Though Fran Drescher is perhaps best known for her role in the beloved ’90s sitcom The Nanny, there’s another comedy she wishes could have had similar staying power in the television landscape.
In a recent interview with People, the former SAG-AFTRA president singled out the “poor business model” that led to the eventual cancellation of TV Land‘s Happily Divorced. Based on Drescher’s real life, the show centers on a woman who re-enters the dating world after finding out her husband is gay and juggles her relationship with her current boyfriend and ex-husband, with whom she still lives.
“It’s too bad that TV Land took Happily Divorced off after only 36 episodes,” she said, adding, “I did point it out to them, but they didn’t want to hear it. But ultimately, I was proved correct.”
The series, co-created by Drescher and ex-husband Peter Marc Jacobson, ran for two seasons and was canceled in 2013. It also starred John Michael Higgins, Tichina Arnold, Valente Rodriguez and Rita Moreno.
She continued, “Two years later, I ran into one of the executives, and they said, ‘If it’s any consolation, that’s like the big regret at TV Land. That shouldn’t have been canceled. That shouldn’t have gone away. It was so good.’”
Drescher said she believed the show was “finding its own” after a slow start and knew it would take sponsors longer to see its value in syndication. Happily Divorced had got off to a strong start, with the series premiere drawing 2.4 million viewers in Summer 2011.
“If you have limited money, you can’t pay for a series with the hopes that you’ll be able to syndicate it or advance sell it before you start running out of money,” she explained. “This was a couple that still loved each other, but he’s gay. It was going to take a little bit longer than 36 episodes to sell. Not to find the audience, because everybody loved it.”
The multi-hyphenate said she is still approached by fans who love the series: “People, to this day, say, ‘I liked it better than The Nanny. Why did they take that off?’ It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get an opportunity to do that longer because it had something to say. The global message was: Everyone has a right to live an authentic life and love is love.”
The annual Screen Actors Guild Awards celebrate the best acting in film and television, as voted on by SAG-AFTRA members. Along with a shiny trophy, winning a SAG Award also comes with the honor of acknowledgment and recognition of industry peers. This year, Barbie and Oppenheimer each scored four nominations, leading the film pack in terms of the most nods. For television, Succession came in hot with five nominations.
The 30th SAG Awards kick off this evening at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles, California, and for the first time ever, will stream live on Netflix, starting tonight (Saturday, Feb. 24) at 8:00 pm ET. There will not be host for the ceremony, as has been the case for the past four years.
Before the main event, though, there’s the red carpet, which always delivers major memorable style moments. Below, see the best red carpet fashion from the 2024 Sag Awards.
Over two weeks after SAG-AFTRA reached a deal with the studios and ended their nearly four-month long strike, the actors guild has just released the full text of the tentative agreement.
We’ll get into the fine print soon with analysis of this draft document (as Guild National Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland notes: “The MOA is not ‘final’ until signed by both parties), but for now read the full Memorandum of Agreement for yourself here.
A Friday news dump by any other name, the publication of the long awaited 129-page 2023 TV/Theatrical Contracts Memorandum of Agreement was promised two days ago by Guild president Fran Drescher.
“As you may know, traditionally SAG-AFTRA contract ratification votes rely on our detailed summaries of the new agreement, as the drafting of a formal memorandum of agreement (MOA) usually takes many weeks,” Crabtree-Ireland said in a note accompanying the “document in progress” MOA link sent to Guild members this afternoon. “However, for this historic deal some members have asked to review the full draft MOA during the ratification voting period,” the Guild leader added. For greater context, the Guild also included links to the past several previous contracts too. See Crabtree-Ireland’s full note below.
Today’s MOA release also comes as eligible members of the 160,000-strong SAG-AFTRA have been voting on ratification of the proposed new three-year contract since November 14. The ratification vote runs until December 5, but a well placed source told me the online voting was “really heavy” in the opening days.
On November 10, two days after SAG-AFTRA and the CEO Gang of Four-led studios settled the strike that had shut down production in Hollywood, the actors guild leadership gave a press conference on the agreement and put out a bullet points overview of the new deal – after 86% of the National Board voted to take the matter to members for ratification. SAG-AFTRA has proclaimed the agreement to be of “extraordinary scope,” and “valued at over one billion dollars in new wages and benefit plan funding.”
