Aug. 1, 2022

Comicons in the Afterlife

Comicons in the Afterlife

In this episode, We have news from San Diego Comicon that sets up the MCU for years, News of an unusual crossover of Trek, A little DC, A Little Marvel and a whole lot of remembernces including Pat Carroll, Mary Alice, Jered Barclay, David Warner, Benard Cribbins, Tony Dow and Nichelle Nichols. All that and more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight!

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Transcript

Tonight! News from San Diego Comicon plus we have lots of people to remember, plus a lot more on this jam packed edtion of Multiverse Tonight!

Welcome to Episode 169.

MArvel
The complete list of movies and TV shows that will appear in Marvel Phase 5 includes:

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania on February 17, 2023
Secret Invasion on Disney+ in Spring 2023
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on May 5, 2023
Marvel's Echo on Disney+ in Summer 2023
Loki Season 2 on Disney+ in Summer 2023
The Marvels on July 28, 2023
Ironheart on Disney+ in the Fall of 2023
Blade on November 3, 2023
Agatha: Coven of Chaos on Disney+ in Winter 2023/24
Daredevil Born Again in Spring 2024
Captain America: New World Order on May 3, 2024
Thunderbolts on July 26, 2024


Shown off was She Hulk Attorney at Law (new trailer)
Secret Invasion with Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn reprise their roles as Nick Fury and Talos, coming to Disney Plus next Spring. The crossover event series showcases a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls who have been infiltrating Earth for years.
Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania will arrive in theaters on February seventeenth, 2023. MODOK will be the villain for that movie.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 comes out on May fifth of 2023. THe movie will se the Guardians face off with the High Evolutionary played by Chuk wudi I wuji and will deal with Star-Lord is still reeling from the events of Avengers: Endgame considering that the love of his life, Gamora, doesn't know who he is anymore and the origin of ROcket Racoon. ol. 3 will see the return of Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Dave Bautista as Drax, Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Sean Gunn as Kraglin, and Pom Klementieff as Mantis. There are also a few new faces: Borat breakout Maria Bakalova will play Cosmo the SpaceDog, while Adam Poulter will star as the all-gold Adam Warlock. Black Panther Wakanda Forever (new trailer) Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Shuri (Letitia Wright), M’Baku (Winston Duke), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba), fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together with the help of War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda. The trailer also gave us the first look at Namor.

The Followu to Hawkeye, Echo will stream on Disney Plus next summer
Loki season two arrives next summer as well.
Mahershala Ali’s turn as Blade arrives in theaters on NOvember third 2023.
Ironheart aka RiriWilliams will show up in Black Panther Wakanda Forever and then get her own Disney Plus series in Fall of 2023.
Agatha :Coven of Chaos, the sequel to Wandavision, comes out Winter 2023.
Daredevil is back in Daredevil Born Again with Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio coming back from the Netflix show, this time for Disney PLus in Spring of 2024.
Sam Wilson is Captain America in Captain America New World Order arriving on May 3rd 2024.
And Thunderbolts comes out on July 26th, 2024.
We meet a new Fantastic Four and start Phase 6  in a theater near you on NOvember 8, 2024.
The good news is we won’t have to sit through them getting their powers again as Kevin Feige told the Hollywood Reporter quote "A lot of people know this origin story," Feige said. "A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they've never seen before." "We've set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen."
And we wrap up the Multiverse Chaos with two new Avengers films: Avengers The Kang Dynasty May 2, 2025 and Avengers Secret Wars, NOvember seventh 2025. 

We have since learned via The Hollywood Reporter that THe Kang Dynasty will be directed by Shang Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton.
Cretton is already well a part of the Marvel Film family. In addition to directing Shang-Chi, which made $432 million worldwide, he has an overall deal with Marvel that he signed in the wake of Shang-Chi’s success. As part of that, he is developing, with Andrew Guest, a writer-producer on comedies such as Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community, a live-action series featuring Wonder Man that he will executive produce and possibly direct an episode or more. He also has a Shang-Chi sequel in the works.

Phase seven will kick off in 2026.  Disne noted three dates, February 13, May first, July 24th and NOvember sixth. No movies have been announced for those dates.



