It's completely personal. Between me and him. Karl Malden fucked up my
life, he really did. No matter how much I dig his talent - and I certainly do,
he's a Strasberg acting God, and I studied with Strasberg in New York in 1970
where he was treated as such, so I know - Malden is still the premiere putz in
my professional life. Or was. He's dead now. Great. Now I get to be pissed off
at a dead man.
I know you're sick of celebrity obituaries in this horrible week of death
and chaos, but this one's different. At this point I've got to pin you to the
wall like a drunk in a Hollywood bar, slurring my speech, hot breath in your
face, "You don't understand, no matter how good he was in Baby
Doll, I'm glad he's dead, that bastard..."
Luckily, I'm not that drunk. Here's what happened 20 years ago.
The 80s was my decade as film critic for the L.A. Weekly. While
trashing their films in print, I met most of Hollywood, and I considered it my
duty to photograph and distort it all. In a storage locker in Desert Hot Springs
there are thousands of ridiculous SX-70 Polaroid
portraits of the famous, the insane, and the dead. They've never been
published and rarely been seen by anyone except the subjects themselves - who
usually expressed either glee or abject horror. Due to copyright law, or maybe
just good old fashioned good taste, I've had an incredibly hard time getting my
work shown in public.
In 1989 a horrible mistake was made and I was voted in as a
member of the Los Angeles Film Critic's Association. Meetings in the incredible
homes of other film critics was truly inspiring. I was in a profession that
could lead to the good life. One day, just for fun, I brought a book of my
Polaroids to a meeting where it was eventually passed to Doug Edwards, who
turned out to be the curator of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
the ones who give the Oscars. I had no idea. He asked me if I'd like to have a
show in their lobby. Holy shit. The Academy lobby leads to the Samuel
Goldwyn Screening room, which is used almost every night for preview screenings
and premieres of major films. It's a perfect location to be seen by all of
Hollywood. Total legitimacy at last. You bet I said yes.
We picked 250 images for a mammoth show. Fifty would be blown up to
poster size, the rest displayed in eight groupings of 25 original Polaroids. My
opening date was Sept. 18, 1989. I met with their PR firm and they drew up a
press release.
The Polaroid Corporation agreed to sponsor the opening
night party, and we expected the press to show up to photograph celebrities
standing in front of their portraits. Entertainment Tonight, here I
come. My career was made. The anti-Annie Liebowitz.
Then the Academy voted in a new president, Karl Malden, who took one
look at my pictures, cancelled the press release, and said "Wait a minute.
Do we have releases from all of these people?"
Of course I didn't. I was a film critic for a local paper.
The subjects of the show were public figures whose pictures I was
literally invited to take at press conferences. I've been assured by the
constitution of the United States that nobody needs permission to display a
public figure's image on their wall. Nevertheless, Malden decided that my
pictures were weird and that some people might not like them. He declared
that no pictures would be shown without signed releases from the subjects.
Okee doke. No problem. That week, the Academy sent out black-and-white
Xerox copies of my pictures to all of the subjects themselves, along with a
letter asking for permission to display the picture in their lobby. The Xeroxes
were atrocious so I knew this was a bad idea, but I couldn't stop it.
Some of my subjects know my work. I was sure that Emilio Estevez would
say yes because one of my photos was once spied on his refrigerator. But I was
concerned about people like Ted Turner or Hugh Hefner or Menachem Golan. To
them, I would have been just another schmuck paparazzi who took their picture
one day and disappeared into the crowd. What would they think when they opened
their mail to find ugly Xeroxes of their faces distorted into hideous mutants,
along with a letter asking permission for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences to make an enormous blow-up of the monstrosity to display in a popular
public place where all their friends went?
66 people said yes, 22 said no, and 72 didn't respond. A lot of the answers
surprised me. Hefner said yes! Golan & Turner both said no. Steve Martin and
Whoopi Goldberg said yes.
Robin Williams said no, even though he's handsome and not distorted at all
in the picture.
