Arts & Entertainment Videos and News

Anthony Hopkins Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Sir Anthony Hopkins received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the 63rd annual Golden Globe awards. Nominated for six Golden Globes since 1978, Hopkins is arguably the greatest living film actor, said Philip Berk, president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. He told the Associated Press: "It's a choice I am particularly proud of," Berk said. "It's an honor to us as well as to him."

Hopkins won an Oscar for his performance in "The Silence of the Lambs." To view video clips of Hopkins' performances as well as interviews, go to video.yahoo.com.

Steve Martin Discusses Genesis of Comedy Routines

Steve Martin, newly anointed by the Kennedy Center as winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, tells The Washington Post that he was a philosophy major in college.

"Philosophy taught me two things. First, the reality of the absurd. Absurd was funny. You didn't need a punch line, a structure; you just needed an ironic juxtaposition. Second, there's a logical progression to things, but when you disrupt it, that's very funny. I got that from Lewis Carroll."

Example, from an old monologue: "I'd never divorce you, because I love you, I cherish you, I honor you and I don't want to lose half my stuff."

Bill Cosby Returns To Touring, Speaking Out on 'Social Responsibility

A year after he was sidelined from a nationwide, self-financed tour, speaking out and challenging black Americans to overcome certain circumstances, entertainer Bill Cosby has returned to the circuit. "Today his message is the same: Black folks, particularly those with low incomes and extra hardships, must stop seeing themselves as victims and not let poverty and despair mold their lifestyles. The only way to change is for black people to communicate," reports Rochelle Riley of The Detroit Free Press. In Compton, Ca., a city with a high murder rate, schools with a poor reputation, and other serious problems, Cosby hosts a "call out" at the local high school -- a dialogue about parenting, education, and social responsibility, The Los Angeles Times reports.

In an interview, Cosby told Riley: "That's the biggest thing we need to do - talk to each other, seriously, about making corrections that we already know should have been made - and then getting people to agree to join and make the corrections."

Cosby stopped his tour when when he was accused of sexual misconduct. Police ultimately dismissed the case.

• Rochelle Riley's report.
• Los Angeles Times report.
• Bill Cosby profile by Wikipedia.
• Bill Cosby videoclips.

'Million Dollar Baby' DVD: Inspiring, Controversial

The Academy-Award winning "Million Dollar Baby" attracted controversy from disability groups and from those opposed to assisted suicide because the severely injured female boxer chooses to end her life rather than live as a paraplegic.

Yet critic Teri Tom finds the movie inspiring. Tom quotes the Morgan Freeman character, who says: "People die everyday, after spending a lifetime mopping floors, washin' dishes. And you know what their last thought is? 'I never got my shot.' " The Hilary Swank character got to do what she passionately wanted to do with her life. She "got her shot."

"The message so beautifully delivered by Morgan Freeman is the one that most strongly resonates with me," Tom writes. "This is why — call me crazy — ultimately, I find the message of 'Million Dollar Baby' to be an uplifting one."

• Tralers, Video Clips and Interviews with Stars of "Million Dollar Baby"
• Quotes from "Million Dollar Baby"
• Rent "Million Dollar Baby" from Netflix. (Free when you join Netflix and enter code: Friend63.)

Where's Bette Davis When You Need Her?

Mickey Rourke, a boxer and actor with reputation as a hell-raiser, tells the press he needs a Bette Davis-type actress as his leading lady to make his career truly stand out. He is currently making the movie, "Domino," with Keira Knightly, but blasts Knightly for failing to measure up to the greatness he expects.

"She's a movie star, and Hollywood's full of them. I'm looking for a hard-boiled, ball-breaking Bette Davis type or a Barbara Stanwyck to play opposite next time, a darn great actress. I like them hot-blooded - and those oldie actresses were certainly that."

Sixteen years after her death, Bette Davis is still casting a shadow on actresses and continuing to fascinate audiences. The Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga, TN made the films of Davis a central part of its summer film festival. Steven Hunter of The Washington Post recently called her a "force of nature" who in "Jezebel" (1938) stole scenes from the beautiful city of New Orleans. "You don't think of it as a New Orleans movie because it wasn't. New Orleans was overpowered by Davis, pure and simple, and when she says, 'What a dump,' though it should be phonetically spelled "Wotta Duuu -- mmmmmpppp," it's a movie moment that will last longer than celluloid or civilization. Bette even managed to out-act and overpower a cholera plague in that one! Talk about your star power!"