As criticism of the potential deal rose, specifically around the AI provisions, SAG-AFTRA dropped an 18-page summary of the agreement late on November 12 – just before the first of many Guild information sessions with Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland kicked off on November 13.
“This deal has set the groundwork for our future and generations to come, it is major,” Drescher told members on that virtual info session on November 13. “We didn’t get that, but we got this, this, this and this, and we’ll get that next time,” she added taking a swipe at “low-level people” who pilloried the agreement, as far as they knew. “In negotiation, you have to weigh and measure and make your informed decision on behalf of the greater good.”
In recent days, Justine Bateman, who served as an AI advisor to the negotiating committee, and Matthew Modine, who was one of nine National Board members who voted against sending the deal to members for ratification, have come out sharply against the agreement – undoubtedly in part why the document was released today.
SAG-AFTRA’s Fran Drescher and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland
Getty Images
Read Duncan Crabtree-Ireland’s full note to SAG-AFTRA members today here:
Dear Members,
As you may know, traditionally SAG-AFTRA contract ratification votes rely on our detailed summaries of the new agreement, as the drafting of a formal memorandum of agreement (MOA) usually takes many weeks. However, for this historic deal some members have asked to review the full draft MOA during the ratification voting period.
I’m pleased to advise that the draft MOA containing detailed language on all of the changes in the 2023 TV/Theatrical Contracts tentative agreement has now been posted to sagaftra.org/contracts2023. Click here to view it.
These contracts achieve more than $1 billion in NEW compensation and benefit plan funding (including an additional $317.2 million to the benefit plans). The contracts establish lengthy and detailed AI guardrails that didn’t exist before and do protect you as we meet the challenge of this new technology, hair and makeup equity, significantly increased background coverage, outsized streaming residuals, a new streaming success fund, and so much more. These gains are only possible because of your sacrifice, solidarity and tenacity over the 118 days of the strike and are assured if you vote to ratify the agreement.
As you will see in the MOA, this is a draft document and is being provided to you for informational purposes only to assist your decision making during this ratification process. The MOA is not “final” until signed by both parties.
As an additional reference to aid your review of this draft MOA, you may wish to refer to the contracts it modifies, builds upon and improves, specifically the 2014 Codified Basic Agreement and Television Agreement, both as amended by the 2017 and 2020 memorandum of agreements which followed.
Please review these details closely to understand all of the meaningful improvements. Your National Board and Negotiating Committee both voted to approve and recommend a YES vote. To lock in these gains, you must vote to approve by 5 p.m. PT on Dec. 5, 2023. To register your vote, please visit vote.ivsballot.com/tvtheatrical2023 and use the PIN on the postcard that was mailed to eligible SAG-AFTRA members on Tuesday, Nov. 14 or if needed, your PIN can be retrieved from the voting website.
And lastly, if you haven’t already, visit sagaftra.org/contracts2023, where you can watch videos of informational meetings, read FAQs and find many AI resources regarding the gains in this contract.
On the first day of the SAG-AFTRA strike in July, union president Fran Drescher was asked how long she expected it to last.
“We’re set up to go six months if we have to,” Drescher said.
It hasn’t been that long yet. But as the strike reaches the 100-day mark on Saturday, it is already the longest actors strike involving the film and TV companies in Hollywood history.
It’s also not clear that it will be over any time soon. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers suspended negotiations on Oct. 11, and there has been, as yet, no sign of a return to the bargaining table.
SAG-AFTRA has expressed frustration over the lack of talks. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s chief negotiator, said the 100-day milestone is a reminder of how little substantive negotiation has taken place since the strike began.
“We all will reflect on the fact that it’s been such a long time and so many of those days have been spent out on the picket lines and not in the room negotiating with the companies,” he said.
Asked if he still thought it was possible for the strike to go into January, he said, “I certainly hope it won’t be that long. But it requires two parties to talk in order for us to move things forward.”
A key question is how long SAG-AFTRA can maintain its solidarity. Drescher is now facing dissent from A-listers led by George Clooney, who went public on Thursday with an alternate plan to resolve the strike. Drescher quickly shot it down as unworkable, but the back-and-forth exposed a rift between the guild and many of its most famous members.
