DGA picks top five film directors of 2009

Today the Directors Guild of America announced a solid list of contenders for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2009. The nominees for the award are: Kathryn Bigelow “The Hurt Locker,” James Cameron “Avatar,” Lee Daniels “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” James Reitman “Up In The Air,” and Quentin Tarantino “Inglourious Basterds.”

If they weren’t already, these films and directors shot to the head of the Oscar contenders list with today’s announcement. The DGA Award is considered an accurate barometer for who will win the Oscar for Best Feature Film Director. Since 1948, only six times has the winner of the DGA Award not gone on to win the Academy Award, according to the guild’s website.

The winner will be announced at the 62nd Annual DGA Awards Dinner in Los Angeles on Saturday, January 30, 2010. More details on the nominees and the DGA Awards here.

2010 People’s Choice Awards

This year’s People’s Choice Awards were handed out earlier in the week. The winners include Sandra Bullock, Johnny Depp, Ellen Degeneres, Mariah Carey, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Lautner. The Wrap has a nice recap of the winners and a tidbit about the controversy surrounding the newly designed People’s Choice trophy.  

“Michael Jackson’s This Is It” in the running for NAACP Image Award

“Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” a behind the scenes look at the King of Pop rehearsing and prepping for a series of concerts, is up against four other films for the NAACP ‘s Outstanding Motion Picture Image Award. The other contenders are: ”The Blind Side,” “Invictus,”  “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” and “The Princess and the Frog.” These are just some of the 41st NAACP Image Award nominees announced today at a news conference in Beverly Hills.

The drama “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” led the pack with eight nominations. In the Recording Category, Jay-Z and Maxwell both received five nominations each, followed by Alicia Keys with three, and Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, and Rihanna each got two.

Nominees in all the categories: television, motion picture, writing/directing, recording and literature are up on the Image Awards website.  The Image Awards celebrate outstanding achievement and performances by people of color in the arts as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors, according to the website. For 2009, over 12-hundred entries were submitted. The winners will be announced during a live broadcast Friday, February 26, 2010.  

Will Smith & Denzel Washington the next dynamic duo?

 Hollywood loves to remake hit films. So it comes as no surprise that the 1974 comedy, “Uptown Saturday Night” is getting a re-do. Will Smith’s company, Overbrook Entertainment, and Warner Bros. are involved in the development of the remake. Apparently the deal has been in the works since 2002.

The plot revolves around two friends who go out clubbing, they get robbed, and next day they discover that one of the stolen wallets had a winning lottery ticket in it. According to the website Done Deal, there’s a chance Will Smith and Denzel Washington will team up to play the two pals. A new script is being written.

The 1974 version was directed by Sidney Poitier who starred in the film along with Bill Cosby and Harry Belafonte. 

 ”Transformers ll” tops the Box Office in 2009

Well, you can’t win them all. The blockbuster, “Avatar,” is dominating the Box Office right now, but when it came to to the top grossing domestic films of 2009, another action flick grabbed the top spot. The title of the number one big grosser belongs to “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” with $402,111 million. 

2.   “Avatar” $352,114 million.

3.   “Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince”   $301,959 million.

4.    Up”  $293,004 million.

5.    “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” $287,954 million.

The rest of the top ten includes “The Hangover,” “Star Trek,” and “The Blind Side.”  Box Office Mojo has the top 100 grossing domestic films of 2009 here.

A new talent and literary agency sparks buzz in Hollywood

Nothing like a new agency with some serious players behind it to rattle the status quo in Tinseltown.  Announcements went out today about the newly minted Verve Talent and Literary Agency. It was formed by WME motion picture literary agents Bill Weinstein, Adam Levine, and Bryan Besser. They’re former Endeavor agents who apparently didn’t like the fit of the new venture of William Morris Endeavor.

The Verve partners reportedly plan to provide the kind of representation that puts client interest ahead of agency. Hey, that should have a whole lot of talented folks making a run to Culver City, where the agency will be based.  The Hollywood Reporter has more and so does Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood site.

