Entertainment

Disney songwriting legend Richard M. Sherman, remembered for Mary Poppins and “It’s a Small World,” among many others, has died at 95 years old, the Walt Disney Company announced Saturday.

Sherman died Saturday due to an age-related illness at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills, the company said.

One half of the Academy Award-winning duo with his brother, the late Robert B. Sherman, Richard is remembered as a “prolific composer-lyricist” and a “key member of Walt Disney’s inner circle of creative talents,” the company said in a press release.

“Richard Sherman was the embodiment of what it means to be a Disney Legend, creating along with his brother Robert the beloved classics that have become a cherished part of the soundtrack of our lives,” said Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company.

“We are forever grateful for the mark Richard left on the world, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family,” Iger added.

The Sherman Brothers won two Academy Awards for their stylings in the 1964 classic film, Mary Poppins — Best Score: Substantially Original and Best Original Song for “Chim Chim Cher-ee.”

The brothers were inducted as Disney Legends in 1990.

Richard’s 65-year career was distinguished with nine Academy Award nominations, three Grammy Awards and 24 gold and platinum albums.

Disney theme park visitors around the world know Sherman for his cherished songs “It’s a Small World,” “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” and “The Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room.”

The Sherman Brothers’ discography is also featured in several beloved films including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Charlotte’s Web and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Robert B. Sherman died at 85 years old in March 2012.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company to ABC News.

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Attorneys for former President Donald Trump have filed a cease-and-desist to try to block the controversial film The Apprentice — which stars Sebastian Stan as a young Donald — from seeing theaters.

The Hollywood Reporter says the filmmakers behind the project, which recently debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and has yet to secure theatrical distribution in the U.S., call it a “fair and balanced” portrayal of Trump in the 1970s and in his real-estate mogul days of the ’80s.

According to various outlets, one scene reportedly shows Trump raping his former wife, the late Ivana, played by Borat 2’s Maria Bakalova.

“The Movie presents itself as a factual biography of Mr. Trump, yet nothing could be further from the truth,” the trade quotes the letter sent to director Ali Abbasi and screenwriter Gabriel Sherman, the latter of whom is accused of making “racist, Marxist, and otherwise disparaging statements against President Trump in 2018.”

The three-page letter calls the film “a concoction of lies that repeatedly defames President Trump and constitutes direct foreign interference in America’s elections,” adding, “If you do not immediately cease and desist all distribution and marketing of this libelous farce, we will be forced to pursue all appropriate legal remedies.”

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Stranger Things have happened: Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi, the son of Jon Bon Jovi, married in secret over the weekend of May 18, People magazine has learned.

It’s not clear where the nuptials took place. In March, Brown’s Stranger Things co-star Matthew Modine told Access Hollywood that he would officiate the marriage.

Brown and Bongiovi first connected on Instagram and started dating in 2021, according to People. They got engaged in April 2023.

Jake is the second of Bon Jovi’s sons to get married in May. People previously reported that Jesse Bongiovi, co-founder of the popular wine brand Hampton Water, wed his girlfriend, Jesse Light — yes, they’re both named Jesse — on May 7 in Las Vegas at the same chapel where Jon and his wife, Dorothea, married in 1989.

Plus, Jon’s daughter Stefanie is apparently preparing to walk down the aisle. Jon told Access Hollywood in January that he’d written what he called “the wedding song of the next 100 years” for her — it’s called “Kiss the Bride” and is on the band’s upcoming album, Forever.

Regarding Millie and Jake, Jon told Access, “We’re really madly in love with both of them because they get the idea that they’re in this together and we support it fully.”

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Critics were not kind to Jennifer Lopez‘s new Netflix sci-fi movie, Atlas, but her heart was in the right place while making it, co-star Sterling K. Brown reveals.

Recent Oscar nominee Brown plays Col. Banks in the thriller, and he tells Entertainment Weekly that while Lopez’s Atlas Shepherd learns to rely on Smith, a friendly AI inside her lifesaving robotic battle suit, the voice she sometimes heard while filming belonged to her husband, Ben Affleck.

“Every once in a while, Ben would read the lines for Smith,” Brown says. “And I think the newlyweds, still very much in love, I think she just wanted to hear his voice. And so sometimes, the reactions that you got from her were because she was listening to her husband’s voice.”

The voice of Smith was ultimately provided by actor Gregory James Cohan for the finished film.

Incidentally, Brown’s use of “still” in his sentence will likely be analyzed in a new light thanks to rumors that Ben and Jen are on the rocks, again.

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FX has dropped an appetizer for the anticipated third season of its everything-winning smash The Bear. 

In the frenetic teaser highlighting the show’s three Emmy-winning stars, Jeremy Allen White‘s Carmy and Ayo Edebiri‘s Sydney get ready for showtime in the newly rehabbed kitchen of Carmy’s fine dining establishment that bears the show’s name.

“Feel good?” he asks as Sydney smooths her new, branded apron. “You feel good?” she asks in reply. 

“Going to see,” Carmy says nervously.

For his part, Ebon Moss-Bachrach‘s Richie is ready, too, looking sharp in the role he trained for in season 2, acting as host. “We’re open,” he tells them.

Seconds after elegant menus are placed and a gorgeous-looking sliver of wagyu beef is plated, things go sideways: Carmy dumps a subpar meal in the trash, another meal is dashed to the floor by a swinging door and the gang quickly gets “in the weeds,” to use an industry expression. 

“I’m getting drilled out there,” Richie yells inside the kitchen, as he tries to calm impatient patrons who are waiting for their food. 

