Dick Curtis, best known as being Jonathan Winters‘ straight man on The Jonathan Winters Show, has died at the age of 95. The veteran comedic actor and performer died on September 16 of heart failure at Los Angeles’ Va hospital. Curtis’ death was confirmed by his friend, TV writer Paul Jackson, according to Deadline. Curtis was a regular performer on Winters’ self-titled variety show, which ran for two seasons from 1967-1969, as the host’s straight man — the person in a comedy duo whose lines give a comedian the opportunity to make jokes. Curtis starred in the animated series Motormouse and Autocat and also appeared in The Dick Van Dyke Show in a memorable episode featuring Mary Tyler Moore that is now in the Smithsonian. In the episode, titled “Coast to Coast Bigmouth,” he played game show host Johnny Patrick who gets Moore’s character, Laura Petrie, to say that Alan Brady wore a toupee.
- 10/12/2023
- TV Insider
Dick Curtis, a veteran comedian and character actor, died September 16 in Los Angeles of heart failure at the Va hospital in Westwood. He was 95 and his death was confirmed by longtime friend and TV writer, Paul Jackson.
Curtis’s varied career spanned song and dance, nightclubs, TV, movies, commercials, producing for Pm magazine, and cutting two record albums.
But he was perhaps best known to TV viewers as the straight man to Jonathan Winters on his eponymous CBS series. Curtis also appeared in many weekly TV shows of the ’60s and ’70s, including The Andy Griffith Show, Batman, That Girl and The Dick Van Dyke Show, among others.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, he was a U.S. Marine in World War II. Returning to civilian life, he appeared on the Jack Benny Show.
In a memorable Dick Van Dyke Show appearance on the episode Coast to Coast Bigmouth, he played Johnny Patrick,...
Curtis’s varied career spanned song and dance, nightclubs, TV, movies, commercials, producing for Pm magazine, and cutting two record albums.
But he was perhaps best known to TV viewers as the straight man to Jonathan Winters on his eponymous CBS series. Curtis also appeared in many weekly TV shows of the ’60s and ’70s, including The Andy Griffith Show, Batman, That Girl and The Dick Van Dyke Show, among others.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, he was a U.S. Marine in World War II. Returning to civilian life, he appeared on the Jack Benny Show.
In a memorable Dick Van Dyke Show appearance on the episode Coast to Coast Bigmouth, he played Johnny Patrick,...
- 10/11/2023
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
The character's creator, Paul Reubens, contended a dozen times at the Daytime Emmys during the five-year run of "Pee-wee's Playhouse" on CBS beginning in 1986. While he shared in wins for Art Direction (1988) and Graphics and Title Design (1991), he never took home any awards for performing, producing or writing. Following his fall from grace in 1991 after being arrested in an adult movie theater, Reubens retired his childlike character for nearly two decades. He did pick up a 1995 primetime Emmy bid for Guest Comedy Actor for an appearance on "Murphy Brown" but lost to Emmy favorite Carl Reiner who recreated his "Dick Van Dyke Show" character Alan Brady on "Mad About You." Reubens recently recreated his most famous character for an acclaimed Broadway show. Paycaster HBO filmed a performance and is premiering the special on March 19. The paycaster does well in the Variety Musical or Comedy Special category, usually landing at l.
- 2/4/2011
- Gold Derby
Pop Culture Passionistas/Archive of American Television
Dear Diary,
We know it’s been a long time sincewe’ve written, but our good friend Karen suggested it was time to start sharingour hopes and dreams with you. After all, each day we experience new and,sometimes bizarre, brushes with pop culture greatness.
Last Thursday was a dreamy day forthe Passionistas. We started our morning talking to two teen idols, Tiffany andDeborah Gibson. The mall-tour divas were promoting their Syfy movie Megapythonvs. Gatoroid. Not Gator-aid… Gator-oid.
Cutto a few hours later as we sat in the lobby of the glorious Beverly Hills Hotel,when we overhead Berry Gordy Jr.'s son name dropping about working with MarvinGaye's son. Talk about a music merger.
Laterthat night we could barely contain ourselves while covering the red carpet forthe Archive of American Television at the TV Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.Some of our...
Dear Diary,
We know it’s been a long time sincewe’ve written, but our good friend Karen suggested it was time to start sharingour hopes and dreams with you. After all, each day we experience new and,sometimes bizarre, brushes with pop culture greatness.
Last Thursday was a dreamy day forthe Passionistas. We started our morning talking to two teen idols, Tiffany andDeborah Gibson. The mall-tour divas were promoting their Syfy movie Megapythonvs. Gatoroid. Not Gator-aid… Gator-oid.
