Voice of Fred Flintstone Dies at 85
LOS ANGELES - Henry Corden, the voice of cartoon caveman Fred Flintstone's "Yabba-dabba-doo!" for more than two decades, has died. He was 85.
Corden died of emphysema Thursday night at AMI Encino Hospital, his longtime agent Don Pitts said Friday. Corden's wife of nine years, Angelina, was with him at the time.
He took over as the lovable loudmouth Fred Flintstone when original voice Alan Reed died in 1977. Reed had been doing Flintstone since the character debuted in 1960.
Born in Montreal, Corden moved to New York as a child and arrived in Hollywood in the 1940s. His first acting role was in the 1947 film "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." Known for playing villains, he found small parts in movies, including 1952's "The Black Castle" and "The Ten Commandments" in 1956.
"As Henry said, he always played the cold-blooded creeps," Pitts said.
Corden moved into voice acting in the 1960s, and deployed his dialect skills in bit parts for Hanna-Barbera, including "Jonny Quest," "Josey and the Pussycats" and "The New Tom & Jerry Show."
Since "The Flintstones" echoed "The Honeymooners," Corden tweaked his role to approximate Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden character, Pitts said.
Corden also contributed to "The Jetsons," "Scooby-Doo" and "The Smurfs."
Corden, who lived in Encino, had been working until his health suffered about three months ago. He can most recently be heard on ubiquitous cereal commercials yelling "Barney, my Pebbles!"
Besides his wife, Corden is survived by five children and five grandchildren. A private memorial "party" is planned, Pitts said.
'Star Wars' Grosses $50M in Single Day
LOS ANGELES - The last of the "Star Wars" movies has done what no movie in history has ever accomplished — sold $50 million worth of tickets in a single day.
"Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" grossed $50,013,859 from showings at 3,661 theaters and more than 9,000 screens around the country on Thursday, including special midnight shows, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
That beat the one-day record set in May 2004 by "Shrek 2," which sold $44.8 million on a single Saturday — its fourth day in theaters.
"It's staggering," said Bruce Snyder, president of domestic distribution at Twentieth Century Fox. "It's probably 20 percent more than I thought we could do."
The George Lucas film, which features the transformation of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker into the evil Darth Vader, also beat the opening day record held by "Spider-Man 2," which grossed $40.4 million when it opened on a Wednesday last June.
"Fifty million is a good opening weekend, let alone a single day," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations. "This is the box office equivalent of a 100-year flood."
The news comes as a relief to Hollywood, which has seen a box office slump for 12 straight weeks.
Theater owners, studios and marketing partners had their hopes pinned on "Star Wars," to kick-start the summer movie season and they weren't disappointed.
The film debuted on 2,900 screens at midnight Thursday. The take from that one showing alone was $16.5 million, which beat the previous record of $8 million set by "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" in 2003.
Thursday's take dwarfed the next highest film, and last week's box office champ, "Monster-in-Law," starring Jane Fonda and Jennifer Lopez. That film grossed $1.5 million on Thursday, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.
It is almost assured "Star Wars" will push past the $100 million mark for its opening weekend. The record for a three-day weekend is held by the first "Spider-Man," which grossed $114.8 million in May 2002.
DeGeneres' Talk Show Wins Daytime Emmy
NEW YORK - Ellen DeGeneres' easygoing talk show won its second straight Daytime Emmy award on Friday and "Jeopardy!" — with a boost from Ken Jennings' 74-game winning streak — was honored as best game show.
DeGeneres learned she had a fan from another generation when Merv Griffin, standing next to her as he accepted a lifetime achievement award, whispered: "I watch you every day."
"Thank you for this prize," DeGeneres said. "It shows us what we can do."
"Jeopardy!," which was created by Griffin in the 1960s, was honored as best game show for the tenth time.
"This just adds more luster to what has already been a shining season," said Harry Friedman, the show's executive producer. He didn't mention Jennings, whose machine-like mind caused a sensation before he lost in November.
The Daytime Emmys, held at Radio City Music Hall and televised on CBS, have lost wattage over the years after losing story lines like Susan Lucci's long losing streak. Its ratings last year were less than half what they were in 1997.
