Celebrity

Norman Lear, Producer Of TV’s ‘All In The Family’ And Influential Liberal Advocate, Has Died At 101

Published

6 months ago

2023-12-06

(LOS ANGELES) – Norman Lear, the writer, director, and producer who brought political and social unrest into the once-isolated world of TV sitcoms with “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” and “Maude,” has died. He was 101.

Lear died in his sleep Tuesday night at his Los Angeles home, surrounded by family, according to Lara Bergthold, a spokesman for his family.

Lear, a liberal activist with a penchant for mass entertainment, created bold and controversial comedies accepted by audiences who relied on the evening news to keep up with what was happening in the world. His shows helped define prime-time humor in the 1970s, established the careers of Rob Reiner and Valerie Bertinelli, and turned Carroll O’Connor, Bea Arthur, and Redd Foxx into middle-aged stars.

The late Paddy Chayefsky, a leading writer of television’s early “golden age,” once said that Lear “took television away from dopey wives and dumb fathers, from the pimps, hookers, hustlers, private eyes, junkies, cowboys, and rustlers that constituted television chaos, and put the American people in their place.”

Norman Lear, Producer Of TV’s ‘All In The Family’ And Influential Liberal Advocate, Has Died At 101

Following his passing, tributes poured in: “I loved Norman Lear with all my heart. He was my paternal grandfather. “My heartfelt condolences to Lyn and the entire Lear family,” Reiner posted on X, formerly Twitter. “More than anyone else before him, Norman used situation comedy to bring prejudice, intolerance, and inequality to light.” “He made families that looked like ours,” Jimmy Kimmel stated.

Lear’s boyhood memories of his volatile father served as inspiration for “All in the Family,” which also drew on current events. Racism, feminism, and the Vietnam War were all hot topics as O’Connor’s blue-collar conservative Archie Bunker clashed with Reiner’s liberal son-in-law, Mike Stivic. Sally Struthers played the Bunkers’ daughter, Gloria, who defended her husband in conflicts with Archie, and Jean Stapleton co-starred as Archie’s bewildered but good-hearted wife, Edith.

Lear’s work altered television at a period when traditional shows like “Here’s Lucy,” “Ironside,” and “Gunsmoke” still reigned supreme. CBS, Lear’s principal network, will soon implement its “rural purge,” canceling popular shows like “The Beverly Hillbillies” and “Green Acres.” The breakthrough sitcom “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” about a single career woman in Minneapolis, premiered on CBS in September 1970, just months before “All in the Family” began.

Norman Lear, Producer Of TV’s ‘All In The Family’ And Influential Liberal Advocate, Has Died At 101

However, ABC passed on “All in the Family” twice, and when it ultimately aired, CBS broadcast a disclaimer: “The program you are about to see is ‘All in the Family.'” It aims to shine a funny light on our flaws, prejudices, and concerns. By making them a source of humor, we seek to demonstrate, maturely, how silly they are.”

By the end of 1971, “All in the Family” had reached the top of the ratings, and Archie Bunker had become a pop cultural icon, with President Richard Nixon among his supporters. Some of his snide remarks become catchphrases. He referred to his son-in-law as “Meathead” and his wife as “Dingbat,” he would snap at anyone who sat in his faded orange-yellow wing chair. It was the focal point of the Bunkers’ Queens rowhouse and was later displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Even the show’s opening sequence was novel: Archie and Edith are seated at the piano in their living room, belting out a nostalgic classic, “Those Were the Days,” with Edith shrieking off-key and Archie crooning such lines as “Didn’t need no welfare state” and “Girls were girls and men were men.”

Norman Lear, Producer Of TV’s ‘All In The Family’ And Influential Liberal Advocate, Has Died At 101

“All in the Family,” based on the British sitcom “Til Death Us Do Part,” was the highest-rated series for an unprecedented five years in a row and won four Emmys for outstanding comedy series before being surpassed by five-time winner “Frasier” in 1998.