Last year was huge for Hollywood movies. The studios and the movie-going audiences are hungry for more. It’s a good time for a new agency with clout, fresh ideas, and cutting edge talent to jump into the mix.

Photo: Greg Harbaugh/AMPAS — Rick Rosas and Bradley Ottmanns of PricewaterhouseCoopers give the nomination ballots a final check before sending them off to be mailed. (12/28/09)

The Oscar race is officially on. Yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences sent out 5,777 nomination ballots to its voting members. Before being carted off to the Beverly Hills post office, the ballots went through a meticulous verification process by staff members of the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. They were counted, sorted, and “… numbered to guarantee that each one is addressed to the appropriate Academy voter,” according to the official press release.

These ballots are due back at PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5 p.m. Saturday, January 23, 2010. The nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards will be announced at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 2, 2010. The famous golden Oscar statutes will be handed out to the winners at the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony Sunday, March 7, 2010 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.  

So how are the nomination ballots counted? The Wrap has a nice article on the rather complicated process, which reportedly uses something called the “preferential system.” No wonder they need an accounting firm to handle the ballot count. Very interesting reading.

New stats show holiday shoppers spent more this season than last

Some Christmas cheer for retailers and good news for the economy today. Consumer spending during the period of November first through Christmas Eve rose 3.6 percent. That’s a heck of a lot better than what happened last year, when fears of economic disaster had shoppers holding tight to their money and thus sales plunged 2.3 percent, according to a report on Reuters.

For more on those earlier figures, analysts’ reaction to them, and a look at some of the retail winners and losers click here for the full story.

 The money just keeps rolling in for the Hollywood Studios

Is there a recession in Tinseltown? You wouldn’t know it by the way the big studios are making the green at the Box Office. The Christmas weekend turned out to be the best ever, bringing in $270 million, up 34 percent over last year, according to Box Office Mojo. Thanks to a slew of crowd pleasing flicks like “Avatar,” “Sherlock Holmes,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” and “It’s Complicated.”

The previous record for the most profitable weekend was July 18-20, 2008, when “The Dark Knight” and “Mamma Mia!” opened.

 Meanwhile, the Warner Bros. Pictures Group announced today that it reached a ninth consecutive $1 billion-plus year for the distribution of domestic and international films. Warner is projecting a domestic Box Office of $2.13 billion and foreign returns of $1.86 billion, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A whole lot of local folks are hoping see some of that studio cash get pumped into new film productions right here in the Southland, real soon, like in 2010.

Photo: NBC

Time is running out, if you plan to attend a “Tonight Show” taping hosted by Jay Leno. In two weeks, after 17 years,  the veteran comic will host his last “Tonight Show,” on Friday, May 29. Leno told CNN he’s planning some surprises for his finale and he revealed the guests will include singer James Taylor and new “Tonight Show” host Conan O’Brien.

Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove —Winter 2009, folks wait outside NBC Studios for a taping of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Long lines near ”The Tonight Show” studio is a very common sight in Burbank.  More than likely those lines will be even longer as Leno count downs to his final appearance as the official host of “The Tonight Show.”  Leno and his staff will be moving out of their old digs, but they’re not going far.  Only across the lot to some production offices for “The Jay Leno Show” scheduled for this September.

Leno’s new comedy talk-variety show is slated for the 10-to-11 p.m. slot five nights a week. It’s a major challenge, but Leno plans to offer what he does best; comedy and jokes. The way he sees it “… 10 o’clock is like the new 11:30…”

After months of negotiations, two powerful entertainment agencies, William Morris and Endeavor, announced they will merge into one company today. The new agency will be known as William Morris Endeavor (WME) Entertainment. The announcement came shortly after the leadership at both talent agencies approved the historic deal, which requires government approval.

The Hollywood Reporter says this is “the largest combination of two existing agencies in Hollywood history.” Variety described WME Entertainment as a powerhouse, that “… promises to change the landscape for the talent rep biz.” WME Entertainment is expected to pull in annual revenues in the $300 million range, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Right now, William Morris has around 300 agents and Endeavor about 80. In the weeks to come, layoffs and other departures are expected as the new company takes shape.

