Latest news with #GeneKelly
The Irish Sun
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Taina Elg dead at 95: Double Golden Globe-winning actress who starred next to Gene Kelly in Hollywood's golden age dies
DOUBLE Golden Globe-winning star Taina Elg has died aged 95. Taina Elg, a Finland-born actress and dancer who starred alongside Gene Kelly in the 1957 musical Les Girls, sadly passed away on May 15. Advertisement 3 Taina Elg has sadly died aged 95 Credit: Her family confirmed she died in an assisted care facility in Helsinki, as reported by the Helsinki Times. The iconic star also appeared opposite Kenneth More in the 1959 remake of spy film The 39 Steps. 3 The iconic star appeared opposite Kenneth More in the 1959 remake of spy film The 39 Steps Credit: 3 She starred alongside Gene Kelly in the 1957 musical Les Girls Credit: Pacific Coast News More to follow... For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at The U.S. Sun, your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures, and must-see videos . Like us on Facebook at Advertisement
Miami Herald
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Young Talent Big Dreams drew hundreds of performers. Meet the 2025 winners
A high-stepping ninth-grader from New World School of the Arts soared above the stage with the agility of yesteryear dancer Gene Kelly. Tamerlan Guliyev won the grand prize of the 15th annual Young Talent Big Dreams competition in Coral Gables on May 10. His vehicle to the top of the judges' sheets? 'Dancin' Fool,' an ebullient number from Barry Manilow's 'Copacabana: The Musical.' An 11-year-old's original composition swept North Beach Elementary fifth-grader Soleil Nation to victory in an individual category. One group vocal winner of kids ages 9 to 13 sang a song called 'Revolting Children.' The chuckle-inducing title proved anything but. That tune, performed by children from Doral's SAH Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, comes from 'Matilda the Musical.' But the title of Soleil's winning composition, 'Stepping Stones,' proved a more fitting thematic description of what a cheering audience saw on the Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre stage: Young talented people's stepping stones to success in the arts. Actors' Playhouse, together with presenting sponsor The Children's Trust, held the finals of the 15th annual Young Talent Big Dreams, a local, free youth talent competition that has scoured Miami-Dade County for young talent every year since 2010. Young Talent Big Dreams invites students, ages 8 to 18, to compete in nine categories that tap their talents. The competition features six individual categories: pop/rock/rap vocals, Broadway/jazz/classical vocals, dance, musical instrument, original spoken word, and original vocal and/or instrumental composition. There are also three group categories for dance, musical instrument/bands, and vocal groups. The competition proved that powering through disappointments with pluck, perseverance and poise can pay off. Nina Marie, 16, has competed for nearly half of her life — seven years — at previous YTBD auditions. She finally seized the spotlight as a winner at the 15th finals showcase. She sparkled on Andra Day's aptly titled 'Rise Up' in the Individual Vocal Pop/Rock/Rap category. After confetti exploded on stage after Tamerlan's win as the overall best of the night, YTBD's 2024 champ Gerry Ibarra, 17, bounded on stage to congratulate his successor. A two-month marathon of preliminary and semifinal competitions began in March at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables. Subsequent auditions were held at the Dennis C. Moss Cultural Arts Center in Cutler Bay, the City of Miami Little Haiti Cultural Complex and Miami Arts Studio 6-12 @ Zelda Glazer in West Miami-Dade. The rounds drew hundreds of contestants. Prizes include cash awards, master classes with industry professionals, year-round performance opportunities and performing arts scholarships. 'Marking 15 incredible years of Young Talent Big Dreams is both a milestone and a celebration of the extraordinary young artists who have taken our stage,' Barbara Stein, executive producing director of Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre said in a statement. 