Clooney, 'Billie Holiday' among AARP movie award honorees
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Andra Day in "The United States vs Billie Holiday." (Takashi Seida/Paramount Pictures via AP)“The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” “Minari,” “Da 5 Bloods” and “One Night in Miami” are among the films AARP is honoring at its annual Movies for Grownups Awards, the nonprofit organization said Thursday. Director Lee Daniels’ “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” starring Andra Day as the jazz singer, was named best picture, while the Korean American family drama “Minari” got best intergenerational film. “We focus on films made by and for grownups,” said Tim Appelo, the film and television critic for AARP. Catherine O’Hara took best actress for “Schitt’s Creek,” Mark Ruffalo got best actor for “I Know This Much is True” and “This Is Us” was named best series.
Sean Connery, a lion of cinema whose roar went beyond Bond
FILE - This March 4, 1992 file photo shows actor Sean Connery during a news conference in Hamburg, Germany. Connery, considered by many to have been the best James Bond, has died aged 90, according to an announcement from his family. (AP Photo/Christian Eggers, File)Writing an appreciation of Sean Connery feels inevitably inadequate compared to experiencing the real thing. Connery’s Bond became etched as an icon of its era, one increasingly distant from today. That could be because the glint of mischief that accompanied nearly every Connery performance was so present in “The Last Crusade.” Connery always left you feeling if not shaken then very happily stirred.
Famed jewel thief, surf champ 'Murf the Surf' dies at 83
Murphy's death earlier this week was confirmed by John Hughes, director of the Florida Surf Museum in Cocoa Beach, Florida, who has been in touch with Murphy's friends and family members. In 1969, he was convicted of killing Terry Rae Frank, 24, and sentenced to life in prison. “I found God in prison,” Murphy told the Tampa Bay Times a few years ago. He won other titles, leading to his induction in the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame in 1996. It was in Florida where he got his nickname, according to a post on the surf hall of fame website.
Famed architect Paul Williams' archive goes to Getty, USC
Paul Williams was a trailblazing architect whose long career helped shape Los Angeles and Southern California. The Los Angeles County Courthouse, Los Angeles International Airport and First African Methodist Church were among the projects he led or worked on. He was the first African American member of the American Institute of Architects, its first African American Fellow and the first African American recipient of the institute's Gold Medal, its highest honor. Born in Los Angeles in 1894, Williams was orphaned following the death of his father at age 2 and his mother at age 4. The archives will be a central feature of the USC Center for Architecture + City Design and the African American Art History Initiative at Getty.