Dick Tufeld dies at 85

Radio and television stalwart Dick Tufeld, who was best known for his vocal work -- including the voice of the robot in "Lost in Space" -- died of natural causes on Sunday, Jan. 22, at his home in Studio City, Calif. He was 85. Tufeld spent three decades as the voice for ABC daytime programming and did stints with the Grammy Awards and the Emmy Awards. Tufeld launched his entertainment career in 1945 with a summer job at Los Angeles radio station KLAC. There he engineered a show business gossip program hosted by a young literary agent, Irwin Allen, beginning a long friendship and professional association with the television science fiction pioneer. Tufeld, who sported a deep, resonant voice, found himself in front of the microphone within a few years, announcing "The Amazing Mr. Malone," "Falstaff Fables" and "Space Patrol." He soon found work, including hosting "The Dick Tufeld Sports Page" and "Focus on Los Angeles" for KABC Los Angeles. He appeared, uncredited, on 16 episodes of the TV Western "Annie Oakley" in 1954, and he was the announcer for a couple of episodes of "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color." He announced 16 Grammy Awards shows and the Emmys. Tufeld also served as the announcer for a host of variety shows starring Judy Garland, Milton Berle, Julie Andrews, Red Skelton, Rodney Dangerfield, Tom Jones and others, as well as for Warner Bros.' "Original Bugs Bunny" and Hanna-Barbera's "The Jetsons." His other credits included "Peyton Place," "Zorro," "Bewitched," "I Dream of Jeannie," "Get Smart" and "It's Gary Shandling's Show." For Allen he worked on series "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," "The Time Tunnel," "The Fantastic Four." He voiced the B9 Robot in Allen's campy 1960s sci-fi series "Lost in Space" -- uttering, in monotone, such now-famous phrases as "Warning, warning," "Danger, Will Robinson!" and "It does not compute." He reprised the role of the "Lost in Space" robot for two episodes of "The Simpsons" and for the 1998 bigscreen adaptation of the series. Tufeld later appeared in 1995 documentary "The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen." He also did the voiceover for hundreds of commercials including Rice-A-Roni, Gallo, Ford, Goodyear and Great Western Savings. Richard Tufeld was born in Los Angeles to immigrants and was raised in Pasadena. He attended the School of Speech at Northwestern U., where he met Adrienne Blumberg. They both graduated and married in 1948; their marriage lasted until her death in 2004. Tufeld is survived by two sons, two daughters, six grandchildren; and a brother. Funeral services will be held at Mount Sinai, Hollywood Hills, on Jan. 27 at 2 p.m. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Fashion Slam: Julia Roberts Style File

First Released: The month of january 24, 2012 12:44 PM EST Credit: Getty Images La, Calif. -- Caption Julia Roberts steps out in the Producers Guild Honours on The month of january 21, 2012Angelina Jolie is juggling a great deal right nowBrad Pitt, six kids and six red-colored carpets in 16 days. As well as that they looks pretty dang good Each time she is out. Here are the hits on her behalf whirlwind style tour.to date. Cant wait to determine what she wears towards the SAG Honours and also the Academy awards! PRODUCERS GUILD Honours WHERE: La WHEN: Saturday, The month of january 21 WHO: Michael Kors THE DEETS: Hot, hot, hot! Angelina rocked her signature black inside a sleek Kors gown with lace sections and leg-high slit. Super sexy. THE GOLDEN GLOBES WHERE: La WHEN: Sunday, The month of january 15 WHO: Versace Atelier THE DEETS: Angelina stole the show making many best outfitted lists together with her creamy, covered satin one-of-a-kind custom gown with crimson detailing around the neck-line and matching bold, crimson lips. GOLDEN GLOBES Language FILM NOMINEES EVENT WHERE: La WHEN: Saturday, The month of january 14 THE DEETS: Angelina was the epitome of conservative chic inside a black dress combined with black jacket and heels together with her hair drawn back in an event praising her film Within the Land of Bloodstream and Honey. NY FILM Experts Honours WHERE: NY WHEN: Monday, The month of january 9 WHO: Ferragamo THE DEETS: Angie went for any sexy naughty secretary look having a prim cream blouse and black leather Ferragamo pencil skirt. She keeps the appearance simple with black heels and bag and jade jewellery. PALM SPRINGS Worldwide FILM FESTIVAL WHERE: Palm Springs WHEN: Saturday, The month of january 7 WHO: Elie Saab THE DEETS: Angie exchanged in black for any greige halter neck Elie Saab pleated jumpsuit, which she combined with Jimmy Choo heels and natural-searching hair and makeup. Beautiful! Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved. These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

New York City Opera Announces Musician Lockout

NY (AP) A bitter contract dispute has led to a lockout of musicians at the NY City Opera, a possible "death knell" for a company that's nurtured such singers as Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills.On Sunday, hours after talks broke down, the cash-strapped company canceled Monday rehearsals for a Feb. 12 opening production of Verdi's "La Traviata" in Brooklyn."This is a very sad day for what once was a spectacular cultural icon and for the people who performed its music," said Alan Gordon, national executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists representing the chorus, stage directors and principal singers.Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians represents the orchestra. Both unions have been without a contract since the spring.Gail Kruvand, chairwoman of the orchestra union's negotiating committee and its assistant principal bass player, said union members "made a good-faith effort to say that, yes, we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of ensuring that the grand tradition of the City Opera lives on."But she said the company's rejection of union proposals could be "the death knell for one of NY's cultural treasures."City Opera is now operating on a shoestring, offering orchestra and chorus members minimum fees for an already abbreviated season. City Opera moved out of its longtime home at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts last year, citing financial troubles, and cut back its usual schedule of 12 to 16 operas per season, with a peak of about 130 performances.In a statement, the company said it had "no choice but to lock out" union members because they rejected the company's economic offer and had threatened to strike when performances began, according to a statement released Sunday. Both labor unions have passed strike-authorization votes.City Opera General Manager George Steel said his company couldn't enter rehearsals with a musician strike looming for performances scheduled in February at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, one of the various venues around NY booked for 16 shows of four productions.However, "we have no intention of hiring replacement workers," company spokeswoman Risa Heller said. She didn't know whether that meant the season wouldn't open next month.The opera and the unions have been in talks with Allison Beck, deputy director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, since mid-December. Those negotiations broke down Saturday night.The musicians rejected the company's offer, saying the financially diminished company doesn't guarantee work or pay. Steel said the company, facing "economic constraints," can only afford to pay people "for the work that they do."Under a contract management proposed in early December, the musicians' average annual income would drop from about $40,000 to as little as $5,000 for two productions. For decades, musicians were guaranteed at least 22 weeks' work.City Opera's troubles started about a decade ago with multimillion-dollar deficits, followed by the appointment of Belgian director Gerard Mortier as general manager and artistic director, effective as of the 2009-2010 season. Accustomed to staging expensive, cutting-edge extravaganzas in Europe, he insisted that City Opera's theater be renovated, forcing the company to go dark for the 2008-2009 season, with only six unstaged performances elsewhere.The economy's free-fall was a last straw for the 69-year-old company that former NY Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia dubbed "the people's opera."Income from ticket sales during the dark season plunged to about $186,000, down from $12 million. And the company raided its endowment to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.Mortier resigned from his position about six months before he was officially to start, on grounds that the operating budget had dwindled."We're heartbroken, but we cannot save the company," said Kruvand, the bass player.She said City Opera has been "unable to sell tickets or attract donors" mostly because Steel abandoned the company's longtime practice of staging surefire operas along with pioneering new works. Recently, the company has presented mostly 20th-century operas that are a box office challenge.Kruvand noted that the current general manager still makes more than $300,000 after a 10 percent pay cut, while the musicians face about a 90 percent cut in earnings."We don't feel George Steel is capable of running an opera company," said Kruvand, adding that when the star soprano Sills became general manager in the 1980s, she led a company "that was a platform for nurturing careers."Speaking for Steel, Heller said that the unions "have repeatedly vilified George."But the negotiating process is "not about any one person," she said. "This is about whether the unions will finally recognize that the City Opera needs to make fundamental changes in the way it operates so that it only pays people for work they perform."Gordon, the union leader, called the latest labor impasse "City Opera's death."Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. By Verena Dobnik January 9, 2012 NY (AP) A bitter contract dispute has led to a lockout of musicians at the NY City Opera, a possible "death knell" for a company that's nurtured such singers as Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills.On Sunday, hours after talks broke down, the cash-strapped company canceled Monday rehearsals for a Feb. 12 opening production of Verdi's "La Traviata" in Brooklyn."This is a very sad day for what once was a spectacular cultural icon and for the people who performed its music," said Alan Gordon, national executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists representing the chorus, stage directors and principal singers.Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians represents the orchestra. Both unions have been without a contract since the spring.Gail Kruvand, chairwoman of the orchestra union's negotiating committee and its assistant principal bass player, said union members "made a good-faith effort to say that, yes, we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of ensuring that the grand tradition of the City Opera lives on."But she said the company's rejection of union proposals could be "the death knell for one of NY's cultural treasures."City Opera is now operating on a shoestring, offering orchestra and chorus members minimum fees for an already abbreviated season. City Opera moved out of its longtime home at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts last year, citing financial troubles, and cut back its usual schedule of 12 to 16 operas per season, with a peak of about 130 performances.In a statement, the company said it had "no choice but to lock out" union members because they rejected the company's economic offer and had threatened to strike when performances began, according to a statement released Sunday. Both labor unions have passed strike-authorization votes.City Opera General Manager George Steel said his company couldn't enter rehearsals with a musician strike looming for performances scheduled in February at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, one of the various venues around NY booked for 16 shows of four productions.However, "we have no intention of hiring replacement workers," company spokeswoman Risa Heller said. She didn't know whether that meant the season wouldn't open next month.The opera and the unions have been in talks with Allison Beck, deputy director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, since mid-December. Those negotiations broke down Saturday night.The musicians rejected the company's offer, saying the financially diminished company doesn't guarantee work or pay. Steel said the company, facing "economic constraints," can only afford to pay people "for the work that they do."Under a contract management proposed in early December, the musicians' average annual income would drop from about $40,000 to as little as $5,000 for two productions. For decades, musicians were guaranteed at least 22 weeks' work.City Opera's troubles started about a decade ago with multimillion-dollar deficits, followed by the appointment of Belgian director Gerard Mortier as general manager and artistic director, effective as of the 2009-2010 season. Accustomed to staging expensive, cutting-edge extravaganzas in Europe, he insisted that City Opera's theater be renovated, forcing the company to go dark for the 2008-2009 season, with only six unstaged performances elsewhere.The economy's free-fall was a last straw for the 69-year-old company that former NY Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia dubbed "the people's opera."Income from ticket sales during the dark season plunged to about $186,000, down from $12 million. And the company raided its endowment to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.Mortier resigned from his position about six months before he was officially to start, on grounds that the operating budget had dwindled."We're heartbroken, but we cannot save the company," said Kruvand, the bass player.She said City Opera has been "unable to sell tickets or attract donors" mostly because Steel abandoned the company's longtime practice of staging surefire operas along with pioneering new works. Recently, the company has presented mostly 20th-century operas that are a box office challenge.Kruvand noted that the current general manager still makes more than $300,000 after a 10 percent pay cut, while the musicians face about a 90 percent cut in earnings."We don't feel George Steel is capable of running an opera company," said Kruvand, adding that when the star soprano Sills became general manager in the 1980s, she led a company "that was a platform for nurturing careers."Speaking for Steel, Heller said that the unions "have repeatedly vilified George."But the negotiating process is "not about any one person," she said. "This is about whether the unions will finally recognize that the City Opera needs to make fundamental changes in the way it operates so that it only pays people for work they perform."Gordon, the union leader, called the latest labor impasse "City Opera's death."Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Report: True Blood's Evan Rachel Wood Engaged to Billy Elliot Star

Evan Rachel Wood and Jamie Bell Evan Rachel Wood, recognized for playing Vampire Full Sophie-Anne Leclerq on HBO's True Blood stream, is giving the whole engagement factor another try. The actress looks like it's engaged to British actor Jamie Bell, according to Us Weekly. Evan Rachel Wood: I date both males and girls Wood, 24, and Bell, 25, have known each other since 2005 after they met shooting Eco-friendly Day's "Wake Me Up When September Finishes" music video. Wood was engaged once before to shock rocker Marilyn Manson but referred to as it well this season, and she and Bell came back together. Wood was spotted getting a leading to ring on her behalf account finger late Saturday evening in Hollywood. Bell is much better recognized for playing the title role inside the Irish dance movie Billy Elliot. He's also came out in King Kong and voices charge character inside the Adventures of Tintin, presently in theaters.

Tom Sturdy talks playing Al Capone

Tom Sturdy has spoken towards the Daily Mail's Baz Bamigboye about his approaching role as Al Capone in Cicero.Sturdy will have the infamous gangster after he's finished shooting Mad Max: Fury Road.He told Bamigboye: "I have been dealing with Warner Bros, watching their gangster films - those with James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson," naming The Scared Forest, The General Public Enemy and Little Caesar as good examples."It's interesting to obtain them, and a little of Capone, in to the blood stream... The concept is not to remake individuals films but to obtain a flavour of these once we explore Capone's career like a racketeer."Around the status from the movie (which is anticpated to be directed by Harry Potter's David Yates), Sturdy added: "The concept right now is to do a trilogy of films, but there is nothing set. Everybody is simply speaking and exploring."Tom Sturdy will next be observed in What This Means Is War, before showing up as Bane at nighttime Dark night Increases (you might have heard us mention that certain before).

12 New Year's Resolutions for 2012 Moviegoers

As a year for moviegoing, 2011 certainly had its irritations. Now that the calendar has given us a clean slate, it's time to set our resolutions for making 2012 a better year on the big screen. Of course, we'd like to get Hollywood to make its own resolutions (like, say, stop plundering the '80s for remake ideas that end up trashing the movies many of us loved as kids), but we cannot improve others, only ourselves. So, as moviegoers, let's all resolve in 2012 to follow the 12 pledges on the list below. (And feel free to add others in the comments.) • I will stop paying good money to watch 3D movies that were not filmed in 3D, but just hastily retrofitted in order to boost ticket prices. (I may make an exception for the 'Titanic' re-release, since James Cameron can probably be trusted not to do a half-assed job in this department.) • I will shut off my phone during the movie. I won't annoy other patrons with my clicking thumbs, my conversations, or the competing glow of my own screen. For two hours, I'll shut off my link to the outside world and allow myself to get lost in the story -- and allow others to do the same. • I will leave small children at home. I won't disturb others -- or traumatize my own kids -- by allowing 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo' to be their babysitter. • I will complain to the theater manager when the projection is too dim or too fuzzy, or when the sound isn't right. I understand that theaters won't have an incentive to maintain high standards of presentation, even on costly new digital projectors, unless customers complain en masse when we don't get what we're paying for. • I will support local movie theaters that do maintain quality presentation standards, offer good snacking or dining options, and program the kind of movies and non-movie fare that I like. • I will notice that there are more movies coming out this year besides 'The Hunger Games,' the final 'Twilight,' and the first 'Hobbit.' Yeah, I'll probably go see all of these, but I will also look past the hype and keep an eye out for other potentially interesting movies. • I won't assume that everyone who hates a movie I like is a philistine, or that everyone who likes a movie I hate is an elitist snob. And I won't flame people who disagree with me about a movie on the Internet. • I will find a movie critic whose tastes generally match mine, or one whose tastes almost never match mine. Either way, reading that critic's reviews will prove a more reliable barometer for whether I'll love or hate a movie than the split-the-difference scores I find at movie poll sites like Rotten Tomatoes or Flixster. And I will encourage the outlet that employs that critic to keep him or her on staff and not replace them with someone generic or syndicated. • I will not limit my movie diet to escapism. I will occasionally go see a movie that makes me think, shows me something unfamiliar, challenges my preconceptions instead of reassuring and comforting me, or at least requires that I read subtitles. • Conversely, I won't assume that, just because a movie generated buzz at Sundance or Toronto, it has artistic merit. For every 'Martha Marcy May Marlene,' there's bound to be a 'happythankyoumoreplease.' Caveat emptor. • I will occasionally watch a movie that was made before I was born, especially if I can see it in a theater. I will not dismiss a movie as quaint just because it's old or in black-and-white. • I will not pretend that watching a widescreen, visually sumptuous epic on an iPad or smartphone is any substitute for the immersive experience of watching it on the big screen. [Photos: Getty Images (3D audience), Lionsgate ('The Hunger Games')] 5 Reasons Why You Aren't Going to the Movies See All Moviefone Galleries » Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook Follow Gary Susman on Twitter: @garysusman