Movies

Canadian actor Robin Duke is known for her standout role as the quirky waitress Doris -- who serves coffee and deals with Phil's dining disasters -- in the classic 1993 film "Groundhog Day."

Robin shared the iconic redundant role with Andie MacDowell as the news-driven darling, Rita Hanson ... and of course Bill Murray as the french-speaking, piano-playing, Ned Ryerson-punching news anchor Phil Connors.

Other big roles under Duke's acting belt include her stint as a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" in the early '80s and the shop owner Wendy on "Schitt's Creek."

Sharon Stone says Joe Rogan's new approach to discussing COVID-19 is empty lip-service if he continues spreading misinformation, and adds there's only one thing he needs to disclaim.

The actress and activist held nothing back when we saw her Tuesday in Bev Hills, and brought up Rogan's podcast.

We pointed out several celebs had come out in support of Joe, but Sharon's not buying his and Spotify's new policy -- namely, adding a disclaimer at the beginning of episodes, and offsetting controversial COVID viewpoints with a "mainstream" take as well.

Sharon tells us the only "disclaimer" she wants from Joe is for him being an "a**hole." Watch the clip (pardon the soft focus due to equipment snafu) ... but, in a nutshell ... she says it's too late for Rogan's new balanced approach.

In her mind, his interviews and COVID theories have already cost people their lives. Might sound harsh, but that's her POV, which she says it's based on doing significant work in the field of infections diseases.

SS lays out her creds, particularly on HIV ... seeing the horrors of deadly viruses while working with leading doctors and scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci.

And when it comes to COVID, it's personal for Sharon. You'll recall, the virus killed her grandmother and godmother ... and her sister and sister's husband were both hospitalized because of it.

If you're looking for a blast from the past – and have $500,000 lying around – this sweet ride would've been perfect.

Burt Reynolds' 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am went up at Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale 2022 auction, and the lucky buyer paid one pretty penny for it.

With the final bid at $495,000, this 8-cylinder beast is going home to a hardcore car enthusiast – and hopefully a film buff! Reynolds drove the same type of car in his hit film, "Smokey and the Bandit."

While it isn’t the car that appeared on screen, it was a congratulatory gift for his work on the flick … fitting as it was the second-highest-grossing film of that year. To make it even more special, this is the only '77 Trans Am that Reynolds ever owned and he signed the glovebox!

Burt’s car wasn’t the only whip up for auction … Pitbull had his custom 2022 Karma GS-6 EV up for sale, nicknamed "305 EDITION." It went for $700k with all the proceeds going to benefit the Selfless Love Foundation and Pitbull's SLAM foundation.

David Spade’s 1968 Chevy Chevelle Custom Coupe went on the auction block as well and fetched $374k.

Moses J. Moseley, famous for playing one of Michonne's zombies in "The Walking Dead," has died at just 31 years old ... and cops are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death.

A family member tells us the police found Moses' body Wednesday in the Hudson Bridge area of Stockbridge, GA ... the bridge covers a freeway. We're told there's currently an active investigation into how the young actor's body ended up in the area -- and whether or not foul play was involved.

A family member tells TMZ, they hadn't heard from Moses since Sunday of last week. They called around to hospitals, to no avail. On Wednesday morning, they filed a missing person's report. They then contacted OnStar which tracked the car and that's where his body was discovered.

The family member tells us Moses died of a gunshot wound, but investigators are working to find out who pulled the trigger.

Moses got his big break on "The Walking Dead" from 2012-2015 as one of Michonne's zombies that followed her around. He also made appearances on "Watchmen" on HBO and was in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" in 2013.

Tang Soo Do master Robert Wall, who trained with and acted alongside Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee in some of the greatest martial arts films of all time has died at the age of 82 ... TMZ Sports has learned.

Wall was a 9th degree Tang Soo Do black belt under Norris ... who is credited with bringing the discipline to the West. The men trained together for many years ... and were business partners.

In addition to being a martial arts master, Wall also played important roles on the silver screen.

Robert appeared in 1972s "Way of the Dragon" and 1973s "Enter the Dragon" -- both starring Lee, the most well-renowned martial artist to ever live.

Wall and Lee had a memorable and very real (albeit one-sided) fight in "Enter the Dragon."