Don Siegel said yes, Clint Eastwood said no, and they were both in the same
shot! (Not this one.)
But what did it matter who said no. My reaction was "Great, let's go.
66 pictures is plenty for a show." When's the last time you saw a gallery show
with 66 goddam photographs. More than enough. Doug Edwards agreed and the
blowups were actually ordered, but then the word came down from Malden. The
whole thing was cancelled. 66 yeses somehow confirmed in his mind that the show
must not go on. It was a question of whether the glass was half empty or half
full, though 22 noes is only a third of the yeses. He was worried about the
people who didn't respond. (Huh? Maybe they wouldn't like the ugly pictures of
other people who gave their permission?) Also, some of the negatives were big
negatives. Harry Dean Stanton not only said no, he threatened to sue the Academy
if they displayed my picture of him. (On what possible grounds? Malicious
surreal facial reconstruction of a celebrity in an artwork?) Here's the
shot.
In any case, Doug and I got the runaround. The Academy was enthusiastic
about the show, they looked forward to doing it, some time, maybe the next
spring, unless they got that new air conditioning system, which would mean the
lobby might be torn up, so they might do the show in another location, or
possibly later in the year.
Doug had a suggestion. "Let's just wait for the Academy to vote in a
new president," he said.
Two years later, it happened, Malden was out on his ass, and Doug
re-submitted the show to the new president, Robert Rehme, and he assured me it
was a shoe-in, asking me to call the following week.
The very next Monday, I opened the Los Angeles Times and was stunned to
read Doug Edward's obituary. He had died of AIDS. I didn't even know he was
sick.
The Academy was in turmoil. Nobody knew who would replace him or where my
portfolio was, and so I waited. On March 10, 1993, four years after the whole
process got started, I got my portfolio back from the Academy along with the
following letter.
Dear Mr. Dare,
I recognize your frustration in losing the chance for an
exhibition of your work, but I've discussed the situation with Bob Rehme and
Ric Robertson and we really don't see a place here for your show. The problem
isn't just the anticipated emphasis on in-house-generated exhibitions in the
near future. Call us Philistines, but the hard fact is that
no one here but Doug had ever been able to generate much enthusiasm for your
photos as a subject for the Academy's lobby. With Doug gone, you've lost your
only real advocate. However disappointing this news is, I'm hoping you'll find
a straightforward assessment of the situation more useful that one that might
encourage sure-to-be disappointed hopes. I hope you'll find another venue.
Sincerely,
Bruce Davis, Executive director
I could blame Bruce Davis or Bob Rehme or the Los Angeles Times for
delivering the bad news. Harry Dean Stanton, you got some splaining to do. Hell,
I could even blame AIDS. Stupid fucking disease that ruined my career. But
I tend to blame Karl Malden because everything was fine till HE butted in
his potato proboscis. Even though Harry Dean Stanton's reply proved he was
right in starting the vetting process, that's no excuse for cancelling the whole
show. You just drop the offending photo.
Somewhere in the Academy archives there are 66 signed releases from major
celebrities giving the Academy, and ONLY the Academy, permission to display my
pictures in public. Yeah, that's right. I can't even use them to get a
publishing deal. Nobody else will ever be able to compile such a list. You got
Baryshnikov's address?
It's not often you can point your finger at an individual who deliberately
called your career as a celebrity dickwad to a grinding halt. Maybe that's a
stupid thing to aspire to, but I can't help imagining the photos I'd be cranking
out now if things had gone another way. Maybe I wouldn't have gained all this
weight. It's Karl Malden's fault!
Sorry Karl. Yeah, you were in On the Waterfront, and you and your
method pals got me to New York for a whole series of adventures, but now
when Marlon Brando says "You don't understand! I coulda had class. I coulda
been a contender. I coulda been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am,"
it's got a whole other meaning. It's me talking to you.
Paul Krugman: HELP Is on the Way (nytimes.com)
Last week the budget office scored the proposed legislation from the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). And the news was good. Yes, we can reform health care.
