"Gone with the Wind" actress Ann Rutherford dead at 94

LOS ANGELES — Ann Rutherford, the demure brunette actress who played the sweetheart in the long-running Andy Hardy series and Scarlett O'Hara's youngest sister in "Gone With the Wind," has died. She was 94.

A close friend, Anne Jeffreys, said she was at Rutherford's side when the actress died Monday evening at home in Beverly Hills. Rutherford died of heart problems and had been ill for several months, Jeffreys said.

Rutherford's death was first reported by the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/MEPubi ).

Famed 'Love Boat' cruise ship headed to scrapyard

One of the most famous cruise ships of the modern era, the former Pacific Princess, is heading to the scrapyard, according to Italy's La Repubblica.

The news outlet says the 40-year-old vessel, recognizable to millions of Americans as the "Love Boat" of 1970s television, has been sold to a Turkish demolition company for just over 2.5 million euro -- about $3.3 million at current exchange rates.

The 19,903-ton, 600-passenger ship, tiny by today's standards, has been languishing at a dock in Genoa, Italy for more than a year. The vessel last sailed for Spanish-based Quail Cruises after changing hands a couple times since sailing for Princess Cruises from 1975 until 2002.

p://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2012/03/pacific-princess-love-boat-scrap/643520/1

Robert B. Sherman Dead: 'It's a Small World' Songwriter Dies at 86

LONDON (AP) - Songwriter Robert B. Sherman, who wrote the tongue-twisting "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and other enduring songs for Disney classics, has died. He was 86.

http://www.spinner.com/2012/03/06/robert-b-sherman-dead-dies/

And the Oscars go to 3 secret bidders

The largest collection of Oscar statuettes ever offered for public sale has been auctioned off for more than $3 million, a Brentwood auctioneer said Wednesday.


The 15 golden figures were sold to three individuals in a sale conducted online, said auctioneer Nate D. Sanders. The auctioneer would not disclose the identities of the bidders.


Thirteen of the statues were purchased by just one buyer.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-statues-sold-20120301,0,1575137.story

Davy Jones dead, Monkees singer was 66

Davy Jones -- forever young and forever beloved by fans the last 50 years -- has died, according to Reuters. Age: 66. The cause of death was apparently a heart attack.

"OZ" RUBY SLIPPERS FIND THEIR WAY HOME

MAJOR ACQUISITION FOR ACADEMY MUSEUM OF MOTION PICTURES


Leonardo DiCaprio spearheads effort with help from Steven Spielberg, Terry Semel

Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has acquired a pair of the iconic ruby slippers from "The Wizard of Oz" for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio led a group of "angel donors" whose gifts to the Academy Foundation enabled the purchase. In addition to the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, a component fund of CCF Environmental and Humanitarian Causes, donations came from producer-director Steven Spielberg and Terry Semel, co-chair of LACMA and the former chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. and Yahoo!, along with other donors.

"The ruby slippers occupy an extraordinary place in the hearts of movie audiences the world over," said Bob Iger, president and CEO of the Walt Disney Co. and chair of the capital campaign for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. "This is a transformative acquisition for our collection."

"Leo's passionate leadership has helped us bring home this legendary piece of movie history," added Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. "It's a wonderful gift to the Academy museum project, and a perfect representation of the work we do year-round to preserve and share our film heritage."

These slippers, known as the "Witch's Shoes," are in the most pristine condition of the four pairs of ruby slippers known to exist. It is widely believed that these are the slippers Judy Garland wore in close-ups and insert shots, most famously when Dorothy clicks her heels three times to return to Kansas. They are called the "Witch's Shoes" because they are likely the pair seen on the feet of the Wicked Witch of the East after Dorothy's house falls on the witch.

After production of the film ended in 1939, the ruby slippers were stored on MGM's Culver City lot for the next three decades. Several pairs of slippers were discovered in 1970 by costumer Kent Warner while he was preparing for that year's historic auction of MGM costumes, props and other production-related items. One pair of slippers was sold at the auction and was donated anonymously to the Smithsonian in 1979.

