Entertainment

- Actress Louise Fletcher, who won an Academy Award for her role in the 1975 film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," has died at 88, the Associated Press reported late Friday. Fletcher died in her sleep surrounded by family at her home in Montdurausse, France, her agent David Shaul told the news agency, without giving a cause for her death. Andrew Bick, her son, told The Hollywood Reporter that she died on Friday of natural causes. She had survived two bouts with breast cancer. was not immediately able to reach Fletcher's agent or son for comment. The actress won the Academy Award for Best Leading Actress in 1976 for her portrayal of ruthless nurse Mildred Ratched in Milos Forman's adaptation of Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. The movie also won awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Leading Actor and Best Screenplay. In her acceptance speech that night, she used American Sign Language to thank...

By Eric Martyn and Ismail Shakil HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - Eastern Canada on Saturday braced for what could become one of the most severe storms in the country's history as Hurricane Fiona barreled toward Nova Scotia nearly a week after devastating parts of the Caribbean. Experts predicted high winds, storm surges and heavy rainfall from Fiona, which was expected to weaken from its Friday night status as a Category 3 hurricane but remain a hurricane-force cyclone as it moves across Atlantic Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delayed Saturday's departure for Japan, where he was to attend the funeral of slain former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to receive briefings and support the government's emergency response, Press Secretary Cecely Roy said on Twitter. Maximum sustained winds reached 105 mph (165 kph) on Friday night, with a hurricane warning in effect for much of central Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, home to more th...

By Dawn Chmielewski - Netflix Inc has dropped its lawsuit against the creators of "The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical," according to a document filed on Friday in federal court. The streaming service filed a copyright infringement suit against Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear in Washington in late July, three days after a sold-out performance of "The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical" in the U.S. capital's Kennedy Center. Netflix disclosed in court documents that it had dismissed the case "with prejudice," meaning it cannot bring the case again. (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by William Mallard)...

By Jeff Mason WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and a couple thousand fans will rock to a performance by musical legend Elton John at the White House on Friday. The British singer will perform from the South Lawn on an elaborate stage set up specifically for him and his team. "The president and the first lady will celebrate the vast contributions Sir Elton has made across his lifetime as an artist and an advocate," spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters ahead of the concert. She said the crowd would include some 2,000 fans including teachers, front-line workers, nurses, mental health advocates, students and LGBTQ+ advocates. The performance is being paid for by A&E Networks and The History Channel, which is part of A&E, and will air at a later date. A&E Networks is a joint venture of Disney-ABC Television Group and Hearst. The performance is called "A Nigh...

- AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho has come up with some memorable quotes in his career but he probably never thought his words would one day turn into lyrics for a British rapper. Stormzy released his new song 'Mel Made Me Do It' on Friday, which includes what the Portuguese coach said in 2014 when his Chelsea side lost 1-0 at Aston Villa after Mourinho and two of his players were sent off. "I prefer really not to ... not to speak, If I speak I am in, in big trouble," Mourinho is heard saying after Stormzy says "I prefer not to speak like I'm Jose." The former Real Madrid and Manchester United manager joined Stormzy in the music video released with the song, in which the rapper, his crew and the Portuguese are seen doing Mourinho's signature silence gesture with a finger to their lips. "Was great fun doing this cameo for Stormzy’s new music video out today. I had a great time..." Mourinho posted on his Instagram account....

By Danielle Broadway - Over 1,600 belongings from the late American actor Betty White will be up for auction this week, from her old TV and Disney VHS collection to her Cadillac. Taking place both online and in-person, the auction at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills from Sept. 23 to Sept. 25 also includes her dining room table, a blue ceramic horse, and her leather baby shoes. The list goes on. More personalized items include White's oil painting of herself as a young woman, monogrammed towels, and some handwritten personal notes from famous names like Lily Tomlin and Alex Trebek. White's diamond wedding band and the wedding band her third and last husband, Allen Ludden, wore are standout items. Ludden was noted for having worn the band around his neck with a chain for three months to remind White about his many wedding proposals to her, and it worked. They were married until he died in 1981. White died in...

By Dawn Chmielewski - The NFL has reached a multiyear partnership with Apple Music to sponsor the Super Bowl Halftime Show, beginning with the American football contest in February 2023, the league said on Thursday. (Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)...

