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Sidney Poitier, the renowned Hollywood actor, director and activist who commanded the screen, reshaped the culture and paved the way for countless other Black actors with stirring performances in classics such as “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” has died, a source close to the family told NBC News on Friday.
He was 94. The actor's cause of death was not immediately given.
In a groundbreaking film career that spanned decades, Poitier established himself as one of the finest performers in America. He made history as the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor and, at the height of his fame, he became a major box-office draw.
Poitier, who rejected film roles based on offensive racial stereotypes, earned acclaim for portraying dignified, keenly intelligent men in 1960s landmarks such as “Lilies of the Field,” “A Patch of Blue,” “To Sir, With Love,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
He said he felt a responsibility to represent Black excellence at a time when the vast majority of movie stars were white and many Black performers were relegated to subservient or buffoonish roles. He came to be seen as an elder statesmen in the film industry, celebrated for his social conscience and admired for his regal bearing.
“I felt very much as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every move I made,” Poitier once wrote about the experience of being the only Black person on a movie set.
He won the best actor Oscar in 1964 for his depiction of an ex-serviceman who helps East German nuns build a chapel in “Lilies of the Field.” The first Black man to win that honor, he remained the only one until Denzel Washington in 2002 — the same year Poitier received an honorary Oscar “in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human.”
In the course of his public life, Poitier was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, two Golden Globe awards (including a lifetime achievement honor in 1982), and a Grammy for narrating his autobiography, “The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography,” published in 2000.
Poitier was born prematurely Feb. 20, 1927, in Miami, to Bahamian parents while they were on vacation in the United States. He grew up in the Bahamas, spending his early years around his father’s tomato farm on Cat Island before the family relocated to Nassau. The teenage Poitier returned to the U.S., where he enlisted in the U.S. Army and briefly served in a medical unit.
He eventually made his way to New York City and discovered a passion for the performing arts. He applied to the American ***** Theatre, but he was rejected because of his accent, so he spent the next several months practicing American enunciation. When he re-applied, he was accepted into the company and, in 1946, he made his Broadway debut in “Lysistrata.”
Poitier made his feature debut in the 1950 film noir “No Way Out” and the following year appeared in “Cry, the Beloved Country,” a British film set in apartheid-era South Africa. He gained greater attention in the 1955 drama “Blackboard Jungle” as a troubled but musically gifted student at an inner-city high school.
He broke through in 1958 with “The Defiant Ones,” teaming up with Tony Curtis for the tale of two escaped prisoners forced to survive while shackled together. The film was a critical smash, and Poitier and Curtis were both nominated for best actor Oscars. (They lost to David Niven for “Separate Tables.”)
“The Defiant Ones” opened up exciting career opportunities for Poitier. He drew praise as the crippled beggar Porgy in Otto Preminger’s musical “Porgy and Bess” (1959), adapted from the George Gershwin opera, and the determined Walter Lee Younger in “A Raisin in the Sun” (1961), adapted from the Lorraine Hansberry play.
In the 1960s, Poitier leveraged his Oscar win for “Lilies in the Field” and his growing national celebrity. He refused roles based on racist caricatures and gravitated to films that celebrated the main character’s dignity, grace, intellect and honor.
When he started acting, he said in a 1967 interview, “the kind of ***** played on the screen was always negative, buffoons, clowns, shuffling butlers, really misfits. This was the background when I came along 20 years ago and I chose not to be a party to the stereotyping.
“I want people to feel when they leave the theater that life and human beings are worthwhile,” Poitier added. “That is my only philosophy about the pictures I do.”
“A Patch of Blue,” released in 1965, was a pathbreaking portrait of the relationship between Poitier’s educated office worker and Elizabeth Hartman’s blind white woman. The film further established him as one of the key leading men in Hollywood.
Two years later, in 1967, Poitier went on one of the most incredible runs of his career. He played a tough but compassionate school teacher in “To Sir, With Love,” Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs in the Southern crime drama “In the Heat of the Night,” and a widower engaged to the daughter of white San Francisco liberals in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
The three films addressed race relations with varying degrees of intensity. “In the Heat of the Night,” anchored by Poitier’s galvanizing performance (“They call me Mister Tibbs!”), won the best picture Oscar. “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” filmed when interracial marriage was still illegal in many states, was one of the few at the time to depict interracial love favorably.
Poitier’s work from the period drew its share of criticism, however. “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” released as the American film history was on the cusp of a stylistic revolution (“Easy Rider,” “The Graduate,” and so on), struck some viewers as instantly dated and square. Poitier, for his part, was sometimes faulted for playing idealized characters with few personal foibles.
In the early 1970s, Poitier went behind the camera. He made his directorial debut with the Western “Buck and the Preacher” (1972) casting himself alongside Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee. Poitier directed Belafonte again in “Uptown Saturday Night,” where they were joined by comedian Bill Cosby.
Poitier went on to direct Cosby in “Let’s Do it Again” (1975), “A Piece of the Action” (1977), and the family-geared misfire “Ghost Dad” (1990).
Poitier stepped away from acting for much of the 1980s, although he directed the hit Gene Wilder-Richard Pryor buddy comedy “Stir Crazy” (1980) and cast Wilder again two years later for “Hanky Panky,” co-starring “Saturday Night Live” alum Gilda Radner.