Hits kept coming for Lear and then-partner Bud Yorkin, including “Maude” and “The Jeffersons,” both spin-offs from “All in the Family,” which featured the same winning blend of one-liners and social tension. The eponymous character (played by Arthur) became the first on television to undergo an abortion in a 1972 two-part episode of “Maude,” sparking a wave of complaints as well as good ratings. When one of Archie’s close friends turned out to be gay, Nixon privately complained to White House staff that the program “glorified” same-sex partnerships.

“Controversy implies that people are debating something.” But there has to be laughter first and foremost, or it’s a dog,” Lear told The Associated Press in 1994.

“Good Times,” about a working-class Black family in Chicago, was also created by Lear and Yorkin, as was “Sanford & Son,” starring Foxx as junkyard dealer Fred Sanford, and “One Day at a Time,” featuring Bonnie Franklin as a single mother and Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips as her daughters. Lear and Yorkin created five top-ten shows in the 1974-1975 season.

Because of his business success, Lear could communicate his strong political ideas beyond the tiny screen. In 2000, he and a partner paid $8.14 million for a copy of the Declaration of Independence and sent it on a cross-country tour.

He was an ardent fundraiser to Democratic candidates and, he said, created the nonprofit leftist advocacy group People for the American Way in 1980 because preachers Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were “abusing religion.”

“I began to say, ‘This is not my America.'” “You don’t mix politics and religion like this,” Lear told Commonweal magazine in 1992.

Norman Lear, Producer Of TV’s ‘All In The Family’ And Influential Liberal Advocate, Has Died At 101

Svante Myrick, president of the organization, stated that “we are heartbroken” by Lear’s passing. “We extend our deepest sympathies to Norman’s wife Lyn and their entire family, and to the many people who, like us, loved Norman.”

The young Lear created television far into his 90s, recreating “One Day at a Time” for Netflix in 2017 and investigating wealth inequality for the documentary series “America Divided” in 2016. Documentaries such as “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You” in 2016 and “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast” 2017 focused on active nonagenarians such as Lear and Rob Reiner’s father, Carl Reiner.

He was hailed as the “innovative writer who brought realism to television” when he was admitted into the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 1984. He was eventually awarded the National Medal of Arts and honored at the Kennedy Center. He won an Emmy in 2020 for his work as executive producer for “Live In Front of a Studio Audience: ‘All In the Family’ and ‘Good Times.'”

In the early 1950s, Lear began writing for shows such as “The Colgate Comedy Hour” and for performers such as Martha Raye and George Gobel. Tandem Productions, which he co-founded with Yorkin in 1959, produced pictures such as “Come Blow Your Horn,” “Start the Revolution Without Me,” and “Divorce American Style.” Lear also directed the parody “Cold Turkey,” starring Dick Van Dyke, about a tiny community that accepts a tobacco company’s offer of $25 million in exchange for quitting smoking for 30 days.

In his later years, Lear collaborated with Warren Buffett and James E. Burke to establish The Business Enterprise Trust, which honors corporations that consider their long-term impact on the country. He also established the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication, which investigated entertainment, economics, and society, and spent time at his Vermont home. In 2014, he released his autobiography, “Even This I Get to Experience.”

SOURCE – (AP)

Celebrity

Kate Middleton, The Princess of Wales Gives Update on New Project

Published

1 hour ago

2024-05-19

Geoff Thomas

Kate Middleton gives first update on new project

Kate Middleton gives first update on her new project: Getty Images

Kate Middleton updated her first project since her cancer diagnosis. The Princess of Wales, 42, announced her treatment in an emotional speech in March. After London abdominal surgery, the Express says she has taken time off public duty.

Kate stated in her address that pre-operative testing after surgery revealed her non-cancerous condition. For Mental Health Week, the Prince and Princess of Wales posted a short film trailer on their social media accounts.

The film emphasizes Britain’s farmers’ mental health issues and is her first project update since diagnosis.

Kate Middleton tweeted: “We’ve teamed up with Sam Stables from We Are Farming Minds and Farmer Will for a special film for #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek.

A conversation for #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek showing just how important the Duchy of Cornwall’s Mental Health Strategy is. Featuring Duchy tenant Sam Stables and Farmer Will Young.