Oedipus Wrecks (advocate.com)
When his mom started dating women, writer Brett Berk was amused. But now she's gayer than he is -- and he's confused.
"Gabriel García Márquez: A Life" by Gerald Martin: A Review by By Michael Greenberg (nybooks.com)
When Gabriel García Márquez finished writing 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' in August 1966, he was almost forty, the father of two young boys, and so broke that he didn't have enough money to send the manuscript from Mexico City to his prospective publisher in Buenos Aires. The anecdote is famous, one of many that have contributed to García Márquez's carefully molded public image as a literary populist and everyman genius.
Amy Huntington: The Diva of French Television (advocate.com)
A hot young screenwriter who has made gay OK for millions of French viewers, Nicolas Mercier sips champagne, dons a feathered hat, and says he wants to see Colin Farrell and Jude Law go at it.
Roger Ebert: "Karl Malden: In Memory"
Karl Malden, who won an Academy Award for one of the best American films and became a household name for a TV commercial, is dead at 97. He died at home in Brentwood of natural causes, according to his family.
He had his own television talk show, The Joey Bishop Show (1967-1969), a 90-minute late-night talk show on ABC . His co-host for this show was then-newcomer Regis Philbin .
Source
Brian was first, and correct, with:
Regis Philbin was Joey Bishop's sidekick.
mj answered:
Regis Philbin.
Charlie replied:
It was Regis Philbin.
BGRDDAD answered:
Regis Philbin
Jim from CA wrote:
Regis Philbin
Sally said:
I believe that Regis Philbin was Joey Bishop's sidekick on the short-lived, "The Joey Bishop Show."
PS: This is starting out to be our THIRD DAY of sun here on the eastern sea coast! My flowers are perking up, the garden reviving, and the grass is oh, so green - this could be too good to be true...
Alan J responded:
Regis Philbin
Bruce S answered:
Regis Philbin was Joey's tear-stricken sidekick.
It was not especially sucessful -or long running, and some personnel changes were contemplated.
"They're trying to take me off the air," said Regis line on air to Joey.
Joey saved his job. Did Regis ever have Joey on his A.M. talk show?
Willow replied:
Regis Philbin
MAM replied:
On The Joey Bishop Show (1967-1969), Joey's sidekick was Regis Philbin.
Regis Philbin and Joey Bishop 1967
joe b responded:
I had to look it up, it was Regis Philbin.
Sally you're welcome, my Dad was a big
catholic he was real proud of that.
I quit religion when I was a kid.
And, Joe S wrote:
The one, the only, (older than dirt) REGIS PHILBIN!
Joey and Regis
CBS begins the night with a RERUN'NCIS', followed by a RERUN'The Mentalist', then '48 Hours'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave are Sacha Baron Cohen, Joel McHale, and Rob Thomas.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig are Evan Rachel Wood and Christopher Gorham.
NBC starts the night with the SERIES PREMIERE'Road Trip', followed by a FRESH'America's Got Talent', then a RERUN'Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'.
Scheduled on a FRESHConan are Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Connolly, and Andrew Bird.
On a RERUNJimmy Fallon (from 6/1/09) are Anne Hathaway, Will Forte, Jon Favreau, and Mario Batali.
On a RERUNCarson 'The Scab' Daly (from 3/11/09) are Patton Oswalt, M83.
ABC opens the night with a FRESH'The Superstars', followed by a RERUN'Better Off Ted', then a RERUN'Scrubs', followed by 'Primetime: Family Secrets'.
On a RERUNJimmy Kimmel (from 6/18/09) are Kathy Griffin, Ramon Rodriguez, and Ben Harper.
The CW offers a RERUN'90210', followed by a RERUN'Hitched Or Ditched'.
Faux fills the night with the movie 'Legally Blonde 2: Red, White And Blonde'.
MY has the FRESH'Heroes Among Us: 2009 Hero Awards', followed by 'Jail', and another 'Jail'.
