Olivia Jackson is one of Hollywood’s most respected stunt performers, having doubled for Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road, Elizabeth Olsen in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Karen Gillan in Guardians of the Galaxy. But on September 5, 2015, while working as Milla Jovovich’s stunt double on Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in South Africa, her life changed forever. Originally scheduled to film a fight scene, she was reassigned to a motorcycle stunt because of rain. The stunt required her to ride at 43 mph past a van-mounted camera on a crane that was supposed to lift over her head. After two successful rehearsals, the first live take turned into a catastrophe. The camera crane failed to rise in time, and Olivia collided with it at full speed. The impact caused devastating injuries, including severe facial damage, brain swelling, multiple fractures, ruptured arteries, punctured lungs, broken ribs, permanent paralysis affecting part of her body, a severed thumb, and a permanently dislocated shoulder. She spent 17 days in a coma, and her left arm ultimately had to be amputated. According to Olivia and accounts presented in the subsequent legal proceedings, the crane operator had been instructed to delay the camera lift by one second to capture a better shot, without informing her. Her legal team argued that this change created a closing-distance difference of approximately 105 feet. Fellow stunt performers also raised serious concerns about inadequate safety briefings and protective equipment. The aftermath was devastating. Olivia lost the career she loved and faced lifelong medical needs. She said the production’s representatives had promised to support her medical expenses, but the accident insurance reportedly provided only $33,000. She later declined an undisclosed settlement offer that required her not to sue. After pursuing legal action, a U.S. court ruled on April 1, 2020, that the stunt had been poorly planned and executed by the company operating the camera crane, and that Olivia’s driving was not responsible for the accident. She expressed her pain in heartbreaking words: “I miss my old face. I miss my old body. I miss my old life.” Despite the film grossing hundreds of millions of dollars, she said the people responsible had not provided the financial support she needed. Tragically, Olivia’s accident was not the only serious safety incident associated with the Resident Evil franchise. Stunt performers and background actors suffered significant injuries during other productions, and stuntman Ricardo Cornelius died after an accident while filming The Final Chapter. These incidents raised disturbing questions about safety standards in the film industry and the price performers are expected to pay for entertainment. Olivia loved her work with all her heart, but a single stunt changed everything. Her story is a painful reminder that no cinematic shot is worth a human life, and no performer should have to sacrifice their future because of preventable safety failures.

I have met several famous people who were quite humble. Stan Lee was absolutely terrific and I had the opportunity to have a brief lunch with him many years ago when he was not widely famous, as he is now. Linda Hamilton was kind and gracious. Jenette Goldstein was awesome and fun and friendly. In fact, I think most who I have met are. I think that,maybe, once you are secure in your fame you begin to open up and express gratitude for it. At least that is my theory. Nonetheless, one who in particular comes to mind is Sigourney Weaver. Everyone knows who Sigourney Weaver is. She is a legend and deservedly so. Her characterization of Ellen Ripley changed cinema and, particularly, the role of female protagonists. After Ripley, women could be credible action heroes in their own right. Anyway, a few years back Aliens celebrated the 30th Anniversary of its release. As part of that celebration the local Comic Expo here in Calgary managed to assemble the entire main cast of the film, all together in one place at one time for the first time since the film’s premiere 30 years before! That was quite the coup. Of course, the highlight of the event and the biggest star there was Sigourney Weaver. She arrived on Saturday afternoon and had the huge, sold out, Aliens panel that night. She was warm and gracious and rather self-effacing on stage and was utterly engaged in what the audience said to her. She seemed honestly interested to hear whatever people chose to share with her and I don’t think you can really fake that. Although George Burns once famously quipped, “Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that you got it made.” Now, the next day, Sunday is where she truly shone and set herself apart from maybe most celebrities. Having only come in on Saturday for the panel, Sigourney was contracted to take pics and sign autographs on Sunday. Hundreds and hundreds of people (or more) ended up lining up to meet her and she was booked for another panel later in the day. With that kind of time pressure I have seen many (most really) celebrities simply do what they can then abandon the line when they have to head to their next engagement. That is the nature of the beast at Cons. It happens. But then Sigourney made her legend by slaying such beasts and did so here, too. She told her management that she wasn’t going anywhere until absolutely every person who would care to meet her, shake her hand and take a picture had had their time, no matter how long that took. She told her manager that she was there for the fans, not the other way around. So, one by one, graciously, Sigourney met with and interacted with each of what was probably thousands of us lined up to meet her, say hi, and shake her hand. Even at a few seconds to maybe half a minute each this was a monumental undertaking. She was focussed but unrushed, taking time especially with her handicapped fans to have a moment with them. The end result was she ended up being something like 90 minutes or more late for her panel that afternoon. Usually this would have been just cause for animosity or outright anger but given what she had been doing and the fact that the crowd waiting were informed of what she was doing when she walked in the room erupted with pure love and respect, even adulation, for the depth of character she displayed. Sigourney was obviously touched and given who she is, stayed late at that panel for exactly the same reason. So, yeah, Sigourney Weaver is a legend and deservedly so. The utter class and sheer character she demonstrated should serve as an example to the rest of us who may feel that we are too busy or too important or too entitled to give a shit. She showed that you are never too busy or too famous to care. I love Sigourney Weaver!

