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      Sid Eudy, Wrestler Known as ‘Sid Vicious’ and ‘Sycho Sid,’ Dies at 63

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      The 6-foot-9 wrestling champion faced off against some of the industry’s biggest names, including Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan.Sid Eudy, a professional wrestler known as Sid Justice, Sid Vicious and Sycho Sid, who rose to fame in the 1990s and won multiple championships, died on Monday. He was 63.The cause was cancer, his son Gunnar Eudy wrote on Facebook.Mr. Eudy was one of his generation’s “most imposing and terrifying competitors,” the World Wrestling Entertainment said in a statement. Listed at 6-foot-9 and 317 pounds, he was one of the biggest of what are known in the industry as big men, who often play supporting roles because they don’t perform the high-flying moves that thrill fans.Mr. Eudy was a very big man who became a star in his own right. He headlined Wrestlemania twice and became champion of both the W.W.E., as it was then known, and its 1990s rival, the W.C.W., a rare trifecta.Mr. Eudy first entered the world of wrestling in 1989, when he signed with World Championship Wrestling, then an upstart circuit.Sid Eudy and Hulk Hogan at Madison Square Garden in 1992.Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix, via Getty ImagesIn 1991, Mr. Eudy debuted as Sid Justice in W.W.E., the organization said, as the special guest referee at SummerSlam 1991.Wrestlemania featured Mr. Eudy in its main event twice, in 1992 against Hulk Hogan, and again in 1997, against the Undertaker. Mr. Eudy was both a two-time W.W.F. champion and two-time W.C.W. champion. He was also a two-time U.S.W.A. champion.“One of the most brutal Superstars to ever terrorize W.W.E., the sadistic Sid brought an intensity that few could ever hope to contain,” the organization wrote. “Just ask the litany of ring legends who have incurred his wrath — a hit list that includes Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Bret ‘Hit Man’ Hart and many more.”Sidney Raymond Eudy was born in West Memphis, Ark., on Dec. 16, 1960. He is survived by his wife, Sabrina Estes Eudy, his sons Frank and Gunnar, as well as his grandchildren.In 2001, during a televised pay-per-view W.C.W. championship match, viewers watched Mr. Eudy injure his leg on live television after he jumped off the rope and accidentally landed badly, snapping his left leg at an unnatural angle.It effectively ended his career in major pro wrestling. Mr. Eudy himself acknowledged as much. “With my injury,” he said in a 2023 interview, “I feel I came up short with solidifying myself as one of the top 10, 15 money-drawers in the business.” More

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      in Television

      Mitzi McCall, Comedian Who Confronted Beatlemania and Lost, Dies at 93

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      She and her husband had the bad luck to make their “Ed Sullivan Show” debut the same night as the Beatles. They bombed. But their careers would recover.In the decades after they made their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” on Feb. 9, 1964, the comedy team of Mitzi McCall and her husband, Charlie Brill, had a successful career. They performed in nightclubs and on television; both individually and together, they acted on television, in films and onstage.But that single appearance remained an indelible memory for the couple: It was also the night the Beatles made their American TV debut, and that was all that the screaming young fans in the audience cared about. Their nearly three-and-a-half minutes in the national spotlight came moments before the Beatles returned for their second set. They bombed — in front of 73 million viewers.“We just about wanted to kill ourselves,” Ms. McCall told The Washington Post in 2004.“I think it’s hysterical,” Mr. Brill said in a phone interview. “We laid the biggest egg of all time.”Ms. McCall died on Aug. 8 in a hospital in Burbank, Calif. She was 93. Her death was confirmed by Mr. Brill.When their manager, Mace Neufeld, told Ms. McCall and Mr. Brill that they were going to appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show” — a Sunday night staple that at the time was often a steppingstone to stardom — it seemed like the type of break a young act needed. And when Mr. Neufeld told them that they would be on the bill with the Beatles, Ms. McCall later recalled, “We weren’t really sure who they were.”Ms. McCall and Mr. Brill in a 1967 publicity photo. They performed together until the mid-1980s.via Brill familyWe 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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      What’s on TV This Week: ‘Inside the N.F.L.’ and ‘The Bachelorette: Men Tell All’

