Sidney Sheldon, 89; master of flashy, trashy bestsellers

Sidney Sheldon, a writer whose keen grasp of popular tastes fueled a string of feverishly romantic and suspenseful books that made him a perennial bestseller with millions of copies in print around the world, died Tuesday. He was 89. Sheldon died of pneumonia at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, according to his friend and publicist Warren Cowan.

A multifaceted writer, Sheldon won a screenwriting Oscar and a Tony award and had created popular television sitcoms before starting his first novel at the age of 52. But it was through the novels that he gained his overriding fame.

His books usually revolved around characters of great wealth, beauty, brilliance and bedroom prowess — none of which protected them from infidelity, betrayal and indiscretion. Sheldon's protagonists were usually women and his plots were so artfully constructed that his books are the very definition of a page-turner.

He was one of the world's most translated authors, selling more than 300 million books in 180 countries. They were printed in 51 languages, including Urdu, which is spoken in Pakistan and India, and Swahili.

With his second novel, "The Other Side of Midnight" (1974), Sheldon broke into the blockbuster ranks; the book remained on the New York Times bestseller list for 53 weeks — a record at the time.

About half of his 18 novels — with such titles as "Rage of Angels" (1980) and "Memories of Midnight" (1990) — were turned into television movies or miniseries. Demand for his stories was so great that CBS executives reportedly paid Sheldon $1 million for the rights to make a miniseries of 1985's "If Tomorrow Comes" before they had even read it.

Some critics said his dialogue was banal and his plots were unbelievable, but many grudgingly acknowledged the author's unusual talent at producing what the Washington Post once called "good junk reading time after time."

After Sheldon's 1987 novel "Windmills of the Gods" debuted at No. 1 on bestseller lists, Charles Champlin, then The Times' arts editor, wrote that Sheldon had found "a statistically wider audience each time, evidently satisfying everyone except most literary critics, who regard popularity and quality as incompatible."

Fans admired plotlines that were amazingly complex yet easy to follow — and the colorful characters who could never be counted on to do the expected.

"Sidney's longevity secret is that he is a great storyteller, a master of the narrative tale," his literary agent, Mort Janklow, told The Times in 2004. "Readers care about his characters, many of whom are women under threat. He has an instinctive ability to read women's emotions."

For his part, Sheldon said: "I don't write for critics. I write for readers."

From the early 1940s until almost 1970, he had written mainly for viewers.

Wins Oscar in 1948

His wry and witty script for "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" (1947) won him a 1948 Academy Award for original screenplay. The farce, which starred Cary Grant and Shirley Temple, was "uncloyed with cuteness," the New York Times review said at the time.

Sheldon was also a screenwriter for the Judy Garland-Fred Astaire musical "Easter Parade" (1948) and the Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical "The Barkleys of Broadway" (1949). After he helped adapt the Irving Berlin hit "Annie Get Your Gun" to the big screen, the 1950 Betty Hutton-Howard Keel vehicle received generally favorable reviews.

He wrote half a dozen plays for Broadway. His biggest hit was the musical "Redhead," starring Gwen Verdon, which ran for a little more than a year from 1959 to 1960 and brought him a Tony for co-writing the book.

After working on about two dozen films, he turned toward television, writing scores of episodes for two hit sitcoms he created — "The Patty Duke Show" (ABC, 1963-66) and "I Dream of Jeannie" (NBC, 1965-70), according to Sheldon's memoir "The Other Side of Me" (2005).

Creating a show for Duke was a challenge because "she was so extraordinarily talented I did not want to waste her abilities," Sheldon wrote. He decided she should play twin sisters but changed it to look-alike cousins to explain why the characters had grown up without knowing each other.

"Jeannie," which starred Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman, opened to mixed reviews but had a loyal fan base, Sheldon wrote. One episode, "Bigger Than a Bread Box and Better Than a Genie," featured Sheldon's wife, Jorja, as a fortuneteller and his mother as a character in a seance scene.

He also created the glamorous "Hart to Hart" series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers, that aired on ABC from 1979 to 1984.

He was born Sidney Schechtel on Feb. 11, 1917, in Chicago, the son of Otto, a salesman, and Natalie, a homemaker. Unable to pay the rent, the family kept moving and Sheldon attended about a dozen schools.

Sheldon later remarked that his career as a writer was rather improbable considering his background.

Becoming a writer

"Both my parents were third-grade dropouts," he said. "My father never read a book in his life and I was the only one in my family to complete high school."

Sheldon won a scholarship to Northwestern University. Although he was forced to drop out halfway through his freshman year because of the financial pressures of the Depression, he recalled having an epiphany of sorts as he walked on campus one day.

"I saw all these well-dressed students, and I thought that years from now, no one will ever know they existed," he wrote years later. "I wanted to leave a mark, I wanted people to know I was here."

He made up the last name of Sheldon in the mid-1930s when he entered an amateur radio contest as an announcer.

At first, he worked in Chicago as a theater usher, shoe salesman and attendant in a nightclub checkroom. After the club's bandleader, Phil Levant, played a song Sheldon wrote, Sheldon left for New York City to try to make it as a songwriter. While there, he saw a lot of movies and turned his thoughts toward Hollywood.

Soon, he was in Los Angeles — he wanted to be a screenwriter but had promised his parents he would return to Chicago if he didn't have a job within three weeks.

Repeatedly, he was turned away from movie studio gates. As time was running out, he learned that producers hired readers to help analyze scripts. Since he had just read John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," Sheldon sent synopses of the classic to every studio and was soon working at Universal for $17 a week, he told The Times in 1992.

At his boarding house, Sheldon met a young writer named Ben Roberts and they began collaborating on "B" movies like "South of Panama," "Gambling Daughters" and "Borrowed Hero," all released in 1941.

"I can't even call them 'B' pictures," Sheldon once said. "They were 'Z' pictures. But we got paid and we got screen credits. We were professionals."

At the start of World War II, Sheldon enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces but within months he was discharged for medical reasons. He began collaborating with Roberts on a revival of the musical "The Merry Widow," which ran for nine months beginning in 1943.

Two other musicals they wrote, the comedy "Jackpot" and the fantasy "Dream With Music," had brief Broadway runs about the same time.

Back in Hollywood, Sheldon won an Oscar for "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" but couldn't wait to leave Shrine Auditorium.

"On what should have been the happiest night of my life, I was suicidal," Sheldon wrote in his autobiography of the paralyzing mood swings he experienced. A psychiatrist soon diagnosed him as manic-depressive, Sheldon wrote in his memoir.

In midlife, he turned to writing novels, a career change that came about almost accidentally, he often told interviewers:

"I had an idea for something complicated, that delved into people's minds and motives to a greater extent than I could put in any film or TV script. Trying to put it into novel form was the only answer."

"The Naked Face," published in 1970, did not sell well, but readers loved his second novel, "The Other Side of Midnight," the so-bad-it's-good guilty pleasure set in World War II. It centers on a beautiful French woman named Noelle Page who is spurned by a dashing American pilot and spends the rest of her life obsessed with him.

Almost all of Sheldon's books hit the bestseller lists after that.

In his fourth novel, "Bloodline," a beautiful heiress becomes the target of the man who murdered her father. In his sixth, "Master of the Game," the Blackwell family rises to riches in the diamond mines of South Africa. In 1991's "The Doomsday Conspiracy," a naval intelligence officer must find witnesses to the crash of a weather balloon that could actually be a UFO.

His 18th novel, "Are You Afraid of the Dark?," which was published when he was 87, was a New York Times bestseller shortly after its release in 2004.

In his personal life, Sheldon was the opposite of the love 'em and leave 'em cads who populate so many of his works.

A family man

After a brief first marriage, he was married to his second wife, Jorja Curtright, for 33 years; she died in 1985 of a heart attack. In 1989, he married Alexandra Kostoff. Besides his wife, he is survived by a daughter from his second marriage, Mary, who is a novelist; two grandchildren; and his brother Richard.

During most of his writing years, Sheldon and his family traveled the world together, researching and taking photos of the locations where he planned to set his next novel.

"If you read the description of a hotel, or of a restaurant meal, you can bet we actually stayed at that hotel or ate that exact meal…. That's what makes my books so realistic," he told an interviewer.

He wrote every day, first "ad-libbing" an initial and very long draft, which was transcribed by a secretary, and then rewriting and editing what he had written.

Over the years, he also wrote popular children's books. He owned a string of luxurious homes, finally settling in Beverly Hills and in a five-house compound in Palm Springs.

He told the Times in 2000 that he thought the profession of author suited him best.

"In a book, your imagination has no limits," Sheldon said. "There is no budget to worry about, you can have as many characters as you want, you can give them all yachts…. It's remarkable to write a novel, because the author is the star."

Services will be private.

The family suggests that memorial donations be made to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, 4650 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles 90027. A celebration of Sheldon's life will be held later.

Profitable page-turners:

The novels of Sidney Sheldon

• "The Naked Face"

• "The Other Side of Midnight"

• "A Stranger in the Mirror"

• "Bloodline"

• "Rage of Angels"

• "Master of the Game"

• "If Tomorrow Comes"

• "Windmills of the Gods"

• "The Sands of Time"

• "Memories of Midnight"

• "The Doomsday Conspiracy"

• "The Stars Shine Down"

• "Nothing Lasts Forever"

• "Morning, Noon & Night"

• "The Best Laid Plans"

• "Tell Me Your Dreams"

• "The Sky Is Falling"

• "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"

Send Robert Wagner a Birthday Message

Robert Wagner's 77th birthday is February 10. The "Birthday Fax" will be sent to him again this year - for the uninitiated, this is a fax which contains birthday wishes from any fans who wish to participate. If you want to send a birthday greeting to him, go to his official Web site:

http://www.robert-wagner.com

and on the front page at the top, there's the info you need.

TV Notes: Vaughn, Wagner play con game

In the 1960s, they were the sauve and debonair private eyes and spies who drew millions to TVs for weekly tongue-in-cheek adventures. Now, Robert Vaughn ("The Man From U.N.C.L.E.") and Robert Wagner ("It Takes a Thief") have reunited for a single episode of AMC's "Hustle," an "Ocean's Eleven"-type con series, in which the still-charming actors, both in their 70s, will match wits and tailors to charm a new generation of viewers.

Vaughn stars in the ensemble British series, co-produced by AMC and BBC, as the only American member of an elite group of con artists specializing in the "long con" -- an elaborate sting whose marks always deserve it. In this episode, shot in Hollywood and airing in April to launch the show's fourth season, the group travels to California to trick Wagner, a shady millionaire, into thinking he can buy the Hollywood sign from them.

Wagner said he was drawn to the show because of "the whole idea. It's a tongue to cheek, and it's played so well." What's more, its structure was written so solidly, he said, "it's like you're walking into a kind of Rolls-Royce."

