Quick Hits: October 22

Duran Duran released a new album today, titled Future Past. The band’s latest clip is “Anniversary” (their self-titled debut was released in 1981). The lads still sound great, and this party looked like an absolute blast!

Peter Scolari passed away today from cancer at the age of 66. Scolari was well-known to television fans for Bosom Buddies (co-starring Tom Hanks) and Newhart, for which Scolari earned three Emmy nominations.

The Last Picture Show, adapted from Larry McMurtry’s novel of the same name and directed by Peter Bogdanovich, was released fifty years ago today. The film went on to receive eight Academy Award nominations; it won two Oscars, Best Supporting Actor (Ben Johnson) and Best Supporting Actress (Cloris Leachman).

Yesterday would have been Carrie Fisher’s 65th birthday, and people were rightfully honoring the legend on social media. YouTube reminded me of the existence of this clip of Fisher roasting George Lucas at his AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony. What an absolute boss.

Joan Fontaine was born on this day in 1917. The only person to win an Oscar for acting in an Alfred Hitchcock film (Suspicion), Fontaine was also the younger sister of Olivia de Havilland. The two were a mere fifteen months apart, and allegedly had a pretty severe case of sibling rivalry: de Havilland, having found success in Hollywood and not wanting to share the spotlight, encouraged her sister to change her name (Fontaine was their stepdad’s name) and Joan married one of Olivia’s ex-boyfriends. But the two are best remembered for their respective acting careers, and they remain the only siblings to win leading-role Oscars (de Havilland won two, for To Each His Own and The Heiress).