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Australian writer-director Michael Jenkins, known for provocative Australia teen drama Heartbreak High, has died aged 77.

His management confirmed his death via through his partner, Amanda Robson. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2020. His friend, Ian Barry, wrote in a tribute that he had passed away on March 4 with Robson and close family by his side.

The statement from Jenkins’ management said that his “contributions to the entertainment industry and his legacy as a film-maker and storyteller will be well remembered.”

Known for a gritty and frenetic style of directing, Jenkins was behind some of Australia’s most notable TV series, with his internationally-popular 1990s high school drama Heartbreak High was rebooted for Netflix in 2022. He had initially co-created the series, which helped launch the career of The Mentalist actor Simon Baker, with Ben Gannon for Network Ten in 1994.

He was also behind Blue Murder, the Australian series...

Writer, director and producer Michael Jenkins, known for TV series such as 'Blue Murder', 'Wildside' and 'Scales of Justice', as well as feature film 'The Heartbreak Kid', which spawned 'Heartbreak High', died on Monday, aged 77. Ian Barry penned this tribute to his friend and colleague.

The post “A prodigious creator”: Vale Michael Jenkins, writer, director and producer appeared first on If Magazine.

Peter Farrelly might now be known as the man behind the controversial Best Picture winner Green Book, but he wasn’t always known for directing Oscar bait. He and his brother Bobby Farrelly got their start in the mid-to-late 90s with comedy classics such as Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, and Kingpin. But after a string of lackluster comedies such as The Heartbreak Kid remake, Hall Pass, The Three Stooges, and the disappointing sequel Dumb and Dumber To, the Farrellys took a break from the big screen.

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Don't worry, Teddy (Gene Wilder). Buddy (Charles Grodin) isn't going to take your girl, he's gay.The recently passed Charles Grodin (1935-2021) leaves behind an enviable film career. From Beethoven to Clifford, Grodin mastered being the “straight man” in comedies opposite zany characters. The master of reaction shots, Grodin knew how to wring laughs out of being the “put upon wet blanket.” His career features many other great performances, including The Heartbreak Kid, Midnight Run, Heaven Can Wait, The Great Muppet Caper, Dave and Ishtar. In all of the many obituaries that have recently been written about him, few have mentioned his role as Buddy in The Woman in Red ...and with good reason. The movie may have won an Oscar (Best Original Song for Steve Wonder's "I Just Called To Say I Love You"), but it has little cultural footprint today.

Nevertheless, she persisted.

Elaine May, who turns 89 on Wednesday, has enjoyed a late career resurgence, earning a Tony Award for her work in Kenneth Lonergan’s play “The Waverly Gallery” and directing an acclaimed documentary on her friend and frequent collaborator Mike Nichols for American Masters. Even “Ishtar,” her much derided 1987 flop, clawed its way into the black by the early aughts, as emails from the Sony hack revealed.

And yet, it’s impossible not to feel as though movie lovers and comedy fans have been robbed of decades of great work because the entertainment industry never quite knew what to make of May. Her struggles to remain true to her unbending artistic compass in a bottom-line-driven industry derailed her directing ambitions. May’s resume is slender, consisting of just four features, but what’s there is choice. There are three masterworks, “Mikey and Nicky,” “The Heartbreak Kid” and “A New Leaf,...

John Carter, the pioneering African-American film editor whose credits spanned 1968’s Paper Lion and the original The Heartbreak Kid through Lean On Me, Barbershop and Madea’s Family Reunion, died August 13 at his home in White Plains, New York. He was 95.

Carter’s death was reported by his family in a notice in The New York Times. He was the first African-American editor to join the American Cinema Editors society.

A native of Newark, New Jersey, Carter began his career with Paper Lion, the comedy-drama based on George Plimpton’s New Journalism classic chronicling the author’s first-person account of enduring a grueling Detroit Lions training camp. The film starred Alan Alda as a fictionalized Plimpton.

Prior to Paper Lion, Carter had worked for 12 years at CBS – the family says he was the first African-American film editor employed by network television in New York – finishing his career there as supervising...

John Carter, the first African-American to join the American Cinema Editors Society, died Aug. 13 at his home in White Plains, N.Y., according to a listing in the New York Times. He was 95.

His credits included “The Heartbreak Kid,” “Paper Lion,” and “Barbershop” and he received a BAFTA nomination for best film editing in 1971 for “Taking Off.”