Wagner, 76, rose to television stardom in "It Takes a Thief" as playboy spy Alexander Mundy and also starred as the rich and witty sleuth Jonathan Hart in the 1980s series "Hart to Hart." He was introduced to a new generation in later years by Mike Myers, who worked with him on "Saturday Night Live" and cast him as Number Two in the "Austin Powers" movies.

He said he rarely guests on television shows, but his appearance in the finale of "Boston Legal" last year, where he played Denny Crane's counterpart in the Los Angeles law offices of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, led some to hope he would return in his own spinoff.

It was "Hustle" that revived Vaughn's career, still highlighted by his portrayal of spy Napoleon Solo in "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."

Recently, the 74-year-old actor had been seen in several guest spots on "Law & Order" and in a string of commercials for law firms when he was tapped to play hustler emeritus Albert Stroller in the series.

"The BBC wanted to have it all British people, and the production team wanted me," Vaughn said.

By the time he was cast, shooting had begun, he said. "Suddenly I got a call from my British agent saying, 'You have to leave for London tonight.' I took the next flight and I was working the next morning."

"This is the first chance we've had to work together, but we've known each other for a very long time," Wagner said.

"A very long time," Vaughn emphasized. (In 1974, Wagner and Vaughn worked on "The Towering Inferno" but never shared any scenes.)

Marc Warren, whose character became the gang's leader after actor Adrien Lester left, said he learned much about acting and professionalism from Vaughn and Wagner.

Warren said he'll never forget watching the sunset from the Hollywood sign with Wagner and Vaughn and afterward driving with them in a convertible down Hollywood Boulevard. "That was amazing."

They know what it takes

Robert Wagner, once of 'It Takes a Thief,' and Robert Vaughn, of 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,' pull off a 'Hustle.'

In the 1960s, they were the sauve and debonair private eyes and spies who drew millions to TVs for weekly tongue-in-cheek adventures. Now, Robert Vaughn ("The Man From U.N.C.L.E.") and Robert Wagner ("It Takes a Thief") have reunited for a single episode of AMC's "Hustle," a slick "Ocean's Eleven"-type con series, in which the still-charming actors, both in their 70s, will match wits and tailors to charm a new generation of viewers.

Vaughn stars in the ensemble British series, co-produced by AMC and BBC, as the only American member of an elite group of con artists specializing in the "long con" — an elaborate sting whose marks always deserve it. In this episode, shot in Hollywood and airing in April to launch the show's fourth season, the group travels to California to trick Wagner, a shady millionaire, into thinking he can buy the Hollywood sign from them.

"They set me up beautifully. I pay 5 million bucks," said Wagner, dressed to perfection in aviator glasses and mustache, between takes on the Beverly Hills location last month.

Wagner said he was drawn to the show because of "the whole idea. It's a tongue to cheek, and it's played so well." What's more, its intricate structure was written so solidly, he said, "it's like you're walking into a kind of Rolls-Royce." Wagner exuded an old-fashioned graciousness that, heightened by his signature smooth voice and humor, had clearly won over cast and crew, some of whom took pictures to show their parents.

Wagner, 76, rose to television stardom in "It Takes a Thief" as playboy spy Alexander Mundy and also starred as the rich and witty sleuth Jonathan Hart in the popular 1980s series "Hart to Hart." He was introduced to a new generation in later years by Mike Myers, who worked with him on "Saturday Night Live" and cast him as Number Two in the "Austin Powers" movies.

He said he rarely guests on television shows, but his appearance in the finale of "Boston Legal" last year, where he played Denny Crane's counterpart in the Los Angeles law offices of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, led some to hope he would return in his own spinoff.

It was "Hustle" that revived Vaughn's career, still highlighted by his portrayal of spy Napoleon Solo in "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." Recently, the 74-year-old actor had been seen in several guest spots on "Law & Order" and in a string of commercials for law firms when he was tapped to play hustler emeritus Albert Stroller in the series.

"The BBC wanted to have it all British people, and the production team wanted me," Vaughn said. By the time he was cast, shooting had already begun, he said. "Suddenly I got a call from my British agent saying, 'You have to leave for London tonight.' I took the next flight and I was working the next morning."

Having the work is great for a few reasons, said Vaughn, looking dapper in a three-piece suit and speaking in his own trademark speech, a posh mid-Atlantic accent. One reason is that the crew is the most social he's ever worked with. ("We've all been together all the time. They're wonderfully funny.") The other is that "any time you're on television every week for an extended period of time, everybody else says, 'Oh, he's alive and working. He's not dead.' That's always good."

Vaughn said he hadn't been to Los Angeles since 1997, when his star was installed on Hollywood Boulevard. Taking the British cast around to his old haunts proved disappointing, though. "Everything had disappeared, gone, everybody had died. The only person remaining alive is this person here," he said, waving at Wagner, who was passing by his trailer.

A 'Towering' partnership

IN 1974, Wagner and Vaughn worked on "The Towering Inferno" but never shared any scenes.

"This is the first chance we've had to work together, but we've known each other for a very long time," Wagner said. "A very long time," Vaughn emphasized.

Vaughn said he hasn't played a hustler before and has become knowledgeable about how it works. "First of all, you can never con an honest man, because the man is actually knowingly participating in the con. The interesting thing about a con is that people who are conned are usually wealthy to begin with. They can afford to lose some money. But even when they lose the money, they're so embarrassed, being a well-known person, they never tell the law."

His crew never robs the poor, he said. "We steal from the rich and keep it all. That's our theory."Because there are only a limited number of variations on a con and a limited number of moneyed venues to exploit in England, the producers decided to travel to the States, said actor Robert Glenister, who plays one of the hustlers. Fortunately, as it turned out, since Vaughn's character has an American back story, there could be a reasonable explanation why the gang would go to Hollywood and Las Vegas.

Whether they will return to the States, or whether Wagner will reappear in the cast, or whether there will be another season all have yet to be decided.

Working with Wagner was a "great thrill," Glenister said. "Not just for me, but for all of us. He's wonderful and such a nice man; he's almost part of the gang. We feel as if we've adopted him really."

Marc Warren, whose character became the gang's leader after actor Adrien Lester left, said he learned much about acting and professionalism from Vaughn and Wagner.

Warren said he'll never forget watching the sunset from the Hollywood sign with Wagner and Vaughn and afterward driving with them in a convertible down Hollywood Boulevard. "That was amazing."

Lively — and revealing — 'Legends'

BEVERLY HILLS — Joan Collins showed off more than her talents at Tuesday night's opening performance of her traveling stage play, Legends, when the zipper on the back of her dress slid down, exposing the 73-year-old's lingerie-covered backside to a theater packed with '80s TV legends.

Among those who were treated to the moon: Hart to Hart's Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers; Knots Landing's Michele Lee; Falcon Crest's Lorenzo Lamas; and Dynasty's Pamela Sue Martin, Al Corley, Gordon Thomson and Pamela Bellwood.

On stage, Collins' co-star and Dynasty rival, Linda Evans, 64, struggled in vain to zip Collins up. "I tried, but it just didn't want to stay," Evans sighed at the after-party.

So Collins momentarily broke the fourth wall, vocally acknowledging her "wardrobe malfunction" and inspiring Evans to ad-lib "nice (butt)." Collins, who also was battling the flu, spent the rest of the show delicately sidestepping her way across the stage, occasionally clasping her hands over her posterior.

"That poor thing; what a trouper," Powers said. "I once had a set fall down on me."

At the after-party, Collins shared a booth with sister Jackie, who just finished her latest racy novel, Drop Dead Beautiful, about the continuing antics of heroine Lucky Santangelo

"How embarrassing," Joan said of the mishap. "But I had to make it fun, because if you're not having fun, neither is your audience."

Joan's husband, Percy Gibson, is a producer on the show, which casts Evans and Collins as aging actress rivals. After its two-week engagement in Los Angeles, the show will continue to Phoenix, Denver, Chicago and Boston before concluding in New Haven, Conn., on May 13.

It also was a night to remember those who could not attend. The most missed face was Dynasty patriarch John Forsythe, who had colon cancer surgery in September and was released from the hospital three weeks ago.

Forsythe's wife, Nicole, said her husband, who turns 89 Jan. 29, is cancer-free but is now fighting a leg hematoma. "He thinks he can get up and walk, because he's not getting any pain to his brain," Nicole said.

She planned to make the two-hour drive back to their Santa Ynez Valley ranch the same night so she would not worry her husband, who "saw me getting all dolled up."

RJ on Hustle

Veteran TV actor discusses what it's like to be in on the con

Robert Wagner recently sat down with television critics to discuss and promote the new season of the AMC original series Hustle which stars Robert Vaughn. Mr. Wagner appears in the premier episode of the season and his character is instrumental in bringing the London-based characters/actors to Hollywood for a magnificent caper.

Can you talk about coming into an established ensemble and what you thought about it, and how did you get involved with the show?

Robert Wagner: I had seen Hustle, several [episodes]. I liked the writing very much, and I was very flattered that they asked me to come... And I admired the cast very much, and I liked this character a great deal, and it was very well written - all the things that an actor enjoys.

Have you ever worked with Robert Vaughn before?

Robert Wagner: Yes, we worked together in Towering Inferno, but we didn't have any scenes together.

Was this a great chance for you to work together?

Robert Wagner: I enjoyed it very much, and Robert's so wonderful in this character and is the glue that keeps it all together, and I enjoy working with him very much. We've known each other for a long time. We both started around the same time.

What was the biggest thing you pulled off as Alexander Mundy on It Takes a Thief?

Robert Wagner: I think the biggest thing we pulled off was to have Fred Astaire come on the show. That was a big help. And -- the way we introduced him on the show was we sucked all the money out of the casino in Venice through the vacuum. You know, they put them in the wall. Did you ever see that show?

No, I did not.

Robert Wagner: It was terrific. We sucked all the money out. Fred Astaire went dancing away with all the money, and it was terrific. We had some very good cons on that. But this show is so well written, and it does have so many different aspects to it. And it's subtle, you know. I think it has a subtlety about it that is very ingratiating and the humor that's there is, I think, really wonderful...

How much are you still sort of defined by your past roles in the public eye? Can you still not walk down the street without somebody remembering you from Hart to Hart or has that waned over the years?

Robert Wagner: It's just amazing. Television is just amazing - how many people see it and how many people recognize you, and I think once you've had the opportunity and have been in front of the public for the amount of time that Robert [Vaughn] and I have been there, it's very flattering to have people come up and say hello to you. It's a tremendous industry. I've been in places where people come out of the woodwork. And you would never think -- small towns in France or traveling through Europe - and [there are] so many of those people there that recognize you, you know, and you've been in their homes. I find it to be a very flattering thing.

Are you only in the first episode of this show?

Robert Wagner: (Nodding 'yes'.)

And you did a guest stint on Boston Legal. Is that the sort of work you want to do now, just recurring guest appearances?

