The Wiz Articles

Michael Jackson, one of the two or three biggest pop-music icons of the second half of the 20th century, died of a heart attack at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles earlier today. Jackson was 50. Beginning July 12, he was scheduled to give a series of already sold-out London-area shows — 1 million tickets were gone within a matter of hours. Despite his [...]

Richard Pryor died today of a heart attack at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 65. One of the most popular Hollywood comedians during the second half of the '70s, Pryor appeared in several box-office hits, including Silver Streak (1976), in which he was first paired with fellow comedian Gene Wilder; the all-star, omnibus dramatic comedy California Suite (1978), opposite Bill Cosby; and Stir Crazy [...]

Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Board of Governors has chosen director-screenwriter Sidney Lumet, 80, as the next recipient of the Honorary Oscar. The award, in honor of Lumet's "brilliant services to screenwriters, performers and the art of the motion picture," will be presented at the 2005 Academy Awards ceremony on February 27. Lumet, who made his feature-film [...]