Warner kept the finest pair – the "Witch's Shoes" – in his private collection for more than a decade before selling them at auction in 1981. They were sold again in 1988 to another private collector, and have been displayed publicly only a handful of times in the years since, most notably at the National Portrait Gallery and the Library of Congress. The 2012 sale to the Academy was handled by auction house Profiles in History.

Last October, the Academy and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced plans to establish the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures inside the historic May Company building, currently known as LACMA West. The building has been a Los Angeles landmark since its opening in 1939, the same year "The Wizard of Oz" premiered.

Oscars Auction Realize $3,060,089 Including Buyer's Premium

Oscars Auction Realize $3,060,089 Including Buyer's Premium

A record 15 Academy Award statuettes were sold to the highest bidders during an online and telephone sale conducted Tues. February 28th by Nate D. Sanders Auctions.

Click here to see final realized price http://www.hollywoodgoldenguy.com/Oscar_Auction_Prices.html

My Oscar Picks 2012

Oscar Picks 2012

http://www.hollywoodgoldenguy.com/My_Oscar_Picks.html

Nate D. Sanders to auction the largest collection of Oscars to ever go under the hammer

Nate D. Sanders to auction the largest collection of Oscars to ever go under the hammer

hile nominees for this year’s 84th Academy Awards are preparing their acceptance speeches, Nate D. Sanders is offering the most extraordinary collection of Oscars ever to hit the auction block with final bidding happening on February 28. 


Highlights of the exquisite collection estimated to sell for more than $1 million include Herman Mankiewicz’s 1941 Best Screenplay Academy Award for Citizen Kane, the 1933 Best Picture Oscar awarded to Cavalcade, groundbreaking cinematographer Gregg Toland‘s 1939 Oscar for Black & White Cinematography in Wuthering Heights, Charles Coburn’s 1943 Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The More the Merrier- the first year that Best Supporting Actors were awarded statutes - and the first Oscar awarded for Special Effects to Farciot Edouart in 1938. 


”This is the most significant collection of Oscars to ever be auctioned. It contains Academy Awards from epic films such as Citizen Kane and The Best Years of Our Lives”, auction house owner Nate D. Sanders said. “Furthermore, Cavalcade is the earliest Best Picture Oscar to ever be offered in an auction.” 


http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=53779

10 Contenders Remain in VFX Oscar® Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 84th Academy Awards®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:

• "Captain America: The First Avenger"
• "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
• "Hugo"
• "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol"
• "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"
• "Real Steel"
• "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
• "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
• "The Tree of Life"
• "X-Men: First Class"

All members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films on Thursday, January 19. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate five films for final Oscar consideration.

Darth Vader swordsman dies at 89

In the original "Star Wars" trilogy, Darth Vader was normally played by bodybuilder David Prowse. But when Prowse failed to master the swordsmanship required for iconic lightsaber fight scenes, master fencer Bob Anderson stepped in.

We are sorry to report that Anderson passed away a few hours after midnight on Jan 1, 2012. He was 89 years old.

Oscars Moving out of Kodak Theater?

The Hollywood Reporter quoted Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak as saying the group would exercise a clause in its 20-year contract with the Kodak's owners, CIM Group, that will allow the non-profit to explore other locations for the show. Representatives for the Academy did not dispute The Hollywood Reporter story, but declined to comment further on the record until after the New Year's holiday.

"Our plan right now is to exercise this [option] and then see what happens, what goes on. We're open," Sherak told THR's Alex Ben Block. "Personally, I love the Kodak. I'll say that until I'm blue in the face. I've been there since the very beginning. But in the next year the Kodak and others will come to us and the [Academy] board will make a decision at some point."

A PR representative for CIM refused to comment. The change wouldn't happen until after the 2013 show.