Robert Wagner: It depends on the character. If it's well-written, you know -- on Boston Legal I loved that character. David Kelley and Bill D'Elia wrote that, and it was a really interesting guy to play. This [Hustle] is a very well-written show, as I said before. That's what really attracts me.

Are there any plans to do another Boston Legal episode?

Robert Wagner: I would -- I don't know. If they come to the West Coast.

What are your favorite roles or movies you cherish the most in which you have appeared?

Robert Wagner: I've really been very fortunate, you know, to have worked with some wonderful, wonderful people. One of the big highs was doing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Lawrence Olivier and my late wife, Natalie Wood. And we did that in England, and we had, like, a five or six-week rehearsal. Tennessee Williams was there. I watched them rewrite part of the third act of that. It was a very highly charged, emotional time for all of us. Very exciting. That was a highlight. I've had a lot of them, but that kind of stands out right now.

The new season of Hustle will premier later this spring on AMC.

C.A. Rejects Robert Wagner’s Bid for Share of ‘Charlie’s Angel’s’ Profits

An agreement between actor/producer Robert Wagner and the late Aaron Spelling’s production company, which led to the creation of the “Charlie’s Angel’s” television series, does not entitle Wagner to share in the profits of the two Charlie’s Angels films, the Court of Appeal for this district.

Ruling in what it called an “unusually complex case” that required multiple briefs and two oral argument sessions, Div. Seven agreed with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Conrad Aragon that the unambiguous language of the contract supported Columbia Pictures’ argument that Wagner had no rights in the films.

Columbia purchased all of the assets of Spelling-Goldberg Productions, Inc. in 1982. Those assets included rights under a contract that Wagner and his wife, Natalie Wood, who died in 1981, had signed with Spelling-Goldberg years earlier.

The primary purpose of the agreement was to secure the couple’s services for a television movie that Spelling-Goldberg was preparing to produce. The contract, however, also included a provision under which Wagner and Wood would join Spelling-Goldberg in submitting ideas to ABC for a television series for the 1974-75 season.

If ABC agreed to produce a series pilot based on one of those ideas, Wagner and Wood were to receive one-half the net profits derived from the “exploitation of all ancillary, music and subsidiary rights...in connection with” the “right to exhibit photoplays of the series.”

One of the concepts was for a series called “Harry’s Angels,” later renamed “Charlie’s Angels.” The series ran for five years.

During the mid-1990’s, Columbia made a deal with the heirs of the show’s writers to obtain the rights to make one or more films based on the series. The films were released in 2000 and 2003.

After Columbia rejected Wagner’s claim that he and his family trusts, which had succeeded to Wood’s rights after her death, were entitled to half the company’s profits under the “subsidiary rights” provision of the old agreement, Wagner sued, but Aragon ruled that no triable issue existed and granted summary adjudication on the plaintiff’s breach of contract claim.

The parties then stipulated that the rejection of that claim effectively resolved Wagner’s claims for declaratory relief and an accounting, and judgment was entered for Columbia.

Justice Earl Johnson Jr., writing for the appellate court, explained that under copyright law, the pilot script was a “work[ ] made for hire,” giving Spelling-Goldberg absolute rights to exploit it in other media, except as otherwise provided by contract.

A provision of the writers’ contract with Spelling-Goldberg, however, incorporated a collective bargaining agreement between the producers and the Writer’s Guild. Under the “separated rights” provision of that agreement, Johnson explained, the writers retained the right to exploit the material for certain purposes, including making a motion picture.

That right was subject to a qualification, the justice added. If the writers had offered the film rights for sale within five years, the producer would have had a right of first refusal.

Had that occurred, Johnson explained, Wagner would have had a possible claim based on the “subsidiary rights” language. But because Columbia’s predecessor’s contract with the writers was completely independent of the company’s negotiations with their heirs—who could have sold the film rights to anyone—more than a decade later, the film rights were not ancillary to the television series, the justice wrote.

Attorneys on appeal were Samuel R. Pryor, Sally S. Liu and Matthew R. Belloni of Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan for Wagner and Martin D. Katz, Lisa N. Stutz and Jean-Paul Jassy of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton for Columbia.

The case is Wagner v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., B184523.

Robert Wagner loses bid for 'Charlie's Angels' millions

LOS ANGELES -- Veteran actor Robert Wagner's claim for millions of dollars in profits from the "Charlie's Angels" movies was on Monday rejected by a Los Angeles appeals court.

Wagner had claimed he was entitled to a share of the proceeds from 2000's "Charlie's Angels" and 2003's "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" on the grounds he had helped develop the 1970s television show on which they were based.

But in a written ruling released Monday, a three-justice panel of the Los Angeles Court of Appeal upheld the decision of a lower court in 2005 which had dismissed the actor's multi-million-dollar claim.

The "Charlie's Angels" remakes, starring Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu and Drew Barrymore, grossed more than $500 million worldwide.

Wagner's lawsuit had argued that he was eligible for a share of the profits because the films were exploitations of the television series he and his late-wife Natalie Wood had helped to develop.

The hit television show ran from 1976-81.

Hart Quotes

Hart Love Montage

For your enjoyment. :-)

RJW Is Mr. Wilson

Info from a fan:

Hi there. I was just reading your Robert Wagner page, and thought I would let you know that the "Dennis the Menace thing" is on, and shooting in Montreal. It is a Christmas movie slated for release on 2007. There have been a number of problems and delays, but it looks like it is coming together.

The Streets of San Francisco coming to DVD in April

The first season of the show (actually, it's one of those "Season 1, Volume 1" deals) will be released by Paramount on April 3. It will be 10 episodes plus the pilot movie. No word on extras or commentaries yet.

It's amazing to see all of the famous faces that graced this show, including Martin Sheen, Deidre Hall, Robert Wagner, John Ritter, Stefanie Powers, Harold Gould, Brenda Vaccaro, Stuart Whitman, Jamie Farr, Shelley Morrison (Rosario on Will & Grace), Leslie Nielsen, Dick Sargent, Dean Stockwell, Bill Bixby, Nick Nolte, Jessica Walter, and some guy named Arnold Schwarzenegger. There was a reunion movie in 1992, but Douglas didn't want to be in it (his character "disappeared" and Malden looked for him).

R.J. Biography

R.J. has signed a deal with Morrow Publishing. His biography will be written by Scott Eyman. They are working on it now. No publishing date has been set.

Hustle

R.J. will be making a guest appearance in the UK TV show "Hustle" (which has Robert Vaughn as a regular cast member). R.J. will be playing a rich Texan who is targeted by the cons.

"Hustle" is shown in the USA on AMC.

Dennis the Menace Is Off

The latest news is that the Dennis movie thing is off. I'm not sure if R.J. pulled out or if the plug has been pulled on the whole thing. But it might be back on again at some point.

R.J. to Play "Mr. Wilson" in "A Dennis the Menace Christmas"

Read the article by clicking on the link below:

Ron Oliver's Fabulous Life: My New Pal, R.J.

Robert Wagner: Guest Programmer on TCM 11/9

The popular television & motion picture star will co-host a night of favorite films with Robert Osborne on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) on 11/9.

Click here to view the article.

'Chair'-ity benefits McCord House

Art lovers bid on creatively designed chairs Saturday at the annual charity benefit for the McCord Gallery and Cultural Center in Palos Park.

The "McCord Chair-ity" event, which also included dinner and dancing, drew more than 160 people. Fifteen chairs were auctioned during a live auction, and others were sold in a silent auction.

"We have a great turnout. And we're seeing a lot of new faces this year, which is exciting," event co-chairwoman Jeanette Wood said. "Fundraising is what will keep the McCord House open."

While most of the proceeds will go to the venue's programs and operating costs, a portion is also being donated to the Crisis Center of South Suburbia, which provides services to domestic violence victims.

Among the more interesting chair designs were a golf-themed piece entitled "Par for the Course"; the "Ballerina Stool"; a "White Sox" chair with a painting of Ozzie Guillen; a garden-themed chair entitled "The Gardeners' Choice"; and "California Cafe Chairs," signed by actors Robert Wagner and Jill St. John.

McCord House board member Pat Martin said guests came not only from the south suburbs, but from the Chicago area, other Midwestern states, and even Kentucky.

"There are people from all over. It's a wonderful party. And everyone is so supportive," Martin said.

Linda and John Buchanan, of Palos Park, attended this year and last.

"It's an important benefit for the Crisis Center of South Suburbia and for the McCord House," Linda Buchanan said.

"It's been a fun evening," said Sara Arnas, the McCord Gallery's managing director. "(The auction) has been my pet project. It's nice to see it grow."

Cynthia Weglarz, of Palos Park, and her daughter-in-law Vanya had the winning bid for the "California Cafe Chairs." The pair sold for $800, the evening's highest bid.

"We're happy to get them. We're going to put them in our family vacation home in New Buffalo, Mich.," Cynthia Weglarz said.

The evening's emcee was WMAQ-TV (Channel 5) reporter Natalie Martinez. Party-goers were also able to view the McCord House's current show, "Folk Art: Art and Soul," which is on display through Oct. 28.

Angels makers sued by Wagner

Actor Robert Wagner has sued Sony Pictures Entertainment claiming he is entitled to half the profits from the two "Charlie's Angels" movies.

His claim is based on his role in developing the 1970s television series on which the films were based.

Wagner and his late wife, actress Natalie Wood, became financially linked to the original "Charlie's Angels" TV series through producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg, the lawsuit said.

The two actors agreed to star in a 1974 TV movie called "The Affair" and as part of the deal were given a part interest in proposals for five TV shows that Spelling-Goldberg Productions pitched to America's ABC Television for the 1974-1975 season, the suit said.

One of those ideas became the series, "Charlie's Angels," about a mysterious millionaire who ran a private detective agency staffed by three beautiful former police officers. The show originally starred Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith and ran from 1976 to 1981.

In his lawsuit, Wagner said Sony, which has since assumed all rights to the series from Spelling's production company, has refused to pay him his share of the profits from the 2000 film "Charlie's Angels" and its 2003 sequel "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle." Both films starred Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz.

The first film generated box office receipts of nearly than £80 million in America, and the sequel, which opened in late June, has grossed more than £40 million in the United States.

The lawsuit asks the court to require Sony to include profits from the films in calculating Wagner's share of net profits for the TV series, and to turn over all information and financial records regarding the making of the movies.

"This has to do with whether or not his entitlement to a share in the television series extends to the movie," Wagner's attorney, Samuel Pryor, said.

R.J. is a Grandfather

Riley John Wagner-Lewis was born to Katie Wagner and her significant other on September 21, 2006 at 4:38 P.M. He weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches long.

Robert Wagner is finally a grandfather!

Hart to Hart on DVD

Hart to Hart - The Complete Second Season
DVD Release Date: September 19, 2006



If you don't have the first season on DVD yet:

Netherbeast Incorporated

Two Gilbert brothers started shooting their first full-length feature film this week, and they chose the Valley as their backdrop.

