Veteran BBC broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan has died aged 77, after a short illness, his family has confirmed.
In a statement, they said: "Sir Terry Wogan died today after a short but brave battle with cancer.
"He passed away surrounded by his family. While we understand he will be missed by many,
the family ask that their privacy is respected at this time."
BBC director general Tony Hall said: "Terry truly was a national treasure."
Obituary: Sir Terry Wogan
Programme Name: Goodbye Television Centre - TX: n/a - Episode: n/a (No. n/a) - Embargoed for publication until: n/a - Picture Shows: Sir Terry Wogan - (C) BBC - Photographer: Guy Levy
'Wonderful personality and charm'
Limerick-born Sir Terry had a 50-year career on television and radio, including presenting Wake up to Wogan on BBC Radio 2 and the Wogan chat show.
He was also the voice of Eurovision for many years and had been involved in Children in Need since it began.
BBC Radio 2 controller Bob Shennan said: "As the host of Wake up to Wogan, Terry established himself as one of the greatest and most popular radio hosts this country has ever heard.
"We were brightened by his wonderful personality and charm as he woke us up every weekday morning, becoming an essential and much-loved part of our lives.
"His millions of listeners adored him, as did his whole Radio 2 family. We will miss him enormously and our thoughts at this very sad time are with Helen and all the family."
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Actor Alan Rickman, known for films including Harry Potter, Die Hard, Truly Madly Deeply and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, has died at the age of 69.
The star was suffering from cancer, his family said. His agent confirmed He was known by film fans for roles including Professor Snape in the Harry Potter films,
Hans Gruber in Die Hard and the Sheriff of Nottingham in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
He went on to play two more baddie roles - the sheriff of Nottingham in 1991's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and Rasputin in a 1995 HBO film.
A directorial debut happened in 1995 when he directed Emma Thompson and her mother Phyllida Law in The Winter Guest.He teamed up with Kate Winslet last year for period drama
A Little Chaos, his second filmas director.He was born in Acton, London, in 1946, to working class parents.
After college, he worked as a graphic designer for a radical newspaper, and later opened a graphic design studio.
Three years later he contacted the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) to request an audition, and won a place.
He studied there between 1972 and 1974, and went on to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company before moving on to television.
Ever since video of Hannibal Burress making jokes about the not-so-well-known accusations went viral, the media has been on fire for news about the rape allegations against Bill Cosby. Yet aside from more and more accounts of rape from reported victims, no documented evidence could be attributed to the famous comedian. At least, before the sealed 2005 deposition was released in July.
On July 6, the Associated Press reported that Cosby admitted during questioning to administering Quaaludes to young women for the purpose of having sex with them. It was the first time any kind of evidence, let alone a supposed admission, had leaked to the press. As a result, former Cosby defenders left his side, Disney World removed a bust of the comedian from an exhibit, and a White House petition called for his Presidential Medal of Freedom to be revoked.
Yet as horrible as all of this is, none of it compares a The New York Times story published on late Saturday, in which the paper got its hands on a copy of the deposition. If accurate, then the portrait painted of the once beloved stand-up comedian and television personality is about to make things a whole lot worse for him, his wife and manager Camille Cosby, and their team:
Even as Mr. Cosby denied he was a sexual predator who assaulted many women, he presented himself in the deposition as an unapologetic, cavalier playboy, someone who used a combination of fame, apparent concern and powerful sedatives in a calculated pursuit of young women — a profile at odds with the popular image he so long enjoyed, that of father figure and public moralist.
No, it’s not that bad. It’s actually much, much worse.
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Early on in the article, the NYT’s Graham Bowley and Sydney Ember detail the story of an unnamed 19-year-old model “who sent him her poem and ended up on his sofa,” where “she pleasured him with lotion.” And remember, this is all from a deposition — an interrogation in which Cosby told investigators about these things, and in great, horrible detail:
He spoke with casual disregard about ending a relationship with another model so he could pursue other women. “Moving on,” was his phrase.
He suggested he was skilled in picking up the nonverbal cues that signal a woman’s consent.
“I think I’m a pretty decent reader of people and their emotions in these romantic sexual things, whatever you want to call them,” he said.
Through it all, his manner was largely one of casual indifference.
His tone here, need I remind you, is apparently best described as “one of casual indifference.” The man is well aware of what he was doing, and yet he didn’t really care about any or all of the possible implications of wrongdoing. That, or he wasn’t capable of recognizing them.
Probably the worst bit comes near the end of the article, in which Bowley and Ember recall the story of Beth Ferrier:
He could be dispassionate in recalling former relationships. With a woman named Beth Ferrier, a model he met in the 1980s, he recalled inquiring after her career and her father, who had died of cancer.
