HOLLYWOOD

HOLLYWOOD — Everyone keeps talking about the sudden passing of Robin Williams at the age of 63. In 1977, I saw a young Robin Williams guesting in a taping of “The Richard Pryor Show.” Everyone there knew this funny guy was going places. He showed up next as a regular on the revival of “Laugh-In,” the top-rated variety show of the 1960s. “Laugh-In” gave us Lily Tomlin and Goldie Hawn, who later won an Oscar for “There’s a Girl in My Soup” with Peter Sellers. Even President Richard Nixon wanted to be on the show. Robin also guested on the sitcom “Eight is Enough,” and then the spin-off pilot of “Mork and Mindy.” That aired as a “Happy Days” segment before it became a regular series that ran from 1978-1982.

Robin was a comic genius who gave too much of himself away. Last year he appeared on the Emmy Awards to deliver a tribute about his idol, Jonathan Winters, who played his son on “Mork and Mindy.” This year the Emmy Awards are planning a tribute to him.
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Calling Dr. Kildare! Richard Chamberlain, absent from Broadway since 1999 when he played Baron Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” will star with Holly Hunter and Bill Pullman in the New Group’s production of “Sticks and Stones” later this year. It’s a Vietnam-era story in which he plays a priest. The last time he played a priest was opposite Barbara Stanwyck in 1983’s “The Thorn Birds.”

His first Broadway attempt was in the 1966 musical version of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” The book was written by Edward Albee from a Truman Capote novella, and was the basis of the famous Audrey Hepburn film made in 1961. The cast boasted Chamberlain, Mary Tyler Moore, Sally Kellerman and Larry Kert, the original Tony in Broadway’s “West Side Story.” Guess the public didn’t want to see anyone but Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly.
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Channing Tatum currently is co-writing the sequel to “Magic Mike,” titled “Magic Mike XXL,” with his partner Reid Carolin. He promises, “It’ll be crazier than the first one.” Steven Soderbergh, who directed the original, will participate if needed, as his assistant Gregory Jacobs directs this one. Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello more than likely will return, while Matthew McConaughey and Alex Pettyfer will not. It will be out in July 2015. Channing still has the $175 million epic space-opera “Jupiter Ascending” due out Feb. 6. He also has signed on for “X-Men: Apocalypse,” out May 2016, as well as “The Wolverine” sequel due March 2017. Now you know which slots to fill out in your Tatum-datum book!