Brian Ronalds is producing and acting in the movie called Netherbeast Incorporated. His brother Dean is directing and producing the film.

Netherbeast Incorporated is being described as "a quirky twist of the vampire tale, set in modern-day corporate America." The movie is based on a short film the brothers produced and is described as a comedy.

"The film that we're making now is right up our alley," Brian said. "We quit our day jobs last year, and we were given the opportunity to make movies."

Eighty percent of the movie is being shot at Hollywood Phoenix Studios in Avondale, and the remainder is being shot in Phoenix. Brian said he and his brother are hoping for a theatrical release of the movie in January.

The brothers recruited a well-known cast for the film. Robert Wagner, who appeared in the Austin Powers films, joins Judd Nelson from The Breakfast Club, Jason Mewes from the Clerks movies, Amy Davidson from 8 Simple Rules, and Darrell Hammond from Saturday Night Live.

MEWES, WAGNER AND NELSON JOIN CORPORATE VAMPIRE COMEDY

CLERKS star JASON MEWES is set to team up with AUSTIN POWERS actor ROBERT WAGNER and THE BREAKFAST CLUB's JUDD NELSON for a new vampire comedy. The trio are among the stars of NETHERBEAST INCORPORATED, the movie debut of director/producers DEAN and BRIAN RONALDS. The film is "a comic look at office politics through the eyes of a 200 year-old pencil-pushing vampire". Netherbeast Incorporated, which starts shooting in Arizona next week (14AUG06), is based on the Ronalds Brothers' award-winning short film THE NETHERBEAST OF BERM-TECH INDUSTRIES INC, which claimed the Best Screenplay honour at the London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film and Best Comedy Short prize at the Long Island Film Expo. The Ronalds Brothers were also named Best Arizona Filmmakers of the Year at the 2005 Phoenix Film Festival.

'The trash, the whole trash and nothing but the trash'

Today, 150 golfers - including actor Robert Wagner - will take to the links at the Snowmass Golf Club to whack golf balls into trees and rocks, skip them across water hazards and cart paths, and hope to get a "Stiffie," all in search of the coveted Golden Jacket.

They'll also raise enough money to provide full college scholarships for five local high school students.

It's the 14th annual Trashmasters, where a birdie is worth just as much a Billie, and a Stiffie will earn you three points - unless of course it's a Super Stiffie, which will net you five.

For those uninitiated to the 25-page Trashmasters rule book, a Billie is saving par on a hole when a player has a lie so bad that it could endanger his or her reputation. It was coined in honor of former President Bill Clinton by former Vice President Dan Quayle, himself a former participant of the Trashmasters.

A Stiffie? Well that's a shot of more than 100 yards that finishes within a conventional putter length of the hole. A Super Stiffie? That's one that is inside the leather grip on the club.

And then there's the Arnie - Trash speak for an ace, named after golf legend Arnold Palmer.

"We have 25 cleverly named trash events that we put a point value on," said local Boone Schweitzer, co-founder and chairman of the charity tournament. "We go way beyond your Sandies and Greenies to reward the much more bizarre events. I personally like the Willie."

That's when a ball bounces off the cart path. Think Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again."

The hilarious points system is just one of the reasons Schweitzer calls the Trashmasters "the world's most unique golf tournament."

It's definitely one of the most well-known charity tournaments in the country. Numerous national publications have done stories, and today camera crews from VH1 and Plum TV will be on course capturing the action.

The tournament can't begin until players take the time-honored Trashmasters' oath.

With a bagpiper in the background, Schweitzer, dressed in a black robe and a parliament wig, will ask the assembled field of players: "Do you solemnly swear to play the trash, the whole trash, and nothing but the trash, so help you golf?"

It's an oath that a number of celebrities have taken over the years, Michael Douglas and Wagner among them. Douglas wanted to play this year, but couldn't make it to the tournament because he was tied up with work, Schweitzer said. Also, Jack Nicholson and Kevin Costner have actually been turned down to play in previous years because they didn't reserve their spots before the tournament filled up.

Schweitzer said rubbing elbows with celebrities is fun, but the one thing that doesn't always get written about is the thing that is the most important: That all the money goes to the Roaring Fork Valley Scholarship Fund. It's the reason he founded the tournament in the first place.

"It's a lot of fun and laughs, but it's a very legitimate charity," he said. "No one has made any money off the thing. Twenty-one kids have graduated from college from the scholarships we awarded them, and there's another 20 who are in school right now. We're the largest scholarship charity in the valley."

Schweitzer said the scholarships - which are offered at five local high schools from Aspen to Glenwood Springs - are awarded to students based on academics, extracurricular activities and financial need.

"You don't even have to be a golfer," he said.

Hart to Hart Season 2 on DVD

Jonathan & Jennifer Hart Return To DVD For Their 2nd Season!

Sony has announced the second season of the popular whodunit series Hart to Hart, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers! The millionaire couple continue their hobby as amateur sleuths. They seem to always be finding themselves on the brink - or right in the middle - of danger. This season the couple, and their loyal sidekick, Max (Lionel Stander), investigate 20 hour-long episodes on 5 DVDs, with guest stars such as Roger C. Carmel, Dolph Sweet, George Wendt, Joanna Cassidy, Amy Madigan, Shari Belafonte, Lois Chiles, Joe Pantoliano, Jared Martin, Bibi Besch, and Jerry Stiller. Running time is 987 minutes, and cost is $49.95 SRP. There are no extras (other than "bonus previews"). When you meet this package on September 19th, it'll be murder!

Netherbeast Incorporated

Chris LaMont, along with producer Brian Ronalds and director Dean Ronalds, are producing the comedy "Netherbeast Incorporated," starring Darryl Hammond of "Saturday Night Live" fame, Judd Nelson and Robert Wagner. The movie will begin filming across the Valley (Phoenix area) in August.

ENTERTAINMENT AUTHOR JUDITH MOOSE TO PEN BOOKS ON EIGHTIES HIT TELEVISION SERIES' REMINGTON STEELE AND HART TO HART

LOS ANGELES, CA – June 07, 2006 – Entertainment Industry author, publisher and publicist Judith Moose has announced plans to release her fourth and fifth television series guide books. The fourth is titled Steele Loved After All These Years is a retrospective look at Remington Steele and the fifth, Their Hobby Was Murder – A Look Back At Hart To Hart. Both books are slated for publication by the end of 2006.

Fans of both shows will be treated to walks down memory lane as they lip through the pages of the two books. Each will be filled with background information, behind-the-scenes tidbits, episode guides, trivia and assorted fun facts, a complete reference center, interviews with the cast, crew and creators and as with her others, a large selection of photos.

Steele Loved After All These Years and Their Hobby Was Murder will be released by Signing Stars Publishing.

Contact: Catherine Ingham, Signing Stars Publishing, signingstars@earthlink.net

Hotel deLuxe - Portland, OR

The re-opening of the Hotel deLuxe (formerly the Mallory Hotel) was the place to be last Wednesday night, as Portland's movers and shakers lined up to throw back free booze while rubbing elbows with Ted "Still the Governor" Kulongoski, and actors Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers (because Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are dead). The biggest changes to the 93-year-old hotel? Owners Aspen Hotel Group, which also owns Portland's Hotel Lucia, added a new silver-screen theme and—it looks like—went on a major cleaning binge. And yes, as promised, the management has also reopened the hotel's beloved Rat Pack-style bar, the Driftwood Room.

'Boston Legal' 2-Hour Finale Goes Hollywood

ABC will present the season finale of its hit legal drama, Boston Legal, on Tuesday, May 16 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) in a special two-hour block. In the first part of the broadcast, "Spring Fever," Denny Crane and Alan Shore travel to the Los Angeles office of Crane, Poole & Schmidt for business and wind up unexpectedly taking on a case with a decidedly Hollywood flavor.

Once there, they spend time with senior partner Barry Goal (Robert Wagner), a powerful and cagey attorney who, like Crane, is no stranger to the spotlight. Back in Boston, Shirley Schmidt must once again defend Professor Clifford Cabot (Ed Begley, Jr.), this time on charges of soliciting a prostitute -- an act he claims was purely for the purposes of academic research. Denise Bauer and Marlene Stanger (Parker Posey), who are both vying for partnership at the firm, compete to assist Schmidt in the case. Meanwhile, Brad Chase's teenaged niece is accused of giving pharmaceutical drugs to a boy at a party and is charged with his murder.

In the second part, "BL: Los Angeles,", Alan Shore takes on the attempted murder trial of the beautiful and sexy Courtney Rae (Jeri Ryan), a Hollywood celebrity who shot a paparazzo she felt was a threat to her life. Meanwhile both Denny Crane and the LA firm's senior partner, Barry Goal, are captivated with Ms. Rae.

Denise Bauer thinks the sly new associate, Marlene Stanger, will ruin her chances of making partner, so she employs some back-stabbing techniques of her own. And, after Brad Chase's sister fires him from defending his teenaged niece at her murder trial, the girl takes it upon herself to re-hire her uncle.

At the Movies: `Hoot'

This should be a real hoot: A film based on a Carl Hiaasen novel, produced by Jimmy Buffett and featuring songs by him, with both Florida boys appearing in small roles.

Robert Wagner pops in for a bit part at the end as the town's mayor and delivers the movie's funniest line.

The Towering Inferno: Special Edition DVD

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! Robert Wagner and Isaiah Washington to Host 25th Silver Anniversary Saint John's Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go! Robert Wagner and Isaiah Washington to Host 25th Silver Anniversary Saint John's Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon at Griffith Park -- April 23

Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon:

WHAT: Join hosts Robert Wagner and Isaiah Washington, community
leaders, runners and spectators of all ages in celebrating
the 25th Silver Anniversary Saint John's Jimmy Stewart Relay
Marathon at Griffith Park.

WHEN: Sunday, April 23, 2006

Media Check-in: 7:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m.
Relay Marathon: 8:00 a.m.
Media Invitational Relay Challenge: 10:30 a.m.

All media credentials will be available at the media tent
adjacent to the Silver Circle Hospitality Area on Sunday,
April 23. Please call Julie Watt at 310-656-4668 to obtain
media parking passes and event maps.

WHERE: Griffith Park

WHO: -- Marathon hosts Robert Wagner and Isaiah Washington
-- More than 10,000 participants including runners, members
of the media participating in the media invitational
relay challenge and spectators.
(Complete list of media participants follows)

WHY: All proceeds from the Marathon will benefit programs and
services at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica.
Since the first race in 1982, $8.8 million has been raised.

DETAILS: One of the largest five-person relay marathons in the United
States, the Saint John's Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon is
comprised of 17 divisions, according to age, gender and
corporate/industry affiliation. Each individual runs 5.2
miles before passing on the baton for a total of 26 miles.
The Relay Marathon has categories for everyone including,
the Diaper Dash and the Kids Races, as well as the third
annual media invitational relay challenge.


