Just over two months after she wowed the crowd at ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in The Family & Good Times, Ja’net DuBois passed away suddenly today. She was 74. Known for making some of the greatest entrances in sitcom history week after week as neighbor Willona Woods on the Esther Rollie, John Amos, Jimmie Walker and Janet Jackson-led Good Times. Back in December of last year, DuBois joined Walker and co-star Bern Nadette Stanis for an appearance on the latest live retelling of one of Norman Lear’s classic TV shows – and she stole the star studded show with pure pizzazz. Going on to win two Emmys later in life for her vocal work on Eddie Murphy’s animated series The PJs, DuBois also co-wrote and sang the iconic “Movin’ on Up” theme song from The Jeffersons that opened each episode of that Lear produced series from 1975 to 1985.
Though the show originally ran from 1974 to 1975 on CBS, the 133 episodes of the inner-city Chicago set Good Times is still seen on TV Land in repeats in 2020.
She was great on that show and her theme song to The Jeffersons will certainly be remembered for many years to come.
The first pic of Kristen Wiig as Cheetah (the villain) in the new Wonder Woman 1984 movie appeared online over the weekend.
It'll be interesting to see other pics of her character as they start to release more images and posters from the movie as it approaches its opening on June 4th.
Kirk Douglas, an icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age and star of such films as Spartacus, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Bad and the Beautiful and Champion has died. He was 103. A three-time Academy Award nominee and recipient of an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement in 1996, Douglas will be remembered for a prolific career in which he appeared in close to 100 movies and delivered numerous defining performances. As well as his titular role in Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 historical epic Spartacus, in which he played the leader of a slave revolt against the Roman republic, his leading turns included fierce defense attorney Major Steve Garrett in Gottfried Reinhardt’s Town Without Pity, ambitious and devious journalist Chuck Tatum in Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole, and Colonel Dax in Stanley Kubrick’s anti-war story Paths of Glory.
Douglas was well noted in the biz for his fiery personality. The actor once claimed he was “the most disliked actor in Hollywood” because of his aggressive nature, though he also was highly regarded for his sense of humor. Alongside Michael, Douglas had three other boys: the producers Joel and Peter, and the actor and stand-up comedian Eric, who died from an accidental drug overdose in 2004. The elder Douglas was married to the actress Diana Webster from 1943-51, having Michael and Joel, and then the producer and philanthropist Anne Buydens from 1954 until his death.
He had a very long and successful career and lived to be 103.