Spanx, fizz and Travel Scrabble: 30 years of friendship with Maggie Smith
In the week of the actor’s funeral, a family friend remembers Sunday lunches, photoshoots and first nights with a woman of extraordinary wit, talent and compassion
Fiona Golfar
Wednesday 6 November 2024
I
first met Maggie through my husband, Robert Fox, the film and theatre producer. He’d first met her in 1974, when he was 22 and she was starring in Snap, a comedy about venereal disease. His task was to drive her to and from the theatre and generally hold her hand, which he remembers as enthralling and terrifying.
Quincy Jones and Frank Sinatra: the audacious partnership that rocketed them to another planet
Jones was behind many inflection points in American music, but it all began with a brotherhood with Ol’ Blue Eyes
Andrew Lawrence
Tuesday 5 November 2024
In 1958 Quincy Jones was working in Paris when he received a call on behalf of the princess of Monaco. Grace Kelly had convinced the principality to host a fundraising concert for the United Nations Refugee Fund and booked Frank Sinatra to perform – but she needed Jones’s help finding Sinatra a backing orchestra.
A group of Israeli soldiers takes a selfie near the ruins of a Gaza town on the Israeli border on February 19.TSAFRIR ABAYOV (AP)
Selfies of war crimes in Gaza
An Al Jazeera documentary brings together horrific images of the devastation in the Strip, including those recorded and shared on social media by Israeli soldiers demolishing houses, humiliating prisoners, or playing with Palestinian women’s underwear
RICARDO DE QUEROL
NOV 05, 2024 - 04:50 COT
There are reasons to be wary of Al Jazeera: the largest news channel in Arabic, which also broadcasts in English, is owned by the Emirate of Qatar, which is only too happy to deploy its influence in the region. It sparked the Arab Spring, which succeeded in toppling some tyrants but not in consolidating democracies (there is none in Qatar either). There are also reasons, perhaps more, to pay attention to what Al Jazeera has to say: not only as a thermometer of how Arab countries are reacting to the Middle East conflict, but also because it is the global television channel with the greatest presence in Gaza, given that the major international media outlets are denied access. It has first-hand material that it continues to broadcast despite the fact that Israeli forces killed four of its journalists (and the entire family of its local chief, Wael Dahdouh, who continued to work through the heartbreak.) It is no longer present in Israel, where its activities have been banned.
Operation save celebrities: The inner workings of the therapists who help stars to lead a ‘normal’ lifeGETTY IMAGES / PEPA ORTIZ (COLLAGE)
Operation Save the Celebrities: The inner workings of the therapists who help stars lead a ‘normal’ life
The tragic death of Liam Payne, who had previously sought help to cope with life in the spotlight, brings new life to the debate over whether early, unbridled fame is compatible with emotional stability
MIQUEL ECHARRI
Barcelona - OCT 26, 2024 - 23:05 COT
It’s undeniably rough to have sipped from the cup of fame at an early age, only to wind up excluded from the A-list. The process of restoring a celebrity’s damaged psyche can be traumatic, its outcome uncertain.
Joaquin Phoenix at the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles in October 2024.TAYLOR HILL (FILMMAGIC/GETTY)
From a cult to Hollywood royalty: Joaquin Phoenix, the star who has overcome it all
One of the most brilliant and unconventional actors of his generation turns 50 at an interesting juncture in his career. Although his last two major projects have flopped, he has a knack for coming back when least expected
EVA GÜIMIL
OCT 28, 2024 - 09:32 COT
Joaquin Phoenix’s life has always been unconventional. Born in Puerto Rico, the 50-year-old actor was raised by parents, Arlyn and John Lee Bottom, who shared a strong countercultural spirit. The couple met while hitchhiking, married soon after, and, disillusioned with American politics, left California to explore South America. There, they raised their five children — River, Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer — leading an itinerant lifestyle with little concern for material possessions. Their quest for purpose led them to join The Children of God, a religious group in which they spent years preaching while living in extreme poverty. They eventually broke ties with the group after receiving a letter from its leader, David Berg, urging members to engage in sexual relations with as many people as possible to recruit followers.
A group of Israeli soldiers takes a selfie near the ruins of a Gaza town on the Israeli border on February 19.TSAFRIR ABAYOV (AP)
Joaquin Phoenix at the Academy Museum Gala in Los Angeles in October 2024.TAYLOR HILL (FILMMAGIC/GETTY)