I was in the Seattle Airport on my way back to California. I walked up to a shop for something to eat, and in front of me is the tallest blonde hair I’ve seen. It was striking, even though I couldn’t see her face. At 6’ 1”, it’s not often a blonde woman is as tall or slightly more with heals. As she finishes her transaction, she moves to the side and I look at her (since I just had a hunch she was “someone”), I realize not only do I know her, but I’ve met her and my brother had done landscaping at her house. I said, you look just like Jennifer Montana She said: Welllllllll I laughed and said: I figured, I’ve actually met you before. She said Oh, where? I said my father worked at Putnam Buick in Burlingame, and he called me to come over the day Joe won a Buick for Super Bowl MVP (Super Bowl XXIV In 1990), and told me to come over. She said OH YES! Joe LOVES that car, he still has it I said SERIOUSLY? That’s incredible (The car was 20+ years old at this point). It always made me laugh, because you and Joe came in Red Ferrari to pick up a Buick Rialto.(EDIT: REATTA…thanks Al!) We both laughed and she said That’s right, we did. She got her food, and we said our goodbyes. No photos, no autographs…just a funny conversation that i will not forget.

Marlon Brando once said in a Larry King interview: “Hollywood is run by Jews.” Brando at the time was old, fat and frankly no longer gave a damn about how he was perceived, not weighing his words carefully the way an actor usually does. But then again, that was Brando. There was a context, of course, but context is often lost when the media gets whipped into a frenzy. What Brando said, in full, was this: HOLLYWOOD IS RUN BY JEWS. IT IS OWNED BY JEWS, AND THEY SHOULD HAVE A GREATER SENSITIVITY. THEY SHOULD HAVE GREATER SENSITIVITY ABOUT THE ISSUE OF PEOPLE WHO ARE SUFFERING BECAUSE THEY'VE [BEEN] EXPLOITED. WE HAVE SEEN THE NIGGER, WE'VE SEEN THE GREASEBALL, WE HAVE SEEN THE CHINK, THE SLIT-EYED DANGEROUS JAP. WE HAVE SEEN THE WILY FILIPINO. WE'VE SEEN EVERYTHING, BUT WE NEVER SAW THE KIKE, BECAUSE THEY KNOW PERFECTLY WELL THAT IS WHERE YOU DRAW THE WAGONS AROUND. Was he being subtle? No, not quite. Men born in the year 1924 tend to not be very subtle almost as a rule. His words were provocative. But the point he was trying to make is that essentially every ethnic group is turned into some awful stereotype by Hollywood — and this bothered Brando for decades because he hated how Hollywood portrayed Native Americans as savages, in particular. And he felt that, since Jewish people have historically been the victims of stereotypes, they ought to have a greater sensitivity towards how they portray other minority groups. It disappointed him that the producers and directors, many of whom themselves Jewish, just didn’t seem to care at all.

