2009 Screen Actors Guild Awards Announced

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
PAUL GIAMATTI              John Adams                         "JOHN ADAMS"                  HBO

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
LAURA LINNEY               Abigail Adams                      "JOHN ADAMS"                  HBO

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
HUGH LAURIE               Gregory House                      "HOUSE"                           FOX

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
SALLY FIELD                 Nora Walker                          "BROTHERS & SISTERS"     ABC

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN             Jack Donaghy                       "30 ROCK"                         NBC

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
TINA FEY                      Liz Lemon                            "30 ROCK"                         NBC

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
"30 ROCK"                 NBC

SCOTT ADSIT               Pete Hornberger
ALEC BALDWIN            Jack Donaghy
KATRINA BOWDEN       Cerie
TINA FEY                     Liz Lemon
JUDAH FRIEDLANDER   Frank Rossitano
JANE KRAKOWSKI        Jenna Maroney
JACK McBRAYER          Kenneth Parcell
TRACY MORGAN          Tracy Jordan
MAULIK PANCHOLY      Jonathan
KEITH POWELL            Toofer

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
"MAD MEN"                              AMC

BRYAN BATT                              Salvatore Romano
ALISON BRIE                             Trudy Campbell
MICHAEL GLADIS                       Paul Kinsey
JON HAMM                                Don Draper
AARON HART                             Bobby Draper
CHRISTINA HENDRICKS             Joan Holloway
JANUARY JONES                        Betty Draper
VINCENT KARTHEISER               Pete Campbell
ROBERT MORSE                         Bertram Cooper
MARK MOSES                            Herman “Duck” Phillips
ELISABETH MOSS                      Peggy Olson
KIERNAN SHIPKA                       Sally Draper
JOHN SLATTERY                         Roger Sterling
RICH SOMMER                           Harry Crane
AARON STATON                         Ken Cosgrove
 

(Amazing – some of my favorites/picks actually won something!  Hooray for Hugh Laurie, Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, Kate Winslet , Heath Ledger, Robert Morse, and Vincent Kartheiser, just to name a few…)

Technorati Tags: Awards, Heath Ledger, Hugh Laurie, SAG, Screen Actors Guild

81st Annual Academy Award Nominees

According to the official website of the The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the nominees for this year’s Oscars are as follows: Read more

Technorati Tags: Academy Awards, Angelina Jolie, Australia, Brad Pitt, Heath Ledger, Kate Winslet, Oscars, The Dark Knight, Wall-E

FINAL FILMS: Actors Who Died Too Soon

With Heath Ledger’s death before THE DARK KNIGHT was released, he joined a sad, but growing number of actors and actresses who died before their last movie was finished and/or released.

Not all final movies have gone on to break box office records like THE DARK KNIGHT–in its opening 10 days it’s already done over $330 million–but they all mark a sad moment when a Hollywood star was lost.

Here are just some of the actors who passed too quickly and their final films:

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Name	Last Movie	Year Died	Age	How They Were Taken
Aaliyah	THE QUEEN OF THE DAMNED	2001	22	Plane crash.
John Candy	WAGON’S EAST	1994	43	Coronary embolism leading to heart attack while sleeping.
Gary Cooper	THE NAKED EDGE	1961	60	Prostate cancer which metastasized to his bones. Filming was finished, but the film had not been released yet.
James Dean	REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE	1955	24	Car crash. Received first posthumous Best Actor Oscar and only actor to have two posthumous nominations.
Dominique Dunne	THE SHADOW RIDERS (TV)	1982	22	Strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend before the film was released.
Chris Farley	ALMOST HEROES	1994	33	Drug overdose.
Gloria Foster	THE MATRIX RELOADED	2001	67	Complications from diabetes after filming was finished but before the movie was released.
Clark Gable	THE MISFITS	1960	59	Heart attack. Filming had been completed but the movie had not been released yet.
Jean Harlow	SARATOGA	1937	26	Uremic poisoning during filming after years of kidney problems.
Richard Harris	HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS	2002	72	Hodgkin’s disease a few weeks before the movie was released.
Phil Hartman	SMALL SOLDIERS	1998	49	Shot to death by his wife before she committed suicide.
John Hodiak	ON THE THRESHOLD OF SPACE	1955	41	Heart attack at home while getting ready to go to the studio.
Raul Julia	STREET FIGHTER	1994	54	Stroke after suffering from stomach cancer a few days before filming ended.
Heath Ledger	THE DARK KNIGHT	2008	28	Acute (fatal) intoxication by the combined effects of oxycodone, hydrocodone, diazepam, temazepam, alprazolam and doxylamine.
Ernie Kovacs	IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD	1962	42	Car crash before filming began.
Brandon Lee	THE CROW	1993	28	Accidental gunshot wound during filming. A prop gun that was supposed to have only blanks still had a bullet lodged in the barrel from an earlier test firing of blanks that were made from real cartridges to cut time.
Bruce Lee	ENTER THE DRAGON	1973	32	Supposedly died due to hypersensitivity to the muscle relaxant in Equagesic. His death was ruled “death by misadventure.”
Carole Lombard	TO BE OR NOT TO BE	1942	33	Plane crash while on a war bonds tour during post-production.
Bernie Mac	SOUL MEN;  MADAGASCAR:  ESCAPE 2 AFRICA	2008	50	Pneumonia
Marilyn Monroe	SOMETHING’S GOT TO GIVE	1962	36	Accidental chloral hydrate and Nembutal overdose.
Heather O’Rourke	POLTERGEIST III	1988	12	Septic shock from an acute bowel obstruction.
River Phoenix	DARK BLOOD	1993	23	Heroine and cocaine (speedball) overdose.
Tyrone Power	SOLOMON AND SHEBA	1958	44	Heart attack during a strenuous dueling scene.
Oliver Reed	GLADIATOR	1999	61	Heart attack during a filming break after a heavy drinking and arm wrestling bout.
John Ritter	BAD SANTA	2003	54	Aortic dissection (rupture) from a congenital heart defect while filming his TV series, but before the film was released.
Adrienne Shelley	WAITRESS; SERIOUS MOONLIGHT	2007	40	Originally considered a suicide, it was reclassified a homicide when a man confessed to strangling her and hanging her body in her shower after she caught him stealing from her purse.
Spencer Tracy	GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER	1967	67	Heart attack after filming, but before film was released.
Natalie Wood	BRAINSTORM	1981	43	Accidental drowning.

May They All Rest in Peace…

Technorati Tags: ACTORS, Heath Ledger, Heather O'Rourke, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Oliver Reed

THE DARK KNIGHT – Coming Summer 2008

The new official teaser trailer for THE DARK KNIGHT is now available:

I like Christian Bale as the “new” Batman, and I’ve always enjoyed Michael Caine in just about anything he’s done, but doesn’t the new Joker, played by Heath Ledger, remind anyone else besides me of the character Creegan from CLEOPATRA 2525 (one of my favorite Sci Fi series)?

Of course, Jack Nicholson does nutso the best out of all of them: He managed to be both over the top and (mostly) believable at the same time as someone you didn’t want to cross. I fear Ledger has some pretty big (clown) shoes to fill…

Technorati Tags: Batman, Christian Bale, Dark Knight, Drama, Heath Ledger, MOVIES