DC
DC’s SDCC news saw A new trailer for Black Adam showing off, the Justice Society, Amanda Waller and Dwayne THe Rock JOhnson showed up and talked about giving the DCU a new start with th eJustice Society. 

The sequel to Shazam! Shazam! Fury of the Gods was showcased. We got looks at Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu as villains, it’s out this December.

All other movie projects…got no news. None. no update on The Flash, The next Batman movie, Batgirl, Static Shock. Nothing. All Quiet. I guess the execs at the new combined company are too busy cutting things, 

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will see the return of Ben Affleck’s Batman. Momoa revealed the news on Instagram on Thursday, after fans on a Warner Bros. bus tour apparently caught wind that Affleck was there filming with him. Affleck previously announced his retirement as Batman in 2019, and has been open about personal and professional strife that came with the role. So, it came as a surprise two years ago when it was revealed Affleck was suiting up once more for The Flash, the Ezra Miller starring film due out June 23, 2023 and that will also feature Michael Keaton as Batman.

It was assumed that would be Affleck’s final time in the role, but now he is poised to return earlier with Lost Kingdom arriving March 17, 2023.

Star Trek
San Diego saw the teaser for Picard Season 3 and a look at the aged Next Generation cast and apparently it will be kind of like a heist movie, with each cast member being “rounded up” for the payoff at the end. Alex Kurtzman teases the villain of Picard Season 3, saying it's a "she" and that they took core inspiration from Wrath of Khan and Captain Kirk's head-game match with Khan. Kurtzman says the story arc gave him goosebumps (still does) but that it will ultimately tell a final story of these characters that feels like "returning home.". They also revealed that there will be multiple Enterprises in the season. We also learned that Seven of Nine is now a COmmander in Starfleet.

Lower Decks showed a trailer for the upcoming third season, which was full of references to The Search for Spock, and ends with a great big cameo from none other than the Deep Space 9 station! Show EP Mike McMahan confirms that Season of Lower Decks will dedicate one full episode to a swan song for DS9.  It was also announced that Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds would have a crossover in Strange New Worlds second season.

IDW is proud to announce a bold new direction in Star Trek comics, beginning with a brand-new flagship ongoing series that goes where no one has gone before! Debuting in October 2022, Star Trek #1 features art by Ramon Rosanas (Marvel’s Star Wars, Ant-Man), and scripts by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, the creative team behind Star Trek: Year Five.
Star Trek #1 weaves an epic and unprecedented adventure story that spans the far reaches of the Star Trek multiverse, bringing together characters from across the galaxy—and all eras and variations of the beloved franchise—who must band together to prevent the mysterious murder of the gods. Its stardate 2378, and Benjamin Sisko has finally returned from the Bajoran Wormhole omnipotent. But his godhood is failing with every minute. Sent by the Prophets on a mission to the deepest parts of space aboard the U.S.S. Theseus, he witnesses the unthinkable: Someone is killing the gods. And only Sisko and his motley crew of Starfleet members from every era of Trek can stop them. Star Trek #1 will be available in October with eight variant covers for fans and retailers to enjoy, including Cover A by series artist Ramon Rosanas, Cover B by Declan Shalvey, Cover C by David Aja (TBC), Cover D by Rachael Stott, and a sketch Cover E, as well as three additional retailer incentive covers by Rosanas and Francesco Francavilla. Fans will also be delighted to read a Star Trek #1 prelude story from Rosanas, Kelly, and Lanzing in September’s highly-anticipated Star Trek #400, a monumental anthology issue!

Star Wars
SDCC was..well..short on Star Wars news, they tend to keep any announcements for their own Disney and Star Wars cons. But we did get some news.