WME Entertainment will be guided by Jim Wiatt as chairman, Ariel Emanuel, Patrick Whitesell, and Dave Wirtschafter as co-CEOs, according to a statement posted on Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily.

Finke has more details on her site along with a ton of back story on the deal as well.

Writer Derek Haas has had great success scripting movies for Hollywood. Haas co-wrote “3:10 to Yuma” (2007,) a remake of the classic western film based on acclaimed author Elmore Leonard’s short story with the same title. Along with his partner, Michael Brandt, Haas wrote the screenplay for “Wanted” and several major scripts in development like “The A-Team,” “Beverly Hills Cop IV,” and ”The Thirteenth Hour.”

Now Haas is creating a name for himself as a best selling author with the “Silver Bear” novels. The third installment in the series sold to Pegasus Books recently, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The first book, “The Silver Bear,” about a feared assassin hired to whack his own father, came out last summer. Book two, “Columbus,” is scheduled for release this November.                                              

After months of on again /off again talks and tons of haggling and sniping, the members of the Screen Actors Guild will soon get the opportunity to vote on a contract deal. Yesterday, the Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors approved a tentative agreement with the Big Studio producers by a narrow 53 to 47 vote.

SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers jointly announced the tentative deal on Friday, but details were not released until yesterday. The two-year contract expires in June of 2011, keeping SAG in sync with the WGA, DGA, and AFTRA contracts, therefore, giving the unions more power in the next round of negotiations. Even though the deal includes a 3.5% annual raise in minimums, the pay structure for some Internet work is the same as what the producers gave the WGA, AFTRA, and DGA. The hardliners had fought for months to get the new media part of their contract sweetened.  

In the statement posted on the SAG website, SAG National President and supporter of the hardliners said: “I urge members to carefully review both the pros and cons in the referendum materials, and exercise their right to vote.”

Interim National Executive Director David White said: “We are pleased that Screen Actors Guild members will soon be voting on a deal for television and motion pictures. We’re eager to get our members back to work and to focus now on the challenges ahead, particularly on initiating a comprehensive effort to thoughtfully plan for the future.”  White replaced Doug Allen, a tough negotiator, who was fired by the guild on January 26, 2009. Also, Allen’s position as chief negotiator was taken over by John McGuire.

The ratification ballots are set to go out to the rank and file early next month. There are around 120,000 members of SAG.

Teen heartthrob Zac Efron scored big at the Box Office this weekend with his new comedy/fantasy, “17 Again.” The film is about a thirtysomething guy who gets a second shot at his life when he magically becomes 17 again. Young movie fans, especially teenage girls, stormed the theaters propelling the film into the number 1 spot with an estimated $24 million. “17 Again” also stars Matthew Perry.

In second place, “State of Play,” starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, and Rachel McAdams. The new crime drama/thriller is based on a BBC TV series about a group of investigative reporters who join with a police detective to solve the murder of a congressman’s mistress. ”State of Play” debuted with about $14 million. The animated 3-D flick, “Monsters vs. Aliens” earned around $13 million for third, followed by last weekend’s top film, “Hannah Montana: The Movie” in fourth with $12.6 million; and rounding out the top five “Fast and Furious (New Model…Original Parts)”  with $12.2 million.  

 Hollywood is buzzing over the tentative agreement announced today by the Screen Actors Guild and the big studios. After almost 10-months of fighting over contract issues and tons of behind the scenes drama at SAG, there’s now a two-year deal, however, some hurdles still remain to be cleared before it’s a done deal.

Both the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have announcements about the agreement up on their websites. Neither is offering details of the pact until it can be reviewed by SAG’s National Board.

 The SAG panel is set to review the agreement on Sunday and is widely expected to put its stamp of approval on it. The big question is will SAG’s 120,000 plus membership ratify the agreement. So there’s a deal and a cliffhanger for folks in Tinseltown to ponder this weekend.

Hollywood is once again facing a real life cliffhanger now that the Screen Actors Guild has turned down the producers’ so-called last, best and final offer. Remember a few weeks ago, the hard line negotiator in SAG  was tossed out by moderates who felt they could better work a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Well, what the moderates got was a tough lesson in how the game of negotiations is played by the producers.

