Categories
Awards

Fingers crossed for DUNKIRK!!

Oscars: ‘Get Out’ and ‘Dunkirk’ Fight to Get Voters’ Attention After Early Release

Both critically acclaimed films hit theaters months ago, which is why their respective directors, Jordan Peele and Christopher Nolan, are stumping hard.
In February, on the same weekend as the 89th Oscars, a little $4.5 million horror movie called Get Out opened and immediately struck a nerve, capturing the top spot at the box office with $33 million on its way to a worldwide gross of $253.4 million — not that Academy members necessarily noticed at the time. Then, in late July — as Hollywood folks were fleeing town for far-flung summer vacations — a much bigger movie, the $100 million Dunkirk, hit theaters with a $50.5 million bow and ultimately garnered $525 million worldwide.

Both films debuted to critical cheers. Get Out scored a nearly unanimous 99 percent positive score on Rotten Tomatoes, and Dunkirk checked in at 92 percent. And both now are angling for best picture Oscar noms. But they face a potential roadblock. Between now and the Christmas holidays, about two dozen new films will be making bids for awards attention. And because the Academy tends to favor shiny new objects — seven of last season’s nine best picture nominees were released in November and December — Get Out and Dunkirk are in danger of feeling like old news. And so, the filmmakers behind both are now out on the hustings.

To be sure, even before Get Out — a satirical look at the pernicious racism that lurks behind the facade of even seemingly enlightened white liberals — could make a serious best picture run, it first had to establish its bona fides as a “serious” movie. So way back in May, when Universal held a party on its lot to mark the film’s home entertainment release, that routine promotional event was used as an excuse to invite awards bloggers and Academy members to get the conversation started. In June, the film’s cred got a big boost when its writer-director, Jordan Peele, appeared at the PGA’s Produced By Conference, where he was interviewed by none other than Norman Lear, who testified, “I lose words when I think about how much this man’s film affected me.”

Since then, Peele and his team, including producer Jason Blum and actor Daniel Kaluuya, have been making nonstop appearances. There they were shaking hands at the Nov. 11 Governors Awards. Writer-producer Damon Lindelof hosted a screening to which DGA, WGA and Academy members were invited. Peele delivered a keynote at the Film Independent Forum on Oct. 22 and dropped by AFI Fest for a Nov. 10 conversation about 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? — to which his own film owes a debt. And on Nov. 17, Universal threw yet another reception, featuring an exhibit of fan art inspired by the movie, to toast Get Out, which already has picked up four Gotham Awards noms.

Dunkirk faced a different challenge: Once Christopher Nolan’s film roared into theaters, no one could deny the film rose to the challenge of re-creating the fabled World War II British military retreat. But Nolan has never been an Academy favorite. He has received only one best picture nomination (for 2010’s Inception), two screenplay noms and no directing noms. So while Nolan usually prefers to have his films speak for themselves, this time he’s also working the room.

In an unusual move, the film crashed the Toronto Film Festival — “Haven’t you all seen this already?” TIFF director Piers Handling joked before the screening, which ostensibly marked Imax’s 50th anniversary — and artistic director Cameron Bailey hosted a chat with Nolan afterward. The director is now fronting a series of L.A. screenings — one of which was moderated by writer-producer John Wells. He also made the requisite pit stop at the Governors Awards and, as an ardent proponent of celluloid, visited the Library of Congress on Nov. 2 to speak about film preservation, one of his pet causes.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle facing Dunkirk is that the film will lose a lot of its power if Academy members simply watch it on screeners, and so Warners has jumped into the breach, announcing it will be rereleased Dec. 1 in 34 markets, where it will play in 50 Imax and 70mm theaters. It’s the studio’s way of insisting that attention must be paid.

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Lawsuits

This is too bad.

A War Is Brewing in the Steely Dan Universe

Earlier this fall, the rock and jazz communities took a massive hit when Steely Dan co-founder Walter Becker unexpectedly died at the age of 67. But those hoping to catch the band’s other founder, Donald Fagen, on the road in the near future to honor his friend might have to brace themselves for the worst case scenario: No music, new or old, for a long time. Per Rolling Stone, Fagen is suing Becker’s estate in order to retain control of the band and keep the Steely Dan name. The crux of the lawsuit boils down to a buy/sell agreement the duo signed before the release of their first album in the 1970s, which stipulated “that if a member of Steely Dan quit or died, the band would purchase all of that member’s shares in the group.” However, four days after Becker’s death, Fagen alleges he received a letter from Becker’s estate that said the agreement is “of no force or effect,” and Becker’s widow is insisting that she’s entitled to 50 percent ownership of the band — as well as a director or officer title.

