In this Jan. 10, 2018 file photo, actor Tom Hanks poses for photographers at the premiere of "The Post" in London. (Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/A, File)
By Jake Coyle, AP Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --
It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood for Tom Hanks, who'll star as Mister Rogers in the upcoming biopic "You Are My Friend."
TriStar Pictures announced Monday it has acquired worldwide rights to the film, to be directed by "The Diary of a Teenage Girl" filmmaker Marielle Heller.
The film will focus on the friendship between the host of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and journalist Tom Junod. Junod reluctantly agreed to profile Fred Rogers only to find "his perspective on life transformed."
Production will begin in September, with a 2019 release expected.
The role will surely add to the America's Dad image of Hanks, who gave a very Rogers-like opening monologue while hosting "Saturday Night Live" before the 2016 presidential election, swapping his jacket for a sweater and giving America a pep talk.
Chuck Woolery hosts a special premiere of the "$250,000 Game Show Spectacular" at the Las Vegas Hilton Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007, in Las Vegas. (Ronda Churchill/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of "Wheel of Fortune," "Love Connection" and "Scrabble" who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, has died. He was 83.
Mark Young, Woolery's podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. "Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him," Young wrote.
Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.
In 1983, Woolery began an 11-year run as host of TV's "Love Connection," for which he coined the phrase, "We'll be back in two minutes and two seconds," a two-fingered signature dubbed the "2 and 2." In 1984, he hosted TV's "Scrabble," simultaneously hosting two game shows on TV until 1990.
"Love Connection," which aired long before the dawn of dating apps, had a premise that featured either a single man or single woman who would watch audition tapes of three potential mates and then pick one for a date.
A couple of weeks after the date, the guest would sit with Woolery in front of a studio audience and tell everybody about the date. The audience would vote on the three contestants, and if the audience agreed with the guest's choice, "Love Connection" would offer to pay for a second date.
Woolery told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2003 that his favorite set of lovebirds was a man aged 91 and a woman aged 87. "She had so much eye makeup on, she looked like a stolen Corvette. He was so old he said, 'I remember wagon trains.' The... Read More
