Exclusive: Tonya Pinkins, the former star of “All My Children” and Tony award winner for Broadway’s “Jelly’s Last Jam” knows all about the mother of murdered 31 year old Brandon Woodard. “We’ve been waiting for something like this,” Pinkins told me this morning about Woodard. Pinkins has been in court and legal battles with Woodard’s mother Sandra McBeth Reynolds for years over what Pinkins calls McBeth Reynolds’  “family’s crimes.”

When I called Pinkins this morning she was unaware of the headline making story: that Woodard had been shot dead yesterday in midtown Manhattan in what looks to be an execution style murder.  But she wasn’t surprised.

Pinkins told me: “I’ve been trying to get the FBI, the US attorney to do something about this family for five years.” She says McBeth, now McBeth Reynolds– currently married to Pinkins’s ex and the father of her 16 year old daughter– has been a “big Black Collar criminal. She’s connected to judges, in my experience with her.” Pinkins says that in the past Woodard has allegedly forged all kinds of documents, and that “she’s been caught at it in court, and nothing’s happened to her.”

Pinkins says that McBeth and her prior husband, James Reynolds, have had a years long feud since 2006 that involves $30 million that is now “gone.” Pinkins says McBeth’s current husband– who is Pinkins’ ex-boyfriend and father of her daughter, is an attorney with legal and substance abuse problems. “Sandra cashed my child support checks that he supposedly sent to me. I have copies of all the receipts and her signature,” Pinkins says.

Pinkins’ ex lover, Rodney David Wellington, was a lawyer who was disbarred in 2006. He also suffered from substance abuse. But he and McBeth Reynolds now have custody of his and Pinkins’ 16 year old daughter. http://www.iardc.org/05RT3001HB.HTML

It was Pinkins who put up the website, www.sandramcbeth.info. She says McBeth sued her over the website. “We went to trial for two days.” Ultimately the case was thrown out because the information on the website was all derived from public records, Pinkins said. (Pinkins herself has had a tortured past with ex husbands, children and custody issues: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/02/theater/theater-the-trials-of-tonya-pinkins.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm)

McBeth has countered with her own website: http://sandrakaymcbeth.wordpress.com/

Pinkins says murdered Brandon Woodard’s name is on documents created by his mother on various loans and mortgages. “She would sell properties to Brandon and then he would default on them.” Pinkins says she has a mound of paperwork with McBeth and Woodard’s names, a complicated paper trail. “The number of people they burned, and people who lost their homes, is huge. Their enemies list is huge.”

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http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/12/11/exclusive-manhattan-killing-executed-mans-mother-had-enemies-in-los-angeles

Brandon Lincoln Woodard was killed on West 58th St. yesterday afternoon in what looks like an execution. Police released information that Woodard’s mother, Sandra McBeth Reynolds, owns a company in Los Angeles called United Mortgage. Only one problem: on the internet, and with the government, Sandra McBeth Reynolds has enemies a mile long.

Not everyone’s mother has a website set up by her enemies. But Brandon Woodard’s did. It’s at www.sandramcbeth.info. There are sections devoted to her alleged criminal activities and lawsuits, questions about her college degree, etc. It’s not a pretty picture.

The California Department of Corporations suspended United Mortgage from doing business for 60 days from December 1, 2009 to February 1, 2010: http://www.corp.ca.gov/ENF/pdf/u/unitedcasystems_OS.pdf.

In her bio, available on that website, Sandra McBeth is described as an entrepreneur who skyrocketed from a small office on South La Brea Avenue in a poor part of Los Angeles to selling loans to a skyscraper success in Century City, just outside of posh Beverly Hills, California.

The Better Business Bureau — which does not give accreditation to United Mortgage– details on its website actions taken against the company:

Government Actions

Agency: Department of Corporations
Description: On December 2, 2009 this company entered into a settlement agreement with the California Department of Corporations (DOC) to resolve charges filed as a result of a scheduled regulatory examination which took place in April 2008. The company was required to electronically file application/loan and servicing reports with the DOC by March 7, 2008. The company failed to file the reports in violation of State Financial Codes.