Union leaders are also urging members to show their support by spending just a couple hours a day on the picket lines.
The guild has also noted that the Writers Guild of America strike lasted much longer, and succeeded in getting a deal that addressed all of the union’s demands.
“The WGA triumphed after 148 hard-fought days, proof that perseverance will break the toughest barriers and result in the transformative change we need to justify everyone’s sacrifices,” the union said in a message to members.
Taken together, the two Hollywood strikes have now lasted 173 days, and the economic toll is climbing, both for actors and for below-the-line workers.
Jules Bruff, a Disney strike captain, said that members are stressed out, and some are seeking out mental health resources. But, she said that spirits remain high on the lines.
“The thing about actors is we are incredibly resilient,” she said. “We’re starting to get tired physically, but we’re resolved.”
Laurie Hendler, another captain at Disney, said that membership was reenergized when the AMPTP walked away from the table.
“I think some of us were kind of feeling like we could coast through to the end,” she said. “And the next morning we had hundreds of people out here… I think that the studios are hoping they can divide us. They’re hoping they can break us. And they’re hoping that if they take their time, we will fall apart. And the fact that there are so many of us out here shows that that’s not going to happen.”
Thanks, George. But your proposal to take the cap off union dues in order to end SAG-AFTRA‘s strike isn’t legally compatible with the union’s contract.
The Clooney offer “does not impact the contract that we’re striking over whatsoever,” said Drescher.
Clooney and his supporters made the offer earlier this week in a meeting with SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and Drescher. The hope by Clooney et. al was that their excess funds would bridge the gap between the studio and streamers’ offer and the unions requests.
The proposal also sought to get lower-income members paid in residuals before higher-income members.
“First of all, I want to thank certain members that wield a lot of clout in this business for the tremendous amount of money that they contributed to our foundation,” Drescher said in a video posted to Instagram. “I also want to thank George Clooney for organizing the suggestion that… take the caps off of the dues so that the highest paid members can contribute more. Although that’s extremely generous and we accept that graciously.”
Drescher outlined why the proposal wouldn’t work.
“We are a federally regulated labor union and the only contributions that can go into our pension and health funds must be from the employer. So what we are fighting for in terms of benefits has to remain in this contract.”
She added, “[It’s] kind of apples and oranges, just so everybody understands that.”
As for residuals, there’s also a legal problem.
“There was a reference to a suggestion of maybe a solution from some people of how maybe we can get back to the table with some kind of a residual. But that was vetted by our very experienced union contract staff negotiators and lawyers. And they said that it unfortunately doesn’t hold water because, frankly, this is a very nuanced house of cards.
“So although we appreciate the effort and the desire to be supportive to all the member body, we at the union and with the negotiating committee are still waiting for the CEOs to return to the table so we can continue our talks,” Drescher said. ,
“Because in either saying no or walking away from the table, you are not really in a negotiation.”
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher is gearing up to resume negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers next week.
Talks will resume between the actors’ union and studio representatives on Monday, two and a half months after the more than 160,000 members of the guild went on strike and one week after the Writers Guild of America and the AMPTP reached a tentative contract agreement.
“We’re happy WGA came to an agreement but one size doesn’t fit all,” Drescher told CNN on Thursday. “We look forward to resuming talks with the AMPTP.”
SAG-AFTRA negotiators will meet with several executives from AMPTP member companies to work out new television and theatrical contracts, according to the union.
SAG-AFTRA and the WGA have both sought contract changes related to streaming residuals and artificial intelligence. Actors are also asking for better relocation expenses for actors working out of state or country and limited long breaks between television seasons in order to give actors more stability while under contract.
The WGA has voted to authorize its members to return to work following the tentative agreement reached this week.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Ted Lasso” star Jason Sudeikis, Rosario Dawson and other top movie and TV actors joined picket lines alongside screenwriters Friday on the first full day of a walkout that has become Hollywood’s biggest labor fight in decades.
A day after the dispute brought production to a standstill across the entertainment industry, Sudeikis was among the picketers outside NBC in New York pressing for progress following the breakdown of contract talks with studios and streaming services. Dawson, star of the film “Rent” and the “Star Wars” TV series “Ahsoka,” joined picketers outside Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California.
