BROADWAY ENLISTS OPRAH FOR HELP: Broadway producers are teaming up with Oprah Winfrey in a bid to welcome theater-goers back. The “This Is Broadway” publicity blitz is set to land Monday, and will features a video with past and current shows, with stars from Hugh Jackman and Bruce Springsteen to Ethel Merman and Sara Bareilles.
ED ASNER DIES AT 91: Legendary actor and activist Ed Asner died Sunday morning surrounded by family. He was 91 years old. The former president of the Screen Actors Guild is best known for his role as Lou Grant on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and its spinoff Lou Grant. Asner is the most awarded male perfomer in Emmy history with seven wins. His credits also include Elf and Up, in which he voiced the lead, Carl Fredicksen.
CAST FOR WEDNESDAY FLESHED OUT: Netflix is rounding out the cast for Tim Burton‘s live action Addams Family series, Wednesday. Per Deadline, Joining Jenna Ortega, who stars in the titular Wednesday Addams role, are Thora Birch (Ghost World, The Walking Dead), Riki Lindhome(Knives Out, Another Period), Jamie McShane (Mank, Bloodline), Hunter Doohan (Your Honor, Truth Be Told), Georgie Farmer (Treadstone, The Evermoor Chronicles), Moosa Mostafa (Nativity Rocks!, The Last Bus), Emma Myers (Girl in the Basement, Taste of Christmas), Naomi J. Ogawa (Skylin3s), Joy Sunday (Dear White People, The Beta Test) and Percy Hynes White (The Gifted, Pretty Hard Cases). They also join Catherine Zeta-Jones as matriarch Morticia Addams and Luis Guzmán who appears as Gomez Addams.
LIV ULLMAN, ANE DAHL TORP TO STAR IN THE NIX: Oscar-nominated Liv Ullman and Ane Dahl Torp have signed on to star in The Nix. The dark fable is set in Sweden in 1868, during a famine.
MATTHEW MODINE THREATENS TO SUE FRAN DRESCHER: With a week to before the SAG-AFTRA election, Matthew Modine has accused Fran Drescher of defamation and threatened legal action if she doesn’t apologize for comments in which she accused him of breaking SAG-AFRA rules. The pair are running against each other to become president of the organization.
