Theater, film and television writer-director Robert Allan Ackerman died Jan. 10. He was 77.
Nominated twice for Golden Globes and five times for Emmys, Ackerman also received numerous theater directing awards.
Ackerman started out directing at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre. In the 1980s his theater productions included Martin Sherman’s Tony nominated “Bent,” starring Richard Gere and David Dukes; John Byrne’s “Slab Boys,” starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Val Kilmer and William Mastrosimone’s “Extremities” starring Susan Sarandon. He went on to direct Peter Allen in “Legs Diamond” and Al Pacino in Oscar Wilde’s “Salome.”
When reached for comment, Al Pacino said, “I love Bob. I loved being around him, his aurora, his steady peace. To work with him was joyous. He understood the language of theater art and communicated it with such ease. His gift was intangible and there’s no way of understanding how he created.
Nominated twice for Golden Globes and five times for Emmys, Ackerman also received numerous theater directing awards.
Ackerman started out directing at the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre. In the 1980s his theater productions included Martin Sherman’s Tony nominated “Bent,” starring Richard Gere and David Dukes; John Byrne’s “Slab Boys,” starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Val Kilmer and William Mastrosimone’s “Extremities” starring Susan Sarandon. He went on to direct Peter Allen in “Legs Diamond” and Al Pacino in Oscar Wilde’s “Salome.”
When reached for comment, Al Pacino said, “I love Bob. I loved being around him, his aurora, his steady peace. To work with him was joyous. He understood the language of theater art and communicated it with such ease. His gift was intangible and there’s no way of understanding how he created.
- 1/13/2022
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Robert Allan Ackerman, the director whose television work scored five Emmy nominations and who directed acclaimed Broadway productions including Bent and Extremities, died Jan. 10 of kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 77.
His death was announced by family through a spokesman.
“I love Bob. I loved being around him, his aurora, his steady peace,” said actor Al Pacino, who starred in Ackerman’s 1992 Broadway staging of Oscar Wilde’s Salome. “To work with him was joyous. He understood the language of theater art and communicated it with such ease. His gift was intangible and there’s no way of understanding how he created. When an artist has that special gift it is unexplainable, it just happens. When he stopped directing, he started writing again and his writing also had that same magic. He will be missed.”
In 2016, Pacino would re-team with Ackerman in a Pasadena Playhouse production of God Looked Away,...
His death was announced by family through a spokesman.
“I love Bob. I loved being around him, his aurora, his steady peace,” said actor Al Pacino, who starred in Ackerman’s 1992 Broadway staging of Oscar Wilde’s Salome. “To work with him was joyous. He understood the language of theater art and communicated it with such ease. His gift was intangible and there’s no way of understanding how he created. When an artist has that special gift it is unexplainable, it just happens. When he stopped directing, he started writing again and his writing also had that same magic. He will be missed.”
In 2016, Pacino would re-team with Ackerman in a Pasadena Playhouse production of God Looked Away,...
- 1/13/2022
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Dame Helen Mirren has been chosen to receive the 2022 life achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild. The honorary award will be presented at the SAG Awards ceremony on February 27 from The Barker Hangar.
Mirren is an Oscar winner as Best Actress for “The Queen, a four-time Emmy winner and a Tony winner. She has won five SAG Awards among her 13 career nominations.
Her film career has included “The Madness of King George,” “Gosford Park,” “The Last Station,” “Calendar Girls,” “Trumbo” and “Hitchcock.” Television programs have included “Prime Suspect” and its sequels, “The Passion of Ayn Rand,” “Door to Door,” “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone,” “Elizabeth I” and “Phil Spector.”
See SAG Life Achievement award: Full gallery of recipients since 1995
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said, “Dame Helen Mirren is quite simply a brilliant and luminous talent. Her work runs the gamut of characters from a not-so-retired CIA super-killer and...
Mirren is an Oscar winner as Best Actress for “The Queen, a four-time Emmy winner and a Tony winner. She has won five SAG Awards among her 13 career nominations.
Her film career has included “The Madness of King George,” “Gosford Park,” “The Last Station,” “Calendar Girls,” “Trumbo” and “Hitchcock.” Television programs have included “Prime Suspect” and its sequels, “The Passion of Ayn Rand,” “Door to Door,” “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone,” “Elizabeth I” and “Phil Spector.”
See SAG Life Achievement award: Full gallery of recipients since 1995
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said, “Dame Helen Mirren is quite simply a brilliant and luminous talent. Her work runs the gamut of characters from a not-so-retired CIA super-killer and...