Hasbro has revealed some new toys and action figures. There’s Star Wars: The Black Series Darth Vader Force FX Elite Lightsaber -Available Fall 2022
Star Wars: The Vintage Collection Cal Kestis - Available Summer 2023
Star Wars: The Black Series Gaming Greats KX Security Droid - Available Spring 2023
Star Wars: The Black Series Gaming Greats B1 Battle Droid - Available Spring 2023
Star Wars: The Black Series Grogu
Star Wars: The Black Series Migs Mayfeld
Star Wars: The Black Series HK-87
Star Wars: The Black Series Luke Skywalker (Imperial Light Cruiser)
Star Wars: The Vintage Collection Boba Fett’s Starship
Fall 2022
Star Wars: The Black Series Clone Trooper (Halloween Edition)
Star Wars: The Black Series Wookiee (Halloween Edition)
Star Wars: The Black Series Credit Collection Dark Trooper
Star Wars: The Black Series Credit Collection Tusken Raider
Star Wars: The Black Series Credit Collection The Mandalorian (Tatooine)
Star Wars: The Black Series Credit Collection Bo-Katan Kryze
Star Wars: The Black Series Credit Collection Ahsoka Tano
Spring 2023
Star Wars: The Black Series Credit Collection Boba Fett (Tusken outfit)
Star Wars: The Black Series Axe Woves
Star Wars: The Vintage Collection Klatooinian Raider
Star Wars: The Retro Collection A New Hope Collectible Multipack

The upcoming free-to-play video game Star Wars: Hunters has been delayed, developer Zynga and Lucasfilm Games have announced. Instead of releasing this year for the Nintendo Switch as well as iOS and Android mobile devices, Star Wars: Hunters is now set to release in 2023.
Star Wars: Hunters is notably set after the fall of the Galactic Empire, putting it somewhere after Return of the Jedi in the timeline. Players will fight it out in arenas on teams featuring all sorts of Star Wars characters, but all of the revealed characters thus far -- like the dark side warrior Rieve, Aran Tal the Mandalorian, Grozz the Wookiee, and more -- appear to be original to the video game.

Geek
Funko announced at SDCC, it is teaming up with 10:10 Games to make a triple A video game. Andrew Perlmutter, CEO of Funko said as part of the announcement quote  "Creating iconic products that emotionally connect fans to their favorite fandoms is critical to each product portfolio decision," said Andrew Perlmutter, CEO of Funko, as part of the announcement. "By partnering with 10:10 Games and utilizing the best creators in the business, we will have the talent to deliver games that reflect Funko's unique look and feel across its lines and varied products." The aim is to have the game out next year, but no date or possible consoles have been released.

The Simpsons will have two Treehouse of Horror episodes this year EP Matt Selman told Entertainment Weekly quote "You'll get one regular fantastic, scary, terrifying, chilling Treehouse of Horror, trilogy of terror extravscreamganza," executive producer Matt Selman tells EW. "But we're also doing a single chilling story, in the same Halloween universe of murder and mayhem and blood and being scared and human frailty and all that stuff." unquote The bonus episode will just focus on a single story, a parody of Stephen King’s It, with Krusty playing the Pennywise part.  THe episode, entitled “Not It” will quote "take advantage of the past and present,"unqotue referencing the first movies focus on the kids and the sequel focused on the kids as grownups.
As for that traditional "Treehouse of Horror" episode — number XXXIII! — one segment will pay tribute to the anime classic Death Note. In other news from the show's Comic-Con panel, Melissa McCarthy will guest star in an upcoming episode as the "quirky, silly" son of Grandpa's girlfriend, making him Homer's stepbrother and a rival for Grandpa's attention. It was previously revealed that Kerry Washington will be joining the show as Bart's new teacher.

Season 34 of The Simpsons debuts Sept. 25 on Fox.

At the Teen Wolf panel, it was announced that Sarah Michelle Geller will play a lead role in the upcoming offshoot series Wolf Pack.  The main reason for the panel was the Teen Wolf Movie that is coming to Paramount Plus.

All three seasons of the Orville will now also be available on Disney Plus starting August tenth. The announcement was made at the show's SDCC panel, and while it wasn’t the season four news that a lot of us were hoping for, it was a good sign that perhaps they’re testing the waters.

Stan Lee’s estate is one step closer to clearing up a messy legal battle involving accusations of exploitation and elder abuse by the comic book legend’s inner circle, with the settlement of a lawsuit against Lee’s former business manager, Jerardo “Jerry” Olivarez.

