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Retiring at 84: Kris Kristofferson, Famed Songwriter of “Me & Bobby McGee,” Acclaimed Actor, Renaissance Man

Roger Friedman
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Retiring at 84: Kris Kristofferson, Famed Songwriter of “Me & Bobby McGee,” Acclaimed Actor, Renaissance Man

Kris Kristofferson is calling it a day.

The famed singer-songwriter and actor is retiring now at age 84. He deserves some downtime after a stellar career- make that two or three!

Kris is the accomplished and successful singer songwriter of “Me & Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make it Through the Night.” among other hits.

He’s also a movie star, with credits like “A Star is Born” with Barbra Streisand, and “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” One of his great roles was starring in James Ivory’s “A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries.” Kris was featured in the infamous “Heaven’s Gate,” starred opposite Jane Fonda in “Rollover,” and co-starred in “Semi Tough” with Burt Reynolds and Jill Clayburgh.

Kris is a Renaissance man. He’s also a multi-tasker. He is one of the few in Hollywood who has done everything well.

Unfortunately he doesn’t remember a lot of it. I wrote in 2014 that Kris suffered from a form of dementia called “Puglistica.” He has severe memory loss from years of head injuries from boxing and football when he was younger. This is no joke. He remembers his songs and is able to play them pretty well. He knows his family. But memories of his career are almost all gone.

But between his diagnosis and the pandemic last year, he was still touring and recording, and acting. His wife of more than 35 years, Lisa, has run the show and let Kris do what he does best. But now they’ve hired an estate manager, and they’re coming off the road for good. He will still have 85th birthday celebrations in June.

Remember the Tony Awards? Now They’re Going to Vote in March for Nominations from Last October

Roger Friedman
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Remember the Tony Awards? Now They’re Going to Vote in March for Nominations from Last October

This is turning into pretty good theater.

The 2019-2020 Broadway season never really happened, remember? It stopped on March 13th because of the pandemic. A few shows had opened, mostly mediocre. The really good ones were either in previews or just about to start them. They never launched.

Broadway shut down before “Company,” “Girl from the North Country,” “Sing Street,” and so on went into limbo.

Six months later, the Tony Awards decided to announce nominees drawn from the 16 mostly mediocre shows, like “Moulin Rouge” and “Tina: The Musical.” Good performances, not great shows.

There was only nominee for Best Actor in a Musical. Aaron Tveit, of “Moulin Rouge,” come on down!

On New Year’s Eve, I wrote that we closed the year without winners or a ceremony.

Now, it seems, there will be voting for those nominations between March 1st and March 15th. And then? Who knows?

I do feel sorry for the producers, and everyone else who has lost livelihoods, and for Adrienne Warren, who deserved an award for playing Tina Turner. But the Tony Awards appear to be adrift. There’s no clear idea of what to do, and no one’s doing it. Will they announce winners from this vote? Will anyone care?

So far, this is a musical closing out of town.

Sundance Review: Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” is Like a Box of Fine Chocolates, with Unseen Performances by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Other Stars

Roger Friedman
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Sundance Review: Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” is Like a Box of Fine Chocolates, with Unseen Performances by Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Other Stars

There was a Harlem Cultural Festival in New York in the summer of 1969. Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Sly Stone, the 5th Dimension, and Nina Simone were among the performers. It was filmed, and then the footage was put away for 50 years.

Now Amir Questlove Thompson of the Roots and the Tonight Show has found the film and made a two hour documentary called “Summer of Soul: When the Revolution Couldn’t Be Televised.” It’s literally like a box of designer chocolates, just one tasty bite after another. I felt like it was made for me personally.

The performers are beyond outstanding. The only problem is there are too many of them, and after a while the message of the film is lost. Questlove and his team of editors (who did an amazing job) are trying to fit everything into that box. This movie needs to be cut by a half hour. I learned this the hard way when I made “Only the Strong Survive” with Chris Hegedus and DA Pennebaker in 2002. The trick is to stick to your story even when there are so many riches available. Some of this could be on the DVD.

But that doesn’t take away from Thompson’s mission. He’s got all this incredible footage of Stevie, Gladys, the 5th Dimension– who are so underappreciated, Nina Simone, David Ruffin solo, and many instrumentalists, not to mention Sly and the Family Stone at their peak, and so much more. This is the Black Woodstock. Thompson intersperses the musicians’ backstories with historical perspective of the time and culture. There’s a lot of information, not to mention reminisces of concertgoers a half century later. All of it is gold, although some of it has more carats than others.