Carter was born in Newark, N. J., on Sept. 22, 1922. He served in the U.S. Army as a staff sergeant trained at the New York Institute of Photography and took an apprenticeship with the Signal Corps Pictorial Center.

Carter was hired by CBS in 1956 and became the first African-American editor for network television in New York. He gained experience in CBS’ documentary unit before creating his own production company, John Carter Associates.

Other film credits incluced “Lean on Me,” “The Karate Kid Part III,” “Men of Honor,” “The Formula,” “Mikey and Nicky,” “Friday,” “Madea’s Family Reunion,...

John Carter, the pioneering African-American film editor who worked on The Heartbreak Kid, Paper Lion and Barbershop and shaped powerful documentaries about Martin Luther King Jr. and Solomon Northup, has died. He was 95.

Carter died Aug. 13 at his home in White Plains, New York, his daughter Carolyn told The Hollywood Reporter.

The first African-American to join the American Cinema Editors society, Carter co-edited the George Plimpton football tale Paper Lion (1968); Lean on Me (1989), starring Morgan Freeman as real-life high school principal Joe Clark; The Karate Kid Part III (1989), one of three features he did with director John G. Avildsen; and Men of ...

Filtered through her experience as an unequalled comic performer, writer-director Elaine May scores a bulls-eye with this grossly underappreciated gem, fashioned in a style that could be called ‘black comedy lite.’ And that’s the release version mangled by the producer. What might it have been if May had been allowed to finish her director’s cut?

A New Leaf Olive Signature

Blu-ray

Olive Films

1971 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 102 min. / Street Date December 5, 2017 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.99

Starring: Walter Matthau, Elaine May, Jack Weston, George Rose, James Coco, Doris Roberts, Renée Taylor, William Redfield, David Doyle.

Cinematography: Gayne Rescher

Original Music: Neal Hefti

Written by Elaine May from a story by Jack Ritchie

Produced by Hilliard Elkins, Howard W. Koch, Joseph Manduke

Directed by Elaine May

Olive’s next title up for Signature Collection status is A New Leaf, the directing debut of comedienne-writer Elaine May. It’s certainly a worthy title.

The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (September 5) to present Honorary Awards to writer-director Charles Burnett, cinematographer Owen Roizman, actor Donald Sutherland and director Agnès Varda. The four Oscar® statuettes will be presented at the Academy’s 9th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 11, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.

“This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy President John Bailey.

Born in Mississippi and raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Burnett is an independent filmmaker whose work has been praised for its portrayal of the African-American experience. He wrote, directed, produced, photographed and edited his first feature film, “Killer of Sheep,” in 1977. His other features include “My Brother’s Wedding,...

The annual honorary Governors Awards are when Oscar lobbyists see the first results of the season, and this batch is notable for its global diversity: a Belgian woman filmmaker, a Canadian movie star, and an African-American director. The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted September 5, and they go to actor Donald Sutherland, writer-director Agnes Varda, and American independent filmmaker Charles Burnett and cinematographer Owen Roizman.

The statues will be presented November 11 at the 9th annual Governors Awards ceremony at Hollywood & Highland.

“This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy president John Bailey.

Read More:New Academy President John Bailey is Willing to Ask if Movies Need Theaters For Oscar Qualification, and Other Radical Ideas

Never nominated for an Oscar, Canadian-born...

The annual honorary Governors Awards are when Oscar lobbyists see the first results of the season, and this batch is notable for its global diversity: a Belgian woman filmmaker, a Canadian movie star, and an African-American director. The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted September 5, and they go to actor Donald Sutherland, writer-director Agnes Varda, and American independent filmmaker Charles Burnett and cinematographer Owen Roizman.

The statues will be presented November 11 at the 9th annualGovernors Awards ceremony at Hollywood & Highland.

“This year’s Governors Awards reflect the breadth of international, independent and mainstream filmmaking, and are tributes to four great artists whose work embodies the diversity of our shared humanity,” said Academy president John Bailey.

Read More:New Academy President John Bailey is Willing to Ask if Movies Need Theaters For Oscar Qualification, and Other Radical Ideas

Canadian-born Sutherland began his career — boasting more...

Comedian, actor and writer Richard Lewis is letting go of a stylish Los Angeles home for a relatively modest $1.559 million.