Cutto a few hours later as we sat in the lobby of the glorious Beverly Hills Hotel,when we overhead Berry Gordy Jr.'s son name dropping about working with MarvinGaye's son. Talk about a music merger.
Laterthat night we could barely contain ourselves while covering the red carpet forthe Archive of American Television at the TV Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.Some of our...
- 1/25/2011
- by Pop Culture Passionistas
- popculturepassionistas
When considering whom to cast as a date for four-time Emmy champ Betty White on "Hot in Cleveland," it was only natural for producers to turn to another Emmy favorite -- Carl Reiner. The all-around talent has taken home nine of these awards: two supporting-actor Emmys for "Caesar's Hour" (1957, 1958); three for his writing on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1962-1964); two for producing that best comedy series (1965, 1966); one for writing the "Your Show of Show" reunion variety special (1967); and a guest comedy actor award for an appearance on "Mad About You" (1995). That last Emmy Award was for reprising his role as Alan Brady, the manic boss who ruled the...
- 7/1/2010
- by tomoneil
- Gold Derby
Cherry Bomb is a Strike Anywhere Production from director Kyle Day and writer Garrett Hargrove. This independent film is a revenge thriller starring Julin (Spirit Camp) and Denise Williamson (Writhing in Rouge) with several movie stills from the production available here. In the photos Julin as Cherry breaks out the Uzi and the fishnet stockings to take on five men who assaulted her. In another photo Amanda Arnold as Patricia gets on her bike to terrorize the town. Have a look at the most recent photos from the production inside.
The synopsis for Cherry Bomb here:
"It is 1984, an exotic dancer named Cherry has just watched the five men who assaulted her walk free with the help of a corrupt police force. Seeing no justice coming from within the system Cherry enlists the help of her brother and they take the law into their own hands and seek justice on...
The synopsis for Cherry Bomb here:
"It is 1984, an exotic dancer named Cherry has just watched the five men who assaulted her walk free with the help of a corrupt police force. Seeing no justice coming from within the system Cherry enlists the help of her brother and they take the law into their own hands and seek justice on...
- 6/14/2010
- by 28DaysLaterAnalysis@gmail.com (Michael Ross Allen)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
LONDON -- It looked like a dubious enterprise trying to turn a clunky 1960s television puppet show about a family of daredevils and their fantastic vehicles and equipment into a live-action movie.
Thunderbirds was a cult hit in the United Kingdom, but its stilted action and quaintly old-fashioned derring-do didn't help it travel far. Full marks, then, to director Jonathan Frakes and his crew for coming up with a piece of whiz-bang children's entertainment that could appeal to the family market far and wide.
Smartly written by William Osborne and Michael McCullers, Thunderbirds expertly targets kids. Yet parents won't be entirely bored if they have any nostalgia for Saturday matinee serials and early TV adventure shows.
Thunderbirds may be the prettiest movie all year, rendered in high style and brilliant colors. The combined efforts of production designer John Beard, costumer Marit Allen and cinematographer Brendan Galvin give the film instant impact with gorgeous sets and locations.
International Rescue is run by billionaire Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) and his sons, who man a space station in order to monitor events on Earth. That way, they're ready to ride their jet-propelled vehicles and always-applicable machinery to save people and property threatened by anything from earthquake to flood to typhoon.
When the space station goes mysteriously haywire with only one of the sons, John (Lex Shrapnel), on board, the rest of the family naturally rockets to the rescue. Of course, it's a ploy to get the Tracys away from their paradise island headquarters.
A villain known only as the Hood (Ben Kingsley) and his cohorts smoothly take over at HQ so they can use the splendid array of supertoys to rob the world's banks and ruin the Tracys' reputation.
Little does the Hood know, however, that one Tracy has eluded him. That is young Alan Brady Corbett), who with his nerdy pal Fermat (Soren Fulton) and their island buddy Tintin Vanessa Anne Hudgens) know just what to do to save the day. This is the kind of kids' adventure in which the young heroes may be daydreaming dunces in school but have an innate ability to handle ultra-complex vehicles and machine tools when it comes to saving the world.
While the Hood goes about doing his best to keep the Tracy family in outer space as he steals their vehicles to break into the Bank of London, the three kids take on his cohorts in adventures that make full use of the island's vistas.
Also on hand to help the good guys is the glamorous and fearless Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, who even in puppet form set male adolescent pulses racing in the '60s. Here she is mischievously brought to life by the beautiful Sophia Myles. Pretty in pink, Lady Penelope is a fluffy juvenile version of Mrs. Peel from The Avengers, and with her estimable manservant Parker (Ron Cook) makes a formidable ally for the International Rescue team.
