Hollywood Loses Two Legends

By Jacqueline Williams

This week the film industry lost two Hollywood legends, actor/comedian, Robin Williams, age 63, on Monday, Aug. 11, 2014, and actress, Lauren Bacall, age 89, on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014.  I definitely will miss the genius of Robin Williams, who I call my brother from another mother.  I remember when I first learned of his talent when he made a guest appearance on Happy Days.  He was so great, that his one appearance brought him a role on his own show, Mork and Mindy, in 1978.  It became one of my favorite shows.  I became very impressed with his comedic timing, and all of the voices and sounds he would create.  I had heard numerous stories of how he very seldom read the script, but could just adlib his lines.  Many of you may not know this but his first television show was on the final season of the show Laugh-In, in 1977.  After Mork and Mindy, Robin began acting in movies, and starred in more than seventy films”.  At the time of his death, he had completed four films to include a sequel to the 1993 movie, Mrs. Doubtfire.   Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, which just wrapped, will be released on Dec19.  Williams reprises his role as Teddy Roosevelt.

Betty Joan Perske, or you may have known her as Lauren Bacall, was born on September 16, 1924, in New York City.  She began studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City after school, so she could perform in some off-Broadway productions.  Once she graduated from school, she began a modeling career at 19, and appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar.  This is when her acting career began. The wife of a famed director saw Lauren’s cover and asked her husband to give her a screen test. She later was given the part of Marie Browning in the 1944 film, To Have and Have Not, to which she starred opposite Humphrey Bogart.  The two fell in love and were married in 1945.  They went on to star in other films”.

Both of these actors have a connection to the Tarheel State. They both filmed movies in the 1990’s.  Ms. Bacall’s movie was called The Portrait, and also starred Gregory Peck. This movie was shot in our capital city, in Raleigh. Robin Williams starred in Patch Adams, in 1998, and was shot on the campus of UNC- Chapel Hill.  

These two legends will be truly missed.

ABC’s Newest Series, Secrets and Lies, Returns to Wilmington to Begin Production

By Jacqueline Williams

     In the previous blog entitled, The Tarheel State Is Doing It Again!, I mentioned some of the production projects that were about to start filming in the area.  Secrets and Lies, is one of the shows mentioned and primarily was an Australian show, which was televised on “March 5^th of this year”, and aired six episodes, on the TEN network.  The series’ debut showed very low viewership, with a little over 404,000 people watching.  The following week, the viewership for the second installment of the show had fallen from 404,000 to 366,000. These poor ratings became very discouraging news for the suffering network.  Many thought this new mystery drama would become a success. “The Executives at ABC decided to pick up the series with a 10-episode commitment, after the pilot was shot this past February, in Wilmington.  The crew began shooting in July (Brothers), and should complete the project right before Thanksgiving“.  Secrets and Lies will debut in March 2015, at 10 p.m.

     The show “tells a single, unfolding story, episode by episode, after the peaceful veneer of a suburban street is shattered by the death of a four-year-old boy”.  The lead character Ben, played by Australian actor Martin Henderson, will star Ryan Phillippe, in the American version as the prime suspect in the murder of a young neighborhood boy.  Ryan’s character Ben, finds the child’s body in the woods while he is out jogging.  As news of the tragedy spreads, the neighborhood's secrets are brought to the surface.  Leading Detective Cornell, played by Juliette Lewis, tries to zero in on Ben as the prime suspect.  Desperate to clear his name and save his already shaky relationship with his wife, played by Kadee Strickland and his two daughters, Ben vows to find the real killer himself.  "Indiana Evans”, "Natalie Martinez, Indiana Evans, Bella Shouse and Gregory Alan Williams are also members of the cast”.

     The program will be very unique because it’s an anthology.  It will be a show like American Horror Story or True Detective.  ABC president, Paul Lee said, “the central mystery would be resolved by season's end, and any subsequent seasons would feature a new cast and a new crime.  Detective Cornell, Juliette Lewis’ character, will maintain a consistent presence from season to season“.