Sony has released the first trailer for The Equalizerstarring Denzel Washington and Chloe Grace Moretz. And it looks like an action packed thriller that could be a big hit with audiences.. The film, based on the 1980′s CBS show of the same name, also stars Melissa Leo and was directed by Antoine Fuqua.
Fuqua is best known for his 2001 film Training Day which also starred Denzel Washington and earned Washington an Academy Award for Best Actor that year.
In the film Washington plays a reluctant vigilante with some special ops skills who makes enemies with the Russian Mafia after coming to the rescue of a young girl in need (Moretz).
The TV series “The Equalizer” starred Edward Woodward and ran on CBS for four seasons (1985-1989). The TV show is considered a cult classic and had both a memorable score and tag line. “Odds against you? Need help? Call the Equalizer.”
The 2014 version of The Equalizer is scheduled to hit theaters September 26th, 2014. Below is the official trailer and below that the opening of the 1980′s television show.
Maya Angelou, a renowned poet, novelist and actress, has died at age 86, her literary agent, Helen Brann, said Wednesday.
She died at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Brann said.
Also a professor, singer and dancer, Angelou's work spans several professions. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded her with the Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor.
One of Angelou's most revered books was "I Know Why the Caged Sings."
Writer Julian Mayfield is said to have described the autobiography as "a work of art which eludes description."
Angelou spent her early years studying dance and drama in San
Francisco but dropped out at age 14, instead becoming the city's first African-American female cable car conductor.
Angelou later returned to high school to finish her diploma and gave birth a fewweeks after graduation. While the 17-year-old single mother waited tables to support her son, she acquired a passion for music and dance, and toured Europe in the mid-1950s in the opera production "Porgy and Bess." In 1957, she recorded her first album, "Calypso Lady."
In 1958, Angelou become a part of the Harlem Writers Guild in New York and also played a queen in "The Blacks," an off-Broadway production by French dramatist Jean Genet.
Affectionately referred to as Dr. Angelou, the professor never went to college. She has more than 30 honorary degrees and taught American studies for years at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.
"I created myself," she has said. "I have taught myself so much."
Angelou was born April 4, 1928, in St. Louis. She grew up between St. Louis and the then-racially segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas.
The famous poet got into writing after a childhood tragedy that stunned her into silence for years. When she was 7, her mother's boyfriend raped her. He was later beaten to death by a mob after she testified against him.
"My 7-and-a-half-year-old logic deduced that my voice had killed him, so I stopped speaking for almost six years," she said.
From the silence, a louder voice was born.
Her list of friends is as impressive as her illustrious career. Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey referred to her as "sister friend." She counted Martin Luther King Jr., with whom she worked during the civil rights movement, among her friends. King was assassinated on her birthday.
Angelou spoke at least six languages and worked at one time as a newspaper editor in Egypt and Ghana. It was during that time that she wrote "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which launched the first in a series of autobiographical books.
"I want to write so well that a person is 30 or 40 pages in a book of mine ... before she realizes she's reading," Angelou said.
She was also one of the first black women film directors. Her work on Broadway has been nominated for Tony Awards.
Before making it big, the 6-foot-tall wordsmith also worked as a cook and sang with a traveling road show.
"Look where we've all come from ... coming out of darkness, moving toward the light," she once said. "It is a long journey, but a sweet one, bittersweet."
Paramont Pictures and Selma Productions, LLC., are involved in a feature drama about Martin Luther King‘s 1965 landmark voting rights campaign regarded as the peak of the civil rights movement, and none other than Media mogul Winfrey Oprah Winfrey and Brad Pitt -via his Plan B production company, and its execs Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner. Plan B was behind 12 Years a Slave, the slave drama that just nabbed 10 Oscar nominations- have boarded the project as producers.
Also producing Selma is Christian Coulson, who won an Oscar for producingSlumdog Millionaire. Pathe, the company which financed last year'sMandela: Long Walk to Freedom, is financing Selma, and the company’s Cameron McCracken also is producing.
Paramount is tying down U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to the film.
David Oyelowo plays King in the film, reteaming with “Middle of Nowhere” director Ava Duvernay. Oyelowo has appeared in a couple of other civic-minded films recently — “Lincoln” and “The Butler,” in which he played Winfrey's activist son. Ava DuVernay, who came aboard the project in July, rewrote the original script by Paul Webb and slipped it to Winfrey, who sparked to DuVernay’s rewrite. We’ve been waiting for a strong cinematic tribute to the iconic civil rights leader, and this remarkably becomes the second MLK project that Winfrey is involved with. Her Harpo also is behind a seven-part HBO miniseries America: In the King Years.
“Selma” chronicles three marches from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, the first of which was known as “Bloody Sunday” because cops attacked marchers with clubs and gas. The protesters were seeking an equal voice in elections, which they got (at least in writing) with the passage of the Voting Rights Act later that year.
Oprah Winfrey is portraying Annie Lee Cooper, an elderly African American woman who was beaten and thrown in jail for standing in line to register to vote at the Selma courthouse after the 1965 Voting Rights Act passed. The sheriff who put her in jail, Sheriff Jim Clark, was also involved in the earlier March 1965 "Bloody Sunday" civil rights riot. Cooper remained an active civil rights champion until her death in 2010 at the age of 100.
On Wednesday, "Selma" filmed in the Marietta Square of Georgia where onlookers could see a scene being filmed that included Oprah. The movie also filmed scenes in the Covington Square of Conyers, Georgia on Thursday and Friday. Scenes filmed at the courthouse Friday involve a portrayal of federal Judge Frank Johnson, who championed Civil Rights and desegregation in Alabama in the 1960s.Oprah was on set Wednesday for a "cameo" role when she learned the sad news that her longtime friend and mentor Maya Angelou had died.She was noticeably distraught, Her friend Tyler Perry arrived to comfort her.
Winfrey posted this loving tribute to Angelou, who died Wednesday at 86:
"I've been blessed to have Maya Angelou as my mentor, mother/sister, and friend since my 20s. She was there for me always, guiding me through some of the most important years of my life. The world knows her as a poet but at the heart of her, she was a teacher. ‘When you learn, teach. When you get, give’ is one of my best lessons from her." "She won three Grammys, spoke six languages and was the second poet in history to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration. But what stands out to me most about Maya Angelou is not what she has done or written or spoken, it’s how she lived her life. She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace.
"I loved her and I know she loved me. I will profoundly miss her. She will always be the rainbow in my clouds."
Martin Sheen is playing the part of federal judge Frank Johnson, whose rulings allowed the 1965 civil rights marches to take place.
Winfrey’s presence both on and off the screen was a big reason Lee Daniels’ The Butler traveled so well overseas. The Butler has grossed $167.7 million to date — more than $50M of that internationally. This gives "Selma" a leg up on the other two major features that are percolating. Oliver Stone last month saw a script rewrite on his MLK biopic rejected by DreamWorks and Warner Bros, and it caused him to back out of the project. Meanwhile, Paul Greengrass still isn’t ready to move on his biopic Memphis that he plans to make with Scott Rudin.
