Ron Thompson, the unheralded actor who starred on Broadway for Charles Gordone in the Pulitzer Prize-winning No Place to Be Somebody and played father and son musicians for Ralph Bakshi in the animated cult classic American Pop, has died. He was 83.
Filmmaker Joe Black told The Hollywood Reporter that he found Thompson in his Van Nuys apartment on Saturday afternoon. The two had worked together in eight features, including Hate Horses (2017), Chicks, Man (2018) and Suffrage (2023), and Black visited him a couple times a week to help him out.
“For a man of his age, he was so full of life, he had such a presence,” Black said. He called Thompson “the Sam Jackson to my Tarantino.”
In 1969, Thompson originated off-Broadway the role of Shanty Mulligan in the Joseph Papp-produced No Place to Be Somebody, starring Ron O’Neal, then accompanied the drama to Broadway and on a tour around the country.
Filmmaker Joe Black told The Hollywood Reporter that he found Thompson in his Van Nuys apartment on Saturday afternoon. The two had worked together in eight features, including Hate Horses (2017), Chicks, Man (2018) and Suffrage (2023), and Black visited him a couple times a week to help him out.
“For a man of his age, he was so full of life, he had such a presence,” Black said. He called Thompson “the Sam Jackson to my Tarantino.”
In 1969, Thompson originated off-Broadway the role of Shanty Mulligan in the Joseph Papp-produced No Place to Be Somebody, starring Ron O’Neal, then accompanied the drama to Broadway and on a tour around the country.
- 4/16/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Our special In Memoriam photo gallery honoring the greats that have gone in 2021 has added another celebrated name. Five-time Emmy nominee Michael K. Williams, who is favored to win at the Emmy Awards later this month for “Lovecraft Country,” has died at age 54. You can also watch his recent acceptance speech when he won the 2021 Gold Derby TV Award.
Tour our gallery above featuring 26 celebrities from the entertainment worlds of music, film, television and Broadway. Here is a brief glance at some of those people being featured.
Michael Kenneth Williams died at age 54 on September 6. He was a four-time acting nominee at the Emmys for “Bessie,” “The Night Of,” “When They See Us” and “Lovecraft Country,” plus a producing nominee for “Vice.” He was well known for his TV role in “The Wire” and had film success in “Inherent Vice,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Road.
Tour our gallery above featuring 26 celebrities from the entertainment worlds of music, film, television and Broadway. Here is a brief glance at some of those people being featured.
Michael Kenneth Williams died at age 54 on September 6. He was a four-time acting nominee at the Emmys for “Bessie,” “The Night Of,” “When They See Us” and “Lovecraft Country,” plus a producing nominee for “Vice.” He was well known for his TV role in “The Wire” and had film success in “Inherent Vice,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Gone Baby Gone” and “The Road.
- 9/7/2021
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Legendary actress Jessica Walter may have passed away back in March, but her chances of getting nominated for a posthumous Emmy Award are still very much alive. With the recent release of this year’s Emmy nomination ballots, we found out that Walter is being submitted in the Best Character Voice-Over Performance category for voicing the toxic matriarch, Mallory Archer, on the Emmy-winning Fxx series “Archer.”
Seetv animation panel: ‘Archer,’ ‘Big Mouth,’ ‘Bob’s Burgers,’ ‘The Great North,’ ‘Harley Quinn,’ ‘Solar Opposites’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
Walter is on the ballot for her work in the season 11 episode, “The Double Date.” Mallory first appears several minutes into the episode when she shows up at a restaurant where Sterling (H. Jon Benjamin) is supposed to be following an elusive Russian hacker. Mallory is shocked to see that Sterling has brought a date to the mission in order to make his ex, Lana (Aisha Tyler), jealous since...
Seetv animation panel: ‘Archer,’ ‘Big Mouth,’ ‘Bob’s Burgers,’ ‘The Great North,’ ‘Harley Quinn,’ ‘Solar Opposites’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
Walter is on the ballot for her work in the season 11 episode, “The Double Date.” Mallory first appears several minutes into the episode when she shows up at a restaurant where Sterling (H. Jon Benjamin) is supposed to be following an elusive Russian hacker. Mallory is shocked to see that Sterling has brought a date to the mission in order to make his ex, Lana (Aisha Tyler), jealous since...
- 7/5/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
On "Arrested Development," Jessica Walter plays Lucille, the hard-drinking, wisecracking socialite matriarch of the embattled Bluth clan. She earned a Best Comedy Supporting Actress Emmy nomination for the show's original Fox run in 2005, losing to another notorious TV mother, Doris Roberts ("Everybody Loves Raymond"), and Walter won an Emmy back in 1975 for the limited series "Amy Prentiss," but can she finally win for her "Arrested" role? Lucille is not unlike another boozy role that won multiple Emmys: "Will & Grace's" Karen Walker, played by Megan Mullally, Comedy Supporting Actress winner in 2000 and 2006. Karen was a wealthy New York woman who knocked back martinis and traded barbs with her best friend Jack (Sean Hayes), and like Lucille had a tumultuous relationship with her domestic help. Click here to subscribe to Gold Derby's free newsletter -- Get breaking news and predict...