Just a note on Stevie: this footage is of historical importance because he’s on the verge here of becoming the adult star who turned out a half dozen Grammy winning classic albums starting two years later. You see him performing every instrument already, it’s pure genius. It’s like a sketchbook for what’s come with “Superstition” and “Higher Ground,” etc.

Stevie says in a narration, “I never wanted to let fear put my dreams to sleep.” That right there should be the jumping off point for his own documentary.

Anyway, a little second draft-ing, tightening, and contemplating will make “Summer of Soul” even better and a must see I hope in theaters, not just cable and platforms. Great work.

Reality Bites: Armie Hammer Reportedly Out of “Godfather” Mini-Series Playing Movie’s Producer Al Ruddy

Roger Friedman
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Reality Bites: Armie Hammer Reportedly Out of “Godfather” Mini-Series Playing Movie’s Producer Al Ruddy

Not since Tiger Woods’ meltdown a decade ago has a career melted down this quickly, and badly.

Actor Armie Hammer, who was on top of the world, is out of the “Godfather” mini series for Paramount TV. He was going to play the movie’s producer, Al Ruddy, who was producing this miniseries. Variety reported the news first.

Hammer, 34, has literally burned down his life and career since announced his divorce last July 10, 2020. He left his wife and two little kids in the Cayman Islands, went to Los Angeles, and started– well, started,  as far as we know then — dating.

But according to the women he’s known, he had some odd predilections for not just chewing the scenery, but also his dates. In the last few weeks, text messages were revealed, and then testimony from the women, that Armie has aspirations to be a “cannibal.”

As the women come out of the woodwork, and messages are revealed, Hammer is finding it’s not Hammer time, but time to release him from various projects. “The Offer” — as in “I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse” — is just the latest one from which he’s been dismissed. He was also bounced from a Jennifer Lopez movie (that he shouldn’t have been in anyway), and one more as well.

To make things even weirder, Armie’s former collaborators from “Call Me By Your Name,” actor Timothee Chalamet and director Luca Guadagnino, are planning a movie about a modern cannibal. This may have to take the place of a “Call Me” sequel now that Hammer is becoming persona non digesta.

A new actor will be found to play Ruddy for “The Offer.” Ben Affleck might be perfect.

 

Cicely Tyson Wrote in Her Memoir About Husband Miles Davis: “He emitted a distinctly powerful scent, like the smell of burnt iron”

Roger Friedman
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Cicely Tyson Wrote in Her Memoir About Husband Miles Davis: “He emitted a distinctly powerful scent, like the smell of burnt iron”

Hard to believe that Cicely Tyson finally published a memoir, this past Tuesday, and died two days later. There is so much to read in “Just As I Am” about her amazing life, but of course I’m most interested in her romance and marriage to jazz legend Miles Davis, a heroin addict whom she could not control. They were married from 1981 to 1987, but a long relationship preceded that.

The book is out of stock on amazon but you can download it from Kindle. I will be up all night reading it, with an introduction by Viola Davis.

Miss Tyson wrote:

“And then there were the drugs. He did not use in front of me. In fact, in all my years with Miles, never once did he shoot up, snort cocaine, or even smoke a reefer in my presence. I’m sure Miles must’ve shot up or snorted in his bathroom, but he left no sign of it, clearing away any paraphernalia. He knew how much I despised drugs. Also, my religious upbringing ensured I had nothing to do with them. I still don’t.

“One night after Miles had played at a club in Midtown, he and I, along with some of his band members, drove uptown toward his place. One of the guys lifted a small bag, presumably filled with drugs, and offered it to me. Miles pushed away his hand. “Man, are you kidding me?” he said, laughing. “I can’t even get Cicely to smoke a cigarette.”

…Whatever he smoked or shot up, he usually reeked of it. I knew the scent of marijuana, but other than that, I couldn’t tell the difference between coke or heroin or any other drug. On many occasions, he emitted a distinctly powerful scent, like the smell of burnt iron. It permeated his pores. He’d try to cover it with cologne (he loved his collection), but I could still smell it. And when I did, I stayed as far away from him as I could, because I knew I wouldn’t have been talking to Miles anymore.”

…Miles played fast and loose with his life far too frequently to have known his value. And even while grappling with my own anguish, I could not stand by and watch this man waste the rare gift he came here to share. His behavior at times disturbed me greatly, even humiliated me. And yet more than anger, I felt compassion, and pity for his sad state.”

Cicely Tyson Published Her Memoir On Tuesday, Now It’s Number 1: See Her Interview with Gayle King

Roger Friedman
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Cicely Tyson Published Her Memoir On Tuesday, Now It’s Number 1: See Her Interview with Gayle King

Well, this is something:

Cicely Tyson published her memoir on Tuesday, three days ago, and was interviewed by Gayle King for CBS This Morning.