Ava Duvernay
The Paradigm-repped DuVernay was the first black woman to win Best Director at Sundance for her second feature, the 2012 drama Middle Of Nowhere. The former publicist apparently was approached by the Selmaproducers after they saw the microbudgeted indie, which was shot in 19 days in and around LA. Her Nowhere leading man David Oyelowo is set to play King.
Selmais the project Lee Daniels was attached to direct, but the funding didn't come together in time and he subsequently signed on toThe Butler. Daniels had lined up a terrific cast — Oyelowo, Hugh Jackman, Liam Neeson, Ray Winstone, Robert De Niro, and Cedric the Entertainer were among those who’d circled. Jackman even gained 30 pounds to play Jim Clark, a sheriff who arrested King; he eventually had to go lose the weight to star inReal Steel.
"Selma" filming in Marietta, Georgia.
In this scene for "Selma," the Marietta-Cobb Museum of Art appears to be approximating a courthouse.
Emmy-winning actress Ann B. Davis, who became the country's favorite and most famous housekeeper as the devoted Alice Nelson of "The Brady Bunch," died Sunday at a San Antonio hospital. She was 88.
Bexar County, Texas, medical examiner's investigator Sara Horne said Davis died Sunday morning at University Hospital. Horne said no cause of death was available and that an autopsy was planned Monday.
Bill Frey, a retired Episcopal bishop and a longtime friend of Davis, said she suffered a fall Saturday at her San Antonio home. Frey said Davis had lived with him and his wife, Barbara, since 1976.
More than a decade before scoring as the Bradys' loyal Alice, Davis was the razor-tongued secretary on another stalwart TV sitcom, "The Bob Cummings Show," which brought her two Emmys. Over the years, she also appeared on Broadway and in occasional movies.
Frey said Davis became part of his and his wife's "household community" after she re-embraced her Christian faith and left Hollywood behind.
"The public image of her that people have is an accurate image of a strong, wonderful, lively human being," he said. "The only part that's inaccurate about that is she had trouble relating to small children, and she doesn't cook."
Asked if the friend he called "Ann B" ever missed her life as an actor, he replied: "Not once."
Maureen McCormick, who played teenager Marcia Brady, said in a statement that Davis "made me a better person. How blessed I am to have had her in my life. She will be forever missed."
In a blunt self-appraisal early in her career, Davis called her ordinary look an asset.
"I know at least a couple hundred glamour gals who are starving in this town," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1955, the year the Cummings show began its four-year run. "I'd rather be myself and eating."
She said she told NBC photographers not to retouch their pictures of her, but they ignored her request and "gave me eyebrows."
Producer Sherwood Schwartz's "The Brady Bunch" debuted in 1969 and aired for five years. But like Schwartz's other hit, "Gilligan's Island," it has lived on in reruns and sequels.
As "The Brady Bunch" theme song reminded viewers each week, the Bradys combined two families into one. Florence Henderson played a widow raising three daughters when she met her TV husband, Robert Reed, a widower with three boys.
In her blue and white maid's uniform, Davis' character, Alice Nelson, was constantly cleaning up messes large and small, and she was a mainstay of stability for the family.
"I think I'm lovable. That's the gift God gave me," Davis told The Associated Press in a 1993 interview. "I don't do anything to be lovable. I have no control."
Davis' face occupied the center square during the show's opening credits. Her love interest was Sam the Butcher, played by Allan Melvin.
"I'm shocked and saddened! I've lost a wonderful friend and colleague," Henderson said in a statement Sunday.
Eve Plumb, who played Jan Brady on the series, called Davis "an amazing lady."
"She was great to work with, and I have wonderful memories of our scenes together on 'The Brady Bunch,'" Plumb said in a statement. "She was kind and generous to all of us on set."
"The Brady Bunch" had a successful run until 1974, but it didn't fade away then. It returned as "The Brady Bunch Hour" (1977), "The Brady Brides" (1981), "The Bradys" (1990). It even appeared as a Saturday morning spinoff (1972-1974).
Oprah’s stepmother fought back tears when she watched her worldly possessions loaded onto a moving truck. She was married to Oprah’s dad for 13 years and their wedding gift was a million dollar home. After their divorce Oprah served her ex-stepmother with an eviction notice.on moving day as Barbara packed up everything she owns. It was a mammoth task. The five bedroom house is filled with stuff. A gift from Oprah went right in the trash.
Barbara said she couldn't afford to hire a moving company. The men who hauled her furniture are her friends. She rented a U-Haul truck and a buddy loaned her his pick-up and a rusty red trailer.
There are reminders of Oprah everywhere, a chair from the guest room Oprah stayed in and luggage from a trip they took together.
Barbara says she's hurt and confused by Oprah's decision to evict her, saying, “It doesn't make sense when someone has so much money and so much power. It's just hard.”
The retired school principal's grand piano is one of the last treasured possessions that was hauled away.
As Barbara bid a final farewell to her home of 14 years, she said she's looking forward to the next chapter in her life and severing all ties with Oprah, saying, “My next move will be to get a place where I can call mine and I don't have to worry about someone putting me out.”
The media mogul’s stepmother is speaking out about a dispute over her house, which was a gift from Winfrey that she apparently wants back.
Oprah Winfrey's stepmother is going public with a feud she's apparently had with the media mogul for years.
Barbara Winfrey, 66, spoke out about how her famous stepdaughter is kicking her out of the marital home she's shared for 14 years with Oprah's dad, Vernon Winfrey, in the wake of their divorce. "I have lost everything," Barbara Winfrey said.
Barbara Winfrey claims the media mogul is more ‘calculated’ and ‘controlling’ than her public persona lets on.
OPRAH APPARENTLY GIFTED THE HOUSE TO HER FATHER AND STEPMOTHER WHEN THEY GOT MARRIED IN 2000, BUT THE DEED REMAINED IN HER NAME.
"It's not just a house, this is my home. All my memories are here. I'm trying to keep it together, but there are some days I just don't understand how I could have made her so angry that she would kick me out on the street and think nothing about it. But that's Oprah — she's judge and jury."
In the explosive interview, which reads like an unloading of all of Barbara Winfrey's gripes with her stepdaughter over the years, she says Oprah, 60, is reclaiming the Nashville home she bought for her father and stepmom in 2000 just because she can.
"It was a new home so we got to choose every part of it," she recalled, about the lavish wedding gift.
"We signed so many documents, became part of the Housing Association. I was thankful of course. I never knew it was Oprah's name on the deeds and that I was just on probation."
Oprah’s sprawling California mansion. Barbara Winfrey claims Oprah never invited her over or wanted to get to know her despite being married to her father for 14 years.
'It was just fishnet, crystals and fingers crossed': The designer of Rihanna's scandalous CFDA gown reveals the painstaking process behind the look.
