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Kelsey Grammer's Mother Passes Away

justingirl1989 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:07:15 -0700

Kelsey Grammer's mother has passed away, the actor's rep tells OK!.

Sally Cranmer Grammer died on Monday at the Sherwood Country Club in Westlake, Calif. of natural causes. She was 80.

“I was proud to be the son of Sally Grammer," Kelsey says in a statement. "I will miss her laughter.”

The daughter of an Army colonel and a 1920s flapper, Sally was a singer in her day and served as a four-time president of Tarzana Women's Republican Club, a position she held at the time of her passing. She was also part of the Sherwood Country Club and the Kiwanis Club.

Throughout her life, Sally has endured much heartbreak and tragedy. Her ex-husband and father of Kelsey and daughter Karen, Frank Allen Grammer, Jr., was murdered outside his home on the Virgin Islands in 1968. Seven years later, Karen was tragically killed following a rape and abduction.

Sally is survived by Kelsey, 53, his wife Camille and three granchildren, actress Spencer Grammer, 23 -- Kelsey's daughter with Doreen Alderman -- and Mason, 6, and Jude, 3, his children with Camille.

http://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/7764

Kelsey Grammer Suffers Heart Attack

justingirl1989 — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:54:39 -0700

Frasier star Kelsey Grammer suffered a "mild heart attack" over the weekend in Hawaii while swimming on the beach in Kona, according to Star magazine.

According to a local source, "Kelsey's heart stopped for a few seconds, that's for sure."

"He was then admitted to the Kona Community hospital where he was treated. Soon after he was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Honolulu. I think he went for more tests there. The doctors treated this very seriously."

Good news is that he's doing fine now. His rep Stan Rosenfield confirmed, "Kelsey is doing fine now and he will be going home tomorrow."

http://www.hollyscoop.com/kelsey-grammer/kelsey-grammer-suffers-heart-at...

Kelsey Grammer: Work Stress Led to Heart Attack

justingirl1989 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:02:09 -0700

Kelsey Grammer
Photo by: Stuart Ramson / AP

Kelsey Grammer, who suffered a mild heart attack seven weeks ago, says pressure from his canceled sitcom Back to You contributed to his health problems.

"It was a very stressful time for me, and a surprise to me [that it was canceled]," Grammer, 53, said Wednesday while promoting his drama-comedy, Swing Vote, in L.A. "But you know, everything that doesn't kill us – which it almost did – makes us stronger."

Back to You, costarring Patricia Heaton, was canceled in May by Fox after one year, despite respectable ratings.

"Not happy about it," says Grammer. "I had a heart attack, maybe you heard. I was not happy about it."

But now, he says, "I think things are going to be fine, thank you. I'm doing fine. It's OK."

Asked if the health scare changed his lifestyle, Grammer said, "Oh, not a ton. Just watch your diet a little bit, take some pills."

A sitcom veteran who has Cheers and Frasier to his credit, Grammer plans to take more time out for family, and is thinking about films.

"Oh gosh, I hope so," he said. "You can only do so many a year. I have other things that matter to me, like my wife and family."http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20214586,00.html

Kelsey Grammer Out of the Hospital

justingirl1989 — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 09:02:41 -0700

Eight days after being hospitalized for the second time this year, Kelsey Grammer is back home.

"Kelsey is out of the hospital, feeling great and about to resume normal activities at home," a rep for the Emmy winner tells OK!. "He and his wife Camille want to thank everyone who expressed concern. They appreciated the kind words."

The Frasier star's first visit to the hospital came in June, when he suffered a mild heart attack while on vacation in Maui.

And then last week, Kelsey was taken to an NYC hospital last week after a dizzy spell. "He felt a little faint," his rep told OKhttp://www.okmagazine.com/news/view/8257

Republicans in Hollywood feel bullied

samantha999 — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:51:58 -0700

Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:23am EDT
By Paul Bond

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - At a recent event for Republicans in Hollywood, an actress was asked whether she had ever worn her pro-Sarah Palin pin to an audition.

"You must be joking!" she said with a laugh, adding, "But I see Obama stuff all the time."

It's no secret that the entertainment industry is overwhelmingly liberal -- political donations this presidential cycle from the movie, TV and music industries recently were running about 86% Democrat versus 14% Republican. But being outnumbered is one thing, but being bullied by your liberal co-workers into keeping your opinions to yourself is quite another.