TW: Suicide | https://t.co/YTwfDghRWq pic.twitter.com/JAOPXzG8dP

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) May 17, 2024

“Spending a day together on Sam’s farm in Hereford they chatted about mental health in the farming community, finding support and the Duchy of Cornwall’s Mental Health Strategy.”

Although Kate doesn’t appear in the YouTube video, she and Prince William produced it. Before Kate’s illness, GB News reported that the project was underway. One fan thanked Kate and William for raising mental health awareness in the video comments.

Says: “Can’t even begin to say how much I love the awareness HRH The Prince and Princess of Wales brings to the issues surrounding mental health.”

Another said: “I love that you’re focusing on rural mental health! Well done.”

Prince William said Kate “doing well” – Getty Images

Prince William ” Kate Middleton is doing well”

When asked about his wife Kate Middleton during a royal engagement on Friday, Prince William replied she is “doing well.”

The Prince of Wales went to St. Mary’s Community Hospital on the Isles of Scilly in southwest England. Tracy Smith, an administrator at the hospital, offered the king a tour of the facilities. “May I ask how Princess Kate is doing?” she responded. To which William replied that Kate is “doing well.” When questioned about his children (George, Charlotte, and Louis), William remarked, “The children are very jealous that I am here…” Perhaps we can come later in the year.”

The rare news comes after the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton revealed in a video message that she had been diagnosed with cancer following a scheduled abdominal operation. Kate stated in a video posted by Kensington Palace on March 22 that the news was a “huge shock.” She started “preventative chemotherapy” in late February, according to a Kensington Palace official.

“I am well and getting stronger every day,” Kate stated in the video message.

During the royal visit on Friday, hospital matron Lynda McHale presented Prince William with a card for his wife and father, King Charles III, who revealed his own diagnosis of an unidentified type of cancer in February and officially resumed public duties in late April.

Celebrity

Paul McCartney Song Starts Paralympics On 100-Day Countdown To Opening Ceremony In Paris

Published

9 hours ago

2024-05-19

Kiara Grace

AP News - VOR News Image

GENEVA – On Monday, the Paralympic Games begin their 100-day journey to the opening ceremony in Paris in August, with Paul McCartney assisting.

The former Beatles’ “We All Stand Together” — the theme song from an award-winning animated short he created and produced 40 years ago — will be featured in a promotional film for the International Paralympic Committee

“Sir Paul really understands what we stand for as a movement, and he was extremely generous to us,” IPC president Andrew Parsons told The Associated Press. “He was not difficult to convince, it was something that came very naturally.”

AP – VOR News Image

Paul McCartney Song Starts Paralympics On 100-Day Countdown To Opening Ceremony In Paris

On August 28, 100 days from Monday, the Summer Paralympics opening ceremony will occur along a stretch of the Champs-Élysées and Place de la Concorde. Over the next 11 days, the 4,400 athletes will compete in places such as the Eiffel Tower and Versailles Palace in front of up to 2.7 million spectators.

“We probably have the most famous avenue in the world,” Parsons stated in a recent interview. “That is very exciting. The city is really supporting Paralympic athletes and athletes with impairments.”

“With our games, we talk a lot about inclusion, and this is a fantastic representation of that. That extremely inviting attitude is a great way to start our games.

A watershed moment for the Paralympic movement occurred in London in 2012 when the host country rose to the occasion with record ticket sales and a completely new approach to broadcasting by Britain’s Channel 4.

“Still the benchmark games of our movement,” added Parsons, whose native country of Brazil staged the 2016 edition in Rio de Janeiro.

AP – VOR new Image

Paul McCartney Song Starts Paralympics On 100-Day Countdown To Opening Ceremony In Paris

Channel 4 produced the “We’re the Superhumans” musical film to promote the Rio Paralympics. The film was a landmark in terms of its high production values and inspirational imagery.

“Many broadcasters come to us in their preparations in different parts of the world and they normally ask, ‘What is Channel 4 doing?'” Parsons stated. In that vein, the IPC trailer, inspired by McCartney’s “Rupert and the Frog Song” film, follows suit.