Rihanna pushed the fashion envelope so hard on Monday night, she tore it open. The singer attended the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York City wearing a wearing a see-through dress that showed off her breasts and rear.
The Barbadian beauty, 26, paired her beaded mesh-like gown with elbow-length gloves and a matching headpiece. She wore a skin-toned thong underneath the dress. She wore a matching sparkly turban, which left the emphasis on her beautiful face. Smokey eyes and minimal make-up completed her eye-catching look. Rihanna, undisputed fashion star of the moment, was no doubt the big draw at the CFDA awards, which also honours the year's top designers.
The pop star received the 2014 Fashion Icon award and told the audience, "As long as I can remember, fashion has been my defense mechanism. As a child I remember thinking, she can beat me but she cannot beat my outfit... You will never be stylish if you don't take risks." If you've got it, flaunt it!
The designer responsible for THAT scandalous gown worn by Rihanna at the CFDA awards last night has revealed just how the look came to be.
Adam Selman - whose boyfriend is Rihanna's stylist Mel Ottenberg - was the brains behind the translucent mesh ensemble, which was adorned with more than 230,000 Swarovski crystals and worn with matching gloves, a head scarf, a pink fur stole and just a nude thong underneath.
'We definitely wanted to make it a little bit scandalous,' Mr Selman told Style.com, while Mr Ottenberg revealed that 'at least eight people' worked through the night to put on the finishing touches.
Fashion icon: Adam Selman, the designer responsible for THAT scandalous gown worn by Rihanna at the CFDA awards last night, has revealed just how the look came to be
Arduous: Mr Selman's boyfriend is the star's stylist Mel Ottenberg, who revealed that 'at least eight people' worked through the night to put on the finishing touches
Indeed, this morning the designer posted a short Instagram video of his team painstakingly applying crystals onto the fabric of the dress one at a time, revealing just how much work went into it.
Mr Selman is an established fashion favorite of Rihanna's, having designed her tour costumes since 2011 as well as co-designing her collection for River Island.
But he says this particular look, a backless halter gown that left next to nothing to the imagination, was the biggest risk he's taken so far.
'I don't know if it's shocking - I'm with her all the time, so my shock gauge is off'
'The dress is just fishnet and crystals and a couple of fingers crossed,' he said on the evening that Rihanna debuted the look at the event, where she collected the Fashion Icon Award.
'But fashion is about beauty, and the [female] body is part of that.'
Mr Selman said that the creative process for the dress began last month, when he and Mr Ottenberg were dressing the 26-year-old singer for the MTV Movie Awards.
'We started talking about it, and I sketched it shortly after,' he said, revealing that it was largely a collaborative effort, and that the star came up with the idea for the matching headscarf on her own.
And only Rihanna could pull off a look so daring, says Mr Ottenberg, declaring: 'It's SO naked,' on the drive to the CFDA awards.
'I don't know if it's shocking - I'm with her all the time, so my shock gauge is off,' admitted the stylist.
'But I told her that I thought she was ready for this dress a while ago, and that I wasn't. I'm the prude, and I'm just catching up.' The sparkling custom gown - which has been likened to an Old Hollywood style Josephine Baker would have worn, as well as a nod to the dress Marilyn Monroe donned to sing to JFK - certainly created quite the buzz among fans and fashionistas, making headlines for its barely-there shock effect.
And the singer attracted even more attention when she celebrated her win by twerking in the see-through gown after the ceremony.
Tiny details: This morning the designer posted a video on Instagram of his team painstakingly applying crystals onto the fabric of the dress one at a time, revealing just how much work went into it.
In an Instagram video uploaded by her close friend and personal hair stylist Yussef Williams, Rihanna is seen bouncing jubilantly in the room as her friends cheer her on. It's exactly this flair for sparking up a conversation that has put Rihanna on the map as a fashion icon, as Anna Wintour explained in her introduction at the awards event.
'Rihanna speaks to her fans with her every look. And what she says to them - and I include all of us in that group - is that it's fun to feel a little boyish one day and dress up like a dazzling diva the next,' said the Vogue editor.
'She was ready for this dress a while ago, and I wasn't. I'm the prude, and I'm just catching up'
'I think that's what she was going for tonight,' she joked.
'The point is to be audacious, even jaw-dropping or button-pushing - and yes, we know she enjoys pushing buttons - while remaining true to yourself.
'She proves that incredible style can help take a talented young woman from a small island to the world stage, and along the way spark a lot of conversation about elegance and empowerment.'
Similar ensembles: The dress has been likened to an Old Hollywood style Josephine Baker would have worn (right), as well as a nod to the dress Marilyn Monroe donned to sing to JFK (left, on auction in 1999)
The media advisor to former Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili, Isaac Umunna, has denied reports circulating on social media that the former minister is dead.
“My attention has been drawn to the rumor circulating on social media claiming that immediate past Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, is dead.
"When the rumour that Professor Dora Akunyili, former information minister, was very ill started, I didn’t get the real sense of what people were talking about until I saw her photograph. I am not sure I have fully accepted the photograph I saw as Dora’s. If I had met the person in that photograph in the street, I would have walked away without knowing she was the one because that image was hardly that of the ebullient and lively Dora I had known for a long time. The photograph would leave you in no doubt that Dora Akunyili is indeed terribly ill. She is currently in India receiving treatment for an ailment that, I am told, has defied diagnosis."
Dora Nkem Akunyili is the former Director General of National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control of Nigeria and former Nigerian Minister of Information and Communications.
"Dora, a true Nigerian, has always been in the service of the country for as long as I have known her. Before she got to NAFDAC, few knew the havoc that fake drugs wreaked on our society. I once jokingly told her that before she happened on NAFDAC, many people thought their ailments were the handiwork of the witches in their villages. It took a Dora for many to realise the damage that fake and substandard drugs and medicines caused our society. She simply laughed and, being Dora, she went into a very long discussion of her job and the threats she faced daily from mainly her kinsmen who were predominantly the merchants of the illegal items. She told me how she once narrowly escaped the bullets of people she suspected to be fake drug merchants.
She faced criticism though from a few pharmacists who were a little suspicious of her. It did not help that they were her professional colleagues. But we must give it to her that she did more than any Nigerian, dead or alive, to draw attention to the evil of fake drugs and medicines. It is the standard she left behind at NAFDAC that is still being improved upon by her successor.
As a politician, Dora is no less a dogged fighter and a pragmatist. I have never been in the same tendency with her and actually disagreed with her politics most of the time, but we kept close nonetheless. We always found a common ground because Dora usually means well and always works hard for what she believes is right.
