile another described Fiennes’ take on Heathcliff as “demonic”.

“Peter Kosminsky’s Wuthering Heights is a drone, depressing, and exhaustively revolting excuse for entertainment,” another peeved critic penned.

At time of writing, it has a measly 33 per cent critics’ score on review site Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave it a more optimistic 66 per cent.

One fan described it as a “masterpiece”, adding: “Very well put together and the chemistry between the actor was awesome!” while another said it was their “favourite adaptation.”

Meanwhile a third shared: “Not a single adaption has ever truly done it justice – but this is my favourite of the adaptions for two reasons. 1) Ralph Fiennes manages to capture the essence of Heathcliff better than any other actor ever has and 2) Ryuichi Sakamoto’s soaring score together with the authentic filming locations really do bring the book’s atmosphere to life.”

A fourth, not convinced by the film, said: “Absolutely unwatchable. Could not make it 20 minutes in, terrible acting, strange casting. Don’t waste your time.”

Fans wanting to give it a go can now do so entirely for free, as the film has just been added to Pluto TV. The streaming service has also added three extra adaptations of the story to its library if the nineties flick doesn’t hit the spot.

Wuthering Heights (1970) starring Timothy Dalton and Anna Calder-Marshall; Wuthering Heights (1998) starring Robert Cavanah, Orla Brady, and Sarah Smart; and Wuthering Heights (2011) starring James Howson and Kaya Scodelario are all available to watch now.

Wuthering Heights (1992) is now streaming for free on Pluto TV. For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new ** Everything Gossip ** website.

A HUGE new food, drink and music venue is coming to Leeds – after success in another major city.

Freight Island has announced it’s opening a new site in the Trinity Leeds shopping centre and will welcome new food stalls and lots of entertainment.

The new venue is part of a £15million expansion at the Trinity Kitchen food court in the Trinity Leeds shopping centre.

It will be huge too as the space will more than double in size from 30,000 square feet to 63,000.

Inside will be street-style food stalls, independent bars, and live entertainment.

The plans also include a new outdoor terrace which will look over City Square.

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Construction is set to start in late spring 2026 – and Trinity Kitchen will remain open throughout the entire time.

Dan Morris, Managing Director of Freight Island, said: “Trinity Kitchen is an iconic Leeds destination with a decade-long reputation for championing independent food traders and creating a genuinely social dining experience.”

He added: “Food will remain at the heart of the venue, with menus driven by independent chefs and operators, alongside a programme of DJs, sports, performances, cultural and family events, all with a strong focus on showcasing and supporting local Leeds talent.”

There are three other cities with Freight Islands already in the UK.

The first to open its doors was in Manchester – it opened in July 2020 as part of the Depot Mayfield development.

There are bars, restaurants, food trucks, shops and even a bike park.

There’s also a New York inspired-roller disco, and a karaoke spot called Queen Samantha’s where visitors can sing their hearts out.

Throughout the year it holds free entertainment too like screenings of the Six Nations Bingo and Drink, Dance, Dine sessions.

Freight Brixton has a tequila-led bar called Casa Amigos and another called Hotel Milano which is inspired by Northern Italy.

Freight Island Newcastle will open in Eldon Square in late 2026.

The 60,000 square foot venue is being developed in the former Debenhams shop.

This site is said to have taken inspiration from Coney Island in New York and Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen.

Along with having street food it will have high energy DJs and live music performances in the evenings.

For more on entertainment, check out this huge new riverfront music and food attraction to open in UK capital, as part of £4billion redevelopment.

Plus, this popular London borough to get huge £10billion makeover with parks, restaurants and ‘flower amphitheatre’.