In the late 1980s, Poitier returned to acting, cropping up in “Shoot to Kill” and “Little Nikita,” both released in 1988. He delivered a memorable supporting turn in the cult comedy “Sneakers” (1992), and he went on to play Thurgood Marshall and Nelson Mandela in made-for-TV movies.
By the 2000s, Poitier effectively retired from screen acting, but he remained creatively productive. He published the autobiography “The Measure of a Man” in 2000; a follow-up book, “Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter,” in 2008; and a novel, “Montaro Caine,” in 2013.
He served as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan for a decade, from 1997 to 2007, and he continued to inspire young talent across the performing arts.
Poitier is survived by his wife, Joanna Shimkus, a retired actress from Canada; and six daughters: two — Anika and Sydney Tamiaa — with Shimkus; and four — Beverly, Pamela, Sherri and Gina — with his first wife, Juanita Hardy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture...icon-who-broke-barriers-black-actors-n1256724
He was 94. The actor's cause of death was not immediately given.
In a groundbreaking film career that spanned decades, Poitier established himself as one of the finest performers in America. He made history as the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor and, at the height of his fame, he became a major box-office draw.
Poitier, who rejected film roles based on offensive racial stereotypes, earned acclaim for portraying dignified, keenly intelligent men in 1960s landmarks such as “Lilies of the Field,” “A Patch of Blue,” “To Sir, With Love,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
He said he felt a responsibility to represent Black excellence at a time when the vast majority of movie stars were white and many Black performers were relegated to subservient or buffoonish roles. He came to be seen as an elder statesmen in the film industry, celebrated for his social conscience and admired for his regal bearing.
“I felt very much as if I were representing 15, 18 million people with every move I made,” Poitier once wrote about the experience of being the only Black person on a movie set.
He won the best actor Oscar in 1964 for his depiction of an ex-serviceman who helps East German nuns build a chapel in “Lilies of the Field.” The first Black man to win that honor, he remained the only one until Denzel Washington in 2002 — the same year Poitier received an honorary Oscar “in recognition of his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human.”
In the course of his public life, Poitier was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009, two Golden Globe awards (including a lifetime achievement honor in 1982), and a Grammy for narrating his autobiography, “The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography,” published in 2000.
Poitier was born prematurely Feb. 20, 1927, in Miami, to Bahamian parents while they were on vacation in the United States. He grew up in the Bahamas, spending his early years around his father’s tomato farm on Cat Island before the family relocated to Nassau. The teenage Poitier returned to the U.S., where he enlisted in the U.S. Army and briefly served in a medical unit.
He eventually made his way to New York City and discovered a passion for the performing arts. He applied to the American ***** Theatre, but he was rejected because of his accent, so he spent the next several months practicing American enunciation. When he re-applied, he was accepted into the company and, in 1946, he made his Broadway debut in “Lysistrata.”
Poitier made his feature debut in the 1950 film noir “No Way Out” and the following year appeared in “Cry, the Beloved Country,” a British film set in apartheid-era South Africa. He gained greater attention in the 1955 drama “Blackboard Jungle” as a troubled but musically gifted student at an inner-city high school.
He broke through in 1958 with “The Defiant Ones,” teaming up with Tony Curtis for the tale of two escaped prisoners forced to survive while shackled together. The film was a critical smash, and Poitier and Curtis were both nominated for best actor Oscars. (They lost to David Niven for “Separate Tables.”)
“The Defiant Ones” opened up exciting career opportunities for Poitier. He drew praise as the crippled beggar Porgy in Otto Preminger’s musical “Porgy and Bess” (1959), adapted from the George Gershwin opera, and the determined Walter Lee Younger in “A Raisin in the Sun” (1961), adapted from the Lorraine Hansberry play.
In the 1960s, Poitier leveraged his Oscar win for “Lilies in the Field” and his growing national celebrity. He refused roles based on racist caricatures and gravitated to films that celebrated the main character’s dignity, grace, intellect and honor.
When he started acting, he said in a 1967 interview, “the kind of ***** played on the screen was always negative, buffoons, clowns, shuffling butlers, really misfits. This was the background when I came along 20 years ago and I chose not to be a party to the stereotyping.
“I want people to feel when they leave the theater that life and human beings are worthwhile,” Poitier added. “That is my only philosophy about the pictures I do.”
“A Patch of Blue,” released in 1965, was a pathbreaking portrait of the relationship between Poitier’s educated office worker and Elizabeth Hartman’s blind white woman. The film further established him as one of the key leading men in Hollywood.
Two years later, in 1967, Poitier went on one of the most incredible runs of his career. He played a tough but compassionate school teacher in “To Sir, With Love,” Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs in the Southern crime drama “In the Heat of the Night,” and a widower engaged to the daughter of white San Francisco liberals in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
The three films addressed race relations with varying degrees of intensity. “In the Heat of the Night,” anchored by Poitier’s galvanizing performance (“They call me Mister Tibbs!”), won the best picture Oscar. “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” filmed when interracial marriage was still illegal in many states, was one of the few at the time to depict interracial love favorably.
