Latest news with #Cagney&Lacey
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tom Neuwirth, Cinematographer on ‘Cagney & Lacey,' Dies at 78
Tom Neuwirth, the cinematographer who worked alongside his wife, history-making TV director Karen Arthur, on episodes of Cagney & Lacey and many other projects, has died. He was 78. Neuwirth died June 29 at his home in Manhattan, friend and producer Craig Anderson announced (they worked on six films together). No cause of death was revealed. More from The Hollywood Reporter Ted Cordes, Longtime Broadcast Standards Executive at NBC, Dies at 87 Langley Perer, Producer and Mosaic Manager, Dies at 44 Richard Greenberg, Tony-Winning Playwright Behind 'Take Me Out,' Dies at 67 Over four decades, 'Neuwirth's career was defined by his extraordinary eye for capturing emotion, character and place — whether through the lens of his camera or from the cockpit of his own plane,' Anderson noted. 'He earned his pilot's license in high school and found joy and freedom in flying throughout his life. That same spirit guided his work behind the camera: bold, precise and always seeking a new perspective.' Survivors include his wife of 41 years, Arthur, who became the first woman to receive a Primetime Emmy for outstanding directing for a drama series when she won in 1985 for helming the Cagney & Lacey fourth-season episode 'Heat,' which featured a guest-starring turn by a young Michael Madsen. Her husband was the cinematographer on that installment and five others directed by Arthur during that 1984-85 season. 'We fell madly in love on the first show that we did together, which was 'Heat,'' Arthur said on a 2023 episode of the 80s TV Ladies podcast. 'And we made all my movies, his movies, our movies, from Cagney & Lacey on together.' Born in the Bronx, Neuwirth served as a photography apprentice in New York City before opening his own studio and moving to Hollywood after a photo assignment in Puerto Rico ignited his passion for filmmaking. Starting as a camera assistant on such films as Russ Meyer's Supervixens (1975), he advanced to helicopter camera operator on Ted Kotcheff's First Blood (1982) and second-unit director of photography on J. Lee Thompson's Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987). Neuwirth shot 18 of 22 episodes of Cagney & Lacey during its fourth season, which culminated with the show winning six Emmys, including its first for outstanding drama series and the trophy presented to Arthur. (In the 'Heat' episode, Tyne Daly's Mary Beth is taken hostage in a railroad yard by a psychopathic teenager portrayed by Madsen.) Over the years, Neuwirth also brought his visual storytelling to such acclaimed productions as the five-hour 1992 ABC miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream; the 1997 CBS miniseries True Women, starring Dana Delany and Angelina Jolie; the 1998 CBS telefilm The Staircase, starring Barbara Hershey; and the 2001 PBS telefilm The Song of the Lark, starring Maximilian Schell. (All were directed by Arthur.) 'When we started out together, most people, like agents and producers, said [their business relationship] would never work. We might get into an argument, but it was never an issue. It's always been professional,' Neuwirth said in 2012. 'When we watch a rehearsal, we look at each other and communicate with subtle movements and statements, and it allows Karen to focus more on the bigger picture.' Neuwirth and his wife also lived in the Bahamas, where they co-founded Island Films; their 2008-12 documentary series Artists of the Bahamas, which premiered at the Bahamas International Film Festival, spotlighted some of the nation's leading visual artists. 'Make a lot of films,' he often told young filmmakers. 'With every one, you realize mistakes and keep getting better.' In addition to Arthur, survivors include his son, Adam, and his twin sister, Hilary. A private memorial will be held. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to the Make-a-Wish Foundation of America. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise Solve the daily Crossword
Pink Villa
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Pink Villa
General Hospital Star Joe Marinelli Passes Away at 68 After Private Battle with Stomach Cancer
Musician Jean Marinelli has shared the tragic news of her husband, Joe Marinelli's passing on June 22. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the actor breathed his last on Sunday while in Burbank, California. The couple was married for 34 years and lived a happy life while he was battling stomach cancer. She revealed that they never had a fight, before his untimely death this past weekend. Who Was Joe Marinelli? With a nearly 40-year-long Hollywood career, Joe Marinelli began his acting journey in 1984 with Cagney & Lacey, playing a small role. Eventually taking on more promising projects, some of his biggest and most well-known works can be seen in L.A. Law, Santa Barbara, General Hospital, and The Morning Show. In The Morning Show, one of his latest appearances, he took on the task of turning into Donny Spagnoli over the span of 4 years. However, his longest appearance continues to be in Santa Barbara, where his portrayal of Bunny Tagliatti became the most talked about in his career. Meanwhile, General Hospital saw him don the hat of Joseph Sorel for 14 episodes, from 1999–2001, amid the show's long running history. Joe Marinelli's Passing It is known that the star's demise was confirmed on June 22, with the main cause of passing believed to be stomach cancer. Further details of the exact time and cause have been kept private by the family of the actor. He is survived by his French hornist wife Jean Marinelli, and two sons, Vincent and David, who work as a film editor and a music producer, respectively. Tribute to Joe Marinelli Santa Barbara co-star Leigh McCloskey shared a heartfelt note about the late actor on his Facebook account, writing, 'A sweeter man or a dearer friend you could not find than Joe Marinelli. I knew Joe was sick and so admired his indefatigable spirit throughout what sounded like a very difficult, if not impossible, ordeal.' He praised the Bunny Tagliatti star's resilience as well as presence on set, as well as outside of his work.
