From The Sublime To The Ridiculous

Ken AshfordPopular CultureLeave a Comment

Sublime:  The great Shelley Winters who passed away this weekend:

Shelleywinters Several actors have won more than one Academy Award. But Shelley Winters was the only star who scored multiple trophies–and an underwater rescue of Gene Hackman.

Winters, the unsinkable two-time Oscar winner who worked and worked and worked, whether the job came in a prestige picture (Lolita), a disaster epic (The Poseidon Adventure), an exploitation flick (Bloody Mama) or a Pauly Shore vehicle (Jury Duty), died Saturday of heart failure at a nursing home in Beverly Hills, reports said.

Winters, who suffered a heart attack last October, was 85.

In all, Winters’ on-screen career spanned 56 years and 130 films and made-for-TV movies, per the stats at the Internet Movie Database. Key credits included: 1959’s The Diary of Anne Frank and 1965’s A Patch of Blue), for which she won Best Supporting Actress Oscars; and 1951’s A Place in the Sun and 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure), for which she received a Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress nomination, respectively.

Ridiculous:  Michael Jackson interviewing for a "real job".

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Michael Jackson seems to be settling in to the Persian Gulf. He has shopped for real estate here, been spotted in glitzy malls — and now it appears that Jackson is interviewing for a job.

The singer, his reputation in tatters at home after winning a grueling molestation trial in California last year, is negotiating a position as a consultant with a Bahrain-based company that plans to set up theme parks and music academies in the Middle East, according to a press release.

AAJ Holdings Ltd., owned by Bahraini businessman Ahmed Abu Bakr Janahi, said it wanted to hire the 47-year-old Jackson to give advice on setting up entertainment businesses.