Playhouse 90 (tv program)

Cliff Robertson dies at 88; actor starred in films and on stage and TV

Cliff Robertson, who starred as John F. Kennedy in a 1963 World War II drama and later won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a mentally disabled bakery janitor in the movie "Charly," died Saturday, one day after his 88th birthday. Robertson, who also...

Tags: American Express Company, Trumbull, Stony Brook University, Movies, Punishment

PASSINGS: Harry Lawenda, Axel Axgil, Phyllis Love

Harry Lawenda Interior design firm's creative force Harry Lawenda, 87, an interior designer who was the creative force behind the influential Kneedler Fauchere design firm founded by his late wife, Dorothy Kneedler Lawenda, died at his Los Angeles...

Tags: Denmark, Justice and Rights, Hodgkins Disease, Gays and Lesbians, Interior Design

Farley Granger dies at 85; handsome leading man best known for roles in Hitchcock films

Farley Granger, a handsome young leading man during Hollywood's post-World War II era who was best known for his starring roles in the Alfred Hitchcock suspense thrillers "Strangers on a Train" and "Rope," has died. He was 85. Granger died of natural...

Tags: Crimes, Marketing, Ava Gardner, Drama (genre), Alfred Hitchcock

PASSINGS: John Dye, Ellen Stewart, Del Reisman, Irene Jerison

John Dye Actor best known for 'Touched by an Angel' John Dye, 47, an actor best known for his role as Andrew in the long-running CBS-TV series "Touched by an Angel," was found dead Monday at his home in San Francisco, the San Francisco medical examiner'...

Tags: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Rod Serling, Unions, Journalism, The Untouchables (movie)

The Albert Heschong family home in Encino goes on the market

A home owned by the family of the late Albert Heschong, the Emmy-winning production designer for television, film and theater who headed the art department at CBS for more than two decades, is for sale in Encino at $1.15 million. Heschong designed and...

Tags: Gunsmoke (tv program), Jack Palance, Sotheby's Holdings Incorporated, Family

Classic Hollywood: Piper Laurie

Piper Laurie has been reflecting on her career of late, a career that has careened from B-movie "bimbo" roles to Oscar nominations — not to mention that bag full of condoms she once scored as a budding starlet. Though she was painfully shy,...

Tags: Education, Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Literature, Career and Workplace

Hot Property: Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Reynolds buy Los Feliz house for $2.9 million

It seems as though actress Scarlett Johansson had no sooner sold her old place in the Hollywood Hills than she and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, closed on a house in Los Feliz for $2.9 million. Built in the late '60s, the restored Buff & Hensman-...

Tags: Dining and Drinking, Condos and Houses, CSI: New York (tv program), The Proposal (movie), Celebrities

Dick Berg dies at 87; television and film writer and producer

Dick Berg, a longtime television and motion picture writer and producer, died Tuesday from a fall at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87. A pioneer of the made-for-television movie format that revolutionized network programming in the 1970s, Berg helped...

Tags: Lehigh University, Jason Robards, Human Accomplishments, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Richard Chamberlain

Sydney Pollack, 73; Oscar-winning director and producer

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Sydney Pollack, the Academy Award-winning director of "Out of Africa" who achieved acclaim making popular, mainstream movies with A-list stars, including "The Way We Were" and "Tootsie," died Monday. He was 73. Pollack, who also was a producer and actor,...

Tags: Meryl Streep, Movies, Robert Altman, Michael Clayton (movie), Entertainment

'Playhouse 90': Now that's quality TV

Fun with television history: In honor of the recent succession of wonderful cable TV shows ("Mad Men," "True Blood," "Nurse Jackie,""Justified,""Homeland,""Dexter,""The Walking Dead,""Breaking Bad," "Magic City" and so on), we're going to time-travel to...

Tags: Justified (tv program), Rod Serling, Margaret Mitchell, Homeland (tv program), Entertainment

10 things you might not know about TV commercials

The game on Sunday is, well, the Super Bowl of TV commercials. According to Nielsen, most people (OK, 51 percent) say they enjoy the ads more than the football, and advertisers will shell out up to $3 million for the privilege of entertaining them for...

Tags: Crimes, Marketing, Native Americans, Iron Eyes Cody, Madonna

Tags: Patty Duke, The Godfather (movie), Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, Mary Steenburgen