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    Kenneth Colley, 87, ‘Star Wars’ Actor With a Commanding Presence, Dies

    A fixture onscreen and onstage, he became a fan favorite as Darth Vader’s ally, Admiral Piett, in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.”Kenneth Colley, the British character actor whose stone-cold portrayal of Adm. Firmus Piett, Darth Vader’s trusted officer, in the Star Wars film “The Empire Strikes Back” turned him into a fan favorite and earned him a call back for “Return of the Jedi,” died on June 30 in Ashford, England. He was 87.His agent, Julian Owen, said in a statement that he died in a hospital from complications of pneumonia after contracting Covid-19.Mr. Colley became a memorable screen presence for international audiences who could recognize his dour, stony face even if they didn’t know his name. A versatile supporting actor, he was often tapped to play stern detectives, military men and, on multiple occasions, Adolf Hitler, and had been active for nearly two decades onstage and onscreen before his appearance in “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980).In a 2014 interview, he recalled that when he walked into an office to meet Irvin Kershner, the director of “The Empire Strikes Back,” Mr. Kershner told him he was looking for “someone that would frighten Adolf Hitler.” Mr. Colley, with his gaunt face and steely eyes, fit the bill. Admiral Piett is appointed top commander of the Imperial fleet after his superior is killed by Darth Vader (whose physical presence is played by David Prowse) for his poor judgment. Mr. Colley often said that he saw Admiral Piett as a shrewd operator who followed orders for the sake of survival in Darth Vader’s world. In his interpretation of the character, he reinforced the severity and tension felt in the camp as the Rebel alliance evades capture.The film grossed more than $200 million in its original release, according to the site Box Office Mojo, with Admiral Piett emerging as an unexpected crowd pleaser.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    How TV Shows Like ‘The X-Files’ Trained Us to Be Conspiracy Theorists

    Pop culture didn’t create the real-world mythologies roiling our politics, but it helped write the scripts“The X-Files,” the alien-invasion conspiracy thriller, had one of TV’s most memorable taglines: “The Truth Is Out There.” It was both a promise and a tease.Read one way, it’s a slogan of hope: The truth has been hidden from you, but you will find it. Read another way, it’s a taunt: The truth is always out there, a mirage, coming tantalizingly close but then slipping through your fingers, goading you to press further.This dynamic was, of course, a boon for a TV series that unfolded at length, over hundreds of episodes, movies and revivals. It is also part of the lure of conspiracist thinking in general.The promise of elusive answers implores you to plunge deeper, deeper, into a thriller of your own, one that you both consume and help construct. It says that the absence of answers is itself a kind of evidence. Proof is proof and so is the lack of proof. All you need to do is follow one more lead, click one more link, chasing your goal like an exotic bird, following its call of truth, truth, truth.Conspiracy-based TV shows did not invent the idea of plots and cabals. As Richard Hofstadter wrote in the 1964 essay “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” panics about the Masons, the Illuminati and more bedeviled public life long before the tube. Nor did TV create the QAnon mythology or the suspicions about the Jeffrey Epstein files that are now roiling the very MAGA movement that coalesced around these and other obsessions.The 1960s TV series “The Prisoner,” created by and starring Patrick McGoohan, surfaced at a time when cultural power was consolidating, also breeding countercultural suspicion. Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix, via Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Sandra Oh Knows What’s Great About Middle Age

    During the Los Angeles fires in January, the actor Sandra Oh, like many of her neighbors, had to make a decision: What would she pack in her car if she had to evacuate? Her first thoughts were about her journals. “There’s a lot of them,” she told me when we spoke last month onstage at the Tribeca Festival, “and I thought: I can’t take them all! Do I take the first ones? Do I take the past 10 years? It just makes you think, What are the things that are very, very important to you?”Oh has kept diaries since she was a young girl growing up as the daughter of Korean immigrants in Canada. She wrote about her big feelings as a little kid, the discrimination she faced when she landed in Hollywood in her early 20s, the ups and downs of her 10 years playing Dr. Cristina Yang on “Grey’s Anatomy” and her thoughts around her more recent roles, like the intelligence agent Eve Polastri in “Killing Eve.” The diaries, she once wrote, are a place where she is “putting together all the clues of my life.”That life has been a trailblazing one. None of the characters Oh is most famous for were originally written for an Asian actor, including her upcoming stint as Olivia in Shakespeare in the Park’s “Twelfth Night, ” which opens in August in New York City. Now in her 50s, she is reflecting on what it took to get where she is and how she’s still growing in this “ rich middle” of her life.It is rare to be able to see a person processing the events in her life even as they are still happening. So it was wonderful when, onstage at Tribeca, Oh read from her diaries for the first time publicly. Then we spoke again, this time not in front of an audience.Listen to the Conversation With Sandra OhThe actress discusses discrimination in Hollywood, what she’s learned about herself in her 50s and her iconic role on “Grey’s Anatomy.”Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | iHeart | NYT Audio AppWe’re going to be reading from some of your journals. I want to start with an excerpt from a momentous day in your career: your last day on “Grey’s Anatomy,” which you were on for 10 seasons. Ten seasons. It was amazing.April 25th, 2014. Yesterday was my very last day of work on Grey’s Anatomy. It was joyous. I waited for my call time. I felt excited and jumpy to get to work. I had my hug from Laura and my first-last makeup from Norm. Desiree and I danced to Michael Jackson in the trailer. It was fun. I passed everything out and wrote some more cards. Grabbed a lousy lunch at the screening. Took lots of pictures. Lots of hugs. Then after lunch they surprised me with the ceremony-thingy for me. Tony and Joan — cake sheet and cider. Very lousy and cheap and wonderful.I’m interested in you saying that it was joyous. This was the end of the biggest thing in your career. Why were you so happy? I’m still figuring out what that decade of my life was. Not everyone gets to know that they’re leaving a show. I was in a very, very fortuitous position, and I took advantage of it fully, meaning that I wanted to leave well. And I think that for me, one of the proudest things that I have in my life is how I left the show. I was as conscious as possible with all the crew members and actually even with the public. It was basically to help people say goodbye as I was saying goodbye. More

