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    Veteran producer of “WarGames,” “Blue Bloods,” dies at 85

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments1758 Views
    In this Sunday, Aug. 7, 2011 file photo, Executive producer Leonard Goldberg talks about "Charlie's Angels" at the Disney ABC Television Group summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. Leonard Goldberg, a network and studio executive and producer whose TV credits ranged from “Starsky and Hutch” in the 1970s to the current drama series “Blue Bloods” and whose independent movies included “WarGames” and “Sleeping with the Enemy,” has died on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Jason Redmond, File)
    LOS ANGELES (AP) --

    Leonard Goldberg, a network and studio executive and producer whose TV credits ranged from "Starsky and Hutch" in the 1970s to the current drama series "Blue Bloods" and whose independent movies included "WarGames" and "Sleeping with the Enemy," has died. He was 85.

    Goldberg died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from injuries suffered in a fall, according to a statement issued Thursday on behalf of his family, who were with him at the hospital.

    During his tenure as president of Twentieth Century Fox, the studio produced hit films including "Broadcast News," "Big," "Die Hard" and "Wall Street." 

    Goldberg was head of programming for ABC when the network's lineup included "Mod Squad," "That Girl" and "Marcus Welby, M.D." 

    Starting in the 1970s, he joined with prolific TV producer Aaron Spelling to make shows including "Charlie's Angels," "Hart to Hart" and "Fantasy Island" and TV movies including "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" with John Travolta.

    Jaclyn Smith, who starred in the "Charlie's Angels," said in a statement that their shared work history led to "a truly wonderful friendship. I have the greatest respect for him not only professionally but more importantly as a loving family man. Len, you are now truly surrounded by angels."

    As a production executive at Screen Gems, now Columbia Pictures Television, Goldberg green-lit production of the Peabody Award-winning TV movie "Brian's Song."

    Goldberg's survivors include his wife, Wendy Howard Goldberg, their children and grandchildren.

    Tags:Leonard Goldberg



    Netflix’s “Missing You” lands in time for New Year binge watch

    Friday, December 27, 2024
    Ashley Walters, left, and Rosalind Eleazar pose for photographers at a photo call for the television series "Missing You," Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in London. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

    It's Netflix's resolution every new year to give viewers a headscratcher in January.

    Since 2020, the streamer has released a U.K. miniseries based on thriller book by Harlan Coben over the holidays. It seems to have paid off: "Fool Me Once," starring Michelle Keegan, Adeel Akhtar and Joanna Lumley, launched this past January and became what Netflix says was one of their most watched shows of the year, amassing 108 million views.

    2025's seasonal suspense series is "Missing You," based on Coben's 2014 New York Times bestseller. It stars Rosalind Eleazar ("Slow Horses") as Detective Inspector Kat Donovan, a police officer who specializes in finding missing people — apart from the fiance that vanished 11 years earlier.

    "They know Jan. 1 is the sweet spot for them," says actor Richard Armitage, who has appeared in each winter Coben adaptation, which relocates the stories from the books' America to the north of England. "People have ownership over the show now, so like, 'I want my Harlan Coben show on New Year's Day. Give me my Harlan Coben fix.'"

    "It's perfect timing for the release, to be honest," says co-star Ashley Walters. "Most people are going to be hung over or, you know, just not have anything to do with the day."

    The show opens with the shock of Donovan's ex-fiance (Walters) popping up on a dating app, over a decade after she came home one day to find him gone.

    "I've ghosted people before," laughs Armitage. "Just people you don't want to talk to anymore. Not digitally though."

    Another star, Jessica Plummer, isn't a fan of those who disappear without saying goodbye, though.

    "I'd just feel too guilty," she admits, calling it "cowardly and lazy — sorry Richard!"

    Eleazar promises twists and turns... Read More

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