In fact, years after they filmed the fight scene, Bob revealed Lee actually broke his ribs.

"Bob, I wanna hit you, and I wanna hit you hard," Wall revealed Lee told him prior to filming.

The reason ... Bruce -- who'd known Wall for 8 years before filming the movie -- wanted the fight to look as authentic as possible, so the two masters went full-speed.

Wall's family sent us the following statement on Robert's passing.

"Bob was the greatest husband and father. Family was Everything to him. He lived a remarkable life & There is a hole in our hearts that will never be filled. His spirit & legacy will live on forever within us. He was our rock."

Rest in peace.

The Rams' huge win didn't go off seamlessly on Sunday ... 'cause the Jumbotron operator at their stadium mistook Big Sean and Jhene Aiko for Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. -- and the scene was hilarious.

Just before L.A. beat the San Francisco 49ers to advance to the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium ... someone really screwed up as the camera was panning around to celebs in the crowd.

When it got to Big Sean and Aiko ... the graphics below them read "Sarah Michelle Gellar" and "Freddie Prinze Jr."

Fans noticed the gaffe quickly -- pointing out the blunder all over social media ... and even Michelle Gellar had to poke fun at it all on her Instagram page.

"@bigsean do you get mistaken for me as often as I get mistaken for you?" she said.

"somebody about to get fired," she added.

Of course, Big Sean and Aiko didn't seem bothered by it ... they were spotted livin' it up in their on-field suite throughout the game, and the two appeared to even celebrate the Rams' win afterward.

As for Prinze Jr., he didn't even attend the game -- and he's yet to respond to it all, but we're sure something witty is coming shortly.

Howard Hesseman, best known as Dr. Johnny Fever on "WKRP in Cincinnati," died Saturday in Los Angeles.

Hesseman’s wife, Caroline Ducrocq, tells TMZ he was at Cedars-Sinai in L.A. for colon surgery last summer … but when it resulted in complications ... that’s when things started to go south.

Caroline says he was hospitalized January 5 due to complications from that surgery. It got worse 5 days later when he had trouble breathing. He began experiencing breathing difficulties and ended up in ICU. Caroline says that was the beginning of the end.

Howard first appeared under a fake name -- Don Sturdy -- on the show “Dragnet” in ‘68, playing a hippie editor of an underground newspaper. He then appeared in shows such as  "The Andy Griffith Show," "Boston Legal," "That '70s Show," and "The Bob Newhart Show." He appeared on the final season of "One Day at a Time," marrying the star character played by Bonnie Franklin.

His movie roles are vast ... "Halloween II," "The Sunshine Boys," "Silent Movie," "The Big Bus," and "The Other Side of Midnight."

Howard's breakout role was the hilarious Dr. Johnny Fever on “WKRP." Hesseman prepared for the role by working as a DJ in San Francisco at KMPX-FM for several months leading up to the production. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy.

To show you how times have changed, he was jailed for 90 days back in 1963 for selling a single ounce of pot. And he was fired from a $100,000-a-year radio gig for using the word "booger."

Caroline was with him by his side, holding his hand when he passed. He was surrounded by other family members.

He was 81.

File this under warming up for Bobby Lashley ... 'cause on the eve of the Royal Rumble, WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar just BODY SLAMMED Wee Man through a table -- at dinner!!

TMZ Sports obtained video from Lesnar's dinner table at a restaurant in St. Louis when the 6'3", 285-ish lb. behemoth picked up the Jackass star -- as Johnny Knoxville (who's in the RR) watched -- and sent him crashing through the wood table, breaking glass (and possibly Wee Man's back?).

The clip's great ... the future WWE HOF'er casually picks him up, holds him, and then ... boom!

Of course, Brock -- the WWE Champion -- is in Missouri for the Royal Rumble ... where he's taking on the challenger, Lashley, Saturday night at The Dome at America's Center.

Lesnar and Lashley isn't the only big time matchup. Roman Reigns is wrestling Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch vs. Doudrop is also going down ... and there's a bunch of other Superstars scheduled to be in the house.

As far as Wee Man -- aka Jason Acuna -- the good news is we're told he's okay! Maybe just a bit sore ... 😬😬😬

Pete Davidson's a chip off the ol' block ... the question -- did Kanye West knock his block off?

The answer is no, but we'll explain why it's a fair question in a minute.