On June 5, 2008, one of the Commissioner’s examiners went to the company’s licensed location of record. The examiner discovered that the company had relocated its business operations without providing prior notification to the Department in violation of State Financial Codes. When the Commissioner’s examiner subsequently attempted to visit the licensee’s new location, the company denied the examiner access and failed to provide the requested reports and examination documentation in violation of State law.

In addition, the Department received information that on September 17, 2007, the company’s President, Sandra Kay McBeth, plead nolo contendere to a charge of unlawful taking/retaining of a vehicle in violation of Vehicle Code section 10851. At the time of entry of the plea, McBeth was the president and primary stockholder of United International. . On June 9, 2008, the Department sent a letter to United International informing them that due to Ms. McBeth’s violation, she was prohibited from serving as an officer, director, partner, shareholder controlling 10% or more of ownership interest.. The letter also informed the company that it was in violation of State law for any period during which McBeth held a prohibited position with the licensee. The Department further requested confirmation that McBeth had been removed from all positions and relinquished control of ownership interest of 10% or more. On June 24, 2008, the licensee provided the Department copies of minutes from a June 18, 2008 special meeting of the board of directors of United International. The minutes reflected that McBeth resigned as president and relinquished control of ownership interest of 10% or more in United International. The minutes further stated that Dori Sanford (“Sanford”) had been appointed vice president in charge of United International’s daily affairs. The minutes were signed by Bill Shack and Timothy Woods both of whom were identified as directors of the company.

On or about June 10, 2008, a meeting took place between the licensee and the DOC. An individual attending the meeting provided the Department with a business card identifying himself as “Rod Wellington, Esq.” (“Wellington). Wellington’s business card represented that he was the “Chief Operating Officer” of “United International Mortgage Bank.” On or about February 24, 2009, the Department received information that Wellington had been denied reinstatement to the practice of law by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission on January 4, 2006. Wellington’s suspension was due to neglect, misrepresentation, failure to communicate with clients, failure to refund fees, and practicing law without being registered with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. The Illinois Supreme Court’s judgment denying reinstatement was issued within seven years of Wellington’s ostensible service as of an officer of United International. Accordingly, the company was in violation of State law for any period during which Wellington held a prohibited position or controlled ownership interest of 10% or more of the licensee. On or about February 1, 2008, an Activity Report form was sent to all CRMLA licensees with a notice that the 2007 Activity Report was due on or before March 1, 2008. The company failed to timely submit its 2007 Activity Report to the Commissioner.

On May 15, 2008, the Commissioner assessed a penalty of $1000 pursuant to State Financial Codes against the company for failing to file the 2007 Activity Report. The company also failed to file its 2008 Activity Report to the Commissioner and was subject to assessment of penalties pursuant to State law. The company also failed to pay its annual assessment to the Department for the 2008-2009 in violation of State Financial Codes.

On October 21, 2008, the Commissioner issued the company a Notice of Intention to Issue Order Revoking Residential Mortgage Lender and Servicer Licenses; Accusation and accompanying documents (collectively, the “Notice”). The Notice was amended on April 23, 2009 and August 18, 2009. The company requested an administrative hearing request, and a hearing was commenced at the Los Angeles Office of Administrative Hearings. On the second day of hearing, the Administrative Law Judge issued an order continuing the matter to December 2, 2009.

On December 2, 2009 the parties entered into a settlement agreement without the admission of guilt or wrongdoing by the company. The company agreed to the immediate issuance by the Commissioner of an order suspending their residential mortgage lender and residential mortgage servicer license for a period of 60 calendar days (“Suspension Order”). The 60-day suspension was in effect from December 2, 2009 through February 1, 2010, during which period the company was prohibited from accepting any new business, but was permitted to continue to service any outstanding loan. As full and final resolution of the Notice, the company agreed to pay the Commissioner the sum of $13,000.00 in penalties. The company also agreed to an automatic revocation of its residential mortgage lender and residential mortgage servicer license if fine amounts were not paid, or the company failed to comply with the terms of the agreement. Upon entry, the Order was finalized.