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    Taye Diggs Can’t Resist a Good Rom-Com

    “There is the element of love, which can be so serious and so complicated, but when you add the dynamic of humor, it makes it so much more real and exciting and fun to watch.”Taye Diggs got his big break when he played the landlord Benny in the original Broadway cast of “Rent,” back in 1996, and he credits the stage for creating, as he put it, “who I am and why I am who I am.” Problem is, live performance had been taking a back seat in his life.“Once one is lucky enough to cross over to film and TV, it’s easy to get kind of stuck and become an audience member when it comes to theater, and then fear starts to set in,” Diggs said. “I found myself in the audience wondering how these actors onstage memorized all their lines. That’s when I started to get scared.”Not scared enough to turn down the opportunity to step into “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” though — Diggs is currently in rehearsals for the show, in which he’ll play the scheming, wealthy Duke of Monroth starting Tuesday and through Sept. 28.Diggs’s presence on New York stages has been sporadic in the decades since “Rent.” One reason is that he has been living in Los Angeles; the other is why he’s in California.His screen career took off a couple of years after “Rent,” when he helped Angela Bassett track down her mojo in his film debut, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.” This led to lead roles in the beloved rom-coms “Brown Sugar” and “The Best Man.” Diggs has also been a steady presence on television, with lengthy runs on “Private Practice” and “All American.”But now he’s putting his summer to good use by returning to Broadway, his first appearance there since a stint in “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” in 2015. It helped that he’s a fan of “Moulin Rouge,” having seen the show, he said, about 10 times. And the Duke is a juicy character.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    A Brief History of CBS’s Late-Night Eras

    With the hosts Merv Griffin, Pat Sajak, David Letterman and Stephen Colbert, CBS has taken many runs at late-night TV. Some were more successful than others.For more than five decades, families across the United States have welcomed a slate of CBS late-night shows into their living rooms, bedrooms and — thanks to smartphones and tablets — even bathrooms.But CBS said on Thursday that it was getting out of the late-night television business by canceling “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” when the host’s contract ends in May. Executives at the network said in a joint statement that the decision was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”(In March, the network canceled “After Midnight,” a late-night comedy panel game show hosted by Taylor Tomlinson.)During Thursday’s taping of “The Late Show,” when Colbert announced the news, he said that he empathized with the boos from the audience and that he had the pleasure of working on the show for the past 10 years.“And let me tell you, it is a fantastic job,” he said. “I wish somebody else was getting it.”Here is a brief history of CBS’s late-night television eras.‘The Merv Griffin Show’ (1969-72)The host of “The Merv Griffin Show” with Louise Lasser, left, and Liza Minnelli in 1971.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Shannon Sharpe Settles Lawsuit Accusing Him of Rape

