Patty Duke (1946-2016)

As I'm sure you've heard Patty Duke, the third youngest actor ever to win an Oscar (she was 16 when she took the industry's top prize for The Miracle Worker) and the former President of SAG, has died at the age of 69. Her birth name was Anna Marie Duke and by the time she was 14 she was already a famous thespian. She originated the role of blind and deaf Helen Keller in the hit Broadway play "The Miracle Worker". She and her Tony winning co-star Anne Bancroft both transferred over to the film version two years later to bring Helen Keller's incredible story to millions more. It really is a shockingly good movie, with two stellar performances, and it's devoid of the sentiments and easy comforts that you're expecting if you've only heard of it secondhand; that movie earns its "triumph of the human spirit" appeal. 

Photos, her son Sean Astin, and her charity work after the jump...

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In Appreciation of Regina King

Kieran here to take a moment to praise the talents of the great underappreciated, enduring and (as of Sunday evening) Emmy-winning actress, Regina King. It was truly a wonderful moment when Taraji P. Henson, still reeling from that moment of Terrence Howard creepery, excitedly announced Regina King as the winner. The Emmys can often feel like a yearly recitation of the same list of names, but wins like Regina King's are what make awards shows that honor acting great. Like Melissa Leo or Octavia Spencer, it's always heartening to see hard working, talented and enduring character actresses finally get recognition.

My earliest memory of King was in Boyz N the Hood (227 is a little before my time) where she brought a welcome side-eye skepticism and levity to that male-centric outing, great as it was. I haven't seen the film in a couple of years, but her lines easily remain the most memorable and quotable. I feel similarly about her performance in Ray, a film that suffers from its trite biopic structure but comes to life most when King's Margie is on screen. She's consistently great, shoring up projects and roles that often don't deserve her, frankly.

King has worked steadily for the past three decades but prior to her nod for American Crime, she had never been nominated for an Emmy. Or a Golden Globe. Or a solo Screen Actors Guild Award (she was nominated with the cast of Ray in 2004). Or an Oscar. Given the breadth and longevity of King's career, this is a little shocking. She's clearly under-appreciated, even by me. I failed to cite her as one of my ten favorite Emmy nominees, though she was great on American Crime and wholly deserving of the win.

Hopefully seeing Regina King win an Emmy will prompt directors and producers, many of whom I'm sure she's already worked with (seriously...check out her IMDb. The woman never stops working) to unlock their imaginations about what she's capable of. She's shown her versatility in a wide range of genres and in roles of all sizes. The time has long passed for King to have her moment in a great leading role worthy of her talents.

What's your favorite Regina King performance? What director would you like to see her paired with? Discuss in the comments.

List Mania! Frances McDormand and all the "Triple Crown" Icons

Since I'm on record as being annoyed that all anyone cares about is the EGOT and since Steve asked in the comments of the Emmy post-mortem about my preferred obsession (The Triple Crown of Acting) to date only 21 actors* have accomplished this, two of them within this very calendar year (Dame Helen Mirren and Frances McDormand). Of course this has become more commonplace than it used to be given that actors no longer feel like they should be solely a movie star, or solely a tv actor, or only a thespian of the stage. With more and more people willing to do all three, sometimes consistently, these ranks will likely swell in another 20 years.

Currently the rarified list of actors who've won The Tony, The Oscar and The Emmy for their acting reads like so...

Frances McDormand is your latest Triple Crown Winner. From Fargo (1996) to Good People (2011) to Olive Kitteridge (2014)

