Hollywood Week: Academy Awards, Media News, Gene Hackman, Wife, Dead, Roberta Flack, Michelle Trachtenberg

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Category: Entertainment News

Published on Saturday, 01 March 2025 10:57

Written by Janet Walker

The final awards show of the season is approaching and whether you are rooting for strippers or priests, the annual Academy Awards is always a grand spectacle in celebration of the entertainment industry's biggest night of the year.

Awards Season: Academy Awards

Oscar Sunday is here. The 2025 Awards season and as the countdown begins and while two categories appear to be a lock, Best Supporting Actor for Kieran Culkin, and Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldana, it remains a nailbiter for Best Lead Actress, and Best Lead Actor.

Oddsmakers favor the strippers over the priests and expect Best Director and Best Picture to be awarded to Sean Baker's Anora. Although, history and this very fickle awards season may split the award, and a separate director and separate film may walk away with the trophy.

A few things are certain Nick Offerman will serve as the announcer for this year's show which is hosted by Conan O'Brien. The Oscars will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, with the official live red carpet show airing at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.

A host of celebrities are scheduled to present including Dave Bautista, Harrison Ford, Gal Gadot, Andrew Garfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Margaret Qualley, Alba Rohrwacher, Zoe Saldaña and Rachel Zegler Joe Alwyn, Halle Berry, Sterling K. Brown, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Ana de Armas, Lily-Rose Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Goldie Hawn, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Cillian Murphy, Connie Nielsen, Amy Poehler, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, June Squibb, Ben Stiller, Emma Stone, Oprah Winfrey and Bowen Yang.

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Media: Lester Holt Steps Down at NBC Nightly News Anchor

NBC Nightly Anchor Lester Holt announced this week that he will be stepping down from his role as the nightly news anchor for the second highest rated evening news show. No successor has been named.  

His memo, to staffers, which was printed in The Hollywood Reporter, added, "But before we play the walk off music, I have another announcement. I'm excited to report I will be continuing as anchor of Dateline NBC, but for the first time in a fulltime capacity whereby I will be expanding my footprint on the broadcast and crafting Dateline hours on subjects I care deeply about. I am thrilled to be able to work more closely with my enormously talented friends at Dateline as the broadcast continues to grow and attract new viewers in new places."

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Gene Hackman, Two Time Oscar Winner, Found Dead

Beloved Actor Gene Hackman, 95, one of the last true screen legends of Hollywood's new age, was found dead in his Santa Fe, New Mexico home this week, along with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, in what investigators are calling suspicious.

After the discovery of Hackman, and his wife, along with one of the couple's three dogs, in separate rooms in the home, investigators have ruled out carbon monoxide poisoning. An early autopsy revealed Hackman's pacemaker last registered an event on February 17, 2025, and are concluding that as the last day of the storied actor's life.

Investigators have yet to accurately determine the timeline of events, including whether Mr. Hackman or Ms. Awakawa predeceased the other and are treating the home as a crime scene. Ms. Awakawa was found in a bathroom on the property, surrounded by an undermined number of unknown medications, which had fallen to the floor.  Her body was near a space heater and exhibited signs of the standard post-mortem processes, including bloated features, and advanced mummification or hardening of the extremities. Mr. Hackman was found in a similar manner in a mudroom.

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In the days following the announcement of his death, Mr. Hackman has been lauded as one of the greats in cinema history.

Hackman's career began in New York City, embodying the adage that New York is where actors learn their craft and Los Angeles is where they work. He began working in New York, with bit parts in several 1960s television shows, and his first breakout role, was as Clyde Barrow's brother, opposite Warren Beatty, in the 1967 classic "Bonnie and Clyde," which seemed to bring him into the purview of Hollywood's new age.

Nominated for five Academy Awards, over the course of his career, he won two Oscars. The first, Best Actor in a Lead Role, for his portrayal as NYPD Detective Popeye Doyle, in the 1971 award winning "The French Connection," and the second, for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his portrayal of Little Bill Daggett, in Cint Eastwood's "Unforgiven."

Hackman was a dependable actor who seamlessly embodied every character he played. From his role as a Basketball coach to an underdog team in "Hoosiers," to Defense Secretary David Brice in in the 1987 classic, "No Way Out."  Hackman aged nicely in Hollywood, and he moved into those roles gracefully, leaving memorable performances throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, playing the powerful, troubled and corrupt as effortlessly as he appeared to play comedy. Who can forget his drag performance in the 1996 film, "The Birdcage?"

After he retired from acting, he remained creatively active authored and co-authored a total of five books, ranging from police thrillers to westerns. He was also a painter, and spent the last twenty years in Sante Fe, enjoying the surrounding arts community.

Hackman will be honored at the 2024 Academy Awards, scheduled for March 2, 2025.

This is a developing story.

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Roberta Flack, Soul Singer of the 1970s, Dies

"Roberta Flack, a classically trained pianist who taught in the D.C. school system before launching a singing career that made her one of the most popular performers of the 1970s, with such No. 1 hits as "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly With His Song," died Feb. 24 in Manhattan. She was 88," reported The Washington Post.

Michelle Trachtenberg, Actress, Found Dead

Michelle Trachtenberg, known to fans for her roles in "Gossip Girl, and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," was found unresponsive in her New York City apartment. She was 39.

Initial reports indicate that Ms. Trachtenberg death is "not suspicious," and an investigation into her death will not be conducted. Although the medical examiner will issue final cause, it was also noted that she also underwent a liver transplant recently.

Having spent nearly thirty of her 39 years, as an actor, Ms. Trachtenberg, has amassed a legion of fans, and co-stars who remember her as "electric." As an 11-year-old, she played the lead role of Harriet in "Harriet and the Spy," opposite Rosie O'Donnell. "Reviewing the film in The New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote that Ms. Trachtenberg "gives a performance that is as endearing as it is devoid of self-conscious cuteness," adding, "Her Harriet is high-spirited and stubborn, but never unlikable," reported The New York Times.

No further information is available currently.

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Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.