In Brief: Oprah planning Sidney Poitier project; ‘Drive My Car’ revs up Society of Film Critics Awards, and more

Following Sidney Poitier‘s death on Friday at the age of 94, Deadline reports that Apple is in the middle of filming a documentary on the Oscar-winning actor with Oprah Winfrey executive-producing and House Party helmer Reginald Hudlin directing. The project, which has been in production for more than a year, is an in-depth examination of Poitier’s life that includes the participation of his family. The doc will be an Apple Original Films release. Poitier became the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor in 1964 for his role in Lilies of the Field. His other credits include 1967’s groundbreaking film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night

Drive My Car was the big winner at Saturday’s National Society of Film Critics ceremony. Along with best picture, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s sweeping drama also won for director, screenplay and best actor, for Hidetoshi Nishijima. Other winners included Penélope Cruz, who copped Best Actress honors for Parallel Mothers. The Best Supporting Actress trophy went to Ruth Negga for Passing, and Anders Danielsen Lie walked off with the Best Supporting Actor award for The Worst Person in the WorldDrive My Car also won top honors from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and New York Film Critics Circle. The complete winners list can be found on the National Society of Film Critics website

Dwayne Hickman, best known for playing the titular character in the 1950-60s sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, died of complications related to Parkinson’s disease on Sunday, his public relations head Harlan Boll tells Variety. He was 87 years old. The first major television series to feature teenagers as its primary characters, Dobie Gillis established Hickman a cultural icon for ’50s and 60s Baby Boomers. Prior to that, Hickman appeared in 1940’s The Grapes of Wrath, and TV’s The Bob Cummings Show. During the 70s, he became a network executive at CBS and directed various episodes of different half-hour comedies. Hickman produced and starred in a 1988 reunion of his classic sitcom titled, Bring Me the Head of Dobie Gillis, and also had co-starring roles in A Night at the RoxburySaving Gilligan’s Island, and a recurring role in UPN’s Clueless

Lyricist Marilyn Bergman, who along with her husband, Alan Bergman, became one-half of one of Hollywood’s most celebrated songwriting duos, died peacefully early Saturday morning in her Los Angeles home, family rep Ken Sunshine tells The Hollywood Reporter. She was 93. Bergman’s work includes the Oscar-wining songs “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “Nice ’n’ Easy” and “The Way We Were, as well as “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers.” Legendary crooner Tony Bennett remembered the duo’s work and Marilyn on Saturday, tweeting, “Marilyn and Alan Bergman with Michele Legrand wrote my favorite song, ‘How Do You Keep the Music Playing?’ We lost Marilyn today, but her music keeps playing”…

 

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