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Dabney Coleman, Actor Who Specialized In Curmudgeons, Dies At 92
NEW YORK — Dabney Coleman, the mustachioed character actor who played smarmy villains like the chauvinist boss in “9 to 5” and the cruel TV director in “Tootsie,” has died. He was 92.
Coleman died Thursday at his Santa Monica home, according to his daughter, Quincy Coleman, who spoke with The Associated Press. She stated that he “took his last earthly breath peacefully and exquisitely.”
“The great Dabney Coleman developed, or defined, in a unique way, an archetype as a character actor. “He was so good at what he did that it’s difficult to imagine movies and television in the last 40 years without him,” Ben Stiller wrote on X.
Dabney Coleman: Image CBS
Dabney Coleman, Actor Who Specialized In Curmudgeons, Dies At 92
Coleman worked as a talented but underappreciated actor in films and television shows for two decades. That changed dramatically in 1976 when he was cast as the incorrigibly corrupt mayor of Fernwood’s Hamlet in “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” a satire soap opera so outrageous that no network would air it.
Producer Norman Lear was ultimately able to syndicate the show, which starred Louise Lasser in the titular character. It rapidly became a cult favorite. Coleman’s role, Mayor Merle Jeeter, was particularly popular, and film and television executives noted his brilliant, humorous deadpan delivery.
Coleman, a six-footer with an enormous black mustache, went on to make his mark in other blockbuster films, including roles as a stressed-out computer scientist in “War Games,” Tom Hanks’ father in “You’ve Got Mail,” and a firefighting official in “The Towering Inferno.
He received a Golden Globe for “The Slap Maxwell Story” and an Emmy Award for best supporting actor in Peter Levin’s 1987 small-screen legal thriller “Sworn to Silence.” Some of his most recent credits include “Ray Donovan” and a regular part in “Boardwalk Empire,” for which he received two Screen Actors Guild Awards
In the revolutionary 1980 smash “9 to 5,” he played the “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” employer who harassed his underappreciated female subordinates — Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton — until they turned the tables on him.
In 1981, he played Fonda’s kind, well-mannered lover, who asked her father (played by her real-life father, Henry Fonda) whether he could sleep with her during a visit to her parents’ holiday house in “On Golden Pond.”
In Tootsie, opposite Dustin Hoffman, Coleman played the unpleasant director of a daytime soap opera that Hoffman’s character joins by pretending to be female. Coleman’s other films included North Dallas Forty, Cloak and Dagger, Dragnet, Meet the Applegates, Inspector Gadget, and Stuart Little. He reconnected with Hoffman as a land developer in Brad Silberling’s Moonlight Mile, starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
Coleman’s arrogant roles didn’t transition so well to television, where he appeared in a few network comedies. Although some became cult favorites, just one lasted more than two seasons, and some critics questioned if a show with a lead character with no redeeming characteristics could appeal to a large audience.
“Buffalo Bill” (1983-84) was an excellent example. Coleman played “Buffalo Bill” Bittinger, the smarmy, arrogant, dimwitted daytime talk show presenter who, dissatisfied with his relegation to the small-time market of Buffalo, New York, takes it out on everyone else. Despite being cleverly written and containing a strong ensemble cast, it only lasted two seasons.
Another was 1987’s “The Slap Maxwell Story,” in which Coleman played an unsuccessful small-town columnist attempting to repair his marriage while also wooing a gorgeous young reporter.
Dabney Coleman: Image CBS
Dabney Coleman, Actor Who Specialized In Curmudgeons, Dies At 92
Other failed attempts to get a large TV audience were “Apple Pie,” “Drexell’s Class” (in which he portrayed an inside trader), and “Madman of the People,” a newspaper show in which he clashed with his younger employer, who was also his daughter.
He performed better in a co-starring role in The Guardian (2001-2004), when he played the father of a corrupt lawyer. He also liked his part as Principal Prickly in the Disney cartoon series Recess from 1997 to 2003.