- 6/28/2013
- Gold Derby
Interviewing an acting legend – especially one working on new Arrested Development episodes, as as well as fan favorite Archer – isn’t a bad way to spend an afternoon.
On Season 4 of the beloved, resurrected sitcom (all 15 are available this Sunday on Netflix), Jessica Walter is back as boozy matriarch Lucille Bluth and, well... the time away hasn’t made Lucille a better mother. But that’s the way we like it.
I sat down with Walter recently and not only got her approval on the name of this site, but also talked about what’s new with Lucille while taking a walk down memory lane with her career highlights...
Jessica Walter: Jim, what are you writing for?
TV Fanatic: This is TVFanatic.com.
Jw: Oooh. I love that. TV Fanatic.
Tvf: My first question is actually about how we watch TV. How do you watch TV? What’s your...
On Season 4 of the beloved, resurrected sitcom (all 15 are available this Sunday on Netflix), Jessica Walter is back as boozy matriarch Lucille Bluth and, well... the time away hasn’t made Lucille a better mother. But that’s the way we like it.
I sat down with Walter recently and not only got her approval on the name of this site, but also talked about what’s new with Lucille while taking a walk down memory lane with her career highlights...
Jessica Walter: Jim, what are you writing for?
TV Fanatic: This is TVFanatic.com.
Jw: Oooh. I love that. TV Fanatic.
Tvf: My first question is actually about how we watch TV. How do you watch TV? What’s your...
- 5/24/2013
- by jimhalterman@gmail.com (Jim Halterman)
- TVfanatic
The "Arrested Development" cast members had a lot of TV and film credits before they were the dysfunctional Bluth family.
Jessica Walter -- matriarch Lucille Bluth on the former Fox, now Netflix series -- has been making TV appearances since the 1960s. She won an Emmy for "Amy Prentiss" in 1975 and in 1977, Walter guest starred in a "Wonder Woman" episode, "The Return of Wonder Woman."
Jason Bateman (Michael Bluth) started acting at a young age and appeared on "Silver Spoons," "Little House on the Prairie" and "Valerie"/"The Hogan Family."
Alia Shawkat and Mae Whitman met as co-stars in Fox Family's 2001-2002 series "State of Grace" before they were Maeby Funke and Ann Veal.
Click through the gallery below to see the "Arrested Development" cast in their early roles.
"Arrested Development" returns with new episodes on Netflix on Sunday, May 26.
Jessica Walter -- matriarch Lucille Bluth on the former Fox, now Netflix series -- has been making TV appearances since the 1960s. She won an Emmy for "Amy Prentiss" in 1975 and in 1977, Walter guest starred in a "Wonder Woman" episode, "The Return of Wonder Woman."
Jason Bateman (Michael Bluth) started acting at a young age and appeared on "Silver Spoons," "Little House on the Prairie" and "Valerie"/"The Hogan Family."
Alia Shawkat and Mae Whitman met as co-stars in Fox Family's 2001-2002 series "State of Grace" before they were Maeby Funke and Ann Veal.
Click through the gallery below to see the "Arrested Development" cast in their early roles.
"Arrested Development" returns with new episodes on Netflix on Sunday, May 26.
- 5/21/2013
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
Angie Dickinson has the credentials to read television's female law enforcers their rights, having been one of the earliest.
The veteran actress went from star of such movies as the original "Ocean's 11" and "The Killers" to home-screen staple in "Police Woman," NBC's "Police Story" spinoff that ran four seasons (1974-78). The show came at a time when women typically weren't drama-series leads ... and when told that other actresses cite her as someone who opened gates for them, Dickinson replies to Zap2it, "It's nice to be a standard bearer."
Ironically, she might not have been the performer who would become Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson. "I happen to know that they wanted Karen Black for the 'Police Story' episode," Dickinson reports, "and as we were shooting that, they said, 'This could make a series.' They didn't have a separate series in mind at all when we started.
The veteran actress went from star of such movies as the original "Ocean's 11" and "The Killers" to home-screen staple in "Police Woman," NBC's "Police Story" spinoff that ran four seasons (1974-78). The show came at a time when women typically weren't drama-series leads ... and when told that other actresses cite her as someone who opened gates for them, Dickinson replies to Zap2it, "It's nice to be a standard bearer."
Ironically, she might not have been the performer who would become Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson. "I happen to know that they wanted Karen Black for the 'Police Story' episode," Dickinson reports, "and as we were shooting that, they said, 'This could make a series.' They didn't have a separate series in mind at all when we started.
- 3/15/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
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