Robert Downey, Jr. is promoting “Iron Man 3″ and giving interviews with good quotes. In GQ, he got a little expansive. Downey told the magazine he knows he’s one of the best actors around and that he fully expects to get an Oscar. (Actually, he’s right.) Downey says: “I, personally, would be shocked if we went to the end of the tape now and I didn’t have at least one. …Because I’m young enough, and I’m running down being occupied with these kind of genre movies, close enough. Even the next thing we’re doing with [my wife], I’m so confident about it. It’s the best script the studio has; it’s the best thing I’ve read in years.”

He continues: “You know, honestly, my real answer to that is: I don’t care. I used to think I cared, and I couldn’t care less. Now, I’m not saying I wouldn’t get a little choked up, but it is amazing to see how people are literally hyperventilating when they get up there, because they have such an attachment to this outcome. I mean, it’s not like we’re at the fucking Olympics or something. …Look, even if I don’t get one directly, eventually they’re just going to have to give me one when I get old. So no matter how you slice it, I’m getting one.”

Downey has been nominated for Oscars twice– Best Actor for “Chaplin” and Supporting Actor for “Tropic Thunder.” He’s really a success story considering his “bad patch” of doing lots of drugs and actually spending time in prison. By the way, he concedes his “Iron Man” contract for the three movies is worth around $50 million.

www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201305/robert-downey-jr-profile-may-2013

The “Dallas” reboot ended with a whimper, an in joke about Victoria Principal and the answer to who killed JR Ewing. Principal said some time ago she would not return to “Dallas” and she meant it. But was she asked at all? I doubt it. As one “Dallas”-Lorimar former insider said to me last night: “They [the show] always hated her. Why? Because she told them–” he made gesture meaning, “f- off.” Indeed, Principal left “Dallas” at the height of her popularity and the show’s. Larry Hagman, the producers, and the cast did not mind seeing her go. When I wrote a piece in 1991 about the end of the real “Dallas” all I heard from the supporting cast were horror stories about Principal.

In last night’s finale, it was revealed that Pam Ewing had died of cancer 24 years ago. The in joke? The man who was her “husband” was a plastic surgeon. Principal was married for years in a tempestuous union with Hollywood cutter Dr. Harry Glassman. So that was their nod to Principal, who may– oh — cut off her to spite her face all those years ago.

And where does “Dallas” go from here? I guess TNT could renew it. I don’t see why, though. With Hagman gone, the stories are wrapped up. There’s no compelling reason to keep going. This “Dallas” was fun, but the real story of the Ewings is over. If it does come back, they’re going to have inject some humor and stop shooting the show like it’s a skyscraper drama mixed with “Blade Runner.”

Oh, who killed JR? Sadly, it doesn’t matter.

I told you last December,when Steve and Maureen van Zandt premiered the Rascals show “Once Upon A Dream” in Port Chester, New York at the Capitol Theater– that it was a hit. Tonight the show opens on Broadway for a limited run. Run, do not walk, see if you can get a ticket. I caught the press preview last night, and “Once Upon a Dream” is every bit as good as it was then.

The Rascals broke up in 1970 and fought for 40 years. Why? No one really can say. But their short time together was blazing. They were the white blue eyed soul group on Atlantic Records, produced by Arif Mardin, guided by Ahmet Ertegun. Their greatest hits album, “Time Peace,” lived forever as a testament to their popularity. The songs– “Groovin’,” “Good Lovin,” “How Can I Be Sure,” “It’s A Beautiful Morning,” etc — have withstood the test of time.

In “Once Upon a Dream,” they use a huge video screen behind the live, playing original Rascals to intersperse interviews with the group. They get to tell their stories– Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati, Gene Cornish and Dino Danelli. They are not perfect. They’re Jersey boys (although Felix is really from the north Bronx). They’re three Italians and one Irish guy. (Correction from a reader: French Canadian.) They know how to fight. But they also know how to play music and sing.

