Movies

Christopher Dennis -- a street performer known for portraying Superman on Hollywood Blvd. for more than 25 years -- died from a lack of oxygen after crawling into a clothing donation bin while high on drugs.

The Man of Steel impersonator suffocated to death as a result of blunt force trauma to his head and neck ... this according to the L.A. County Coroner's Office. The Coroner's report also cites methamphetamine toxicity as a significant factor in his death.

Christopher suffered the fatal injuries after being partially entrapped within a metal box used for donating clothes, according to the Coroner's Office, which ruled his death accidental.

As we reported ... Christopher -- who was homeless -- died back in November when his lifeless body was discovered lying headfirst in the donation bin. Investigators believed he was attempting to gather clothes for himself.

Christopher entertained folks in Hollywood for over two decades by dressing up as Superman ... he also starred in the documentary "Confessions of a Superhero," and made multiple appearances on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

He was 52.

Oprah is pulling the plug on #MeToo documentary centered around Russell Simmons ... she's stepping down as executive producer, and blocking its path to Apple TV+.

O announced her decision to distance herself from the project Friday, this after getting dragged by 50 Cent and The Game, who said she was targeting black men accused of being sexual predators instead of their white counterparts.

Oprah says, “I have decided that I will no longer be executive producer on The Untitled Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering Documentary and it will not air on Apple TV+."

The doc, which features a former music exec who accused Russell of sexual misconduct, is set to premiere next month at the Sundance Film Festival.

Oprah adds, "First and foremost, I want it to be known that I unequivocally believe and support the women. Their stories deserve to be told and heard."

Philadelphia-born Bobby Rydell (real name Robert Louis Ridarelli) shot to stardom in the early '60s as a rock musician and teen idol with smash songs like "Volare," "Sway," "I'll Never Dance Again" and "Wild One."

After a flood of rockin' songs, Bobby Rydell took to the big screen and was cast as the jealous boyfriend, Hugo Peabody, in the iconic 1963 movie adaptation of "Bye Bye Birdie" alongside Ann-Margret as the smooching Kim McAfee and Dick Van Dyke as the scientific Albert F. Peterson.

Rydell has been recently ramping up for a string of shows across the states later in 2020.

Edd Byrnes, who became famous acting in movies like "Grease" and iconic TV shows like "77 Sunset Strip" is dead.

Byrnes died unexpectedly Wednesday at his Santa Monica home of natural causes.

His career had a bunch of high points. Edd played Vince Fontaine in "Grease," he was the host of the famous National Bandstand dance-off.

As for "77 Sunset Strip" -- which ran from 1958-1964 -- it was one of the most popular shows on the boob tube. He became the breakout star -- Kookie. For most of you who have never heard of the show, he was as big as Luke Perry's character in '90210' ... and not dissimilar.

Edd even scored a gold record for the hit with Connie Stevens, "Kookie, Kookie (Lend Me Your Comb)," which hit #4 in 1959 and spent 13 weeks on the Billboard chart. The character Kookie was famous for combing his impressive locks with a comb.

Other credits include "Charlie's Angels," "Fantasy Island," "Married With Children," "Murder, She Wrote," "Maverick," and, of course -- where every star eventually landed -- "The Love Boat."

He leaves behind his son, Logan, an evening news anchor in San Diego and his longtime partner, Catherine Gross.

Edd was 87. RIP

Jamie Foxx is a dancing machine who also knows how to quickly turn off the switch ... especially when it comes time to explain why his new film is the most important one he's ever worked on.

We got the actor out Wednesday night leaving Avra in Bev Hills ... where Jamie did battle with a fan on a makeshift dance floor. We'll call it a tie cause both got down pretty well.

When that ended ... Jamie told our guy about "Just Mercy" ... and how his dad's own experience in the legal system and prison over a petty, $25 drug offense provided both inspiration and validation over the project.

Jamie's got nothing but love for crusading lawyer Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and whose 2014 memoir is the basis of the critically-acclaimed film starring Jamie and Michael B. Jordan.

Adam Sandler got downright serious as he told us about bombing on stage in his early days.