In a leaked phone call over a decade ago, Alec Baldwinfamously called his first and then only daughter, Ireland Baldwin, a “rude, thoughtless little pig!” Not a very good look for a father, is it? Especially not since daughter dearest was rather plump at the time and struggling with her weight, and none to pleased with the ‘little pig’ comment… comment…  It made Alec seem like a very inconsiderate jerk. He was an incredibly abrasive person in general in those days, quite fond of homophobic slurs and making fun of the looks of others, his own daugher included, apparantly. Over a decade has since passed, Baldwin remarried and has another six children by his second wife, famously Spanish-but-not-really-Spanish Hilaria. And he mellowed down quite a bit. In more recent years, Ireland Baldwin has become a model. She is quite comfortable in her own skin. And her father Alec, now in his sixties and a father of seven, has made amends. The pair even poked fun at his infamously mean comments a while back by reading a book together titled “If I were a pig”, sequal to O.J. Simpson’s “If I killed her”. Alec Baldwin went on to receive much deserved critical acclaim for his role in 30 Rock, and his portrayal of former U.S. President Donald Trump in SNL. His previously aggressive and mean-spirited comments seem to not have hindered his career in the long run and he’s on good terms with his oldest daughter.

Something about the man has always given me the creeps. Russell Brand has that special Charles Manson style charisma — it’s there, it’s undeniable, but it has this strange manic intensity. He’s always famously been unpleasant in his personal life, too. You can tell a lot about a man by how they treat their partners Russell Brand was married to US singer Katy Perry for two years. Then suddenly he decided he “wasn’t feeling it anymore”. Instead of telling her face-to-face like a normal decent person would, he waited for Perry to have a concert. And then, right before he knew his wife would have to go on stage, he texted her to inform her he wanted to end their marriage. A heartbroken Katy Perry then had to pull herself together, force a smile and perform as if nothing happened… Now he’s accused of rape and assault and all sorts of nasty business. I have no way of knowing Russell Brand is guilty or not, and I won’t speculate. But from what I’ve heard, he’s not exactly a nice person, to put things mildly. His recent conversion to Christianity, turning himself into a right-wing grifter-influencer, seems manipulative and calculating as well, acquiring a new base of support right before his court case.

British punk rock star John Lydon, aka ‘Johnny Rotten’ isn’t quite as wild in real life as his former on-stage persona would lead one to expect. In real life he’s been with the same woman for over forty years and he’s quite… behaved, off-stage. That does not stop the media from creating false and salacious stories, however. If a star’s personal life isn’t troubled they will MAKE it troubled by inventing issues Lydon’s wife Nora was pictured once accompanied by a young dark fellow. Some unsavory tabloid wrote a story about how she was having “an affair with a young black lover” and cheating on Lydon. This was completely made up rubbish — John and Nora had a daughter who could not take care of her sons due to her drug addiction. They took the three boys into their home. The kids had a Jamaican father and a white mother. Eventually the kids’ mother tragically died of cancer, at which point John and Nora adopted them officially and raised them full-time. Naturally, they grew very close. By the late 2010s the boys were grown up and a photo of one of them enjoying a perfectly innocent stroll with his own grandmother was made into something inappropriate just for ‘clicks’. A simple google search would have revealed the backstory but the paper couldn’t be arsed. Tabloids can literally take something as harmless as a walk with your grandchild into a “secret affair”. Lydon called up the paper, had the story removed. I only learned about it when he later brought it up in an interview, but my goodness. These gutter publications are so vile.