I took a stand against Umaru Yar’Adua’s government in which she was minister of information. One day, she casually walked into my office to appeal to me to take it easy with their government especially because, according to her, Yar’Adua was my brother. I agreed with her that Yar’Adua was my brother but that was precisely why I demanded a higher standard from him and his government. She spent a very long time with me and insisted that, because both of us were pharmacists – she is a professor of pharmacy – I must do it for her. She explained that I couldn’t take such a stand against a government in which she was information minister and chief image maker. I told her that the issues at stake were not personal and that they were national issues bigger than both of us and that even I enjoyed some relationship with the president then. President Yar’Adua was a decent man, I told her, but many in the government she served took advantage of his illness to loot the nation dry. She left my office that day without achieving her objective but she was not bitter and did not lose her sense of humour. And, most important, we remained close friends.
But when it became clear that Yar’Adua had become permanently incapacitated and some people in their government were lying to themselves and to the Nigerian public about his whereabouts, she became the first person to go public, saying that the cabinet in which she and others served had a greater responsibility to the country and insisted that the constitution must take precedence over any other narrow consideration. It was because Dora had the courage to bell the cat that progress was made towards the appointment of an acting president of Nigeria in those trying times. Some people childishly and sentimentally accused her of betraying the man who appointed her minister, but the majority of Nigerians were thankful – and Nigeria was better for it.
Dora has always been a courageous person and that must have been the driving force that also motivated her to attend the opening session of the ongoing conference, even though she was in a very bad state.
Those of us who believe in miracles and have seen lots of them look forward to the day we will see Dora fully recovered and vivacious again to continue in her service to her country." We wish her well.
Whether you like them jelly-filled, powdered or glazed, you now have a good excuse (if you needed one) to enjoy the sweet treats.
National Doughnut Day isn't a ploy by doughnut shops to get you in their doors. Its roots date back to World War I, when hundreds of Salvation Army officers, aiming to comfort U.S. troops serving in Europe, cooked and served doughnuts to the soldiers
The first National Doughnut Day was celebrated in 1938.
Each year, the United States pauses on the first Friday in June to observe perhaps our most glazed commemoration: National Doughnut* Day.
Why is there a National Doughnut Day? You are probably not even asking this question, because there’s a National Everything Day, with no topic, inanimate object or cartoon character too small to warrant a full 24-hour celebration of their existence. (Thursday was National Hug Your Cat Day, but you already knew that, because you spent the day carefully learning just how to best hug your cat.)
The Salvation Army says the first National Doughnut Day was celebrated in 1938. That event was held in Chicago to raise money for and bring attention to the organization’s social service programs during the Great Depression. They were also honoring the Salvation Army’s “Doughnut Girls” or “Doughnut Lassies” — their terms, not mine — who had handed out doughnuts in the trenches during World War I.
Now, more than 75 years later, we celebrate with free giveaways (though some aren’t really “free). You can get your free doughnut (only with the purchase of a drink) at Dunkin’ Donuts, or you can get a free doughnut at Krispy Kreme, you can get free doughnuts at Tim Hortons (the Canadian staple has 870 locations in the U.S., apparently). Or, if you’re so inclined, you can try to make your own doughnuts.
* — Our official style here is “doughnut,” not “donut,” and you can quibble with this all you want, but quite frankly life is short and our time on Earth is finite and so we are going to contemplate this issue for precisely as long as it takes us to finish this sentence and not a second longer.
WANT A BITE? As you're getting ready to fire up that grill today, chew on this: The Krispy Kreme triple cheeseburger will make its debut at the upcoming San Diego County Fair. The Krispy Kreme triple cheeseburger puts three, all beef patties in the middle of two glazed doughnut buns. As you can guess, the belt buster will cost you a full day's worth of calories. It is estimated it will take four to six hours to sweat out at the gym.Would you try it?
If that's is not enough, click here for a chance to win an entire year of free doughnuts from Entenmann's. Additionally, if you "like" their Facebook page by June 15, they will donate $1 to the Salvation Army.
Dr. Maya Angelou, the poet, actress, author and civil rights activist known around the world, discovered her passion for teaching at Wake Forest University. And, in the past four decades, she has inspired generations of students to become better writers, thinkers and citizens. Angelou died on Wednesday, May 28, at the age of 86.
Dr. Maya Angelou’s family has arranged a private memorial service in Wake Forest University’s Wait Chapel on Saturday, June 7 at 10 a.m. Due to limited seating capacity, the family has decided to have a closed service for family and friends only. Wake Forest University will livestream the service for the public. WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. —First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton will be among the dignitaries at Saturday's private memorial for the late Dr. Maya Angelou.
The service is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at Wake Forest University's Wait Chapel.
White House officials said Obama will speak at the memorial, while Wake Forest officials said Bill Clinton will attend the service. It's not yet known if Hillary Clinton will attend.
Oprah Winfrey previously confirmed she will attend the service, which is open only to friends and family due to limited seating capacity. The entire campus will be closed to the public during the service.
Angelou died at her Winston-Salem home on the morning of May 28. A Wake Forest professor since 1982, Angelou was 86 years old.
Saturday's private service will be the only official event commemorating Angelou at Wake Forest. More events celebrating her life are planned across the country, according to a statement from Wake Forest.
Winston-Salem police said drivers could expect occasional congestion on parts of University Parkway, Polo Road and Reynolda Road from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Gov. Pat McCrory ordered all state flags to be lowered to half-staff Saturday in remembrance of Angelou.
Actor and comedian Tracy Morgan, best known for his roles on "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock," was badly injured early Saturday when the limo bus he was riding in overturned in a multi-vehicle crash in New Jersey that killed another comic.
Morgan, 45, was in critical condition in an intensive care unit at a hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, police and his spokesman said.
The comedian James McNair, also known as Jimmy Mack, was killed in the crash on the New Jersey Turnpike, police said. McNair, who was 63 and lived in Peekskill, New York, was riding in the limo bus with Morgan.
At least three other people were hospitalized following the crash, in which a tractor-trailer struck the back of the limo bus at around 1 a.m. local time near Cranbury Township, New Jersey State Police spokesman Gregory Williams said, citing a preliminary investigation.
After the collision, involving another tractor-trailer, a sport utility vehicle and two other cars, the limo bus was on its side, Williams said.
Morgan was part of a stand-up comedy "Turn it Funny" tour and had performed at a Dover, Delaware, casino on Friday night.
He was taken by helicopter to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Center in NewBrunswick, Williams said. Morgan's spokesman said the comic would remain there on Saturday.
Morgan's publicist, Lewis Kay, released a statement that reads, "Tracy remains in critical condition at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital. He sustained these injuries in an accident that occurred early this morning as one of several passengers in a chauffeured SUV returning from a tour date in Delaware. His family is now with him and he is receiving excellent care. We don’t anticipate much of a change in his condition today but will provide a further update once more information becomes available."
Morgan's assistant Jeff Millea and the comedians Ardie Fuqua and Harris Stanton also went to the same hospital. Hospital spokesman Peter Haigney said three of the patients there were in critical condition and one was in fair condition but declined to identify them, citing privacy laws. The driver of the truck, 35-year-old Kevin Roper, was charged on Saturday with one count of death by auto and four counts of assault by auto, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said, adding that he was expected to surrender to authorities. Bail was set at $50,000.