Underneath all the bravado was a quiet individual. Coleman stated he was quite shy. “I’ve been shy my whole life. Perhaps it derives from being the last of four gorgeous children, including a sibling who resembled Tyrone Power. “Maybe it’s because my father died when I was four,” he told the Associated Press in 1984. “I was incredibly little, a little man there, the youngster who never caused trouble. I was drawn to fantasy; therefore, I made games for myself.”
As he grew older, he began to leave his stamp on pompous authority figures, most notably in 1998’s “My Date With the President’s Daughter,” in which he played not only an egotistical, self-absorbed president of the United States but also a dumb father to a teenage girl.
Dabney Coleman—his real name—was born in 1932 in Austin, Texas. After two years at the Virginia Military Academy, two at the University of Texas, and two in the Army, he was a 26-year-old law student when he met Zachry Scott, an Austin resident who appeared in “Mildred Pierce” and other films.
Dabney Coleman: Image AP
Dabney Coleman, Actor Who Specialized In Curmudgeons, Dies At 92
“He was the most vibrant guy I had ever met. He convinced me to become an actress, and I went to study in New York the next day. “He didn’t think that was very wise, but I made my decision,” Coleman told The Associated Press in 1984
Early credits include television shows like Ben Casey, Dr Kildare, The Outer Limits, Bonanza, The Mod Squad, and The Towering Inferno. He made his Broadway debut in 1961 with the play A Call on Kuprin. He played Kevin Costner’s father in the film Yellowstone.
The four children Coleman had—Meghan, Kelly, Randy, and Quincy—as well as his grandchildren Hale and Gabe Torrance, Luie Freundl, and Kai and Coleman Biancaniello—survived him. Coleman had two divorces.
“My father crafted his time here on earth with a curious mind, a generous heart, and a soul on fire with passion, desire and humor that tickled the funny bone of humanity,” Quincy Coleman wrote in his memory.
SOURCE – (AP)
NBC is bringing a version of legendary sportscaster Al Michaels back to the Olympics this summer, but with an unexpected twist: his voice will be powered by artificial intelligence.
On Wednesday, NBC said that it will utilize AI software to reproduce Michaels’ voice to offer daily Summer Games summaries to users of its Peacock streaming platform. This marks a significant milestone in the application of AI by a major media firm.
NBC | CTV Image
NBC To Use AI Version Of Announcer Al Michaels’ Voice For Olympics Recaps
The employment of an artificial intelligence voice for the Olympics comes at a time when technology has advanced dramatically, particularly in its ability to generate images, sounds, and text. This has sparked concerns in creative industries, such as journalism, regarding how artificial intelligence may—or should—be utilized.
A new tool, “Your Daily Olympic Recap on Peacock,” will allow subscribers to create 10-minute highlights packages incorporating event updates, athlete back stories, and other related content based on their preferences.
The company stated that the highlights could be packaged in approximately 7 million distinct ways, based on 5,000 hours of live coverage in Paris, thereby making AI (artificial intelligence, not the guy) a far more efficient way to give individualized summaries.
“When I was approached about this, I was skeptical but obviously curious,” Michaels stated in a press statement. “Then I saw a demonstration of what they had in mind. I replied, ‘I’m in.'”
An NBC representative told CNN that Michaels is being rewarded for his participation.
A veteran broadcaster, Michaels is now the play-by-play sportscaster for Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime. He is well noted for his work on earlier Olympic Games broadcasts for NBC and ABC and for announcing the Miracle on Ice Game at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
NBC | Fox Image
NBC To Use AI Version Of Announcer Al Michaels’ Voice For Olympics Recaps
NBC stated that the AI system was trained using previous NBC broadcast audio from Michaels.
The business stated that a team of NBC Sports editors will evaluate all of the content, including audio and footage, to ensure that it is factually correct and that names are pronounced correctly.
Beginning July 27, the highlights tool will be available on Peacock in web browsers and iOS and iPad apps.