Among the many details in Fagen’s lawsuit, he claims Becker “reaffirmed his commitment to the buy/sell Agreement and its validity” in 2009, when Becker even shot down attempts to tweak it in any way — making the duo the “only remaining shareholders and signatories to the buy/sell Agreement” at the time of his death. Additionally, Fagen is also suing the band’s longtime business management firm for “engaging in other secretive behaviors.” (How mysterious.) A court date has yet to be scheduled, but we have a feeling that Ohhhh, noooo, 50 percent won’t do for Fagen.

Categories
Movies

Still can’t decide if I need to see COCO or not. I probably will, but I’m in no rush.

Coco tops Thanksgiving box office with $71.2 million; Justice League No. 2

Coco has struck a chord. Disney and Pixar’s vibrant Día de los Muertos-themed animated musical is poised to debut with an estimated $71.2 million from 3,987 theaters in the U.S. and Canada over the long holiday weekend, easily displacing last week’s box office champ, the struggling superhero team-up Justice League.

Coco‘s five-day bow — $49 million of which comes from the Friday-Sunday frame — marks the fourth-highest Thanksgiving opening ever, not adjusting for inflation, behind Frozen ($93.6 million), Moana ($82.1 million), and Toy Story 2 ($80.1 million). It also gives Disney 10 of the top 11 Turkey Day openings all time and comes as good news for Pixar in the wake of co-founder John Lasseter taking a six-month leave due to unspecified “missteps” that made some staffers feel “disrespected or uncomfortable.”

Directed by Lee Unkrich and co-directed by Adrian Molina, Coco received glowing reviews from critics (it’s currently rated 96% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) and a coveted A-plus CinemaScore from moviegoers, suggesting that word of mouth should be strong. The film, which centers on a 12-year-old Mexican boy who confronts his family’s ancestral ban on music, has grossed an additional $82.2 million from foreign markets. Coco‘s cast includes newcomer Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, and Alanna Ubach.

In second place, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment’s big-budget spectacle Justice League is on track to take in about $63 million over five days, and $40.7 million Friday-Sunday. The latter figure represents a 57 percent decline from an underwhelming first weekend and doesn’t bode particularly well for the uneven DC Extended Universe, which Justice League was intended to be the standard-bearer for.

That said, the Zack Snyder-directed movie has added about $309.8 million overseas, putting its worldwide total at $481.3 million. Despite unenthusiastic reviews and a mediocre B-plus CinemaScore, Justice League has been buoyed by a star-studded cast that includes Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, and Ezra Miller. (Joss Whedon, an alum of Disney and Marvel’s rival Avengers franchise, also oversaw extensive reshoots as Snyder dealt with a family tragedy.)

Rounding out the top five this weekend are a trio of holdovers: Lionsgate’s family film Wonder, with about $32.3 million over five days ($22.3 million Friday-Sunday); Disney’s superhero threequel Thor: Ragnarok, with about $24.3 million over five days ($16.8 million Friday-Sunday); and Paramount’s comedy Daddy’s Home 2, with about $18.6 million over five days ($13.3 million Friday-Sunday).

In limited release, director Luca Guadagnino’s critically acclaimed love story Call Me by Your Name is set to gross an estimated $405,000 (Friday-Sunday) from four locations in New York and Los Angeles, for a per-theater average of $101,000 per screen — the highest such mark this year. Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer star in the film, about an affair between a precocious 17-year-old boy and a mysterious, handsome grad student in northern Italy. Sony Pictures Classics is distributing.

Also notching a solid opening this weekend is Focus Features’ World War II drama Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill. Playing in four locations, it’s on pace for about $176,000 Friday-Sunday, for a per-theater average of $44,005. (Its five-day opening is estimated at $248,000.)

Meanwhile, the Denzel Washington legal drama Roman J. Israel Esq. expanded from four theaters to 1,669 but failed to connect with audiences, who gave it a soft B CinemaScore. The Sony release on track to gross about $6.2 million over five days and $4.5 million Friday-Sunday, good for ninth place.

