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Cass Warner, a filmmaker and author born into Hollywood royalty and mother of Yellowstone actor Cole Hauser, has died. She was 76.

The granddaughter of Warner Bros. co-founder Harry Warner, Cass Warner’s death was announced by her son Hauser. Additional information including cause and date of death was not disclosed.

“It is with a heavy heart that my mother. Cass Sperling Warner passed away at the age of 76,” Hauser wrote on Instagram. “Her kindness, love, humor and amazing spirit will be missed by not only my family but the world. You have touched so many. I know you will be up in the heavens sitting next to all the great humans that have passed through our earth. We will meet again. Bye for now.”

Born March 8, 1948, Cass Warner was a self-described third-generation filmmaker. Her father was writer/producer Milton Sperling, who was involved in more than 50 films including the Oscar-nominated...

There’s been no shortage of near-future sci-fi that bucks the trend of technological menace to explore instead the high-concept ways that scientific advancement can fill an emotional void in human lives. Spike Jonze’s Her and Michael Almereyda’s Marjorie Prime are superior examples; this year has seen two fine entries in Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man and Kogonada’s After Yang. Irish writer-director Benjamin Cleary, who won a 2016 Oscar for his short film Stutterer, mines that territory with his first feature, a soulful drama acted with great sensitivity by a strong cast, which unfolds to considerable atmospheric effect in the soft, somber light of the Pacific ...

There’s been no shortage of near-future sci-fi that bucks the trend of technological menace to explore instead the high-concept ways that scientific advancement can fill an emotional void in human lives. Spike Jonze’s Her and Michael Almereyda’s Marjorie Prime are superior examples; this year has seen two fine entries in Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man and Kogonada’s After Yang. Irish writer-director Benjamin Cleary, who won a 2016 Oscar for his short film Stutterer, mines that territory with his first feature, a soulful drama acted with great sensitivity by a strong cast, which unfolds to considerable atmospheric effect in the soft, somber light of the Pacific ...

“A Very Precious Natalie”

By Raymond Benson

The familiar old standard, “A Very Precious Love” (by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster) has been covered by such crooners as the Ames Brothers, Doris Day, Jack Jones, and others, but it was Gene Kelly who introduced it in the 1958 film adaptation of Herman Wouk’s 1955 novel, Marjorie Morningstar, which was directed by Irving Rapper. The song, played incessantly in instrumental form throughout the picture (and sung twice by Kelly), certainly sticks with you—and it received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song that year.

It was the only nomination the film received, however. Despite the good intentions of the filmmakers, the solid performances by Kelly and protagonist Marjorie (played by the luminescent Natalie Wood), and an excellent supporting cast that includes Ed Wynn, Claire Trevor, Carolyn Jones, Everett Sloan, Martin Milner, Martin Balsam, Jesse White, and George Tobias, the picture...

IFC Films has purchased the U.S. rights to the Ethan Hawke-led drama “Tesla,” which tells the story of inventor Nikola Tesla’s attempts to build a revolutionary electrical system.

Directed and written by Michael Almereyda, the movie stars Hawke in the title role, along with Eve Hewson, Kyle MacLachlan, Jim Gaffigan, Donnie Keshawarz, Rebecca Dayan, Josh Hamilton and Lucy Walters.

“Tesla” premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. IFC Films plans to release the movie on Aug. 7, 2020.

Also Read: IFC Films Lands Jude Law, Carrie Coon Sundance Drama 'The Nest'

Here’s the official description for the film:

Brilliant, brooding inventor Nikola Tesla (Ethan Hawke) fights an uphill battle to bring his revolutionary electrical system to fruition. Increasingly displeased by the greed of fellow inventor Thomas Edison (Kyle MacLachlan), Tesla forges his own virtuous but arduous...

Edd “Kookie” Byrnes, the 77 Sunset Strip actor whose wavy hair and penchant for combing it made him an early TV teen idol, died Thursday natural causes at his Santa Monica home, according to his son, San Diego TV news anchor Logan Byrnes. He was 87.

The actor was one of the guiding inspirations for director Quentin Tarantino and Leonardo DiCaprio, informing the Rick Dalton character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Byrnes came to attention as one of the stars of the detective show 77 Sunset Strip, which aired on ABC from 1958-64. Byrnes played Kookie, the rock ‘n’ roll-loving parking attendant who always was quick with a quip to his next-door neighbors at the detective agency. His striking good looks made him an instant hit with the teenagers of the late 1950s, culminating in a gold record with actress Connie Stevens, “Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb).” The song reached No.

Herman Wouk, who authored books that became legendary films and TV programs including The Caine Mutiny and The Winds of War, died today in his sleep in Palm Springs, the Associated Press reports. He was 103.

Wouk published about a dozen novels and a handful of plays and nonfiction books during a 70-year career, and many became landmark screen adaptations. His World War II novel The Winds of War hit bookstores in 1971 and was followed by the 1978 sequel War and Remembrance. Both were turned into smash ABC miniseries — with Winds of War airing in 1983 and War and Remembrance in 1988. Both starred Robert Mitchum as Capt. Victor “Pug” Henry and earned multiple Emmys.

