Diane Ladd (1935-2025)

by Cláudio Alves

INLAND EMPIRE (2006) David Lynch | © StudioCanal

This past Monday, cinephiles worldwide were met with the news of another painful loss. Diane Ladd died at her home surrounded by loved ones, including her daughter, Laura Dern. She was 89 and leaves behind a remarkable body of work that spans from the 1960s Roger Corman cheapies to the 2020s American indies, a panoply of TV projects dating back to the medium's genesis in the post-war era, a rich legacy on stage, and multiple memoirs. Among actressexuals and awards nuts, she's mostly known for her three Oscar nominated performances in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Wild at Heart, and Rambling Rose, the latter of which made her part of a very exclusive club of mother-daughter duos honored by the Academy. 

Let's take a look back at Ladd's career, enjoy some memories of past glory and even celebrate a couple of deep cuts worthy of attention. After all, there's no better way to honor a beloved artist than to appreciate their art…

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The 25 Oldest Men Ever Nominated for Best Actor

by Nathaniel R

John Wayne just misses the list. Denzel almost double dips. And Hopkins tops the list setting a new recordWe did a "Youngest Best Actor" list a few years back so we thought we should balance it out with their counterparts given the return of Sir Anthony Hopkins this year at 83 years of age with The Father. He makes history in the process as the oldest nominee ever in this category. As we all know Oscar likes some years on his men (as opposed to how he feels about women) but that doesn't mean the golden years. Oscar loves men to be in their late 30s through mid 50s (whereas with women they prefer late 20s through mid 40s) but ageism  works against men, too. Just not as severely as it does against women. The roles still dry up at a certain age... though perhaps that's more on filmmakers and studios than the Oscars themselves. 

LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH MINOR CORRECTIONS. (04/02). And a surprising piece of trivia about this list. Only one of the top 25 oldest nominees in this category actually won the Oscar. Not a strong success rate for senior men. Oscar likes to bid them farewell but doesn't feel the need to send them off with the statue (or a second statue)...

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Oscar Trivia: Longest gap between nods... and who might return next?

by Nathaniel R 

Tie a yellow ribbon round the ol' Oscar ceremony this year. There are a lot of "welcome back" nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards since the nominations skewed towards senior actors as it occassionally does. Seven previous winners are in play again -- Bates, Theron, Zellweger, Pacino, Pesci, Hanks, and Sir Anthony Hopkins... all of whom have been missing in Oscar action anywhere from 15 to 29 years!  Surprisingly none of them are close to the all time record for “longest gap between nominations”.

Still, two decades is a big long stretch of time since most actors of either gender have all of their Oscar activity in a relatively condensed period of time; when you’re hot, you’re hot. Gaps over 20 years are uncommon. Even Lee Grant and Ingrid Bergman, famously blacklisted or exiled for a spell before returning triumphantly to Oscar’s good graces, didn’t have to wait that long. So herewith a list of the only actors who returned to the mix after a 20 year absence. 

The 25 Longest Gaps Between Oscar Nominations (for Actors)

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Lunchtime Poll: Which scene in a movie made you imagine a whole other movie?

by Nathaniel R

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood was difficult to write about. That's what happens with dense movies. Naturally, then, my review left out something major. It was only after publishing it that I realized I hadn't even mentioned the extended scene that is the movie's most impressive on a filmmaking level. I'm talking about the significant detour when Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) visits Spahn's Movie Ranch. He used to shoot a TV show there a decade earlier but it's now Manson Family territory, thanks to the retired and now blind George Spahn (Bruce Dern)...

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Showbiz History: Dunkirk Evacuation, Suffragette Trampling, and Celebrity Offspring

Happy June 4th, y'all. Here are several things that happened on this day in history that you can be celebrating or thinking about today as you go about your busy lives. Happy birthday if it's your special day you awesome Gemini, you!

1907 His Girl Friday herself Rosalind Russell born in Connecticut.

1913 Emily Davison, a suffragette, purposefully steps in front of a horse at King George V's Derby and is trampled to death. Though the recent film Suffragette (2015) was not a true story, many of its details were true including this turning point moment in the suffragette movement...

-EMILY!
-Never surrender. Never give up the fight!

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