According to ComScore, overall box office is down 4 percent year-to-date. Check out the Nov. 24-26 figures below.

1. Coco — $49 million ($71.2 million five-day)
2. Justice League — $40.7 million ($63 million five-day)
3. Wonder — $22.3 million ($32.3 million five-day)
4. Thor: Ragnarok — $16.8 million ($24.3 million five-day)
5. Daddy’s Home 2 — $13.3 million ($18.6 million five-day)
6. Murder on the Orient Express — $13 million ($18.6 million five-day)
7. The Star — $6.9 million ($9.5 million five-day)
8. A Bad Moms Christmas — $5 million ($6.8 million five-day)
9. Roman J. Israel Esq. — $4.5 million ($6.2 million five-day)
10. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri — $4.4 million ($$5.9 million five-day)

Categories
Star Wars

So excited to see it!!

‘The Last Jedi’ poised to star as end-of-year box office hero

Stephen King’s “It” made for one scary movie, but it wasn’t nearly as spine-chilling as Hollywood’s summer box-office returns.

That 2017 season’s $3.8 billion take in North American receipts has been the worst since 2006, according to data provided by comScore, and left the industry lagging 6.5 percent behind 2016’s record pace.

“Everyone [at the time] was sounding the death knell for movies,” says Paul Dergarabedian, comScore’s senior media analyst.

Thanks to “It,” which opened in early September, business has since rebounded spectacularly — so much so that it’s sneaking up on last year’s best-ever box office of $11.4 billion.

The Warner Brothers horror flick not only accounted for nearly half of September’s North American gross of $713 million, but is on track to return 20 times its $35 million budget in worldwide ticket sales.

But Warner Bros. also is credited with the year’s biggest flop, the $175 million “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” which generated only $39.2 million in North American receipts.

The year got off to a fast start, with such first-quarter hits as “Beauty and the Beast,” “Logan” and “Get Out,” and after the “It” save in the fall, should close well, beginning with the release of Pixar’s “Coco” on Wednesday. Then the granddaddy hopeful of them all, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” opens Dec. 15.

Just how close Hollywood’s performance in 2017 gets to 2016 will largely depend on whether moviegoers take to “Jedi” as they did to the series’ “Rogue One” or to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

The former grossed $408 million between Nov. 21 and Dec. 31 in 2016, or 33 percent less than “The Force Awakens,” which pulled in an eye-popping $605 million over the same dates the previous year.

Dergarabedian projects a 2017 box-office haul of $10.9 billion to $11.1 billion, or 4.4 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively, off the record box office last year. Either one will go a long way toward erasing the memory of the puny summer totals.

For his part, Dergarabedian said the result is satisfying given how “confounding and volatile the year has been,” adding that it will “set the stage nicely for 2018.”

Not all industry trackers are so optimistic, though, especially after separating the top 25 grossing films from the remaining 220 monitored this year by Box Office Mojo.

“Increasingly, a lot of big films are tentpoles produced by Disney, which has all the other players fighting over scraps,” said Doug Creutz, who covers media and entertainment for Cowen and Co.

Creutz also said that, as studios fixate on overseas tastes, they’re leaving domestic audiences with little more than “cartoons and explosions.”

“You’re seeing whole genres almost die off,” the analyst said. “When was the last time you saw a romantic comedy do well at the box office? When was the last time you saw one get released?”

Movies also are up against greater competition for Friday night entertainment, which in the old days meant consumers were lining up to watch that week’s new release.

“Now I’ve got Netflix, video games, Facebook and a billion other things that are entertaining and cost a lot less money,” Creutz said. “People these days only go to movies they feel they really must see at a theater, and those tend to be tentpoles.”

Categories
People

It’s a nice little house to live in, if you lived in Freehold.

Bruce Springsteen’s childhood home in N.J. is for sale

FREEHOLD, N.J. — Much of Bruce Springsteen’s recent works, including his autobiography, Born to Run and Springsteen on Broadway, are based on his childhood experiences in his hometown of Freehold.

Now, one of his childhood homes is for sale.

The two-family home at 39 Institute St. in Freehold where the Springsteens lived from 1955 to 1962 is for sale for $269,900.