- British YouTuber KSI and other social media personalities are expected to attract a capacity crowd to Charlton Athletic's Valley stadium for a charity soccer game this weekend, something the League One (third-tier) side have not managed this season. The south-east London side's stadium can hold over 27,000 fans but attendances have been well below that number this season, with their season opener against Derby County in August attracting a little over 17,000. With Charlton playing away at Barnsley on Saturday, however, they are expected to fill their home venue when Sidemen FC take on a YouTube Allstars team, with the charity match being played after a gap of four years due to the COVID-19 crisis. The Sidemen, who have around 16.5 million followers on YouTube, will include YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI. American YouTuber Logan Paul is also scheduled to play in the match, along with TikTok star Noah Beck....

MILAN - Simplicity and contrasts were the main themes at the Prada catwalk show in Milan on Thursday, with the Italian luxury label stripping off "unnecessary complication" in its latest womenswear collection. Designers Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons opened the Spring/Summer 2023 show with sharp grey looks including pointy-collared shirts, slim-fit trousers and a jumpsuit. Reinforcing the idea of simplicity were sleeveless dresses made with a paper base fabric. The frocks bore slits at the front, creases and folds. "The clothes are about simplicity, with no unnecessary complication," Miuccia Prada said in a statement. "There is no complicated structure, nothing unnecessary. No nonsense - the rawness, the crudeness represents absolute simplicity. We wanted to do something with the most simple, modest material - with paper. Then we used this system of reduction and simplicity as a means of making beauty." Outerwea...

By Lisa Keddie - The first sequel to blockbuster movie "Avatar" will focus on a theme of protecting family and will expand the world of Pandora that enchanted audiences more than a decade ago, the movie's stars told . James Cameron's "Avatar: The Way of Water" is scheduled to reach theaters in December. Ahead of that, Walt Disney Co is releasing a remastered version of the original 2009 film in cinemas starting on Friday. The first "Avatar" movie focused on a battle for natural resources between human colonists and the blue Na'vi people on a moon called Pandora. Actor Sam Worthington said "The Way of Water" shows his character, Jake Sully, and Zoe Saldana's Neytiri as parents working to shield their family from harm. "This love story has evolved," Worthington said. "We now have a family and to be honest, to me, the movie is about protecting your family." "Whether that's an immediate family, it w...

LONDON - David Bowie was honoured with a paving stone on the London Music Walk of Fame on Thursday, joining the likes of The Who, Amy Winehouse, Madness and Soul II Soul on the cultural attraction trail in the city's famed Camden Town area. Depicting a music record with the word "icon" on it, the stone was unveiled at a ceremony where Bowie's hits were played. "It's another landmark for his legacy basically music, the films, the videos, and everything he did for the culture," Woody Woodmansey, who was a drummer in Bowie's backing ensemble Spiders from Mars and helped unveil the stone, told . "He was just an amazing artist - 24/7 he was on the job and it always showed in the products. To be able to move through all the different characters and the musical genres that he did and pull it off, I don't think anybody's achieved that ever, (he was) one of a kind, unique." In a nod to the starry sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard, the...

MADRID - Colombian superstar Shakira vowed to fight what she claimed were "false" accusations by Spanish authorities that she dodged 14.5 million euros ($14.31 million) in taxes, in her first public comments on a case that could see her sent to prison for up to eight years. Shakira, 45, is facing trial in Spain accused of failing to pay taxes between 2012 and 2014, a period in which she said she was leading a "nomadic life" because of her work. "I have to fight for what I believe because these are false accusations," the 'Hips don't lie' singer told Elle magazine in an interview published online in the United States on Wednesday and due to run in its October print edition. "I owe zero to them." The prosecutor's document, seen by , asserts that Shakira spent more than half of each year in Spain between 2012 and 2014, and in May 2012 bought a family home in Barcelona. In July last year, a Spanish judge said he had seen "sufficient evidence...

By Rollo Ross and Danielle Broadway - When audiences tune into HBO Max’s “Game of Thrones” spin-off “The House of the Dragon” on Sunday, there will be a few changes. The two actors, Emily Carey and Milly Alcock, who portrayed the young frenemies, Queen Alicent Hightower and Princess Rhaenyra respectively, have been recast as the show time jumps a decade forward for its sixth episode. Olivia Cooke will now take over the role of the Queen and Emma D’Arcy will be playing the Princess. While they are playing the same characters at different stages of their lives, the producers decided they didn’t want the pairs to meet during production. Alcock told , "There was no baton to pass on to. I didn't speak to Emma. I have only met them a few times, which is why this whole experience has been so weird, being like 'Oh we play the same person, but I've never really met you'." Confirming these stipulations, Carey said at...