Moments later, he and Carmy are shown tussling, with Lionel Boyce‘s pastry chef Marcus trying to break them up.

“This is a dysfunctional kitchen,” Sydney gripes, to which Carmy and Richie shout in unison, “Show me a functional one.” 

All 10 episodes of The Bear‘s third season drop on Hulu on June 27.

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga revved up $3.5 million in Thursday night preview screenings, Deadline is reporting.

The trade is projecting the George Miller film’s take to be $40 million when the checkered flag is waved at the end of the Memorial Day weekend.

Both the sneaks and the projection are slightly behind the 2015 opening of Mad Max: Fury Road, though Furiosa‘s prospects are looking good, with a Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score of 95% so far. 

Fury Road, starring Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron, ended up with a worldwide take of more than $379 million; it was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, winning six. 

Furiosa has Anya Taylor-Joy playing the younger version of Theron’s character from that film. 

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Oscar-nominated American Fiction actor Jeffrey Wright has joined HBO’s The Last of Us in a role he’s already quite familiar with. 

Wright played Isaac, a former Marine who became a leader in the Washington Liberation Front resistance group in the sequel to the post-apocalyptic video game on which the hit show is based — and that’s who he’ll be playing opposite Pedro Pascal‘s Joel and Bella Ramsey‘s Ellie in the drama, ABC Audio has confirmed. 

HBO describes the character as “the quietly powerful leader of a large militia group who sought liberty but instead has become mired in an endless war against a surprisingly resourceful enemy.”

The second season of the show will also feature Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Spencer Lord as Owen and Danny Ramirez as Manny, with Schitt’s Creek Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara also guesting.

The show returns in 2025.

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The opening night performance of Romeo & Juliet, starring Tom Holland, took place Thursday night, with Zendaya in attendance as his real-life romantic interest.

She arrived at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre wearing a sparkling black Vivienne Westwood gown, her hair in a bun, and was captured leaving with Tom after the show, which received a standing ovation.

The new iteration of Romeo & Juliet stars Tom as Romeo and Francesca Amewudah-Rivers as Juliet, which resulted in racial abuse over Francesca’s role.

“Following the announcement of our Romeo & Juliet cast, there has been a barrage of deplorable racial abuse online directed towards a member of our company. THIS MUST STOP,” The Jamie Lloyd Company said in April. “We are working with a remarkable group of artists. We insist that they are free to create work without facing online harassment.”

“We will continue to support and protect everyone in our company at all costs,” the statement continued. “Any abuse will not be tolerated and will be reported. Bullying and harassment have no place, in our industry or in our wider communities.”

Freema Agyeman, Michael Balogun, Tomiwa Edun, Mia Jerome, Daniel Quinn-Toye and Ray Sesay are also in the cast for Romeo & Juliet, which only runs for 12 weeks.

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George Lucas is at the Cannes Film Festival to receive an honorary Palme d’Or on Saturday, and at a press event a day prior, he answered some criticisms about his six Star Wars films.

“They would say, ‘It’s all white men,'” the 80-year-old said, according to Variety.

“Most of the people are aliens!” he corrected. “The idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green or whatever … all people are equal.”

As for casting, Lucas explained, “In the first one, there were a few Tunisians who were dark, and in the second one I had Billy [Dee] Williams, and the [prequels], which they were also criticizing, I had Sam Jackson. He … was one of the top Jedi.”

Only droids faced discrimination in his movies, he said.

“That was a way of saying … people are always discriminating against something and sooner or later, that’s what’s going to happen,” Lucas said. “I mean, we’re already starting with AI, saying, ‘Well, we can’t trust those robots.'”

And as for claims the Star Wars sequels — which he wasn’t a part of — broke ground with strong Star Wars heroines, Lucas said, “What do you think Princess Leia was? She’s the head of the Rebellion. She’s the one that’s taking this young kid who doesn’t know anything and this boisterous, I-know-everything guy … and trying to save the Rebellion with these clowns. … And it’s the same thing with Queen Amidala [from the prequels].”

Lucas continued, “You can’t just put a woman in pants and expect her to be a hero. They can wear dresses, they can wear whatever they want. It’s their brains and their ability to think and plan and be logistical. That’s what the hero is.”

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Have no fear, your reality roundup is here! Here’s a look at what happened in the world of reality television this week:

The Bachelor (ABC)
Former Bachelor Colton Underwood is expecting his first child with his husband, Jordan C. Brown. The couple will welcome their baby via surrogate in early October. “It’s been such an incredible experience for us to go through this together, and I cannot wait to watch Jordan become a dad,” Underwood told People. The news comes right after the married couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary on May 13.

The Kardashians (Hulu)
In the season 5 premiere of The Kardashians, Kourtney Kardashian opened up about her emergency fetal surgery in September 2023. During a planned home scan, a doctor advised her to see a specialist. Kourtney shared she had to go in for operation on the baby the morning after her appointments. “The timing of it was miraculous. That saved everything,” Kourtney said. “My doctor’s like, ‘There’s nothing that you did wrong. It’s not age-related. It’s just a super rare thing that happened.'”

The Masked Singer (Fox)
Goldfish won season 11 of The Masked Singer, but who was it underneath the costume? Spoiler alert: it was none other than actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens. She may have won, but she says her friends and fans knew it was her. In fact, one famous friend figured it out quickly. “Rita [Ora] guessed it was me straight from the jump,” Hudgens said. “But she’s also my friend. And we saw each other a few days before the first episode!”

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