According to a court document filed on Monday, Lee’s estate moved to dismiss claims against Olivarez. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The settlement doesn’t include claims against Lee’s former attorney, Uvi Litvak.

The four-year legal saga, sparked by The Hollywood Reporter‘s investigation detailing accusations of elder abuse, revolves around an ugly battle over Lee’s estate that includes his daughter, J.C., and people who allegedly manipulated her in efforts to exploit her famous father. Lee accused J.C., his only child and heir to his estate, of verbally abusing him. The Hollywood Reporter reported that J.C.’s outbursts turned physical at some points in conflicts over money.

Weird: THe Al Yankovic Story starring Daniel Radcliffe as master of parodies will premiere exclusively on THe Roku Channel on Friday November fourth 2022.  THe movie, which was co-written by Al and Erick Appel also stars Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, Quinta Brunson as Oprah Winfrey, Toby Huss and Julianne Nicholson as Yankovic's parents, and Rainn Wilson as Dr. Demento.

Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter is joining the cast of the Orphan Black spinoff, Orphan Black: Echoes. AMC announced that Ritter had joined the cast a well as assuming an executive producer role on the show. Echoes takes place in the near future, the project (slated to drop sometime next next year) and quote  "follows a group of women as they weave their way into each other's lives and embark on a thrilling journey, unraveling the mystery of their identity and uncovering a wrenching story of love and betrayal," unquote  Ritter will step into the character of Lucy, "a woman with an unimaginable origin story, trying to find her place in the world."

The Potato Head toy line is turning 70 this year, and the folks at Hasbro are celebrating with new Mr. Potato Head and Mrs. Potato Head figures
"Celebrate 70 years of Potato Head toys with Yamma and Yampa! These 70-years-young versions of the classic Mrs. Potato Head and Mr. Potato Head are the hippest spuds in town. This 24-piece set sports 2 large potato bodies, 2 bases, and 20 grandtater accessories to mix and mash! The whole family will love using their imashinations to build wacky potato pals. Accessories are compatible with most Potato Head toys (each sold separately, subject to availability). With so many tots-ibilties, it's no wonder Potato Head has been a family favorite for 70 years."

Rick and Morty’s six season will premiere on September fourth

AMC is working on a reboot of Max Headroom, the character played by Matt Frewer back in the 80’s. Matt Frewer will reprise his role with Christopher Cantwell writing the adaptation and show running the show with Elijah Wood and Daniel NOah’s SpectreVision and All3Media producing. Max Headroom first appeared in a 1985 British cyberpunk TV movie Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future. He became an instant pop culture phenom and went on to host a music-video show, star in ads for New Coke, appear on the cover of Newsweek and headline his own primetime series. Max Headroom aired on ABC for two seasons from 1987-88.

THe production of the fourth and final season of Snowpiercer, the apocalyptic ice Earth train show has been suspended …due to soaring temperatures that led to multiple cases of heat exhaustion. One crew member told Deadline as many as 14 people, including background actors and crew members, were transported via ambulance to local hospitals.

Temperatures hit the mid-90s on the drama’s outdoor set Thursday in southwest British Columbia. Since the drama takes place in a new ice age, actors are required to wear heavy winter clothing.

Actress Pat Carroll has passed away. Pat would best be known to my generation for voicing Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Carroll was born in May of 1927, her family moved to Los Angeles when she was five years old and soon she started acting. SHe got her first role in the 1948 movie Hometown Girl. Other movies she acted in during her career include: With SIx You Get Eggroll and Nancy Drew, she also did voice work in My Neighbor Totoro, THe Little Mermaid and THe Little Mermaid II and Mickey House of Villains and tv shows like Make Room for Daddy, THe Steve Allen Show, THe Carol Burnett SHow, LAverne & Shirley,THe Love Boat, She’s THe Sheriff, ER,  and did voice work on cartoons like Pound Puppies, FooFur, A Garfield Christmas, Superman, A Pup Named Scooby Doo, Chip & Dales Rescue Rangers, Disney’s House of Mouse and voiced Ursula for the Kingdom Hearts video games.