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      The CW airs their annual show. Jenn Tran confronts her past suitors on ABC.For those who still enjoy a cable subscription, here is a selection of cable and network TV shows, movies and specials that broadcast this week, Aug. 26-Sept. 1. Details and times are subject to change.MondayU.S. OPEN TENNIS 7 p.m. on ESPN. It’s that time of year when there is a crisp in the air, and some of the greatest names in tennis — Coco Gauff, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz — are back on the courts in Queens, though Rafael Nadal will be noticeably missing. On Monday, the first rounds will begin, and games will continue every day through Sept. 8 for the finals. We can only hope they will be as thrilling as the scenes from Phil’s Tire Town game in “Challengers.”TuesdayJenn Tran and Devin Strader on “The Bachelorette.”Disney/John FleenorTHE BACHELORETTE: MEN TELL ALL 8 p.m. on ABC. If you are an avid watcher of this franchise, you know this is one of the best nights of the season. Directly following the fantasy suite dates, which will air the day before on Monday, the Bachelorette Jenn Tran is going to gather all of her former suitors into one room so they can bicker and throw jabs. There has been lots of fighting this season, so I wouldn’t expect this night to be any different. To get the full experience, I recommend watching it with a crowd of friends.FIRING LINE WITH MARGARET HOOVER: COUNTING THE VOTE 9:30 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). With the presidential election now weeks away, Margaret Hoover will break down the basics of voting and emphasize the reliability of the country’s voting systems, addressing former President Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud in 2020.WednesdayHud on “Claim to Fame.”DISNEY/Christopher WillardWe 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

    • 125 Shares119 Views

      in Movies

      ‘The Interview’: Jenna Ortega Is Still Recovering From Child Stardom

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      If you have a tween daughter, as I do, you know that Jenna Ortega is a big deal. In 2022, Ortega starred as the title character in Netflix’s “Addams Family” reboot, “Wednesday,” and quickly became beloved by viewers for her character’s snarky, dark and brutally honest personality. The show was a hit, and suddenly Wednesday — and by extension Ortega — were everywhere: on merch, on the streets for Halloween and all over the internet doing her meme-able dance moves. It was the kind of star-making, culture-saturating role that is life-changing for a young actor. It was also, as Ortega told me over the course of our two conversations, completely disorienting to become so famous so fast.Listen to the Conversation With Jenna OrtegaThe actress talks about learning to protect herself and the hard lessons of early fame.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Amazon | iHeart | NYT Audio AppOrtega didn’t appear out of nowhere. She started as a child actor on the Disney Channel, played the young version of Jane in the CW series “Jane the Virgin” and later starred in the “Scream” and “X” horror franchises. Now she is 21. Her next big role is in the new movie “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” the sequel to Tim Burton’s 1988 classic, which opens nationwide on Sept. 6. (Burton also directed several episodes of “Wednesday.”) Ortega plays the daughter of Winona Ryder’s character, and she told me that they bonded over each having found enormous success in Hollywood at a young age.When we spoke — I caught her in Ireland, where she was filming the second season of “Wednesday” — I found Ortega to be a thoughtful and curious person who, like many young people, is still finding out who she is. “I’m just navigating,” she says of this stage of her life. “I’m on my own little personal expedition.” Only she is doing it under the glare of a massive spotlight.When did you first see the original “Beetlejuice”? Honestly, I can’t really put a date on it. I feel like I had to have seen it maybe when I was 8 or 9. I was terrified of everything when I was younger. I actually had a recurring nightmare about Beetlejuice. I saw a really terrible Halloween costume before I really knew what the movie was, and I think that the mold and smearing, bleeding green and black Party City makeup gave me a scare. I just remember that image, and then I watched the movie later, and I thought, Oh, man, this is what the guy was dressed as. This is just as scary.What were your nightmares about Beetlejuice? I shared a room my entire life growing up. I was the bottom bunk on a bunk bed, and I had a dream that Beetlejuice would come down and swing around the banister to my bunk wearing a Superman cape, and he would offer me grape juice and say, “Got any grape?” More

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      in Music

      Toni Braxton, Whoopi Goldberg Fan, Watches ‘The View’ in Her Pajamas

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      “I love a good debate,” said the R&B singer and actress, who can be seen alongside her sisters in the TV series “The Braxtons.” “It doesn’t always make you smile, but it always provokes thought.”Toni Braxton wasn’t initially enthusiastic about rebooting “Braxton Family Values,” the reality show in which she starred for seven seasons with her sisters, Traci, Towanda, Trina and Tamar.“Not that I don’t love hanging out with my sisters — I’m just not comfortable with people being in my space like that,” she said. “I’m old school. I’m a bit aloof.”She ultimately did it for Traci, who died of esophageal cancer in 2022 and who had been adamant that her sisters continue with the show.Grief and healing are the main themes in the all-new series “The Braxtons,” which airs on We TV and is available on the streaming service ALLBLK.It isn’t the same without Traci, Toni Braxton said. “Part of our DNA is missing. Everyone is trying figure out how to live in this heartache.”Besides “Braxton Family Values,” Braxton is known for her roles on Broadway (“Beauty and the Beast,” “Aida,” “After Midnight”) and for her many R&B hits, including “Breathe Again,” “Another Sad Love Song” and “Un-Break My Heart” — which she performs in “Love & Laughter,” her joint Las Vegas residency with Cedric the Entertainer.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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      in Television