Adam was at the National Board Review Gala Wednesday night in NYC and revealed what fueled his drive to be a successful stand-up comedian ... despite crashing and burning on the Sunset Strip.

The Grammy-nominated comedian says when he was a kid trying to make it, there was a 50-50 chance the friends he'd invite to come watch him would leave saying "Adam sucks."

The struggle was real ... he says it happened for 3 solid years. Adam ultimately found his footing ... and it was comedian Dennis Miller who discovered Adam in WeHo at the Comedy Club. Dennis, BTW, is the one who recommended Adam to 'SNL' honcho Lorne Michaels ... and the rest was history.

Adam also talked about Eddie Murphy's comeback to stand-up comedy ... saying he's confident it's only a matter of time until Eddie makes his triumphant return to stand-up.

Quentin Tarantino will do the line-of-autographs thing, but don't push your luck ... 'cause he's got no problem telling you to screw off and to never bother him again. All love though.

The acclaimed director -- who's clearly still riding out the high of winning big at the Golden Globes this past weekend with "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" -- was making his way out of a hotel Wednesday in NYC ... and was met with a crush of paps and Hancock hounds.

He played along pretty well, jokingly telling the swarm of photogs to cool it and to stop following him everywhere. After that, he went down the line with a pen in hand and signed a bunch of memorabilia, making sure no one double-dipped with security in tow.

You gotta see how QT goes about talking to the mega-fans here ... telling a lot of them he never wants to see them after this, and also ... to GTFOH with their BS questions.

It's pretty hilarious, and kinda classic Quentin if you ask us. His acceptance speech on Sunday was in the same vein, humorous and a little cocky. All in good fun, of course.

Laura Dern's "Marriage Story" character isn't anything like the real-life divorce attorney she's supposedly based on ... so says the woman herself, who's kinda salty about the portrayal.

We ran into Disso Queen Laura Wasser Tuesday night at Craig's in WeHo and asked how she felt about the movie ... which many have speculated is not-so-loosely based on director Noah Baumbach's 2013 divorce from then-wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, who used Wasser.

Check it out ... Laura says there's not much similarity between herself and Dern's feisty Nora Fanshaw, who reps ScarJo in the movie and comes off as deceptively aggressive. Spoiler alert ... she ends up winning on behalf of her client, but the way she gets there sorta sucks.

LW has a funnier way of putting it -- she's a bit blunter in describing how LD was depicted, and she says it couldn't be further from the truth in how she handles her biz.

East Coast-native Jeremy Blackman gained fame in the late '90s when he took the role of the super-smart, quiz kid Stanley Spector -- who carries the kids team and sings a few lines from the opera "Carmen" -- in Paul Thomas Anderson's third feature film, "Magnolia."

Jeremy Blackman wets himself during a taping of the show "What Do Kids Know?" but wasn't alone in the scenes ... the game show is hosted by Jimmy Gator, played by Philip Baker Hall, the trash-talking adult contestant, Luis, played by Luis Guzman and Stanley's aggressive stage dad, Rick, played by Michael Bowen.

The Screen Actors Guild buildings in L.A. and NY are on high alert after phone threats, one of which was related to President Trump and U.S. tensions with Iran.

Law enforcement sources in NY tells TMZ ... someone called SAG's office in Manhattan just after noon PT and threatened an attack, saying something to the effect of ... "I'm going to blow up the L.A. and NY SAG Offices."

We're told the phoned threat on the West Coast was less specific, though still plenty terrifying. In L.A., the caller said he was unhappy with POTUS and the situation with Iran ... according to a law enforcement source -- a clear reference to the drone attack that killed Iran's Gen. Soleimani.

We're told SAG-L.A. deemed the threat credible, immediately evacuated, and got cops involved. SAG HQ in NY did not evacuate, but NYPD responded and took a report for aggravated harassment.

In L.A., the bomb squad is on the scene, conducting a sweep of the building.

The woman who was the inspiration for Jennifer Lopez's character in "Hustlers" is suing the production company, claiming they used her likeness and her story without permission, and they defamed her in the process.