Two days after publication, she died. The book, “Just as I Am,” has zoomed to number 1 on amazon and is totally sold out! What the heck?

Miss Tyson has left the stage with a bang, not a whimper. Wow. She finished the book, did the publicity, and went to heaven. What a way to go!

Here’s the interview with Gayle King, who has had more scoops in the last year than a Baskin Robbins server!

Viola Davis on Cicely Tyson: “I’m devastated. My heart is just broken. I loved you so much!! You were everything to me!”

Roger Friedman
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Viola Davis on Cicely Tyson: “I’m devastated. My heart is just broken. I loved you so much!! You were everything to me!”

Cicely Tyson played Viola Davis’s mother on “How to Get Away with Murder” for five seasons. She was nominated for Emmys each of those years.

Viola sent me this message as a quote about Miss Tyson: “I’m devastated,” she wrote, “I remember a prayer I had when I was 9. I asked God in a desperate moment to pluck me out of my hard life. I closed my eyes and waited. Cut to 40 yrs later working with…this beauty…this Queen….God answered my prayer. With a bonus. That’s how it felt. An answer to my deepest prayer.”

Miss Davis also posted to Instagram, as you can see below. Both statements are so moving, I teared up as I read them. You will, too. (PS She doesn’t want to hear this now, but Viola carries the mantle of Cicely Tyson. She is a daughter in spirit and talent.)

Sundance 2021 Opens with a Hit: “Coda” Stars Emilia Jones as a High School Singer in a Deaf Family

Roger Friedman
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Sundance 2021 Opens with a Hit: “Coda” Stars Emilia Jones as a High School Singer in a Deaf Family

Sundance 2021 opened tonight with a hit. “Coda,” directed by Sian Heder, is based on a French film but re-envisioned by the director, who wrote the screenplay.

The Rossi family in Gloucester, Mass. are fishermen who are deaf. Oscar winner Marlee Matlin is the mom, and deaf actors Troy Kotsur and Daniel Durant are the father and brother. British actress Emilia Jones, 18, is the daughter and she can not only hear but sing like a bird. Jones makes a star turn — it’s not her film debut but seems like it is– and could get a recording contract out of this.

Co-starring are Irish actor Ferdia Walsh Peelo, now 21, formerly 16 and star of  John Carney’s charming “Sing Street,” who we’re going to see more of I hope, and Eugenio Derbez, a big deal in Mexico who shines here as well.

“Coda”– child of deaf adult — is a formula story that rises way above the norm. It’s completely charming and endearing, with the twist of the deaf storyline. I still don’t understand how they pulled this film off, there’s so much signing and interpreting, and the emotions are real.

I hate to say it, but “Coda” hits every right note: it’s gurl power, overcoming a physical difficulty, with hints of “Pitch Perfect” and “Glee.” Still, you can’t not like it. Whatever distributor picks it up will have no trouble turning “Coda” into a big deal, featuring Jones and Walsh-Peelo on TV getting them a hit record or two. It’s got all those ingredients.

Most pleased should be Joni Mitchell, and Valerie Simpson. Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” is heavily featured, as is Simpson and late husband Nik Ashford’s “You’re All I Need to Get By.” The movie is set in present time but all the music is from the 60s and 70s because, you know, it can be sung and it was original in its time.

Sundance is going to be a little tough, I can see already. Q&As are on a different media than the screenings. There are no press notes. You can’t talk to anybody when the movie is over. It’s like having a hand tied behind your back. But the Sundance press people are doing everything to make it easier, and it will get that way as time goes by, I’m sure.

“American Idol” and “The Voice” take note of this film. This is real singing. And record companies, these kids are yours are for the taking.

 

RIP The Amazing Cicely Tyson, Age 96, Award Winning Actress, Activist, Epitome of Ageless Grace and Elegance

Roger Friedman
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RIP The Amazing Cicely Tyson, Age 96, Award Winning Actress, Activist, Epitome of Ageless Grace and Elegance

“I have managed Miss Tyson’s career for over 40 years, and each year was a privilege and blessing,” her manager, Larry Thompson, said in a statement. “Cicely thought of her new memoir as a Christmas tree decorated with all the ornaments of her personal and professional life. Today she placed the last ornament, a Star, on top of the tree.”

Cicely Tyson was 96 years old. There are going to be stories everywhere about her remarkable life. She was married at one time to Miles Davis. How she survived it is probably a movie unto itself. She will be remembered for so many roles over her life time, but the greatest was probably “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.” She won two Emmys for that one, was nominated for an Oscar for “Sounder.”