A preliminary investigation determined that the tractor-trailer crashed into the van, a 2012 Mercedes Sprinter, as both vehicles traveled in the northbound lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike.
Four other vehicles were subsequently involved in the crash, and none of the occupants of those vehicles were injured
Police were still investigating the crash and the National Transportation Safety Board was also sending investigators.
Wal-Mart CEO Bill Simon said in a written statement on Saturday that one of the company's trucks had been involved in the crash and said he was praying for the family and friends of McNair and everyone involved.
"We are working quickly to understand what happened and are cooperating fully with law enforcement to aid their investigation," Simon said. "The facts are continuing to unfold. If it's determined that our truck caused the accident, Walmart will take full responsibility."
'STAY STRONG TRACY MORGAN'
"A few days before his Friday show at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino, a message was posted on Morgan's Twitter account that read: "Dover downs I'm coming with truck loads of funny Delaware stand up get those tix while u can baby!!!!!'
Fuqua had tweeted a link to his Facebook page after the show. "This is what it looks like from the stage to see a standing ovation from 1500 people. Then we traveled back to NYC in style in a luxury Mercedes Sprinter. Road life is a good life!" he wrote.
Morgan was on the road for his "Turn it Funny" stand-up comedy tour. He was booked to perform at a casino in Dover, Delaware, on Friday night and had been due to appear on Saturday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
As news of the accident broke early Saturday morning, fellow celebrities and friends took to Twitter to express shock and send their thoughts out to Morgan.
"Sending prayers and love to @RealTracyMorgan & all injured in the NJ accident. I'm pulling for you brother," wrote "Psych" actor Dulé Hill.
Jay Mohr, like Morgan a "Saturday Night Live" alum, noted the severity of the accident. "I'm from NJ. For the Turnpike to be closed for hours is incredibly, frighteningly rare," he tweeted. "I love you @RealTracyMorgan. No more comics, God."
Jemele Hill, co-host of ESPN's "Numbers Never Lie," noted that she had just seen Morgan.
"Saying a prayer for @RealTracyMorgan. He was a guest on @ESPN_Numbers a few weeks ago. Very sweet and talented person," she wrote.
"Come on @RealTracyMurray @ARDIEFUQUA @harrisstanton you can survive this! Sending prayers." Morgan's former "30 Rock" co-star Judah Friedlander tweeted.
The tragedy goes even deeper for Fuqua: His son, Ardley Jamaal Fuqua, died in May 2012 in a basketball accident. He was elbowed in the heart and went into shock, Splitsider reported in a profile of Fuqua.
Fuqua's Facebook page, including the message about the show, was filled with prayers and well-wishes Saturday.
Several of his celebrity friends, including comedians George Lopez and Andy Richter and the director Jon Favreau, posted messages of support on Twitter.
"Stay strong Tracy Morgan," the hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons wrote. "We love you."
The comedian, a native of New York City, spent seven years on "Saturday Night Live" before leaving the cast in 2003. He went on to star in the sitcom "30 Rock" for seven seasons, playing an unhinged, reckless comedian called Tracy Jordan in a network television satire that caricatured his SNL days.
"30 Rock" also skewered Morgan's sometimes inflammatory stand-up routine. After reportedly joking during a performance in 2011 that he would stab his own son to death if he spoke in a "gay voice,"Morgan publicly apologized.
Morgan, a diabetic, had a kidney transplant in 2010. He has three sons with his first wife, Sabina Morgan, and is now engaged to Megan Wollover, with whom he had a daughter in 2013.
Basketball legend Michael Jordan is selling his 56,000 square foot Highland Park estate at auction.
Let's take a look at MJ's private residence...
First Impressions-The entrance is marked by a glass-tile façade and a half-moon roof over the front door.
An expansive L-shaped sofa with deep seats makes entertaining long-legged guests a cinch.
The Big Screen Michael's 110-inch screen is a must for catching post-game highlights.
Tall ceilings for a tall man. The increased airspace lends this airy media room a sense of understated grandeur.
Dinner Time-An eye-catching abstract pendant and latticed chairs are just some of the geometry-themed details in the dining room.
Designer Ezri Tarazi's Baghdad table goes for an incredible $39,500—a fitting dining room accessory for a man known as His Airness.
MJ couldn't completely leave the locker room. Here, cubby-like shelves hold eclectic objets instead of uniforms and jerseys.
NOTE theelevation of the venting. We're guessing the countertop isn't standard height, either.
No appliance went unaddressed in Jordan's designer kitchen, from the custom wine refrigerator to the dual oven and vented range.
The tan leather cushions, wood sculpture, and warm brown drapery in this sitting room are offset only by the fresh greenery just outside the windows.
Leave it to MJ to devise his own literal private island at the center of his estate.
A pulled-back view of the pool reveals its basketball-like proportions—no surprise given Jordan's chosen profession. Its contrasting shape adds visual interest to the home's back exterior
The contemporary vibe continues on the patio adjacent to the infinity pool, which features abstract seating arrangements and a bank of beautiful chaises.
This pared-down patio area is sleek and sophisticated—less party location than zen retreat. Another sign that this isn't just for the kiddies: the design-forward foot bridge over the infinity-edge pool.
musically inclined room
Here, a masculine room with a stylish black-and-gold palette and a quad of modern wingbacks puts the tube center stage (again).
This minimalist guest room seems expertly conducive to sleep, with little to distract from your slumber but for a vibrant art installation as headboard.
no basketball legend's abode would be complete without an NBA-regulation court that's protected from the elements.
The guest house is awash in a mix of textures, from the grasscloth walls and leather cube chairs to the lacquered-wood coffee table.
With his own private putting green, the notoriously competitive Jordan has no excuse but to sink the putt every time.
A point of envy for fishermen everywhere: the serene stocked pond covered with verdant lilypads.
And just in case you didn't think Jordan had enough on his athletic roster, there's a full tennis court where we're sure MJ always gets the first serve.
On the other side of the patio, streamlined sofas beneath a shady pergola look like the perfect place to beat the heat.
Audra McDonald Broadway Veteran,has become the most decorated actress in Tony Awards history.
NEW YORK — A Broadway veteran, a newbie and a former host Audra McDonald has made history as the woman to win the greatest number of Tony Awards for acting - and to win in each category.
Last night, she received the prize for Best Performance By an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her performance as Billie Holiday in "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill" putting her ahead of five-time winners Angela Lansbury and the late Julie Harris for the most competitive wins by an actress.
This is her sixth Tony Award, including previous honors for her performances in "The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess,""Carousel,""Master Class,""Ragtime" and "A Raisin in the Sun." She beat Tyne Daly from "Mothers and Sons," LaTanya Richardson Jackson in "A Raisin in the Sun," Cherry Jones of "The Glass Managerie" and Estelle Parsons in "The Velocity of Autumn."