“Lord of the Rings” star Sean Astin marched with chanting protesters outside Netflix’s offices in Hollywood. Also present at Netflix were “Titanic” and “Unforgiven” actor Frances Fisher and “The Nanny” star Fran Drescher, who is president of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
The actors’ arrival energized the picket lines outside Netflix, where music blared and the sidewalks were packed with demonstrators.
Hollywood productions and promotional tours around the world have been put on indefinite hold as actors join writers on the picket lines.
Hollywood actors are joining screenwriters in the first dual strike from the two unions in more than six decades, with huge consequences for the film and television industry.
A rocket being developed by the Japanese space agency has exploded during testing but there were no reports of injuries.
A sprawling, mighty galaxy was created in season one of “Foundation.” Now it’s time to rip it down. Season two of the ambitious Apple TV+ sci-fi series flashes forward some 140 years and it’s quickly clear that the clones who form the story’s authoritarian order are losing their grip.
Elsewhere, “Once Upon a Time” actor Ginnifer Goodwin stood with protesters at Paramount Pictures.
The famous faces of Oscar and Emmy winners will likely be seen with some regularity on picket lines in New York and Los Angeles, adding star power to the demonstrations outside studios and corporate offices.
The walkout is the first double-barreled strike by actors and screenwriters in more than six decades.
In recent weeks, many actors made a show of solidarity with the 11,500 writers, who walked out in May. On Thursday, 65,000 members of the actors’ union formally joined them on strike.
The two guilds have similar issues with studios and streaming services. They are concerned about contracts keeping up with inflation and about residual payments, which compensate creators and actors for use of their material beyond the original airing, such as in reruns or on streaming services. The unions also want to put up guardrails against the use of artificial intelligence mimicking their work on film and television.
Many on the picket lines took aim at Disney chief executive Bob Iger, who said Wednesday that the damage the strikes will do to the entertainment economy is “a shame.”
Justine Bateman, right, speaks outside Netflix during a Writers Guild rally as a strike by The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is announced in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
“I think that when Bob Iger talks about what a shame it is, he needs to remember that in 1980, CEOs like him made 30 times what their lowest worker was making,” actor Sean Gunn, who starred in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” said outside Netflix.
Now Iger “makes 400 times what his lowest worker is. And I think that’s a shame, Bob. And maybe you should take a look in the mirror and ask yourself, ‘Why is that?’”
No talks are planned, and no end is in sight for the work stoppage. It is the first time both guilds have walked off sets since 1960, when then-actor Ronald Reagan was SAG’s leader.
“What we won in 1960 was our health and pension plans and the existence of residuals. That was the most important strike in LA union history, and now we’re on strike together again, and honestly, this strike is even bigger,” Adam Conover, host of the TV series “Adam Ruins Everything” and member of the Writers Guild negotiating committee, said outside Netflix. “We’re going to win. If you are gaining momentum like we are, 70-odd days into a strike, you are going to win.”
Conover was one of many picketers, including Sudeikis, who are members of both unions.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents employers including Disney, Netflix, Amazon and others, has lamented the walkout, saying it will hurt thousands of workers in industries that support film and television production.
The actors’ strike will affect more than filming. Stars will no longer be allowed to promote their work through red carpet premieres or personal appearances. They cannot campaign for Emmy awards or take part in auditions or rehearsals.
The strike triggered cancellations of red carpet events scheduled for next week for “Special Ops: Lioness,” starring Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman, and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”
A “Haunted Mansion” premiere event at Disneyland on Saturday was set to go on as planned, but with no actors in attendance to promote the film.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said it was clear that the entertainment industry “is at a historic inflection point.” She urged all parties to work around the clock until an agreement is reached.
“This affects all of us and is essential to our overall economy,” Bass said in a statement.
The writers’ strike had already stopped much of television production, and the actors joining them immediately led to a shooting shutdown for many major films, including “Deadpool 3,” “Gladiator 2” and the eighth installment of Tom Cruise’s “Mission Impossible” series. All are scheduled for release next year.
The writers’ strike also shut down late-night talk shows and “Saturday Night Live,” as well as several scripted shows that have either had their writers’ rooms or production paused, including “Stranger Things” on Netflix, “Hacks” on Max and “Family Guy” on Fox. Many more are sure to follow them now that performers also have been pulled.