• Jack Albertson (Tony: 65, Oscar: 69, Emmy: 75)
• Anne Bancroft (Tony: 58, Oscar: 63, Emmy: 99)
• Ingrid Bergman (Oscar: 45, Tony: 47, Emmy: 60)
  Our Ingrid Bergman Centennial was fun wasn't it? You're welcome. Ingrid is the youngest performance to complete the trinity at age 45. 
• Shirley Booth (Tony: 49, Oscar: 53, Emmy: 62)
• Ellen Burstyn (Oscar: 75, Tony: 77, Emmy: 09)
• Melvyn Douglas (Tony: 60, Oscar: 64, Emmy: 68)
  Did you know that this Hud star was Illeanna Douglas's grandfather? I certainly didn't.
• Helen Hayes (Oscar: 32, Tony 47, Emmy: 53)
  (Though IMDb does not state what her Emmy was for so who knows if she's a special case or not)
• Jeremy Irons (Tony: 84, Oscar: 91, Emmy: 97)
• Frances McDormand (Oscar: 97, Tony: 11, Emmy: 15)
  The most recent inductee to this hall of fame. 
• Helen Mirren (Emmy: 96, Oscar: 07, Tony: 15)
  And yes she won all three for playing Queens named Elizabeth! Though she has multiple Emmys so she's won for other roles, too. 
• Thomas Mitchell (Oscar: 40, Tony: 53, Emmy: 53) 
• Rita Moreno (Oscar: 62, Tony: 75, Emmy: 77)
  The second youngest to the Triple. She was 46 when she completed it with the Emmy for The Muppet Show
• Al Pacino (Tony: 69, Oscar: 93, Emmy: 04)
• Christopher Plummer (Tony: 74, Emmy: 77, Oscar: 12)
• Vanessa Redgrave (Oscar: 78, Emmy: 81, Tony: 03)
• Jason Robards (Tony: 59, Oscar: 77, Emmy: 88)
• Geoffrey Rush (Oscar: 97, Emmy: 05, Tony: 09)
• Paul Scofield (Tony: 62, Oscar: 67, Emmy: 69)
  The youngest male actor to the Triple. He was 47 when he completed it with the Emmy for Male of the Species 
• Maggie Smith (Oscar: 70, Tony: 90, Emmy: 03)
• Maureen Stapleton (Tony: 51, Emmy: 68, Oscar: 82)
• Jessica Tandy (Tony: 78, Emmy: 88, Oscar: 90)

Weird Statistic
The Emmy, which seems like the easiest to win since they have so many damn categories, is actually won last by the majority of Triple Crowners. How about that? 

Eddie Redmayne is very young to have already won two of the big threeWho do you think will join the list next?
Of currently working stars Viola Davis, Cicely Tyson, Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen Barkin, Hugh Jackman and Bryan Cranston are just missing the Oscar which is obviously the hardest to win.

Overachiever Glenn Close has three Tonys and three Emmys but (sigh) zero Oscars. Kevin Spacey, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dame Judi Dench, Denzel Washington and Marcia Gay Harden are just missing the Emmy. The youngest immediate threats are Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne: she is only 32 and just needs a Tony; he is only 33 and just needs an Emmy... though he isn't currently doing any TV so the Triple Crown will probably have to wait. 

And get this: Sally Field, Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Dianne Wiest and Jane Fonda who all have won multiple Oscars and multiple Emmys are all just missing the Tony though they've all worked the Broadway stage!

Depressing Three-Medium Stats: Sir Ian McKellen, a hugely lauded thespian has only won the Tony despite Oscar & Emmy nominations. The gifted Sarah Paulson who works all three mediums with regularity has not won any of the prizes and has only been Emmy-nominated. The Lovely Laura Linney, another regular three-medium threat has only won the Emmy despite multiple Tony and Oscar nominations. Marisa Tomei who works all three has only won the Oscar with no Tony or Emmy honors. Martha Plimptonwho does all three (though movies only occasionally) has only won the Emmy but has at least been nominated for multiple Tonys. Kathleen Turner who only occasionally does TV (unthinkably her work on Friends did not even win her a Guest Actress nomination) but used to be a huge movie star has been nominated for the Oscars and Grammys (once) and the Tonys (twice) but has yet to win any of the big showbiz awards beyond her two Golden Globes. Annette Bening has NONE of the top three prizes despite being nominated for all. The strange thing is that though she now regularly does stage work, she does not do it on Broadway. She could win a Tony if she came back!

* Special Cases: Notable superstars like Judy Garland (her Oscar was a non-competitive juvenile Oscar), Liza Minnelli (her Emmy was for a televised concert), Barbra Streisand (her Tony was a special award) and Whoopi Goldberg (her Emmy was not a Primetime Emmy which is all that people usually refer to when they talk about winning Emmys) won all three statues but they did not win them all in regular competitive categories or for performances exactly so they are special cases.

Emmy Cool-Down

Emmy Post-Mortem
Pajiba all the times Mad Men lost acting Emmys. To this we add Christina Hendricks to Uzo Aduba (2015) and Elisabeth Moss to Viola Davis (2015) so they went 1 for 36 for eight years of an entire cast -- including the day players -- doing totally brilliant work. This is one of the reasons (only one) that the Emmys truly suck.
Slate a superb analysis of why Jon Hamm never won until now.
Glenn Dunks offers a neat solution for a couple of EGOT seekers
Vanity Fair 10 best reaction shots from the ceremony
Awesomely Luvvie on the "Blackest Emmys Ever" - I especially appreciate the shout out to future understandings of diversity because I long for the day when everyone realize that diversity does not mean white + black. But there's some time to go before we get there, you know?
E! Online covers the important stories. WHO WAS ALISON JANNEY'S SUPER HUNKY DATE? 