The house has been on the market for two weeks, said agent Barbara Conti of Gloria Nilson and Company Real Estate.

“It’s getting a lot of activity,” said Conti, a Freehold resident. “It’s more investors who are interested because it’s a two-family home.”

The price does not include a “Boss boost,” Conti said, which has been the case with other former Springsteen homes that have recently gone on the market. The former Springsteen bungalow in the West End Court in Long Branch where he wrote “Born to Run” sold for $94,000 last year after it originally went on sale for $299,000.

“I watched that,” Conti said. “They were crazy. This house is priced according ot the condition and what the owners can get when they rent.”

The Springsteen family lived on the left side of house, where an impressionable 7-year-old Bruce Springsteen saw Elvis Presley on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956, a moment that is highlighted in the book Born to Run and the Broadway show. The Boss posed next to a tree at 39 Institute for a photo that appeared in the Born in the U.S.A. tour book.

“People are always looking at the house. They stop and take pictures,” Conti said.

In 1969, Bruce Springsteen moved out of Freehold to Ocean Township and then subsequently to several other Jersey Shore towns en route to rock ‘n’ roll stardom as his parents and youngest sister moved to California.

“I would come back and visit these streets many, many times, rolling through them on sunny fall afternoons, on winter nights and in the deserted after-hours of summer evenings, out for a drive in my car,” Springsteen writes in Born to Run.

“I would roll down Main Street after midnight watching, waiting, for something to change. I would stare into the warmly lit rooms of the homes I passed, wondering which one was mine. Did I have one? I’d drive past the firehouse, the empty courthouse square; past my mom’s now-dark office building; past the abandoned rug mill, down Institute Street to the Nescafe plant and baseball field; past my copper beech tree, still rooted and towering in front of the emptiness that was once my grandparents’ house (on Randolph Street); past the memorial of white crosses for our fallen war heroes at the town’s end; past my dead at the St. Rose of Lima Cemetery — my grandmother, grandfather and aunt Virginia — then out to the pitch-black highways of Monmouth County.”

“This town, my town, would never leave me, and I could never completely leave it, but I would never live in Freehold again.”

Categories
People

May he rest in peace.

Rance Howard, Ron Howard’s father, dies at 89

Rance Howard, father to Han Solo movie director Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard, died on Saturday. He was 89.

Ron announced the news in a statement posted to Twitter. “Clint & I have been blessed to be Rance Howard’s sons,” he tweeted. “Today he passed at 89. He stood especially tall [for] his ability to balance ambition [with] great personal integrity. A depression-era farm boy, his passion for acting changed the course of our family history. We love & miss U Dad.”

Howard enjoyed a Hollywood career that spanned more than six decades. Following his first credited movie role in 1956’s Frontier Woman, he went on to appear in films like 1966’s An Eye for an Eye, 1974’s Chinatown, 2000’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 2001’s A Beautiful Mind, and 2013’s Nebraska.

He also appeared in a number of his son’s films, including Grand Theft Auto (Ron’s feature film directorial debut), Splash, Coccoon, Parenthood, and Apollo 13.

Meanwhile on the small screen, Howard accumulated characters across Seinfeld, Diagnosis Murder, Dallas, Murder, She Wrote, Married with Children, Babylon 5, and Ron’s Happy Days.

Howard was last seen on screen in Broken Memories, a film about a son struggling with his father’s Alzheimer’s. Ron and his daughter, Jurassic World star Bryce Dallas Howard, represented him well at the premiere in Beverly Hills, California earlier this month.

“He has an undying love of the process, which has made him appreciate every day on a film or television set,” Ron said of his dad (via The Hollywood Reporter), who wasn’t able to attend the event. “And he’s never lost the youthful excitement for being a part of a process that tells a story that reaches audiences in different ways and reflects the work of a team of collaborators that share that excitement and that always rubbed off on me, that joy of being lucky enough to be among the storytellers.”

Bryce added, “He’s had a 65-year career where he has never broken out as a movie star. … He’s never made the money that people dream of, and yet he’s carved out this incredibly unique and remarkable and beautiful career of a character actor. He’s an example of that stick-to-it-ness and what that adds up to in a life.”

Howard’s late wife, Judy Howard, passed away earlier this year in January. He is also survived by actress and granddaughter Paige Howard.

