Celebrity
Pee-wee Herman Actor Paul Reubens Dies From Cancer At 70
(LOS ANGELES) – Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural icon through films and television shows, has died. He was 70.
Reubens died Sunday night following a six-year battle with cancer that he kept private, according to his publicist.
“Please accept my apologies for not going public with what I’ve been going through for the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement issued Monday along with his death announcement. “I’ve always received a lot of love and respect from my friends, fans, and supporters.” I adored you all and enjoyed creating art for you.”
The character, best recognized for his too-tight grey suit, white chunky loafers, and red bow tie, appeared in the films “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.”
The Pee-wee Herman character would become a cultural icon for most of the 1980s. However, an indecent exposure charge in 1991 would drive him into exile from the entertainment industry for years.
In the late 1970s, Paul Reubens was a member of the Los Angeles improv group The Groundlings, where he invented Pee-wee. The live “Pee-wee Herman Show” premiered in a Los Angeles theatre in 1981 and was a hit with both youngsters and adults at matinees.
The format was similar to that of the Saturday morning TV show “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” years later, with Herman living in a wild and zany household with a series of stock-character visitors, including one, Captain Karl, performed by late “Saturday Night Live” star Phil Hartman. Pee-wee secretly wishes to fly in the narrative.
The show would be aired as a special on HBO.
Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural icon through films and television shows, has died. He was 70.
“Pee Wee got his wish to fly,” Steve Martin wrote on Twitter after his death. “Many thanks to Paul Reubens for the brilliant offbeat comedy.”
In 1985, Paul Reubens brought Pee-wee to the big screen with “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” The film, which depicts the theft of Pee-wee’s prized bicycle, was believed to be partially inspired by Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neo-realist masterpiece “The Bicycle Thief.” The film, directed by Tim Burton and co-written by Phil Hartman of “Saturday Night Live,” set Pee-wee on a cross-country adventure. The film was a commercial success, generating $40 million, and it acquired a cult following for its unusual fancy.
Three years later, in the less well-received “Big Top Pee-wee,” Pee-wee attempts to join a circus. Reubens’ character would not appear in another film until 2016’s “Pee-wee’s Big Holiday,” for Netflix. Judd Apatow produced the film’s remake.
His television show, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” ran for five seasons, won 22 Emmys, and drew children and adults to Saturday morning television.
The Pee-wee universe was hallucinogenic, populated by objects like a talking armchair and a friendly pterodactyl. It was both amusing and provocative, celebrating nonconformity. The host, who enjoys secret words and once married fruit salad, is prone to statements like, “I know you are, but what am I?” and “Why don’t you take a picture; it’ll last longer?” Even though Reubens claims that wasn’t the intention, the performance was a hit because it worked on numerous levels.
“It’s for kids,” Reubens explained to The Associated Press in 2010. “For years, people have attempted to convince me that ‘it wasn’t really for kids, right?’ Even the original show was aimed at children. I was always censoring myself to make it kid-friendly.
“The whole thing has just been a gut feeling from the beginning,” Reubens told the Associated Press. “That’s all it’s ever been, and I believe it always will be.” I can’t deconstruct and explain it as much as others want. I don’t know; two, I don’t want to know; and three, I’m afraid I’ll curse myself if I find out.”
“Paul Reubens was like no one else — a brilliant and original comedian who made kids and their parents laugh simultaneously,” Jimmy Kimmel said on Instagram. He never missed a birthday and shared his genuine joy in fun with everyone he met.”
His career was stalled when Reubens was jailed for indecent exposure in an adult movie theatre in Sarasota, Florida, where he grew up. He was fined, but the harm to his character was immeasurable.
He became the target of late-night talk show jokes, and Paul Reubens’ image altered overnight.
“It was really intense when I realised my name was going to be mentioned in the same sentence as children and sex,” Reubens told NBC in 2004. “I knew from that moment on that whatever happens after that point, something really bad is out there in the air.”
Reubens said he received numerous job offers, but most wanted to take “advantage of the luridness of my situation,” and he refused.
“It just changed,” he explained. “Everything has changed.”
After authorities acquired photographs from his computer and camera collection in 2001, Paul Reubens was arrested and charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography, but the charge was reduced to obscenity, and he was sentenced to three years probation.
Paul Reubens, the eldest of three children, was born Paul Rubenfield in Peekskill, New York, and grew up mostly in Sarasota before attending Boston University and the California Institute of the Arts.
Reubens would also appear in non-Pee-wee films such as Tim Burton’s 1992 film “Batman Returns,” the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” film, and a cameo appearance on the TV show “Murphy Brown.”
SOURCE – (AP)
Celebrity
Jason Kelce Smashes Football Fan’s Phone
Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce destroyed a Penn State football fan’s phone after the alleged heckler called his brother, Travis Kelce, a fag.