Bette Davis lives on in classrooms, on web sites, and in video clips on the web. Wikipedia sums up her career and its impact. The Destination Hollywood site includes video clips from "All About Eve." The Digital History web site of the University of Houston includes trailers from "Jezebel" to illustrate films of historical significance. The Florida State University Criminology Department uses scenes from "Jezebel" to illustrate the "crime film" genre.

In many ways, it's not surprising that Bette is still viewed as larger than life. After all, it was she who once said, "Acting should be bigger than life. Scripts should be bigger than life. It should all be bigger than life."

• Wikipedia on Bette Davis
• http://www.destinationhollywood.com/celebrities/bettedavis/index.html
• Peruse and rent Bette Davis movies from Netflix  (Free when you join Netflix and enter code: Friend63.)

Chicago Gives 'Thumbs Up' to Film Critic Roger Ebert

Film critic Roger Ebert (home page), best known for offering "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to the movies, has battled cancer in recent years. To honor him, the city of Chicago is flying banners bearing his name. A summer-long film festival is playing his favorite movies. The Chicago Sun Times has released a special section on Ebert's career, complete with fresh-faced pictures of him, including one funny one in which he is trying to interview Warren Beatty at the airport, while Beatty looks down on him like he's an impetuous kid, which he wasn't far from being. The section notes that Ebert in 1976 won the Pulitzer Prize for Arts Criticism, the first film critic ever to do so.

Since 2000, Ebert has co-hosted his show with fellow Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper. "I thought I was a movie lover until I started hanging around with this guy," Roeper said. "He's just as excited about the next movie as he was in the 60s."

Photographer of Cameron Diaz Tried, Convicted of Blackmailing A Celebrity

The tabloid-soaked trial in Los Angeles since Michael Jackson left the courthouse a free man involved a photographer who allegedly tried to blackmail actress and former model Cameron Diaz (link to Google search). The blonde star with intense blue eyes spent four hours on the stand, and by most media reports charmed the courtroom with her ease on the stand and her sympathetic demeanor.

She charged photographer John Ritter with grand theft, forgery and perjury, and said he deserves six years in prison. He was convicted and sentenced to three years in jail.

Twenty-five Years After His Death, Steve McQueen Rises To Iconic Status

Steve McQueen died 25 years ago at the age of 50, but there's a great resurgence of interest in the actor. "At the moment, the laid-back, sandy-haired action hero seems to be everywhere," writes Glenn Lovell in the San Jose Mercury News. He can be seen in a Ford Mustang commercial called "The Legend Lives." His image is used to sell Tag Heuer watches. There's a new tabloid-sensational British biography ("McQueen"), a slick new documentary (TCM's "The Essence of Cool"), DVD boxed sets of his breakthrough TV series ("Wanted: Dead or Alive") and most of his popular movies. "In England, you can even see the King of Cool sweat in an unauthorized ad for underarm deodorant," Lovell reports.

McQueen's "most potent movies were all 1960s-era films, with McQueen playing an enigmatic rebel. He seemed to fit the times," writes Wil Haygood in The Washington Post. Does this mean rebellion is back in style?

The New Yorker reviews new McQueen DVD releases. Three scenes from the McQueen classic, "The Great Escape," are posted on Ifilm.com. McQueen's classic chase scene from Bullitt is online here. Cheryl Crow has a music video called "Like Steve McQueen."

McQueen can also be seen online in a vintage television advertisement for Viceroy cigarettes from the 1960s. Since McQueen died of lung cancer, McQueen's cigarette-smoking may no longer seem so cool.

Anne Bancroft, Remembered As Mrs. Robinson, Preferred 'The Miracle Worker'

"Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson, a star of stage and screen has left and gone away," declared the London Times, quoting the famous Simon and Garfunkel song from the movie, "The Graduate." Anne Bancroft, the actress who shocked the world with her portrayal of the seductive Mrs. Robinson in 1967, died Monday at the age of 73. (This article includes links to video clips of Bancroft's great peformances.)

'Like Buying Directly From Marilyn Monroe'

Hundreds of personal belongings of actress Marilyn Monroe (link to video clips of Marilyn), held back from previous auctions because they were deemed too personal, were auctioned off in Los Angeles over the weekend by Monroe's estate. [Marilyn Monroe official web site is www.marilynmonroe.com, or Google Marilyn Monroe.]