Audra McDonald accepts her record-breaking sixth Tony Award win during the
68th annual Tony Awards on June 8, 2014, in New York.
"You deserve more than you were given on this planet and this is for you baby," McDonald said of Holiday as she fought back tears accepting the award at New York's Radio City Music Hall.
[The latest win — for best lead actress in a play — also makes McDonald the first grand-slam performance winner. She previously won as best featured actress in a play A Raisin in the Sun and Master Class, best lead actress in a musical The Gershwins Porgy and Bess and best featured actress in a musical Ragtime and Carousel.]
The only other woman to hold six Tony Awards is Julie Harris, who received five for performance and one for Lifetime Achievement.
It was almost a decade ago when Dave Chappelle rattled the comic universe by walking away from "Chappelle's Show," leaving a reported $50 million dollar contract on the table without an explanation.
Rumors ran wild. Some claimed he couldn't handle the pressure, others said Oprah and a secret society were somehow behind it, but the most popular rumor of all was that Chappelle went crazy.
On Tuesday, Chappelle opened up to David Letterman about why he left his Comedy Central show and what he regrets. You can watch an edited version of the interview above, or the entire 14 minutes below.
LOS ANGELES — Casey Kasem's daughter has the authority to withhold food and fluids from her ailing father, a judge ruled Wednesday. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Daniel S. Murphy reversed a ruling from Monday that stated that Kasem should receive food, fluids and certain medications until after a court-appointed attorney met with the former radio host and his doctors.
Murphy reviewed additional medical records on Wednesday and concluded that Kasem would endure more pain if he was given food or fluids, attorney Troy Martin said. Martin, who represents Kasem's daughter Kerri, presented the updated information to Murphy during an emergency hearing.
He also presented the judge with documents in which Kasem stated he did not want his life prolonged by food or fluids if he was mentally incapacitated."It's just flat out wrong," said Steve Haney, an attorney for Kasem's wife Jean.
Haney said Murphy's ruling wasn't based on sworn declarations from doctors and relied on an outdated document in which Casey Kasem said he didn't want to receive food or fluids if he was incapacitated. As of last week, Kasem still had the ability to communicate nonverbally, Haney said.
Kasem's wife of 34 years pleaded with the judge to restore food and fluids to her husband, who has a form of dementia. Jean Kasem stormed out of the courtroom after Murphy issued his ruling, according to the New York Daily News, which first reported the decision.
Jean Kasem and her stepdaughter Kerri have been fighting in court since May over Casey Kasem's care. Murphy has given Kerri Kasem temporary authority to make medical decisions for her father.
Murphy upheld Kerri Kasem's authority and ruled that Jean Kasem had not acted in her husband's best interests when she removed him from a California medical facility and took him to a friend's home in Washington state last month, Martin said.
Haney said Murphy's comments about Jean Kasem's decisions were wrong and she took her husband to Washington to be evaluated by a specialist. Her decisions "in no way contributed to his situation," Haney said.
Casey Kasem remains in critical condition in a Washington hospital. Martin said the former "America's Top 40" host has not received food or fluids since Friday.
Kerri Kasem and her siblings Julie and Mike have invited Jean Kasem to join them at the hospital for Casey Kasem's final moments.
Kasem gained fame with his radio music countdown shows, "American Top 40" and "Casey's Top 40." He also was the voice of Shaggy in the cartoon "Scooby Doo."
There’s no stronger unifying force in the world than music.
North Texas musician Jesse Ryaknows this firsthand. It's part of the reason why he spends so much of his time busking around the region, setting up shop in public places, armed with just his acoustic guitar and his voice.
But even Rya couldn't have seen what's happened to him over the course of the past week or so coming.
At a recent busking session in his favorite spot -- outside of a Kroger grocery store in Irving -- there Rya was, strumming out smooth tunes complemented by his sensuous voice when his whole life started to change.
First, a passerby named Jaime Maldonado saw what Rya was doing, dug it, and started filming the performance on his phone.
And then something magical happened as Rya repeated a "tell 'em that I just don't know" refrain: His one-man show caught the attention of another local man.
And of course, Internet fame never comes without controversy. Comments on the video are crying foul, writing things like: "Obviously staged, still good, just don't lie about it." and "So staged, can clearly see they practiced all the lyrics to the song never missed a word." Another person thought the third man’s entrance to the jam session seemed a little too choreographed. Rya took to Facebook to dispel the rumors, writing: "just for the record... It's not a Jimmy Kimmel setup and i do not know the other 2 gentlemen in the video."
That second man slowly joined into the jam, harmonizing and singing gospel-like notes along with Rya; and then, out of nowhere, a third stranger drawn away from a casual grocery run by the music rolled up and showcased his talents by rapping over the jazzy street music.
Viewers aren't all doubters though. One person wrote: "This just fills me with inspiration and joy."
But little could this unlikely trio know that this juncture would turn out to be more than just good vibes and good tunes with good people -- and much more, at that.
Maldonado's original upload earned tens of thousands of shares on Facebook and, as of this piece's publishing, almost 9 million views on Youtube. Rya' was proud to have "affected people in a positive way" through his music.
But he also says impromptu jam sessions like this one aren't all that strange of an occurrence. Passersby often join in on his jam sessions, Rya says. It just so happened that, on this particular day, someone decided to pick up a camera and share the greatness brewing behind the scenes at that Irving Kroger store.
What happened to Rya on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, on the other hand? Well, that's a different story.
Jimmy Kimmel mentioned the video on his show -- emphasizing that the video was not a set-up or that, if it was, he certainly wasn't behind it. For proof, he interviewed Maldonado about the clip for a minute or so.
Then Rya and his new collaborators descended upon the JKL stage for a performance that Kimmel very much did have something to do with. After allowing the original trio the chance to kick off their viral hit, Kimmel (on bass clarinet), his bandleader Cleto Escobedo III, and the rest of the Cletones joined in on the action. Eventually, so too did Trey Songz, Juicy J and Aloe Blacc.
Check it out:
Now the only question that remains is: When can we buy this track on iTunes?
What do you guys think? Totally random collaboration? Or a staged performance? Let us know onFacebookor Twitter.
Legendary stage and screen actress — and Civil Rights leader:
Ruby Dee dead at 91
Stage and screen legend Ruby Dee, who personified grace, grit and progress at a time when African-American women were given little space in movies and on stage, died Wednesday in New Rochelle, N.Y. She was 91.
The death was confirmed Thursday by a family member, who declined to answer any questions pending the release of a statement.
"She died late (Wednesday) with her whole family around her," family friend Latifah Salahudin told the Daily News. "All three kids and seven grandkids were there, surrounding her with so much love. She went peacefully from natural causes. We should all be so lucky."
"She was so full of life and so strong. Such a powerful woman. We're all going to miss her," Salahudin added.