In a statement on its website, the Screen Actors Guild admitted it went into last week’s talks thinking a new contract was almost a done deal. The new negotiators gave the producers what they had been asking for: “In an effort to put the town back to work, our negotiator agreed to modify the Guild’s bargaining position to bring the Guild in line with the deals made by our sister unions.” 

So what did the producers’ reps do, they went for blood. The SAG negotiators got blindsided by a new proposal: “The AMPTPs last-minute, surprise demand for a new term of agreement extending to 2012 is regressive and damaging…” The producers want a three year deal, which would mean SAG’s contract would not expire at the same time as the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the writers and directors’ guilds, thereby weakening SAG’s bargaining power.

Over on its website, the AMPTP heaped a ton of praise on its last, best and final offer: “We have kept our offer on the table – and even enhanced it – despite the historically unprecedented economic crisis that has clobbered our nation and our industry.” The AMPTP never mentioned the millions the Hollywood studios have been making at the Box Office for months.

Last Saturday, SAG’s board of directors voted overwhelmingly to reject that last, best final offer. The producers have warned the offer could be withdrawn or modified after two months. So, it appears we are back to an impasse with both sides digging in.

Heath Ledger as the Joker wins best supporting actor Oscar.

The late Heath Ledger, a talent that left us much too soon, was honored for his incredible performance as the “Joker” in the blockbuster, “The Dark Knight, ” at the 81st Academy Awards last night in Hollywood. Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment a year ago last month. Later officials would rule his death an accidental overdose due to prescription medications. He was only 28.

Last night at the Kodak Theatre, his parents and sister went up on stage to accept Ledger’s Oscar for best supporting actor. Ledger is only the second actor to win an Academy Award posthumously. The first time occurred when Peter Finch won the best actor Oscar for his work in the 1976 drama, “Network,” shortly after his death from a heart attack.

 As expected, the rags-to-riches story of an orphan who gets a shot at winning India’s version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” cleaned up with the major trophies at the Oscars. “Slumdog Millionaire” won eight Academy Awards including: best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, and best cinematography.

However, the best actress Oscar went to Kate Winslet for “The Reader” and best actor to Sean Penn for his lead role in “Milk.” In his acceptance speech, Penn was both gracious and humble: “”I did not expect this, and I wanted to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me, often. But I am touched by the appreciation.” In keeping with the gay rights theme of the film Penn also, condemned the passage of Proposition 8, the California ban on same-sex marriage, calling for “equal rights for everyone.”

 My favorite film of 2008, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” received 13 Oscar nominations, but only won three: best art direction, best achievement in makeup, and best achievement in visual effects. This is a magical film that is beautifully acted and executed. I feel it will be enjoyed by movie lovers for many years to come.

I was disappointed that Taraji P. Henson, who played Brad Pitt’s mother in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” did not win the best supporting actress Oscar. Penelope Cruz took home the statuette for her performance in the Woody Allen film, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

A complete list of the winners and nominees can be found over at the Oscar website run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

photo from http://gov.ca.gov/  02/20/09  — Governor Schwarzenegger holds news conference yesterday to sign the new state budget into law.

After a painful three months of bitter debate, the state legislature finally approved a budget on Thursday and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed it into law yesterday. The budget reportedly solves a $42 billion deficit by raising taxes and cutting spending.

The governor says the budget lays the foundation for fiscal responsibility in the future:“During a down economy and facing an historic budget deficit we had to make some very difficult decisions, but I am very proud that California is back on the best path forward. We will continue to work with our most important partners – the people of our great state – to ensure we never again face the kind of catastrophic budget scenario we experienced this year.” Still, many  Republicans are not happy with Schwarzenegger’s decision to support raising taxes even in the face of a financial crisis.

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times

Although the governor is taking a lot of the credit, I will give some high-fives and kudos to State Senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria). Maldonado broke the budget impasse early Thursday morning by voting  “yes” on the budget.  

