
Zendaya on the press tour for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.’
Amy Sussman/Getty Images; VCG/VCG via Getty Images; Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images; Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
Richard L. O’Connor, an Emmy-winning TV producer and a studio executive in charge of production on such films as On Golden Pond, The Muppet Movie and Raise The Titanic, died July 22 in Palm Desert. He was 96.
His death was announced by his family. A cause was not disclosed.
A long-time resident of the Mendocino Coast, O’Connor won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program for producing the 1989 NBC TV movie A Mother’s Courage: The Mary Thomas Story starring Alfre Woodard.
Born in San Francisco with his twin brother Don on January 7, 1930, O’Connor and his twin served together in the United States Marine Corps in the Korean War from 1950-1951, and after college Richard began pursuing a career in Hollywood. He landed a job in the mail room at CBS Television City, the start of a career in show business that would eventually including producing and working as a studio executive.
His four-decade studio production career includes such TV and movie credits as On Golden Pond (1981); The Muppet Movie (1979); Movie, Movie (1978); Friendly Fire (1979); and Raise The Titanic (1980).
As a producer, O’Connor’s credits include TV movies and episodes of such TV series and limited series as Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993), Amerika (1987), A Death in California (1985), Fatal Vision (1984) and Angels in the Endzone (1997), among others.
He is survived by wife Brona; daughters Kathleen, Triglia and Karen; stepchildren Kate, Marc and Matt; four grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandaughter.
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[This story contains spoilers for Spider-Man: Brand New Day.]
How many of Zendaya‘s characters are going to die onscreen this year? Well, fans are speculating that her Spider-Man: Brand New Day character is also going to be taking an early trip to the grave, only a few months after Euphoria‘s Rue and a couple of weeks after The Odyssey‘s Athena.
These rumors started when fans picked up on Zendaya consistently wearing dark ensembles during the global press tour for the fourth film in the Tom Holland-led franchise. And the actress and her famed stylist, Law Roach, are known to put a lot of thought into her promotional looks, being modern pioneers of “method dressing.”
As has become a tradition with all of her press tours, fans eagerly await each of her premiere looks to drop and Brand New Day was no different. The actress already knows how to channel her Spidey-senses on a red carpet, often including spider-themed motifs and accessories in her looks, but her loyal fans also noticed her nearly all-black trend this time around. This led to speculation across social media that the actress was hinting at her character MJ’s potential death in the new film.
The only exceptions to Black were when Zendaya wore an ivory Tamara Ralph gown to the London premiere, and a white and black Atelier Versace gown to the premiere in Shanghai, China. However, the latter only solidified the rumors for fans, as the color white has long been associated with mourning in Chinese traditions.

Zendaya on the press tour for ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day.’
Amy Sussman/Getty Images; VCG/VCG via Getty Images; Pablo Cuadra/Getty Images; Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
This wouldn’t be the first time that an actor used a project’s promotional run as an opportunity to mourn a character — Millie Bobby Brown did it last year for her Stranger Things character Eleven, who died in the season five finale. “I wore black the whole press tour because I was mourning her,” Brown told Jimmy Fallon earlier this year.
For those who weren’t fully convinced by the MJ death rumors, other fans also started speculating that Peter Parker’s love could be transforming into Venom in Brand New Day. That’s because in Al Ewing and Carlos Gómez’s Marvel comic book series All-New Venom, MJ is revealed as Venom’s new host.
Some then thought Roach spoiled this when he told Variety at the Los Angeles premiere that her edgy black Ashi Studio dress was an “abstract way to present the spider. You know, in our minds, this metamorphosis of this woman into this thing.”
Now that Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been released in theaters, it’s finally been revealed that, fortunately for Zendaya’s character but unfortunately for the internet, MJ does not die or transform into Venom in Brand New Day, meaning all those speculations were wrong.
Though the actress never directly stated the hidden meaning behind her looks during her press run, she also never shut down the death rumors, letting people on social media do what they’re good at and run wild.