Teams Entered in the Media Invitational Relay Challenge

-- KCBS - 2 TV
-- KNBC - 4 TV
-- KABC - 7 TV
-- KCAL - 9 TV
-- FOX 11 News
-- Access Hollywood
-- LA Sport and Fitness Magazine
-- KEARTH Radio
-- Surfsantamonica.com
-- The Malibu Times
-- KVEA - Telemundo
-- Tu Ciadad Magazine

Wagner signs on for "Legal" season finale

LOS ANGELES - Robert Wagner will guest-star in the two-hour season finale of ABC's "Boston Legal," which is slated to air May 16.

The veteran actor will play Ashley Goldman, the senior partner in the Los Angeles-based office of Crane, Poole & Schmidt, who is described as tanned, manicured and relaxed, a powerful and cagey attorney with the panache and style of old-school Hollywood.

Wagner next will be seen in the children's movie "Hoot," which opens May 5 via New Line. His recent credits include a recurring role in the ABC sitcom "Hope & Faith," and a memorable stint as Number Two in the "Austin Powers" movies.

Boston Legal

Actor Robert Wagner (Hart to Hart) was in Escondido Thursday taping television commercials with Angelo Damante, the owner of Mercedes-Benz of Escondido. Wagner told Damante and longtime friend, sportscaster Charlie Jones, that his next TV assignment is to head up the West Coast law office on ABC's quirky series, Boston Legal. After the day's shoot, the actor dined at Vincent's on West Grand before driving back to Los Angeles in the new Mercedes he had purchased.

Hope and Faith

Robert Wagner returns tonight as the girls' father.

Best bets on TV tonight

Las Vegas: 9 p.m., NBC. Danny and Mike want to focus on investigating some break-ins. Instead, they also have to pose for a beefcake calendar. Meanwhile, Jillian (Cheryl Ladd) worries that her flawed marriage to Ed (James Caan) is a bad example and has caused their daughter to stay single. Guest stars include Robert Wagner (as an ex-convict), Brooke Burke and Hal Sparks.

NRMLA Elects Lender Lead Solutions CEO David Peskin to Board

Senior Educational Innovator to Join Premier Reverse Mortgage Group

Lender Lead Solutions, the premier mortgage educator and lead provider, is proud to announce that CEO David Peskin has been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders' Association (NRMLA).

"I'm honored to have been named to NRMLA's board," said Peskin. "I hope to be able to use my new position to build senior awareness about the powerful financial benefits of reverse mortgages."

As the official voice of the reverse mortgage industry, NRMLA is responsible for representing the industry's interests in Congress while promoting reverse mortgage education. As a new member of the board, Peskin will serve a unique role in helping to improve all aspects of the reverse mortgage process from the standpoint of lenders and consumers. Some of the board's current projects include:

* The passage of the "Reverse Mortgages To Help America's Seniors Act,"
which would remove the cap on the number of reverse mortgages that the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) can insure.
* Working with HUD and other agencies to improve reverse mortgage counseling.
* Promoting reverse mortgages in conjunction with the National Council on the Aging.

As the founder of Lender Lead Solutions' Senior Lending Network program, Peskin is no stranger to reverse mortgages. Founded in 2003, the Senior Lending Network was created to educate consumers about reverse mortgages and put them in touch with local lenders.

About Lender Lead Solutions

Lender Lead Solutions (LLS) was launched in 2003 to meet the lead generation needs of the mortgage industry. The company's programs use unique, celebrity-hosted TV advertisements and free DVDs to educate consumers about mortgages, while pairing them with qualified local lenders. LLS' Senior Lending Network campaign, hosted by renowned actor Robert Wagner, was developed to educate seniors about the powerful benefits of reverse mortgages.

About NRMLA

Established in December 1997, NRMLA is a national trade association for firms that originate, service, and invest in reverse mortgages. Its members make and service more than 90 percent of all reverse mortgages in the U.S.

Media Contact:
Ben Abelson
Lender Lead Solutions
Marketing Associate
631-773-5139
babelson@lenderleadsolutions.com

What Becomes a Legend Most?

Click to enlarge

Robert Wagner (center), celebrates his Copper Wing Award and Tribute at a private party held during the Phoenix Film Festival on March 24, 2006 with filmmakers Brian (left) and Dean Ronalds.

Phoenix film fest draws celebrities, bigger crowds

PHOENIX - Film competition screenings are about to go dark as the Phoenix Film Festival completes this year's event Thursday.

Filmmakers, celebrities and film lovers from throughout Arizona, Hollywood and New York have been participating in the sixth-annual, eight-day movie event at Harkins 101,Scottsdale Road and Loop 101.

There were 850 films submitted this year, 250 features and 600 shorts, 15 percent of which were from Arizona filmmakers.

Program director Greg Hall of Surprise was the final decisionmaker of the festival's 359 feature presentations and 50 shorts. At closing, 200 volunteers will have worked the event, and 20,000 moviegoers will have attended, up by 5,000 from 2005.

The event paid tribute to veteran actor Robert Wagner, who appears in two festival selections, Little Victims and Universal Pictures' Hoot. He received the Copper Wing Award.

Little Victims, which was shot in Phoenix, won the award for Best Arizona Short Film. The eight-minute dark comedy about what lies at the end of the rainbow was produced by local filmmakers, the Ronalds Brothers (Brian and Dean) of Gilbert, and was written by Bruce Dellis of Tempe. It featured Wagner with actress Lori Singer of Los Angeles and Phoenix-area actors Brian Ronalds and Laura Durant.

"I have made several films in Arizona over the years including Broken Lance with Spencer Tracy, Love Among Thieves with Audrey Hepburn and we brought our Hart to Hart show here, too," Wagner said.

"It's wonderful working here," he said. "There is a great film community in Arizona, and I look forward to working with the Ronalds Brothers on their next film here, NetherBeast, in the coming months."

Wagner said he had wanted to be in movies since he was a boy and considered himself very lucky that it happened.

This year's festival was a third bigger than last year in terms of selections, sponsors and programming, according to Chris LaMont, the festival's executive director.

An integral part of the festival is the educational outreach program, according to festival director Jason Carney of El Mirage.

"We had 500 students attending workshops from 20 middle school and high schools throughout Arizona to learn about the business and get experience working with professionals," Carney said.

Workshops are offered in screenwriting, acting, directing, producing, editing, casting and independent filmmaking.

Festival dates have already been set for April 12-19, 2007.

A Couple Scans

Links to a couple scans:

TV Guide 033106

TV Guide 040406

Will Smith in Big Screen Thief Adaptation

Universal Pictures has attached Will Smith to star in a feature adaptation of the TV series It Takes a Thief, reports Variety. The Roland Kibbee-created series, which starred Robert Wagner, ran 1968-70.

Smith will play a charming rogue who is blackmailed by the government into doing covert larceny for the good of his country. The film will put the professional thief in the employment of the CIA.

Smith and his Overbrook Entertainment partner James Lassiter have come aboard to produce the film with Kevin Misher, John Davis and Joe Singer. Four Brothers screenwriters David Elliot and Paul Lovett are set to write the script.

Ronalds Brothers Take Part in Honoring Robert Wagner at Phoenix Film Festival

Phoenix, AZ - March 20, 2006

The Ronalds Brothers will take part in honoring actor Robert Wagner at this years Phoenix Film Festival. The Festival will recognize the contributions to cinema of the Hollywood Friday, March 24, 2006 at the Harkins Cine Capri at Scottsdale 101, 7000 East Mayo Blvd., Northeast Phoenix, and beginning at 7 p.m.

Wagner, whose Hollywood career lists nearly 200 credits over the past five decades in movies and television, is the quintessential leading actor of the American screen a man who is handsome, charming, and debonair, and whose style and presence invoke intelligence and wit equally. Baby Boomers remember Wagner fondly as the handsome heartthrob from films like THE PINK PANTHER and as the suave millionaire detective Jonathan Hart in the television series HART TO HART, and todays audiences know him as Dr. Evils eye-patched Number Twoin the Austin Powers film trilogy.

Last year, Wagner co-starred as the suave and dapper Howard in the short film Little Victim that was produced and directed by Arizona filmmakers Brian and Dean Ronalds with Kevin Berman as executive producer. Little Victim is an Official Selection of the 2006 Phoenix Film Festival and will be presented at the Harkins Cine Capri at Scottsdale 101 on Saturday, March 25 at 9:05 a.m., March 26 at 3:15 p.m. and March 29 at 5:20 p.m. Other members of the cast include Lori Singer, Laura Durant and Brian Ronalds.

Little Victim has already played as an Official Selection nearly a dozen film festivals world-wide, including: the 2006 Santa Barbara International Film Festival; Garden State International Film Festival; London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film; Tiburon International Film Festival; Queens International Film Festival; Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee and Sonoma Valley International Film Festival.

Over the last few years, the Ronalds Brothers have been actively producing short films, television programs, and music videos in the metro Phoenix area. Currently, the brothers are in pre-production for their first feature film Netherbeast Incorporated. The Phoenix Film Festival recognized the Ronald Brothers' contributions to Valley cinema in 2005 by naming them Arizona Filmmakers of the Year. To learn more about the brothers and their films, visit their website at http://www.ronaldsbrothers.com/.

# # #

About The Phoenix Film Festival
The Phoenix Film Festival is an organization that wishes to organize and perpetuate an exciting event that creates a community of film-lovers and filmmakers who encourage and educate the world about filmmaking and the art of the film. The goal is to promote independent filmmaking, with a spotlight on films made for under a million dollars and showcasing Arizona filmmaking. For more information on PFP, please visit the website at http://www.phoenixfilmfestival.com/.

Festival working to buff its image with moviegoers

There are moviegoers and there are film buffs. The intent of the Phoenix Film Festival is to convert the former into the latter.

The cheese in the trap are "showcase" features starring Bruce Willis, Hugh Grant or Luke Wilson, many of them already scheduled for wide release in coming months. Among the stars appearing at this year's event are Laurence Fishburne, Robert Wagner and Melissa Joan Hart.

"A lot of people who are not familiar with film festivals need to see stars in their movie to make them want to see the film," festival director Chris Lamont says. "Our hope is they'll see all the programming we have and want to see the other films, too."

The showcase movies this year are Fishburne's Akeelah and the Bee, about an inner-city girl who makes it to the National Spelling Bee; Grant's American Dreamz, a spoof on American Idol-style reality TV; and Lucky Number Slevin, a thriller starring Willis, Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley.

The star power of that last movie alone is enough to attract a crowd, but the sixth annual festival, expanded from four to eight days, has enough variety to satiate the most rabid film buff. Eleven competition features will vie for Copper Wing awards, which include best picture, best director and best screenplay, there's a world cinema competition and a slew of short films.