She secured five Emmy nominations in a row playing Viola Davis’s mother on “How to Get Away with Murder” from 2015 to 2020.

Like Cloris Leachman, who died yesterday, Miss Tyson won tons of awards, all deserved, she was the essence of elegance and grace.

Two stories. Two years ago, in March, I ran into her on the Upper West Side. I wrote about it. She was dragging a rolling cart with files and had stopped into Maison Kayser across from the Beacon Theater. I re-introduced myself, we’d met many times. I asked what was in the cart. “Papers concerning my next play,” she said. Did she want any assistance, I asked? She said, sweetly, “Oh no, why would I?” The rest of the story is here.

A few years earlier Cuba Gooding and I were talking about Miss Tyson. He was in “The Trip to Bountiful” with her on Broadway. She was 88, was telling people she was 90, anyway, how could she be doing 8 performances a week? “She’s sleeping in the theater from Friday to Sunday,” Cuba said, that’s how. The production had built her an apartment. Made sense.

When she opened in “Bountiful” there was a lot of discussion about her age. On opening night I asked her about it. She was, yes, 88, and had the energy of four 22 year olds.

I don’t know what she was like when she was younger. But when I started seeing her in the audience at shows at the Apollo, or when she came to Aretha Franklin’s birthday parties, Cicely Tyson played it low key. She was not a diva. People flocked up to this bird like woman, overwhelmed that they were in her presence. She was shy, she wasn’t demanding, she was truly walking in grace.

PS She won the Tony Award in 2013 for “Bountiful.” It was her first and her first nomination, too. She’d started on Broadway in 1959 and had a run of shows in the 60s. She’d done more show in the early 80s, and then not returned again for 30 years! After she won for “Bountiful,” she came back one more time in 2016 to star in “The Gin Game” with James Earl Jones, who just turned 90 himself. What amazing fortitude. Bravo!

Era of Pandemic Filmmaking: Documentary Submissions for the Oscars Set a Record with 238 Eligible Features

Roger Friedman
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Era of Pandemic Filmmaking: Documentary Submissions for the Oscars Set a Record with 238 Eligible Features

This is a story of filmmaking in the time of a pandemic. Entries for the Academy Awards’ Best Documentary have set a record on number of submissions. Try 238.

That’s considerably higher than the record high of 170 in 2017, or last year’s 159. So what’s going on?

First of all, people are making “documentaries” on cell phones and all kinds of media. Also, all you have to do this year is say you expect a theatrical release, and you can make the long list.

But making the short list of 15, and then the top 5 nominees, is a different situation. The Academy says in a press release: “Some of the films have not yet had their required qualifying release and must fulfill that requirement and comply with all the category’s other qualifying rules to advance in the voting process.”

And the reality is, only a handful of these entries really have a shot. The leaders are “Time” and “Crip Camp,” followed by “The Dissident” and “The Truffle Hunters.” Here’s the list, there’s plenty of good stuff to watch here.