'Watching these talented performers blossom year after year continues to be one of the most rewarding aspects of our work.' The champions of the 2025 15th YTBD ▪ Individual Dance and Overall Grand Prize: Tamerlan Guliyev, 14, New World School of the Arts. He receives a $500 cash prize from Actors' Playhouse and four tickets to Universal/Islands of Adventure, courtesy of WSVN 7News. ▪ Original Composition: Soleil Nation, 11, North Beach Elementary School. ▪ Individual Vocal–Broadway/Jazz/Classical: Antonella Laferriere, 14, Divine Savior Academy. ▪ Individual Vocal–Pop/Rock/Rap: Nina Marie, 16, Miami Beach Senior High School. ▪ Individual Original Spoken Word: Nyshelle Burns, 18, Miami Norland Senior High School. ▪ Individual Musical Instrument: Benjamin Baralt, 11, Alexander Montessori School. ▪ Group Vocals: SAH Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. Emmanuel Arcilla, 13, of Downtown Doral Charter School; JJ Calvo, 13, of Doral International Academy of Math and Science; Paulina Gonzalez, 10, of Shelton Academy; Sophia Bovensiepen, 13, of Doral Academy Preparatory School; Ana Paula Mayor, 10, of Pinecrest North Preparatory; and Anna Hurtado, 9, of Academir Charter School East. ▪ Group Dance: Dancing Twins. Caitlynn and Camilah Diaz, both 9, of Caribbean K–8 Center. ▪ Group Musical Instrument/Bands: Sunset Elementary Band. Alexander Borja, 11; William Borja, 9; and Thomas Delecluse, 10, all from Sunset Elementary School; and Ricardo Cloppert, 12, of George Washington Carver Middle School. Howard Cohen, a staff writer at the Miami Herald for 34 years, who also teaches at the University of Miami School of Communication, has volunteered as a judge for Young Talent Big Dreams at Actors' Playhouse since the competition's inception in 2010.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
10 iconic films that are finally streaming in Australia
I have a ritual when a new streaming service launches in Australia: I try to find the oldest movie available. Mostly I am disappointed. Classic Hollywood movies, very broadly from the introduction of the 'talkies' in the late 1920s through to late 1960s, are deeply under-represented in the streaming age (and other cinematic cultures, such as Japan or France, are essentially non-existent). Loading Timeless filmmaking just isn't a priority for commercial streaming services. If you search on Netflix, for example, the oldest movies in their 'classics' section are just two Hollywood releases from the 1960s – the 1966 western The Professionals and the 1969 counterculture salvo Easy Rider. Calling that minute selection tokenistic would be generous. But when Max launched at the start of this month I finally found satisfaction. Among the assets of Max's parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, is Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Launched in 1994 as a cable channel by media mogul Ted Turner, TCM holds the rights to significant Hollywood feature film libraries. TCM has its own hub on Max, debuting in Australia with approximately 100 initial titles and plans to add more. That number is just a drop in the ocean, but it's still a promising start and a terrific collection in itself. Whether you're unfamiliar with classic Hollywood movies or rediscovering the long unavailable works of iconic stars and celebrated directors, there's already much to enjoy on TCM. Here are 10 recommendations to get you under way. An American in Paris (1951) Culminating in a magical 17-minute dance sequence where stars Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron high-step their way through 44 different sets, this stylised Hollywood musical was a best picture winner at the Academy Awards. With Kelly as the expatriate artist caught between a wealthy older woman (Nina Foch) and an ingenue (Caron), the story is familiar, but every technical aspect is inspired, and the stars give off sparks. For fans of: La La Land. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Fresh from Broadway, Mike Nichols captured every lacerating verbal blow in his adaptation of Edward Albee's play about sparring married adversaries (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) who bring a younger couple (George Segal and Sandy Dennis) into their alcohol-soaked world of mutual torment and shattered illusions. Marriage is a crucible in this chamber piece where every edge cuts to the bone. For fans of: Big Little Lies, Sharp Objects. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) The film that invented the teenager. 