Yeah, Pete's tooth looks chipped, but it's not.  Our Pete sources tell TMZ ... he's shooting a movie that requires a chipped tooth, so it's fake.  We don't know which movie, but we know he does not have a chipped tooth.

Oh, the baby ... it's Malcolm, the newborn of Olivia Munn and John Mulaney, whom they now call "Uncle Pete." Pete's reaction ... "Babies are all head." You hear Olivia and John cracking up in the background.

As for the Kanye thing ... remember, he recently said in a song he would kick Pete's ass.

This is pretty awesome ... Cher is part of the upcoming tribute to Betty White, delivering a fantastic version of "Thank You for Being a Friend."

Cher shared a clip of the "Golden Girls" theme song, which she recorded on the same sound stage where the show was shot.

She'll be part of the tribute, which will air Monday, and the list of celebs who will appear is stunning ... President Biden, Drew Barrymore, Valerie Bertinelli, Bryan Cranston, Ted Danson, Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer, Goldie Hawn, Vicki Lawrence, Jane Leeves, Jay Leno, Anthony Mackie, Wendie Malick, Joel McHale, Tracy Morgan, Jean Smart, Mary Steenburgen and that's not even a complete list!

TMZ broke the story ... Betty died just days before what would have been her 100th birthday. As we reported, she had a stroke 6 days before, which lead to her death.

Rob Riggle claims his estranged wife kept a watchful eye on him during their divorce, by secretly recording him with a hidden camera planted in his home ... and now he's suing.

According to a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Rob says he started to feel as if he was being watched shortly before his wife, Tiffany, filed for divorce.

In the docs, Rob claims the couple was trying to save their marriage by "nesting" -- staying in separate homes and taking turns living with the kids in the family home -- and he got the sense Tiffany was surveilling him because she seemed to have info about his whereabouts and private messages.

Rob claims he discovered a substantial amount of money missing from a lockbox in his home office shortly after Tiffany filed for divorce ... and he says he confronted her about it because she had access to the home, but claims she denied knowing anything about the missing cash.

Not long after, Rob claims Tiffany hacked into his Apple account and downloaded his texts, contacts, photos and emails ... and then he says things got even more disturbing.

Rob claims Tiffany somehow had knowledge of private conversations he'd had in his home with his girlfriend and assistant, and Tiffany -- or other anonymous sources -- would email or text them referencing the private convos.

As a result of the alleged leaks, Rob claims he and his GF devised a misinformation scheme, planting false info to test whether any of it would leak out ... and he claims his suspicions were confirmed.

According to the suit, Rob had his home electronically swept for devices ... and he claims a hidden spy camera was discovered in a smoke detector above his desk in his home office.

Rob says the device had a memory card with over 10,000 videos with sound on it, and the device appeared to be installed in August 2020 and was transmitting or recording all video and voice activity in the home for at least 7 months.

What's more, Rob claims there is an image on the device showing Tiffany standing on a ladder and installing the spy camera, plus another showing her sitting on the floor of his home office counting cash, which he thinks is the missing money from the lockbox.

Rob's going after Tiffany for damages ... and he wants an injunction barring her from recording him and forcing her to turn over all recordings and copies.

Sean Penn says men in America are becoming "quite feminized" ... and he has a not-so woke or PC idea of why it's happening.

The Oscar-winning actor just doubled down on comments he made to British publication The Independent about men wearing what's traditionally been women's clothing. ICYMI ... Sean said, "There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt."

Sean tried to clarify those remarks while talking to another UK outlet, and you can decide for yourself how that worked out. According to The i, he said ... "I am in the club that believes that men in American culture have become wildly feminized. I don't think that being a brute or having insensitivity or disrespect for women is anything to do with masculinity, or ever did. But, I don’t think that [in order] to be fair to women, we should become them."

SP added that the women in his life -- including his daughter, Dylan, who he directed in the new movie, "Flag Day" -- don't see masculinity as being inherently oppressive.

Tisha Campbell is pissed off about a scary run-in with men she believes were sex traffickers, and she's got a warning for any others in the town where she's currently working.

A source close to Tisha tells TMZ the incident went down in Brownsville, Texas, about 10 minutes from the Mexican border ... where Tisha is working on an independent film.

