Latest in Bessie

Bettina Gilois, an award-winning screenwriter and author, has died in her sleep at age 58, according to a friend. She had an advanced form of cancer and passed just days before her July 9 birthday. Gilois was having what was described by a friend as “a career year” when she passed, with several projects in development…

Based on the play that won Bryan Cranston a Tony for his performance as President Lyndon Baines Johnson, the debut of HBO's All The Way didn't sweep the HBO movie map on May 21 like the 36th President did the electoral map in 1964. But it was up over its immediate predecessors. With 1.11 million total viewers at 8 PM…

CREATIVE ARTS EMMY AWARDS WINS BY NETWORK (Program and individual winners combined) HBO 29 NBC 11 FX Networks 8 ABC 4 Cartoon Network 4 Comedy Central 4 FOX 4 PBS 4 Amazon Instant Video  3 CBS 3 Discovery Channel 3 Netflix 3 Adult Swim 2 CartoonNetwork.com 2 americanexpress.com/unstagedapp 1 Bravo 1 Cinemax 1 CNN…

The 2015 Creative Arts Emmy Awards topped out at three-hours-plus Saturday at the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles. That’s how long it took to give HBO a slew of awards: a leading 29 in fact, paced by multiple winners Game Of Thrones (eight) and Bessie, which took the Outstanding TV Movie honor among its haul…

HBO's biopic of blues singer Bessie Smith was an over 20-years-in-the-making project. It wasn't until Pariah writer-director Dee Rees reworked the Bessie script and eventually landed the helming gig that the TV movie fell into place, subsequently earning 12 Emmy nominations, including two for Rees (in writing and…

Once a staple with numerous and memorable Emmy-winning movies to tout, such as That Certain Summer, The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman and other landmark films, the Outstanding Television Movie category — which now stands on its own apart from Mini/Limited Series —seems awfully hard to fill. I mean, has anyone…

The Primetime Emmys showed substantial progress this year in recognizing African-American thesps, who received 18 nominations across all acting categories — easily eclipsing last year’s record high of 11 noms. The best actress, drama category set a first-time record with two African-American nominees: Viola Davis from…

Queen Latifah's "new" movie, HBO's Bessie, actually has been on her radar for more than 20 years. Latifah was best known as a rap artist in the 1990s when producers Richard D. Zanuck and Lili Fini Zanuck approached her about portraying the legendary Bessie Smith, "Empress of the Blues." The project already had gone…

Defying the odds against her, Bessie Smith became one of the most acclaimed performing and recording artists of the 1920s and '30s. HBO has posted a trailer for Bessie, which stars Queen Latifah as the troubled singer. The movie was directed by Dee Rees who also co-wrote with Christopher Cleveland and Bettina Gilois…

The Zanucks first brought a project about Bessie Smith to Queen Latifah 22 years ago, Latifah said today at Winter TV Press Tour 2015. She was just 22 years old. She is in a much better position to play the role now, she insisted. "If anything I came to have a little more story," at age 44, Latifah explained. “When…

Oliver Platt (X-Men: First Class, Fargo, Chef), Bryan Greenberg (Friends With Benefits, How To Make It In America) and Tory Kittles (True Detective, Olympus Has Fallen) have joined the cast of Bessie, HBO's film about iconic blues singer Bessie Smith (Queen Latifah). Written and directed by Dee Rees, the project…