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This story has been corrected to fix the misspelling of Jason Sudeikis’ last name and Ginnifer Goodwin’s first name.
Fran Drescher, the president of the SAG-AFTRA union, responded to criticism on Thursday for traveling to Italy to attend Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda festivities this past weekend as her 160,000-member actors’ union faced a deadline to go on strike.
At a press conference that day – during which Drescher officially announced that the union will go on strike after talks with the Hollywood’s major studios and streamers failed – she was asked about the “optics” of being seen taking a “selfie” with Kim Kardashian at the event in Italy.
“That wasn’t a selfie,” Drescher said, later adding “I’m a brand ambassador for a fashion company and so is Kim. I had only met Kim seconds before that publicity picture was taken.”
She added that “it had nothing to do with being at a party having fun – it was absolute work.”
The “Nanny” star said she left the event at 10:30 at night to go to her hotel room and meet with union negotiators on Zoom, adding that she “worked around the clock in three different time zones.”
“And if I couldn’t get through to them because I was on a plane, I was texting with them constantly throughout the plane ride,” Drescher said, adding that she had also traveled to Florida to care for her parents – and worked while there, too.
The photo of Drescher with Kardashian prompted criticism from a number of SAG-AFTRA members, as well as members of the Writer Guild of America, which is already on strike against the studios and streaming services.
Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, co-chair of SAG-AFTRA, chimed in to defend Drescher on Thursday, saying “Fran was working, which is what our members do,” and that “she was zooming in to our negotiations after work hours, working 18 hours or more a day.”
SAG-AFTRA’s talks with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers (AMPTP), the entity representing the studios and streamers, focused on pay scales and benefits, progress on residuals paid for when films or shows are shown again, particularly on streaming services, as well as protections on the use of artificial intelligence to create characters using actors’ voices or likenesses.
At Thursday’s news conference, Drescher said the union would not accept changes to their contract that do not match up with the changes happening in the industry.
“We’re not going to keep doing incremental changes on a contract that no longer honors what is happening right now with this business model that was foisted upon us,” she said, going on to ask, “What are we doing? Moving around furniture on the Titanic? It’s crazy.”
The SAG-AFTRA strike is set to go into effect at midnight PT Thursday night.
Fran Drescher, the Screen Actors Guild president, lit into studio executives on Thursday as the union representing some 160,000 Hollywood performers voted to strike in response to failed negotiations.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) failed to reach an agreement with the guild, known as SAG-AFTRA, despite the union extending negotiations two weeks past their contract expiration on June 30. The Screen Actors Guild’s members have been fighting for equitable wages and working conditions.
The SAG-AFTRA’s national board agreed to the union negotiating committee’s unanimous recommendation to strike on Thursday. The strike is expected to begin at midnight and involve union members, leadership and staff.
“We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity,” the iconic TV star said in a blistering speech amid the strike announcement. “I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things.”
Drescher continued: “How they plead poverty that they’re losing money left and right while giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”
Drescher, known for her memorable role in the ’90s sitcom “The Nanny,” referred to executives from Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros ― all major studios represented by AMPTP. Specifically, Disney CEO Bob Iger found himself in hot water on Thursday for saying the demands of the Hollywood writers and performers were “disruptive” and “not realistic,” while the executive’s salary amounts to up to $27 million a year.
“The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, A.I.,” Drescher said. “This is a moment of history. This is a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business who cares more about Wall Street than you and your family.”
SAG-AFTRA members will join their colleagues in the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike since May after their contract negotiations with the AMPTP also fell through. Like SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood writers are also sounding the alarm about technology that could be used to replace or further exploit them.
“We stand solidly behind our union siblings in SAG-AFTRA as they begin their work stoppage,” WGA said in a statement to its members. “The last time both of our unions struck at the same time, actors and writers won landmark provisions that we all continue to benefit from today ― residuals and pension and health funds.”
Drescher also said Thursday that SAG-AFTRA stands in “unprecedented unity” with its sister guilds, as well as other unions leading the current labor movement.
“Because at some point, the jig is up,” she said. “You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored.”
Today is Friday, Sept. 30, the 273rd day of 2022. There are 92 days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
On Sept. 30, 1777, the Continental Congress — forced to flee in the face of advancing British forces — moved to York, Pennsylvania.