Poitier’s work from the period drew its share of criticism, however. “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” released as the American film history was on the cusp of a stylistic revolution (“Easy Rider,” “The Graduate,” and so on), struck some viewers as instantly dated and square. Poitier, for his part, was sometimes faulted for playing idealized characters with few personal foibles.
In the early 1970s, Poitier went behind the camera. He made his directorial debut with the Western “Buck and the Preacher” (1972) casting himself alongside Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee. Poitier directed Belafonte again in “Uptown Saturday Night,” where they were joined by comedian Bill Cosby.
Poitier went on to direct Cosby in “Let’s Do it Again” (1975), “A Piece of the Action” (1977), and the family-geared misfire “Ghost Dad” (1990).
Poitier stepped away from acting for much of the 1980s, although he directed the hit Gene Wilder-Richard Pryor buddy comedy “Stir Crazy” (1980) and cast Wilder again two years later for “Hanky Panky,” co-starring “Saturday Night Live” alum Gilda Radner.
In the late 1980s, Poitier returned to acting, cropping up in “Shoot to Kill” and “Little Nikita,” both released in 1988. He delivered a memorable supporting turn in the cult comedy “Sneakers” (1992), and he went on to play Thurgood Marshall and Nelson Mandela in made-for-TV movies.
By the 2000s, Poitier effectively retired from screen acting, but he remained creatively productive. He published the autobiography “The Measure of a Man” in 2000; a follow-up book, “Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter,” in 2008; and a novel, “Montaro Caine,” in 2013.
He served as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan for a decade, from 1997 to 2007, and he continued to inspire young talent across the performing arts.
Poitier is survived by his wife, Joanna Shimkus, a retired actress from Canada; and six daughters: two — Anika and Sydney Tamiaa — with Shimkus; and four — Beverly, Pamela, Sherri and Gina — with his first wife, Juanita Hardy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture...icon-who-broke-barriers-black-actors-n1256724
James
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<b>Bruce Willis gives up acting due to brain disorder aphasia</b>
Bruce Willis will step away from his acting career after being diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that impedes a person's ability to speak and write.
The actor's family, including his wife Emma Heming-Willis and ex-wife Demi Moore, announced his condition on Instagram on Wednesday.
Aphasia is "impacting his cognitive abilities", the statement said.
Willis, 67, is best known for playing John McClane in the Die Hard films, which made him a star.
"With much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him," his family wrote in a joint statement.
"This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support."
Willis has five daughters, three with Ms Moore and two with Ms Heming-Willis.
His acting career began in the early 1980s but he did not become a household name until later in that decade - first after starring opposite Cybill Shepherd in the ABC TV series Moonlighting and then in his 1988 performance as John McClane in the first Die Hard film.
Since then, his films including The Sixth Sense, Armageddon and Pulp Fiction have grossed more than $5bn worldwide, according to Variety.
He's been nominated for five Golden Globes, winning one for Moonlighting, and three Emmys, winning two.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60934576
Bruce Willis will step away from his acting career after being diagnosed with aphasia, a condition that impedes a person's ability to speak and write.
The actor's family, including his wife Emma Heming-Willis and ex-wife Demi Moore, announced his condition on Instagram on Wednesday.
Aphasia is "impacting his cognitive abilities", the statement said.
Willis, 67, is best known for playing John McClane in the Die Hard films, which made him a star.
"With much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him," his family wrote in a joint statement.
"This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support."
Willis has five daughters, three with Ms Moore and two with Ms Heming-Willis.
His acting career began in the early 1980s but he did not become a household name until later in that decade - first after starring opposite Cybill Shepherd in the ABC TV series Moonlighting and then in his 1988 performance as John McClane in the first Die Hard film.
Since then, his films including The Sixth Sense, Armageddon and Pulp Fiction have grossed more than $5bn worldwide, according to Variety.
He's been nominated for five Golden Globes, winning one for Moonlighting, and three Emmys, winning two.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-60934576
James
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Really sad news about Bruce.
JaDed
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Unfortunate good memories of him as an actor.
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Daniel Day Lewis.
Joe Pesci.
Joe Pesci.
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The Godfather star James Caan dies aged 82
James Caan, the American actor renowned for his role as Sonny Corleone in the mafia epic The Godfather, as well as a string of key films in the 1970s, has died aged 82.
The news was released by his Twitter account on Thursday. A statement read:
“It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Jimmy on the evening of July 6. The family appreciates the outpouring of love and heartfelt condolences and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time.”
Notorious for a hell-raising party lifestyle, Caan cut a swathe through Hollywood in the 1970s and early 80s, before abruptly quitting acting and for what the actor described a “pretty scary period” disappearing from public view, before engineering a comeback in the late 1980s, winning acclaim for films such as Misery, The Yards and Elf.
Caan was born in 1940 in the Bronx, New York City, the son of a kosher butcher. Keen not to follow his father into the meat trade, Caan initially aimed for a career as a football player, but got interested in acting after studying at Hofstra University in New York state – where he met future collaborator Francis Ford Coppola. Caan then joined the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre; his first significant acting credit was a small role in the 1961 Broadway production of Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, a second world war play by William Goldman and his brother James.