The Oscars are watched by between 30 and 40 million viewers each year, and the naming right to the Kodak Theatre has been a major source of revenue for CIM, mostly because of the prestige of the Academy Awards.

Rochester, N.Y.-based Eastman Kodak Company agreed to pay $75 million over 20 years for the name, aligning its company identity each year with the biggest motion picture event in Hollywood. In 2005, Front Row Marketing estimated the value of Kodak's exposure during the telecast alone — not to mention all the award season and post-show media reports — to be about $6.98 million.

The Academy's exploration of other venues doesn't mean the Kodak Theatre is definitely out, but it gives the Academy leverage to renegotiate its tenancy, and maybe find something that better suits its needs. Since the Oscars settled into the Kodak, other venues have opened in the Los Angeles area that could work for the ABC telecast, including downtown's Nokia Theatre. The Nokia previously lured the American Idol finale away from the Kodak, and has 7,100 seats — more than double the Kodak's 3,332 capacity.

That would solve a perennial complaint about the Kodak — its shortage of tickets on Oscar night.

The Academy Award for the original screenplay of "Citizen Kane" auctioned for more than $861,000.

The Academy Award statuette that Orson Welles won for the original screenplay of "Citizen Kane" was auctioned for more than $861,000 in Los Angeles.

The 1942 Oscar was thought to be lost for decades. It surfaced in 1994 when cinematographer Gary Graver tried to sell it. The sale was stopped by Beatrice Welles, Orson's youngest daughter and sole heir.

Magician David Copperfield was among those clamoring for the golden trophy, but he was the runner-up bidder for the Oscar, which sold to an undisclosed buyer for $861,542, Los Angeles auctioneer Nate D Sanders said.

The slightly tarnished Oscar for 1941 best screenplay is one of just a handful of illustrious Academy Award statues to sell for near the million-dollar mark.

84 Great Oscar Moments

The 12th Academy Awards (1940)

        Best Picture: "Gone with the Wind"

• "Gone with the Wind" won eight Academy Awards: Best Picture, Actress (Vivien Leigh), Supporting Actress (Hattie McDaniel), Art Direction (Lyle R. Wheeler), Color Cinematography (Ernest Haller, Ray Rennahan), Directing (Victor Fleming), Film Editing (Hal C. Kern, James E. Newcom) and Writing – Screenplay (Sidney Howard). It received five other nominations. 

http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/84/moments/index83.html

ACADEMY SHINES NEW LIGHT ON "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE"

Beverly Hills, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will examine the technology behind "It's a Wonderful Life" at Los Angeles and New York City screenings on Friday, December 9, and Monday, December 12, respectively. Hosted by Oscar®-winning visual effects supervisor Craig Barron and Oscar-winning sound designer Ben Burtt, the programs will explore studio production methods of the era, the use of matte paintings in key scenes, and the origins of the film's sound effects. Both programs will begin at 7 p.m.

"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) is one of only two motion pictures produced by Liberty Films, the independent company Frank Capra and Samuel J. Briskin created in 1945. Although the film performed only modestly at the box office when it was first released, it went on to earn five Oscar nominations, including Best Motion Picture, Best Actor (James Stewart), Directing (Capra), Film Editing (William Hornbeck) and Sound Recording (RKO Radio Studio Sound Department, John Aalberg, sound director).

The inventors of the snow machine that made its debut with the film won an Academy Technical Achievement Award in 1948. Synthetic snow replaced bleached cornflakes, the previous method of simulating falling snow in movies.

http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2011/20111205.html

'Wizard of Oz' Munchkin Karl Slover Dead at Age 93

Karl Slover, who played a Munchkin in "The Wizard of Oz" has died at age 93, TMZ reported Wednesday.   Flowers will be placed on the Munchkins star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in California in the afternoon, a spokesperson tweeted.
Standing at just 4 ft 5 inches -- Slover was one of the smallest dwarf actors who played the natives of the fictional Munchkin Country in the 1939 classic film.


