Mary Claire Kendall

As Thomas Jefferson said,“A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.”

Hollywood power couple Roma Downey and Mark Burnett have turned out a spiritual classic in “A.D.: The Bible Continues,” through Downey’s aptly named production company “LightWorkers Media,” part of United Artists Media Group, an MGM Company, which Burnett helms.

Hollywood has the “Oscars.” Now Washington has the “Honors.” Sponsored by the American Veterans Center and Northrop Grumman Corporation, hundreds of millions will have the opportunity to be enriched by our military heroes’ “full measure of devotion” when “The Honors”

On March 2, on the Red Carpet outside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood where the Oscars were about to begin, I asked the President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences if the community could do anything to

Some 30 years after Judy Garland first publicly performed Over the Rainbow on June 29, 1939, previewing the upcoming The Wizard of Oz, this quintessential girl-next-door reached for more sleeping pills and hoped-for sleep, only to be, mercifully, granted eternal rest. Garland always wanted to

Recently, Hollywood’s elite gathered for Variety’s “Purpose Family Entertainment + Faith-based Summit” at the Four Seasons Los Angeles Hotel at Beverly Hills. In association with Rogers & Cowan–joined by Disney Publishing Worldwide, Faith Driven Entertainment, Persecuted, Pure Flix, and Walden Media and

Thirty-five years ago today, John “Duke” Wayne, made famous by playing the rugged hero in westerns directed by John Ford and Howard Hawks, went to his reward. In May 2012, I interviewed writer-producer A.J. Fenady (1), known for The Rebel, Branded, Hondo

As we wind down this “Military Appreciation Month” on this the 146th anniversary of the Memorial Day–first celebrated on May 30, 1868 as “Decoration Day”–most of us have no real idea of what it is like to “give the last

What do you know? The Cannes Film Festival that yearly transforms that quiet French Riviera town into a colliding cacophony of celebrity and cinema, is once again pinpointing with amazing precision the most artistically pre-eminent and therefore most commercially viable

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who died 20 years ago today at the age of 64, was a heavy smoker. It was a closely guarded secret. Image mattered most. Always image! A hundred years ago this June, her mother-in-law Rose Kennedy became

This Palm Sunday, more than 2 billion Christians worldwide will celebrate Christ’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem 1981 years ago–mere days before his Passion. To mark the occasion, UP Television will show The Passion of the Christ (2004) in its commercial TV debut at

After Mickey Rooney hit the big time at MGM, he was “embarrassed” by his father, burlesque comedian Joseph Yule, Sr., according to producer Ewing Miles “Lucky” Brown, an old friend of the Hollywood legend. Brown recently reminisced about his old

Sir Alec Guinness, born 100 years ago today on April 2, 1914 in Marylebone, England, was a star’s star. While Spencer Tracy, born just three days later in 1900, was ranked his fellow stars’ favorite, Guinness had dramatic gifts rivaling Tracy for

Watching the 86th annual Academy Awards from the red carpet was a real eye-opener. The sun miraculously came out on cue at precisely 2 p.m. (EST) as the stars started parading down the red carpet. Before that moment, three days of

In 1970 when John “Duke” Wayne won an Oscar for his starring role as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969), the industry was a shadow of its current self. Or perhaps it’s the other way around. Veteran writer-producer, A.J. Fenady,

As Hollywood goes through the annual ritual and frenzy of the Oscars, celebrating all it is and aspires to be through the prism of this year’s films, it’s worth noting that on this day 100 years ago the first feature

When The Beatles splashed onto the American scene on February 7, 1964, at JFK International Airport and, two days later, on “The Ed Sullivan Show”–love was in the air, evidenced by all the screaming girls, Baby Boomers all! Two nights later, The Beatles performed

Shirley Temple, one of Hollywood’s biggest and brightest stars at the height of the Depression–her break out film Bright Eyes (1934), featuring “On the Good Ship Lollipop”–has gone to her reward.  She joins her good friend, and my friend, the former film producer