The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio
The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio |
| Posted: With the recent passing of 'Glee' actor Cory Monteith, the Spudniks remember other TV stars who died sudden, tragic deaths. I READ an article about the late John Belushi (actor/comedian and brother of According to Jim's Jim Belushi) written by film critic Roger Ebert (who also died recently, R.I.P.) titled "Why John Belushi Died" some time ago and I remembered one line in particular from that rather lengthy article – "tragedy is when you know not only what was, but what could have been". When I heard about the death of Cory Monteith on Sunday, that line popped up. I was never a big fan ofGlee and therefore had very little television exposure to Monteith. Still, the news of his death made me sad. Not merely because he was just 31 but also because, as Ebert wrote, of "what could have been". I am well aware of the stresses of Hollywood life but Monteith's star was just rising – he had talent, good looks, money and a girl whom he loved. What a shame! Monteith's death follows on the heels of the death of one of my favourite actors, James Gandolfini, who immortalised the character of mob boss Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, easily one of the best television shows in recent times.  James Gandolfini in his role as Tony Soprano, head of the New Jersey crime family portrayed in HBO's 'The Sopranos'. Gandolfini was in Rome en route to Sicily to accept an award at the Taormina Film Festival when he suffered a fatal heart attack. I was devastated when I saw the news on my Facebook news feed. At 52, Gandolfini wasn't all that young but he had so much more to give as an actor (and not to mention he leaves a loving wife and two children behind). It was tragic. I think the last time I felt this way (about a TV actor's demise) was when I heard actor John Ritter died while filming an episode of 8 Simple Rules in 2003. Ritter collapsed on the set and was taken to a nearby hospital in Burbank, California but it was too late. I loved John Ritter from back in the day when he played Jack Tripper in the 1980s (late 1970s, in fact) comedy Three's Company. In the sitcom, Jack is an ex-navy boxer who moves in with Janet Wood (Joyce DeWitt) and Chrissy Snow (Suzanne Somers) after the two girls find him in their shower the morning after a party. Jack crashed their party (or, as he puts it, was a friend of one of the crashers) but since the two need a roomie urgently, they take him in. They tell their landlord Stanley Roper (Don Knotts) that Jack is gay so he will allow a man to move in with them (it was the 1970s and he was rather prudish). So, much of the comedy was watching Jack pretend to be gay in front of Stanley while at the same time trying to score with the many ladies he dates! Ritter (and Gandolfini and Monteith) would undoubtedly have gone on to star in many other hit shows but life had other plans. – SI I HAD two missed calls from my daughter who usually never calls unless she needs the car or money. It must be urgent, I thought. When I eventually called back (I was in a remote area near Trolak, Perak without much coverage), she told me that Cory Monteith had died. Glee is one of the few programmes that all of us (me and my kids) can sit down and watch together for some inexplicable reason, and Finn was one of our favourite characters because he was just such a good guy. One couldn't help but love him. Later, when I told my niece about his untimely demise, she almost burst out in tears. Monteith had that charming quality about him, the boy next door who could capture anyone's heart. Finn played football and was in the Glee Club, now that's not your run-of-the-mill jock for sure. So many of the television stars we have grown up with and loved have left us over the years. I remember watching Diff'rent Strokes as a child, and until today so many of us go around spouting that catchprase "Whatchu talking about Willis?" made famous by Gary Coleman's Arnold. Coleman was the child star of the 1980s – he was such a spunky character and seemed to be able to carry off all the best lines. Coleman eventually died in 2010 of brain haemorrhage. His Diff'rent Strokes co-star Dana Plato (who played Kimberley Drummond) died in 1999 of a drug overdose. I remember reading about the Diff'rent Strokes curse, and how all the three child stars of the show had always been plagued by emotional and drug problems. You can google the curse if you're interested to know more. There were three stars of Saturday Night Live – John Belushi, Chris Farley and John Candy! Although I never really watched much SNL, those three were famous enough for me to know about them, and to have watched them in many a movie. Belushi died in 1982 after overdosing on drugs, at the age of 33. Farley died in a similar manner at the same age! Candy, whom I am most familiar with because of his numerous movie appearances (Spaceballs, Uncle Buck and Planes, Trains And Automobiles) died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 