“Acasa, My Home”
“Addicted to Ralphie”
“Aggie”
“All I Can Say”
“All In: The Fight for Democracy”
“The American Sector”
“American Selfie: One Nation Shoots Itself”
“America’s Forgotten”
“The Antidote”
“Apocalypse ’45”
“The Art of Living in Danger”
“The Art of Political Murder”
“Assassins”
“Aswang”
“Athlete A”
“Babenco – Tell Me When I Die”
“Be Water”
“Beastie Boys Story”
“Beautiful Something Left Behind”
“Becoming”
“Bedlam”
“Belly of the Beast”
“Belushi”
“Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint”
“The Big Scary “S” Word”
“Billie”
“Black Boys”
“Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets”
“The Booksellers”
“Born to Be”
“Boys State”
“Bulletproof”
“Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn”
“Capital in the Twenty-First Century”
“Chicago: America’s Hidden War”
“Childhood 2.0”
“Chuck Berry”
“Circus of Books”
“City Dream”
“City Hall”
“Coded Bias”
“Collective”
“Colombia in My Arms”
“Coming Clean”
“Coronation”
“Coup 53”
“Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words”
“Creem: America’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll Magazine”
“Crip Camp”
“Crock of Gold – A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan”
“The Curve”
“Dads”
“Dave Grusin: Not Enough Time”
“David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet”
“Days of Cannibalism”
“Dear Santa”
“Death Protocol”
“Descent”
“Desert One”
“Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”
“Disclosure”
“The Dissident”
“The Dog Doc”
“The Donut King”
“Dope Is Death”
“Down a Dark Stairwell”
“Downstream to Kinshasa”
“The Earth Is Blue as an Orange”
“Elementa”
“Ending Disease”
“Epicentro”
“Erased,___Ascent of the Invisible”
“Escape from Extinction”
“Everybody Flies”
“F11 and Be There”
“Fandango at the Wall”
“Father Soldier Son”
“Feels Good Man”
“The Fight”
“Find Your Groove”
“Finding Yingying”
“Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds”
“First Vote”
“First We Eat”
“Flannery”
“For They Know Not What They Do”
“The Forbidden Reel”
“40 Years a Prisoner”
“Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb”
“Freedia Got a Gun”
“The Ghost of Peter Sellers”
“Giving Voice”
“A Glitch in the Matrix”
“The Go-Go’s”
“Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind”
“Gunda”
“Harry Chapin: When in Doubt, Do Something”
“He Dreams of Giants”
“House of Cardin”
“The Human Factor”
“Human Nature”
“I Am Greta”
“I Am Not Alone”
“I Owe You a Letter about Brazil”
“iHuman”
“In My Skin”
“Indian Space Dreams”
“The Infiltrators”
“Influence”
“(In)Visible Portraits”
“Irmi”
“Irradiés (Irradiated)”
“Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President”
“John Lewis: Good Trouble”
“Journey to Royal: A World War II Rescue Mission”
“Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl”
“A Kid from Coney Island”
“Kingdom of Silence”
“Kings of Capitol Hill”
“Kiss the Ground”
“La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla”
“Lance”
“Landfall”
“The Last Blockbuster”
“Last Call for Tomorrow”
“Lennox: The Untold Story”
“Lessons of Love”
“The Letter”
“Libelu – Down with the Dictatorship”
“Life Is Deadly”
“Lift Like a Girl”
“Lost Course”
“Lost in Face”
“Love Child”
“MLK/FBI”
“Made You Look: A True Story about Fake Art”
“Man in the Arena”
“Martin Margiela: In His Own Words”
“Mayor”
“Mighty Ira”
“Miss Americana”
“Mr. Soul!”
“The Mole Agent”
“The Monster inside Me”
“A Most Beautiful Thing”
“Mother to Earth: The Untold Story of Earth Bound”
“Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado”
“My Darling Supermarket”
“My Darling Vivian”
“My Octopus Teacher”
“My People: The Jews of Greece”
“My Psychedelic Love Story”
“My Rembrandt”
“Napoli Eden”
“Narciso Em Férias”
“Nasrin”
“The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel”
“9/11 Kids”
“915”
“9to5: The Story of a Movement”
“Notturno”
“Oliver Sacks: His Own Life”
“Olympia”
“On the Record”
“Once upon a Time in Venezuela”
“Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band”
“Ottolenghi and the Cakes of Versailles”
“Our Time Machine”
“Pahokee”
“The Painter and the Thief”
“A Pandemic: Away from the Motherland”
“The Phenomenon”
“Planet of the Humans”
“The Plot against the President”
“The Pollinators”
“The Power of Movement”
“Pray: The Story of Patrick Peyton”
“Public Trust”
“Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack”
“The Reason I Jump”
“Rebuilding Paradise”
“Red Penguins”
“Reunited”
“Rewind”
“The Right Girls”
“Ringside”
“Rising Phoenix”
“River City Drumbeat”
“River Tales”
“Runner”
“Searching for Mr. Rugoff”
“Self Portrait”
“17 Blocks The Final Cut”
“76 Days”
“Sky Blossom”
“Slay the Dragon”
“The Social Dilemma”
“Softie”
“Some Kind of Heaven”
“Songs of Repression”
“Soros”
“Spaceship Earth”
“Stars and Strife”
“The State of Texas vs. Melissa”
“Stray”
“Strip Down, Rise Up”
“System K”
“They Call Me Babu”
“This Is Not a Movie”
“This Is Paris”
“A Thousand Cuts”
“Through the Night”
“Time”
“The Times of Bill Cunningham”
“Totally under Control”
“Transhood”
“The Truffle Hunters”
“Trust Me”
“Uncle Tom”
“#Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump”
“Us Kids”
“WBCN and the American Revolution”
“The Walrus and the Whistleblower”
“The Way I See It”
“We Are the Radical Monarchs”
“We Don’t Deserve Dogs”
“Welcome to Chechnya”
“White Noise”
“Who Is Gatsby Randolph”
“Wild Daze”
“Wim Wenders: Desperado”
“With Drawn Arms”
“A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem”
“Women in Blue”
“You Cannot Kill David Arquette”
“Yusuf Hawkins: Storm over Brooklyn”
“Zappa”

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