The two-bedroom, two-bath home was built in 1926, the same year the nearby Chateau Marmont and Sunset Tower first opened their doors, the listing points out. But it’s not just the neighborhood that has Old Hollywood ties: the property was previously owned by screen legend Eddie Albert, who starred in Roman Holiday and The Heartbreak Kid among others.

Prospective residents will find an open-air living room with a wet bar well-suited for a Hollywood lifestyle, old or new. Multiple terraces...

Exclusive: Jeannie Berlin, who won critical acclaim as the prosecuting attorney in HBO’s miniseries The Night Of opposite John Turturro, has just signed with ICM Partners. Berlin, who is getting some Emmy buzz for her performance in that role, also co-starred this year as Jessie Eisenberg's mother in Woody Allen’s Café Society. Berlin, daughter of the great Elaine May, also worked with Paul Thomas Anderson on Inherent Vice. She was in May’s original The Heartbreak Kid and…...

Exclusive: Jeannie Berlin, who won critical acclaim as the prosecuting attorney in HBO’s miniseries The Night Of opposite John Turturro, has just signed with ICM Partners. Berlin, who is getting some Emmy buzz for her performance in that role, also co-starred this year as Jessie Eisenberg's mother in Woody Allen’s Café Society. Berlin, daughter of the great Elaine May, also worked with Paul Thomas Anderson on Inherent Vice. She was in May’s original The Heartbreak Kid and…...

Woody Allen narrates CAFÉ Society, his 47th film and at age 80, his voice is sounding sadly geezerish. Set in the mid-1930’s, CAFÉ Society has a cool period soundtrack, an older man courting a much younger woman, a Jewish family kibitzing around the dinner table, quotable dialog on love and life, and a neurotic Jewish hero channeling a much younger Woody. In other words, all the elements of a great Woody Allen film. It also has Vittorio Storaro’s rapturous cinematography (a Woody first) and a terrific and complex central performance from Jesse Eisenberg. CAFÉ Society is the most romantic Woody since Annie Hall and one of his best.

Leaving his (very) Jewish family back in the Bronx, young Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) heads west to “learn the movie business” from his Uncle Phil (Steve Carell), a bigtime Hollywood talent agent. Phil assigns his captivating, but romantically unavailable, secretary Vonnie...

A review of tonight's The Night Of coming up just as soon as this blog is like Jeopardy... "The truth can go to hell, because it doesn't help you." -Jack Where last week's premiere understandably spent most of its time on Naz, "Subtle Beast" more evenly splits things between lawyer and client, allowing us to really get to know the man who's going to try to keep Naz from going to prison for the rest of his life. It's a simultaneously funny and poignant running gag throughout the episode that everyone Jack encounters — cops, lawyers, judges, even his ex-wife — instantly recognizes that he must have stumbled into a case this big, even as they all seem to be rooting for him. Whatever ambition he may have once had in life has long since given way to his life as a bottom-feeder, handing out "No Fee Till You're Free" business cards...

Doris Roberts, the longtime actress who for nine seasons played Ray Romano's meddling mother Marie on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, died Sunday night at her home in Los Angeles. Roberts was 90. The actress' son Michael Cannata confirmed his mother's death to Deadline, adding that Roberts died in her sleep of natural causes.

Roberts was nominated for seven Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy Awards over the course of Everybody Loves Raymond's nine seasons and 210 episodes, taking home the award in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. Roberts also won an...

Whoever Miley Cyrus' agent is, I hope the actress/singer/personality got them a decent Christmas present, because they are opening some pretty big doors. Last month, we saw Cyrus drop by Sofia Coppola's "A Very Murray Christmas," and now, the star has snagged a role in another auteur driven project for a streaming giant. Read More: The 25 Most Anticipated New TV Shows Of 2016 Deadline reports that the unlikely duo of Miley Cyrus and the legendary screenwriter and director Elaine May ("Tootsie," "The Heartbreak Kid") will star in Woody Allen's Amazon series, alongside the director himself. And believe it or not, there are some details. The series will run across six half-hour episodes, and be set in the 1960s. Other than that, no exact plot details, but it's a reunion for May and Allen who previously worked together on the director's "Small Time Crooks."  Production will begin in March,...