After a string of minor film and TV appearances, Caan achieved leading man status in 1965 in Howard Hawks’ stock car racing drama Red Line 7000, following it up with a role alongside John Wayne and Robert Mitchum in Hawks’ 1966 western El Dorado. Caan was cast by a then-little-regarded Robert Altman in the 1967 space film Countdown, but his first significant association with the Hollywood new wave came with the 1969 film The Rain People, directed by Coppola, in which Caan played a hitchhiking former college football star who is picked up by Shirley Knight’s dissatisfied middle class housewife.
After playing the lead in a disappointing 1970 adaptation of John Updike’s celebrated novel Rabbit, Run, Caan achieved a major breakthrough with Coppola’s The Godfather. Caan originally auditioned for the role of Michael Corleone that eventually went to Al Pacino, and was favoured by the studio executives, but after Coppola insisted on Pacino, Caan was given another plum role, Corleone’s older brother Sonny. Caan received his only Oscar nomination, for best supporting actor, for the film, and his work remains notable for Sonny’s gruesome death scene, for which Caan said he was fitted with over 140 “squibs”, or explosive blood pellets, to simulate gunshot wounds.
Caan then went on to star in string of high-profile films in the 1970s that bracketed him firmly in the new generation of American acting talent, including The Gambler (directed by Karel Reisz), buddy cop comedy Freebie and the Bean alongside Alan Arkin, and dystopian sci-fi parable Rollerball. He also appeared in more traditional vehicles, such as the Barbra Streisand musical Funny Lady and the second world war epic A Bridge Too Far. Caan also became famous for the roles he turned down, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Apocalypse Now, and Kramer Vs Kramer
Thief, released in 1981 and directed by Michael Mann, in which Caan played a safecracker who takes on the mob, boded well for his ability to reinvent himself for the new decade, but Caan’s career would swiftly derail. Affected by the death of his sister as well as his copious drug use, Caan’s career imploded after he walked out of the Robert Ludlum thriller The Holcroft Covenant (he was replaced by Michael Caine). Caan would not appear in another Hollywood film until 1987, when Coppola cast him in his Vietnam war drama Gardens of Stone. He followed it up with the popular Alien Nation but fully re-established himself with the Stephen King adaptation Misery, directed by Rob Reiner, in which Caan played the bedbound author subject to the attentions of obsessive nurse/fan Kathy Bates.
Caan worked steadily thereafter, often trading on his abrasive manner and hard-living reputation. He appearing in comedies, such as Honeymoon in Vegas, Bulletproof and Mickey Blue Eyes, Hollywood thrillers, such as Flesh and Bone, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead and Eraser, and occasional prestige dramas, including The Yards, a sprawling crime epic directed by James Gray, and Lars von Trier’s Brechtian parable Dogville. Caan also had a role in the successful animation Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and in the fondly-remembered Christmas comedy Elf, as Will Ferrell’s businessman father. In 2018 he appeared in Carol Morley’s Martin Amis adaptation Out of Blue, as the father of murder victim Jennifer Rockwell.
Caan was married four times: between 1961 and 1966 to Dee Jay Mathis, to Sheila Marie Ryan from 1975-76, to Ingrid Hajek from 1990-94, and to Linda Stokes from 1995 to 2017. He had five children, one of whom, Scott, followed him into acting, appearing in Gone in 60 Seconds, Ocean’s Eleven and the Hawaii Five-0 reboot.
Tributes have started to arrive from social media, including Rob Reiner, who directed Caan in Misery. “So sorry to hear the news,” he tweeted. “I loved working with him. And the only Jew I knew who could calf rope with the best of them. Love to the family.”
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn also tweeted: “Rest In Peace James Caan. There are so many movies of his I love” along with a collection of posters.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jul/07/the-godfather-star-james-caan-dies-aged-82
James Caan, the American actor renowned for his role as Sonny Corleone in the mafia epic The Godfather, as well as a string of key films in the 1970s, has died aged 82.
The news was released by his Twitter account on Thursday. A statement read:
“It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Jimmy on the evening of July 6. The family appreciates the outpouring of love and heartfelt condolences and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time.”
Notorious for a hell-raising party lifestyle, Caan cut a swathe through Hollywood in the 1970s and early 80s, before abruptly quitting acting and for what the actor described a “pretty scary period” disappearing from public view, before engineering a comeback in the late 1980s, winning acclaim for films such as Misery, The Yards and Elf.
Caan was born in 1940 in the Bronx, New York City, the son of a kosher butcher. Keen not to follow his father into the meat trade, Caan initially aimed for a career as a football player, but got interested in acting after studying at Hofstra University in New York state – where he met future collaborator Francis Ford Coppola. Caan then joined the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre; his first significant acting credit was a small role in the 1961 Broadway production of Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole, a second world war play by William Goldman and his brother James.
After a string of minor film and TV appearances, Caan achieved leading man status in 1965 in Howard Hawks’ stock car racing drama Red Line 7000, following it up with a role alongside John Wayne and Robert Mitchum in Hawks’ 1966 western El Dorado. Caan was cast by a then-little-regarded Robert Altman in the 1967 space film Countdown, but his first significant association with the Hollywood new wave came with the 1969 film The Rain People, directed by Coppola, in which Caan played a hitchhiking former college football star who is picked up by Shirley Knight’s dissatisfied middle class housewife.