Last night, the men got a standing ovation in the middle of the show for “Groovin'” and of course, for “How Can I Be Sure?” and at the finale. There’s a local love for this group that should hold them in good stead for this Broadway run. They were the local heroes before Bruce and Billy. The theater was 90% full last night for their one preview. Comedian Lewis Black sat behind me and knew all the words.

Felix Cavaliere has had a solo career, and toured a lot, made some records over the years. I’ve known him for a while. Briganti is the question mark. When he was young he looked like Al Pacino. Now he’s more like an ethnic Mickey Rooney. But what a voice! And he’s still got it. He and Cavaliere just make a great sound together. Cornish is like a lost gem of a guitarist. Danelli powers the drums like Ringo Starr, with his own trademark. No one else is like him.

The van Zandts put this up on Kickstarter last fall, and hoped to yield enough funds to do the Port Chester show. “Once Upon a Dream” now has a healthy advance and a nice run for the returned Rascals. They deserve it.

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced this afternoon, overshadowed of course by the Boston Marathon explosions. Many of the usual suspects won, including the New York Times. But the National Reporting award was won by InsideClimateNews.com, a little known Brooklyn based website ranked at around 64,000 on alexa.com. Congrats to the trio of reporters there. The drama prize went to “Disgraced” by Ayad Akhtar, which came from Chicago’s ACT Theater and opened Lincoln Center’s theater season last September.

Journalism

PUBLIC SERVICE – Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, FL

BREAKING NEWS REPORTING – The Denver Post Staff

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING – David Barstow and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab of The New York Times

EXPLANATORY REPORTING – The New York Times Staff

LOCAL REPORTING – Brad Schrade, Jeremy Olson and Glenn Howatt of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis

NATIONAL REPORTING – Lisa Song, Elizabeth McGowan and David Hasemyer of InsideClimate News, Brooklyn, NY

INTERNATIONAL REPORTING – David Barboza of The New York Times

FEATURE WRITING – John Branch of The New York Times

COMMENTARY – Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal

CRITICISM – Philip Kennicott of The Washington Post

EDITORIAL WRITING – Tim Nickens and Daniel Ruth of the Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, FL

EDITORIAL CARTOONING – Steve Sack of the Star Tribune, Minneapolis

BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY – Rodrigo Abd, Manu Brabo, Narciso Contreras, Khalil Hamra and Muhammed Muheisen of the Associated Press

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY – Javier Manzano, free-lance photographer, Agence France-Presse
Letters, Drama and Music

FICTION – “The Orphan Master’s Son” by Adam Johnson

DRAMA – “Disgraced” by Ayad Akhtar

HISTORY – “Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam” by Fredrik Logevall (Random House),

BIOGRAPHY – “The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo” by Tom Reiss (Crown)

POETRY – “Stag’s Leap” by Sharon Olds

GENERAL NONFICTION – “Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America” by Gilbert King (Harper)

MUSIC – “Partita for 8 Voices” by Caroline Shaw, recording released on October 30, 2012 (New Amsterdam Records)

Whenever I write about Sharon Stone and amFAR, there’s trouble. Three years ago I wrote about amFAR unceremoniously ditching Stone as auctioneer and star of their annual “Cinema Against AIDS” dinner. http://www.showbiz411.com/2010/04/20/shock-sharon-stone-out-as-cannes-amfar-auction-star. I’ve been persona non grata with amFAR ever since.

Stone was absent for Cinema Against AIDS in 2010, 2011, and 2012. She was banished to amFAR events in far flung places like Brazil. (Last week she attended the Inspiration Ball there, made out with model Kate Moss, and raised $53,000.)  This didn’t seem so smart, since this great movie star and philanthropist always was the main attraction at Cannes. The guests loved her, and she was passionate about the cause. But you know these charities–there’s lots of political infighting at every level. Designer Kenneth Cole pretty much took over from there, but he was never the draw that Stone was, despite his high quality socks.