- 11/18/2021
- by Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Denise Di Novi and Nina Tassler’s PatMa Productions has tapped former Showtime programming executive Joan Boorstein as President of the multiplatform independent production company.
“We’re very lucky to have such a seasoned and talented executive join our team,” said Tassler and Di Novi. “There’s no substitute for experience and relationships in this business and Joan possesses both in spades.”
Boorstein began her career at Showtime where she ultimately became Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs. Originally a movie executive, she worked on more than 100 movies, including Golden Globe winner Dirty Pictures, as well as Soldier’s Girl, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and Paris Trout. She then moved over to series, where she worked on such shows as Brotherhood, The United States of Tara, The Borgias, Episodes and Penny Dreadful created by John Logan.
Boorstein also focused on feature documentaries including Listen to Me Marlon, which was...
“We’re very lucky to have such a seasoned and talented executive join our team,” said Tassler and Di Novi. “There’s no substitute for experience and relationships in this business and Joan possesses both in spades.”
Boorstein began her career at Showtime where she ultimately became Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs. Originally a movie executive, she worked on more than 100 movies, including Golden Globe winner Dirty Pictures, as well as Soldier’s Girl, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and Paris Trout. She then moved over to series, where she worked on such shows as Brotherhood, The United States of Tara, The Borgias, Episodes and Penny Dreadful created by John Logan.
Boorstein also focused on feature documentaries including Listen to Me Marlon, which was...
- 6/10/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Last Year’s Winner: Regina King, “Seven Seconds”
Still Eligible: No.
Hot Streak: Helen Mirren is the only actress to win consecutive trophies in the Best Actress in a Limited Series category, and even though she’s been nominated six times for playing Detective Jane Tennison in “Prime Suspect” (and won twice), she won her back-to-back trophies for two different programs. She won in 2006 for HBO’s “Elizabeth I” and then again in 2007 for “Prime Suspect: The Final Act.”
Fun Fact: Helen Mirren has the most wins (four) and the most nominations (10) in the category’s history, but it’s worth noting she’s only ever been nominated in this Emmy category — save for in 2002, when she was nominated for Best Actress in a Limited Series and Best Supporting Actress in a Limited series, for “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone” and “Door to Door,” respectively. Laura Linney and Patty Duke...
Still Eligible: No.
Hot Streak: Helen Mirren is the only actress to win consecutive trophies in the Best Actress in a Limited Series category, and even though she’s been nominated six times for playing Detective Jane Tennison in “Prime Suspect” (and won twice), she won her back-to-back trophies for two different programs. She won in 2006 for HBO’s “Elizabeth I” and then again in 2007 for “Prime Suspect: The Final Act.”
Fun Fact: Helen Mirren has the most wins (four) and the most nominations (10) in the category’s history, but it’s worth noting she’s only ever been nominated in this Emmy category — save for in 2002, when she was nominated for Best Actress in a Limited Series and Best Supporting Actress in a Limited series, for “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone” and “Door to Door,” respectively. Laura Linney and Patty Duke...
- 4/10/2019
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Chicago – When encountering film producer, director, writer and “movie star” Warren Beatty, I entered into an interview that would be truly one of a kind. The spontaneous Mr. Beatty works a talk in a give-and-take Socratic method, searching for the truth underneath the rhetoric, as he did with his new film “Rules Don’t Apply.”
The film is a quasi-biographical profile of the legendary American billionaire Howard Hughes, but don’t mention that to writer/director Beatty (who also portrays Hughes). What he wanted to explore was the truth around Hughes, in the personification of a fictional couple (Alden Ehrenreich and Lily Collins) working for the billionaire. Set in 1958 Hollywood – the same year a young Warren Beatty arrived there – the film highlights the clash between the sexual looseness that existed in the movie business, and the potential seekers that “got off the bus” in tinsel town, still mired in their 1950s puritanism.
The film is a quasi-biographical profile of the legendary American billionaire Howard Hughes, but don’t mention that to writer/director Beatty (who also portrays Hughes). What he wanted to explore was the truth around Hughes, in the personification of a fictional couple (Alden Ehrenreich and Lily Collins) working for the billionaire. Set in 1958 Hollywood – the same year a young Warren Beatty arrived there – the film highlights the clash between the sexual looseness that existed in the movie business, and the potential seekers that “got off the bus” in tinsel town, still mired in their 1950s puritanism.