A&E has 'The First 48', another 'The First 48', followed by a FRESH'The First 48', then a FRESH'The Cleaner'.
AMC offers the movie 'Hellfighters', followed by the movie 'Chisum', then the movie 'Joe Kidd'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 2
[12:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 3
[1:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 9
[1:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 11
[2:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Revisited - Ep 3 Moore Place
[3:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 5
[4:00 PM] The Hotel Inspector - Episode 6
[5:00 PM] Gordon Ramsay's F Word - Episode 6
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 3 Rococo
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America
[8:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 1
[9:00 PM] The Apprentice UK - Episode 11
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America
[11:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 1
[12:00 AM] The Apprentice UK - Episode 11
[1:00 AM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 1
[2:00 AM] The Apprentice UK - Episode 11
[3:00 AM] The Graham Norton Show - Ep 9 Nigella Lawson, Rhianna and Marilyn Manson
[4:00 AM] How Clean Is Your House? US - Episode 9
[4:30 AM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 11
[5:00 AM] BBC World News
[6:00 AM] BBC World News (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'NYC Prep', another 'NYC Prep', followed by a FRESH'NYC Prep', and another 'NYC Prep'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', an old 'Jon Stewart', an old 'Colbert Report', 'South Park', another 'South Park', still another "South Park', and yet another 'South Park'.
On a RERUNJon Stewart (from 6/29/09) is Dr. Oliver Sacks.
On a RERUNColbert Report (from 7/1/09) is Nicholas Kristof.
FX has the movie 'Click', followed by the movie 'Wild Hogs', followed by a FRESH'Rescue Me'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', 'Ancient Aliens', followed by a FRESH'That's Impossible'.
IFC -
[7:30 AM] IFC Shorts
[8:00 AM] Tom Dowd & the Language of Music
[9:35 AM] Mon Oncle Antoine
[11:30 AM] Millions
[1:15 PM] Melinda and Melinda
[3:00 PM] Tom Dowd & the Language of Music
[4:35 PM] Mon Oncle Antoine
[6:30 PM] Melinda and Melinda
[8:15 PM] Confidence
[8:15 PM] Confidence
[10:00 PM] Z Rock
[10:30 PM] Ideal
[11:00 PM] B-Live Music Blast
[11:15 PM] Food Party
[11:30 PM] Wrong Door
[12:00 AM] The Cooler
[1:45 AM] B-Live Music Blast
[2:00 AM] The Whitest Kids U'Know
[2:15 AM] Food Party
[2:30 AM] Wrong Door
[3:00 AM] Z Rock
[3:30 AM] Ideal
[4:00 AM] The Cooler
[5:45 AM] Jinx (ALL TIMES EDT)
SciFi has the movie 'National Treasure', followed by the SERIES PREMIERE'Warehouse 13'.
Sundance -
[06:00 AM] The World
[08:30 AM] The Tiger and the Snow
[10:30 AM] Kippur
[12:30 PM] This is England
[02:15 PM] Volver
[04:20 PM] Tragic Story With A Happy Ending
[04:30 PM] The World
[07:00 PM] Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
[08:50 PM] Tragic Story With A Happy Ending
[09:00 PM] The Lazy Environmentalist: Episode 4
[09:30 PM] Is Your House Killing You?: Episode 6
[10:00 PM] Everything's Cool
[11:35 PM] Madame Tutli Putli
[12:00 AM] The Last Mistress
[02:00 AM] This is England
[03:45 AM] The Lazy Environmentalist: Episode 4
[04:15 AM] Is Your House Killing You?: Episode 6
[04:45 AM] Everything's Cool (ALL TIMES EDT)
British actor Bill Nighy is seen as he volunteers in an Oxfam charity book shop, during the launch of Oxfam Bookfest, their first national book festival, at a store in central London, Monday, July 6 2009.
Photo by Joel Ryan
Actor Kal Penn started a new job Monday as a liaison between the White House and Asian communities.