Is that what's going on? Yes, say many of the industry's conservatives. That's why secret organizations with such names as "SpeakEasy" and "The Sunday Night Club" spring up every so often. They're not conservative per se, they just let it be known that attendees of their gatherings may freely discuss politics without being chastised for not toeing the liberal line.

"Are you kidding me? Of course it's true," Kelsey Grammer said when asked whether the town is hostile to conservatives. "I wish Hollywood was a two-party town, but it's not."

Grammer said he knows of a makeup trailer that sported a sign warning Republicans to keep out and of U.S. war veterans who keep their backgrounds a secret from their Hollywood co-workers because they hear them belittle the military.

He even said that, earlier in his career, his job was threatened by a prominent sitcom director who demanded he donate money to Barbara Boxer's U.S. Senate campaign. To keep his job, he gave $10,000 to Boxer and the Democrats.

Nowadays, Grammer is a bankable actor who is unafraid to speak his mind. His advice to less established industry players, though, is to shut up about politics -- "unless you think the way you are supposed to think," and that means liberal.

Unlike Grammer, most Hollywood conservatives appear to be of the closeted variety. "I know every liberal at work and don't know any conservatives because they never speak up," a longtime executive at Warner Bros. said.

However, there are many who are trying to make Hollywood more accommodating to political diversity. Andrew Breitbart is one. At his Breitbart.com (http://www.breitbart.com), he's launching a "Big Hollywood" blog with 40 industry conservatives tasked with -- among other things -- highlighting liberal intolerance.

"There's an undeniably vicious attitude against those who dissent," Breitbart said. "Hollywood is the most predictable place on the planet, not exclusively because of politics but because of narrow-mindedness."

Breitbart maintains that liberals have pushed conservatives too hard in Hollywood and that Americans have noticed. His intent is "to stop the bullying."

One "Big Hollywood" blogger is Andrew Klavan, an accomplished novelist-screenwriter who made a splash with a Wall Street Journal article comparing Batman and the "The Dark Knight" to President Bush and the war on terror.

"It's not easy being different," he said. "The liberals aren't all that liberal. We think they're wrong, but they think we're evil, and they behave like it."

Klavan said a producer, worried that Klavan's political reputation had become common knowledge, asked recently whether he could pitch something Klavan wrote but under an assumed name. Klavan declined.

"I don't want to be the Dalton Trumbo of the right," he said, referring to a notable screenwriter who fell victim to Hollywood's blacklist during the anti-communist hysteria of the 1940s and 1950s.

If you lean right, pitch to those who are sympathetic, or at least tolerant of conservative viewpoints, Klavan said. Mel Gibson, Jerry Bruckheimer and Joel Surnow come to mind.

Klavan also said liberalism seeps into too much Hollywood content nowadays and offers as proof the several anti-Iraq war movies that have been boxoffice bombs.

"These aren't even movies about the war on terror," he said. "They're Vietnam War movies, made by people who sit around at Skybar discussing their pacifist world view."

TV also is too one-sided, he said. "They don't even make fun of Barack Obama," he noted. "How is that possible? The guy's hilarious."

Another "Big Hollywood" blogger is Evan Sayet, whose writing credits include "Win Ben Stein's Money" and "Politically Incorrect With Bill Maher."

Six years ago, while a staff writer for a popular talk show, Sayet said, "I was informed I could not write jokes about ebonics, global warming or any other cause coming from the left."

Nowadays, Sayet heads a conservative comedy troupe called Right to Laugh that performs at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood and similar clubs nationwide.

Even liberals acknowledge that they have an easier time than conservatives in Hollywood.

"The person who will get snickered at and picked on is the one wearing the McCain-Palin button," actor Eric Roberts said. "But that's OK. It's America. A free country. If you're going to stick your neck out, it's gonna get whacked."

"You just said liberals discriminate more than conservatives," interrupted his wife, Eliza, an actress and casting director.

But the couple maintain that taking any passionate political position -- right or left -- can be difficult. They recalled when Eric was a guest on "The O'Reilly Factor" and, after returning to the set of the TV show he was working on, a producer told him: "We're doing a TV show here. We don't need that kind of politicizing. Don't go public with your views."

He noted, though, that the admonition came from a like-minded liberal whose concern was for maintaining high ratings. Nevertheless, the experience had a cautioning effect on Roberts.

"I pick my battles now. If you support Sarah Palin, I'd walk away," he said. "I wouldn't chastise you, I'd feel sorry for you."

Beyond the various "secretive" organizations around town, there is the more obvious Hollywood Congress of Republicans. Headed by actor Mark Vafiades, HCR boasts 160 members who meet about nine times a year to socialize and hear from various right-leaning special guests.