After playing the lead in a disappointing 1970 adaptation of John Updike’s celebrated novel Rabbit, Run, Caan achieved a major breakthrough with Coppola’s The Godfather. Caan originally auditioned for the role of Michael Corleone that eventually went to Al Pacino, and was favoured by the studio executives, but after Coppola insisted on Pacino, Caan was given another plum role, Corleone’s older brother Sonny. Caan received his only Oscar nomination, for best supporting actor, for the film, and his work remains notable for Sonny’s gruesome death scene, for which Caan said he was fitted with over 140 “squibs”, or explosive blood pellets, to simulate gunshot wounds.
Caan then went on to star in string of high-profile films in the 1970s that bracketed him firmly in the new generation of American acting talent, including The Gambler (directed by Karel Reisz), buddy cop comedy Freebie and the Bean alongside Alan Arkin, and dystopian sci-fi parable Rollerball. He also appeared in more traditional vehicles, such as the Barbra Streisand musical Funny Lady and the second world war epic A Bridge Too Far. Caan also became famous for the roles he turned down, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Apocalypse Now, and Kramer Vs Kramer
Thief, released in 1981 and directed by Michael Mann, in which Caan played a safecracker who takes on the mob, boded well for his ability to reinvent himself for the new decade, but Caan’s career would swiftly derail. Affected by the death of his sister as well as his copious drug use, Caan’s career imploded after he walked out of the Robert Ludlum thriller The Holcroft Covenant (he was replaced by Michael Caine). Caan would not appear in another Hollywood film until 1987, when Coppola cast him in his Vietnam war drama Gardens of Stone. He followed it up with the popular Alien Nation but fully re-established himself with the Stephen King adaptation Misery, directed by Rob Reiner, in which Caan played the bedbound author subject to the attentions of obsessive nurse/fan Kathy Bates.
Caan worked steadily thereafter, often trading on his abrasive manner and hard-living reputation. He appearing in comedies, such as Honeymoon in Vegas, Bulletproof and Mickey Blue Eyes, Hollywood thrillers, such as Flesh and Bone, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead and Eraser, and occasional prestige dramas, including The Yards, a sprawling crime epic directed by James Gray, and Lars von Trier’s Brechtian parable Dogville. Caan also had a role in the successful animation Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and in the fondly-remembered Christmas comedy Elf, as Will Ferrell’s businessman father. In 2018 he appeared in Carol Morley’s Martin Amis adaptation Out of Blue, as the father of murder victim Jennifer Rockwell.
Caan was married four times: between 1961 and 1966 to Dee Jay Mathis, to Sheila Marie Ryan from 1975-76, to Ingrid Hajek from 1990-94, and to Linda Stokes from 1995 to 2017. He had five children, one of whom, Scott, followed him into acting, appearing in Gone in 60 Seconds, Ocean’s Eleven and the Hawaii Five-0 reboot.
Tributes have started to arrive from social media, including Rob Reiner, who directed Caan in Misery. “So sorry to hear the news,” he tweeted. “I loved working with him. And the only Jew I knew who could calf rope with the best of them. Love to the family.”
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn also tweeted: “Rest In Peace James Caan. There are so many movies of his I love” along with a collection of posters.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jul/07/the-godfather-star-james-caan-dies-aged-82
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RIP
Some great performances. Godfather being 1, then Las Vegas series.
Some great performances. Godfather being 1, then Las Vegas series.
James
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Rest in peace Jimmy
Zaz
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Sad News RIP Sonny Corleone
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He was brilliant in God Father - became his fan after that.
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Hollywood stars and filmmakers including Al Pacino, Francis Ford Coppola and Robert De Niro have paid tribute to the late Godfather actor James Caan, who died on Wednesday aged 82.
Caan played Sonny Corleone in Coppola's classic 1972 gangster movie.
Pacino, who starred as Michael Corleone, described him as a "great actor" and a "dear friend".
Ford Coppola said Caan's work "will never be forgotten".
In a statement provided to the PA news agency, the director said: "Jimmy was someone who stretched through my life longer and closer than any motion picture figure I've ever known."
Godfather actor James Caan dies at 82
"From those earlier times working together on [1969 film] The Rain People and throughout all the milestones of my life, his films and the many great roles he played will never be forgotten."
He added: "He will always be my old friend from {New York neighbourhood] Sunnyside, my collaborator and one of the funniest people I've ever known."
James Caan alongside Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and John Cazale in The Godfather
IMAGE SOURCE,UNITED ARCHIVES/GETTY
Image caption,
Caan alongside Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and John Cazale in the famous movie
Caan, who born in the Bronx, appeared alongside Pacino, Marlon Brando, Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro in the memorable mobster movie.
Speaking of his "fictional brother and lifelong friend", Pacino said: "It's hard to believe that he won't be in the world any more because he was so alive and daring.
"A great actor, a brilliant director and my dear friend," he added. "I'm gonna miss him."
De Niro added he was "very, very sad to hear about Jimmy's passing".
Caan's role as the hot tempered Sonny saw him receive his only Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
He reprised the role for a flashback scene in The Godfather Part II, with the director's son Roman Coppola playing Sonny as a boy in the 1920s scenes.
Talia Shire, who played Caan's on-screen sister Connie Corleone told PA he was "a good man, a kind man, a family man, and a wildly gifted man - whose great talent will always be loved and remembered."