By Hanna Rantala LONDON - Director David O. Russell got his starry cast involved in the creation of his new crime drama "Amsterdam". The five-time Oscar nominee reunited with his "The Fighter" and "American Hustle" star Christian Bale to develop the movie, with the duo getting together in diners over several years to bounce ideas off each other. "He had no script. He just had a couple of ideas. We started trading music that we would listen to, bits of history that we would learn about. David would scribble all this down. And then, over years and years, came up with this story," Bale told at the film's European premiere in London on Wednesday. Similarly, Bale's co-star Margot Robbie was invited to help bring her character to life. "I was talking to David about Valerie for years before we actually got around to making the film. It was kind of like a creative process that kept evolving," said Robbie....

LONDON - From the bright pink guard costumes in hit Netflix series "Squid Game" to a large sculpture of rapper G-Dragon, London's V&A museum is celebrating South Korean popular culture and its rise to global prominence in a new exhibition opening this week. Among the items on display at "Hallyu! The Korean Wave" are K-Pop costumes, K-drama props as well as a replica of the bathroom set in Oscar-winning film "Parasite". "This exhibition is actually celebrating the vibrant and colourful popular culture from South Korea from its inception to its place on the global stage," curator Rosalie Kim told at a preview on Wednesday. "'Hallyu' actually means Korean wave and it refers to this meteoric rise of popular culture from South Korea that has taken the world by storm in the past few decades." The exhibition is split into different sections including K-pop and its fans, television drama and cinema, fashion and beauty....

By Omar Younis - The original handwritten lyrics of Don McLean’s song “Vincent,” a tribute to painter Vincent van Gogh, are going up for auction in November with an estimated value of $1 million. The lyrics to the song, which features on his best-selling “American Pie” album, were scrawled in pencil on green paper. The lyrics are now the star item among a collection of hundreds of personal items that are being sold by the American singer-songwriter through Julien's Auctions. “I decided to really let a lot of stuff go,” McLean, now 76, told . Among his treasure trove there are 25 guitars, jewelry, stage-worn clothing, and vintage watches. First released in 1971, “Vincent” opens with the words “Starry, starry night” and was inspired by the Dutch painter’s famous work “The Starry Night.” McLean said he wrote the lyrics while looking at the Van Gogh painting. "I said, gee, I know what I'll do. I'll just look at the...

By Trevor Hunnicutt WASHINGTON - U.S. President Joe Biden will host British rocker Elton John for a performance on Friday at the White House, according to a press release. The "Tiny Dancer" and "Crocodile Rock" hit maker, 75, will headline an event where Biden and First Lady Jill Biden are also set to speak, the White House said on Tuesday. John previously performed at the White House during the Clinton administration in 1998. He declined an invitation to play at the 2017 inauguration of Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump. The event's title, "A Night When Hope and History Rhyme," is drawn from a poem by the Irish writer Seamus Heaney, who Biden often quotes. The event will "celebrate the unifying and healing power of music, commend the life and work of Sir Elton John, and honor the everyday history-makers in the audience, including teachers, nurses, frontline workers, mental health advocates, students, LGBTQ+ ad...

LOS ANGELES - NBC will resume broadcasts of the Golden Globe awards for film and television in January 2023, the network said in a statement on Tuesday. The Comcast-owned network canceled its January 2022 airing of the annual ceremony following a backlash over a lack of diversity and ethical lapses among the organizers, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)...

By Danielle Broadway and Rollo Ross - Alanis Morissette’s musical “Little Jagged Pill” received 15 Tony nominations and won two of them for best book and best actress after opening on Broadway for the 2019-2020 season before being forced to close in 2021 by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the show had to close its curtains to new audiences in New York, it’s been given a new life touring the United States and opening in London’s West End. "It was devastating, the COVID moment," Morissette told before opening night at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. "But at the same time the whole planet was subject to the COVID shift so we were in the pool with everybody." The musical features all the tracks from Morissette's classic 1995 album of the same name and focuses on the Healy family’s complex struggles including opiate addiction, gender identity, sexual assault and more. "There were different perspectives and incent...

By Rollo Ross LOS ANGELES - The new "Star Wars" television series "Andor" promises a look at the day-to-day lives of the people who eventually become heroes in the ongoing battle set in a galaxy far, far away. "Andor," which debuts on the Disney+ streaming service on Wednesday, is a prequel to hit 2016 film "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." The main character is the titular Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna.     "There has to be action and adventure and that like big scope of science fiction that you expect from 'Star Wars,' but at the same time, we can allow ourselves to be different," Luna told .     The 12-episode series aims to answer the question of "what was the life like for people to be willing to sacrifice everything for a cause, you know? I don't think we've seen that," Luna said.      "I don't think we've been in the most intimate life of the people that were having to live under the control of the...