Entertainment News from July 1998
Updated June 26, 2020 |
Infoplease Staff
- 1
- The nuptial we've been anticipating for what seems like forever, finally takes place. Barbra Streisand and James Brolin tie the knot in an ultra-private ceremony at the bride's Malibu home. One hundred and five close friends and family members, including Steven Spielberg, John Travolta and Tom Hanks, attend the $1-million event, which boasts 4,000 roses and a gourmet meal of soft-shell crabs and porcini ravioli. Streisand has 30 security guards outside her home, to fend off a curious paparazzi. To further frustrate the media, she has White Zombie's “1965” blaring repeatedly over loud speakers set up outside her estate.
- 2
- Francis Ford Coppola wins $20 million in compensatory damages in his trial against Warner Bros. The director claimed the studio intentionally blocked his lifelong dream of bringing Pinocchio to life on the big screen in a live-action feature by acting with “fraud” and “malice” in claiming ownership to the adaptation of the children's classic. Coppola's adaptation would have had a group of orphans fleeing Nazi–occupied France. In the early 1990s, Coppola had been in talks with Warner Bros. to develop the project. When the deal fell through, he shopped it to Columbia and Warners interceded, threatening to sue if another studio produced the film, claiming it had a deal with Coppola.
- 4
- Sandra Bernhard gives birth to a daughter, 7-pound, 10-ounce Cicely Yasin, in Los Angeles. It's her first child. Mum's the word on the dad.
- 5
- NewsRadio producer Brad Grey announces that Jon Lovitz has signed on with the NBC sitcom to replace Phil Hartman, who was killed by his wife last month.
- Pearl Jam's Dallas concert is “ruined” when a shirtless, shoeless, inebriated Dennis Rodman storms the stage and “sings” “Alive” and “Spin the Black Circle” with the band. The out-of-tune hoopster made a fool of himself for about 45 minutes before finally leaving the stage.
- 6
- Roy Rogers, the “King of the Cowboys” dies at age 86 of congestive heart failure at his home in Apple Valley, California. He will be remembered for his signature song, “Happy Trails to You,” which he warbled with his wife, Dale Evans. He starred in more than 100 films, in which he played a clean-living cowboy who had the fastest horse in the West, Trigger. He and Evans starred in 35 of those films together, as well as a television program. His films include Hollywood Canteen, King of the Cowboys and Billy Kid Returns. Rogers was also an astute businessman, repeatedly licensing his name and likeness. His face graced more than 2.5 billion Post cereal boxes and there are more than 400 Roy Rogers restaurants nationwide.
- A jury convicts 19-year-old Ukrainian immigrant Mikail Markhasev of murder and attempted robbery in the 1997 shooting death of Ennis Cosby, the only son of Bill Cosby. He faces life in prison.
- 8
- Tina Brown, editor of The New Yorker sends shockwaves through the publishing world with her resignation from the venerable weekly. She has signed on with Miramax co-chairmen Harvey and Bob Weinstein to start a synergistic venture that will publish a monthly magazine, with articles that could potentially be turned into books, television programs and feature films. Brown will be chairperson of the company and Vogue publisher and Condé Nast vice president Ronald A. Galotti will serve as president. “This partnership with Miramax is a unique creative and business opportunity—to own what we create and to expand our vision into other media” she said in a statement.
- Ultra-cool slackers Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke become the proud parents of 7–pound, 11–ounce Maya Ray Thurman-Hawke. Meanwhile, on the other coast, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith welcome a son, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith.
- 9
- Francis Ford Coppola 2, Warner Bros. 0. A jury awards the director $60 million in punitive damages in his suit against Warner Bros., in addition to the $20 million in compensatory damages he was awarded last week. Coppola claimed the studio intentionally put the brakes on his lifelong dream to create a big-screen, live-action version of Pinocchio.
- Good Will Hunting scripters Matt Damon and Ben Affleck win the prestigious Humanitas Prize, which honors screenplays that “communicate those values which most enrich the human person.” The prize comes with a $25,000 purse. Television awards go to ABC for Ruby Bridges, written by Toni Ann Johnson, and to the Nothing Sacred episode “Proofs of the Existence of God,” by Bill Cain; TNT for Wallace, by Paul Monash and Marshall Frady and for the live-action children series Smudge, written by Hilary Jones-Farrow; CBS picks up one award for the Murphy Brown episode “Turpis Capillis Annus (Bad Hair Year),” by Marilyn Suzanne Miller.
- The black-balled Lolita has finally found a theatrical distributor. Samuel Goldwyn Films will release the movie on September 25 nationwide. The Adrian Lyne film about a middle-age professor, played by Jeremy Irons, who falls for a precocious teenage seductress, played by Dominique Swain, scared off other distributors who didn't want to court controversy by releasing a film with provocative sex scenes between an adult and a teenager. Showtime bought the rights to the film and plans to air it on August 2.
- 12
- Condé Nast publisher S.I. Newhouse announces that David Remnick, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, will replace Tina Brown as editor of The New Yorker. Remnick is a New Yorker staff writer who has contributed more than 100 articles to the venerable magazine under Brown. However, Remnick was not Newhouse's first choice. He had reportedly offered the job to Slate editor Michael Kinsley, but withdrew the proposal after Kinsley asked for 48 hours to think about it.
- 15
- It's official. Beginning in March 1999, CBS will broadcast 60 Minutes II — a second night of the revered newsmagazine. And in a change of heart, 60 Minutes's correspondents will participate in the clone. The format of the new show will air a “classic” segment with an updating by the original correspondent.
- 20
- Jodie Foster gives birth to a 7–pound, 8–eight ounce boy, named Charles Foster. Mom is still mum on the father or the method by which she became pregnant. The actress-director-producer plans to take a year off to spend time with Charles.
- 21
- Robert Young dies at his home at age 91. The Father Knows Best and Marcus Welby, M.D. star had been in ill health for years. His film credits include Northwest Passage(1940) and The Enchanted Cottage (1945). While he played caring, compassionate characters on television, Young battled depression and alcoholism in his personal life.
- Variety reports that Leonardo DiCaprio is now a member of the $20-million club. He's set to star in The Beach, based on the 1996 Alex Garland novel about a drifter who's given a map to paradise by an oddball stranger who soon after commits suicide.
- 23
- The Tom Hanks-produced HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon, dominates the 50th Annual Emmy nominations, landing 17 nods. ER and The X-Files come in a close second, with 16 a piece. The big surprise is Ally McBeal's 10 noms, including Best Comedy and Best Actress in a Comedy for Calista Flockhart. There was some grumbling from the other networks that claim the show is a drama and would have faced stiffer competition in that category. For a full listing of nominees, see www.emmys.org
- The Parents Television Council, a watchdog group that advocates child-friendly programming, releases its Dirty Dozen, a list of the most sexually explicit, vulgar shows of the 1997–1998 season.Dawson's Creek tops the lists. Other offenders include Friends, Spin City, Ally McBeal, Ellen, Dharma & Greg, Melrose Place, The Drew Carey Show, Mad About You, Veronica's Closet, Cybill andGetting Personal.
- 29
- Legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins dies at his home at age 79. The Tony Award-winner choreographed the Broadway musicals West Side Story, The King and I and Gypsy. He served as ballet-master-in-chief of the New York City Ballet from 1983 to 1990.
- 30
- Buffalo Bob Smith dies of lung cancer at age 80. Smith and his puppet, Howdy Doody, starred in the first television program for children, The Howdy Doody Show, which was broadcast from 1947 to 1960.
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