    A lawyer for the woman, who had sought $50 million in damages, said both sides acknowledged a “consensual and tumultuous relationship.”Shannon Sharpe, the podcast host, sports media personality and former N.F.L. star who was accused of rape by a former sexual partner, has settled her lawsuit for undisclosed terms, according to the woman’s lawyer.The lawyer, Tony Buzbee, said on social media on Thursday that both parties agreed that the sexual relationship was consensual, and that the lawsuit would be dismissed.The woman, who filed the complaint anonymously, had sought $50 million in damages. Mr. Sharpe’s lawyer has said that before the lawsuit was filed, he had discussed offering her at least $10 million.“Both sides acknowledge a long-term consensual and tumultuous relationship,” Mr. Buzbee said in a statement. “After protracted and respectful negotiations, I’m pleased to announce that we have reached a mutually agreed upon resolution. All matters have now been addressed satisfactorily, and the matter is closed.”Mr. Buzbee did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Mr. Sharpe, 56, declined to comment.The woman, who is described as being in her early 20s, filed a lawsuit in April claiming that Mr. Sharpe had raped her in her apartment on two recent occasions. Lanny Davis, a lawyer who was representing Mr. Sharpe at the time, denied the allegations and released graphic text messages that he said depicted a “consensual, adult relationship that included role-playing, sexual language, and fantasy scenarios explicitly requested” by the woman, whom he named.Mr. Sharpe won three Super Bowls as a tight end with the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens and has become a media personality since his retirement after the 2003 season. His interview-based podcast “Club Shay Shay” grew in popularity after an episode last year with the comedian Katt Williams, and he is also a commentator on “First Take,” ESPN’s morning debate show.But Mr. Sharpe has not appeared on ESPN since April, when he announced he would step back until the start of the N.F.L. preseason to deal with what he called “false and disruptive allegations.” An ESPN spokesman declined to comment regarding Mr. Sharpe’s status.Throughout the legal process, Mr. Sharpe continued to host “Club Shay Shay” and his secondary podcast, “Nightcap.” More

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    Why Is Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Getting Canceled?

    Maybe the “Late Show” decision is purely financial. But after Paramount’s cave over “60 Minutes,” it is hard to trust.In 2005, on his satire “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert coined the term “truthiness,” meaning a statement that was not actually true but represented a reality that the speaker wished to inhabit.In 2015, Colbert replaced David Letterman on CBS’s “Late Show,” which under him became one of the biggest and most prolific launchers of satirically guided missiles during the Trump era. In 2024, President Trump — who has repeatedly bemoaned his late-night coverage — said CBS “should terminate his contract.”Now, in 2025, CBS has said that it is canceling Colbert’s show at the end of its season, next May. Executives stressed, in the announcement, that the cut was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”Is that the truth, or merely truthy?There is good reason that CBS would need to offer that assurance. The network’s parent company, Paramount, just this month settled a lawsuit from President Trump, over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, for $16 million. At the same time, Paramount was hoping to close a multibillion-dollar merger with the company Skydance, which required the approval of the Trump administration.Many legal experts said the deal was an unnecessary concession in a frivolous case. At minimum it undermined one of TV journalism’s most accomplished independent voices. Some people called it “a big, fat bribe” — actually, those were Colbert’s words, in a blistering monologue a few days ago, which also mentioned speculation that CBS’s future owners might try to rein him in.Talk show hosts have bitten the hand that signs the contracts before; Letterman needled NBC and its then-parent, General Electric. But back then, the issues did not involve conflicts with a president willing to pull any necessary levers to punish and influence media outlets.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Generative A.I. Destroys a Building in Its Netflix Debut

    The streaming company said it used the technology onscreen for the first time in an Argentine science fiction show.To make a building collapse in Buenos Aires, Netflix creators turned to generative artificial intelligence for the first time onscreen.Ted Sarandos, one of Netflix’s chief executives, said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call on Thursday that the technology was a strong tool for creators and was accompanied by “real people doing real work.”“We remain convinced that A.I. represents an incredible opportunity to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper,” Sarandos said.But for “The Eternaut,” an Argentine show that incorporated the A.I. work, the decision also came with significant savings.The cost of creating a similar scene with traditional visual effects would not have been feasible within the show’s budget, Sarandos said. The use of A.I., he said, allowed creators to complete the scene 10 times as quickly.“The Eternaut,” a six-episode series adapted from a science fiction comic, debuted on April 30. In the series, the rare snow descending on Buenos Aires turns out to be fatal, killing anyone who comes into contact with the snowflakes. One survivor becomes determined to battle this threat, and others.The use of A.I. in movie and television production was a main concern in Hollywood in 2023, when SAG-AFTRA, the union representing tens of thousands of actors, went on strike for 118 days. The contract it reached included a specific provision about the use of A.I., guaranteeing that the technology would not be used to create digital replicas of actors’ likeness without compensation or approval.While “The Eternaut” is the first use of generative A.I. onscreen, Netflix is also considering how to integrate the technology into other areas like member experience. Gregory Peters, one of the company’s chief executives, said during the earnings call that there was “tremendous room and opportunity” for the use of new generative technology in personalization and recommendations.Netflix exceeded Wall Street’s forecasts for the second quarter, earning $11.1 billion in revenue and $3.1 billion in net income.The most-watched film during that period was “Back in Action” starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx, and the British drama “Adolescence” was the most-watched television show. More