Date of Action: 12/2/2009

Monday night brought the very lavish, wild premiere for “Les Miserables” to New York’s Ziegfeld Theater. By the time we got a very crowded corner of the lobby of the Museum of Modern Art for the swanky after party, Hugh Jackman’s wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, surveyed the room. We saw Hugh about 20 feet away, swarmed by adoring fans. “Hugh doesn’t even realize how big this is going to be,” Furness said in her lilting Australian accent. “It’s only just dawned on me.”

Indeed, Universal Pictures is pulling out all the stops for “Les Miz,” directed by Oscar winner Tom Hooper. There was a London premiere, and there will be one in Hollywood. Today, there’s a massive, elegant lunch for the cast and crew. Tonight, Jackman is honored by the Museum of the Moving Image. Anyone vaguely connected to the film will be there, too.

Last night, I sat with the audience through my second screening. Jon Bon Jovi and wife Dorothea were there–she’s a huge fan of the musical. “Raging Bull” star Cathy Moriarty couldn’t get enough of it. Richard Kind was over the top, as were Zach Brafman and a dozen or more celebs who braved the annoying rain. By the time the night was over I’d had long talks with ecstatic execs like Ron Meyer, Donna Langley, Adam Fogelson, and Eric Fellner. Plus, there was Hugh and Debora, Anne Hathaway, her family and husband Adam Schulman; Sacha Baron Cohen, who nearly steals the movie with Helena Bonham Carter; and the amazing Samantha Barks who’s only 22 and is poised to become a huge Broadway star. Next year, Cameron McKintosh told me, he’d like to bring Barks here in “Oliver!” She’s about to open it under his banner in Dublin.

About three quarters of the way through the movie, I ran out to take a bathroom break. Coming from the opposite end of the theater was Barks, who was wearing a long gown. I’d never met her before. “I’m barefoot,” she cried and pulled up her satin dress. “What a way to meet someone!” She is absolutely a star in waiting. I told her she should play Linda Ronstadt in the famed singer’s story. “Who’s that?” she asked. She’s a Brit, remember, and she’s 22. By now she’s memorizing “Heart Like a Wheel.”

“Les Miz” is the kind of Hollywood production audiences are hungry for–it’s massive, it’s romantic, it’s deep, and it’s never boring. You leave the theatre singing all the songs. Anne Hathaway takes your breath away when she sings “I Dreamed a Dream.” The audience started cheering almost before it was over. For Hugh Jackman, forget Wolverine or the Boy from Oz. This is performance of a lifetime. I asked him how he got the hollow cheeks in the beginning of the film. “It’s a horrible diet,” he admitted. “Don’t try it.” Deborra-Lee added: “It’s a lot of liquids.”

And just in case you wondered: Jackman plays Jean Valjean, who sounds like he already got an Oscar this year. That was Jean Dujardin. Very similar, but not the same. Hugh Jackman is heading to the Oscar finalist list, with Daniel Day Lewis, Bradley Cooper, Denzel Washington and, I think, either Christoph Waltz or Joaquin Phoenix.

It’s not fair to call “Dead Accounts,” the ‘Katie Holmes play’ but that’s how people know it. The Theresa Rebeck play with Katie Holmes in the cast dropped the most of any show last week from the week before– a whopping 25%. Audience capacity was down to 59% average from December 2nd to the 9th which means the Music Box Theater must have been positively with so many empty seats. “Dead Accounts” always had a finite run, with February 24, 2013 set as its last performance. But if things keep going like this, Holmes may be able to book Oscar tickets and maybe even Grammy tickets too if she wants them.

January is a cruel month for Broadway shows, so watch to see who’s going to try tough it out. Shows will try all kinds of marketing ploys to get through the winter. We can only guess that “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” will have to start pulling some stunts. The show is way off its high of $1.5 mil a week, earning now between $1 mil and $1.2 mil a week. That’s just break even for this $75 mil musical. It’s also playing at around 68% capacity, which means there’s a lot more room for Spidey and the Green Goblin to land in emergencies. A casting call went out this week for two new male “flyers. The call was marked “immediate replacements” so who knows what happened to the flyers who are exiting.