As is his wont, no plot details have shaken from Woody Allen's next picture. But, as usual, his "Irrational Man" followup will be produced by Letty Arsonson, Stephen Tenenbaum and Edward Walson. And the full cast list has dropped. Jeannie Berlin, Corey Stoll and Ken Stott now join previously announced players Parker Posey (who shines as an amorous professor in "Irrational Man"), Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Kristen Stewart and Bruce Willis. Co-stars are Anna Camp, Stephen Kunken, Sari Lennick and Paul Schneider. Casting Parker Posey again was a no-brainer. She has said she always wanted to work with the prolific director. Character actress Jeannie Berlin (of Elaine May's "The Heartbreak Kid") has never been in an Allen picture, surprisingly. Also a storied stage actress, she's fabulous in Kenneth Lonergan's film "Margaret." The film reportedly begins filming this month on location in New York and Los Angeles. Read More: The 9 Women You.

Woody Allen unveiled the cast of his latest untitled film, which will begins shooting this month on location in New York and Los Angeles. As typical with an Allen production, the cast was listed in alphabetical order, just like the credits appear onscreen. The cast includes Jeannie Berlin (the daughter of Elaine May and a supporting actress Oscar nominee for The Heartbreak Kid), Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Parker Posey, Kristen Stewart, Corey Stoll, Ken Stott and Bruce Willis. Co-stars are Anna Camp, Stephen Kunken, Sari Lennick and Paul Schneider. Allen’s new film is produced by his long-time collaborators,

read more...

It’s been a staggering twenty-nine years since legendary “Charade” and “Singin’ in the Rain” director Stanley Donen last had a film on the big screen—the 1999 Laura Linney and Steven Weber-starring TV movie “Love Letters” is last his directorial credit—but at age 89 he’s considering getting back behind the camera and into the director’s chair. Showbiz 411 reports Donen has co-written a comedy with his significant other and the great director behind “Ishtar” and “The Heartbreak Kid," Elaine May, that will be produced by fellow icon Mike Nichols, no less. What’s it about? “The making of a movie and everything that goes wrong” said a source to the site. A private reading was held a few weeks ago that included Christopher Walken, Charles Grodin and Ron Rifkin. Count us in. It was in the summer of 2011 that “The Fifth Beatle,” one of two competing biopics of legendary Beatles manager Brian Epstein,...

Few films bring us as much joy as Singin’ in the Rain. According to ShowBiz411, director Stanley Donen has a new movie on the way — his first time behind the camera since a 1999 TV movie and almost 30 years since his last theatrical feature, Blame It on Rio. The new project is cowritten with his significant other, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and The Heartbreak Kid director Elaine May, and will be produced by Mike Nichols. The legendary partnership is promising a “wry” comedic tale about the making of a movie and everything that goes wrong with it — a familiar formula, but a welcome one. Other details are sparse so far, but the website does reveal a list of names who read for investors: Christopher Walken, Charles Grodin, Ron...

Read More...

Legendary director Stanley Donen, the helmer of such classics as "Singing in the Rain" and "Charade", is considering his first directorial effort since 1984's "Blame it on Rio".

The 89-year-old filmmaker has reportedly written a comedy script with his significant other, actress and filmmaker Elaine May. Mike Nichols is already on board the project as a producer.

No details are available on the story other than it's said to be a film about the making of a film where everything than can go wrong, does.

In fact a private reading for investors was recently held with the likes of Christopher Walken, Charles Grodin, Ron Rifkin, and Jeannie Berlin involved.

Donen's first feature was 1949's "On the Town" which lead to numerous film classics including "Royal Wedding," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and "Funny Face".

May wrote "Heaven Can Wait", performed an uncredited re-write on "Tootsie," and directed "The Heartbreak Kid...

What is the statute of limitations on a notorious flop? Elaine May’s “Ishtar” finally gets a North American Blu-ray release this week (the rest of the world has had the DVD since 2004), a release that was itself delayed by two and a half years from its originally mooted date of January 2011—an ironic echo of the protracted and painful post-production process the film went through back in 1986/87. But then, nothing about the production and release of "Ishtar" was simple, just as there is nothing particularly straightforward about its brilliant, elusive and often "difficult" writer/director. The directorial portion of Elaine May’s career represents a relatively small slice of her output overall—just four films, of which just one, “The Heartbreak Kid” (the only one she didn’t also write) was a box-office hit. And another was one of the biggest flops of all time, so much so that...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is extending invitations to join the organization to 276 artists and executives who have distinguished themselves by their contributions to theatrical motion pictures. Those who accept the invitations will be the only additions to the Academy’s membership in 2013. “These individuals are among the best filmmakers working in the industry today,” said Academy President Hawk Koch. “Their talent and creativity have captured the imagination of audiences worldwide, and I am proud to welcome each of them to the Academy.” The 2013 invitees are: Actors Jason Bateman – “Up in the Air,” “Juno” Miriam Colon – “City of Hope,” “Scarface” Rosario Dawson – “Rent,” “Frank Miller’s Sin City” Kimberly Elise – “For Colored Girls,” “Beloved” Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Lincoln,” “The Dark Knight Rises” Charles Grodin – “Midnight Run,” “The Heartbreak Kid” Rebecca Hall – “Iron Man 3,” “The Town” Lance Henriksen – “Aliens,” “The Terminator” Jack Huston – “Not Fade Away,” “Factory Girl” Milla Jovovich – “Resident Evil,...