Late one evening in 2003, Emma Thompson sat alone in her London flat, surrounded by the wreckage of a very public divorce The press had been relentless. Her marriage to Kenneth Branagh had ended amid scandal, and the woman who'd won an Oscar for bringing Jane Austen's words to life couldn't find any of her own. Then came a knock at the door. Alan Rickman stood there holding a bottle of wine and nothing else—no advice, no pity, no expectations. He walked in, sat down, and stayed through the night. He didn't ask her to explain. He didn't tell her it would be okay. He just sat with her in the darkness, offering the rarest gift one human can give another: silent, judgment-free presence. "You saved me without trying," Thompson later wrote to him. "And that's the kind of love I trust most." Their friendship had begun years earlier during a 1980s stage production, when Thompson met a man whose fierce gaze and commanding silence intimidated most people. But she saw past the intensity to something tender underneath. "I recognized a fellow creature," she said, "one who felt deeply but rarely said as much." By the time they filmed "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995, their bond had deepened into something rare in Hollywood—a friendship built on creative trust and emotional safety. While Thompson juggled the impossible pressure of starring in and adapting a beloved classic, Rickman quietly anchored her. "Alan had a way of being in the room that made you feel you belonged there too," she remembered. What made their connection extraordinary wasn't grand gestures or public declarations. It was the accumulation of small, sacred moments. The long conversations about betrayal and forgiveness during "Love Actually." The way he never demanded she be strong when she was breaking. The trust that allowed complete vulnerability without fear. Then, years later, Rickman fell ill. For a long time, he told almost no one about his cancer diagnosis. But Thompson knew. She noticed how he tired more easily, how his already quiet nature turned more introspective. One afternoon during a charity film shoot, he finally told her. They stood in silence for several moments. "Alright," she said simply. "Then we walk through this together." In those final years, Rickman opened up in ways he never had before—sharing memories, regrets, and hopes with the one person he trusted completely. Thompson told him she had loved him from the beginning, though they'd never crossed the lines of friendship. He laughed. "You would've ruined me." "No, Alan," she replied. "I would've healed you." When Rickman died in 2016, Thompson released a letter calling him "the truest of friends." Their bond had never been about celebrity or performance. It had been real, raw, and sacred—a story written in glances, in trust, in the knowledge that some people don't come into your life to dazzle you, but to hold a steady light. Thompson keeps one of his handwritten notes tucked in her wallet: "Always speak the truth. It costs less." And she still visits their favorite café, orders two teas, and talks to him like he's still listening—because the truest friendships never really end. They just change form, becoming something even more permanent: memory transformed into grace, loss transformed into gratitude, and silence transformed into the loudest kind of love.

THIS BOY! A couple weeks ago, I was teary, Carson came in and asked what was wrong. I read him a Facebook post about a mother of a 16 yr old girl with special needs, looking for a date for her daughter to go to her school prom. He said, “Mom, I will do it!”. And so he did! We went the day before her prom to decorate her room, and let Izzie meet Carson. Then, he accompanied her to prom, where she was crowned Dutchess. Afterwards, he sat in her room for over an hour and watched cartoons with her! SO TENDER, this boy! Izzie is a darling girl, non-verbal, wheelchair bound, on a feeding tube and mostly uncommunicative. However, there were a few times when her eyes met Carson’s and she lit up like the 4th of July... and, well, so did he! We are all far more alike than we will ever be different. In a world full of choices, choose kindness! Just a story about a boy I am blessed to call “son!” He makes me want to be better, do better! Credit: Trina Huff Preece

Sylvester Stallone - “Tulsa King” At 79 years old, Sylvester Stallone is currently starring in “Tulsa King,” a successful TV series created by Taylor Sheridan ( “Landman,” “1923,” “1883” and many other Paramount shows). Stallone plays, Dwight Manfredi, a New York Mafia Capo who is released from prison after 25 years. Instead of rewarding him for his loyalty, serving time for a crime he didn't commit, the NY Family exiles him to Oklahoma, like a cow to pasture, thinking he will crash and burn. Much to their dismay, instead, he builds a crew (not Italian), and uses his New York bravado to take over the territory. Stallone's Manfredi is a complex antihero / hero with the swagger and mentality of the Sicilian families that were sent to the U S in the 1890s. However, unlike the stereotypical Mafia character, he's not a savage, and he builds a Boss that uses a direct approach to create connections. Of course, this doesn't always work. No matter what, you will find yourself rooting for him to defeat anyone who tries to get in his way. Stallone has been in 82 roles. He's known for starring in “Rocky, “Rambo,” “The Creed Series,” “The Expendables,” “The Suicide Squad” and many others. He's a Director, Actor, Screenwriter. He has been nominated for many awards, and won a couple. However, no one's success can be measured by the number of statues they have. Think of the actors who have won an Academy Award and then their careers declined. Stallone's notoreity comes from his self taught, refusal to give up mentally, and he has continually surprised us no matter whether director, producer, Screenwriter or actor. Sylvester Stallone is an icon with or without an award.

