Latest Celebrity News

Maggie Smith, scene-stealing actor famed for Harry Potter and 'Downton Abbey,' dies at 89

Sep. 27, 2024 18:58 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) — Maggie Smith, the masterful, scene-stealing actor who won an Oscar for the 1969 film “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and gained new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “ Downton Abbey” and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films,...

Maggie Smith mourned by 'Downton Abbey' colleagues, Helen Mirren, Daniel Radcliffe and others

Sep. 27, 2024 16:04 PM EDT

Actors, collaborators and fans who worked with Maggie Smith are paying tribute to the award-winning actor, known for her roles in the “Harry Potter” movies and “Downton Abbey.” She died Friday at 89. ___ “It’s a very sad day for the whole culture of theater...

After 20 years and a move to Berlin, Xiu Xiu is still making music for outsiders

Sep. 27, 2024 10:38 AM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Since its inception more than two decades ago, the experimental rock band Xiu Xiu has danced between extremes. They’ve made music — drenched in synthesizers, breathy vocals and distorted guitar — that is somehow both cacophonous and beautiful, frightening yet poignant,...

Finding Mr. Right and converting to Judaism led Erin Foster to write a fresh, original rom-com

Sep. 26, 2024 10:18 AM EDT

There's a meet-the-parents scene in the new Netflix series "Nobody Wants This" where Adam Brody's Noah arrives at his girlfriend Joanne's house (played by Kristen Bell), wearing a sports coat and carrying an oversized bouquet of sunflowers. Joanne is so appalled by his efforts that she decides they...

The Cure announces a new album and releases its first new song in 16 years, 'Alone'

Sep. 26, 2024 09:52 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — Goths, rejoice: At long last, The Cure has released new music. “Alone,” their first new song in 16 years, premiered on Mary Anne Hobbs’ BBC 6 Music radio show Thursday morning. The English band also announced a new album, “Songs of A Lost...

Greek singer Marinella is in stable but critical condition after collapsing during a concert

Sep. 26, 2024 07:36 AM EDT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Popular Greek singer Marinella was in stable but critical condition in an Athens hospital Thursday, the hospital said in a statement, a day after she collapsed on stage during a concert in the ancient Herod Atticus theater. Marinella, 86, suffered a stroke and...

Rapper Fatman Scoop died of heart disease, medical examiner says

Sep. 25, 2024 12:39 PM EDT

HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) — Hip-hop artist Fatman Scoop, who collapsed onstage while performing in Connecticut last month, died of heart disease, the state medical examiner's office has determined. The official cause of death for the performer, born Isaac Freeman III, was hypertensive and...

Last original member of Kool & the Gang to represent group at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Sep. 25, 2024 10:41 AM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) — You can call the music of Kool & the Gang funky or R&B, soulful or disco, pop or dance. What you cannot call it is partisan. When Iowa’s delegation at this summer’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago announced its vote for the Harris-Walz ticket,...

Today in History: September 25, Military escorts Little Rock Nine into Central High

Sep. 25, 2024 00:11 AM EDT

Today is Wednesday, Sept. 25, the 269th day of 2024. There are 97 days left in the year. Today in history: On Sept. 25, 1957, nine Black students who had been forced to withdraw from Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, because of unruly white crowds were...

Music Review: Andy Rourke's posthumous album, Blitz Vega's 'Northern Gentleman,' is a soft swan song

Sep. 24, 2024 15:47 PM EDT

Blitz Vega, the band helmed by The Smiths' bassist Andy Rourke and Kav Sandhu of Happy Mondays, formed in 2016 and ended when Rourke died from pancreatic cancer in 2023. He was 59. The band’s lone album, “Northern Gentleman,” has finally been released — 10 tracks largely written and...