54+ min ago (679+ words) NEW YORK, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Tony-winning Gilded Age, Life & Beth and Gossip Girl actress Laura Benanti says she enjoyed being cast against type as a rookie prison guard and single mother of three kids in Season 4 of the gritty crime drama, Mayor of Kingstown. Airing Sundays on Paramount+, the series follows Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner), the powerful liaison between police, criminals and the prison of a Michigan town where everyone has ties to at least one of the three. "I'm such a fan of the writing and of Jeremy and I don't get to play roles like this a lot. I do a lot of comedy or rich, mean women [characters]," Benanti, 46, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "Getting to play a character that is so wildly different from anything I've done and wildly different from who I am and…...

4+ hour, 21+ min ago (561+ words) NEW YORK, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- The Bear and Abbott Elementary actress Ayo Edebiri says she tried to keep an open mind when getting into the head and heart of her After the Hunt character. Now streaming on Prime Video, the contemporary drama is set in the pretentious, competitive world of New England academia. It was directed by Luca Guadagnino, written by Nora Garrett and co-stars Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloe Sevigny and Lio Mehiel. Edebiri plays Maggie, a wealthy PhD candidate suspected of plagiarizing a paper, who accuses her popular, alcoholic professor Hank (Garfield) of sexually assaulting her and is disappointed when her hypocritical mentor Alma (Roberts) isn't as supportive as she expects her to be. "Maggie, for me, was also very foreign," Edebiri, 30, said during a recent virtual press conference. "I realized, kind of because of speaking with…...

14+ hour, 47+ min ago (247+ words) Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. -- Writer Jonathan Swift in 1667 -- Writer Mark Twain in 1835 -- Writer Lucy Maud Montgomery in 1874 -- British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1874 -- U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm in 1924 -- Actor Robert Guillaume in 1927 -- Radio/TV personality host Dick Clark in 1929 -- Watergate figure G. Gordon Liddy in 1930 -- Comedian/filmmaker Woody Allen in 1935 (age 90) -- Political activist Abbie Hoffman in 1936 -- Filmmaker Ridley Scott in 1937 (age 88) -- Filmmaker Terrence Malick in 1943 (age 82) -- Musician Roger Glover (Deep Purple) in 1945 (age 80) -- Playwright David Mamet in 1947 (age 78) -- Musician/actor Mandy Patinkin in 1952 (age 73) -- Musician June Pointer in 1953 -- Musician Billy Idol in 1955 (age 70) -- Historian/writer Michael Beschloss in 1955 (age 70) -- Musician John Ashton (Psychedelic Furs) in 1957 (age 68) -- Actor/comedian Colin Mochrie in 1957 (age 68) -- Football Hall of Fame member Bo Jackson in 1962 (age 63) -- Actor Ben Stiller in 1965 (age 60) -- Music producer Steve Aoki in 1977 (age 48) -- Actor…...

14+ hour, 47+ min ago (481+ words) Nov. 30 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1731, a series of earthquakes struck China. More than 100,000 people died. In 1782, preliminary peace articles formally ending the American Revolutionary War were signed in Paris. In 1913, Charles Chaplin made his screen debut in Mack Sennett's short film Making a Living. In 1939, the Russo-Finnish War -- also known as the Winter War -- started after the Soviet Union failed to obtain territorial concessions from Finland. The war started with the bombing of Helsinki. In 1954, a meteorite crashed through the roof of a house in Sylacauga, Ala., striking Elizabeth Hodges, who was sleeping on a couch, in the hip. The space rock was a sulfide meteorite weighing 8.5 pounds and measuring 7 inches in length. In 1975, Israel pulled out of a 93-mile-long corridor along the Gulf of Suez as part of an interim peace agreement with Egypt. Israel captured…...

1+ day, 51+ min ago (119+ words) Actor Robert Wagner remembered his late wife, actress Natalie Wood, on Saturday, the 44th anniversary of her drowning death at the age of 43. Robert Wagner remembers Natalie Wood on 44th anniversary of death Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Actor Robert Wagner remembered his late wife, actress Natalie Wood, on Saturday, the 44th anniversary of her death. The West Side Story, Rebel Without a Cause and Miracle on 34th Street actress drowned Nov. 29, 1981, while boating off the coast of Santa Catalina, Calif., with Wagner and actor Christopher Walken. Investigators at the time believed her death at age 43 was suspicious -- Wood's body had bruises -- but ultimately ruled it as accidental. The exact circumstances remain a mystery to this day....

