Connect with us

Entertainment

Earl Holliman, Golden Globe winner known for 'The Rainmaker,' 'Police Woman,' dies at 96

Published

on

Earl Holliman, Golden Globe winner known for 'The Rainmaker,' 'Police Woman,' dies at 96

Earl Holliman, whose prolific acting career included a Golden Globe-winning role in “The Rainmaker” and TV series such as “Police Woman,” has died. He was 96.

Holliman died Monday afternoon at his home in Studio City, his husband, Craig Curtis, told The Times. No cause of death was given.

The actor, square-jawed and with a unique high and soft but compelling voice, made his mark in film and TV as well as theater. He appeared in more than 50 movies and nearly 50 television shows, beginning in the early 1950s.

He may be best known for his role as Lt. Bill Crowley, macho counterpart to undercover cop Angie Dickinson on “Police Woman” from 1974 to ’78.

Holliman told The Times in 1993 that his fondest memory of the show was his friendship with Dickinson. He recalled moving into an unfurnished house and putting off the decorating only to return from a film project to find she had had his house fully furnished while he was away.

Advertisement

The actor won a supporting actor Golden Globe for “The Rainmaker” in 1956, starring opposite Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster.

“It was my first co-starring part,” Holliman said in a 1975 interview of his role as Jimmy Curry, brother to Hepburn’s Lizzie. But it didn’t come easy. “I had to fight to get a test for it,” he said. But, he said, “Working with Katharine Hepburn was the joy of my life.”

That same year, the actor appeared in the movie “Giant” as Bob Dace, son-in-law of the characters played by Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor. Other classics he was a part of include 1957’s “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” and “The Sons of Katie Elder” in 1965.

Earl Holliman sits with fellow actors Angie Dickinson, center, and Susan Strasberg at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel in 1983. The three had appeared at a rally protesting abuse of laboratory animals.

(Sean Kardon / Associated Press)

Advertisement

He was also, notably, in the first episode of “The Twilight Zone,” which premiered in October 1959. He played a man with amnesia in “Where Is Everybody?” Other TV series that he starred in include “Hotel de Paree” (1959-60) and “Wide Country” (1962-63).

Holliman talked with The Times in 1993 about his years doing live television, which he said was an adrenaline rush.

He recalled of one show: “At the end of the first act, I was up to my neck in quicksand. As I’m being rescued, I have 90 seconds to have the folks backstage strip me down to a jockstrap, rinse me off, change my clothes, and I have to get on the other side of the stage for the next act, which has me cracking open a coconut. …

“Sometimes, when they had a close-up on your face, your wardrobe was being changed. You’d be talking to someone who had long gone for their own costume change. I think all the actors who did that live television really miss that stuff.”

Advertisement

Holliman was born Sept. 11, 1928, in Delhi, La. He was adopted at a week old, according to the Hollywood Reporter. When his new parents saw him, “I was sick and they took me right away to the doctor, who apparently said, ‘You don’t have a baby here, you have a funeral expense.’ They paid the midwife $7.50 for me — this was in the backwoods of Louisiana.”

As a teen, he hitchhiked to Los Angeles, using money that he’d saved from working as a movie theater usher and in other small jobs. He soon ran out of money and had to return home, where he enlisted in the Navy. But when they discovered he was only 15, he was discharged.

He later reenlisted and while stationed in Norfolk, Va., took part in Navy theater productions. After his service, he went west again and worked on his craft at UCLA and the Pasadena Playhouse.

Holliman was also an animal rights activist and served as president of Actors and Others for Animals for decades. In 1977, he received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

He is survived by husband Curtis and a handful of nieces and nephews.

Advertisement

Entertainment

Stagecoach 2026: How to watch Friday’s livestream with Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman

Published

on

Stagecoach 2026: How to watch Friday’s livestream with Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman

Choosin’ to stay home instead of trekking out to Indio for this weekend’s Stagecoach festival? Don’t worry, you’ll be able to listen to all the country music your heart desires. You can get your country heartbreak on with Ella Langley, Bailey Zimmerman and Cody Johnson, and then rock out with Counting Crows. If you prefer EDM, you can catch Diplo and Dillstradamus (Dillon Francis and Flosstradamus) as Friday’s closing acts.

The festival will be livestreamed on Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video and Twitch beginning at 3 p.m. On Sirius XM’s The Highway (channel 56), you can listen to exclusive interviews and live performances along with a special edition of the Music Row Happy Hour. The station Y’Allternative will also be covering the festival on Friday evening.

Here are updated set times for the Stagecoach livestream Friday performances (times presented are PDT):

Channel 1

3:05 p.m. Noah Rinker; 3:25 p.m.; Adrien Nunez; 4 p.m. Ole 60; 4:25 p.m. Avery Anna; 5 p.m. Chase Rice; 5:55 p.m. Nate Smith; 6:50 p.m. Ella Langeley; 7:50 p.m. Bailey Zimmerman; 8:55 p.m. the Red Clay Strays; 10 p.m. Cody Johnson; 11:30 p.m. Diplo

Advertisement

Channel 2

3:05 p.m. Neon Union; 3:25 p.m. Larkin Poe; 4 p.m. Marcus King Band; 4:50 p.m. Lyle Lovett; 5:35 p.m. BigXthaPlug; 6:30 p.m. Noah Cyrus; 7 p.m. Wynonna Judd; 8 p.m. Counting Crows; 8:50 p.m. Sam Barber; 10 p.m. Dan + Shay; 10:45 p.m. Diplo featuring Juicy J; 11:05 p.m. Rebecca Black; 11:45 p.m. Dillstradamus