The kids are all appealing, and Paxton clearly knows what is required, delivering a flawlessly deadpan performance as papa Tracy. Kingsley, too, spurns the temptation to chew the scenery and uses the lightest of touches for his villainy. Former "ER" star Anthony Edwards makes an appearance, having fun in a goofy kind of way as Brains, the Tracys' boffin.
THUNDERBIRDS
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and StudioCanal present a Working Title production
Credits:
Director: Jonathan Frakes
Screenwriters: William Osborne, Michael McCullers
Story: Peter Hewitt, William Osborne
Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Mark Huffam
Executive producers: Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin
Director of photography: Brendan Galvin
Production designer: John Beard
Editor: Martin Walsh
Costume designer: Marit Allen
Composer: Hans Zimmer. Cast: Jeff Tracy: Bill Paxton
Brains: Anthony Edwards
Lady Penelope: Sophia Myles
Parker: Ron Cook
The Hood: Ben Kingsley
Alan Tracy: Brady Corbet
Fermat: Soren Fulton
Tintin: Vanessa Anne Hudgens
John Tracy: Lex Shrapnel
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
Thunderbirds was a cult hit in the United Kingdom, but its stilted action and quaintly old-fashioned derring-do didn't help it travel far. Full marks, then, to director Jonathan Frakes and his crew for coming up with a piece of whiz-bang children's entertainment that could appeal to the family market far and wide.
Smartly written by William Osborne and Michael McCullers, Thunderbirds expertly targets kids. Yet parents won't be entirely bored if they have any nostalgia for Saturday matinee serials and early TV adventure shows.
Thunderbirds may be the prettiest movie all year, rendered in high style and brilliant colors. The combined efforts of production designer John Beard, costumer Marit Allen and cinematographer Brendan Galvin give the film instant impact with gorgeous sets and locations.
International Rescue is run by billionaire Jeff Tracy (Bill Paxton) and his sons, who man a space station in order to monitor events on Earth. That way, they're ready to ride their jet-propelled vehicles and always-applicable machinery to save people and property threatened by anything from earthquake to flood to typhoon.
When the space station goes mysteriously haywire with only one of the sons, John (Lex Shrapnel), on board, the rest of the family naturally rockets to the rescue. Of course, it's a ploy to get the Tracys away from their paradise island headquarters.
A villain known only as the Hood (Ben Kingsley) and his cohorts smoothly take over at HQ so they can use the splendid array of supertoys to rob the world's banks and ruin the Tracys' reputation.
Little does the Hood know, however, that one Tracy has eluded him. That is young Alan Brady Corbett), who with his nerdy pal Fermat (Soren Fulton) and their island buddy Tintin Vanessa Anne Hudgens) know just what to do to save the day. This is the kind of kids' adventure in which the young heroes may be daydreaming dunces in school but have an innate ability to handle ultra-complex vehicles and machine tools when it comes to saving the world.
While the Hood goes about doing his best to keep the Tracy family in outer space as he steals their vehicles to break into the Bank of London, the three kids take on his cohorts in adventures that make full use of the island's vistas.
Also on hand to help the good guys is the glamorous and fearless Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward, who even in puppet form set male adolescent pulses racing in the '60s. Here she is mischievously brought to life by the beautiful Sophia Myles. Pretty in pink, Lady Penelope is a fluffy juvenile version of Mrs. Peel from The Avengers, and with her estimable manservant Parker (Ron Cook) makes a formidable ally for the International Rescue team.
The kids are all appealing, and Paxton clearly knows what is required, delivering a flawlessly deadpan performance as papa Tracy. Kingsley, too, spurns the temptation to chew the scenery and uses the lightest of touches for his villainy. Former "ER" star Anthony Edwards makes an appearance, having fun in a goofy kind of way as Brains, the Tracys' boffin.
THUNDERBIRDS
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and StudioCanal present a Working Title production
Credits:
Director: Jonathan Frakes
Screenwriters: William Osborne, Michael McCullers
Story: Peter Hewitt, William Osborne
Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Mark Huffam
Executive producers: Debra Hayward, Liza Chasin
Director of photography: Brendan Galvin
Production designer: John Beard
Editor: Martin Walsh
Costume designer: Marit Allen
Composer: Hans Zimmer. Cast: Jeff Tracy: Bill Paxton
Brains: Anthony Edwards
Lady Penelope: Sophia Myles
Parker: Ron Cook
The Hood: Ben Kingsley
Alan Tracy: Brady Corbet
Fermat: Soren Fulton
Tintin: Vanessa Anne Hudgens
John Tracy: Lex Shrapnel
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 87 minutes...
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