The Cleveland-born, New York-raised actress and activist — winner of an Emmy, a Grammy and a Screen Actors Guild award, among others — not only starred on Broadway (“Take It From the Top!”
“Two Hah Hahs and a Homeboy”), film (Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” and “Jungle Fever”), and TV (“All God’s Children,” “Feast of All Saints”), but, with her husband and collaborator Ossie Davis, was a major figure in the Civil Rights
Ruby Dee gives a reading at the March on Washington in 1963. movement.
In 2005, Dee and Davis received the National Civil Rights Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Freedom award. Davis died in February of that year.
Dee’s first film role came in 1949, in the musical drama “That Man of Mine.” She played Rachel Robinson in “The Jackie Robinson Story” in 1950, and costarred opposite Nat King Cole, Eartha Kitt and Cab Calloway in “St. Louis Blues” (1958).
She appeared in the 1979 TV movie “Roots: The Next Generations,” and costarred with Davis in their own short-lived 1980-81 show, “Ossie and Ruby!”
Dee (with Sidney Poitier) starred in "A Raisin in the Sun" in 1961.
The two played contentious neighbors who embodied, and recalled, the social unrest of the ’60s in Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” (1989). She earned her sole Academy Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress, for “American Gangster” (2007).
Her final film was the still-in-production crime drama “King Dog,” opposite Ice-T.
Dee was a frequent presence on New York stages for four decades, since joining the American Negro Theatre in 1941 before her stage debut two years later in the Broadway drama "South Pacific."
In 1946 she costarred in the play "Jeb" with Davis, whom she married in 1948.
In 1953, Dee starred in the Broadway premiere of "A Raisin in the Sun," playing the wife of Sidney Poitier — and reprised that role in the film eight years later.
Dee's last Broadway performance was in the 1988 comedy "Checkmates," which marked the debut of Denzel Washington, who is currently on the boards in Poitier role in “A Raisin in the Sun.” Washington declined to comment: "Not today," a spokesperson said.
But the Rev. Al Sharpton issued a statement calling Dee "a phenomenally rare artist and a jewel to our nation and community."
"I was privileged to work on several civil rights cases with her and her husband Ossie Davis," the statement added. "She was as committed to social justice as she was to the screen and stage. She will be greatly missed.”
Dee's absence from the stage never dimmed her status as a trailblazer. Accepting her best actress Tony Award on June 8, Audra McDonald heralded a number including women, including Dee, saying, "I am standing on Lena Horne's shoulders. I am standing on Maya Angelou's shoulders.
Dee attended "The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross" in 2013.
I am standing on Dianne Caroll and Ruby Dee."
Beyond her artistic work, Dee is best known for her work as an activist. She was long a member of such organizations as the Congress of Racial Equality, the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), and Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
She and Davis were personal friends of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, whose eulogy Davis gave in 1965, two years after Dee gave a stirring reading at King’s March on Washington.
Dee was born Ruby Wallace, but kept her married surname even after she divorced her first husband, blues singer Frankie Dee, in the 1940s.
Dee poses with husband Ossie Davis when the pair won a Lifetime Achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild in 2001.
She married Davis in 1948 and the two collaborated for decades on art, activism and family, having three children, blues musician Guy Davis, and two daughters, Nora Day and Hasna Muhammad, all of whom survive Dee.
The couple also raised eyebrows with an autobiography that advocated open marriage, saying that lies, not extramarital affairs, destroy marriages.
They later said that they came to realize that they didn't need anyone else.
A documentary on the couple's trailblazing career and personal history, "Life's Essentials with Ruby Dee," will screen on June 18 at the 18th Annual American Black Film Festival in Chelsea. The film was directed by Dee and Davis' grandson Muta’Ali.
Yaya DaCosta, who made her television debut in Cycle 3 of "America's Next Top Model," has been cast to play Whitney Houston in Lifetime's upcoming biopic.
The Brown graduate (as she frequently reminded us on the show) has made a name for herself since taking second place in the modeling competition, nabbing acting roles in "All My Children,""Ugly Betty,""House" and even "Lee Daniel's The Butler."
Lifetime previously announced that Oscar winner Angela Bassett (who appeared most recently in "American Horror Story") will direct the film about the pop star, who died two years ago at 48.
Lifetime's project will focus on Houston's tumultuous relationship with the model, singer, and songwriter Bobby Brown, which continued throughout much of her career. "Whitney Houston" (working title) marks Bassett's first directorial debut and is scheduled to premiere in 2015.
Basset co-starred with Houston in 1995′s "Waiting to Exhale," making this something of a personal project for the actress. In a previous statement, Basset noted, "I have such regard for both Whitney's and Bobby's amazing talents and accomplishments; and I feel a responsibility in the telling of their story. Their humanity and bond fascinates us all. I'm beyond excited to have this opportunity to go behind the camera and into their world."
Lifetime doing Whitney Houston movie with Angela Bassett
Inevitable, but also inevitably interesting: Lifetime is doing a Whitney Houston movie. Because of course they are. When Lifetime’s press release hit our inbox, the first question that sprang to mind was: They’re not already doing a Whitney Houston movie? Adding extra intrigue: Oscar nominee Angela Bassett will direct the film. Bassett and Houston co-starred in 1995′s Waiting to Exhale together. We’re told Bassett will not star, but she may have another role in the film.
Here’s Lifetime’s plan for its take on the pop singer, who died two years ago at the age of 48: “Whitney Houston chronicles the headline-making relationship between the iconic singer, actress, producer and model, and singer, songwriter Bobby Brown — from the time they first met at the very height of their celebrity, to their courtship and tumultuous marriage. Throughout it all, difficulties followed the superstar couple while they dealt with the overwhelming rewards and consequences of the fame and fortune created by Whitney’s meteoric rise that would soon overshadow them both.”
Added Bassett: “I have such regard for both Whitney’s and Bobby’s amazing talents and accomplishments; and I feel a responsibility in the telling of their story. Their humanity and bond fascinates us all. I’m beyond excited to have this opportunity to go behind the camera and into their world.” Whitney Houston (working title) is scheduled to premiere in 2015.
NEW YORK (AP) — One of Tupac Shakur's old friends celebrated his birthday by seeing a new play inspired by his music.
Madonna attended a preview of "Holler If Ya Hear Me" in New York City on Monday, which would have been the rapper's 43rd birthday. Shakur died in 1996 at age 25.
The musical officially opens Thursday at the Palace Theatre. It uses Shakur's songs to tell an original story about two young men dealing with life and tragedy in a Midwestern industrial city. Recent Tony winner Kenny Leon is directing.
Madonna sat in the third row. Shakur's mother and show producer, Afeni Shakur, also attended.
"Holler If Ya Hear Me" uses some of the rap genius' well-known songs, including "California Love,"''Dear Mama,"''I Get Around" and "Keep Ya Head Up."
