Though he was best known as an Academy Award-winning actor, Louis Gossett Jr., who died today at the age of 87, also played a pivotal role in what would end up making late night history.
In the early 1960s, in addition to performing as an actor, Gossett was also a part of New York City’s folk music scene, where he was considered a talented musician. It was then that he developed a close friendship with folk singer Richie Havens.
Thirty years later, Havens would recall of first meeting Gossett, “He used to sing work songs and chain-gang songs, and he would just smack the guitar. You know, [sings] ‘Take this hammer’ – smack! ‘Carry it to the captain’ – smack! He’d sing all these great tunes. That’s how I first met him.”
In 1966, while Gossett was appearing in the Broadway show My Sweet Charlie, he and Havens co-wrote the song Handsome Johnny,...
In the early 1960s, in addition to performing as an actor, Gossett was also a part of New York City’s folk music scene, where he was considered a talented musician. It was then that he developed a close friendship with folk singer Richie Havens.
Thirty years later, Havens would recall of first meeting Gossett, “He used to sing work songs and chain-gang songs, and he would just smack the guitar. You know, [sings] ‘Take this hammer’ – smack! ‘Carry it to the captain’ – smack! He’d sing all these great tunes. That’s how I first met him.”
In 1966, while Gossett was appearing in the Broadway show My Sweet Charlie, he and Havens co-wrote the song Handsome Johnny,...
- 3/29/2024
- by Jed Rosenzweig
- LateNighter
Louis Gossett Jr., who won an Emmy for his role in the groundbreaking TV miniseries Roots and an Oscar for An Officer and a Gentleman, died Thursday night in Santa Monica. He was 87.
His death was first reported by his nephew to the Associated Press. No cause of death was given.
“It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning,” his family said in a statement obtained by Deadline. “We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
The first Black actor to win a Best Supporting Oscar, Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn. He made his stage debut at 17 in a school production of You Can’t Take It with You and soon would successfully audition for the Broadway production Take a Giant Step, then perform in a star-making supporting...
His death was first reported by his nephew to the Associated Press. No cause of death was given.
“It is with our heartfelt regret to confirm our beloved father passed away this morning,” his family said in a statement obtained by Deadline. “We would like to thank everyone for their condolences at this time. Please respect the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
The first Black actor to win a Best Supporting Oscar, Gossett was born on May 27, 1936, in Brooklyn. He made his stage debut at 17 in a school production of You Can’t Take It with You and soon would successfully audition for the Broadway production Take a Giant Step, then perform in a star-making supporting...
- 3/29/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
In 2021, 15-year-old Mckenna Grace broke new ground as the first child ever nominated for a guest acting Emmy. The notice came for her performance as Esther Keyes on Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which could bring her another Best Drama Guest Actress bid this year. She also currently has a shot at a nomination for Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress for Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family,” which would make her the all-time youngest performer with mentions in multiple Emmy categories.
Grace, whose 17th birthday will precede the 2023 Emmy nominations announcement by 17 days, appears on “A Friend of the Family” as Jan Broberg, a future actress who was kidnapped at ages 12 and 14 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. The true crime series also stars Jake Lacy as Berchtold and Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin as Broberg’s parents. (Watch our exclusive video interview with Grace.)
SEEWill ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ extend...
Grace, whose 17th birthday will precede the 2023 Emmy nominations announcement by 17 days, appears on “A Friend of the Family” as Jan Broberg, a future actress who was kidnapped at ages 12 and 14 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. The true crime series also stars Jake Lacy as Berchtold and Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin as Broberg’s parents. (Watch our exclusive video interview with Grace.)
SEEWill ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ extend...
- 5/3/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
Patty Duke falls into her own special niche when one discusses American movie and TV stars: 16 years old when she won her supporting-actress Oscar for her performance as unhearing, unseeing Helen Keller in the 1963 movie The Miracle Worker, she was perhaps the most dramatically formidable teenage actress ever. Her scenes of physical combat with Anne Bancroft, who won Best Actress as Helen's teacher, Annie Sullivan, are hair-raising more than 50 years later.
Consider, too, that she followed this up with her own sitcom, The Patty Duke Show (1963-66), in which she split her performance between the roles of identical cousins, one outgoing and American,...
Consider, too, that she followed this up with her own sitcom, The Patty Duke Show (1963-66), in which she split her performance between the roles of identical cousins, one outgoing and American,...