Valentine's Heartbreakers! week begins at Trailer from Hell with screenwriter Larry Karaszewski introducing "The Heartbreak Kid," starring Charles Grodin and Cybill Shepherd. Charles Grodin was passed over for the lead in The Graduate, but gets to play a similar role here as Peter Pan syndrome sufferer Lenny Kantrow, who falls for shiksa goddess Cybill Shepherd days after marrying his annoying wife Jeannie Berlin. Both films share similiar endings as well, but Elaine May's comic take is darker and edgier. As Shepherd's banker dad Eddie Albert channels Edgar Kennedy's slow burn into an Oscar nomination. Remade to little avail in 2007. The original film can be seen online here.

Fans of You Can Count On Me were forced to wait 11 years for director Kenneth Lonergan’s second film. Filmed way back in 2005, Margaret is the harrowing story of a manipulative New York City teenager (Anna Paquin) whose involvement in a fatal bus accident thrusts her into an adult world she’s unprepared to navigate. The movie, which features an all-star cast that also includes Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, and Matthew Broderick, seemed doomed to eternal limbo when the director, his producers, and Fox Searchlight could not agree on a final cut. Lonergan had been promised total control, as long...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Sept. 4, 2012

Price: DVD $24.95, Blu-ray $29.95

Studio: Olive Films

Walter Matthau prepares for the ride of his life in A New Leaf.

The 1971 comedy favorite A New Leaf marks the directorial debut of Elaine May (The Heartbreak Kid, Ishtar), who also penned the film’s screenplay.

Henry Graham (Walter Matthau, Who’s Got the Action?) is a man with a problem: he has run through his entire inheritance and is completely unequipped to provide for himself. His childhood guardian, Uncle Harry (James Coco, The Cheap Detective), refuses to give him a dime, so Henry devises a plan with the help of his imaginative butler (George Rose, Hawaii) to make his money the old-fashioned way – he can marry it. But he cannot see himself as a happily married man, so he comes up with an even more devious solution… with a temporary loan from his uncle, Henry has six...

Shahab Hosseini in Asghar Farhadi's A Separation The National Society of Film Critics, among whose members are the majority of the United States' most influential and respected film commentators, has — as usual — taken a (mostly) different route than your average Us-based critics' group. For every The Social Network or The Hurt Locker there's a Mulholland Dr. or a Yi Yi. This year, the Nsfc scribes selected Lars von Trier's Melancholia as 2011's Best Film. The apocalyptic family drama also earned Kirsten Dunst the critics' Best Actress citation. Curiously, von Trier came up in third for Best Director, while his screenplay failed to be included among the Nsfc's top three choices. Manuel Alberto Claro, I should add, was the runner-up in the Best Cinematography category. [Full list of National Film Critics Society 2011 winners.] Last December, Melancholia was the European Film Awards' Best Film. Last spring, Dunst was the Best Actress winner at the Cannes Film Festival. The...

To Space And Back by Mark Goddard (IUniverse, tpb, 106 pp, $12.95)

Many TV-movie star autobiographies reveal nothing bad about the subjects except their memories. No such complaint can be lodged against Lost In Space star Mark Goddard’s memoir To Space And Back. Much of it is fun, breezy reading, but it takes dramatic turns when the actor writes about lifelong bouts with insecurity, being cursed with quitters’ instinct, two failed marriages and a career crash dive—some of these misadventures embarked upon in the company of longtime pal John Barleycorn. The tone in these passages is sometimes a bit rueful but not self-pitying and, from the outside looking in, they make for especially interesting reading.