43. All three were such great talents that went too soon. Remember Jon-Erik Hexum who played Phineas Bogg in the TV series Voyagers!? Bogg was a time traveller used a hand-held device called an Omni to travel in time so he could ensure that history unfolded properly. Strangely I can't remember details about the show but I remember liking it at the time, and I remember some of my classmates thinking Hexum was cute. The American model and actor died as a result of an accidental self-inflicted blank cartridge gunshot wound to the head on the set of another TV series, Cover Up, at the age of 26. What about Tattoo (Herve Villechaize)? Surely, you remember him and the series Fantasy Island. The French actor first became famous for his role as Nick Nack in The Man With The Golden Gun. In 1993, at the age of 50, the 1.19m actor ended his own life at his home, leaving a suicide note saying he was despondent over longtime health problems. So sad. There are many others – Brian Keith (of Hardcastle & McCormick fame, who committed suicide at the age of 75), Vic Morrow (my father's favourite actor from the series Combat!, who met a gruesome death when a stunt helicopter crashed on him during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1982), Nicholas Colasanto ("Coach" on Cheers, who died of a heart attack at 61), George Reeves (the original TV Superman, died at 45 from a gunshot), and David Carradine (you know, Kwai Chang Caine in Kung Fu, who died in 2009, of auto-erotic asphyxiation). Last but not least, we take a minute to remember the Crocodile Hunter himself, Steve Irwin (pic below). While most of the other stars mentioned above met sad deaths, I always like to think that Irwin died happy. The Aussie wildlife expert and conservationist died in 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming an underwater documentary film titled Ocean's Deadliest. He was in an environment that he loved, and he was doing what he enjoyed best. A pretty neat way for a wildlife warrior to bid the world adieu, methinks. – AMC |
| Posted: Beth Behrs spills the beans on what it's like starring in the hit sitcom 2 Broke Girls. ACTRESS Beth Behrs, who turns 28 on Boxing Day this year, has been performing on the theatre stage since she was five years old. These days, however, Behrs is more known for her portrayal as Caroline Channing in the popular sitcom 2 Broke Girls. Caroline is the ditzy trust fund princess who is forced to take up a waitressing job after her father is imprisoned for tax fraud and she goes broke. At the diner, she meets sassy, streetwise Max (played by Kat Dennings) who has a talent for baking. Together, they decide to start a business selling cupcakes, but since neither has the extra cash, Caroline and Max must keep working at the diner to achieve their goal. The sitcom started in 2011 and is now into its third season in the United States. In Malaysia, 2 Broke Girls is currently showing on Warner TV (HyppTV Ch 613) every Wednesday at 9pm. In an interview transcript provided by HyppTV, Behrs talks about starring in a TV show that is fast-gaining popularity worldwide. How are you most like your character, Caroline? I don't "come" from her – she came from a billionaire background to nothing. So, I can relate to the "nothing" part, to being broke, but it was hard for me to imagine what her life would have been like. I definitely share her optimism, and I think I've become even more optimistic as Beth because of playing her (Caroline) for so long – she's just like the eternal optimist! I can relate to her work ethic and drive. However, I'm a little bit more down to earth and goofier. What do you think is universal about this TV show that people all over the world can relate to? Well, I think everyone can relate to having a goal or a dream in life and what it takes to get there. No matter if you've been broke or rich, I think everyone can relate to having a goal and trying to reach it. Also, I think the friendship between the two girls is interesting. We have had fans coming up to us, who are like 80-year-old men, and then, there are 12-year-old girls. So, it's definitely cool to see how it's hitting. What about your relationship or friendship with Kat? (It's the) same way, we're such good friends. We're less opposite in real life than we are on the show. We're much more similar as far as our personalities are concerned. I'm not as prim and proper. And she's a little bit nicer than Max. So, we meet in the middle. We're very similar in real life ... we grew up with similar backgrounds and stuff. Do you think in real life it would be possible, this friendship between them? I think it's realistically possible because they both had nothing and needed each other. Like, Max before Caroline, was alone, and I think that she's enjoyed having some sort of family, because she didn't have one growing up. And then, Caroline needed that because she had lost everyone in her life that she was close to. So, I think their friendship is kind of built on needing each other. How do you balance your life? It's been a dream come true (becoming an actress) ... it's been amazing. I've loved it since I was a little kid, so I'm happy that I actually now get paid to do what I love every day. How has the show changed your life before and after? Is it a big deal? The crazy thing about us is we're kind of in a bubble when we're working. We're with each other at the studio and we have this family that we've had from Season One to Season Two. But then, I was in New York last week, and it's definitely interesting to be walking down the street and hear people yell, "Cupcakes!". Your day-to-day is definitely different when you're out in the real world. As far as how I've changed, nothing other than just being able to support myself, pay my rent every month, and not have to stress about it. |