- 11/21/2016
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...
- 8/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Olivia de Havilland on Turner Classic Movies: Your chance to watch 'The Adventures of Robin Hood' for the 384th time Olivia de Havilland is Turner Classic Movies' “Summer Under the Stars” star today, Aug. 2, '15. The two-time Best Actress Oscar winner (To Each His Own, 1946; The Heiress, 1949) whose steely determination helped to change the way studios handled their contract players turned 99 last July 1. Unfortunately, TCM isn't showing any de Havilland movie rarities, e.g., Universal's cool thriller The Dark Mirror (1946), the Paramount comedy The Well-Groomed Bride (1947), or Terence Young's British-made That Lady (1955), with de Havilland as eye-patch-wearing Spanish princess Ana de Mendoza. On the other hand, you'll be able to catch for the 384th time a demure Olivia de Havilland being romanced by a dashing Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood, as TCM shows this 1938 period adventure classic just about every month. But who's complaining? One the...
- 8/3/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty, Bonnie and Clyde Warren Beatty on TCM: Reds, The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone Schedule and synopses from the TCM website: 3:00 Am Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone, The (1961) A fading stage star gets caught up in the decadent life of modern Rome when she hires a male companion. Cast: Vivien Leigh, Warren Beatty, Lotte Lenya. Dir: Jose Quintero. Bw-104 mins. 4:52 Am Short Film: Man Who Makes The Difference, The (1968) A behind the cameras featurette showcasing the action film "Ice Station Zebra" (1968) and the talents of John Stevens, renowned second unit/stunt photographer, who filmed the racing sequences in "Grand Prix" (1966). C-7 mins. 5:00 Am All Fall Down (1962) A young drifter’s romance with an older woman is threatened by his possessive mother. Cast: Warren Beatty, Eva Marie Saint, Angela Lansbury. Dir: John Frankenheimer. Bw-110 mins. 7:00 Am Lilith (1964) A young psychiatrist finds [...]...
- 8/9/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Warren Beatty, Reds Eleven Warren Beatty movies will be shown on Turner Classic Movies on Monday, Aug. 9, as part of TCM’s "Summer Under the Stars" series. [Full schedule] Two of those Beatty vehicles are TCM premieres: Kaleidoscope (1966), a box-office disappointment co-starring Susannah York, and Ishtar (1987), a box-office disaster of mythical proportions that sank Elaine May‘s directorial career. Dustin Hoffman and Isabelle Adjani co-star in this reboot of the old Bing Crosby-Bob Hope-Dorothy Lamour Road flicks. Of the Beatty movies I’ve seen, there are two that I heartily recommend: Reds (1981) and The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961). Reds, the story of communist-sympathizing Us journalist John Reed, features what’s probably Beatty’s most effective performance — even though he’s out-acted by his leading lady (Diane Keaton at her finest) and fellow supporting players Maureen Stapleton, Edward Herrmann, and Jack Nicholson. Reds deservedly...
- 8/9/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Rejoice! Looking to wash away the taste of the Clash of the Titans remake! We are, too. Hopefully the latest news from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will get you as giddy as it has us!
From the Press Release
Embark on an adventure with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment when the epic odyssey Jason and the Argonauts is released on Blu-ray Disc on July 6, 2010 for the Slp of $24.95. Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen (Clash of the Titans, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad), who turns 90 this year, solidified his mark as a stop-motion master when this movie hit theaters in 1963. Harryhausen’s use of the medium exhilarated audiences as they followed Jason on his journey, encountering behemoth bronze statues, multi-headed serpents and the iconic animated armed skeletons. Through these effects, Harryhausen gave this mythical tale new legs and a provided an enduring spectacle for audiences. Viewers can now take this journey in...
From the Press Release
Embark on an adventure with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment when the epic odyssey Jason and the Argonauts is released on Blu-ray Disc on July 6, 2010 for the Slp of $24.95. Special effects legend Ray Harryhausen (Clash of the Titans, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad), who turns 90 this year, solidified his mark as a stop-motion master when this movie hit theaters in 1963. Harryhausen’s use of the medium exhilarated audiences as they followed Jason on his journey, encountering behemoth bronze statues, multi-headed serpents and the iconic animated armed skeletons. Through these effects, Harryhausen gave this mythical tale new legs and a provided an enduring spectacle for audiences. Viewers can now take this journey in...
- 4/26/2010
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
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