Democrats needed one more Republican ”yes” vote and Maldonado provided it. Rather than holding fast to the rigid, infexible, Republican mantra of “no tax hikes no matter what,” Maldonado did what was best for the people of California. He helped get us out of the budget mess/financial meltdown. Voters in the state should reward Maldonado with their support.

In exchange for his vote, Maldonado insisted a change be made in the state constitution to allow for open primaries, which I’m all for. Let the voters make an unrestricted choice in the primary just like in the general election. It would sure make the ballots, which have been a major headache during state primaries,  easier to understand for both voters and poll workers.   

Meanwhile, many folks in Hollywood are pleased that the new state budget includes a $100 million film and television tax incentive to put the brakes on runaway production. On the Screen Actors Guild website there is a joint statement from SAG, Directors Guild of America (DGA), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), Motion Picture Association of American (MPAA) praising the decision: “For the past 10 years, a united entertainment community has been telling state officials that our industry is threatened by runaway film and television production.  Film and television productions have been leaving California for tax incentives in other states and countries for years now, and like everybody else, entertainment industry workers are suffering in this economic climate.  We applaud the passage of this incentive which will help make California competitive and not only save the jobs that are being lost but generate much needed revenue for the state.”

Now, if the producers and the Screen Actors Guild can settle their nasty contract dispute, Hollywood can really get back to the business of creating entertainment for the masses.

Google Image

Singer turned designer, Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham ranked number one on the 2007 worst dressed list put out earlier this year by the originator of the snarky fashion critique, Mr. Blackwell. It was the 48th time the self-proclaimed critic of good fashion taste had selected his top 10 worst dressed. And it would be his last. 

Mr. Richard Blackwell  1922-2008

Mr. Blackwell reportedly died yesterday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles due to complications from an intestinal infection.

For several decades, Mr. Blackwell’s annual worst dressed list was highly publicized and a Hollywood tradition. Some of the famous who have been dissed on the list are Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton, Madonna, Fergie and even Britain’s Queen Elizabeth. Occasionally, men made the list; notably Milton Berle, Boy George, and Elton John.

Mr. Blackwell, born Richard Sylvan Selzer in 1922, got his career start in entertainment as an actor. He appeared in small roles on Broadway and in the movies. Also, he did some modeling. In 1958, he launched a line of his own fashion designs with modest success. Real celebrity came for Blackwell in the 1960s  when he began announcing his worst dressed lists.

Blackwell is considered the godfather of the chatty and sometimes catty commentators who are critiquing celebrity fashion styles today. 

Blackwell was 86.

Edie Adams  1927-2008

“Why don’t you pick one up and smoke it sometime?” that catchy phrase in a Muriel cigars TV commercial will probably be how many remember actress and singer, Edie Adams. For two decades, Adams was the sexy spokesperson for those cigar ads.

Adams died on Wednesday, October 15,  in Los Angeles after a battle with pneumonia and cancer. Adams was born Elizabeth Edith Enke in 1927 and got her first big break on the TV show, “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent  Scouts.” She would go on to hook up with comedian Ernie Kovacs and worked with him on his TV shows during the 1950s and 1960s. They were married in 1954.

Adams’ career spanned several decades from Hollywood to Broadway. She won a best supporting actress Tony award for playing Daisy Mae in the musical “Li’l Abner,” in 1957. She appeared in a number of films from Billy Wilder’s classic, “The Apartment,” to “Call Me Bwana” (with Bob Hope),” and “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”

Also in her later years, Adams could be seen in guest roles on TV shows like “Murder She Wrote,” and “Designing Women.”

Google image/ 1901- 1971

Oscar winning actor Forest Whitaker has signed on to play the great Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong in an upcoming film about the musician’s extraordinary life.

Born on August 4, 1901, in a poor section of New Orleans called “The Battlefield,” Armstrong rose to fame as a singer and  trumpet virtuoso. Armstrong was the first important Jazz soloist and his style shaped and influenced that emerging new music form. 

In his later years, Armstrong gained new fans by appearing in films and making his mark on the pop music scene. He reportedly died of a heart attack at the age of 69 on July 6, 1971.