1+ day, 5+ hour ago (175+ words) Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Pop music star Taylor Swift 's Life of a Showgirl is No. 1 on the U.S. album chart for a seventh week. Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Saturday is Summer Walker's ... Taylor Swift's 'Life of a Showgirl' tops album chart for 7th week Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Pop music star Taylor Swift's Life of a Showgirl is No. 1 on the U.S. album chart for a seventh week. Coming in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Saturday is Summer Walker's Finally Over It, followed by Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem at No. 3, NF's Fear at No. 4 and the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack at No. 5. Rounding out the top tier are 5 Seconds of Summer's Everyone's a Star at No. 6, Olivia Dean's The Art of Loving at No. 7, Sabrina Carpenter's Man's Best Friend at No. 8, SZA's SOS at No. 9 and Wallen's One…...

1+ day, 5+ hour ago (116+ words) "Stranger Things" co-creator Ross Duffer said he and his brother Matt cast their real high school drama teacher in Season 5 of the Netflix drama. Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Stranger Things co-creator Ross Duffer said he and his brother Matt cast their real high school drama teacher in Season 5. "Miss Harris is played by Hope Hynes Love. She was our high school drama teacher. High school was rough for me and my brother," Ross wrote on Instagram Friday. Part 1 of the fifth and final season of the iconic sci-fi series premiered on Netflix Wednesday. Part 2 is set to debut on Dec. 25 and the finale will be available on Dec. 31....

1+ day, 7+ hour ago (190+ words) Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Irish actress and TikTok star Ruth Codd announced she has had her second leg amputated below the knee. Codd, 29, is known for her roles in the live-action movie, How to Train Your Dragon, and TV shows Irish Blood, Celebrity Traitors, Midnight Club and Fall of the House of Usher. She offered an update on her health this week, explaining in a post called "No legs who dis?" that she was back at her parents' home, making TikTok content, but confined to the first floor because she can no longer make it up the stairs. In a separate video posted before the operation, she explained to a tattoo artist that she had to have the surgery because she damaged her left leg by overcompensating for the injury to her right, using crutches for eight years. She lost her first…...

1+ day, 7+ hour ago (452+ words) Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Tony-winning playwright and Oscar-winning screenwriter Tom Stoppard has died at the age of 88. The scribe was best known for his stage dramas, The Real Thing, Travesties and Ronsencrantz and Guidlenstern Are Dead, as well as the film, Shakespeare in Love. His representatives told the BBC Saturday that Stoppard died peacefully at home in Dorset, England, surrounded by his family. No specific cause was disclosed. Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla said in a statement to The Standard: "A dear friend who wore his genius lightly, he could and did, turn his pen to any subject, challenging, moving and inspiring audiences, borne from his own personal history. "We send our most heartfelt sympathy to his beloved family," the Royal couple added. "Let us all take comfort in his immortal line, 'Look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere…...

1+ day, 14+ hour ago (297+ words) Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Those born on this date are under the sign of Sagittarius. -- Writer Louisa May Alcott in 1832 -- Chinese Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi in 1835 -- Engineer John Fleming in 1849 -- Writer C.S. Lewis in 1898 -- Writer Madeleine L'Engle in 1918 -- Sports broadcaster Vin Scully in 1927 -- French President Jacques Chirac in 1932 -- Musician John Mayall in 1933 -- Actor Diane Ladd in 1935 -- Musician Denny Doherty in 1940 (Mamas & the Papas) -- Musician Chuck Mangione in 1940 -- Comedian Garry Shandling in 1949 -- Actor Jeff Fahey in 1952 (age 73) -- Filmmaker Joel Coen in 1954 (age 71) -- Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in 1955 (age 70) -- Comedian/actor/TV personality Howie Mandel in 1955 (age 70) -- Former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano in 1957 (age 68) -- U.S. Ambassador/former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 1959 (age 66) -- Actor Cathy Moriarty in 1960 (age 65) -- Actor Kim Delaney in 1961 (age 64) -- Actor Tom Sizemore in 1961 -- Actor Andrew McCarthy in 1962 (age 63) -- Actor Don Cheadle in 1964 (age 61) -- Musician/TV personality Jonathan Knight (New Kids on…...