Caroll died of pneumonia at her home in Cape Cod, on July 30th, she was 95 years old.




Actress Mary Alice has passed away. The Tony and Emmy winning Actress appeared as The Oracle in the third Matrix film Revolutions. In 1990 films, Alice played Nurse Margaret opposite Robin Williams and Robert De Niro in Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall; the family matriarch dealing with a disruptive guest (Danny Glover) in Charles Burnett’s To Sleep With Anger; and a woman whose son was struck by a car in the South Bronx in Brian De Palma’s The Bonfire of the Vanities.The onetime Chicago schoolteacher received back-to-back Emmy nominations in 1992 and ’93 — winning in the second year — for her supporting turn as Marguerite Peck, whose child is murdered, on the Atlanta-set NBC legal drama I’ll Fly Away, starring Sam Waterston and Regina Taylor.

She also played dorm director Lettie Bostic on the first two seasons (1988-89) of NBC’s A Different World; the mother of Oprah Winfrey’s Mattie Michael on the 1988 ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster Place; and the mother of Harold Perrineau Jr.’s Augustus Hill in 2002 on HBO’s Oz.

In the cult favorite Sparkle (1976), the Harlem-set rags-to-riches story inspired by The Supremes, Alice was memorable as Effie, the single mom raising daughters played by Irene Cara, Lonette McKee and Dwan Smith. (In her final role, Whitney Houston played the character in the 2012 reboot.) After Gloria Foster, who portrayed The Oracle in the first two Matrix movies, died in 2001, Alice stepped in to lead the way to enlightenment in The Matrix Revolutions (2003). To explain the change in appearance, it was noted that The Oracle’s outer shell had been destroyed by the criminal program known as the Merovingian.

The distinguished Alice received her Tony for best featured actress in a play in 1987 for her turn as Rose, wife of James Earl Jones’ Troy and mother of Courtney B. Vance’s Corey, in August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Fences. In 2000, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. Her final onscreen credit came with a 2005 episode of the rebooted Kojak, starring Ving Rhames.
Alice died in her home in New York City on Wednesday Mary Alice was 85 years old.

Jered Barclay, a longtime stage and screen actor who found a second career as a TV voice-over artist for series including The Smurfs and The Transformers, has died.
His screen career began in the mid-1950s, including an unbilled role as a freaked-out junkie cellmate of Frank Sinatra in 1955’s The Man with the Golden Arm. He also guested on TV’s Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Cheyenne, The Gray Ghost and others before appearing in the 1958 Roger Corman sci-fi pic War of the Satellites. In the early 1980s, he began a new career as a voice actor for animated TV series including Trollkins, The Little Rascals, Richie Rich, Pole Position and Foofur. He also voiced roles on The Smurfs and played Cerebros and other characters in more than a half-dozen episodes of the 1984-87 series The Transformers. He also did voice work on the series Paddington Bear.
 His longtime friend Myra Turley said Barclay died July 23 of MDS leukemia in North Hollywood, CA.  Jered Barclay was 91.

Actor David Warner has passed away.  Warner was born on July 29th, 1941 and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, in 1962 he joined the Royal Shakespeare company. IN 1966, he jumped from the stage to the screen in the lead role in Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA award.

He came to prominence to American Audiences in 1976 with a role in THe Omen. In 1979 he played Jack The Ripper in the Sci Fi film Time After Time. He’s also portrayed Evil in Time Bandits, the villain in Tron, Ambassador Talbot in Star trek V: THe Final Frontier, had a role in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II THe Secret of the Ooze, Klingon Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country. Played the Villain and the Master in the MST3k riffed movie Quest of the Delta Knights. Plus he’s been in Titanic, Scream 2, The Last Leprechan, Wing Commander, 2001’s Planet of the Apes, Avatar and dozens of other movies, his lost movie role was Admiral Boom in 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns, he also has appeared on tv, acting on episodes of Hart to Hart, Remington Steele, Murder She Wrote, Twin Peaks, the role of Gul Madred in the Star Trek Next Generation two parter Chain of Command Pts one and two, Captain Planet and The Planeteers, Batman’s nemesis Ra’s al Ghul in Batman The Animated Series, Dinosaurs, Wild Palms, Murder SHe Wrote, THe Adventures of Brisco County Junior, Lois And Clark The New Adventures of Superman, Babylon 5, Spider-man THe Animated Series, Iron Man, Gargoyles, Freakazoid!, Men in Black The Series, Doctor Who and dozens more his last role was the voice of The Lobe on a 2020 episode of Teen Titans Go!. 
David Warner passed away after a long battle with lung cancer on July 24th, 2022. He was 80 years old.