So now I am hearing rumblings that Stone may be back. We’ve heard this before. But it may be true, at last. To some, amFAR has been eclipsed by the far more transparent and press-friendly Elton John AIDS Foundation, as well as many other groups doing important work around the world. So we will hold out hope for a Stone return. But frankly, “Cinema Against AIDS” isn’t what it used to be. There’s always a struggle to get musical entertainment; every year it seems like Kylie Minogue is the “surprise” guest. And the festival itself schedules at least one or two important movie premieres against it, making it harder and harder to get the requisite talent to do make more than a fleeting appearance.

PS amFAR should really check schedules. Their New York fundraiser this spring looks like it will be eclipsed by an incredibly star studded Songwriters Hall of Fame gala on June 13th, honoring Aerosmith, Foreigner, Berry Gordy and tons of music superstars.

Stay tuned…

On “The Young and the Restless,” Katherine Chancellor has survived just about everything– a philandering husband, alcoholism, many kidnappings, business reversals, etc. But her portrayer, veteran actress Jeanne Cooper, sounds like she’s up against her toughest fight. The 84 year old has been playing Katherine Chancellor, the imperious formerly alcoholic matriarch of “The Young and the Restless,” since the show’s first year in 1973. Now word is out that Cooper is in serious but stable condition in a Los Angeles hospital. We’re sending her our prayers and good thoughts. Her son, actor Corbin Bernsen (of “L.A. Law” fame) has been sending out messages via Twitter and Facebook for a couple of days now. The situation sounds fairly serious. Bernsen wrote on Facebook:

“Somewhat of an exhausting day with not much change for my mom. Healing is happening but outward signs are small and only visible in numbers I still don’t fully understand. I prayed today with her, alone, vocally and assured her it was about recovery and not finality – so important. It seemed to genuinely lift her spirits or something energetic from a quiet place in her soul. Even got something of a smile when I asked for one but her brows suggested more of a “are you out of your ******* mind!” Had a laugh and cry over that. With so many ups and downs I also did some serious questioning about the bigger issues of God and faith, and why a younger fellow next door didn’t make it with so many grieving family and friends waiting nearby. Just so odd, so much life actually in full display. I left the place drained, yet assured we are headed in the proper direction. This is truly a time I’ll have to learn that we are indeed moving in a direction and there really is no map to guide, and I must put faith and trust in the journey that is an open road with bumps, curves, downhills, uphills and glorious views along the way. Left the hospital somewhat numb by the sheer volume of emotion experienced. For those who need a Cliff Note version of the above.. mom is steady, bumps in the road but heading in the right direction though still without guarantees and the absolutes I long for. Such is life, literally! God Bless all of you for your continued thoughts and prayers. They are the fuel right now and we’re tapping into every ounce of it.”

Somehow we have jumped from the last week of 1967 to the first week of May 1968 in the second episode of “Mad Men,” Season 6 called “The Collaborators.” How do we know? Pete and his neighbors are talking about the musical “Hair,” which opened on April 29, 1968. Hair is a good place to start because Pete’s is terrible, Harry’s is worse, although Don and Roger have not changed one bit into trendsetters. If anything, they have remained firmly ensconced in 1960.

Vietnam is playing in the background, and the USS Pueblo incident is going on with North Korea. Oh wait: that’s late January. So now I have no idea if it’s January or May. Hmmm. [I do think it’s January, and no one bothered to check about “Hair.” It completed its off Broadway run the last week of January 1968 and reopened on Broadway in March. By the way, did you know the Pueblo has been rusting in North Korea all this time?]

Anyway: Megan’s had a miscarriage and hasn’t told Don, but tells Sylvia, who’s having an affair with Don. It’s hard to say if Megan is living in a soap opera or working on one. Pete lures a neighbor’s wife to New York for sex, she tells her husband, who throws her out after beating her. The wife tells Pete’s wife, Trudy, which pretty much craters their marriage.

Advertising? Peggy learns a secret about former client Heinz Ketchup, spills it to her new boss and they go after the account. At Sterling Cooper, the Heinz beans guy has told Don et al that there’s competition with his company. And the Jaguar guy who slept with Joan his back, and he’s cheating on his British counterparts.