Six Afterthoughts on the Big Night

1. I really should have posted my predictions because they were spot on this year in regards to Veep and Game of Thrones emerging as the big winners with a nauseating mix of sameness in the acting categories mixed with new winners but only when they had no other choice. The new rules, which no longer require blue ribbon panels or for voters to have watched the nominees, are bound to eventually lead to even more repeat winners if you ask me. If a show is as popular as Game of Thrones it will be awfully tough to beat in a contest where no one voting needs to have watched any shows, even the current season of the one they're voting for.

2. Congratulations to the incredible Frances McDormand, the latest thespian to achieve the coveted Triple Crown (screw the overrated EGOT - Grammys are not an acting competition!). What's even more incredible is she is a) nothing like a typical leading lady  b) won all three awards for leading roles in c) excellent properties: Fargo (1996), Good People (2011), and Olive Kitteridge (2015). 

3. I'm saddened that Matthew Weiner didn't win the writing Emmy for Mad Men's "Person to Person" since ending an iconic TV show is so hard to do superbly. I met him briefly at TIFF at a movie party held shortly after this "In Conversation" event (which I did not attend) and he was super gracious when I told him he nailed the most difficult dismount ever with that episode. He did win three writing Emmys for the show though for "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" (S1.1), "Meditations in an Emergency" (S2.13), and "Shut the Door. Have a Seat" (S3.13) and since I'm always griping about people winning multiple Emmys for the same show perhaps 3 is enough. It's just too bad they weren't a little more spaced out since Mad Men was that rare show that did not depreciate as it went along. Which is why it's officially my favorite show of all time. I never thought anything would replace Buffy! 

4. For those following along at home Nathaniel's all time favorite shows (excluding 1 season wonders and not considering shows still on the air) probably go something like this... 1: Mad Men (2007-2015); 2: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003); 3: Twin Peaks (1990-1991); 4: Sex & the City (1998-2004); 5: Once & Again (1999-2002); 6: Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009); 7: Pushing Daisies (2007-2009); 8: 30 Rock (2006-2013); 9: Roseanne (1988-1997); 10: The Muppet Show (1976-1981). As you can see I'm not really into classic television, largely because laugh tracks make me crazy and the serialized drama has really stepped up its game in the last two decades though the shows just off this list are some combo of Six Feet Under, Friends and 80s dramas like Dynasty and thirtysomething. I suspect we're going to see some levelling off now of the rise in quality since we're already getting clichés that spring mostly from this new golden age. If someone greenlights one more anti-hero show. Ugh. 

5. Can we create a statue that honors Best Speech and the nominees can be culled from all Awards Shows each year? Viola Davis wins this statue basically whenever she wins a statue of any kind in a given year because WOW. Remember her amazing SAG speech about dreaming big? And then last night's tremendous historically minded but forward looking diversity plea. Queen. 

6. We'll do a red carpet lineup soon and be done with the 2015 Emmys and then we'll start the whole process of dumb hope then disillusionment all over again for next year when Emmy stays set in its awful repetitive ways.

7. 

Final #Emmy Tweet: Who wore it best? pic.twitter.com/v11HhWp2BF

— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) September 21, 2015

Beauty vs Beast: Happy 65, Bill Murray

Jason from MNPP here nursing a slight Emmys hangover - my headache might be real but for once it's not from the terrible choices the Television Academy made; I for one was happy (or at least passably fine) with a lot of their picks! I mean yes Lisa Kudrow gave the best performance on television last year bar none so watching her go home empty-handed stung, but I can't really feel all that bad seeing one of the other best comediennes of all time get a little over-rewarded either.

But the brightest spot was all the love for my second-favorite 2014 Television Event (after The Comeback), the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge, which snatched up six worthy trophies... including one for birthday boy Bill Murray (typically a no-show at the ceremony), who's turning 65 today!

And this was totally the long way around but that brings me to this week's "Beauty vs Beast" which I'm devoting to his best performance (says me) in Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, even though it doesn't entirely make sense for this series -- him & Scarlett are more of a duo that you're rooting for the whole time than much in the way of antagonists. But I'm gonna make you choose anyway because I love this movie more than silly logic.

PREVIOUSLY We headed to Bodega Bay last week where two gals pined for one hunky Momma's Boy amid a rain of seagulls from the sky - but unlike Mitch we tossed the Hitchcock Blonde right into that bay and went with doomed schoolteacher Annie (Suzanne Pleshette) instead. Said brookesboy:

"Pleshette plays my favorite character in this film. With everyone else teetering on the edge of hysteria, she conveys a calm, measured presence that is a consequence of a crushing sadness. Almost as if not even a force of nature--a flurry of birds--can lift away."