Bernard Cribbins, the English actor best known for his turn as Donna’s Grandpa Wilfred Mott on Doctor Who has passed away. After serving in World War II as a member of the airborne infantry, he started acting and made his first role in a theater production in 1956 and after that moved on to movies and television. His first trist with Doctor Who was with the non canon Doctor Who movie, Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD as Tom Campbell. He also appeared in the Bond spoof Casino Royale. ON television, he narrated teh stop motion show The Wombles, appeared in an episode of Fawlty Towers, as well as episodes of Space 1999 and Coronation Street
In 2009, Cribbins was honored for his work in children's television with a Special Award at the British Academy Children's Awards which was presented by former co-star Catherine Tate, who portrayed his character's granddaughter in Doctor Who.[42][43] He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours for services to drama.[44][45] He received his OBE from the Princess Royal at an investiture in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle on 3 November 2011.[46] In 2014, he was awarded the J. M. Barrie award for his "lasting contribution to children's arts".  Bernard Cribbins passed away on July 27th, he was 93 years old. 

Tony Dow, best known for his role of Wally Cleaver on Leave it To Beaver has gone to the great sitcom in the sky. Tony was born in Hollywood, the son of a stuntwoman and a designer and contractor and as a kid trained as a swimmer. Dow’s big break was Leave it To Beaver, playing opposite Jerry Mathers as the Beaver's older brother.

After Beaver, Dow appeared on other television shows, including My Three Sons, Dr. Kildare, The Greatest Show on Earth, Never Too Young, and on five episodes of Mr. Novak in three different roles. From 1965 to 1968, he served in the U.S. National Guard, interrupting his acting career. On his return to acting, he guest-starred on the television series Adam-12, Love, American Style, Knight Rider, Square Pegs, The Mod Squad, The Hardy Boys and Emergency!

During the 1970’s he worked construction and studied filmmaking and journalism and appeared in the Kentucky Fried Movie.

From 83 to 89, he would reprise Wally for a tv reunion movie and a sequel series, The New Leave It To Beaver.

He would soon move on to directing. Directing episodes of THe New Lassie, Get A Life, Harry and the Hendersons, Coach, Babylon 5, and Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Dow also served as the visual effects supervisor for Babylon 5. And provided visual effects for the FOX television movie Doctor Who.

Tony was also an artist sculpting bronze sculptures. In December 2008, Dow was chosen as one of three sculptors to show at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts exhibition, located in the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, France.

Tony was married twice and had one child from his first marriage. This past May, Dow was diagnosed with liver cancer and would be put under hospice care. He passed away on July 27th. Tony Dow was 77 years old.

Paul Sorvino has also died. Paul Sorvino was known mostly for playing gangsters and lawmen. 
Born in Brooklyn. Sorvino began his career in an advertising agency and took voice lessons for 18 years. After attending the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, he decided to go into theater and made his Broadway debut in the 1964 musical Bajour, six years later he would make the move into film in Carl Reiner’s Where’s Poppa? His many films include The Panic in Needle Park, A touch of Class, The Gambler, Oh God!, Reds, Turk 182, the role of Lips Manlis in Dick Tracy, the role of Paul Cicero in Goodfellas, The Rocketeer, The Firm, Nixon as Henry Kissinger for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, Romeo + Juliet, Bulworth, Hey Arnold:THe Movie, Mr. 3000 and dozens of other films. His final movie role was in 2021’s THe Birthday Cake. He also had plenty of tv roles including The Streets of San Fransico, Moonlighting, Murder She Wrote, Law and Order as Sergent Phill Cerreta, an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation playing Worf’s brother Nikolai Rozheko, Duckman, That’s Life and many more. His final role was in Godfather of Harlem in 2021.

