RIP, Charlton Heston (1923-2008)

Charlton Heston died Saturday night, at the age of 84. While an official cause of his death has yet to be released, the actor revealed in 2002 that he was battling Alzheimer’s disease.

The respected thespian, likewise known as a civil rights leader and political activist, was born October 4, 1923, in Evanston, Ill. Following a Broadway debut opposite legendary stage actress Katharine Cornell in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, Heston found steady work in television.

He eventually starred in theatrical films, where he claimed his most well-known roles. The actor provided celebrated performances in such classics as The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), The Ten Commandments (1956), Touch of Evil (1958), The Big Country (1958), Ben-Hur (1959), El Cid (1961), Major Dundee (1965), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), The War Lord (1965) and Planet of the Apes (1968). Among his numerous awards, the actor received two Academy Award honors: one for his turn as Judah Ben-Hur and a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

For more information on the life and death of Charlton Heston, recommended obituaries may be found at the The Los Angeles Times and the Internet Movie Database. To read the Heston family’s statement regarding the beloved actor’s death, please visit Coming Soon.

Garth lands lead in Best Friend’s Girl

Jennie Garth will star as the female lead in the CBS pilot My Best Friend’s Girl, says The Hollywood Reporter. Produced by Sony, the show “centers on two best friends and co-owners of a biker shop whose relationship becomes complicated when one (Tim Peper) begins dating the ex-wife (Garth) of the other (Josh Cooke).” Eric Ladin has also been cast in Girl as a worker in the shop, who is “the world’s worst salesman.”

Comedies returning to primetime, but will viewers?

Variety takes a look at expectations for the return of network shows that were put on hiatus due to the Writers Guild of America strike. The big question regards how viewers will respond to the reappearing of the series. “It’s going to take a little time to get people to know that their shows are back,” one veteran programmer admits. “I would fully expect the first couple of numbers to be depressed. We lost a lot of momentum.”

DGA pacts with ABC, CBS and NBC

Variety writes that the Directors Guild of America has arranged a three-year agreement with ABC, CBS and NBC, covering members who work in news, sports and operations. Scheduled to go into effect on July 1, the pact “incorporates annual wage increases and other negotiated benefits for directors and their teams. It also provides a framework for ongoing dialogue during the term of the agreement.”

Pitt to partake of Tree of Life?

According to CBS’s Austin, Texas affiliate KEYE, Brad Pitt may have accepted the lead role in director Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, reports IGN. The late Heath Ledger had previously been linked to the role. Little is known about the project or its main character, although the long-in-development feature is said to be a “complex drama.”

Small Screen Roundup: 1/29/08 Edition

Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is teaming with Disney-ABC Domestic Television and ABC Studios for the live-action weekly series Wizard’s First Rule, writes The Hollywood Reporter. The show will be based on Terry Goodkind’s best-selling epic fantasy series The Sword of Truth.

Starz Entertainment is turning to Crash to find inspiration for its first ever original drama series. The feature, winner of the Oscar for Best Picture, is being developed into a series, with involvement from such key members of the film as Paul Haggis, Bobby Moresco, Bob Yari, Don Cheadle, Mark R. Harris and Tom Nunan. Coming Soon has the Starz press release.

Ain’t It Cool News has learned some of the dates for the 2008 Paley Fest events, held at the ArcLight in Hollywood. The complete schedule for the Paley Fest will be announced on February 4, when premium ticket packages will go on sale to museum members. Individual tickets will become available February 7, while non-members will have to wait until February 10 to purchase any remaining tickets.

Reuters reports that CBS has ordered two more editions of Survivor to be broadcast during the 2008-2009 season. Jeff Probst will return as the host for those editions.

Looking to produce scripted content while the Writers Guild of America is on strike, CBS Paramount Network TV is uniting with Canada’s CTV to produce at least 13 episodes of the police drama Flashpoint. Variety notes that the scripts for the series were written by Canadian scribes.

Apparently several studios have suggested that they are reducing the amount of pilots they produce. Marti Noxon, an executive for ABC’s Private Practice, explains to NPR how a such a movie may affect audiences, TV writers and the studios.

DVDActive has the specs for the direct-to-DVD films What Love Is, starring Cuba Gooding Jr.; Conspiracy, starring Val Kilmer; and Pistol Whipped, starring Steven Seagal and Lance Henriksen.