Tom Bower, the busy character actor who portrayed Dr. Curtis Willard on The Waltons and the janitor, Marvin, who helps John McClane foil the terrorists at the airport in Die Hard 2, has died. He was 86.
Bower died last week of an unknown cause at his home in Los Angeles, his brother, Robert Bower, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Bower worked on John Cassavetes’ directorial debut, Shadows (1957), and played one of the translators that make a mess of things in the acclaimed Western The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982), starring Edward James Olmos.
He portrayed the father of the 37th U.S. president in Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995), starring Anthony Hopkins, and the father of Nicolas Cage’s Terence McDonagh in Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009).
And, he appeared for director Scott Cooper in Crazy Heart (2009) — as the agent of Jeff Bridges’ Bad Blake — and Out of the Furnace...
Bower died last week of an unknown cause at his home in Los Angeles, his brother, Robert Bower, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Bower worked on John Cassavetes’ directorial debut, Shadows (1957), and played one of the translators that make a mess of things in the acclaimed Western The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982), starring Edward James Olmos.
He portrayed the father of the 37th U.S. president in Oliver Stone’s Nixon (1995), starring Anthony Hopkins, and the father of Nicolas Cage’s Terence McDonagh in Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009).
And, he appeared for director Scott Cooper in Crazy Heart (2009) — as the agent of Jeff Bridges’ Bad Blake — and Out of the Furnace...
- 6/6/2024
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kate Winslet’s tough but tender small-town police detective Mare Sheehan of HBO’s acclaimed crime thriller “Mare of Easttown” is the latest in a long line of female TV detectives including S. Epatha Merkerson (“Law & Order”); Helen Mirren (“Prime Suspect”); Kyra Sedgwick (“The Closer); Mariska Hargitay (“Law & Order: Svu”) and Regina King (“Watchmen”).
Unfortunately, it took an inordinate amount of time for actresses to get a fair shake in police procedurals. Early TV crime dramas were inundated with the likes of taciturn toughies Lee Marvin (“M Squad”), Robert Taylor (“The Detectives”), Jack Webb (“Dragnet”) and Broderick Crawford (“Highway Patrol”). Way too much testosterone.
But slowly the dynamics began to change especially with the rise of the Women’s Movement. Here’s a look at five trailblazing female cop shows who paved the way.
Beverly Garland (“Decoy”)
After macho actor after macho actor as police detectives and cops,...
Unfortunately, it took an inordinate amount of time for actresses to get a fair shake in police procedurals. Early TV crime dramas were inundated with the likes of taciturn toughies Lee Marvin (“M Squad”), Robert Taylor (“The Detectives”), Jack Webb (“Dragnet”) and Broderick Crawford (“Highway Patrol”). Way too much testosterone.
But slowly the dynamics began to change especially with the rise of the Women’s Movement. Here’s a look at five trailblazing female cop shows who paved the way.
Beverly Garland (“Decoy”)
After macho actor after macho actor as police detectives and cops,...
- 6/22/2021
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
In CBS’ New York City-set re-imagining of the 1980s series “The Equalizer,” starring the late Edward Woodward as the stoic menace with a populist message, multi-hyphenate Queen Latifah plays Robyn McCal. She’s an enigmatic former CIA operative who uses her particular set of rather extensive skills to help those with nowhere else to turn. As yet another one of CBS’ exhumations of classic last-century crime/drama series, this “Equalizer” feels thoroughly unoriginal. There are a number of callbacks to the original series, which the reboot relies on primarily (not the Denzel Washington movie adaptations), but they probably won’t mean anything to new audiences.
Like the male “Equalizer” characters, Latifah’s McCall is a former intelligence operative for the CIA who became disillusioned with the government’s methods and opted for civilian life. What prompts her to enter a new career of reformer is a chance entanglement with the...
Like the male “Equalizer” characters, Latifah’s McCall is a former intelligence operative for the CIA who became disillusioned with the government’s methods and opted for civilian life. What prompts her to enter a new career of reformer is a chance entanglement with the...
- 2/7/2021
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
USA stakes out cop drama pilot with Fox-y lead
Vivica A. Fox is going undercover with Edmonds Entertainment and USA Network to a develop a sexy cop drama series in the vein of Pam Grier's Foxy Brown and the '70s ABC drama Get Christie Love. The project is being developed as a two-hour backdoor pilot. Film and TV writer Jeff Eastin has signed on to the pen the script, which is still in the early development stage. Set in Los Angeles, the untitled project will be rooted in drama and action, but USA is still aiming for a lighter tone than the current crop of police procedurals on network TV, Michael Thorn, USA's vp original series programming, said.
- 12/2/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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