“Did you ask her those questions because you wanted to have sexual contact with her?” Ms. Troiani asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Cosby responded.
Still, he said he viewed himself as a good person, worthy of trust, and chivalrous in his desire to never tell others about the women with whom he had sex.
“I am a man, the only way you will hear about who I had sex with is from the person I had it with,” he said.
Obviously, that last part isn’t entirely true, as Cosby’s legal team has fought long and hard to keep many of the lawsuits and complaints filed against him quiet. Not even the women he allegedly raped were allowed to tell whether or not Cosby had had sex with them:
In the court case, 13 women came forward with anonymous sworn statements to support Ms. [Andrea] Constand, saying that they, too, had been molested in some way by Mr. Cosby. But they never had a chance to pursue their claims in court because, six months after the fourth and final day of his deposition, Mr. Cosby settled the case with Ms. Constand on undisclosed terms.
After an early Broadway debut, the late great Vincent Price (1911-1993) toiled in Hollywood films for over 50 years and appeared on countless TV shows (including everything from The Carol Burnett Show to The Brady Bunch). But, of course, the actor will always be remembered for his horror and villainous roles by generations of monster kids (whose ranks include director Tim Burton, who cast Price in one of his last—and best—screen assignments, 1990’s Edward Scissorhands). Chiller’s latest edition of The Friday 13 salutes the career of this scream legend on the occasion of his upcoming birthday (May 27). Helping us celebrate: Price’s own daughter and official biographer, Victoria. (Titles arranged according to year of release.)
1. The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
The Invisible Man Returns Trailer
At age 28, stage-trained thespian Vincent Price joined Universal Studios’ classic monsters bullpen in this sequel to the James Whale/Claude Raines hit. Price stars as a man scheduled to hang for a murder he didn’t commit who takes an invisibility serum to apprehend the real killer. “The first ‘glimpse’ (!) of what Vincent Price could do with just his voice,” recalls daughter Victoria Price. The mellifluous actor disappeared into the role again with an amusing voiceover cameo for 1948’s hilarious Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.
2. Dragonwyck (1946)
Dragonwyck scene
In one of the parts dearest to his heart, Price portrays Nicholas Van Ryn, drug-addicted/wife murdering aristocrat, who lords over a gloomy mansion. “This movie meant a great deal to my father,” Victoria recalls. “He was playing a portly priest in Keys to the Kingdom, and he approached [director] Joe Mankiewicz with his desire to play the lead in Dragonwyck. The director basically said that he was totally the wrong type for the role. So my dad lost a lot of weight and really prepared for the audition—and got the role. It was his first leading film role in a genre that would become so important to him.”
3. House of Wax (1953)
House of Wax (1953) -- Unmasked
As the hideously scarred sculptor Henry Jarrod, who uses real human bodies as his museum wax figures, the art-loving actor cemented his reputation as a monstrous screen villain in this 3-D smash. “House of Wax came at a very important juncture in my father’s life,” reveals Victoria. “He had just been cleared from one of [Red Scare instigator] Joe McCarthy’s lists and allowed to work again in Hollywood. He was offered two roles—one on Broadway and one for a film about an artist incorporating an interesting new technology [3-D]. The rest, as they say, is history!”
4. House on Haunted Hill (1958)
Vincent Price - House On Haunted Hill - Trailer
In this wickedly scary gimmick film from producer/director William Castle, Price stars as a sarcastic millionaire who offers five strangers $10,000 a piece if they survive the night in the titular ghost hangout. This hit film garnered Price even more fans in the genre he would call home. Says Victoria, “Who doesn’t love Vincent Price as the elegantly evil Frederick Loren in House on Haunted Hill?”
5. House of Usher (1960)
The House of Usher (1960). The family, explained
Price’s career continued to ascend in horror circles when he top-lined this classy Edgar Allan Poe adaptation, scripted by Richard (Twilight Zone) Matheson and directed with stylish efficiency by B-movie king Roger Corman. “Roderick Usher was one of my dad’s great roles, in my opinion,” says Victoria of the tragic, hypersensitive Usher, a man with, let’s say, family issues. “As the tortured aesthete, he was so handsome in that film!”
6. The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) - The Pendulum Swings
The popularity of House of Usher for independent studio American International Pictures spawned a whole series of Poe flicks, most starring Price as equally troubled characters and bad guys. In Corman’s Pit and the Pendulum, Price limns Nicholas Medina, beleaguered son of a notorious Spanish Inquisition torturer who dusts off Pop’s ancient playthings thanks to his scheming wife (Barbara Steele). Shudders Victoria, “Pit and the Pendulum scared me to death when we had to watch it in school!”
