Marvin Laird, the award-winning Broadway and film composer who also conducted concerts for big stars like Diana Ross and Bernadette Peters, died Monday in Connecticut from natural causes. He was 85.  Laird participated in various hits on stage and the big screen. Among the most notable Broadway shows he conducted are “Annie,” “Get Your Gun,” […]

Marshall Brickman, who won an Oscar for writing “Annie Hall” alongside Woody Allen and also collaborated with him on “Sleeper,” “Manhattan” and “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” died Friday in Manhattan. He was 85. His daughter Sophie confirmed his death to the New York Times. Brickman co-wrote Broadway musicals “Jersey Boys” and “The Addams Family” and started […]

In the middle of a lava field on the Southern Peninsula of Iceland, the crew of “The Fires” is setting up the next shot. In the production village, producer Grímar Jónsson and other crew members are taking a coffee and pastry break in an RV near a picture car on a truck bed in what […]

Adam Somner, a respected assistant director and producer for filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alejandro Inarritu and Ridley Scott, died Wednesday of thyroid cancer in Studio City. He was 57. Most recently, Somner served as producer and assistant director on Anderson’s upcoming Warner Bros. film starring Leonardo Di Caprio. He was […]

Ask any two music fans what qualifies as yacht rock, and an argument is sure to ensue. Does Steely Dan count? (Absolutely.) What about Hall & Oates? (No, too East Coast.) In the late 1970s and early ’80s, the term “yacht rock” was not yet a thing. But everyone knew the music of the Doobie […]

Earl Holliman, the handsome actor who won a Golden Globe for his supporting role in “The Rainmaker” and appeared in numerous Westerns and dozens of films including “Giant” and “Forbidden Planet,” died Monday in Studio City. He was 96. His partner Craig Curtis announced his death. Holliman also starred in the first episode of “The […]

The Palm Springs International Film Festival is set to kick off on Jan. 2 with “Better Man,” directed by Michael Gracey, while the closing film on Jan. 12 will be “The Penguin Lessons,” directed by Peter Cattaneo. The lineup will feature 35 of the international feature film Oscar submissions. Over 11 days, the festival will […]

Just two years after opening, Tom Schwartz and Tom Sandoval’s Hollywood bar Schwartz & Sandy’s will be closing at the end of December. Both Sandoval and Schwartz posted about the closure on Instagram, with Sandoval writing, “With a heavy heart, we’ve made the difficult decision to close Schwartz & Sandy’s at the end of December. […]

“Everyone wants to know how the world ended. This is the story of how it began,” says the narrator in the trailer for “Homestead,” an inspirational survivalist thriller out Dec. 20 from Angel Studios. As the story starts, newscasters announce “America’s just been attacked!” After a nuclear bomb is detonated in Los Angeles, the nation […]

John D. Kimble, a prominent longtime Hollywood talent agent at agencies including DHKPR, Triad and William Morris, died Sunday in Dallas. He was 79. Born in Kingsville, Texas, he was raised in Uvalde, Texas and graduated the University of Texas, El Paso with a theater degree. He started out hoping to act in Westerns, and […]