In now-viral footage published on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday, Nov. 2, the retired Philadelphia Eagles great was seen accompanied by football fans outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., for the Penn State-Ohio State game.
As the individual capturing the tape lifted a fist to Jason, 36, and called his name for a fist bump, another man nearby hurled the homophobic slur at the retired Philadelphia Eagles star.
Hey, Kelce. How does it feel that your brother is a queer dating Taylor Swift?” the man questioned, referring to Travis, 34, who has been seeing Swift since 2023. Jason turned around seconds later, snatched the man’s phone, and crushed it to the ground.
“Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason,” the original X user who submitted the video remarked. “Wild scene in State College.”
“Kelce how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?”
Jason Kelce proceeded to slam this kids phone on the ground.
Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason. Wild scene in State College pic.twitter.com/3PEdZXWhSg
— Chives (@jarrett_daveler) November 2, 2024
Additional footage on X shows Jason smashing the phone on asphalt before picking it up and walking away. The phone’s owner, wearing a Penn State hoodie at the time of the incident, was shown in many videos strolling closely behind Jason and recording him before the conflict occurred.
Another footage published on X, which appears to have been filmed after Jason shattered the man’s phone, showed the hooded Penn State supporter trudging through a mob to pick up his phone off the ground.
“Give me my phone, bro,” he seemed to say to Jason.
The NFL alum seized the gadget first, then stood in front of the man and asked, “Who’s the fag now?” Others appeared to interfere.
The incident occurred while Jason was at Beaver Stadium for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Ohio State Buckeyes won Saturday’s game 20-13 over the Penn State Nittany Lions.
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Celebrity
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, already has an impressive medal tally, but his surprise proposal to Nina Dobrev deserves a gold medal.
On Wednesday, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram. Dobrev posted photographs of the two hugging under an arch of white roses and showing off her five-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring.
“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé,” Dobrev said in the caption.
However, the photographs only tell half the tale, as Shaun devised an elaborate plan to surprise Dobrev with his proposal.
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
According to a Vogue interview published Wednesday, Shaun said he assembled a team of people from the couple’s inner circle and Vogue personnel to trick Dobrev into thinking she had been invited to an intimate dinner party with Anna Wintour.
Dobrev accepted the invitation, joking that Shaun made it “look so legitimate.”
He even asked Dobrev’s stylist to outfit her in Chanel for the event.
Dobrev said she recognized what was happening when she entered the venue and saw White standing beneath the flowery arch.
Shaun’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
“I went into shock,” Dobrev admitted, later adding that White “said all the right things” before she agreed.
According to the publication, after Shaun proposed, the couple partied into the early morning hours with close friends and relatives.
“Best night of my life,” Shaun captioned his Instagram story on Wednesday.
The duo first became romantically involved in 2020, and they have since publicly recorded their relationship, globe vacations, and White’s Olympic farewell on social media.
SOURCE | CNN
Celebrity
Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79
Hollywood actress Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has passed away at 79. She died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer.
Admirers took to social media in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”
Throughout her career, the performer, often known as Terri, Terry, or Terry Ann, seemed destined for show business from a young age.
Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comic, and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dancing classes at six and was performing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age fourteen.
She was 16 years old when she joined the road crew of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and she began starring in small roles in films as early as 1963.
In an interview from 1988, she described how she landed the role in “West Side Story.” After being rejected at her initial audition, she returned the following day dressed differently and was accepted.
Teri Garr, a comedian
Teri Garr then found steady work as a movie dancer, appearing in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”
She has also appeared on various television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance “T.A.M.I.,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”
Her breakthrough role was as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller The Conversation. This led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who offered her the Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant role in Young Frankenstein if she could speak with a German accent.
“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.
The film established her as a great comic performer, with New Yorker film writer Pauline Kael calling her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on screen.”
Her big smile and off-center appeal helped her land roles in “Oh, God!” with George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife), and “Tootsie,” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and discovers he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career.
A gift for spontaneous humor
Teri Garr, best known for comedy, has shown in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she can also tackle drama.
She had a gift for spontaneous humor, frequently playing David Letterman’s foil during early guest appearances on N.B.C.’s “Late Night With David Letterman”.
Her appearances grew so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing that rumors of romantic involvement circulated for a while. Years later, Letterman acknowledged those early appearances with helping the program become a success.
During those years, Garr began to experience “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It started in 1983 and expanded to her right arm, but she thought she could handle it. By 1999, her symptoms had gotten so bad that she saw a doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
After disclosing her diagnosis, Garr became a spokesman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, giving hilarious remarks at events in the United States and Canada.
Source: AP
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