Boston Globe
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Terry Louise Fisher, a creator of ‘L.A. Law,' dies at 79
She quickly grew disillusioned with a revolving-door criminal justice system that seemed to her to boil down to a jousting match between opposing lawyers, with little regard for guilt or innocence. Advertisement In a 1986 interview with The San Francisco Examiner, she recalled being handed an almost certain victory in an otherwise weak case involving a knife killing because of an oversight by the defense: 'I felt really challenged, and my adrenaline was pumping. I realized I could win this case. And I slept on it. I went, 'My God, has winning become more important than justice?'' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Her unflinching view of the system informed her tenure in television. In 1983, she began writing for 'Cagney & Lacey,' bringing depth and realism to a CBS series that shook up the traditional knuckles-and-nightsticks cop-show genre by focusing on two female New York City police detectives, Christine Cagney (Sharon Gless) and Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly). Advertisement One episode that year drew directly from Ms. Fisher's days as a prosecutor, portraying a dying woman forced to submit to a searing round of questioning by the defense in a rape trial. 'It was the first case I saw at the DA's office,' she said in a 1986 interview with the Los Angeles Times. By portraying the characters not only as savvy crime fighters but also as three-dimensional humans, 'Cagney & Lacey' demonstrated what female companionship looked like, that 'women don't have to compete or be idiots,' Ms. Fisher said in a 1985 interview with The Chicago Tribune, and that it was 'OK for them to fight and still like each other. They're striving for love, work, and friendship, which everyone is striving for.' She also served as a producer on the show and received her first Emmy Award in 1985. In addition to her job as a prosecutor, Ms. Fisher put in time in the slicker end of the law field, working as an entertainment lawyer for film companies including 20th Century Fox, the studio behind 'L.A. Law,' before establishing her career in television. 'L.A. Law' represented a major opportunity: It teamed her up with Bochco, who had upended the television landscape with his provocative 1980s series 'Hill Street Blues,' known for its unvarnished look at the messy realities -- emotional and otherwise -- of a big-city police precinct. On the surface, 'L.A. Law,' with an ensemble cast that included Corbin Bernsen, Jill Eikenberry, Jimmy Smits, and Susan Dey, was the quintessence of 1980s Los Angeles sheen, marked by upscale automobiles, artful coiffures, and a veritable runway of tailored suits and dresses with shoulder pads. Advertisement But to her, style was hardly the point. The show (and Ms. Fisher) won multiple Emmys and ran for eight seasons on NBC. In her view, 'L.A. Law' was something less than a love letter to the juris doctor class -- 'I have to admit I'm not the biggest fan of lawyers,' she told the Los Angeles Times -- and more of a vehicle for pushing the prime-time envelope, tackling thorny issues including abortion, sexual harassment, capital punishment, and AIDS. 'My parents told me they always could tell which scenes I wrote and which ones Bochco wrote,' she recalled. 'They knew I had written the sensitive scenes about the AIDS patient whose lover was dying, and that Bochco had written all that smut about the 'Venus butterfly'' -- a potent, if unspecified, sexual technique that was discussed in a 1986 episode, sparking endless speculation. In fact, she said, Bochco wrote the AIDS scenes in question and 'I did all the smut.' Terry Louise Fisher was born on Feb. 21, 1946, in Chicago, the younger of two children of David and Norma Fisher. Coming of age in the 1950s, she saw 'no positive role models for women on TV except 'Lassie,'' Ms. Fisher joked in a 1987 interview with the Miami Herald. 'Men did all the interesting things, and the women waited for them at home.' After receiving a bachelor's degree from the UCLA, she earned a law degree from the university in 1971 and joined the district attorney's office. During roughly a decade of practicing law, she also published two novels: 'A Class Act' (1976), about a female screenwriter trying to carve out a Hollywood career, and 'Good Behavior' (1979), about a woman who lands in prison after an art heist with her ex-con lover. Wearied by her efforts to sell a third novel, she pivoted to writing for television. Advertisement During her mid-1980s heyday, Ms. Fisher and Bochco also teamed up on an unusually sunny cop show: 'Hooperman' (1987-89), an ABC comedy-drama starring the prince of pratfalls, John Ritter, as a wisecracking San Francisco plainclothes detective. 'I wanted to do something that hasn't been done before,' Ms. Fisher said in a 1988 interview with the Los Angeles Times. 'Just by not starting with the assumption that life is bleak and hopeless, you're bound to have a different show.' Their fertile working relationship, however, soon went off the rails. Bochco fired Ms. Fisher in 1987 following creative and financial disputes, according to the Los Angeles Times. Ms. Fisher fired back with a $50 million breach-of-contract lawsuit, which was settled out of court. The terms were not disclosed. 'It's kind of like a divorce,' she said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that year. 'You go through a bad period, then you want to remember the good things.' The two patched things up enough to collaborate as writers on the 2002 television film 'L.A. Law: The Movie.' Information about survivors was not immediately available. She tended to be philosophical about the ups and downs of the television business. 'I've always had no problem letting go with projects,' she said in a 1991 interview with the newspaper The Oregonian. 'Creating the world,' she added, 'it's a most godlike feeling. I love it. I get sort of bored once it's all in place.' This article originally appeared in Advertisement