The Indian-American actor is taking a break from Hollywood to work as an associate director in the Office of Public Liaison, with a focus on connecting Obama with the Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities, as well as arts groups.
Penn had a recurring role on Fox's TV show "House" and starred in several films including "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" and its sequel, "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay"
Penn described the public liaison office as the "front door to the White House." He said his job would be engaging with constituent communities and making sure they feel that they have a seat at the table.
Monty Python stars are to stage a major reunion for the first time in more than a decade to mark the show's 40th anniversary.
Four of the main six stars - including Michael Palin and Eric Idle - will be taking part in the musical adaptation of Life Of Brian, called Not The Messiah (He's A Very Naughty Boy).
However John Cleese is unable to attend the European premiere of the show at the Royal Albert Hall on October 23. The sixth member of the team, Graham Chapman, died in 1989.
Not The Messiah features guest appearances from Palin together with other original Pythons Terry Jones and film director Terry Gilliam. Carol Cleveland, another regular from the TV series, is also to appear, together with songwriter Neil Innes.
Actor Benicio del Toro met with convicts inside a Puerto Rican prison Monday, offering encouragement to a jailhouse theater group and a few tips from his own Oscar-winning career.
The Puerto Rico-born actor interrupted his vacation in the U.S. Caribbean territory for the talk at Bayamon Regional Prison outside the capital, San Juan.
"I believe everyone needs a second chance," del Toro told about 30 inmates who take part in the theater group. "I am here to help reaffirm that as long as there is life, you can still help society in some way, you can improve yourself."
He encouraged the inmates to read as part of their rehabilitation, saying reading has been crucial to his own growth as an actor.
Scott Hennen, left, and Ed Schultz announce in Fargo, N.D. on Monday, July 6, 2009 a radio broadcasting partnership that will feature the two talk show hosts. Hennen has purchased two Lisbon, N.D., radio stations and announced Schultz will be providing programming for one of the stations and the pair will appear on air together every Thursday.
Photo by David Samson
In her most famous song, "Torn," Natalie Imbruglia sings of loneliness and shame.
They are feelings the Australian pop star is hoping to spare hundreds of thousands of women suffering with fistula. She brought her campaign to the United Nations on Monday, urging international support for women who have a hole in their birth canals as a result of childbirth without assistance or with complications.
"There's a lot of shame," said Imbruglia, who has been a spokeswoman since 2005 for an obstetric fistula program supported the U.N. Population Fund and the charitable arm of the Virgin Group.
Once common worldwide, fistula was eradicated by medical care in Europe and North America a century ago but still affects more than 2 million people in developing nations, according to UNFPA. Women with fistula experience incontinence and often give birth to a stillborn baby. Untreated, fistula can also lead to chronic medical problems, including ulcerations, kidney disease and nerve damage in the legs.
When the new GI Bill kicks in Aug. 1, the government's best-known education program for veterans will get the biggest boost since its World War II-era creation. But the benefit is hardly the "Government Issue," one-size-fits-all standard the name implies.
In fact, depending on where service members and veterans decide to attend college, they could receive a full ride, or very little.
Veterans attending New Hampshire colleges like Dartmouth might get $25,000 from the government each year, and in Dartmouth's case essentially a free ride, thanks to an additional grant from the Ivy League school. But in neighboring Massachusetts, it is a different story. At that state's numerous private schools - many just as expensive as Dartmouth - the government's baseline tuition benefit is only about $2,200 a year.
Veterans who choose a private school in Texas could get close to $20,000 a semester from the government for a typical course load. Those picking schools in California will get nothing for tuition.
A model displays a creations by Hong Kong's fashion designer Michael Lau during a show at the Hong Kong Fashion week Monday, July 6, 2009.
Photo by Vincent Yu
Dane Cook's half brother has been indicted on additional charges that he stole more than $11 million from the comedian, prosecutors said Monday.