Categories
People

“I don’t have a tidy soundbite for you because I’ve learned I am not a child and I have learned that when I’ve spoken in anger, I usually regret the way I express myself. So I’ve been waiting to feel less angry and when I’m ready, I’ll say what I have to say.”

Uma Thurman breaks silence on Harvey Weinstein: ‘I’m glad it’s going slowly – You don’t deserve a bullet’

Uma Thurman has finally broken her silence over disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, admitting she’s “glad” the sexual assault scandal surrounding the producer is progressing slowly.

The 47-year-old actress starred in Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, both produced by Harvey’s former business Miramax, and said she was waiting for her anger to subside before she addressed the allegations made against the film executive, who has been accused of sexual harassment, sexual assault and even rape by women in the industry.

But Uma decided to reveal her feelings about the situation in a hard-hitting post on Instagram, as she wished her followers a happy Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Alongside a picture of herself in character as The Bride in Kill Bill, Uma wrote: “I am grateful today, to be alive, for all those I love, and for all those who have the courage to stand up for others. I said I was angry recently, and I have a few reasons, #metoo, in case you couldn’t tell by the look on my face. I feel it’s important to take your time, be fair, be exact, so… Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! (Except you Harvey, and all your wicked conspirators – I’m glad it’s going slowly – You don’t deserve a bullet) -stay tuned Uma Thurman.”

The fact Uma used the #metoo hashtag suggests she may also have been a victim of Weinstein’s misconduct, while fans took the actress’ “stay tuned” remark as a promise that she’ll be going public with her tale in the near future.

Uma was previously approached for a comment about the Weinstein scandal back in October, when she told Access Hollywood: “I don’t have a tidy soundbite for you because I’ve learned I am not a child and I have learned that when I’ve spoken in anger, I usually regret the way I express myself. So I’ve been waiting to feel less angry and when I’m ready, I’ll say what I have to say.”

Uma’s Kill Bill co-star Daryl Hannah is among those accusing Weinstein of sexual misconduct, previously alleging that she had to barricade herself in her hotel room at one point to keep him out.

Weinstein is currently being investigated by police in New York, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and London. He has strongly denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Categories
Awards

Welcome back, Buble!!

Michael Buble to host the Junos

VANCOUVER — Michael Buble will be the host the 2018 Juno Awards.

Buble had been tapped to host the music awards show last year before he bowed out when his son Noah was diagnosed with cancer.

The native of Burnaby, B.C., announced earlier this month that he was getting back to work next year.

Bryan Adams and Russell Peters hosted last year’s Junos in Ottawa.

The 2018 Juno Awards will be staged at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on March 24.

This is the fourth time Vancouver has played host to the awards ceremony, which celebrates achievement in Canadian music.

The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced earlier this year it is reinstating the comedy album of the year category after a 33-year hiatus.

Categories
Magazines

Does she need to defend it?!

Emilia Clarke defends ‘Game of Thrones’ nudity

Emilia Clarke is “starting to get really annoyed” by critics slamming the amount of nudity in her hit TV show Game of Thrones.

The 31-year-old actress stars as Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO series, and has appeared in her fair share of scenes which require her to be nude or have sex. While the program has attracted some criticism for its saucy content, Clarke admitted during an interview with Harper’s Bazaar magazine that she’s getting fed up having to constantly defend the series.

“I’m starting to get really annoyed about this stuff now because people say, ‘Oh, yeah, all the porn sites went down when Game of Thrones came back on,’” Clarke said. “I’m like, The Handmaid’s Tale? I f—ing love that show, and I cried when it ended because I couldn’t handle not seeing it. That is all sex and nudity.

“There are so many shows centred around this very true fact that people reproduce. People f— for pleasure – it’s part of life.”

As well as her Game of Thrones role, Clarke has found fame in movies such as Terminator Genisys, Me Before You and can soon be seen in the upcoming Star Wars franchise spin-off Solo: A Star Wars Story.

While Clarke is stunningly beautiful, she admits she found it difficult landing roles when she started out in the industry because she didn’t have the “right look.” But rather than letting it get her down, the actress was motivated to become recognized for her talent and not her looks.