Sirius XM Music Row Happy Hour

1 p.m. Avery Anna; 2 p.m. Nate Smith; 2:30 p.m. Josh Ross; 3 p.m. Cody Johnson; 3:30 p.m. Gabriella Rose; 5:15 p.m. Nate Smith; 7:50 p.m. Bailey Zimmerman; 9:30 p.m. Cody Johnson; 11 p.m. Diplo

Sirius XM Y’Allternative

5 p.m. Ole 60; 6 p.m. Larkin Poe; 7 p.m. Marcus King Band; 8 p.m. Sam Barber

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Movie Reviews

Movie Review: The Mortuary Assistant – HorrorFuel.com: Reviews, Ratings and Where to Watch the Best Horror Movies & TV Shows

Published

on

Movie Review: The Mortuary Assistant – HorrorFuel.com: Reviews, Ratings and Where to Watch the Best Horror Movies & TV Shows

Forget the “video game movie” curse; The Mortuary Assistant is a bone-chilling triumph that stands entirely on its own two feet. Starring Willa Holland (Arrow) as Rebecca Owens, the film follows a newly certified mortician whose “overtime shift” quickly devolves into a grueling battle for her soul.

What Makes It Work

The film expertly balances the stomach-churning procedural work of embalming with a spiraling demonic nightmare. Alongside a mysterious mentor played by Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire), Rebecca is forced to confront both ancient evils and her own buried traumas. And boy, does she have a lot of them.

Thanks to a full-scale, practical River Fields Mortuary set, the film drips with realism, like you can almost smell the rot and bloat of the bodies through the screen.

The skin effects are hauntingly accurate. The way the flesh moves during surgical scenes is so visceral. I’ve seen a lot of flesh wounds in horror films and in real life, and the bodies, skin, and organs. The Mortuary Assistant (especially in the opening scene) looks so real that I skipped supper after watching it. And that’s saying something. Your girl likes to eat.

Co-written by the game’s creator, Brian Clarke, the movie dives deeper into the demonic mythology. Whether you’ve seen every ending or don’t know a scalpel from a trocar, the story is perfectly self-contained. If you’ve never played the game, or played it a hundred times, the film works equally well, which is hard to do when it comes to game adaptations.

Advertisement

Nailed It

This film does a lot of things right, but the isolation of the night shift is suffocating. Between the darkness of the hallways and the “residents” that refuse to stay still, the film delivers a relentlessly immersive experience. And thankfully, although this movie is filled with dark rooms and shadows, it’s easy to see every little thing. Don’t you hate it when a movie is so dark that you can’t see what’s happening? It’s one of my pet peeves.

The oh-so-awesome Jeremiah Kipp directs the film and has made something absolutely nightmare-inducing. Kipp recently joined us for an interview, took us inside the film, discussed its details and the game’s lore, and so much more. I urge you to check out our interview. He’s awesome!

The Verdict

This isn’t just a cash-grab; it’s a high-effort adaptation that respects the source material while elevating the horror genre. With incredible special effects and a powerhouse cast, it’s the kind of movie that will make you rethink working late ever again. Dropping on Friday the 13th, this is a must-watch for horror fans. It’s grisly, intelligent, and genuinely terrifying.

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Former Live Nation executive says he was fired after raising ‘financial misconduct’ concerns

Published

on

Former Live Nation executive says he was fired after raising ‘financial misconduct’ concerns

A former executive at Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment company, is suing the company, alleging that he was wrongfully terminated after he raised concerns about alleged financial misconduct and improper accounting practices.

Nicholas Rumanes alleges he was “fraudulently induced” in 2022 to leave a lucrative position as head of strategic development at a real estate investment trust to create a new role as executive vice president of development and business practice at Beverly Hills-based Live Nation.

In his new position, Rumanes said, he raised “serious and legitimate alarm” over the the company’s business practices.

As a result, he says, he was “unlawfully terminated,” according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“Rumanes was, simply put, promised one job and forced to accept another. And then he was cut loose for insisting on doing that lesser job with integrity and honesty,” according to the lawsuit.

Advertisement

He is seeking $35 million in damages.

Representatives for Live Nation were not immediately available for comment.

The lawsuit comes a week after a federal jury in Manhattan found that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had operated a monopoly over major concert venues, controlling 86% of the concert market.

Rumanes’ lawsuit describes a “culture of deception” at Live Nation, saying its “basic business model was to misstate and exaggerate financial figures in efforts to solicit and secure business.”

Such practices “spanned a wide spectrum of projects in what appeared to be a company-wide pattern of financial misrepresentation and misleading disclosures,” the lawsuit states.

Advertisement

Rumanes says he received materials and documents that showed that the company inflated projected revenues across multiple venue development projects.

Additionally, Rumanes contends that the company violated a federal law that requires independent financial auditing and transparency and instead ran Live Nation “through a centralized, opaque structure” that enables it to “bypass oversight and internal checks and balances.”

In 2010, as a condition of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger, the newly formed company agreed to a consent decree with the government that prohibited the firm from threatening venues to use Ticketmaster. In 2019 the Justice Department found that the company had repeatedly breached the agreement, and it extended the decree.

Rumanes contends that he brought his concerns to the attention of the company’s management, but his warnings were “repeatedly ignored.”

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending