Actor Dick Anthony Williams dies

Actor Dick Anthony Williams, who drew Tony nominations for "Black Picture Show" and "What the Wine-Sellers Buy" in the 1970s and was noted for his portrayals of Malcolm X both onstage and on television, died Thursday, Feb. 16, in Van Nuys, Calif. He was 77. Over the course of four years beginning in 1972, Williams starred on Broadway in five shows, including "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death," "We Interrupt This Program" and "The Poison Tree." He was a co-founder of the New Federal Theater in NY. Later he played Malcolm X onstage in a number of productions of Jeff Stetson's play "The Meeting" -- after having played the African-American leader in the 1978 NBC miniseries "King," about Martin Luther King Jr. (He also reprised the role when "The Meeting" was presented on PBS in 1989.) His theater work also included directing and starring in "Big Time Buck White" in a production staged in Watts before the show's move to NY. In the 1970s Williams appeared in supporting roles in films such as "Slaughter's Big Rip-Off" and "Five on the Black Hand Side"; film credits also included "Dog Day Afternoon," "The Jerk," "The Star Chamber," "Gardens of Stone," "Mo' Better Blues," "Edward Scissorhands" and "The Rapture," and he continued to do bigscreen work into the 2000s. On the smallscreen he was a steady presence from his 1968 debut on "Dragnet" until his 2002 appearance on two episodes of "The Shield" as the Rev. Neal Cook. In between he recurred on ABC's "Our Family Honor" in 1985-86; was a regular on the network's series "Heart of the City" in 1986 and "Homefront" in 1991; and guested on shows including "Nanny and the Professor," "Ironside," "Starsky and Hutch," "The Rockford Files," "The Jeffersons," "Lou Grant," "L.A. Law," "Roc," "The X-Files," "Law and Order," "Chicago Hope" and "NYPD Blue." He was among the stars of the made-for-PBS play "Freeman," directed by Lloyd Richards and appeared in Harriet Tubman telepic "A Woman Called Moses." Born in Chicago, Williams took up acting in college. Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com

Keanu Reeves to provide masterclass in Hong Kong

BEIJING -- Coordinators are preparing for any record quantity of participants at Filmart, the Hong Kong Film and tv Market, while Keanu Reeves can give an expert class on film in the Hong Kong Film Festival, which runs simultaneously.The big event will probably attract considerable interest after landmass China, that is strongly related to the biz in Hong Kong, decided to considerably increase market access for U.S. movies to solve a superb trade dispute, compelling about a boom in Hollywood-China relations.Filmart runs March 19 through 22 in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, and can feature some 640 participants from nearly 30 nations.The U.S.' Independent Film and television Alliance will show a number of American shingles within the U.S. pavilion.The very first time you will see pavilions for participants from Poultry and Mexico, along with other pavilions includes Unifrance and IIe p France, Film Export United kingdom, Kofic and Kocca from Korea, and Unijapan, Okinawa Film Office, Hokkaido Contents Distribution and Jetro from Japan.Filmart will even host pavilions, including Germany, Indonesia, Italia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam."Filmart is Asia's premier film industry event and among the world's top three film marketplaces when it comes to exhibitor amounts. Along with other occasions underneath the expo, we anticipate featuring the greatest annual entertainment event around the world,Inch stated Hong Kong Trade Development Council assistant executive director Raymond Yip.You'll also have workshops on conferences searching at New Media an internet-based distribution, screenwriting for that global market, yet others.Keanu Reeves is going to be guest of recognition in the Jockey Club Cine Academy Master Class on March 18. The actual class will show "Alongside,Inch a documentary created by and including Reeves meeting with filmmakers for example George Lucas, Martin Scorsese and James Cameron, which explores the introduction of digital cinema technology."A talent of his worldwide stature in the Master Class is indeed a encouragement to the youthful individuals to develop their curiosity about film and film culture," stated Roger Garcia, an professional in the festival.The big event is going to be moderated by filmmaker and art connoisseur Yonfan, who's involved with digital restoration of their own films.The occasions all belong to the umbrella from the Entertainment Expo Hong Kong, that will feature nine multimedia occasions, covering film, television, digital entertainment and music.Also incorporated would be the sixth Asian Film Honours, along with the Hong Kong -- Asia Film Financing Forum, the Hong Kong Asian Pop Music Festival, the IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award, Ifva (Incubator for Film & Visual Media in Asia) and also the Digital Visual Effects Summit. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

'Abraham Lincoln subsequently subsequently: Vampire Hunter' Teaser Trailer Loves Axes, Hates Trees

Abraham Lincoln subsequently subsequently driving stakes through vampire hearts and plowing axes through overflowing trees. If there is something relevant for this proven fact that doesn't suit your needs, you have to probably close this short article now. For your relaxation people blood stream-thirsty movie fans, you with thankful to consider the very first "Abraham Lincoln subsequently subsequently: Vampire Hunter" teaser trailer the next, at this time around! Benjamin Master plays Honest Abe, getting a really notable twist: in this particular modified history, Lincoln subsequently subsequently spent just as much time slaying vamps while he did signing documents and addressing individuals from the united states . States. See the incredibly fun "Abraham Lincoln subsequently subsequently" trailer inside the video below.

'Space: 1999' to time-travel a hundred years

"Space: 1999," an legendary seventies British series that was syndicated inside the U.S., continues to be redeveloped by ITV Art galleries America and HDFilms as "Space: 2099." HDFilms prexy Jace Hall is professional creating the project. Hall recently professional produced ABC's "V," another reincarnation from the science-fiction series in the previous decade. "This is often a rare and exciting creative opportunity for anybody associated with storytelling then one that i am honored to obtain,In . Hall mentioned. "Sci-fi can be a effective format in a position to imagining an individuals overuse injury in thought-invoking ways. "When we are indeed re-imagining the franchise and becoming something totally new and strongly related current day audiences, I'm strongly that the couple of from the overall tones set with the original "Space: 1999" tv series represent a fantastic platform to educate yourself regarding options." ITV was the first broadcaster inside the U.K. of "Space: 1999" (which starred American thesps Martin Landau and Barbara Bain), compelling ITV Art galleries Amerca prexy/Boss Paul Buccieri to comment that "after greater than 35 years, we are thrilled being developing a new vision within our much beloved franchise for audiences worldwide." Contact Jon Weisman at jon.weisman@variety.com

ABC gives series pickup to 'Mistresses'

SteinbergABC is already getting a jump on summer 2013 programming plans, giving a series order to an ABC Studios sudser from scribe K.J. Steinberg."Mistresses" revolves around four woman with scandalous love lives who find themselves at the mercy of the relationships they've created. Steinberg penned the pilot and will exec produce with Bob Sertner.Steinberg is already busy at ABC and ABC Studios working on the drama pilot "Gilded Lillys" with Shonda Rhimes. Contact Cynthia Littleton at cynthia.littleton@variety.com

'Idol,' new dramas lift Fox for week

'American Idol''Touch'"The American Idol ShowInch along with a trio of youthful dramas lifted Fox to some primetime rankings victory a week ago inside a frame that saw most of the top shows on competing systems air repeats. While "Idol" is constantly on the track at well below last year's start, still it finished towards the top of the rankings charts for that week. Moreover the internet, "Alcatraz" organized well in the second outing, "Idol" assisted Kiefer Sutherland drama "Touch" open nicely on Wednesday, and "Bones" spinoff "The Finder" hit a higher on Thursday. It had been additionally a large week for "The Large Bang Theory," because the CBS comedy tallied up its best Thursday amounts up to now and again beat "Idol" mind-to-mind in demos. Also, numerous repeats from the show lifted The best spinner's to the peak place in youthful-adult ratings among cablers. Overall, based on Nielsen, Fox brought in grown ups 18-49 (3. rating/8 share) -- well in front of CBS (2./6), NBC (1.8/5), ABC (1.6/4) and Univision (1.3/3). Internet also folded in grown ups 25-54 (3.4/8 to two.8/7 for CBS) while CBS brought as a whole audiences (9.3 million to eight million for Fox). The Wednesday hour of "The American Idol ShowInch was the week's No. 1 show in 18-49 (6.5/18) and total audiences (19.67 million) -- lower 8% from the opening hour 1 week earlier and off 24% in the comparable hour last year. "Idol" brought right into a special preview of "Touch" that carried out well (3.9/10, 12.01m) prior to its March 19 premiere, and "The Finder" discovered its best scores in the three airings (2.8/7, 8.44m), benefiting from drama repeats around the competish. Prison drama "Alcatraz" (3./7, 9.03m) meshed well with "House" (3.1/8, 8.76m), retaining 94% of their 18-49 premiere rating it joins "Not so long ago" and "Terra Nova" because the season's only rookie dramas to earn a demo score of three or greater within their second excursions. Around the weekend, Fox got a large boost Saturday from UFC action (2.4/8, 4.66m), roughly matching the combined demos around the evening for ABC, CBS and NBC. Fox's Sunday selection looked sluggish, using the third week of "Napoleon Dynamite" (2.1/5, 4.42m) softish between "The Simpsons" (2.4/6, 5.03m) and "Family Guy" (3.1/7, 5.92m). CBS walked on Wednesday with "Criminal Minds" (3.7/9, 13.81m) and "CSI" (3.4/9, 14.26m) the second, within the swan-song seg for original cast member Marg Helgenberger, gained the very best amounts for any regular 10 p.m. drama on any internet and evening this year. "The Large Bang Theory" (5.5/16 in 18-49, 16.13m) toppled Fox's "Idol" mind-to-mind (5.5 versus. 4.9 in 18-49 and 6.9 versus. 6. in 25-54), striking its best scores since moving to Thursday. And lead-out laffer "Take advantage of" held steady in the third week (3.5/9, 11.50m) -- many, especially facing "Idol."NBC was quiet until Sunday, once the NFL's Professional Bowl won the evening (4.3/11 in 18-49, 12.50m), though lower year upon year. Earlier, the net's Wednesday comedy hour of "Whitney" (1.4/4, 4.40m) and "Are You Currently There, Chelsea" (1.4/4, 3.80m) dipped further within their third week together, and "Chuck" ended its run Friday having a season high (1.3/4, 4.31m). ABC was paced by "Not so long ago" (3.5/8, 10.91m), Sunday's No. 1 series in demos. Also, "The Bachelor" hit some season levels (2.7/7, 8.30m), and Friday's selection of "Shark Tank" (1.5/5, 5.44m), "Primetime: How Would You React?Inch (1.7/5, 5.17m) and "20/20" (1.5/4, 5.73m) looked good within their second week together. In cable, "Jersey Shoreline" (3.8/10, 6.53m) centered its Thursday hour and rated sixth for that week in 18-49. "Kourtney and Kim Take NY" wrapped its season Sunday with the best scores ever to have an E! series (2.6/6, 4.48m), leading all television in the slot among women 25-54 (3.5/6). It had been a great week for Bravo's "Real Average women," as Monday's Beverly Hillsides edition (1.6/4 in 18-49, 3.03m) was cable's No. 1 show from the evening in females 25-54 (2.5/6). And Sunday's Atlanta version (2.1/5, 3.95m) tallied up the 2nd biggest aud for just about any episode in "RH" history. Discovery again shined on Friday with "Gold Hurry" (1.7/5, 4.24m) leading into "Bering Ocean Gold" (1.4/4, 3.66m), which saw the net's greatest-ranked series launch up to now no shows on tv that evening came more teenagers. ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars" (1.4/4, 3.17m) was the week's No. 1 cable drama in 18-49 on Thursday, CNN's Republican debate came 5.36 million audiences, the net's biggest aud with this election cycle and also the SAG Honours on Sunday came 5.13 million audiences on TNT and The best spinner's, up a little from this past year (5.01m). Contact Ron Kissell at ron.kissell@variety.com

'Chariots of Fire' being modified for stage

'Chariots of Fire'LONDON -- A stage adaptation in the Oscar-winning Olympic-designed pic "Chariots of Fire" leads the 2012 slate at London's off-West Finish Hampstead Theater.Opening just while watching London Olympics with previews beginning May 9, "Chariots of Fire" is modified within the 1981 Enigma Prods. film about two runners facing lower anti-semitism inside the 1924 Olympics. The pic won four Oscars, including best pic and original script for Colin Welland.Modified by rising U.K. scribe Mike Bartlett ("Cock," "Earthquakes employed in londonInch), it's produced by Miriam Buether, lit by Ron Fisher ("Billy Elliot") and helmed by Hampstead a.d. Edward Hall. The expansion may even feature music from Vangelis' Oscar-winning score plus additional music and plans by Jason Carr, Tony-champion for "Sunday neighborhood With George."Incorporated within the London 2012 Festival -- the finale in the Cultural Olympiad -- the theater may even host "DruidMurphy." Billed as "popular tale of Irish emigration spanning 1846-1980," this is often a cycle of three plays by Tom Murphy, "Conversations around the Homecoming," "A Whistle at nighttimeInch and "Famine," completed by Ireland's Druid theater company. Garry Hynes, Tony-winning director of "The Question Filled with Leenane," helms a company of 17 stars over the 3 game game titles.Hall's third season within the helm also sees two world preems inside the studio space. "Blue Heart Mid-day" by Nigel Gearing, can be a comedy about integrity and fame as spoken about having a Jewish songwriter together with a German celebrity beneath the shadow in the 1951 House Not-American Activities Committee. Helmed by Tamara Harvey it runs April 5-May 12. Nick Whitby's "The Complaint" can be a portrait from the lady lodging a complaint and spiraling lower in to a Kafkaesque nightmare that turns murderous. Helmed by Simon Usher, it runs May 17-June 16.The summer season features a co-production with British National Opera in the British-language preem of "Jacob Lenz" by German composer Wolfgang Rihm and Hall's all-male productions of Shakespeare's "Henry V" and "The Winter's Tale" along with his own Propellor theater company. Contact David Benedict at benedictdavid@mac.com