Pioneering Hollywood casting director Lynn Stalmaster dies
FILE - In this April 10, 2014, file photo, Lynn Stalmaster arrives at the TCM Classic Film Festival's Opening Night Gala in Los Angeles. Lynn Stalmaster, the Oscar-winning casting director whose eye for talent helped launch the careers of John Travolta, Christopher Reeve, Richard Dreyfuss and many other actors, has died. Bang /Invision/AP, File)Lynn Stalmaster, the Oscar-winning casting director whose eye for talent helped launch the careers of John Travolta, Christopher Reeve, Richard Dreyfuss and many other actors, has died. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had long resisted giving special recognition to casting directors and Stalmaster was brought to tears. He was an apprentice to a pair of TV producers who made him their casting director.
Biden campaign ‘flooding the zone’ with celebrity backers
The four-time Grammy winner isn't the only Biden playlist mainstay helping his campaign against President Donald Trump. Still, Biden has gone beyond celebrities in search of campaign surrogates. Stars generate candidate buzz, help with fundraising and can build campaign event crowds — even for those online. His reelection campaign has been holding its own online events with top supporters nearly every night for months and says its online events average 2.6 million views per broadcast, though its headliners are often the president’s children. The Trump campaign has also seized on Biden's preferred venue for participating in online events, a basement studio in his Delaware home — accusing the former vice president of hiding from voters.