Seagal’s downfall came from stale roles, poor acting, and his embrace of Putin that killed Hollywood ties Steven Seagal is not blacklisted in any real sense. He’s more or less just retired in his 70’s after a career that fell apart on its own because he was never much of an actor to begin with. Beyond that, he moved to Russia, became a Russian citizen and became pals with dictator Vladimir Putin. We used to call such behavior “defecting,” by the way. And there isn’t much room in anyone’s heart for a defector to a fascist country who offers his full-throated support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Regardless, Seagal’s career hasn’t been much to write home about since 2001. Other than reality TV and direct to video releases, he foundered for years, never able to reclaim the glory of his early action films. This can best be chalked up to his extremely limited range as an actor - he can only play one role, a “one man army” in a martial arts film - and even that had gotten stale by 2001. This meant Seagal was never able to pivot or reinvent himself once fans tired of the niche genre he occupied. And his bullshido schtick has not aged well, becoming more insane over the years. So his career died a natural death long ago.

It’s all becausen of a 1932 film called Rasputin and the Empress. In it, the infamous Russian mystic Rasputinseduces the Tsar’s only niece. The movie begins with a note — some of the characters in the film are still alive, and those who are not, met gruesome fates. All-but assuring the audience that this movie was, in fact, NOT fiction.  The problem? The actual assassin of Rasputin and his wife, were still alive when the film was shown. And they went to see it. Felix Yusupov was appalled, but his wife was even more furious — she was the Tsar’s only niece and felt personally insulted by the film. She sued MGM studios, the American company behind the movie. And won, big time. The royal assassin and his wife got about a million bucks out of it, which would be worth 22 million in today’s currency. A disclaimer was then added to all films based on real events where some of the characters are still alive. [1] Movies add the disclaimer because they’re vulnerable to being sued and losing the case, if they do imply that the film is entirely true to life. We owe the existence of this disclaimer to the wife of the man who killed Grigori Rasputin

In 1950, the United States government launched a secret biological attack on its own citizens—and for 20 years, they didn't tell a soul. It was a crisp September morning in San Francisco when a US Navy ship began spraying a massive, invisible cloud of bacteria into the fog just outside the Golden Gate Bridge. This wasn't a foreign enemy; it was the US military. Over the course of six days, they released Serratia marcescens and Bacillus globigii—two pathogens chosen specifically because they were thought to be "harmless." The goal was to track how a biological weapon would spread through a major American city. The experiment was a terrifying success. The bacteria swept through the city’s microclimates, infiltrating every neighborhood, school, and hospital. By the end of the week, nearly all of San Francisco's 800,000 residents had inhaled millions of bacterial spores. The military monitored the spread using 43 sampling stations, proving that a single release could effectively infect an entire metropolitan area. But there was a problem with the "harmless" theory. Within days of the spraying, a local hospital saw an unprecedented outbreak of rare urinary tract infections. Eleven people were hospitalized with serious complications. One man, Edward Nevin, a retired pipefitter recovering from surgery, died three weeks later after the bacteria reached his heart. The military kept the data classified, and the public remained completely unaware that they had been used as lab rats in a simulated doomsday scenario. It wasn't until 1976, during a Senate subcommittee hearing, that the truth of "Operation Sea-Spray" finally emerged, forever shattering the illusion of domestic safety during the Cold War.

Jim Carrey recently debuted his brand new face at the César Awards in Paris. His lips, cheekbones and jaw seemed grotesquely swollen. He looked like he got stung by a bee. And no, I’ve seen worse, don’t get me wrong. Some celebrities have had far more work done, and look far worse. But still, it rather shocked me Below, I’ll post a picture of Jim Carrey a year earlier. He was a handsome older man, thick head of hair, had a great beard. He looked like a prophet from the Old Testament. And now, he looms like the unfortunate victim of the vicious and relentless attack of some newly discovered species of poisonous jellyfish… I’ve never understood why people do this to themselves? Jim Carrey was never a Brad Pitt, he was never Hollywood’s most handsome man, but he was far from ugly. He’s 64 and he was, up until this point, aging really well. And now, this… One thing I’ll never understand is this weird obsession people have with looking young. To the point where they will undergo extensive surgery to pull it off, and ruin their faces nine out of ten times. Why not do what Sean Connery, Harrison Ford or Pierce Brosnan did and age naturally, embracing wrinkles and grey hair? Jim Carrey has a 16-year-old grandson, he’s not going to look 40 forever, no one does. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