SOURCE – CNN
Jamie Foxx has yet to publicly divulge the reason for his hospitalization last year, although he did share further facts during a videotaped encounter.
The Oscar-winning actor was hospitalized in April 2023 due to a health problem while filming the Netflix film “Back in Action” in Atlanta.
In a TikTok video posted this week, Foxx informs an unidentified group of people that he has a “bad headache” on April 11, 2023. He remembers asking his friend for an Advil, and then “I was gone for 20 days.”
Jamie Foxx Shares New Details About Health Crisis That Left Him ‘Gone For 20 Days’
“I don’t remember anything,” he claimed in a video shot on June 29 in Phoenix.
Foxx went on to say in the video that he was told his sister and daughter took him to the doctor, who him a cortisone shot. Another doctor told him something was “going on up there,” as Foxx pointed to his head.
“I won’t say it on camera,” he remarked throughout the video.
The singer is known to be discreet about his personal life, and he disappeared from the spotlight at the time due to what his daughter Corinne Foxx described as a “medical complication” on social media.
In July 2023, the “Ray” star revealed that he chose not to reveal more information because he did not want the public “to see me like that.”
“I want you to see me laughing, having fun, partying, cracking jokes, or performing in a movie or television show. I didn’t want you to see me with tubes coming out of me and wondering if I was going to make it,” he said in a video posted on Instagram at the time, adding that he felt like he had gone “to hell and back.”
Foxx provided another health update on his verified social media accounts in August 2023.
Jamie Foxx | Fox Image
Jamie Foxx Shares New Details About Health Crisis That Left Him ‘Gone For 20 Days’
“You are looking at a thankful man…” “I’m finally starting to feel like myself,” he wrote at the time. “The journey has been unexpectedly dark…” “But I can see the light.”
He added that he was “thankful to everyone who reached out and sent well wishes and prayers.”
According to IMDB, “Back in Action” is now in post-production.
SOURCE – CNN
NEW YORK — Hunter Biden filed a complaint accusing Fox News of illegally distributing sexual photographs of him as part of a streaming series.
The president’s son filed the complaint on Sunday in state court in Manhattan over photos from “The Trial of Hunter Biden,” which will premiere on Fox Nation in 2022. According to the lawsuit, the series included a “mock trial” of Hunter Biden on crimes he has not faced, as well as photos of Biden naked and engaging in sex acts.
Hunter Biden | AP News Image
Hunter Biden Sues Fox News Over Explicit Images Featured In A Streaming Series
The lawsuit argues that the distribution of intimate photographs without his consent violated New York’s so-called revenge porn legislation.
“Fox published and disseminated these Intimate Images to its vast audience of millions as part of an entertainment program in order to humiliate, harass, annoy and alarm Mr. Biden and to tarnish his reputation,” the lawsuit states.
In an emailed statement, a Fox News representative termed it an “entirely politically motivated lawsuit” that was “devoid of merit.” According to the statement, Biden’s attorneys filed a letter demanding its removal from streaming sites in April 2024.
“The program was removed within days of the letter, out of prudence, because Hunter Biden is a public figure who has been investigated several times and is now a convicted felon. According to the emailed statement, Fox News has faithfully covered Mr. Biden’s newsworthy events by the First Amendment, and we look forward to defending our rights in court.
Hunter Biden was convicted last month of three felony charges stemming from the purchase of a revolver in 2018. Prosecutors claimed the president’s son lied on a mandated gun-buy form by claiming he was not unlawfully using or addicted to narcotics.
Hunter Biden | AP News Image
Hunter Biden Sues Fox News Over Explicit Images Featured In A Streaming Series
According to the lawsuit, the series’ simulated trial included bribery claims and inappropriate financial relationships with foreign governments, which Hunter Biden has not faced.
The lawsuit says Fox did not completely remove promotional materials and that the program is still available on some third-party streaming sites.
SOURCE – (AP)
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