We're told someone from a hotel she was staying at gave her a number to call for a taxi -- as Tisha explains, there weren't any Ubers available in the area. But, when the taxi pulled up, Tisha alleges a man hopped out of the backseat, and barked at her to get in the vehicle ... and that's when she knew things were very sketchy.

The "Martin" star explains she told the guy "no", but he and the driver kept demanding she get in their ride. She never did.

Our sources say Tisha's been working a project with sex and human trafficking expert Toni Rivera on trafficking ... so she was hyper vigilant for just such a situation. Tisha says she eventually told both guys to "f***off!" before going back to the front desk.

Apparently, the lady working there had no idea why Tisha was given that number to call a cab -- she tried asking who the driver was, but that's still unclear.

Tisha didn't contact cops, as we're told the employees at the hotel made sure she got out of there safely.

We still don't know who gave her the number or if they believed she was being set up ... but Tisha is sure about one thing. As for the alleged traffickers, she says ... "They got me f***ed up. I ain't Gina bitch!!!"

Dylan Postl is NOT here for Peter Dinklage's hot take on the "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" remake. Dylan says that the esteemed actor took things waaay too far... and as a result, he's actually hurting the dwarf community.

We caught up with the actor and former WWE wrestler Wednesday, and he doubled down on his stance, saying the fairytale remake actually gives 7 real-life people in the dwarf community a chance to star in a movie. He says getting work is elusive for these actors, so such roles are not only important ... they're life-sustaining.

Dylan says Peter's actually taking roles away from dwarfs and the little people community by being so critical ... the studios might back off such projects.

ICYMI, Disney decided to remake 'Snow White.' The "Game of Thrones" star had a lot to say about it. Peter said, on the one hand, Disney made a progressive move by casting Rachel Zegler, who's Latina, as the lead ... but on the other, Disney was tone-deaf when it came to its depiction of the 7 dwarfs.

Peter described the story as f***ing backwards"... and criticized Disney's portrayals of the dwarfs as primitive creatures who live in a cave. Turns out, they actually live in a cottage in the woods, but regardless ... he was not happy.

That's very different than Dylan's take -- he says there's absolutely no issue with how they're portrayed. He adds the dwarfs worked, had a lot of gems and were very dynamic ... as opposed to all checking one box.

Dylan took a slight jab at Peter, who didn't have much to say when he was cast as a dwarf in "Elf" or 'GOT' ... so Dylan feels it's disingenuous for him to be so vocal now.

Tuesday marked the 2-year anniversary of Shaun Weiss’ sobriety, and he decided to celebrate the occasion with some takeout, but the original plan was meant to be much more symbolic.

Friend and fellow actor Drew Gallagher was supposed to go with Shaun to Brent’s Deli in the Valley. Back in 2017, this was the first place he got a meal once released from jail, so it meant a lot for him to come full circle.

Unfortunately, Shaun has been under the weather lately, but no worries – he chose the takeout option from Brent’s and still got his matzo ball soup!

Shaun struggled with drug addiction for years and at one point was living on the streets. He had multiple run-ins with the law -- arrested for meth and burglary -- but he's since cleaned up his act in a pretty spectacular way.

As we reported in July, Shaun graduated from a drug program and chose to celebrate his graduation at – you guessed it – Brent’s Deli. This place seems to hold a lot of meaning for him.

You could say Chuck Palahniuk saw the Chinese government's censorship of "Fight Club" coming ... because the new ending is closer to the original one he wrote 25 years ago.

The famed author -- who penned the OG novel that became the 1999 movie -- joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" to give us his take on China removing the film's big explosive climax.

Chuck says it's funny to him that folks are up in arms over the censorship overseas because he's been dealing with his books being banned for a long time right here in the U.S. -- and he calls out Texas, in particular.

Ironically, Chuck told us China's version actually aligns more with the ending he wrote in the novel. Even more twisted ... he says overseas publishers have been editing his novel to make it more like the David Fincher movie.

So, yeah ... unfortunately, he's kinda used to people messing with his art.

As we reported, China released a new version of the movie, starring Brad Pitt and Ed Norton, that ends without explosions, killings and general chaos. Instead, it ends with an on-screen graphic that reads, in part, "The police rapidly figured out the whole plan and arrested all criminals, successfully preventing the bomb from exploding."