He’s a fascinating chap, Geert Wilders. He was a firebrand anti-establishment leader for almost two decades, head of the opposition in the Netherlands. Then, in 2023, he won a shitload of seats in the Dutch parliament and his party was able to assume power — sort of. See Wilders had to… tone down his rhetoric. He couldn’t go around calling hijabs “head-rags” and insist those who wear them must pay “head-rags-tax”. Nor could he go around giving speeches, asking his followers if they want “more, or less Moroccans in the country?” and them chanting back: “Less! Less! Less!” as he looks on in adoration. No, Wilders couldn’t do that. The Dutch followers of them man jokingly call him “Geert Milders” now — a pun on the word “mild” because he’s milder now. One of Wilders’ new ministers even had to explain recently how “white replacement theory” is “Neo-Nazi rhetoric” and “dangerous”. This wouldn’t have happened a year ago. Geert Wilders is a calculating politician. So he changed his tone. Became Geert Milders. A neutral politician from an allied center-right party (Schoof) was pushed forward as Prime Minister, with Wilders’ party providing some of the ministers. And Wilders rules from the shadows, it is assumed. Is he “quite all there”? I’d say he is. He’s a very savvy politician.

In real-life, Mr. T. worked as a bouncer and joined weightlifting competitions. He also worked as a bodyguard and saw his share of violent situations. And the 1970s, he joined a competition called “America’s Toughest Bouncer”. And Mr. T. was right — he won the match against his gigantic opponent in a mere 54 seconds, Tufi ending up battered with a broken nose and bleeding from the mouth. Stallone then wrote a role with this tough bouncer in mind, and came up with the immortal words: “I pity the fool”. Which later became Mr. T.’s trademark. It was all born in a moment of supreme confidence, witnessed by a young Hollywood screenwriter who felt he could use that. You could say a legend was born that day. Mr. T. was a really strong man. Stallone was no slouch, worked hard and trained hard and I’m sure he could throw a solid punch. But in an actual real-world fight, he’d have lost — Mr. T. had a level of experience Stallone didn’t have. Real skill honed in decades of brutal experience in and out of the streets. He’d eat men like Stallone for breakfast, and Stallone knows this, as he is no fool. In the finale of the “toughest bouncer” contest, Mr. T. was facing a 6′5″, 280 pound behemoth of a man from Honolulu named Tutefano Tufi. Stallone watched the final match between T. and Tufi. And in his final interview before the match, Stallone heard him say: "I just feel sorry for the guy who I have to box. I just feel real sorry for him."

An interviewer once asked Sir Anthony Hopkins why you never see his pictures in the tabloids, walking into a restaurant or whatever. Hopkins answered: "Because I don't call ahead and tell them where I'm going". It’s a brilliant quote to me, as there’s a lot of truth in it — if you want privacy, you can still get it, and loads of it. What a lot of people don’t seem to realize is that a lot of celebrities need tabloids. And actively seem to court them. Movies benefit, too, from the ‘power couples’ and all the hyped up famous folks, doing things, going places… is actor X from this and that movie going somewhere with his co-star? Oh they must be dating, secretly! Anthony Hopkins doesn’t really do social media, either, he’s old-school — Mr. Hopkins writes letters. A few years ago, one of them leaked when he wrote a letter complimenting the actor Bryan Cranston on “the best acting he’d ever seen”, in Breaking Bad. It was a private moment of genuine praise from one actor to another. When it was leaked, Hopkins was pissed off. Now, he doesn’t write letters anymore, either. When I watched The Two Popes, I was amazed to find that Anthony Hopkins composed the piano songs his Benedict played, himself. This man has a lot of (hidden) talents. He was able to develop them because he’s from a generation that doesn’t endlessly scroll the internet — a generation of craftsmen, artisans, builders, composers of song and letters. A dying breed, thanks to the instant gratification of tabloids and the net.

I’ve always disliked Bryan Singer. Something about the man… does not sit right with me. I was shocked, but sadly not surprised, to hear how he was accused of quite a lot of inappropriate behavior with young actors. One of these very young actors was a young man named Brad Renfro. Here, above, we see a young Renfro with Singer. He just looks so… predatory, Singer. Renfro seems so uncomfortable. It was during the shooting of Apt Pupil, directed by Singer, in which the director insisted on Renfro doing a naked shower seen. He was just always up in the guy’s business, and there were more such men. Hollywood is quite a dark and twisted place Renfro had once been a young hopeful actor. Abandoned by his parents, he lived in a trailer park with his grandmother. He dreamed of making it big. And he did. But the price was high… the abuse he suffered from at the hands of Bryan Singer and others, eventually caused him to go off the rails. Massively. He got into alcohol. Drugs. Any known substance to man, Renfro took it. It was as if he wanted it all to end already… Brad Renfro, relentlessly abused by predatory Hollywood directors, died at the age of 25 of an overdose. His grandmother, who had raised him and accompanied him on all his childhood auditions, died of a broken heart just seventeen days later. And the story just… gets me, every time.