"My prayers are with his family that he treasured so dearly," she added.
Joe Mantegna, who appeared in the third film in the Godfather series, paid his respects over Twitter. "One of the great gifts in being part of The Godfather family was becoming friends with James Caan. Rest In Peace Jimmy," he posted.
Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan posted on Instagram that Caan was an "inspiration", after having watched him act at close quarters in their upcoming film Fast Charlie, despite being in "great physical pain and discomfort".
Filmmaker Michael Mann, who directed Caan in the 1981 heist thriller Thief, described his death as a "terrible and tragic loss".
"Jimmy was not just a great actor with total commitment and a venturesome spirit, but he had a vitality in the core of his being that drove everything from his art and friendship to athletics and very good times," he said in a statement.
Fellow filmmaker Rob Reiner, who also directed the late star in the 1990 psychological thriller Misery, said he "loved working with" him.
Star Wars actor Billy Dee Williams, who was Caan's Brian's Song co-star, shared a picture on social media of the two of them together.
A leading man in Hollywood throughout the 1970s whose career spanned decades; Caan nominated for an Oscar, an Emmy and four Golden Globes.
His family thanked fans on Thursday for an "outpouring of love and heartfelt condolences".
The New Yorker, known for his partying lifestyle, was married four times and had five children.
Among the early tributes to him, fellow actor Gary Sinise wrote on Twitter that it had been "wonderful to know him and call him a pal".
BBC
Caan played Sonny Corleone in Coppola's classic 1972 gangster movie.
Pacino, who starred as Michael Corleone, described him as a "great actor" and a "dear friend".
Ford Coppola said Caan's work "will never be forgotten".
In a statement provided to the PA news agency, the director said: "Jimmy was someone who stretched through my life longer and closer than any motion picture figure I've ever known."
Godfather actor James Caan dies at 82
"From those earlier times working together on [1969 film] The Rain People and throughout all the milestones of my life, his films and the many great roles he played will never be forgotten."
He added: "He will always be my old friend from {New York neighbourhood] Sunnyside, my collaborator and one of the funniest people I've ever known."
James Caan alongside Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and John Cazale in The Godfather
IMAGE SOURCE,UNITED ARCHIVES/GETTY
Image caption,
Caan alongside Marlon Brando, Al Pacino and John Cazale in the famous movie
Caan, who born in the Bronx, appeared alongside Pacino, Marlon Brando, Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro in the memorable mobster movie.
Speaking of his "fictional brother and lifelong friend", Pacino said: "It's hard to believe that he won't be in the world any more because he was so alive and daring.
"A great actor, a brilliant director and my dear friend," he added. "I'm gonna miss him."
De Niro added he was "very, very sad to hear about Jimmy's passing".
Caan's role as the hot tempered Sonny saw him receive his only Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
He reprised the role for a flashback scene in The Godfather Part II, with the director's son Roman Coppola playing Sonny as a boy in the 1920s scenes.
Talia Shire, who played Caan's on-screen sister Connie Corleone told PA he was "a good man, a kind man, a family man, and a wildly gifted man - whose great talent will always be loved and remembered."
"My prayers are with his family that he treasured so dearly," she added.
Joe Mantegna, who appeared in the third film in the Godfather series, paid his respects over Twitter. "One of the great gifts in being part of The Godfather family was becoming friends with James Caan. Rest In Peace Jimmy," he posted.
Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan posted on Instagram that Caan was an "inspiration", after having watched him act at close quarters in their upcoming film Fast Charlie, despite being in "great physical pain and discomfort".
Filmmaker Michael Mann, who directed Caan in the 1981 heist thriller Thief, described his death as a "terrible and tragic loss".
"Jimmy was not just a great actor with total commitment and a venturesome spirit, but he had a vitality in the core of his being that drove everything from his art and friendship to athletics and very good times," he said in a statement.
Fellow filmmaker Rob Reiner, who also directed the late star in the 1990 psychological thriller Misery, said he "loved working with" him.
Star Wars actor Billy Dee Williams, who was Caan's Brian's Song co-star, shared a picture on social media of the two of them together.
A leading man in Hollywood throughout the 1970s whose career spanned decades; Caan nominated for an Oscar, an Emmy and four Golden Globes.
His family thanked fans on Thursday for an "outpouring of love and heartfelt condolences".
The New Yorker, known for his partying lifestyle, was married four times and had five children.
Among the early tributes to him, fellow actor Gary Sinise wrote on Twitter that it had been "wonderful to know him and call him a pal".
BBC
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My favorite ones:
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Leonardo DiCaprio.
Liam Neeson.
Al Pacino.
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Robert De Niro.
Leonardo DiCaprio.
Liam Neeson.
Al Pacino.
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Actor Jeremy Renner broke over 30 bones in snow plough accident
Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner has said he broke more than 30 bones in his body when he was accidentally run over by a snow plough on New Year's Day.
Giving an update on his recovery, the Avengers actor said his "morning workouts, resolutions all changed this particular new years", and shared a photo lying in a hospital bed.
Renner suffered blunt chest trauma and orthopaedic injuries while clearing snow outside his home in Nevada.
For days he was listed as critical.