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Terry Louise Fisher Dies: ‘L.A. Law' Co-Creator & ‘Cagney & Lacey' Writer Was 79
Terry Louise Fisher, the co-creator of L.A. Law and a writer for Cagney & Lacey, has died. She was 79. The three-time Emmy winner died in her sleep Tuesday in Laguna Hills, CA following a long, undisclosed illness, Fisher's cousin Sharone Rosen told Variety. More from Deadline 'L.A Law' Refreshed And Coming To Hulu In Early November 2025 Deaths Photo Gallery: Hollywood & Media Obituaries Alan Rachins Dies: 'LA Law' And 'Dharma & Greg' Actor Was 82 Born February 21, 1946 in Chicago, Fisher attended law school at UCLA in the '60s before working at the Los Angeles District Attorney's office and going into entertainment law. After publishing two novels, A Class Act (1976) and Good Behavior (1979), she quit law to pursue writing full time. Fisher began writing for Cagney & Lacey in 1983 before co-creating NBC's L.A. Law with Steven Bochco in 1986, running for eight seasons until 1994. Her time on the show ended following a 1988 legal battle with Bochco and 20th Century Fox. 'One thing that I don't want women to feel is … that they can't take on the big boys, because they'll get you — that was the one thing I was upset about,' Fisher told the Los Angeles Times in 1988. 'Some people think (the TV industry) is an old boys network. I've never thought so. I got a lot of really upsetting letters from women who viewed it that way.' DEADLINE RELATED VIDEO: Fisher and Bochco also co-created the ABC series Hooperman, which ran for two seasons, starring John Ritter as the titular San Francisco police inspector. She later created the short-lived Aaron Spelling CBS drama 2000 Malibu Road in 1992, featuring a young Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Beals. Best of Deadline 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More 'Stick' Release Guide: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 'Stick' Soundtrack: All The Songs You'll Hear In The Apple TV+ Golf Series
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Terry Louise Fisher, Co-Creator of ‘L.A. Law,' Dies At 79
Terry Louise Fisher, a three-time Emmy winning writer and producer known for co-creating 'L.A. Law,' died on Tuesday in Laguna Hills, Calif. She was 79. Her cousin, Sharone Rosen, reported that Fisher had died in her sleep from a long, undisclosed illness. More from Variety Alan Rachins, 'L.A. Law' and 'Dharma & Greg' Actor, Dies at 82 All 'L.A. Law' Seasons Are Coming to Hulu in Remastered HD Format 'LA Law' Sequel Series, Jo Koy Comedy Pilot Not Moving Forward at ABC Fisher was the co-creator of the popular legal drama 'L.A. Law' with Steven Bocho. She served as a supervising producer and writer for most of the series' early episodes. Fisher's writing for 'L.A. Law' won her a shared Primetime Emmy Award in 1987, and two additional shared nominations in 1988. She was also known for writing and producing 'Cagney & Lacey' from 1982 to 1987, for which she also received an Emmy. Born in Chicago, Fisher moved to Los Angeles in her teens. She attended UCLA as an undergraduate student, graduating from the UCLA School of Law in 1968. After graduating, Fisher worked for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. Fisher moved from that into entertainment law, working for several studios. During her time as a lawyer, Fisher wrote two books: 'A Class Act,' which was published in 1976 and 'Good Behavior,' her second book published in 1979. After a decade in practicing entertainment law, Fisher began to write full-time in Los Angeles. Her first film, 'Your Place…or Mine' starred Bonnie Franklin and Robert Klein, was co-written with Steve Brown, her writing partner on 'Cagney & Lacey.' Fisher produced and wrote on shows such as the CBS police procedural drama 'Cagney & Lacey' until 1985. Fisher came back to co-write 'Cagney and Lacey: The Return,' and 'Cagney and Lacey: Together Again,' two of the series' reunion films. Fisher and Bocho also co-created 'Hooperman,' an ABC series that starred John Ritter and Debrah Farentino, which ran for two seasons. She was the creator of '2000 Malibu Road,' the short-lived summer series, which starred Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Beals. Fisher took part in 'Daughters of Eve,' a primetime soap opera pilot that was set to star Sophia Loren. The series was not picked up during the 1995-1995 television season. She is survived by Dale Gordon, Ken Rosen, Charlie Rosen, and Sharon Rosen. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