The American Film Institute jury has chosen their top ten films for 2012. I have to say I can’t disagree with any of their picks. It’s a good group, and it  accurately represents the year. I do think they missed on “The Master,” but they may not have wanted to give one film company–TWC– three spots on the top 10. I know from sources that the group also really liked Dustin Hoffman’s “Quartet,” which I think is going to be the sleeper hit of the season. Also not on the list are “Hitchcock,” “The Sessions,” and “Cloud Atlas.” The AFI included “The Dark Knight Rises,” which I’m not sure will make it to the Oscars. It’s nice also to see “The Life of Pi,” which has a 50/50 shot at an Oscar vote.

As for the TV winners: they’re all the same. It’s all the same as it is all the time. In TV, once your show is chosen for one batch of awards it just continues until it’s almost over. I don’t like or understand “Modern Family,” but it just goes on and on. No love for “Episodes,” the wittiest show on TV. And the AFI can’t pick “Downton Abbey,” because it’s British. ZZzzzzzz……

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
MOONRISE KINGDOM
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
ZERO DARK THIRTY

AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
BREAKING BAD
GAME CHANGE
GAME OF THRONES
GIRLS
HOMELAND
LOUIE
MAD MEN
MODERN FAMILY
THE WALKING DEAD

“Zero Dark Thirty” continued the pattern of “The Social network” this morning. It was chosen Best Film by the Washington DC area movie critics. They picked its director, Kathryn Bigelow, and star Jessica Chastain as Best Director and Actress. Daniel Day Lewis is Best Actor and Philip Seymour Hoffman, from “The Master,” is Best Supporting Actor. (These people are smart.) “Zero Dark” is crackling along as the critics’ choice, but it’s unclear if it can win the Oscar.

The 2012 WAFCA Award Winners:

Best Film:
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director:
Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

Best Actress:
Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Supporting Actor:
Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Best Supporting Actress:
Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Les Miserables

Best Adapted Screenplay:
David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Original Screenplay:
Rian Johnson (Looper)

Best Animated Feature:
ParaNorman

Best Documentary:
Bully

Best Foreign Language Film:
Amour

Best Art Direction:
Uli Hanisch, Hugh Bateup – Production Designers; Peter Walpole, Rebecca Alleway – Set Decorators (Cloud Atlas)

Best Cinematography:
Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi)

Best Score:
Jonny Greenwood (The Master)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Youth Performance:
Quvenzhane Wallis
(Beasts of the Southern Wild)

The 2012 WAFCA Award Nominees Were:

by PAULA SCHWARTZ, Special to Showbiz411-– A group of film critics each on the West and East coasts cast their award picks during the weekend and for the most part they don’t agree. But the two groups, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, spread their love around to enough different movies to make this year shape up for the rest of us as a particularly interesting awards race to Oscar gold.

The LAFCA, an iconoclastic group that often makes surprising and unpredictable choices, has given top prize to Sony Classics Release “Amour” by Austrian director Michael Haneke. The movie, starring Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, is about an octogenarian Parisian couple struggling with illness and death. Although it’s a frontrunner for best foreign film, it hasn’t been mentioned as a possible top10 movie pick. The Oscar voters tend to be an older and more conservative group and many awards prognosticators think the Academy will find this movie too depressing.

In one decision in which both groups agreed, best actress honors went to Riva although the LA critics have her share that prize with Jennifer Lawrence for “Silver Linings Playbook.”

The bean town critics named “Zero Dark Thirty” as best film of the year and gave Kathryn Bigelow the best directing nod. Bigelow is on a winning streak; last week she received kudos from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review. With the LAFCA wins Bigelow’s movie continues to gain awards momentum.

The Boston critics chose Daniel Day-Lewis as best actor for “Lincoln,” while the West Coast cast their vote for Joaquin Phoenix, who stars in “The Master,” as an alcoholic World War II veteran who is drawn to the charismatic leader of a cult. This is Phoenix’s first movie role in two years since being the subject of Casey Affleck’s mock documentary “I’m Still Here” where Phoenix supposedly dropped acting to become a rapper. The LAFCA also gave the best directing prize to Paul Thomas Anderson for “The Master,” and Amy Adams received the award for best supporting actress.