He played multiple parts in the movie as a trumpeter, a soldier, one of the sleepy heads, and was also among the choir who sang "Follow the Yellow Brick Road."


There are now just three living Munchkins -- actors Margaret Pellegrini, 88, Ruth Duccini, 93 and Jerry Maren, 91.

Billy Crystal to Return as Host for 84th Academy Awards®

Beverly Hills, CA (November 10, 2011) – Producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer have announced that Billy Crystal will serve as host for the 84th Academy Awards. "I'm thrilled to welcome Billy back to the Oscar® stage," said Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Tom Sherak. "He's a comic legend and Oscar icon, and it feels good to have him back where he belongs."

Commented Grazer, "Like so many others, I've been eager to see Billy host again. It's very gratifying that he agreed to do it with Don and me at the helm."

Said Mischer, "With Billy, we're moving forward with one of the greatest hosts in Oscar history. His return to the Oscars® is, in a sense, a celebration."

This will mark Crystal's ninth time as host. Only Bob Hope has hosted more Academy Awards presentations, with 19 ceremonies between 1940 and 1978. Crystal last hosted the Academy Awards in 2004.

"Some of the best moments of my career have happened on the Oscar stage. I am thrilled to be back there. Actually, I am doing this so that the young woman in my pharmacy will stop asking me my name when I pick up my prescriptions," said Crystal.

Brian Grazer to Produce 84th Academy Awards® with Don Mischer

Beverly Hills, CA (November 9, 2011) – Academy President Tom Sherak announced today that Academy Award®-winner Brian Grazer will join Don Mischer as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards. This will be the first time Grazer has produced the Oscar® telecast.

"Brian Grazer is a renowned filmmaker who over the past 25 years has produced a diverse and extraordinary body of work," said Sherak. "He will certainly bring his tremendous talent, creativity and relationships to the Oscars®."

"I am thrilled to welcome Brian Grazer as my partner and that we will be  collaborating to produce an outstanding show," echoed Mischer.

"It’s very gratifying to be part of a show that honors excellence in the medium to which I have devoted so much of my career," said Grazer. "Don is a legend, and I am excited to work with him."

"I too am delighted that Brian will join Don in producing the Academy Awards and I am looking forward to our producers delivering the movie event of the year," commented Academy CEO Dawn Hudson.

Grazer has earned four Academy Award nominations. He won a Best Picture Oscar in 2001 for "A Beautiful Mind."    In 1984, Grazer was nominated in the writing category for "Splash," and he received Best Picture nominations in 1995 and 2008 for "Apollo 13" and "Frost/Nixon," respectively.  His other film credits include "Spies Like Us," "Kindergarten Cop," "The Nutty Professor," "Liar Liar," "8 Mile" and "Cinderella Man."  His current projects include the about to be released "J. Edgar" and the just released "Tower Heist."

Eddie Murphy Exits as Host of 84th Academy Awards®

Beverly Hills, CA (November 9, 2011) – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announced that Eddie Murphy has withdrawn as host of the 84th Academy Awards. "I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well," said Sherak.

Commented Murphy, "First and foremost I want to say that I completely understand and support each party's decision with regard to a change of producers for this year's Academy Awards ceremony. I was truly looking forward to being a part of the show that our production team and writers were just starting to develop, but I'm sure that the new production team and host will do an equally great job."

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar® presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Academy Statement Regarding Brett Ratner

Beverly Hills, CA (November 8, 2011) – This morning, Brett Ratner submitted his resignation as a producer of the 84th annual Academy Awards to Academy President Tom Sherak. Ratner then issued an open letter to the entertainment industry in which he explained his decision.

"He did the right thing for the Academy and for himself," Sherak said. "Words have meaning, and they have consequences. Brett is a good person, but his comments were unacceptable. We all hope this will be an opportunity to raise awareness about the harm that is caused by reckless and insensitive remarks, regardless of the intent."