On this date:
In 1791, Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute” premiered in Vienna, Austria.
In 1938, after co-signing the Munich Agreement allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said, “I believe it is peace for our time.”
In 1947, the World Series was broadcast on television for the first time; the New York Yankees defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-3 in Game 1 (the Yankees went on to win the Series four games to three).
In 1949, the Berlin Airlift came to an end.
In 1954, the first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, was commissioned by the U.S. Navy.
In 1955, actor James Dean, 24, was killed in a two-car collision near Cholame, California.
In 1960, “The Flintstones,” network television’s first animated prime-time series, debuted on ABC.
In 1962, James Meredith, a Black student, was escorted by federal marshals to the campus of the University of Mississippi, where he enrolled for classes the next day; Meredith’s presence sparked rioting that claimed two lives.
In 1972, Roberto Clemente hit a double against Jon Matlack of the New York Mets during Pittsburgh’s 5-0 victory at Three Rivers Stadium; the hit was the 3,000th and last for the Pirates star.
In 1986, the U.S. released accused Soviet spy Gennadiy Zakharov, one day after the Soviets released American journalist Nicholas Daniloff.
In 1988, Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev retired President Andrei A. Gromyko from the Politburo and fired other old-guard leaders in a Kremlin shake-up.
In 2001, under threat of U.S. military strikes, Afghanistan’s hard-line Taliban rulers said explicitly for the first time that Osama bin Laden was still in the country and that they knew where his hideout was located.
Ten years ago: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, writing in The Wall Street Journal, said President Barack Obama had “misunderstood” American values in his policies toward other countries. Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels became the first rookie in Major League history to hit 30 home runs and steal 40 bases in a season as the Angels defeated the Texas Rangers 5-4.
Five years ago: President Donald Trump lashed out at the mayor of San Juan and other officials in storm-ravaged Puerto Rico, saying they “want everything to be done for them.” Monty Hall, the long-running host of TV’s “Let’s Make a Deal,” died of heart failure at his home in Beverly Hills at the age of 96.
One year ago: With only hours to spare, Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed legislation to avoid a partial federal shutdown and keep the government funded through Dec. 3. A 22-year-old white supremacist, John Earnest, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for bursting into a Southern California synagogue on the last day of Passover in 2019 with a semiautomatic rifle, killing one worshipper and wounding three others. Government researchers reported a big decline in teen vaping in 2021 as many U.S. students were forced to learn from home during the pandemic.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Angie Dickinson is 91. Singer Cissy Houston is 89. Singer Johnny Mathis is 87. Actor Len Cariou is 83. Singer Marilyn McCoo is 79. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is 77. Pop singer Sylvia Peterson (The Chiffons) is 76. Actor Vondie Curtis-Hall is 72. Actor Victoria Tennant is 72. Actor John Finn is 70. Rock musician John Lombardo is 70. Singer Deborah Allen is 69. Actor Calvin Levels is 68. Actor Barry Williams is 68. Singer Patrice Rushen is 68. Actor Fran Drescher is 65. Country singer Marty Stuart is 64. Actor Debrah Farentino is 63. Former Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., is 62. Actor Crystal Bernard is 61. Actor Eric Stoltz is 61. Rapper-producer Marley Marl is 60. Country singer Eddie Montgomery (Montgomery-Gentry) is 59. Rock singer Trey Anastasio is 58. Actor Monica Bellucci is 58. Rock musician Robby Takac (Goo Goo Dolls) is 58. Actor Lisa Thornhill is 56. Actor Andrea Roth is 55. Actor Amy Landecker is 53. Actor Silas Weir Mitchell is 53. Actor Tony Hale is 52. Actor Jenna Elfman is 51. Actor Ashley Hamilton is 48. Actor Marion Cotillard is 47. Actor Christopher Jackson is 47. Author and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates is 47. Actor Stark Sands is 44. Actor Mike Damus is 43. Actor Toni Trucks is 42. Former tennis player Martina Hingis is 42. Olympic gold medal gymnast Dominique Moceanu is 41. Actor Lacey Chabert is 40. Actor Kieran Culkin is 40. Singer-rapper T-Pain is 38.