The actor, who turned 52 a week after the accident, is best known for playing the bow and arrow-wielding Clint Barton/Hawkeye in the Marvel franchise.
On Instagram, he said the incident had been a "tragedy for my entire family" but had transformed into "uniting actionable love".
"These 30 plus broken bones will mend, grow stronger, just like the love and bond with family and friends deepens," he wrote, thanking everyone for their "messages and thoughtfulness".
Many celebrities have written messages of support to Renner, including his Marvel co-stars Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans.
"Your a champion mate! We love you", Hemsworth wrote, while Evans exclaimed how tough Renner was, and asked: "Has anyone even checked on the snowcat???"
Sensitivities around his recovery led to promotional images of his TV show, Mayor of Kingstown, being edited to remove injuries from his face.
The accident happened after a New Year storm hit the US, killing dozens of people and dumping heavy snowfall across several states.
Renner used his own snow plough to rescue a family member who was driving his car, but had got stuck in the snow near his house.
Renner successfully towed the car free, but when he got out, the plough began to move while empty, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said at the time.
Renner was trying to get back into the driver's seat to stop it moving, when the "extremely large" piece of equipment ran him over, Mr Balaam said.
Days later, Renner posted a photo of his heavily bruised face, saying he was "too messed up now to type", but thanking supporters for their "kind words".
BBC
Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner has said he broke more than 30 bones in his body when he was accidentally run over by a snow plough on New Year's Day.
Giving an update on his recovery, the Avengers actor said his "morning workouts, resolutions all changed this particular new years", and shared a photo lying in a hospital bed.
Renner suffered blunt chest trauma and orthopaedic injuries while clearing snow outside his home in Nevada.
For days he was listed as critical.
The actor, who turned 52 a week after the accident, is best known for playing the bow and arrow-wielding Clint Barton/Hawkeye in the Marvel franchise.
On Instagram, he said the incident had been a "tragedy for my entire family" but had transformed into "uniting actionable love".
"These 30 plus broken bones will mend, grow stronger, just like the love and bond with family and friends deepens," he wrote, thanking everyone for their "messages and thoughtfulness".
Many celebrities have written messages of support to Renner, including his Marvel co-stars Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans.
"Your a champion mate! We love you", Hemsworth wrote, while Evans exclaimed how tough Renner was, and asked: "Has anyone even checked on the snowcat???"
Sensitivities around his recovery led to promotional images of his TV show, Mayor of Kingstown, being edited to remove injuries from his face.
The accident happened after a New Year storm hit the US, killing dozens of people and dumping heavy snowfall across several states.
Renner used his own snow plough to rescue a family member who was driving his car, but had got stuck in the snow near his house.
Renner successfully towed the car free, but when he got out, the plough began to move while empty, Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said at the time.
Renner was trying to get back into the driver's seat to stop it moving, when the "extremely large" piece of equipment ran him over, Mr Balaam said.
Days later, Renner posted a photo of his heavily bruised face, saying he was "too messed up now to type", but thanking supporters for their "kind words".
BBC
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Get well soon, Jeremy.
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Actor Jeremy Renner was trying to stop a snowplough from crashing into his nephew when he became trapped and it crushed him, a police report discloses.
The Marvel star was using the six-tonne PistenBully plough to help Alexander Fries free his car from the snow.
But the large vehicle then began to roll down the hill, a Washoe county sheriff's department report said.
Renner sustained injuries to his "torso, face, extremities and head" during the accident.
The actor, known for playing bow-wielding Marvel superhero Hawkeye, has been recovering in hospital since.
Renner previously said he had broken more than 30 bones in the incident, but they would "grow stronger, just like the love and bond with family and friends deepens".
The accident occurred around the new year, near the Mount Rose Highway, which links Lake Tahoe and south Reno as it straddles the Nevada-California border in the US.
BBC
The Marvel star was using the six-tonne PistenBully plough to help Alexander Fries free his car from the snow.
But the large vehicle then began to roll down the hill, a Washoe county sheriff's department report said.
Renner sustained injuries to his "torso, face, extremities and head" during the accident.
The actor, known for playing bow-wielding Marvel superhero Hawkeye, has been recovering in hospital since.
Renner previously said he had broken more than 30 bones in the incident, but they would "grow stronger, just like the love and bond with family and friends deepens".
The accident occurred around the new year, near the Mount Rose Highway, which links Lake Tahoe and south Reno as it straddles the Nevada-California border in the US.
BBC
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Actor Bruce Willis has frontotemporal dementia, his family has announced.
In a statement on social media, they said it was a "relief to finally have a clear diagnosis".
The 67-year-old was diagnosed with aphasia - which causes difficulties with speech - in spring last year, but this has progressed and he has been given a more specific diagnosis, the family said.
They expressed their "deepest gratitude for the incredible outpouring of love".
The family went on to say frontotemporal dementia is the most common form of dementia in people under 60.
"Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead," the statement said.
In a statement on social media, they said it was a "relief to finally have a clear diagnosis".
The 67-year-old was diagnosed with aphasia - which causes difficulties with speech - in spring last year, but this has progressed and he has been given a more specific diagnosis, the family said.
They expressed their "deepest gratitude for the incredible outpouring of love".