The Boston critics awarded best supporting actor honors to Sally Field – who has topped many lists – for “Lincoln’ and to Ezra Miller for “Perks of Being a Wallflower.”

The LAFCA gave lots of love to Fox Searchlight’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” which picked up three prizes, including a best supporting actor prize for Dwight Henry, who has never acted before and whose day job is chef and owner of a bakery in Louisiana, where he was discovered by director Benh Zeitlin.

Below is a list of the winners from both critics’ groups:

The Boston Society of Film Critics choices:

Best Picture – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor – Daniel Day Lewis for Lincoln.

Best Actress – Emmanuelle Riva for Amour.

Best Supporting Actor – Ezra Miller for Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Best Supporting Actress – Sally Field for Lincoln.

Best Director – Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty.

Best Screenplay – Tony Kushner for Lincoln.

Best Cinematography – Mihai Malaimare Jr for The Master.

Best Documentary – How to Survive a Plague.

Best Foreign-Language Film – Amour.

Best Animated Film – Frankenweenie.

Best Film Editing – William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor for Zero Dark Thirty.

Best New Filmmaker – David France for How to Survive a Plague.

Best Ensemble Cast – Seven Psychopaths.

Best Use of Music in a Film – Moonrise Kingdom.

Los Angeles Film Critics Association:

Best Film: Amour (Runner-Up: The Master).

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master (Runner-up, Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty.)

Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master (Runner-up, Denis Lavant, Holy Motors.).

Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook and Emmanuelle Riva, Amour.

Best Supporting Actor: Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild (Runner-up, Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained.)

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, The Master. (Runner-up, Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables and The Dark Knight Rises.)

Best Screenplay: Chris Terrio, Argo (Runner-up, David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook.)

Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, Skyfall (Runner-up, Mihai Malaimare Jr., The Master.)

Best Production Design: Jack Fisk and David Crank, The Master. (Runner-up, Adam Stockhausen, Moonrise Kingdom.)

Best Editing: Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty (Runner-up, William Goldenberg, Argo.)

Best Music Score: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer (Runner-up, The Master, Jonny Greenwood.)

Best Foreign-Language Film: Holy Motors, directed by Leos Carax (Runner-up, Footnote, directed by Joseph Cedar.)

Best Documentary: The Gatekeepers, Dror Moreh (Runner-up, Searching for Sugar Man, by Malik Bendjelloul.

Best Animation: Frankenweenie, directed by Tim Burton (Runner-up, It’s Such a Beautiful Day, by Don Hertzfeldt.)

New Generation: Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Career Achievement: Frederick Wiseman.

Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award: Leviathan.

‘Waterboarding’– a form of torture used by the US military on captured suspects and criminals accused of terrorism–has been much debated here in this space. It’s come up because in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunting and killing of Osama bin Laden, a prisoner is waterboarded at the start of the movie by a US agent played by actor Jason Clarke.

There’s been a big debate here over whether waterboarding is effective, and/or actually dangerous. But Clarke told me at a lunch for “Zero Dark Thirty” last week at the 21 Club that it is dangerous and life threatening. He should know: he tried it on set. “Of course, it’s a lot different when you know it can be stopped, and people are there to make sure nothing bad happens.”

It was actually the second time the affable actor and I had discussed this. We’d started the conversation a few days before, at the Governor’s Ball for the Motion Picture Academy. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal were nearby, and they confirmed it.

This time, actress Jessica Chastain–who plays the real life CIA agent on whom the movie is based– overheard us. “You really tried it?” she said to Clarke. “I did,” the Australian actor replied, ” and I can tell you, it’s not something you ever want to do. But I wanted to understand the experience.”

Waterboarding, in case you’re confusing it with water-skiing or surfboarding it, entails pouring water over the face and into the mouth of a restrained prisoner in order to drown or suffocate them. It can easily kill its victim, or cause permanent kinds of damage involving the brain or lungs.