Lost In Space devotees ought to be aware that, despite the title and cover art, the 1965-68 TV series gets just seven pages (plus a number of photos, some new to these eyes). But for...

By Lee Pfeiffer

Charles Grodin has long been known for his wit and sarcastic sense of humor since his star-making role in The Heartbreak Kid.. Both were were evident last week when the liberal Grodin appeared as a guest on the talk show hosted by conservative Fox News personality Sean Hannity. The two men good-naturedly sparred over whether waterboarding techniques employed on suspected terrorists constituted torture. Hannity has blasted President Obama for denouncing these techniques and promising not to employ them in his administration. Hannity, like his fellow Fox News show host Bill O'Reilly, has referred to the practice of waterboarding as "dunking" - implying it's virtually identical to a game played at a county fair. When Hannity continued to maintain that waterboarding is not torture, Grodin then challenged him to undergo the procedure. Hannity said he would be happy to do so, if it were done for a charity that benefited U.

MI:3's Michelle Monaghan has been tapped to join Ben Stiller in the DreamWorks romantic comedy Seven Day Itch according to Variety. Peter and Bobby Farrelly will direct the film, which is loosely based on the 1972 film The Heartbreak Kid starring Cybill Shepherd and Charles Grodin. Seven centers on a young gal (Monaghan) who forces a young honeymooner (Stiller) to reconsider his recent marital commitment. The project was originally set up with Jason Bateman and SNL's Amy Poehler toplining. No word yet as to who will play the role of the wife.

Eddie Albert, the Oscar-nominated actor whose homespun manner and varied talents made him a household name while starring as the befuddled city slicker-turned-farmer in the CBS hit series Green Acres, has died. Albert died Thursday of pneumonia at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. He was 99. He achieved his greatest fame on Green Acres as Oliver Wendell Douglas, a New York lawyer who settles in a rural town with his glamorous wife, played by Eva Gabor, and finds himself perplexed by the antics of a host of eccentrics, including a pig named Arnold Ziffel. He also earned two Academy Award nominations as supporting actor for 1953's Roman Holiday and 1972's The Heartbreak Kid. Although he appeared in more than 60 feature films and scores of TV shows, Albert was best known for his work on Green Acres, which ran from 1965-71. Albert portrayed a fastidious Harvard lawyer who was passionate about farming, much to the displeasure of his high-maintenance, big-city wife.

Eddie Albert, the versatile actor forever associated with the classic TV comedy Green Acres, died Thursday of pneumonia at his home in California; he was 99. Although he made his screen debut in 1938 and appeared in a number of films, Albert's film career took off considerably after his service in World War II, and in the 50s he embarked on a career that consisted primarily of acclaimed supporting roles in a variety of films, usually as the sidekick to the star. He was the photographer who tagged along with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday (a role which earned him an Oscar nomination), played a cowardly army officer in Attack!, and provided comic relief as Ali Hakim in Oklahoma; other notable films in the 50s included I'll Cry Tomorrow, The Teahouse of the August Moon, and The Sun Also Rises. In 1965, though, Albert ascended to leading man status as the hero of the sitcom Green Acres, in which he played a New York attorney who yearned for the country life, and dragged his glamorous wife (Eva Gabor) to the tiny, eccentric town of Hooterville. His duet with Gabor of the show's title song was enough to earn him a place in pop culture history, but Albert continued to work practically non-stop after the show ended in 1971. As he aged, Albert also played more menacing, morally questionable characters, and earned a second Oscar nomination for The Heartbreak Kid, playing Cybill Shepherd's intimidating father. Though a number of the films and TV shows he appeared in were decidedly B-level, Albert always brought a sense of class and grace to his parts, whether they were dramatic or comedic. Albert is survived by his son, actor Edward Albert, a daughter, and two granddaughters. --Prepared by IMDb staff...

Producer and executive Edgar J. Scherick, whose varied and colorful career ranged from such movie classics as Take the Money and Run and The Heartbreak Kid to ABC's Bewitched, Batman and Wide World of Sports, died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 78. Scherick, who also mentored a generation of young people who went on to become leading industry figures, including Roone Arledge, Brian Grazer, Scott Rudin and Jeff Sagansky, had a series of strokes in recent years and suffered from leukemia, said his publicist, Warren Cowan. He remained active in the business even at the very end of his life. His most recent project, this year's HBO movie Path to War, about President Johnson's behind-the-scenes escalation of the Vietnam conflict, garnered eight Emmy nominations.