7. The Comedy of Terrors (1963)
The Comedy of Terrors - Vincent Price (1/1) Not Quite Dead Enough (1963) HD
The horror celebrity always enjoyed sending up his image in both film and television, and in this hoot, directed by Cat People’s Jacques Tourneau, he’s a boozy undertaker who’ll literally murder for customers. “My dad loved getting to work with his dear friend Boris Karloff and the legendary Peter Lorre, whose eulogy he gave just a few years later,” remembers Victoria. “And boy did they have fun!” And we can tell!
8. The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Theatrical Trailer - The Masque of the Red Death (Vincent Price)
In this masterpiece of Corman/AIP’s Poe cycle, Price essays the diabolical Prince Prospero, who throws a decadent bash while plague decimates those outside his castle walls. “A few years ago,Masque of the Red Death was shown at three straight events I attended,” Victoria notes of Masque’s enduring appeal amongst cinema scholars. “The movie is so surreal and ’60s. And Nic Roeg’s saturated cinematography is iconic.”
9. The Last Man on Earth (1964)
The Last Man on Earth - Vincent Price (1/1) The Living Dead Attack (1964) HD
Tinseltown raided Richard Matheson’s excellent novel I Am Legend (about a vampire-plagued world) three times, beginning with this low-budget effort. Price’s version stands as the most faithful to Matheson, and the Rome-lensed movie also proved even more significant to Victoria. Sshe explains, “I owe my existence to Last Man on Earth! My parents moved to Italy for an extended period of time. Let’s just say that ‘La Dolce Vita’ worked its magic on 44-year-old Mary Grant Price and 50-year-old Vincent Price. When my mother started craving Chinese food in Europe, they had no idea I was the cause. But I ended up being a very happy surprise for them both…all because ofLast Man on Earth!”
10. The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)
The Tomb of Ligeia - Vincent Price (1/1) A Prophecy of Ligeia’s Return (1964) HD
With a literate script by future Chinatown scribe Robert Towne, Corman and Price ended their Poe run with a fiery finish. As the downcast Verden Fell, Price suffers at the hands—and possessed feline claws—of his jealous deceased wife, who stalks her man when he remarries. As the haunted husband, Price contributes a subdued and nuanced performance, never upstaged by the movie’s killer cat or impressive English locations. “Tomb of Ligeia was Vincent’s personal favorite Poe film,” his offspring reveals.
11. Witchfinder General (1968)
The Mark of Satan Is Upon Them - Witchfinder General (Vincent Price)
In this intense film (released in the U.S. as Conqueror Worm), St. Louis-born Price tackles real-life 17th century British witch hunter Matthew Hopkins, who traveled the English countryside persecuting innocent people for practicing witchcraft. As the despicable Hopkins, Price abandoned the flamboyance of some of his previous dastardly turns. “Working with [director] Michael Reeves was very, very difficult for my father,” admits Victoria. “He understood what Reeves wanted, but his methods and his youthful arrogance were difficult for my dad—who was about the nicest man on the planet. Ultimately, however, the malevolence which my father achieved made the part one of his most memorable.”
12. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
The flying unicorn Abominable Dr Phibes
In this art-deco tour de force, Price has a campy field day as the revenge-minded disfigured doctor who unleashes his own translation of the biblical plagues on the men who failed to save his wife’s life. Price returned as the noble madman in the equally entertaining Dr. Phibes Rises Again a year later. “Classic, stylistic and quirky, Dr. Phibes reteamed Vincent with his dear old friend of 40 years, Joseph Cotton,” says Victoria of the two actors who met while performing with Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre. “And I am still struck by how expressive he was in that film of few words.”
13. Theater of Blood (1973)
Theatre of Blood (1973): A pound of flesh
An even blacker comedic twist on the Phibes pictures, Theater of Blood rates as Price’s cinematic triumph, and one that encapsulates his entire oeuvre. This occasion he’s failed Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart who, believed dead, elaborately murders the stuffy British reviewers responsible for his worst notices. Victoria catalogues how much Theater of Blood meant to dear Dad: “When you get to: a) fall in love with your future wife [Coral Browne] in a graveyard; b) electrocute her while playing a gay hairdresser; c) kill off all the critics; d) work with Diana Rigg and so many other great British actors; and e) recite Shakespearean verse while doing all of the above—how could it not be one of my father’s favorite films?”
We could easily list another 13 petrifying Price pictures on this list, so if you have the desire to learn more about the man and his movies, go to www.vincentprice.com, check out Shout Factory’s definitive two volume Vincent Price Collection on disc and pick up Victoria’s wonderful book Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography, as well as Lucy Chase Williams’ The Complete Films of Vincent Price.