“It pushed me into another casting type; forced me to be an actor,” she explained. “Instead of playing Juliet and doing the light, airy stuff, I would be the granny who cracks wise, or a down-and-out hooker who has seen better days.”

The British star has been concentrating on furthering her career in recent years – so much so that her love life has been on the backburner. And when it comes to finding “the one,” Clarke is of the impression that there is more than just one soulmate for everyone on earth.

“There is ‘the one’ for particular parts of your life — you change as you get older,” she said. “So when I was in my teens, there was ‘the one’ for my teens, for sure, and then, you know, there’s ‘the one’ for the next time of your life.

“There’s this Buddhist philosophy that says you can only really understand yourself through your interactions with other people.”

Categories
People

More sad news. 67 is far too young. Rest in peace, David Cassidy.

David Cassidy, ‘Partridge Family’ Star, Dies at 67

David Cassidy, pop culture idol of the 1970s, has died as a result of complications from dementia. The musician and actor was 67.

His publicist JoAnn Geffen confirmed his death, with a statement from his family. “On behalf of the entire Cassidy family, it is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father, our uncle, and our dear brother, David Cassidy. David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long. Thank you for the abundance and support you have shown him these many years.”

He had been hospitalized for several days with organ failure. Cassidy announced his diagnosis with dementia in early 2017. He performed at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York in March, talking about his dementia, and said his arthritis made playing guitar an ordeal.

With pretty-boy good looks and a long mane of dark hair, Cassidy was one every girl’s favorite teen crush in the early 1970s and drew screaming crowds at concert appearances. David Cassidy was part of a showbusiness family that included his father, Tony-winning actor Jack Cassidy, stepmother Shirley Jones, half-brother Shaun Cassidy and daughter, actress Katie Cassidy.

Raised in New Jersey, Cassidy moved to Los Angeles in 1969 after starring in a Broadway musical that closed after only four performances. In 1970, after signing with Universal, Cassidy took on the role of older brother Keith Partridge in “The Partridge Family.” Keith was the son of Shirley Partridge, who was played by Jones.

The ABC sitcom was loosely based on real-life family musical act the Cowsills, and ran from 1970 to 1974. The show became popular for its squeaky queen portrayal of life on the road as a family rock band in a brightly painted bus. In addition to Cassidy and Jones, “The Partridge Family” starred Susan Dey, Danny Bonaduce and Suzanne Crough as the family’s other children, and Dave Madden as manager Ruben Kincaid.

Cassidy and Jones were the only cast members who were allowed to actually sing; the other kids lip-synced, while the Wrecking Crew provided musical backup. Theme song “C’mon Get Happy” became one of TV’s most enduring songs, and helped launch Cassidy’s musical career.

After the singles “I Think I Love You” and “Cherish” took off, Cassidy began working on solo albums as well. He regularly sold out stadiums, leading to commentators to coin the phrase “Cassidymania.” Several of his shows resulted in riots or mass hysteria, including one notable 1974 performance in Australia, which garnered calls for Cassidy to be deported from the country.

At a 1974 London concert, nearly 800 people were injured in a stampede at a Cassidy concert, and one teenage girl died a few days later. He stopped touring and acting soon after, concentrating on recording, and had a hit with “I Write the Songs” before Barry Manilow made it part of his act.

In musical theater, he performed in “Little Johnny Jones,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Time” and “Blood Brothers” and created the Vegas shows “The Rat Pack is Back” and “At the Copa.”

Cassidy was Emmy nominated for a guest role on a “Police Story” episode “A Chance to Live.” NBC based the series “David Cassidy – Man Undercover” on the segment, but it lasted just one season. He also made guest appearances on shows including “Fantasy Island,” “The Love Boat” and “Tales of the Unexpected.”

In the decades that followed, Cassidy continued to perform in Las Vegas and tour. At later shows, Cassidy was known for participating in Q&A sessions at his concerts. He also played the manager of Aaron Carter’s character in the 2005 film “Popstar” and starred with half-brother Patrick in “Ruby and the Rockits,” created by his half-brother Shaun.

But he struggled with achieving his peak fame early in life, dealing with alcoholism and being arrested several times for DUIs. He filed for bankruptcy in 2015.

He is survived by half-brothers Shaun Cassidy, actors Patrick and Ryan; daughter Katie Cassidy and son, actor Beau Cassidy.