"The film-festival crowd is a completely different animal," says Chris Gore, who will be in town for the screening of My Big Fat Independent Movie, a spoof on the indie world that he co-wrote and co-produced. "These people seek out movies at festivals . . . that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to see."

"Seeing a movie at a festival is a different experience," says Gore, who's also the creator of the Web site filmthreat.com, "and I think a more intimate one (because) you have access to the filmmakers and actors. It's sort of the difference between going to a stadium to see your favorite band or going to a small dive bar where you can make eye contact."

Of course, most bands that play small dive bars are dreaming of someday filling stadiums, and the bulk of the titles at festivals like this one are by aspiring filmmakers who make shorts to display their talent. This year's festival includes eight shorts programs, in categories for live action, animated, world cinema, Arizona filmmakers, college and high-school/grade-school shorts.

"The shorts programs always sell out, because people love to see fresh talent and new ideas," Lamont says. "And if they don't like the movie they're watching, it's going to be over in five minutes anyway."

The event begins Thursday at the Harkins Scottsdale 101 with a reception at 5 p.m. and the Arizona première of Akeelah and the Bee at 7, followed by a Q&A with Fishburne and writer-director Doug Atchison. Admission to the opening gala is $40 ($30 for students and seniors).

Phoenix Film Festival

When: March 16 through March 30.

Where: Harkins Scottsdale 101, 7000 E. Mayo Blvd. (Scottsdale Road and Loop 101), Phoenix.

Admission: $10 for individual screenings. Package options range from the $30 Flex Pass, good for four films, to the $425 VIP Patron Pass. Discounts for students and seniors.

Details: (602) 955-6444 or phoenixfilmfestival.com.

Robert Wagner Golf Videos

View interviews with Robert Wagner at celebritygolf.com.

http://www.celebritygolf.com/celebrity-list.asp?search=Robert+Wagner#

Four Designers From Bravo's Project Runway Will Attend FIDM'S L.A. Fashion Gala

FIDM/The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising presents its annual “L.A. Fashion Gala” on Saturday, March 4, 2006 with four very special alumni in attendance, who all appear on the hit Bravo television series Project Runway.

Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) March 2, 2006 --
FIDM/The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising presents its annual “L.A. Fashion Gala” on Saturday, March 4, 2006 with four very special alumni in attendance, who all appear on the hit Bravo television series Project Runway. Guadalupe Vial ’01, Raymundo Baltazar ’04, Daniel Franco ’91 and Satino Rice ’94, who are all FIDM graduates, will attend the gala this Saturday. Additionally, FIDM graduate Nick Verreos, who also appeared in the series, is out of town and unable to attend. An annual event, which benefits the FIDM Scholarship Foundation, a non-profit organization assisting students with completion of their education. The evening’s activities will begin with a cocktail reception at 6:30 p.m. at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California and will be hosted by actor Robert Wagner, with a special guest appearance by Hollywood Mayor Johnny Grant.

The evening is designed to highlight the work of FIDM Theatre Costume Design and Advanced Study Fashion Design graduating students. The Debut Fashion Show is an important part of their learning experience, with graduates showcasing their designs on a 98 foot runway.

Ticket prices for the Scholarship Benefit start at $350 per person. For public information please call: 213-624-1200.

Sinatra tourney swings for valley kids

Children’s Center at Eisenhower Medical reaps event’s rewards

This weekend, celebrities like Joe Mantegna, Robert Wagner and Michael Bolton will tee off at the 18th annual Frank Sinatra Countrywide Celebrity Invitational.

Music legend Smokey Robinson will croon for lucky guests at the annual gala, bringing back tunes of Motown's heyday.

But amid the parties, glitz and glamour, star-gazers should remember the critical importance of this landmark valley event.

Over the years, the star-studded golf tournament, known simply as "The Sinatra," has raised more than $10 million dollars for the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center, a nonprofit organization that counsels physically, sexually and emotionally abused children.

The Children's Center, at the Eisenhower Medical Center, offers a safe environment for children in need of therapy. Eight licensed clinicians counsel victims usually between six months and a year, depending on their case's severity.

"Helping one (abused) child helps all of the community," said executive director Susan Reynolds. "And it's the right thing to do."

She cited studies that showed untreated child abuse led to long-term problems, such as heart disease, cancer and an inability to hold steady jobs or healthy relationships.

Reynolds said the center has helped tens of thousands of children since the Sinatras founded it in 1986. An average of 198 distinct cases walk through its doors each month, and that number is growing.

"Everyone is very proud the population is increasing, but with that comes certain responsibilities," Reynolds said.

Clinicians encourage abused children to work through their feelings by drawing pictures and ascribing emotions to colors, among other methods.
The center's architecture, which Reynolds said Barbara Sinatra personally oversaw, is designed to sooth and calm young visitors.

The center includes east Riverside County's only children's forensic exam room. Children thought to be suffering ongoing sexual abuse can be examined non-invasively in a space filled with dolls and friendly animal paintings, instead of your typical emergency room.

The exams also are recorded so victims don't have to relive the trauma of their abuse in court.

Reynolds said the Sinatras have always been "avid volunteers." She added that Barbara, the center's founder and chairwoman, wanted to build a permanent counseling facility in the early 1980s after volunteering for a child therapy group that floated around local churches.

This year marks the center's 20th anniversary. These days the center sees more grandparents as legal guardians, Reynolds said. Many times they take over after abuse or neglect by parents, and the center offers a support group to help grandparents adjust.

"(Child abuse) crosses all social, economic and ethnic groups," she stressed.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 76th birthday, Mr. Wagner!

Robert Wagner Guest Stars on ABC's "Hope & Faith" During February Sweeps

Robert Wagner and Mark Consuelos reprise their guest-starring roles on ABC’s comedy “Hope & Faith” in February sweeps. Wagner (“Hart to Hart,” “Austin Powers” trilogy) plays Hope and Faith’s father, Jack Fairfield, and Consuelos, co-star of the television series “Missing,” returns as former baseball star Gary ‘The Gooch’ Gucharez, who was married to Faith (Kelly Ripa) for five days last year. Consuelos and Ripa are married in real life.

Mark Consuelos will appear in two episodes, and Robert Wagner in one. In the first, “Now and Zen” (airing Friday, February 3, 8:30-9:00 p.m., ET), the Gooch returns from playing baseball in Japan. But Faith’s hopes of reconciliation with her old flame are crushed when she learns that he has taken a vow of celibacy as part of his new Zen lifestyle. In the second episode, “Meet the Parent,” the Gooch meets Faith’s dad when Jack (Robert Wagner) comes to town for a family party, but their first meeting gets off to a rocky start.

Robert Wagner, who just finished filming a family comedy entitled “Hoot” with Luke Wilson and Tim Blake Nelson, is lending his voice to an animated comedy-adventure feature, “Yankee Irving,” and is co-starring in the upcoming feature comedy, “The Man in the Chair” with Christopher Plummer.

Rocky Mountain News

Meanwhile at the Jerome, Aspen locals Robert Wagner and Jill St. John hosted a release party for the winter edition of Aspen Peak magazine Wednesday night. The who's who invited were Kevin Costner, Will Smith, Thalia, Jason Binn and Mike Ovitz.

Grace Kelly Number One in Glamour Poll

GRACE KELLY's 1955 Oscar gown leads a new glamour poll of stylish stars drawn up by luxury car giants Jaguar.

The company looked at hundreds of awards night outfits to find The Gorgeous 100 - men and women who define Academy Awards fashion and style.

Kelly's EDITH HEAD-designed dress gave the HIGH SOCIETY star the edge just two weeks before she wed Monaco's PRINCE RAINIER. She beat AUDREY HEPBURN's 1954 look and MARLON BRANDO's stylish tuxedo outfit also in 1955.

Brando was the only man in the top 10, but TOM CRUISE, ROBERT WAGNER, CHRISTOPHER REEVE, PAUL NEWMAN and CLARK GABLE all made it into the top 20.

In a related Jaguar list, MARILYN MONROE's skirt-raising scene in THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH beat out the finales of GONE WITH THE WIND and CASABLANCA to land at the top of an Iconic Movie Moments list.

The top 10 gorgeous Oscar heroes and heroines are:

1. GRACE KELLY (1955) 2. AUDREY HEPBURN (1956) 3. MARLON BRANDO (1955) 4. ELIZABETH TAYLOR (1960) 5. NICOLE KIDMAN (1997) 6. SOPHIA LOREN (1999) 7. HALLE BERRY (2003) 8. CHARLIZE THERON (2000) 9. DIAHANN CARROLL (1968)
10. JULIA ROBERTS (2001).

Dancing with the Stars

Robert Wagner will not be appearing on "Dancing with the Stars" due to personal reasons.

ABC's 'Stars' to stay on dance floor longer

LOS ANGELES - ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" is about to step on NBC's toes.

Just one day after NBC revealed it would move hit comedy "My Name is Earl" to Thursdays at 9 p.m., ABC announced Friday it is expanding "Stars" episodes to 90 minutes. That will take the network's summer hit, originally scheduled on Thursdays from 8-9 p.m., through 9:30 p.m. -- directly against "Earl."

ABC also announced a time slot for a half-hour results show for "Stars," Fridays at 8 p.m., and scheduled new crime drama "In Justice" at 9 p.m. Fridays. That will put reality series "Supernanny" on hiatus, and move sitcom "Hope & Faith" to 8:30 p.m.

Sliding in behind "Stars" at 9:30 p.m. Thursdays will be new comedy "Crumbs."

The expansion of "Stars" reflects just the latest jockeying for position on Thursdays, primetime's richest night in terms of advertising revenue. In addition to NBC's "Earl" move, Fox moved comedies "That '70s Show" and "Stacked" to 9-10 p.m., where they will face off against CBS' reigning hit, "CSI."

"Stars" will kick off its second season with a two-hour episode. The new expanded edition is believed to reflect an expanded roster of celebrity dancers; ABC is expected to disclose participating hoofers this week.

Both "Stars" and "Earl" premiere January 5. "Justice" bows January 6 and "Crumbs" starts January 12.

Aspen Peak Magazine

Review: Hart to Hart: The Complete First Season

In the retrospective featurette that graces the new DVD set of Hart to Hart: The Complete First Season, creator Sidney Sheldon accurately describes the sort of winky, black-tie tone he was aiming for in this serialized, early ’80s knock-off of The Thin Man films, in which Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers played a globe-trotting, make-cute husband and wife duo whose substantial personal fortune allows them to play amateur sleuths. With this in mind, the laidback charms of this show (after all, as the opening credit narration from co-star Lionel Stander cheerily notes of the Harts, “murder is their hobby”) can wash pleasantly over viewers seeking to relive their small screen past, when rakishness was embraced rather than castigated.