THE SHORT: It was 20 years ago today thatO.J. Simpsonmade his iconic getaway on the highways of California, riding in the back seat of his friend’s white 1992FordBronco while a trail of police cruisers and a helicopter followed. Former football great Al Cowlings navigated the vehicle from Orange County onto Highway 405 toward Brentwood, as an estimated 95 million Americans tuned in to the real-time media broadcasts, right around 6:45 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, the Daily Beast reported.
Simpson, seated, center, is surrounded by his defense attorneys on Sept. 28, 1995. From left is Johnnie Cochran, Peter Neufeld, Robert Shapiro, Robert Kardashian and Robert Blasier, seated.
LOS ANGELES -- O.J. Simpson was in the backseat. Al "A.C." Cowlings was at the wheel. Yet as the celebrated pair led police on a low-speed chase watched by 95 million TV viewers nationwide 20 years ago Tuesday, the spotlight did not belong solely to the men. They shared it with the car in which they rode: the 1993 white Ford Bronco.
More than a half-dozen news helicopters tracked it. More than two dozen squad cars pursued it. And hundreds of people on freeway overpasses in Los Angeles gawked, or cheered or waved
as the passing vehicle rode into infamy, and …
Then what?
Voices: Lingering memories of O.J. Simpson saga
Two decades after the Bronco secured a VIP parking space in American lore, central figures from the drama can be accounted for:
-- Simpson, who was fleeing police with the help of Cowlings, is now in the Lovestock Correctional Center in Nevada. He was found not guilty in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, but is serving up to 33 years after being convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery in 2008.
-- Bob Tur, who was the first news-helicopter pilot on the scene and provided 22 minutes of exclusive footage that night, now goes by the name of Zoey. He is awaiting surgery for a sex change.
-- Tom Lange, the detective who by cellphone pleaded with Simpson to throw a loaded gun out of the car window because Lange feared Simpson would use it on himself, is retired from a life of investigating crime. He is writing books about it.
The Bronco and the man who drove it have proven more elusive.
BRONCO FUTURE: Ford discontinued brand two years after chase
Two years ago, a TMZ cameraman cornered Cowlings in a parking lot and followed him until he climbed into a white truck. (No, not a Bronco, which Ford phased out in 1996.) A year ago, former NFL teammate Charley Ferguson said, Cowlings was working for B. Wayne Hughes, founder of Public Storage, and living in the Los Angeles area. Six months ago, former tennis partner Joe Kolkowitz said, Cowlings had retired, and Kolkowitz said he thought Cowlings was living "in the same place."
The same place?
"I'm not saying," he said.
Tim Tessalone, the sports information director at USC, where Cowlings attended, said Cowlings has no interest in talking to reporters and still lives in Southern California.
At times, the whereabouts of the Bronco have been even harder to pin down. But court records, car records and interviews help piece together what has transpired with perhaps the most infamous vehicle of the 20th Century.
'THE MOST FAMOUS TRUCK'
The two-door SUV with a V8 engine rolled off the assembly line in March 1993, passed an emissions inspection that April in Palmdale, Calif., and about 14 months later, on the evening of June 17, 1994, it riveted a memorabilia collector named Michael Kronick.
Kronick said he was in Las Vegas for an Elvis Presley estate auction and watching TV when NBC interrupted its coverage of the NBA Finals. Suddenly, Kronick and millions of others found themselves watching the Bronco, cruising across Interstate 405 in Southern California at 35 mph.
"I called my attorney," Kronick recalled, "and I said, 'We've got to have that truck. That's going to be the most famous truck.'"
Kronick thought the car was Simpson's. But later he learned the Bronco with license plate 3DHY503 belonged to Cowlings, and so they began searching for the man who played football with Simpson in high school, college and the NFL.
Released from jail on $250,000 bail after being charged with aiding and abetting a fugitive, Cowlings returned home and didn't want to drive the car again, according to Don Kreiss, a friend of Cowlings' who worked for a sports agent and played poker with a group that included Cowlings.
"Go ahead and find somebody to buy it," Kreiss said Cowlings told him.
Shortly thereafter, Kronick and Kreiss connected. The memorabilia collector made an offer: $75,000 for the Bronco, along with 250 autographed photos of Cowlings driving the car.
On the morning of Nov. 2, 1994 — the day before eight women and four men were selected for the jury at Simpson's criminal trial and six days before the charges against Cowlings were dropped — Kronick and Kreiss met at the Westwood Marquis Hotel. Kronick had the check. Cowlings had the car.
Then, it was as matter of finding Cowlings.
Twice he called Kreiss to say he was running behind. Then, three hours late, Cowlings called again.
The deal is off, he told Kreiss.
The memorabilia collector and Cowlings eventually met — at Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The collector sued Cowlings for damages in excess of $200,000. Cowlings insisted on keeping the car. They reached an undisclosed settlement in 1996. Kronick and Kreiss, who assumed Cowlings found a better offer, wondered what happened to the Bronco next.
Two months later, Cowlings' attorney, Stanley Stone, said the car was sold for $200,000. Though Stone did not identify the buyer, the car ended up with another one of his clients — Michael Pulwer.
News reports later described Pulwer as a collector. But Rachel Pulwer-Murray, one of Pulwer's cousins, said the family knows him as something else.
"He's a porn king," she told USA TODAY Sports. "My dad wouldn't really let me or my sister be around him when we were growing up because of the business he was in."
Michael Pulwer grew up in New Jersey and played lacrosse at Franklin & Marshall College, a Division III liberal arts school in Lancaster, Pa. He graduated in 1972, moved to Southern California and started selling pornographic novelties, magazines and movies, according to Stanley Loeb, who oversees Fantasy World, Pulwer's adult paraphenelia store in Las Vegas, and a business associate who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, left, defendant O.J. Simpson and defense attorney Johnnie Cochran react as a jury finds Simpson not guilty of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman on Oct. 3, 1995, in Los Angeles.
In the 1990s, he started his own adult film company, Paradise Visuals, and produced more than 50 movies, which starred the likes of porn stars Traci Lords, Christy Canyon and Ron Jeremy. During a recent interview, Jeremy recalled sparking romance when he introduced Jennifer Peace, an adult film actress who went by the name "Devon Shire," to one of Pulwer's friends.
Al Cowlings.
The link was Pulwer, who socialized with Cowlings, Simpson and Hall of Fame running back Marcus Allen, according to Loeb and the business associate.
After the chase, the boys' nights out ended. But Pulwer remained friends with Cowlings. In fact, one of Pulwer's cousins, Ira Pulwer, said Pulwer told him he'd purchased the Bronco in part because Cowlings was having financial trouble.
Records show Cowlings filed for bankruptcy in 1997.
Once in Pulwer's possession, the Bronco spent most days in an underground parking garage at The Westford, a luxury condominium complex in Los Angeles where Pulwer lived. It sat in the garage so long the pressure leaked out of the tires.
"At one time he was going to raffle it off," said Loeb. "But then he felt he wasn't getting enough money for it."
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