At a recent HCR event, "Saturday Night Live" alumna Victoria Jackson, for example, joked that she's probably the only conservative Christian to have kissed both Sean Penn and Alec Baldwin. Then the comedian-gymnast stood on her head until the room agreed to vote for McCain-Palin, which didn't take long.

Although Obama fundraisers can draw hundreds of moguls, actors, musicians and professional athletes eager to spend time with the senator, McCain's few appearances have been more understated affairs.

The most recent event, in fact, didn't even draw the candidate or his running mate. Instead, spouses Cindy McCain and Todd Palin headlined while comedian Dennis Miller supplied the entertainment.

McCain and Palin don't spend much time in Hollywood -- even to raise money -- because they figure a Republican can't win California. But the party ignores the entertainment capital at its own peril.

"They didn't only write off California, they wrote off our culture," Breitbart said.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Fame! I'm gonna live forever. I'm gonna learn how to fly. High!

harmonyfrance — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:45:07 -0800

I'm so excited about this. I used to LOVE this tv show. It was a big influence on me going into the performing arts. I wanted to go to this school so badly. It looks like they're getting some major talent for it too. Look at the cast they're racking up!

Five performers named to "Fame" faculty (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Actors Megan Mullally , Kelsey Grammer , Charles S. Dutton , Bebe Neuwirth and Debbie Allen have been tenured. The quintet has been chosen for administrative and teaching roles in the remake of "Fame."

Choreographer Kevin Tancharoen will direct the reinvention of the 1980 musical drama about a group of dancers, singers, actors and artists trying to survive four grueling years at New York City's prestigious High School of Performing Arts .

Allison Burnett and Aline Brosh McKenna wrote the updated screenplay for the MGM/ Lakeshore Entertainment production , which is scheduled for release September 25.

"This picture is a celebration, a testament to people pursuing their dreams, so we set out to find talented actors who could both convincingly instruct onscreen and also inspire audiences," MGM Worldwide Motion Picture Group chairman Mary Parent said.

All five actors have noteworthy performing arts backgrounds. Mullally, who will play a voice instructor, graduated from the School of American Ballet ; Grammer, who will play an orchestra conductor, attended Juilliard; Dutton, who will play an acting teacher, went to the Yale School of Drama ; and Neuwirth, who will play a dance teacher, has won two Tonys.

Actress and choreographer Allen, who played dance teacher Lydia Grant in the original film and won a Golden Globe for her role in the spinoff television series, will appear in the updated version as Principal Simms.

The student cast includes Kristy Flores, Paul Iacono, Paul McGill, Naturi Naughton and Kay Panabaker .

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Conservative Hollywood comes out of the closet

samantha999 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 06:50:56 -0700

Charles Dickens Hearts David Zucker
And you thought suicide bombers weren't funny.

By Kathleen Parker

Americans numbed by the daily barrage of politics-as-usual are about to be awakened by some new fireworks - Hollywood-style.

Imagine documentary filmmaker Michael Moore and director David Zucker (Airplane! and The Naked Gun) in the center ring and you begin to get the idea.

Zucker’s new movie, An American Carol (due in theaters Oct. 3), is a shot across Hollywood’s bow, aimed directly at Moore. No slouch in self-defense - or self-promotion - Moore will release his own online movie, Slacker Uprising, a few days before Zucker’s to reap the benefit of the backhanded buzz.

The release of both films has been timed for maximum impact on the coming election. No matter who wins this cultural crossfire, Zucker’s movie is revolutionary. He and co-writer Myrna Sokoloff (a former staffer for California Sen. Barbara Boxer), and other Hollywood renegades from the Left who were mugged by reality on 9/11, are busting out of the closet - with a serious case of the giggles.

Agree or not with their politics, they’re not nobodies who can be ignored or dismissed as witless. Producer Stephen McEveety’s résumé includes such mega-hits as Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ. Actors include Jon Voight, Dennis Hopper, Kelsey Grammer, James Woods, Kevin Farley, and perennial villain Robert Davi.

As the title suggests, the story line is based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Ghosts of the past - George Washington (Voight), Gen. George S. Patton (Grammer) and John F. Kennedy (Chriss Anglin) - squire America-bashing filmmaker “Michael Malone” around to see how the world would look if America hadn’t bothered to fight any wars.

Malone, brilliantly played by Farley, has joined forces with a left-wing group, MoveAlong.org, to ban the Fourth of July. He also has been hired by terrorists to make a propaganda film to help recruit a diminishing supply of suicide bombers.