Wagner stars as Jonathan Hart, a self-made millionaire who is utterly bored with the business world. He runs his conglomeration of industries by loose proxy, leaving him the time to tend his magnificent coif and live a life of luxury and indulged inquisitiveness with his wife Jennifer (Powers), a former freelance journalist and his intellectual equal. Stander is their butler and sidekick, Max, who blends fruit-and-Jack-Daniels smoothies and is quick with a quip. While so many investigatory shows — be they cop, private investigator or, these days, forensic scientist — are little more than colorfully convoluted procedurals, one thing that’s notable about Hart to Hart is the amount of time it took to establish and delight in character. The cases the Harts tackle, therefore, are actually a little less than half the story, as the mock-exasperated interplay between the stars is what gives the show its true zing. The (little) action is dated and silly, sure, and the occasional stunt doubles among the worst you’ll ever see, but Hart to Hart has a great sense of its own style and mission.

While not without its low points (“Which Way, Freeway?,” wherein the Harts’ dog exposes an elaborate scheme to kill a reclusive jeweler and steal millions of dollars in gems, comes to mind), Hart to Hart works chiefly because of its leads. Wagner plays Hart in breezy, Steve McQueen-lite fashion, which isn’t as backhanded a compliment as it sounds; vacuumed free of his complications and surliness, one could see how the character of Hart — and indeed, this series — was a success with audiences, if never quite a critical darling. While it suffered some rocky reviews early on, Hart to Hart eventually went on to score six Emmy nominations and more than a dozen Golden Globe nods. Episode highlights here include a great opening pilot, “A New Kind of High,” “Hit Jennifer Hart,” “Cruise at Your Own Risk” and “With This Gun I Thee Wed.”

The full-frame transfers of the show look surprisingly good given their age, and the audio (in English and… Portuguese, with subtitles in the latter?) is equally crisp. Wagner and Powers sit with writer-director Tom Mankiewicz for a warm audio commentary track on the two-hour pilot. An abundance of anecdotes are shared (after a location set fire early during the shoot, the director of photography used gaffer tape to amend his novelty, pre-show crew T-shirt from, “I have complete confidence in my director” to read “some confidence”), and the banter between the three (“Did you learn that in star school?” jibes Powers to Wagner at one point) is loving and humorous. This track is a veritable blueprint for multi-party effectiveness, so balanced is it between yarns, interesting insight and quantifiable information. The aforementioned retrospective featurette clocks in at 22 minutes, and includes interviews with the stars, plus Mankiewicz, Sheldon, executive producer Leonard Goldberg and others. It too is a fantastic look back at the series, and a model of economic re-visitation — not too long, not too short.

TV highlights: Nov. 14th - 19th

"Hope & Faith"

Robert Wagner returns in his guest-starring role as Hope and Faith’s father, who’s back in town earlier than expected for Thanksgiving. And what about that fellow who’s with him? The young man (Johnny Galecki) makes the sisters suspicious, at 9 p.m. on ABC. Friday, Nov. 18th.

It's time for Harold Lloyd

Harold Lloyd, the forgotten man of the silent-film age, is ripe for rediscovery on a seven-DVD collection out Tuesday.



The Lloyd Collection (New Line, $90) includes 15 full-length films, 13 shorts and a bonus disc with home movies, photos and a gallery of Lloyd's 3-D photos, with glasses included. "It's a very expansive look at one of the great careers in movie history," says film historian Leonard Maltin, who details Lloyd's life in the DVD extras.

From 1912 to 1947, Lloyd made more than 200 films, including his classics The Freshman and Safety Last! Starting as an extra, he became a box-office champion, surpassing the popularity of the era's more famous funnymen, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

Over the Fence, a comedy short from 1917, was the first of a series of films that starred Lloyd as "The Glass Character," an ordinary guy with horn-rimmed glasses and pancake makeup. Audiences took to the character, and Lloyd began making feature-length films throughout the 1920s. He would do talking films, but his popularity waned in the '30s.

He is considered the father of romantic comedy and daredevil hijinks, suffering an accident in 1919 when a prop bomb temporarily blinded him and blew off his right thumb and index finger.

Lloyd also realized the audience's need to identify with a character.

"He's the beginning of what Tom Hanks is today," says Suzanne Lloyd, Lloyd's granddaughter and sole trustee of his film estate. Still, "people have no idea of who he is except an image of him hanging off a clock (in 1923's Safety Last!), and they will say, 'I know him. He's Buster Keaton.' No!"

Many of his films have gone unseen by generations because Lloyd owned the rights to his films and kept them off television because he thought commercials disrupted the story flow.

"Where Chaplin and, to a lesser degree, Keaton were always in the public eye, he was missing in action for quite a while," Maltin says.

Interviews include family friends Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner and director John Landis, who notes that Lloyd used a stopwatch to make sure he had enough gags per reel.

Before he died in 1971, Lloyd had begun restoring his films, a project his granddaughter, with help from the UCLA Film Archive, took over after his death. More than five years ago, she began looking for a studio to release the DVDs. She also is working on a deal for a remake of Safety Last! with producer Mark Gordon (The Day After Tomorrow).

Maltin says the silent film star translates well to modern times.

"Not many years ago at a film festival for a morning screening of The Freshman, they brought in a bunch of fourth- and fifth-grade kids," he says. "By the end of the film, they were cheering out loud as (Lloyd) ran up the field with the football. Harold still works his magic."

(Harold Lloyd wore a prosthetic right hand after losing a thumb and finger in a prop explosion in 1919).

New 'Stars' Waltzing In

Names of probable contestants on the next "Dancing with the Stars" — including former NFL great Jerry Rice — are starting to leak out.

Robert Wagner, soap star Lisa Rinna and Nick Lachey's younger brother, Drew, are among the stars said to be on board already.

Kevin Nealon, the former "Saturday Night Live" comedian, says he's been asked to join the new cast but hasn't decided yet.

"It's like when I play 'Celebrity Poker Showdown,' " he told the Kansas City Star over the weekend. "I don't want to be the first one out. I don't want to look like an idiot. Or clumsy."

The sensation of last summer, "Dancing with the Stars" partners celebrities with real ballroom-dancing champions in an "American Idol"-like competition.

Each week, the couples create and perform a dance routine before a panel of eccentric judges.

A voting formula that combines judges' scores with results of viewer phone-ins decides which couple is eliminated each week.

In July, "General Hospital" star Kelly Monaco won the first "Dancing with the Stars" competition, beating John O'Hurley (J. Peterman of "Seinfeld") in a controversial finale.

The dance show's second run starts Jan. 5.

ABC has made no official announcement of the new cast.

Hoot

The movie version of HOOT will hit U.S. theaters in Spring 2006. It was filmed in Boca Grande and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It's being produced by Jimmy Buffett and Frank Marshall (who produced Seabiscuit). Wil Shriner is directing the film. Luke Wilson plays Officer Delinko, and Logan Lerman and Brie Larson play Roy and Beatrice. Clark Gregg (of "In Good Company"), Tim Blake Nelson (of "O Brother Where Art Thou") and Robert Wagner (of the Austin Powers movies, among many others) have roles in the movie. Jimmy Buffett is contributing original music. The studios are New Line and Walden.

More "Hope and Faith" Info

HOPE & FAITH – “BLOOD IS THICKER THAN DAUGHTER” – FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18 (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET) -- Hope and Faith are surprised to spot their dad, Jack (Robert Wagner, reprising the role), in town earlier than expected for Thanksgiving. His suspicious behavior with his companion, a young man named Jay (guest star Johnny Galecki) leads the sisters to jump to conclusions. They soon learn their father is harboring a secret about Jay, which has a huge impact on their family ties.

Dancing with the Stars

Robert Wagner is scheduled to be a celebrity dancer on the next season of ABC's smash hit Dancing with the Stars.

Robert Wagner Returns as a Guest Star on ABC's "Hope and Faith"

Robert Wagner (“Hart to Hart,” “Austin Powers” trilogy) reprises his role as Hope and Faith’s father, Jack Fairfield, on ABC’s hit comedy, “Hope & Faith.” On the Thanksgiving-themed episode, “Blood Is Thicker Than Daughter,” Hope & Faith learn that their father is harboring a secret which has a huge impact on their family ties. The episode will air FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18 (9:00-9:30 p.m., ET).

Additionally, Mr. Wagner is currently filming a family comedy entitled “Hoot,” and lending his voice to an animated comedy-adventure feature, “Yankee Irving.”

“Hope & Faith” stars Faith Ford as Hope, Kelly Ripa as Faith, Ted McGinley as Charley, Megan Fox as Sydney, Macey Cruthird as Hayley and Paulie Litt as Justin.

Hart to Hart DVD Box Art, Stills and Clips

http://www.meredy.com/hart2hart/sony.html

Category 7: The End of the World

Emmy Award nominee Randy Quaid ("Elvis"), Gina Gershon ("Bound"), Shannen Doherty ("Charmed"), Emmy Award winner Tom Skerritt ("Picket Fences"), Emmy Award winner Swoosie Kurtz ("Sisters"), Emmy Award nominee James Brolin ("The Reagans"), Golden Globe nominee Robert Wagner ("Hart to Hart") and Adam Rodriguez ("CSI: Miami) star in CATEGORY 7: THE END OF THE WORLD, a new four-hour event mini-series by the same team behind the successful "Category 6: Day of Destruction" mini-series. As previously announced, the movie will be broadcast as the "CBS Sunday Movie" on Sunday, Nov. 6 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) and Sunday, Nov. 13 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Robert Wagner plays a U.S. Congressman and Judith's father.

TV on DVD By R.D. Heldenfels

I was not a fan of Hart to Hart when the romantic adventure ran on ABC from 1979 to 1984. But I enjoyed the audio commentary on the new DVD of Hart to Hart: The Complete First Season (Sony, premiere movie and 22 episodes, six discs, $49.95).

Executive producer Tom Mankiewicz and stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers offer a relaxed and conversational look at the show during commentary on the premiere. They joke about the plots and dialogue, offer up trivia (Sugar Ray Robinson was Wagner's first choice to play servant Max) and have such a good time, it makes the show seem better.

The DVD also includes a short feature on the making of the show.

Hart to Hart - More Details and Artwork for Season 1

This is my boss: Jonathan Hart (Robert Wagner); a self-made millionaire. He's quite a guy. This is Mrs. H. (Stefanie Powers) She's gorgeous. She's one lady who knows how to take care of herself. By the way, my name is Max (Lionel Stander). I take care of both of them - which ain't easy. 'Cause when they met, it was murder.



Created by bestselling novelist Sidney Sheldon, HART TO HART: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON stars Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a fabulously rich couple who always seems to become entangled in an exotic blend of mystery, intrigue and adventure. Accompanied by their loyal servant Max (Lionel Sander), the smart and sexy twosome jet set around the world, where they solve cases ranging from espionage to murder, in 22 breezy episodes that mix excitement and danger with just a dash of romance.



