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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Dec 13, 2021
December 13, 2021
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Pushing up daisies: ANNE RICE, author of Interview with the Vampire, dies due to complications resulting from a stroke, aged 80. Her classic book was published in 1976 and went on to be a best seller. It was later adapted into a movie starring TOM CRUISE and BRAD PITT in 1994. And Anne went on to write a whole series of follow-ups, called The Vampire Chronicles.
In case you didn't hear: The late MICHAEL NESMITH, who died Friday of heart failure at his home in California, had wrapped a MONKEES tour only weeks ago. His manager says the 78-year-old "went out on top" --"His final show at the Greek Theatre was before 5,000 people, and it was joy. So it was a very successful tour," he said. "He really went out on top, as far as that's concerned." It leaves MICKEY DOLENZ as the only Monkee still alive.
Also gone: AL UNSER, one of only four drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 a record four times, died Thursday following a long illness. He was 82 and had been battling cancer for 17 years.
Not good: Are people just not going to the movies with the whole Coronavirus pandemic thing going on --or did STEVEN SPIELBERG's "West Side Story" movie do worse than expected, debuting over the weekend with just $10.5 million dollars. 20th Century and Disney were looking for at least $13 million, and will be looking for more to come, since it reportedly cost more than $90 million to make.
Like you care: On Friday, producers of the Broadway show about PRINCESS DIANA said the show --"Diana: The Musical"-- will close next Sunday, December 19th. Not exactly a long-runner, either --as of its closing, it will have played just 33 performances and 16 previews.
Coronavirus: Some good news --a new Israeli study says Pfizer booster shots are effective against the Omicron Variant of Coronavirus. In a related story, Dr. FAUCI says yearly COVID boosters are not out of the question.
While we're on singers, FRANK SINATRA as honored on his 106th birthday Sunday with a six-foot-tall bronze statue in Hoboken’s Sinatra Park. The sculpture --modeled after Frank when he was 45-years-old-- shows him leaning on a lamppost with one hand on the brim of his hat.
Coming back: CHRIS WALLACE, who announced Friday he'd be leaving Fox News Channel after nearly 20 years, now says he'll be joining the CNN-Plus streaming-video outlet.
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