Forest Whitaker, who won the best actor Oscar in 2006 for playing Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland”, will also direct. The screenplay is being written by Ron Bass and the project is produced by Legende Films, according to the Done Deal website.  

The Armstrong movie is titled, ”What a Wonderful World.” That song was written for Armstrong and he recorded it in 1967. Surprisingly, it did not become a hit in this country until 1987 when it was used in the film “Good Morning, Vietnam.”

        1925-2008

Paul Leonard Newman has taken that final bow. Newman was an extraordinary man of many interests. A true Hollywood movie star for several decades, he still found time to be an activist, race car enthusiast, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He died last night at his home in Connecticut, after a battle with cancer which he fought as privately as he could.

The Silver Screen loved his stunningly handsome face and brilliant baby blues. And Newman could act! What a package. Newman became a movie star in the 1950s, but did not win the best actor Academy Award until 1986 for his role in “The Color of Money.” 

His body of work is lengthy and impressive. Some of my favorite Newman films are:  “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with Elizabeth Taylor (1958), “The Long, Hot Summer” with Joanne Woodward (1958), “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969),  “The Sting” (1973), and “The Verdict” (1982).

Along with incredible talent, Newman had a generous heart and contributed to many charities. He started Hole in the Wall camps for seriously ill children and the incredibly successful Newman’s Own, a food company he founded with a friend in 1982. 

All of the profits from Newman’s Own go to charity –the total stands at more $250 million. The Newman’s Own products get my personal shopper’s seal of approval; especially the salad dressings which I love. Poignant tributes to Paul Newman are posted on the Newman’s Own website as well as on the Hole in the Wall camps site.

Newman & Woodward  1958

Along with this diverse legacy, Newman leaves behind his wife of 50 years, actress Joanne Woodward, and five children.

More kudos for Tony Kushner, the creator of “Angels in America.” The highly-acclaimed cable TV movie  version won a staggering 11 Emmy Awards in 2004. Kushner wrote the screenplay as well as the play that the movie is based on. It is about the AIDS crisis during the mid-1980s.

Now, Kushner has been named as the first recipient for a new $200,000 playwright prize. Established by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, this is the largest theater award in the country and one of the largest cash awards for individual achievements in the arts, according to Philanthropy News Digest.

Along with winning an Emmy, Kushner has won a Pulitzer, two Tonys, and an Olivier Award for “Angels in America.” Kushner, who lives in New York and Hollywood, says he works on screenplays, “to buy me time to work on plays.”

Kushner’s other works include, “A Bright Room Called Day,” “Homebody/Kabul”, and “Caroline or Change.”

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Tyler Perry is expanding his mega-operations. Perry, a prolific actor/ writer/producer/director/, has formed 34th Street Films. It will focus on producing projects written and directed by outside talent.

The new film unit will be based in Los Angeles. Perry will remain headquartered in Atlanta. In July, Perry signed a new three-year first look deal with Lionsgate. The distributor has handled six Perry films including, “The Family That Preys,” which is out now and has earned nearly $30 million in 10 days.

“Attempt the impossible in order to improve your work,” that was the motto of legendary actress and Hollywood grand diva, Bette Davis. The two-time Academy Award winning actress appeared in more than 100 films.

In honor of her vast contribution to entertainment, the U.S. Postal Service is issuing a special 42 cents stamp in honor of Davis. The commemorative Davis stamp is part of the Legends of Hollywood series. Today, it goes on sale at Boston University in Boston. Davis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on April 5, 1908.

The print of Davis on the stamp is based on her highly acclaimed performance as the aging Broadway star Margo Channing in the movie, “All About Eve” (1950).  Davis won the best actress Oscar for her roles in “Dangerous” (1935) and “Jezebel” (1938). 

Davis continued to act up until her death on October 6, 1989. Along with her enormous body of work, Davis left behind a number of original quotes and quips. Here’s one that probably reflected her feelings about the acting profession, “to fulfill a dream, to be allowed to sweat over lonely labor, to be given a chance to create, is the meat and potatoes of life. The money is the gravy.”