Sony announced last month, that Hart to Hart - The Complete First Season will be available for DVD on October 25th, 2005. Sony has now sent me more artwork for Hart to Hart - The Complete First Season. The back cover shows the below extras will be featured on the DVD:

* Commentary for Hart to Hart Pilot Episode

* Featurette: The Hart of Season One - Includes Interviews with Sidney Sheldon - Creator; Leonard Goldberg - Executive Producer; Tom Mankiewicz - Write/Director; Robert Wagner - "Jonathan Hart"; Stefanie Powers - "Jennifer Hart"



Hart to Hart - The Complete First Season is available for pre-order at Amazon, for only $34.96.

Hart to Hart on DVD

Hart To Hart: The Complete First Season: The six-disc set has 23 episodes of Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as a crusading couple who defy danger and spark romance. Fullscreen with extras including a featurette.

A Hart to Hart Reunion

The Insider - http://insider.tv.yahoo.com/celeb/insdr20051013t102900003155

Production Wraps on TAG Entertainment's ''The Wild Stallion''

TAG Entertainment Corp., a full service entertainment company specializing in the production and distribution of family oriented motion pictures, announced that it has completed production of the feature film "The Wild Stallion." It's slated to be released worldwide in February 2006 and will be distributed internationally by Myriad Pictures, an independent producer and distributor of major motion pictures and television programming and with whom TAG has a letter of intent to acquire.

"The Wild Stallion" was shot entirely in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is the story told from the perspective of an emotionally connected young girl determined to protect the area's endangered wild mustangs. Hannah, a 10-year-old city girl, is sent reluctantly to stay with family friends on a Utah ranch. There, she befriends 9-year old C.J., who takes Hannah into the mountains for a rare glimpse of the area's wild mustangs, including a fabled "Black Stallion" which is rumored to be an escaped racehorse. When Hannah learns that the magnificent wild mustangs are mysteriously disappearing, she and her new friend decide to investigate. Hannah and C.J. team up to use their pluck, amateur detective skills and sheer guileless determination to expose this scam and help protect the wild horses forever.

The film stars, Robert Wagner ("Austin Powers in Goldmember", "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me", "Hart to Hart"), Paul Sorvino ("Goodfellas", "Nixon", "Mr. 3000", "Bulworth"), Connie Selleca ("I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", "Hotel", "A Life of Laughter: Remembering John Ritter"), Fred Ward ("Henry & June", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Tremors", "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult"), Miranda Cosgrove ("The School of Rock", "Grounded For Life", "Drake & Josh") and Danielle Churchran ("The Cat In The Hat", "Little House On The Prairie", "Crossing Jordan").

Anchor Bay set to release The Fallen Ones on DVD

Promising primeval chills with blood-racing CGI special effects, Anchor Bay Entertainment plans to release The Fallen Ones on DVD, loaded with special features, on Sept. 20th with a suggested retail price of 19.98.

First aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in May 2005, The Fallen Ones has an all-star cast featuring Casper Van Dien, Robert Wagner, Kristen Miller, and Tom Bosley. The film was written, edited and directed by special effects master Kevin Van Hook.

The film follows Matt Fletcher (played by Van Dien) an archaeologist who uncovers a hidden tomb containing the mummified remains of a long dead warrior – who just happens to be about 42-foot tall.

The giant has been buried since the time of the great flood, as described in the Bible, and soon evidence is uncovered that reveals the creature to be Ammon The Destroyer – the unholy offspring of a human woman and a fallen angel.

The DVD will come loaded with special features including “Giants In The Earth” – the making of The Fallen Ones; “Creating Aramis the Mummy;” “Animatics: Pre-Visualization by Forum Visual Effects;” and audio commentary from Van Hook and others from the film’s crew.

The Fallen Ones special features will also include a storyboard gallery; theatrical trailer; still gallery; and the screenplay for DVD-ROM.

The Fallen Ones is available for pre-order at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the film’s database for more information.

Yankee Irving

"Yankee Irving," a computer-animated feature Christopher Reeve was directing from his home at the time of his death in October, has added a deep bench of voice talent to the cast.

Rob Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, Brian Dennehy, William H. Macy, Mandy Patinkin, Dana Reeve, Robert Wagner, Richard Kind, Raven Symone and New York Yankees manager Joe Torre have joined the lineup. Jake Syzmanski, star of the upcoming Nick Jr. series "Go, Diego Go," voices the title character.

"Yankee Irving" is about a boy who travels across the country on a mission to return Babe Ruth's bat before the deciding game of the 1932 World Series. It is in production at producer IDT Entertainment Animation's studio in Toronto with an anticipated summer 2006 release via Twentieth Century Fox. Dan St. Pierre and Colin Brady are co-directing.

It's a Hoot

Robert Wagner will star in New Line's "Hoot," now lensing in Florida.

He joins Logan Lerman, Brie Larson and Luke WilsonLuke Wilson in the Wil Shriner-directed family film, adapted from Carl Hiaasen's novel.

'Thin Man' movies released on DVD

I can't imagine a better life than the one lived on "Hart to Hart," a television series from 1979.

I mean, who wouldn't want to be Jonathan Hart (played by Robert Wagner)? You've got a dish of a wife played by Stefanie Powers, and you’ve got a gruff, stogie-chomping manservant played by Lionel Stander. In your free time, between fabulous parties and ski trips to the French Alps, you solve murders.

The only couple that ever had it better than Mr. and Mrs. Hart was Nick and Nora Charles in the "Thin Man" movies.

Nick and Nora, played by William Powell and Myrna Loy, were the prototypes for the Harts -- and they also would have drunk them under the table.

Powell and Loy made six "Thin Man" movies from 1934-1947, and now they're all together in a DVD box set full of gin-and-vermouth benders and rakish, screwball one-liners.

In the 1934 original, "The Thin Man," we learn that Powell’s character used to be a private detective. He gave it up to live the good life with his rich and sassy wife.

But when he bumps into a woman at the bar, she convinces him to look for her missing father -- an eccentric scientist/inventor.

Detective work follows, but it takes a back seat to Nick and Nora’s lightning-quick repartee. Even with their characters’ dueling hangovers, Powell and Loy still outpace the screwball banter of duos like Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. They might be the best on-screen couple in Hollywood history.

While the 1934 original is the clear standout of the collection, the others have their charms. "After the Thin Man" (1936) stars a young Jimmy Stewart as a nice guy who isn't is as nice as he seems.

Brothers banking on 8-minute film

The scenario reads like the opening to a joke you would tell friends at a house party.

But Brian and Dean Ronalds aren't looking for cheap chuckles over cocktails or material for the water cooler on Monday.

They're gunning for a spot in the movie industry.

The Ronalds brothers are no strangers to Arizona's growing independent film tapestry, having shot eight films in the last four years.

They hope their latest offering, an eight-minute dark comedy called Little Victim, gets them noticed.

Shot in May, Little Victim matched the brothers with screen veterans Robert Wagner and Lori Singer, along with Phoenix actress Laura Durant.

Here's the setup: Two men meet in a parking garage. One has good news, the other not-so-good news.

We could go on, but, hey, the movie's eight minutes long.

"Making a short film is just like a feature film, just on a smaller scale," said Brian Ronalds, 32, who acts in the film and also produced it. "You put a lot of care and effort into both."

Little Victim will be screened at 7:15 and 8:15 p.m. Thursday at Harkins Valley Art Theatre in Tempe, and Aug. 27 in Los Angeles. Ronalds' younger brother, Dean, directs.

The brothers have been building their resumé on the indy scene since moving to Gilbert from Los Angeles in 2001. This year, the Phoenix Film Festival named the Ronalds brothers Arizona Filmmakers of the Year.

The pair, however, are looking for more than just eight minutes of fame.

They recently gave up jobs at Qwest to take the plunge as feature-length movie artists. They are working on a feature-length version of The Netherbeast of Berm-Tech Industries Inc., a 2004 horror-comedy short film written by Bruce Dellis.

The original Netherbeast was six minutes long. Scottsdale cardiologist Kevin Berman agreed to be the executive producer of the full-length installment, which is scheduled to begin shooting in October or November.

"We're calculated risk takers," said Dean Ronalds, 29.

Hart to Hart - When This Show Came to DVD, It Was Murder! (Season 1 Announcement)

When people think of Sidney Sheldon, they think mainly of his thrilling novels (his 18th novel is due to hit the market next month). What surprises people is the number of film scripts and television epsiodes he's written...more than 200 of the latter. He also was the creator of two of the most popular sitcoms of all time: The Patty Duke Show and I Dream of Jeannie. Those were from the '60s. In 1979, Sheldon turned his talents toward creating a TV show that was as full of thrills as his novels were. The result was a show originally called "Double Twist", but which came to broadcast as Hart to Hart.

Starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, it was a show in the murder mystery genre that had the very wealthy husband-and-wife team looking for clues and killers among the well-to-do. But that summary, while on-target, doesn't begin to describe the charm brought to the show by the wonderful relationship that Wagner and Powers had with each other. He was a self-made millionaire, with the strength and determination to see anything through. She was a former journalist, with a nose for finding clues. Always on hand to help was Lionel Stander as Max, their friend and servant with the gruff voice but could be trusted to be there in a pinch. First season guest stars include Dee Wallace, Markie Post, Rene Auberjonois, Tommy Lasorda, Noble Willingham, Juliet Mills, and John Hillerman.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will bring out Hart to Hart - The Complete 1st Season on October 25th, on a 6-DVD set that runs 1139 minutes. List price is $49.95 SRP. Extras have not been announced by the studio yet, but Video Business reports that the set "contains all 23 episodes of the debut season, plus commentary and a featurette with cast and crew interviews." Here's the box art for you:

Hart DVD Announcement Imminent

I just read that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is expected to release details of the DVD set "Hart to Hart: The Complete First Season" on Monday, August 15, 2005, with a likely release date of October 25, 2005.

Details at present: It's a 6 disc box set, with a suggested price of $49.95.

Obviously, this is subject to change until the official announcement comes, but this sounds about right. Most on-line retailers sell below the suggested price, so don't be scared by that price tag if you don't want to spend that much on DVDs. I'm sure a lot of you would pay more than that, as Hart on DVD has been long awaited. No mention of extras - wait for the official announcement.

Can't golf? This is the tourney for you

It's time to get trashed.

The 13th-annual Trashmasters golf tourney comes down in Snowmass on Friday. It's Realtor Boone Schweitzer's charity game, which rewards players for making really bad shots. And he has names for them - like the the "Billie," in honor of Bill Clinton for a lie so bad it's unplayable. (The joke's getting old, but it's a classic.) And there's the "Willie," named for Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again." A bad backswing is a CEO. "It's for a little jerk at the top," says Schweitzer.

Over the years many bold names have played the game, including Dan Quayle, Michael Douglas, Chip Beck ("Mr. 59") and Wayne Rogers. This year Robert Wagner will play. And Woody Paige's ESPN show "Cold Pizza" is coming to Snowmass to cover the tourney and interview the more colorful Trashmasters live. FORE!