The Paris Paralympics will record 164 broadcasters worldwide, with 549 events across 22 sports.

Beyond the field of play, the Paralympics strive to change society, particularly in the host nation—and have previously achieved this.

In France and Paris, Parsons admitted that “there is still a lot of work to be done when it comes to people’s mindsets and perceptions of people with disabilities.”

“It has progressed since they received the games in 2017, but there is still a long way to go. “And it does not end with the closing ceremony.”

Two weeks after the Paralympics end on September 8, the United Nations conducts a global gathering that Parsons hopes will spark change.

AP – VOR News Image

Paul McCartney Song Starts Paralympics On 100-Day Countdown To Opening Ceremony In Paris

The UN will assess progress toward its 17 sustainable development objectives during the Summit of the Future, which will occur on September 22 and 23.

“We do believe our movement has, in terms of persons of disability, been a little bit left behind, if you compare to other human rights movements such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity,” Parsons stated. “They have become increasingly prominent in the major debates at the highest level.

“We believe that these (Paris) games will be able to really remind global leaders that there is 1.2 billion persons with disabilities out there that need to be included in those conversations.”

SOURCE – (AP)

News

Diddy Won’t Be Prosecuted Over Cassie Ventura Hotel Video

Published

1 day ago

2024-05-18

Geoff Thomas

Diddy Won’t Be Prosecuted Over Cassie Ventura Hotel Video

Sean “Diddy” Combs won’t be prosecuted over a 2016 video: Image Fox News

According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Sean “Diddy” Combs will not face charges in connection with a 2016 video that appears to show him abusing then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel.

“We find the images extremely disturbing and difficult to watch,” the office of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón posted on Instagram Friday (May 17). “If the conduct depicted occurred in 2016, unfortunately we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted.”

Combs appears to push Ventura to the ground near an elevator bank, kick her multiple times while she is on the ground, and pull her down a hallway in the footage, which CNN received on March 5, 2016.

According to the statement, law enforcement has not presented the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office with “a case related to the attack depicted in the video against Mr. Combs, but we encourage anyone who has been a victim or witness to a crime to report it to law enforcement or reach out to our office for support from our Bureau of Victims Services.”

The video’s contents resemble an assault complaint Ventura made in a now-settled lawsuit against Diddy in November, in which she also claimed one incidence of rape and another of Combs forcing her to have sex with male sex workers while he masturbated.

“The gut-wrenching video has only confirmed Mr. Combs’ disturbing and predatory behavior,” said Ventura’s attorney, Douglas Wigdor, in a statement to Billboard. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”

Ventura and Combs had an on-and-off romance for 11 years until splitting in 2018. In the lawsuit, she claimed she met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37. After signing with his Bad Boy Records company, Ventura alleged that Combs “lured” her into a sexual relationship in which he “asserted complete control” over her life.

Combs has faced four further sexual misconduct complaints after Ventura filed hers late last year. The entrepreneur resigned as chairman of his digital media business Revolt in November, and he reportedly sold his interest in the company in March. Also in March, federal officials raided Combs’ houses in Los Angeles and Miami “in connection” with a federal sex trafficking probe, CNN reported.

Combs has flatly denied all allegations of sexual assault leveled against him. “Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged,” he declared in a statement shared on social media on December 6. “I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”

Diddy

Sean “Diddy” Combs

Sean “Diddy” Combs is a multi-talented mogul who has made his mark in music, fashion, and business. Born in Harlem, he began his career as a talent director at Uptown Records. Combs later created his own label, Bad Boy Records, which launched the careers of musicians such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige.

His debut album, “No Way Out,” achieved multi-platinum success, cementing his reputation as a rapper and producer. Diddy expanded his business interests, launching the apparel line Sean John and investing in beverage businesses such as Ciroc and DeLeon. With an estimated net worth of $900 million, he is one of hip-hop’s wealthiest individuals.

Combs is a presence in Hollywood, appearing in films and television series while also influencing music and society. His commercial savvy, paired with his musical talents, have elevated him to the status of rap icon.

Source: Billboard