In the 1930s, Shirley Temple became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood history. She was the top box-office draw in America for four consecutive years, from 1935 to 1938, surpassing even the biggest adult stars of her time. But on September 19, 1945, the beloved child star made headlines for a different reason: at just 17 years old, she married John Agar, a 24-year-old Army Air Forces sergeant, at Wilshire Methodist Church in Los Angeles. Agar had no acting experience when they married, but his relationship with Temple helped open the door to Hollywood. He soon began pursuing a film career, and the couple appeared together in the 1948 Western Fort Apache, alongside legendary actors John Wayne and Henry Fonda. That same year, they welcomed their daughter, Linda Susan, into the world. However, their marriage struggled under the pressures of fame and personal differences. In 1949, Temple filed for divorce, bringing their relationship to an end after just four years. In 1950, she married businessman Charles Alden Black, with whom she built a lasting marriage that continued until his death in 2005. Unlike her first marriage, her relationship with Black endured for decades, through major changes in both her personal life and career. Temple's life after Hollywood was just as remarkable as her years as a child star. She entered public service and became a diplomat, eventually serving as U.S. ambassador to Czechoslovakia. In 1989, she was in Prague when the Velvet Revolution brought an end to communist rule in the country. From a child who captivated millions on movie screens to a diplomat witnessing a historic moment in world history, Shirley Temple's life extended far beyond the fame that first made her a household name.

Ralph Fiennes has been a very, very naughty boy! He had the absolute audacity to publicly defend J.K. Rowling, the author of a series that gave him one of his most iconic roles to date… that of Harry Potter’s nemesis, Voldemort. Everyone is expected to perfectly goose-step in line and denounce her for her original sin of ‘transphobia’ due to a series of Tweets. Fiennes is not the sort of man to get dragged along in pointless slacktivism on the internet. He doesn’t Tweet about how woke he is, he doesn’t run around with little rainbows on his lapels… no, Ralph Fiennes is an actual professional. No nonsense, old-school — you’re here to act, so act! I like that. He’s an admirable chap Meanwhile Radliffe, Watson and whatever-his-name-is who plays Ron, the ginger sidekick, have all spat out Rowling and publicly denounced her, because the Gods of Social Justice have put a fatwa on her name. Voldie: “I find the level of hatred that people express about views that differ from theirs, and the violence of language towards others, disturbing.” Beautiful! To the point. And oh-so true. It is disturbing how incredibly, extremely, over-the-top pissed people get at you when you go against the narrative and dare to criticise whatever’s the current hype. The very fact that Fiennes is now “under fire” for a comment so benign, in defense of a woman so marvelous, is… terrifying. Half the millennial cast of the Harry Potter universe wishes to all-but cancel the very Creator of their own universe, the woman to whom each of them owe their lucrative careers. Not Fiennes. Fiennes was somebody before Voldemort, and continued to be somebody after. He doesn’t need to defend or attack anyone. But he does, anyway, because he’s a decent human being.

In 1956, Elvis Presley had just exploded into stardom. He'd released his first No. 1 hit, appeared on national TV and moved to Hollywood to make his first movie, "Love Me Tender." That's where he met Nick Adams, a young actor who had just appeared in "Rebel Without a Cause." Adams had also been a close friend of James Dean, who died in a car crash in 1955. Adams quickly became part of Elvis's inner circle. He spent time with him in Hollywood, traveled with him on tour and visited him at home in Memphis. The two often rode motorcycles together. Adams's own career kept growing. He starred in the TV Western "The Rebel" and earned an Academy Award nomination in 1964 for the courtroom drama "Twilight of Honor." He passed away in 1968, at just 36. Added fact: Elvis bought his first Harley-Davidson in 1956, the same year as this photo. Soon after, he appeared on the cover of the company's magazine, "The Enthusiast," sitting on his new bike.