And you thought suicide bombers weren’t funny.

The joke begins when two would-be terrorists enter a New York City subway station and are met at a security checkpoint by two NYPD officers. Just as they’re about to be searched, in rushes a squad of ACLU attorneys with a stop-search order.

“Thank Allah for the ACLU,” says one of the terrorists - and we’re off!

The vignettes keep coming so fast, it’s hard to keep up.

One memorable scene has “Rosie O’Connell” appearing on The O’Reilly Factor to promote her new documentary, The Truth About Radical Christians. The documentary shows two priests who hijack an airplane and storm the cockpit brandishing crucifixes. Next, we see two nuns festooned with explosives boarding a bus as passengers shout: “Oh no! Not the Christians!”

Another standout has Patton’s ghost showing Malone a modern-day plantation full of happy cotton pickers who thank Malone for being such a humane slave owner. Malone staggers at the sight only to learn that this is his plantation and these are his slaves - thanks to anti-war sentiment that prevented the Civil War.

In a line that filmmakers are still debating whether to cut, a smiling Gary Coleman finishes polishing a car and tosses his rag to someone: “Hey, Barack!”

No, he didn’t say that. Yes. He. Did.

That’s the movie, folks. In-your-face, off-the-charts, over-the-top, irreverent, and insensitive in the extreme. An American Carol may not be The Best Movie You Ever Saw, but it’s something. It’s radical in its assault on the left wing; it’s brave given the risk of peer ridicule and the potential for career suicide.

And it’s funny - if you like that sort of thing. Generally, I don’t. As someone who is slapstick immune - and who hated The Three Stooges - I’m an unlikely cheerleader for this kind of film. But I admire its spirit.

An American Carol will probably be panned by jaded reviewers who will point out the film’s flaws. Some in the target audience may find certain elements too crude - nurses and doctors playing with an oversized derriere that’s been separated from the rest of the corpse.

But the film makes a serious and necessary point that can’t be missed amid the laughter and the outrage: America is not the enemy.

Zucker insists he needn’t be taken seriously, but he does believe that Islamist terrorism poses a greater threat than those Americans typically demonized by Hollywood and the Left.

For delivering that message, maybe Zucker deserves not an Oscar, but a Nobel Prize.

- Kathleen Parker is a nationally syndicated columnist.

On This Day - February 21st

ms_dior_cherie — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:07:23 -0800

1855 The Washington Monument was officially dedicated in Washington, D.C. The monument, however, was not completed for another 33 years.

1866 Lucy B. Hobbs became the first woman to graduate from a dental school. The school was the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in Cincinnati.

1878 The first telephone book is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.

1925 The first issue of The New Yorker was published.

1943 Producer and executive David Geffen is born in Brooklyn, N.Y. Geffen, who graduates from high school in the bottom ten percent of his class and later drops out of two different colleges, forms Geffen Records in 1980.

1947 Edwin Land demonstrated the Polaroid Land Camera to the Optical Society of America in New York City. It was the first camera to take, develop and print a picture on photo paper all in 60 seconds. The photos were black and white.

1958 The very first Gibson model Flying V guitar is shipped from a factory in Kalamazoo, Mich.

1965 Malcolm X was assassinated in New York at the age of 39 by assassins identified as Black Muslims.

1972 President Richard Nixon arrives in Beijing, China, becoming the first president to visit a nation not recognized by the U.S.

1975 No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit: ``Pick Up the Pieces,'' Average White Band.

1975 Former U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides, H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up.

1980 Vocalist Bon Scott of AC/DC falls unconscious and dies in a friend's car after an all-night drinking bout.

1989 President Bush called Ayatollah Khomeini's death warrant against Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie "deeply offensive to the norms of civilized behavior."

1992 U.S. Olympian Kristi Yamaguchi wins the gold medal in women's figure skating at the Albertville Olympics. Fellow American Nancy Kerrigan takes the bronze.

2000 David Letterman returned to his Late Night show about five weeks after having an emergency quintuple heart bypass operation.

2003 David Hasselhoff and his wife Pamela were injured in a motorcycle accident. The accident was caused by a strong gust of wind. Hasselhoff fractured his lower back and broke several ribs. His wife fractured her left ankle and right wrist.

Famous Birthdays:
Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt born 1979
Actor Kelsey Grammer born 1955
Actress Tyne Daly born 1946
Soul singer Nina Simone born 1933
Author Erma Bombeck born 1927
Singer Mary Chapin Carpenter 1958