Darryl McCauley, 43, of Wilmington, allegedly wrote company checks to himself and transferred funds into his personal bank accounts while being paid $12,500 a month to serve as business manager for Cook's company, Great Dane Enterprises.
A Middlesex grand jury indicted him late last week on 20 new counts of larceny over $250 for allegedly stealing from Cook between March 2004 and December 2008. He had pleaded not guilty in March to larceny and other charges in the case.
McCauley's wife, Erika, also has pleaded not guilty to charges that she helped her husband steal millions from Cook. They are both being held on $1 million bail each.
A federal court says a former manager of 1950s doo-wop group The Drifters could be entitled to millions of dollars from concert promoters who've infringed on the band's trademark.
The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled last week in favor of ex-manager Faye Treadwell. The Glendale, Calif., resident has fought a lengthy legal battle over the name of the group, which sang such classics as "Up on the Roof" and "Under the Boardwalk."
The ruling allows Treadwell to seek damages from New York City promoter Larry Marshak and his associates, who've promoted the group since 2001.
Marshak promoted concerts featuring new members of The Drifters, The Platters and The Coasters, which had their heyday in the 1950s and '60s.
Actress Joyce DeWitt is shown in this El Segundo, California police department booking photograph released to Reuters July 6, 2009. DeWitt, star of the "Three's Company" TV series, was arrested in El Segundo, California July 4, 2009 for suspicion of DUI.
Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican, said in the video posted Sunday that society is glorifying a "low-life" while hardworking teachers, police officers, firefighters and veterans don't get the credit they deserve.
"This guy was a pervert," King said in the video, shot Sunday by a staff member outside an American Legion hall. "He was a child molester. He was a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country?"
The congressman called the coverage of Jackson's death too politically correct.
King is considering seeking the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, which is up in 2010.
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" finished the Fourth of July weekend in first place again with $42.3 million, according to distributor Paramount.
That put the "Transformers" sequel narrowly ahead of 20th Century Fox's "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," which took in $41.7 million over the weekend.
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com:
1. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," Paramount, $42,320,877, 4,234 locations, $9,995 average, $293,355,885, two weeks.
2. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," Fox, $41,690,382, 4,099 locations, $10,171 average, $66,732,868, one week.
3. "Public Enemies," Universal, $25,271,675, 3,334 locations, $7,580 average, $40,141,080, one week.
4. "The Proposal," Disney, $12,857,482, 3,099 locations, $4,149 average, $94,335,111, three weeks.
5. "The Hangover," Warner Bros., $11,268,413, 3,070 locations, $3,670 average, $205,038,233, five weeks.
6. "Up," Disney, $6,521,389, 2,656 locations, $2,455 average, $264,816,694, six weeks.
7. "My Sister's Keeper," Warner Bros., $5,788,327, 2,606 locations, $2,221 average, $26,518,582, two weeks.
8. "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," Sony, $2,534,228, 1,908 locations, $1,328 average, $58,508,070, four weeks.
9. "Year One," Sony, $2,323,843, 2,240 locations, $1,037 average, $38,304,392, three weeks.
10. "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," Fox, $2,043,288, 1,419 locations, $1,440 average, $167,706,959, seven weeks.
11. "Star Trek," Paramount, $1,769,967, 1,148 locations, $1,542 average, $249,838,139, nine weeks.
12. "Away We Go," Focus, $1,098,212, 506 locations, $2,170 average, $6,077,303, five weeks.
13. "Whatever Works," Sony Pictures Classics, $960,061, 353 locations, $2,720 average, $1,911,011, three weeks.
14. "Kambakkht Ishq," Eros, $768,542, 100 locations, $7,685 average, $768,542, one week.
15. "Cheri," Miramax, $388,994, 140 locations, $2,779 average, $1,023,909, two weeks.
16. "Land of the Lost," Universal, $306,025, 385 locations, $795 average, $47,622,470, five weeks.
17. "Terminator Salvation," Warner Bros., $296,372, 311 locations, $953 average, $122,678,310, seven weeks.
18. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," Fox, $296,352, 303 locations, $978 average, $178,341,745, 10 weeks.
19. "Imagine That," Paramount, $278,244, 409 locations, $680 average, $14,780,593, four weeks.
20. "Under the Sea," Warner Bros., $266,728, 38 locations, $7,019 average, $11,632,367, 21 weeks.
Shi Pei Pu, a Chinese operatic soprano who along with his French lover was convicted of espionage and whose complicated affair inspired the Tony Award-winning Broadway play "M. Butterfly" and the movie of the same title, has died. He was 70.
Shi had been working as a librettist and soprano for the Beijing Opera and taught Chinese to diplomats' families when he met Bernard Boursicot in 1964 during a Christmas party at the home of a mutual associate. Boursicot, then a 20-year-old clerk working for the French Embassy in Beijing, later said the relationship started platonically, out of interest in forging "a good friendship with a Chinese person."
It turned romantic, with Shi going to extraordinary lengths to hide his sex. Shi told Boursicot that he was a woman and only pretending to be a man. Boursicot, who was not experienced in such things, took Shi at his word.
Boursicot soon left China for assignments that kept him away several years, but Shi reinforced their relationship by claiming to have given birth in Boursicot's absence to their child.
The child, a boy named Shi Du Du, was later revealed to be a Muslim minority Uighur sold by his mother to Shi.
After Boursicot returned to China in the late 1960s, secret police discovered his relationship with Shi. The police were alarmed that Shi was involved with a Westerner at a time when China was closed to much of the outside world.
Afraid for Shi's life, Boursicot said, he began passing French Embassy documents through Shi to a Chinese agent. Boursicot continued to spy for China while posted in Mongolia in the late 1970s and used Shi as an intermediary.
The stress of spying and the strained long-distance relationship led Boursicot to return to Paris, where he lived with another male lover. In 1982, he arranged for Shi and their "son," known as Bertrand, to emigrate on diplomatic visas. For a time, they and the other man lived together.
The arrangement attracted the attention of French counterespionage authorities, mostly because Shi was a foreign national living in the apartment of a foreign service employee. After an investigation, French police arrested Shi and Boursicot in 1983 on charges of espionage.
In 1986, they were convicted and sentenced to six years in prison. Boursicot later told the New York Times that only during the trial did he learn Shi's true sex. In testimony, Shi described how for years he had kept Boursicot literally in the dark -- in large part by having sex rarely, quickly and with the lights off.
Shi was born in 1938 in China's eastern Shandong province. After his conviction, he remained in Paris singing in minor opera productions. Survivors include his son and three grandchildren. Boursicot, now 64, kept in sporadic touch with Shi since their conviction and is recovering from a stroke at a nursing home in France, according to the New York Times.
The Broadway production "M. Butterfly," written by David Henry Hwang and the 1988 Tony Award winner for best play, re-creates the romantic tribulations of Shi and Boursicot. John Lithgow and later Anthony Hopkins portrayed a fictionalized Boursicot on stage, with actor B.D. Wong in the Shi role. The 1993 film, directed by David Cronenberg, starred Jeremy Irons and John Lone.
A horse runs in a meadow as the fog raises from a steaming forest during sunset after a storm on July 6, 2009 at the central Bohemian country side near the city of Votice, Czech Republic.
Photo by Petr Josek
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Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better,
amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican musicians?
Just plain vile, filthy rumors?
This is your place.
The Polaroid Corporation agreed to sponsor the opening
night party, and we expected the press to show up to photograph celebrities
standing in front of their portraits. Entertainment Tonight, here I
come. My career was made. The anti-Annie Liebowitz.
Of course I didn't. I was a film critic for a local paper.
The subjects of the show were public figures whose pictures I was
literally invited to take at press conferences. I've been assured by the
constitution of the United States that nobody needs permission to display a
public figure's image on their wall. Nevertheless, Malden decided that my
pictures were weird and that some people might not like them. He declared
that no pictures would be shown without signed releases from the subjects.
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