When the Associated Press asked Zendaya at the L.A. premiere whether she was telling MJ’s story through her press tour costuming, she cryptically replied, “I think you just have to go to the movie and see for yourself.” She added, “Of course we love to play the very vivid storytelling. We just like to have fun and extend that storytelling through the press tour.”
She also previously told Onic Entertainment that audiences should get ready to cry when watching the new film, saying she “cried multiple times.”
Eyes will next be locked in on Zendaya’s looks for the Dune: Part Three press tour in December, which sees the actress reprise her role as Chani, but fans are also already looking at her big project next year. Since she’ll be playing Felicia, the teenage daughter of Shrek and Fiona, in Shrek 5, they’re already predicting Roach might style her in “swamp-core” couture… whatever that means.
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Linda Blair, the Exorcist star-turned-animal rescue activist, says she’s doing fine after her Southern California property was searched by the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control yesterday regarding a reported kennel operation.
Animal control officials, along with the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, conducted the search of the property that the officials suspected was being used as a kennel operation with more than 100 dogs present. (Subsequent reports indicate there were as many as 200 dogs on the property.)
“The warrant allows us to lawfully access the property and verify compliance with County codes,” the department said in a statement to press. “Our priority is the safety and well-being of both the animals on the property and the people who may be working or residing here. This inspection will help us determine whether conditions meet required standards.”
Officials said Blair was fully cooperative with the search.
Blair took to Instagram to post a video update on the situation. “I am fine, the animals are fine, and we just have some paperwork that has to be dealt with, and that’s all this was all about.”
She added, in reference to the unexpected in-person search, “I don’t know why mail isn’t used more often to notify somebody.”
See the Instagram video here.
In the written caption accompanying the video, Blair wrote, “The animals are good in lieu of our surprise visit in 105° heat! With as busy as we all are in animal rescue and saving lives from the hot deserts and abandoned animals and shelters, everyone’s emails and social media are overloaded!
“Turns out,” she continues, “we just have some paperwork to do and some diagrams but as everybody knows, I’m looking to move so I can be more educational and help more animals. I’d rather move forward. And I always say you know a good old-fashioned letter of contact always works. Be safe safe lives support animal rescue cause we’re all fighting to save lives.”
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Richard L. O’Connor, an Emmy-winning producer who served as an executive in charge of production on films including On Golden Pond, The Muppet Movie and Across 110th Street, has died. He was 96.
O’Connor died July 22 in Palm Desert, his family announced.
He received his Emmy for outstanding children’s program in 1990 for producing the NBC telefilm A Mother’s Courage: The Mary Thomas Story, starring Alfre Woodard.
O’Connor also was an executive in charge of production on Hickey & Boggs (1972), Stanley Donen’s Movie, Movie (1978), Borderline (1980), Raise the Titanic (1980), Hard Country (1981) and Barbarosa (1982), among other films and TV projects.
Richard Lynn O’Connor was born in San Francisco on Jan. 7, 1930, with his twin brother, Don. The family moved to the Mendocino coast after their mother, Doris, accepted a teaching position while their father, Lester, remained in Richmond, California, where he worked for the Standard Oil Co. Their home doubled as the local schoolhouse, with a wall separating the classroom from their living quarters.
The twins graduated from high school in Richmond, then served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War from 1950-51.
O’Connor started out in the mailroom at CBS Television City in Los Angeles and began overseeing business logistics for films and television in the early 1970s.
He also was a producer on Distant Thunder (1988); on such miniseries as Fatal Vision (good for another Emmy nomination), A Death in California, Tom Clancy’s OP Center and Amerika; and on telefilms including 1991’s Wild Texas Wind, starring Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson.
After his retirement, he lived for more than 20 years in Caspar, California.
Survivors include his fourth wife, Brona; daughters Kathleen, Triglia and Karen; stepchildren Kate, Marc and Matt; grandchildren Rachael, Kayleigh, Seth and Joshua; great-grandchildren Jessica and Carter; and great-great-granddaughter Bayleigh.
A funeral mass will take place at 1 p.m. on Aug. 8 at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Mendocino. Donations in his memory can be made to the Motion Picture & Television Fund or the Marine Corps League Foundation.
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