- 3/29/2016
- by Tom Gliatto
- People.com - TV Watch
Patty Duke falls into her own special niche when one discusses American movie and TV stars: 16 years old when she won her supporting-actress Oscar for her performance as unhearing, unseeing Helen Keller in the 1963 movie The Miracle Worker, she was perhaps the most dramatically formidable teenage actress ever. Her scenes of physical combat with Anne Bancroft, who won Best Actress as Helen's teacher, Annie Sullivan, are hair-raising more than 50 years later. Consider, too, that she followed this up with her own sitcom, The Patty Duke Show (1963-66), in which she split her performance between the roles of identical cousins, one outgoing and American,...
- 3/29/2016
- by Tom Gliatto
- PEOPLE.com
Patty Duke falls into her own special niche when one discusses American movie and TV stars: 16 years old when she won her supporting-actress Oscar for her performance as unhearing, unseeing Helen Keller in the 1963 movie The Miracle Worker, she was perhaps the most dramatically formidable teenage actress ever. Her scenes of physical combat with Anne Bancroft, who won Best Actress as Helen's teacher, Annie Sullivan, are hair-raising more than 50 years later. Consider, too, that she followed this up with her own sitcom, The Patty Duke Show (1963-66), in which she split her performance between the roles of identical cousins, one outgoing and American,...
- 3/29/2016
- by Tom Gliatto
- PEOPLE.com
Coeur D’Alene, Idaho – She was a lesson in duality. One of her most famous roles was as “identical cousins” on “The Patty Duke Show,” and Anna Marie “Patty” Duke also made public her fight with bipolar disorder. She was also a talented actress, winning an Oscar as teenager for “The Miracle Worker.” Ms. Duke passed away on March 29th, 2016, at the age of 69, at her home in Idaho.
Anna Marie Duke (her friends call her “Anna”) became Patty Duke when she was only eight years old. She went on to fame in the role of Helen Keller in the original 1959-61 Broadway run of “The Miracle Worker,” co-starring Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan. The film version (1962) garnered Duke the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, the youngest to ever win at the time at age 16. The next year she starred in “The Patty Duke Show,” with its familiar theme song beginning...
Anna Marie Duke (her friends call her “Anna”) became Patty Duke when she was only eight years old. She went on to fame in the role of Helen Keller in the original 1959-61 Broadway run of “The Miracle Worker,” co-starring Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan. The film version (1962) garnered Duke the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, the youngest to ever win at the time at age 16. The next year she starred in “The Patty Duke Show,” with its familiar theme song beginning...
- 3/29/2016
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Patty Duke, the prolific actress who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, has died, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 69.
"This morning, our beloved wife, mother, matriarch and the exquisite artist, humanitarian and champion of mental health, Anna Patty Duke, closed her eyes, quieted her pain and ascended to a beautiful place," her family wrote in a statement. "We celebrate the infinite love and compassion she shared through her work and throughout her life."
Over her astounding 60-year career, Duke — born Anna Marie Duke...
"This morning, our beloved wife, mother, matriarch and the exquisite artist, humanitarian and champion of mental health, Anna Patty Duke, closed her eyes, quieted her pain and ascended to a beautiful place," her family wrote in a statement. "We celebrate the infinite love and compassion she shared through her work and throughout her life."
Over her astounding 60-year career, Duke — born Anna Marie Duke...
- 3/29/2016
- Rollingstone.com
Patty Duke, the child star who won an Oscar at the age of 16 and went on to star in a self-titled sitcom, has died at the age of 69.
Her representative, Mitchell Stubbs, released this statement: "Anna 'Patty Duke' Pearce passed away this morning March 29, 2016 at 1:20 am. Her cause of death was sepsis from a ruptured intestine. She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a mental health advocate and a cultural icon. She will be greatly missed."
Duke, born with the name Anna Marie in Queens, New York, began acting at the age of 8, in soap operas and a television adaptation of the musical "Meet Me In St. Louis." She went on to star as Helen Keller in Broadway's "The Miracle Worker," then reprised the role in the film version.
For that performance, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age...
Her representative, Mitchell Stubbs, released this statement: "Anna 'Patty Duke' Pearce passed away this morning March 29, 2016 at 1:20 am. Her cause of death was sepsis from a ruptured intestine. She was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a friend, a mental health advocate and a cultural icon. She will be greatly missed."
Duke, born with the name Anna Marie in Queens, New York, began acting at the age of 8, in soap operas and a television adaptation of the musical "Meet Me In St. Louis." She went on to star as Helen Keller in Broadway's "The Miracle Worker," then reprised the role in the film version.
For that performance, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at the age...