'That's a new disease,' Natalie Wood's high school student Judy notes after meeting James Dean's disaffected fellow student, Jim. Nicholas Ray's potent melodrama turns the coming-of-age tale into a troubled quest to stay afloat amidst parental condemnation and exploitative peers. Dean's brooding performance is the definition of iconic. For fans of: The O.C., Heartbreak High. Dial M for Murder (1954) This knotty crime thriller, which boasts a fascinating and unexpected performance from Grace Kelly, is generally not considered a top-tier Alfred Hitchcock film, but the film's mordant humour and sharply visual storytelling have aged exceptionally well. Ray Milland's cold-hearted former professional athlete plots to have his unfaithful wife (Kelly) murdered to get the insurance money, but his plan goes awry. For fans of: Killing Eve, Fargo. Loading Adam's Rib (1949) Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were one of Hollywood's great screen couples, and this pithy, prescient romantic-comedy about married New York lawyers on either side of a hot-button case involving adultery is a standout collaboration. George Cukor's direction leans into the high-spirited, making for a battle of the sexes that highlights the feisty, fertile dynamic between the two leads. For fans of: LA Law, Suits. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Withdrawn from circulation for decades following controversy about its subject and copycat crimes upon release, Stanley Kubrick's dystopian drama about the criminal journey of a bored British teenager (Malcolm McDowell's Alex) is the director indulging both his cold eye for violence and a satirical approach that is particularly uncompromising. The crime comes with punishment (and plenty of Beethoven), as Kubrick works over the audience's sympathies. For fans of: Fight Club. Gaslight (1944) Yes, it's the movie that inspired the now much-used term. Ingrid Bergman plays a wife psychologically tormented by her gold-digging husband (Charles Boyer), who uses false accusations, conniving interpretations and blanket denials to dislodge her sanity. Marital bliss is a cruel illusion in this mix of noir menace and haunted house unease, and Bergman gives a full-blooded performance as a woman taken to her absolute limits. Ninotchka (1939) This witty, urbane screwball comedy where personal pleasure proves too much for state ideology has a timeless appeal. Greta Garbo, the sternest of Hollywood leading ladies, plays a Soviet commissar sent to Paris to fix a trade deal gone awry. But she comes up against a charmingly dissolute Russian exile (Melvyn Douglas), whose attempts to sabotage her mission turns into a livewire romantic attraction. Loading For fans of: Bridgerton, Gilmore Girls. The Maltese Falcon (1941) In the legendary John Huston's directorial debut, Humphrey Bogart plays Sam Spade, a San Francisco private eye who gets caught up in the murderous competition between rivals pursuing the priceless titular artifact. It's a tight, coolly executed crime thriller, with a memorable supporting cast of nefarious contenders, each of whom is open to negotiation and a double-cross. Greed's corrupting force has rarely been so entertaining. For fans of: Perry Mason. The Searchers (1956) TCM has some excellent westerns, but I can't go past John Ford's compelling collaboration with John Wayne, which took the leading man's stoic heroism and turned it into vengeful self-loathing. Wayne plays a Civil War veteran whose niece (once again, Natalie Wood) is kidnapped by Native Americans – he spends years in a brutal pursuit, even as his motivation darkens. The final shot is an all-time heartbreaker.
The Age
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
10 iconic films that are finally streaming in Australia
I have a ritual when a new streaming service launches in Australia: I try to find the oldest movie available. Mostly I am disappointed. Classic Hollywood movies, very broadly from the introduction of the 'talkies' in the late 1920s through to late 1960s, are deeply under-represented in the streaming age (and other cinematic cultures, such as Japan or France, are essentially non-existent). Loading Timeless filmmaking just isn't a priority for commercial streaming services. If you search on Netflix, for example, the oldest movies in their 'classics' section are just two Hollywood releases from the 1960s – the 1966 western The Professionals and the 1969 counterculture salvo Easy Rider. Calling that minute selection tokenistic would be generous. But when Max launched at the start of this month I finally found satisfaction. Among the assets of Max's parent company, Warner Bros Discovery, is Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Launched in 1994 as a cable channel by media mogul Ted Turner, TCM holds the rights to significant Hollywood feature film libraries. TCM has its own hub on Max, debuting in Australia with approximately 100 initial titles and plans to add more. That number is just a drop in the ocean, but it's still a promising start and a terrific collection in itself. Whether you're unfamiliar with classic Hollywood movies or rediscovering the long unavailable works of iconic stars and celebrated directors, there's already much to enjoy on TCM. Here are 10 recommendations to get you under way. An American in Paris (1951) Culminating in a magical 17-minute dance sequence where stars Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron high-step their way through 44 different sets, this stylised Hollywood musical was a best picture winner at the Academy Awards. With Kelly as the expatriate artist caught between a wealthy older woman (Nina Foch) and an ingenue (Caron), the story is familiar, but every technical aspect is inspired, and the stars give off sparks. For fans of: La La Land. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) Fresh from Broadway, Mike Nichols captured every lacerating verbal blow in his adaptation of Edward Albee's play about sparring married adversaries (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) who bring a younger couple (George Segal and Sandy Dennis) into their alcohol-soaked world of mutual torment and shattered illusions. Marriage is a crucible in this chamber piece where every edge cuts to the bone. For fans of: Big Little Lies, Sharp Objects. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) The film that invented the teenager. 'That's a new disease,' Natalie Wood's high school student Judy notes after meeting James Dean's disaffected fellow student, Jim. Nicholas Ray's potent melodrama turns the coming-of-age tale into a troubled quest to stay afloat amidst parental condemnation and exploitative peers. Dean's brooding performance is the definition of iconic. For fans of: The O.C., Heartbreak High. Dial M for Murder (1954) This knotty crime thriller, which boasts a fascinating and unexpected performance from Grace Kelly, is generally not considered a top-tier Alfred Hitchcock film, but the film's mordant humour and sharply visual storytelling have aged exceptionally well. Ray Milland's cold-hearted former professional athlete plots to have his unfaithful wife (Kelly) murdered to get the insurance money, but his plan goes awry. For fans of: Killing Eve, Fargo. Loading Adam's Rib (1949) Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were one of Hollywood's great screen couples, and this pithy, prescient romantic-comedy about married New York lawyers on either side of a hot-button case involving adultery is a standout collaboration. George Cukor's direction leans into the high-spirited, making for a battle of the sexes that highlights the feisty, fertile dynamic between the two leads. For fans of: LA Law, Suits. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Withdrawn from circulation for decades following controversy about its subject and copycat crimes upon release, Stanley Kubrick's dystopian drama about the criminal journey of a bored British teenager (Malcolm McDowell's Alex) is the director indulging both his cold eye for violence and a satirical approach that is particularly uncompromising. The crime comes with punishment (and plenty of Beethoven), as Kubrick works over the audience's sympathies. For fans of: Fight Club. Gaslight (1944) Yes, it's the movie that inspired the now much-used term. Ingrid Bergman plays a wife psychologically tormented by her gold-digging husband (Charles Boyer), who uses false accusations, conniving interpretations and blanket denials to dislodge her sanity. Marital bliss is a cruel illusion in this mix of noir menace and haunted house unease, and Bergman gives a full-blooded performance as a woman taken to her absolute limits. Ninotchka (1939) This witty, urbane screwball comedy where personal pleasure proves too much for state ideology has a timeless appeal. Greta Garbo, the sternest of Hollywood leading ladies, plays a Soviet commissar sent to Paris to fix a trade deal gone awry. But she comes up against a charmingly dissolute Russian exile (Melvyn Douglas), whose attempts to sabotage her mission turns into a livewire romantic attraction. Loading For fans of: Bridgerton, Gilmore Girls. The Maltese Falcon (1941) In the legendary John Huston's directorial debut, Humphrey Bogart plays Sam Spade, a San Francisco private eye who gets caught up in the murderous competition between rivals pursuing the priceless titular artifact. It's a tight, coolly executed crime thriller, with a memorable supporting cast of nefarious contenders, each of whom is open to negotiation and a double-cross. Greed's corrupting force has rarely been so entertaining. For fans of: Perry Mason. The Searchers (1956) TCM has some excellent westerns, but I can't go past John Ford's compelling collaboration with John Wayne, which took the leading man's stoic heroism and turned it into vengeful self-loathing. Wayne plays a Civil War veteran whose niece (once again, Natalie Wood) is kidnapped by Native Americans – he spends years in a brutal pursuit, even as his motivation darkens. The final shot is an all-time heartbreaker.