      Kamala Harris’s Main-Character Energy

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      Accepting the nomination, the vice president completed a whirlwind ascent — and sought to finally supplant Donald Trump at the center of America’s political drama.There were a lot of big names at the Democratic National Convention. Night 1 had the unprecedented send-off of a sitting president. Night 2 had not one but two Obamas (plus a raucous roll call of states feat. Lil Jon). Night 3: You get Oprah! And you get Oprah!There were whispers and reports all day on Thursday that the biggest, most special secret guest of all would appear at the climax. Was it Beyoncé? Taylor Swift? Mitt Romney?At the end of the night, after a typical program of endorsements and character witnesses, Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, wrapped up and yielded the stage to …Kamala Harris?The rumors, it turned out, were just that. Ms. Harris was the surprise star of her own show.But in a way, that had been the theme of the entire convention. As a TV production, the event was designed to build on the Kamalanomenon and magnify it. It expressed not a platform but a vibe.Ms. Harris’s ascent was of course politically extraordinary, a whirlwind of less than a month from replacing President Biden to the convention. But it was also unprecedented as a media phenomenon — at least in politics, where images are usually built over years.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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      In ‘Shogun,’ Anna Sawai Drew On the Power of Silence. And Mozart.

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      “It gives me confidence,” she said about her first Emmy nomination, for best actress in a drama. “I have such bad impostor syndrome.”This interview contains major spoilers for Season 1 of “Shogun.”When Anna Sawai was preparing to die, she listened to Mozart.In a key scene of the FX series “Shogun” — in which Toda Mariko, the disgraced but defiant noblewoman and samurai she plays, meets her fiery demise — Sawai delivers a rebellious speech to the sinister Lord Ishido (Takehiro Hira). Lady Mariko knows it doubles as a death sentence. To prepare for this pivotal moment, Sawai said, “I was listening to ‘Requiem K. 626’ — ‘Lacrimosa.’”The music, she said, gave her power. “It really helps you build,” she said in an interview last week. Referring to the director of the episode, Frederick E.O. Toye, she continued: “I remember Fred coming to me multiple times and asking, ‘Do you still have a couple more takes in you?’ I was like: ‘Yeah, this is totally fine. I feel good. Let’s do it.’”Set in feudal Japan and based on the 1975 novel by James Clavell, the first season of “Shogun” focuses largely on the relationship between Sawai’s Lady Mariko and John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), the temperamental English navigator whose arrival in Japan triggers the conflict that drives the series. That conflict tests Mariko’s Catholic beliefs and her fealty to traditional Japanese customs against her desire for Blackthorne — and for justice against her oppressors. It also leads directly to her death.“People are always like, ‘It must have been tough to prepare for that episode,’” Sawai said. “But I’ve been holding it in for 10 months, and I finally get to let go.”It was the end for Mariko but not for Sawai’s relationship to the character: Her performance, almost entirely in subtitled Japanese, landed her an Emmy nomination for best actress in a drama. A fearless exploration of the emotional chasm between Mariko’s duties and her desires, it is all the more haunting for how much it leaves hidden.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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      ‘Rings of Power’ Returns, With More Creatures and More Evil

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      For its second season, the creators of Amazon’s pricey “Lord of the Rings” prequel aim to raise the bar, and have leaned into psychodrama.What does it take to bring Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life? In part, ambition on a scale to rival the fantasy writer’s epic tales, if the set for Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is any indication.In April last year, the production for Season 2 sprawled across several sites around Windsor, England. Shuttle cars sped hundreds of crew members and craft makers between vast studios and forests. For about eight months, nearly 90 cast members spent hours in hair and makeup to be transformed into elves, dwarves, orcs and other Middle-earth dwellers.A building housed racks of costumes and specially molded or 3-D-printed trinkets and armor. Outdoor sets the size of playgrounds plunged the actors into a court in Númenor or the trenches of an orc camp. And nearby, machinery waited in a muddy field to film a gritty battle scene inspired by films like “Saving Private Ryan.”“I kept saying constantly on set: more blood, more dust, more mud, more everything,” Charlotte Brandstrom, who directed four of the upcoming season’s episodes, said in an interview. (Some scenes set in Rhûn were also filmed in the Canary Islands.)This, after all, might be the most expensive series in TV history, a blockbuster prequel that reportedly cost Amazon $715 million for its first season, and premieres the first three episodes of its second season on Thursday.“Rings of Power” introduces — or reintroduces — viewers to an ensemble of characters spread across the expanse of Middle-earth.Ross Ferguson/Prime VideoWe 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