Born on May 27, 1915 in the Bronx, Wouk — like so many other young Americans — join the Armed Forces after Pearl Harbor, serving in the Navy. He began writing while off watch aboard ship. And his best-known works chronicled seaman during...

Herman Wouk, the author of novels adapted to the big and small screen, including “The Caine Mutiny,” “Marjorie Morningstar,” “The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance,” has died. He was 103.

“The Caine Mutiny,” a 1951 bestseller that won Wouk the Pulitzer Prize, was memorably adapted into the 1954 film starring Humphrey Bogart, who played the paranoid, mentally unstable captain of a Navy minesweeper whose actions drive his subordinates to mutiny. That pic, directed by Edward Dmytryk and also starring Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson and Fred MacMurray, drew seven Oscar nominations, including those for best picture and screenplay for Stanley Roberts.

Wouk relied upon his wartime experiences not only for “The Caine Mutiny,” but for his later novels “The Winds of War” (1971) and “War and Remembrance” (1978). These expansive works, which followed one character, Navy Commander Victor “Pug” Henry, through seemingly every important moment in WWII, were adapted into the highly successful ABC miniseries of the same name.

The most-read book since Gone with the Wind looked at the coming of age struggle of an ambitious, upwardly mobile Jewish girl in the 1930s. This glossy film version gives Natalie Wood an ‘adult’ role and provides Gene Kelly with the seemingly optimal character of a troubled theatrical artiste. Good intentions aside, the show lacks guidance — and may have harmed Kelly’s acting career.

Marjorie Morningstar

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1958 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 128 min. / Street Date May 9, 2017 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Natalie Wood, Gene Kelly, Claire Trevor, Everett Sloane, Martin Milner, Carolyn Jones, Martin Balsam, Edd Byrnes, George Tobias, Jesse White, Paul Picerni, Ruta Lee, Shelley Fabares, Lana Wood.

Cinematography: Harry Stradling

Film Editor: Folmar Blangsted

Original Music: Max Steiner

Written by Everett Freeman from the novel by Herman Wouk

Produced by Milton Sperling

Directed by Irving Rapper

When doing interviews for West Side Story we found out that...

Herman Wouk has never been one for half-measures. His two-volume World War II saga, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, ran to nearly 2,000 pages and was adapted into a corresponding pair of TV miniseries. His third novel, The Caine Mutiny, won a Pulitzer, spawned a Broadway play, and gave Humphrey Bogart a defining role of his career. Wouk’s meaty, breezy fiction (on the Navy, the Holocaust, Israel, Nixon, a starry-eyed Jewish girl who called herself Marjorie Morningstar) earned him millions of readers but precious few glowing reviews. Still, even as he aged out of both the cultural center and the typical human lifespan, the strict Orthodox Jew kept on writing. Last week, at the age of 100, he finally published a memoir — of sorts. Sailor and Fiddler skims his life story in two parts: “Sailor,” devoted to work and show business, and “Fiddler,” on Israel and...

Kevin Kline, Dakota Fanning and Susan Sarandon in Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's The Last Of Robin Hood: "The real Errol Flynn can't quite live up to Errol Flynn, the idol."

In a Trump SoHo Hotel suite, high above the city, I met up with The Last Of Robin Hood directors Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland for a conversation on Kevin Kline's portrayal of Errol Flynn. Susan Sarandon and Dakota Fanning as Florence and Beverly Aadland led us to Marjorie Morningstar, starring Gene Kelly and Natalie Wood - Too Much, Too Soon and the Barrymore clan - Groucho Marx and You Bet Your Life - John Huston's Roots Of Heaven and all the way down to Barry Mahon's Cuban Rebel Girls.

Earlier, I had spoken with Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth about 20,000 Days On Earth, their documentary on and with Nick Cave, at the Regency Hotel.

History is important. Understanding the history of a subject leads to the understanding and interpretation of current events. Knowing where you were can help you in comprehending where you are now. For instance, want to understand the current Mideast conundrum? Learn about World War I and the break-up of the Ottoman Empire by the British Empire and its allies because that’s where our modern Middle East troubles really started.

“But history is so boring!” you say?

Then pick up a good book. I don’t mean a “bustier and boudoir” romance novel – I mean a novel that explores, through its characters and situations, the mores and creeds and ethos of its time. War And Peace, To Kill A Mockingbird, Marjorie Morningstar, Tales Of The South Pacific – well, okay, James Michener’s book is a collection of short stories – The Grapes Of Wrath; even Gone With The Wind will help...

Alexa here. Today would have been Natalie Wood's 72nd birthday. She was one of those rare child actors who grew into a graceful adult on screen. As a teenager I was so entranced with the melodrama of Splendor in the Grass that it lived in our Vcr for months. So like any good fangirl I bought this old teen movie magazine from the 50s the instant I spotted it.

Inside is a silly puff piece on Natalie, with pictures of her and her studio-arranged boyfriend Nick Adams.

Natalie had just secured her role opposite Gene Kelly in Marjorie Morningstar. (Looks like that remake starring Scarlett Johansson never materialized.) Interestingly, inside Natalie is pretty honest about her "work" with Nick:

"A lot of what people think are dates," she explained, "are not dates at all. They're publicity things. They're work, actually."

I just spotted Natalie's daughter, Natasha Gregson Wagner,...