- 3/29/2016
- by Kelly Woo
- Moviefone
Chicago – In one of the most famous TV openings in the medium’s history, “identical cousins,” Patty and Cathy Lane, were introduced. Those two ends of one person were played by Patty Duke, a previous Oscar winner for “The Miracle Worker” and subsequent stellar acting career. Ironically, she also fought bipolar disorder.
Anna Marie Duke (her friends call her “Anna”) became Patty Duke after two unscrupulous show business managers took over her affairs and life when she was only eight years old. She went on to fame in the role of Helen Keller in the original 1959-61 Broadway run of “The Miracle Worker,” co-starring Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan. The film version (1962) garnered Duke the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, the youngest to ever win at the time at age 16.
Anna Marie: Patty Duke Before She Introduced ‘Valley of the Dolls’ at the Music Box Theater, Chicago, November 20th, 2010
Photo credit: Joe Arce,...
Anna Marie Duke (her friends call her “Anna”) became Patty Duke after two unscrupulous show business managers took over her affairs and life when she was only eight years old. She went on to fame in the role of Helen Keller in the original 1959-61 Broadway run of “The Miracle Worker,” co-starring Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan. The film version (1962) garnered Duke the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, the youngest to ever win at the time at age 16.
Anna Marie: Patty Duke Before She Introduced ‘Valley of the Dolls’ at the Music Box Theater, Chicago, November 20th, 2010
Photo credit: Joe Arce,...
- 12/15/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Emmy Award-winning television and film director Lamont Johnson has died after suffering heart failure. He was 88.
Johnson passed away at his home in Monterey, California on Sunday.
He won critical acclaim for his controversial U.S. television works, including 1970 series My Sweet Charlie, which explored interracial relationships, 1972's That Certain Summer, which took a look at homosexuality, and 1981 series Crisis at Central High, about America's civil rights movement.
He also directed episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel, Peter Gunn, The Twilight Zone, Naked City and The Defenders, in addition to helming films including 1973's The Last American Hero, starring Jeff Bridges.
Johnson, who received 11 Emmy nominations during his 40-plus years directing, won in 1986 for his work on Wallenberg: A Hero's Story, a miniseries about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
In 1989 he won another Emmy for Gore Vidal's Civil War drama Lincoln, starring Sam Waterston.
Johnson is survived by a son and daughter, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Johnson passed away at his home in Monterey, California on Sunday.
He won critical acclaim for his controversial U.S. television works, including 1970 series My Sweet Charlie, which explored interracial relationships, 1972's That Certain Summer, which took a look at homosexuality, and 1981 series Crisis at Central High, about America's civil rights movement.
He also directed episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel, Peter Gunn, The Twilight Zone, Naked City and The Defenders, in addition to helming films including 1973's The Last American Hero, starring Jeff Bridges.
Johnson, who received 11 Emmy nominations during his 40-plus years directing, won in 1986 for his work on Wallenberg: A Hero's Story, a miniseries about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
In 1989 he won another Emmy for Gore Vidal's Civil War drama Lincoln, starring Sam Waterston.
Johnson is survived by a son and daughter, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
- 10/27/2010
- WENN
"Lamont Johnson, an Emmy-winning director who was honored for his work on the TV programs Gore Vidal's Lincoln and Wallenberg: A Hero's Story during a wide-ranging career in television, film and theater, died of congestive heart failure at his Monterey home Sunday," reports Claire Noland for the Los Angeles Times. "Johnson, known for his sensitive treatment of controversial subjects in made-for-tv movies, dealt with interracial romance in My Sweet Charlie (1970), homosexuality in That Certain Summer (1972), blacklisting in Fear on Trial (1975) and the civil rights movement in Crisis at Central High (1981). 'I find a great many things that never make it to the big screen because they're controversial wind up on television, and done with a considerable amount of daring,' Johnson told the Miami Herald in 1992. 'That seems surprising in a medium that's supposed to be timid or anxious.'"...
- 10/26/2010
- MUBI
Von Ryan's Express novelist and former journalist David Westheimer has died of heart failure. He was 88. The World War II veteran died at UCLA Medical center in California on Tuesday. Texan Westheimer served as an air force navigator and was captured by enemy troops. He was released from a Prisoner of War camp in 1945 and drew on his experiences to write Von Ryan's Express, which followed a group of American soldiers on the run from Nazis in Italy and was later turned into a film starring Frank Sinatra. The celebrated novelist also wrote My Sweet Charlie, the story of a relationship between a black civil rights activist and a white teenager, which became a Broadway hit. He worked as editor of the Houston Post newspaper and his other novels included Summer Of The Water and Delay En Route.
- 11/15/2005
- WENN
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