He was married three times and has three children, including actress Mira Sorvino and actor Michael Sorvino.

Sorvino passed away on July 25th. Paul Sorvino was 83 years old.

Nichelle Nichols has passed away. Nichelle was born Grace Dell Nichols on December 28, 1932 and was best known for her role of Nyota Uhura on the original Star Trek series. She started her acting career on the stage in 1961 and also modeled for magazines and toured as a singer with Duke Ellington and Linel Hampton’s bands. When she got to Hollywood in 1964 she was cast as a guest star in an episode of THe Lieutenant, which got her the attention of tv producer Gene Roddenberry who would hire her a couple of years later for his new show Star Trek. Her role as Lt. Uhura, the ships communications officer. And she almost gave it up after the first season. Towards the end of the first season of Star Trek, Nichols was given the opportunity to take a role on Broadway. She preferred the stage to the television studio, so she decided to take the role. Nichols went to Gene Roddenberry's office, told him that she planned to leave, and handed him her resignation letter. Roddenberry tried to convince Nichols to stay but to no avail, so he told her to take the weekend off and if she still felt that she should leave then he would give her his blessing. That weekend, Nichols attended a banquet that was being run by the NAACP, where she was informed that a fan really wanted to meet her.[19]

I thought it was a Trekkie, and so I said, 'Sure.' I looked across the room and whoever the fan was had to wait because there was Dr. Martin Luther King walking towards me with this big grin on his face. He reached out to me and said, 'Yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan.' He said that Star Trek was the only show that he, and his wife Coretta, would allow their three little children to stay up and watch. [She told King about her plans to leave the series because she wanted to take a role that was tied to Broadway.] I never got to tell him why, because he said, 'you cannot, you cannot...for the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful, people who can sing dance, and can go to space, who are professors, lawyers." Dr. King Jr went further stating "If you leave, that door can be closed because your role is not a black role, and is not a female role, he can fill it with anybody even an alien"

This response by Dr. King Jr. left Nichols speechless, allowing her to realize how important to the civil rights movement her role was, and the next day she went back to Roddenberry's office to tell him that she would stay.

She would have one of tv’s most famous moments with one of the first interacial kisses on American Television.  There had been a couple of interracial kisses on American television before. A year earlier on “Movin’ With Nancy,” Sammy Davis Jr. kissed Nancy Sinatra on the cheek in what appeared to be a spontaneous gesture but was in fact carefully planned. The Uhura-Kirk kiss  in the episode Plato’s Stepchildren was likely the first televised white/African American lip-to-lip kiss.

Her role on Star Trek would have a profound effect on generations of young fans including future astronaut Mae Jameson and actress and comedian Whoppi Goldberg.

After Star Trek was canceled in 1969, she still kept a part of the franchise voicing Uhura in the Star Trek Animated Series as well as appearing in all six of the original series movies, which helped flesh out the character.

Nichelle had plenty of other roles including Gargoyles, Batman THe Animated Series, Futurama, THe Simnpsons, Sharknado 5, Heroes, and other shows and movies.

Nicols also released two albums, Down to Earth is a collection of standards released in 1967, during the original run of Star Trek.[29] Out of This World, released in 1991, is more rock oriented and is themed around Star Trek and space exploration.

Nichelle married twice, divorced twice and had one son.

In June of 2015 Nochols was diagnosed with a mild stroke and a few years later was diagnosed with dementia, which caused her to retire from the convention circuit.

In 1992, she was awarded a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame, for her contribution to television. In 1999, Nichols was awarded a Goldene Kamera for Kultstar des Jahrhunderts (English: Cult Star of the Century).[51] 2010, Nichols received an honorary degree from Los Angeles Mission College. Nichols received The Life Career Award, from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, in 2016, the first woman to receive it. The award was presented as part of the 42nd Saturn Awards ceremony. Nichols was awarded the Inkpot Award in 2018.[

Nichelle Nicols passed away on July 31. SHe was 89 years old.

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