Meantime, we find out that young Don and his pregnant mother stayed in a brothel, where she had sex with the owner. While she was pregnant. And Don watched through a key hole.

These are all “The Collaborators.” And by the end of the episode, the weight of living a lie — or many– pushes Don down onto the mat outside his apartment, too enervated to open the door and walk in. An episode of no great consequence except that everyone in it is lying, or cheating.

“Motown: The Musical” was almost as good as Motown: The Dyfunctional Family Reunion last night as the living principals of the greatest record company in history gathered one more time–and maybe one last time. For the Broadway premiere of Berry Gordy’s musical–already a hit with a $16 million advance and lines around the block–last night’s audience at Lunt Fontanne Theater got more than we ever could have bargained for. True, Sting and Bono were each there with their respective wives, so that was very cool. And Clive Davis had an aisle seat up front, and there were plenty of luminaries from the record business including Doug Morris, L.A. Reid, and Sylvia Rhone.

But the real story was Motown. Stevie Wonder flew in from Las Vegas after playing at Quincy Jones and Michael Caine’s birthday party. Smokey Robinson was in from L.A. Gladys Knight had been recording a new album. Mary Wilson has been a rehearsing a new act for Las Vegas. And then there was the unexpected: Diana Ross, with several of her kids. They were all there to see themselves, and to see each other, and maybe talk to each other, and maybe not.

But when the show was done and the curtain calls came, Ross was first on stage after Berry Gordy, followed by Smokey, then Mary and Gladys followed. Last up was Stevie who literally rolled up onto the stage and was helped to the center. It was a magic moment. In the audience were plenty of people who also made Motown great including Valerie Simpson, who wrote four of the songs in the show with her late husband Nick Ashford; Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier, who wrote so many hits for the Supremes and the Four Tops with Eddie’s brother Brian; and Claudette Robinson, Smokey’s first wife, one of the original Miracles (who by the way looks amazing).

Also at “Motown”: Jane Fonda and Richard Perry, as well as Gayle King, Jesse Jackson, Hoda and Kathie Lee, David Geffen, Motown music publisher Marty Bandier, Linda Moran of the Songwriters Hall of Fame (they’re honoring Gordy on June 13th), Allen and Debbie Grubman, Mel Lewinter, Tom Corson, Les Moonves and Julie Chen, and Spike Lee in a kind of red-orange jumpsuit and hat, loving every minute.

And no, Mary and Diana still do not talk. Diana didn’t look too happy to see Gordy flanked by Wilson and Knight, but it was truce time. Diana, Smokey, Stevie, and Gordy all sat in a clump in the orchestra. At intermission, while everyone was busy meeting and greeting, Smokey sat in his seat with his wife, and cried. There were tears in his eyes. The show is as much about him as anyone else. And it’s full of his music, from the songs he wrote for himself and the Miracles to Mary Wells and of course the Temptations. Smokey wrote “My Guy” and “My Girl,” two staples of pop history.

I did ask Smokey, whom I’ve known a long time, how did he decide which group got which song. Like “My Guy” went to the Tempts: “I just wanted to write asong for Eddie Kendricks and David Ruffin,” he said. “It was that simple. I almost didn’t write it.” Of all the in house Motown songs, apart from Ashford and Simpson’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” “My Girl” is the jewel in the Motown song catalog.

Of course this audience loved the show, cheered the “Jackson 5” wildly, warmed to Jackie Wilson (who wasn’t on Motown) and thrilled to Rick James. The show is not historically accurate, and no one cares. “It’s Broadway,” Berry Gordy’s brother said to me. License is taken. It’s okay. The music, sets, performers, choreography far outweigh veracity. If anyone wants to know what really happened, you can read Gerri Hirshey’s definitive book, “Nowhere to Run” and Peter Guralnick’s “Sweet Soul Music.” Otherwise, “Motown: The Musical” is for dancing and singing along, and coming out of the theater with a big grin.