The family went on to say frontotemporal dementia is the most common form of dementia in people under 60.
"Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead," the statement said.
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Actor Jeremy Renner says he "chose to survive" after being seriously injured in a snowplough accident.
The Marvel star broke more than 30 bones when he attempted to stop the vehicle from running over his nephew on New Year's Day.
In his first TV interview since the accident, he said: "I chose to survive, it's not going to kill me, no way."
Despite his injuries, Renner said he "would do it again, because it was going right at my nephew".
The actor was seen making the comments in a trailer for the interview, which is set to air in full on 6 April on US network ABC.
BBC
The Marvel star broke more than 30 bones when he attempted to stop the vehicle from running over his nephew on New Year's Day.
In his first TV interview since the accident, he said: "I chose to survive, it's not going to kill me, no way."
Despite his injuries, Renner said he "would do it again, because it was going right at my nephew".
The actor was seen making the comments in a trailer for the interview, which is set to air in full on 6 April on US network ABC.
BBC
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Actor Cuba Gooding Jr has settled a lawsuit with an unnamed woman who accused him of raping her in a New York City hotel room in 2013.
It came as jury selection was about to begin in a federal civil trial that was expected to include damaging testimony against him.
The Oscar winner, 55, has denied the allegation and insists his interactions with the woman were consensual.
He has been accused of groping and unwanted touching by dozens of women.
The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Last year, Mr Gooding pleaded guilty to kissing a woman without her consent.
That case saw him spared from jail or a criminal history, with charges relating to three other accusers dismissed as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
He was ordered to complete six months of alcohol and behavioural counselling.
Cuba Gooding Jr admits forcibly kissing waitress
Cuba Gooding Jr charged over 'grope'
But the testimony of those three women, who say the actor abused them between 2009 and 2019, was due to be heard at this civil case in Manhattan.
The now-settled lawsuit was filed in 2020 on behalf of a woman identified only as Jane Doe. The plaintiff sought $6m (£4.8m) in damages.
She alleged that, in the summer of 2013, Mr Gooding had introduced himself to her at a local restaurant and invited her to drinks at The Mercer Hotel in Soho, where he was staying.
At the hotel, she claimed, the actor told her he needed to change clothes, invited her up to his fifth-floor room and began to undress.
The woman said she had tried to leave but that Mr Gooding blocked her path, pushed her onto the bed, "wouldn't stop" touching her, "aggressively removed" her underwear and penetrated her twice.
A lawyer representing the defendant at the time called the allegations "completely false and defamatory".
The presiding judge ruled last week that he would allow testimony from three of Mr Gooding's other accusers because they were "sufficiently similar" to the plaintiff's allegation.
One woman, Kelsey Harbert, said last year that Mr Gooding's previous plea deal had been "more disappointing than words can say".
Jury selection in the trial was set to begin at 10:00 EDT on Tuesday, but neither Mr Gooding nor attorneys for either side showed up.
An entry on the court's electronic docket for the case reads: "TRIAL OFF. Reason for cancellation: The parties have resolved the matter."
It came as jury selection was about to begin in a federal civil trial that was expected to include damaging testimony against him.
The Oscar winner, 55, has denied the allegation and insists his interactions with the woman were consensual.
He has been accused of groping and unwanted touching by dozens of women.
The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.
Last year, Mr Gooding pleaded guilty to kissing a woman without her consent.
That case saw him spared from jail or a criminal history, with charges relating to three other accusers dismissed as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
He was ordered to complete six months of alcohol and behavioural counselling.
Cuba Gooding Jr admits forcibly kissing waitress
Cuba Gooding Jr charged over 'grope'
But the testimony of those three women, who say the actor abused them between 2009 and 2019, was due to be heard at this civil case in Manhattan.
The now-settled lawsuit was filed in 2020 on behalf of a woman identified only as Jane Doe. The plaintiff sought $6m (£4.8m) in damages.
She alleged that, in the summer of 2013, Mr Gooding had introduced himself to her at a local restaurant and invited her to drinks at The Mercer Hotel in Soho, where he was staying.
At the hotel, she claimed, the actor told her he needed to change clothes, invited her up to his fifth-floor room and began to undress.
The woman said she had tried to leave but that Mr Gooding blocked her path, pushed her onto the bed, "wouldn't stop" touching her, "aggressively removed" her underwear and penetrated her twice.
A lawyer representing the defendant at the time called the allegations "completely false and defamatory".
The presiding judge ruled last week that he would allow testimony from three of Mr Gooding's other accusers because they were "sufficiently similar" to the plaintiff's allegation.
One woman, Kelsey Harbert, said last year that Mr Gooding's previous plea deal had been "more disappointing than words can say".
Jury selection in the trial was set to begin at 10:00 EDT on Tuesday, but neither Mr Gooding nor attorneys for either side showed up.
An entry on the court's electronic docket for the case reads: "TRIAL OFF. Reason for cancellation: The parties have resolved the matter."
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My favorite Hollywood actors:
Robert De Niro
Al Pacino
Sacha Baron Cohen
Denzel Washington
Leonardo DeCaprio
Liam Neeson.
Robert De Niro
Al Pacino
Sacha Baron Cohen
Denzel Washington
Leonardo DeCaprio
Liam Neeson.
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