Samantha Barbash claims in her suit, producers approached her to get her consent for the movie and she turned a thumbs down on them. Despite the rejection, the flick was produced with J Lo playing a character obviously based on her. We broke a story back in Sept. that Barbash was pissed that she received a lowball offer from producers.

Barbash says the character in the movie is portrayed as "using and manufacturing illegal substances in her home where she lived with her child." She says it's untrue and offensive.

She's suing for $40 million -- $20 mil in compensatory damages and $20 mil in punitives. She also wants an order requiring producers to turn over all copies of the movie.

Barbash, who is being represented by Bruno Gioffre, is not suing J Lo personally but is suing her production company -- Nuyorican Productions.

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston being in the same room will get anyone talking about a possible reunion, but their most recent run-in will leave Brennifer shippers disappointed.

Sources close to the former couple tell TMZ ... Brad and Jen didn't get the chance to chat much during Sunday night's Golden Globes show and the goings-on afterward. We're told they did exchange greetings and pleasantries at the after-party they both attended, but that's about it.

Fact is, the two Hollywood heavyweights have a lot of mutual friends in the biz -- and they do cross paths from time-to-time because of that, especially during big parties like this.

Andrew Kimmel is finally saying "gracias" after his nightmarish trip to Mexico went viral ... telling us he's getting ready to make a movie about his wild 24-hour adventure.

Andrew, a TV and digital producer in Los Angeles, was on "TMZ Live" Monday to download us on his scary excursion to Cabo ... telling us movie offers are rolling in, and one project is already in the works!

When you see Andrew lay out the horrific trip -- which started as a simple one-day, year-end trip from L.A. to Cabo to maintain his American Airlines status -- it's easy to see why Hollywood wants to turn his story into a script. It's got tons of juicy themes like seedy bars, scammers, corrupt cops, bribery, jail, romance, and eventually ... a happy ending!!!

Ricky Gervais wants Hollywood to shut up and just sing or act ... and to stay the hell out of politics ... but Billy Porter's vowing to speak out whenever and wherever he wants.

We got the "Pose" star at LAX -- where he was flying out of town after Sunday's Golden Globes awards -- and asked what he made of the host jokingly telling the stars to lay off politics while onstage ... 'cause they're not really educated on the issues.

ICYMI ... Ricky pretty much said nobody really gives a crap what actors and singers have to say on social or political issues, so they should avoid them during acceptance speeches. Funny enough, several winners did NOT take the note.

Ricky Gervais went scorched earth to kick off the 77th Golden Globes ... taking shots at the biggest names in the room ... and a couple who weren't there.

The host opened Sunday night's award show with a beer in hand and a promise to offend people ... starting with Felicity Huffman's prison sentence, Joe Pesci's size and Leonardo DiCaprio's dating life.

The Leo jab was related to the 3-hour-long "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" -- Ricky joked by the time the premiere was over, Leo's date was too old for him. He added Prince Andrew -- an old Jeffrey Epstein acquaintance -- even thought Leo's GFs are too young.

Gervais openly stated his 5th time hosting the Globes would be his last, so he was going out with a bang -- also taking down R. Kelly, Michael Jackson and even his bosses at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association ... which runs the GG.

As Harvey Weinstein's criminal trial in NYC gets underway ... one of his most prominent accusers, Rose McGowan, is delivering a strong message to him.

The actress was one of many Weinstein accusers who showed up Monday to the Manhattan courthouse where jury selection began in the disgraced producer's trial. Rose said she was there to see justice served.

She told reporters Weinstein had no one to blame but himself for his woes, and that she had no sympathy for him. He showed up, btw, hobbling into court with the use of a walker.

Rose vowed to see the trial through, side-by-side with other women he's allegedly harmed ... all in hopes of giving a voice to the voiceless. She says while he might've thought they'd stay silent, they didn't ... and they're going to face him in court.

She got emotional and gave a shout-out to the women who will actually testify against Weinstein. As she says, they'll have the largest burden, and made it clear she's in their corner.

Weinstein faces 5 charges relating to sexual misconduct -- including a count of rape and predatory sexual assault ... which, if proven, could send him to prison for the rest of his life.