Stockard Channing added a Daytime Emmy award to her prime-time Emmy and Tony awards. She performed in "Jack," a children's special on Showtime.
"I thought nighttime was supposed to be hot," Channing said. "But daytime is where it's at."
Greg Rikaart of "The Young and the Restless" and Natalia Livingston of "General Hospital" both won their first Emmys for supporting actors in a soap opera. David Yago of "The Young and the Restless" and Eden Riegel of "All My Children" won Emmys for young actors.
Wearing a purple velour jacked as he accepted his award, Yago tested the CBS censors. The audio was silenced for part of his acceptance speech.
"Oh, my God," he said. "I should have been fired years ago."
Let's settle it in the kitchen: Chefs Bobby Flay and Michael Chiarello finished in a tie for the best service show Emmy.
The voice of Elmo on "Sesame Street," Kevin Clash, was honored as best performer in a children's series; Oscar the Grouch accepted the award for him. Henry Winkler also wasn't on hand to pick up his first Emmy for his voiceover work on "Clifford's Puppy Days."
The ageless Bob Barker, recovering from skin cancer surgery, was not going to be on hand to see if he would win his 14th Emmy as best game show host.
Bill Murray in defense of comedy
CANNES (CP) - Putting it a little more elegantly than Rodney Dangerfield ever did, Bill Murray claims that comedy just does not get the respect it deserves.
"I've always felt that people who don't think that comedians are actors are damaged -- really damaged," Murray said this week in a Cannes Film Festival interview.
The comic, who was nominated for a best actor Oscar for the oddly funny Lost In Translation, is here following the world premiere of Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers, in which Murray plays a man looking for a lost son he might have had with a past lover. The movie is poignant and droll.
"If you're a real true comedian, you can act," Murray said. "Because it's the ability to say a line straight. You have to be able to play straight to do comedy."
You can see the prejudice in the results of the Academy Awards, Murray said.
"We always joke: you give me an affliction and I'll give you an Oscar. You give me a fatal disease and I'll get a prize for it. You give me a wig or a mask or a disfiguration, and I'll make it work for you.
"To me that's just the way it is. It doesn't matter."
As for comedies, Murray said: "When you laugh, you're breaking some sort of tension. You're untying a knot. Somehow, that's not something that people take into their emotional bank ... even though people value it.
"But it's not something where people say: 'I want to give you a prize.' "
MUPPET-IZING THE 'WIZARD'
Follow the Road of Yellow Brick.
It's not an English-as-a-second-language exam. It's actually a line in "Wizard of Oz," airing tonight at 8 on ABC.
The phrasing is to prove that the TV movie is not based on the 1939 Judy Garland classic film.
Rather, it's based on the children's book written by L. Frank Baum, meaning that a lot of things you remember from the movie aren't there. For instance, Dorothy wears silver slippers, not ruby ones.
And, oh yeah, the singing Muppets.
The movie stars Ashanti, who won a Grammy in 2002, as Dorothy, surrounded by Muppets, including Kermit the Frog playing the Scarecrow and Miss Piggy playing all four witches — yes, in the book, there were four.
Fozzie Bear plays the Lion looking for courage, and The Great Gonzo plays the Tin Thing (beak and all) in search of a heart. For the adults, there's a Quentin Tarantino cameo, and Queen Latifah plays Dorothy's Auntie Em.
This isn't the first time Muppets have taken over a previously filmed story. In 1992, they made "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (with Kermit and Miss Piggy as Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit) and in 1996, there was "Muppet Treasure Island," where Kermit battles pirates as Captain Smollett.
Those movies had pretty good music, too — Ziggy Marley is on the soundtrack for "Treasure Island" — but doing the "Wizard of Oz" provides a great excuse for the felt-y group to revive some old chestnuts, "It's Not Easy Bein' Green" and "The Rainbow Connection."
We'd like to see the crew in more adult fare (imagine "Apocalypse Now" with the Swedish Chef yelling, "de hurden, de hurden") but till then it's Piggy — the Witch is in the House.