| Posted: Donal Logue is happy to have a busy life. THOUGH actor Donal Logue is working on three TV shows simultaneously, set in three different centuries, filmed in three different countries, he doesn't depend on his acting career. The Canada-born actor has had his share of feckless days, but now, he's wisely diversified. "I have a trucking company and a hardwood company out of Oregon. Last year, I delivered loads to Los Angeles in an 18-wheeler, sold my first novel, did three TV shows. "I tell my kids (boys, 12 and 14) you can do whatever you want. When the front door's closed on you, you go around the back, break a window and you get in if you have to." Logue, who spent seven years as the young dad on Grounded For Life, is playing the Boss Tweed-like character on BBC America's Copper, which is filmed in Toronto, Canada. Of Irish descent, Logue identifies strongly with the role. "When the Irish showed up, they were the most wretched people that anyone had seen, because at that time in history, during the famine, they were dying by the millions," says Logue, who was a history major at Harvard. Logue also co-stars in Sons Of Anarchy, which is filmed in LA, and in The Vikings, which shoots in Dublin, Ireland. While he says he's grateful for the opportunity, he understands it could all end tomorrow. "Seventy-two hours in any direction can change your life," he says perched on a maroon-flowered settee in his publicist's office in LA. "I've been sober a long time. I quit drinking 22 years ago, and I'm always thinking you can make a weird decision in life ... It's just how to beak ruts." He has a history of breaking ruts. The biggest came when he was 25 and found himself drifting. "I was sitting in El Centro, doing drugs, listening to heavy metal on this boom box – a mobile home with lawn furniture in it, and someone said, 'Hey, bro, somebody said you went to Harvard.' I said, 'Yeah, I did.' "I realised I was supposed to be the guy who left this town on the Mexican border ... Then, one day you wake up and say, 'I own you. I dictate everything about your life. You need to feed me.' So, I said, enough is enough. I'm done with it. That was May of 1991 and it changed my life." Logue's parents were missionaries and he moved often as a kid. Adept at athletics, he showed promise in both tennis and soccer. When he was 14, he was a heralded distance runner with Olympic ambitions. But those dreaded 72 hours intervened. "I won this big race, and the next day, had to do a report but got hit by a car and was laid up for six months in traction." He suffered seven compound fractures in his right leg. "Hence, I spent all this time – my family had to work – so I was left in a room with a tennis ball can to pee in. I went from being this guy with all these athletic dreams. I was used to winning but I wasn't going to be that level of athlete anymore. I think those months made me become more inward thinking, reading all the time (changed me)." In his sophomore year, he became obstreperous and his parents sent him to England to live with his aunt and uncle. But he was kicked out of school there and returned. "So, I got back to the United States and made a promise to myself that I would clean up my act, get it together and focus on going for things, and using what I had," says Logue, whose unruly hair is captured loosely in a pony tail. "Luckily for me, an academic decathlon came along and I won the state speech championship that year. I went to Boys' Nation, which is this American Legion thing where they take a kid from every high school. I was elected Boys' Nation president, and got my pick of universities." But Harvard didn't save him either. He discovered acting. "My mother, Irish immigrant that she is, reacted as though I'd joined the motorcycle club. It was so heartbreaking," he says. After graduation, Logue, 47, found himself in Los Angeles. "I was working as a janitor and I was happy. Then, of course, the universe opens and someone says, 'You should talk to this casting director.' She says, 'We're doing this movie Sneakers and having a tough time casting this one part of a mathematician.' I went in and just nailed it. You get a few windows of opportunity – just recognise them." – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
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