
Gloria Carlin in 1987’s ‘The Hanoi Hilton.’
Cannon Films/courtesy Everett Collection
Gloria Carlin, the Montreal-born actress who appeared in the 1987 film The Hanoi Hilton and several other projects for her husband, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Lionel Chetwynd, has died. She was 84.
Carlin died Aug. 5 at her home in Sherman Oaks, her family announced.
Carlin portrayed the wife of Tony Lo Bianco’s broken-down rodeo rider in Goldenrod (1976) and worked alongside Jean-Pierre Aumont and Stacy Keach in Two Solitudes (1978). Both Canadian films were written by her husband, and he directed the latter as well.
In The Hanoi Hilton (1987), written and helmed by Chetwynd and starring Michael Moriarty, Carlin played a member of an American peace delegation who visits a Vietnam prison camp in a scene that invoked Jane Fonda’s real-life, controversial 1972 visit to Hanoi.
Born on Feb. 20, 1942, Carlin started acting at the Montreal Children’s Theatre and went on to attend Sir George Williams University, where she first met Chetwynd.
She left for New York to study acting with Peggy Feury at The Actors Studio and dance with Martha Graham but returned to her hometown, where she married Chetwynd in 1963. She then acted in plays, hosted a CBC kids show and worked at the Expo 67 world’s fair.
Carlin and Chetwynd moved to London, and she appeared in a 1971 West End production of Maybe That’s Your Problem, a musical about premature ejaculation that was the first play written by her husband.
(Ted Kotcheff directed that, and he and Chetwynd would reteam on the 1974 Richard Dreyfuss-starring Canadian classic The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, for which Chetwynd received his Oscar nom for best adapted screenplay.)

Gloria Carlin in 1987’s ‘The Hanoi Hilton.’
Cannon Films/courtesy Everett Collection
Carlin, Chetwynd and their two sons then lived in Connecticut and New York before settling in Los Angeles in 1976.
She later appeared in Roger Vadim’s The Hot Touch (1981), in the 2001 Emmy-winning TNT miniseries Joseph and in the 2001 Showtime movie Varian’s War: The Forgotten Hero, all written by Chetwynd.
In 1986, Carlin had a stint on the ABC soap General Hospital as the widowed store owner Charity Gatlin, mother of Roger Howarth’s Austin Gatlin-Holt. She also showed up on episodes of Cagney and Lacey, E/R, Knots Landing, Freddy’s Nightmares and The Facts of Life during her career.
In addition to her husband, survivors include her sons, Michael and Josh, a former THR writer; her daughters-in-law, Tracy and Jennifer; her grandchildren, Miller, Joseph, Mira and Becca; her brother, Harvey, and sister-in-law, Suzee; and nieces and nephews Cindy, Lisa, Clifford, Gabriel and Jeremy.
Carlin “was a light for anyone who had the privilege to know her,” her family said. “She was always willing to listen and provide sage advice. Those in her orbit knew, unreservedly, that Gloria, an unabashed optimist, was always in their corner.”
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Condragulations are in order for RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars as MTV and Paramount+ have renewed the shows for additional seasons.
MTV has picked up RuPaul’s Drag Race for Season 19 alongside its companion series RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, while Paramount+ has ordered RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars for Season 12 alongside its companion series RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: Untucked.
The pickups for the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise come as they celebrate 11 Emmy nominations with host RuPaul Charles record-extending 11th consecutive nomination for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program.
“Nearly twenty years later, what began as a dream has become an extraordinary global movement. We owe endless thanks to our partners at MTV and Paramount+, along with every queen, judge, crew member, and fan who has built RuPaul’s Drag Race,” World of Wonder said in a statement. “Drag brings people together in powerful ways – and we are honored to keep celebrating new voices and sharing iconic moments with the world.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 18 saw strong viewership with double-digit growth from its previous season. The season saw Myki Meeks take the crown and becoming the newest drag superstar.
Spinoff RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 11 played with the format with the Tournament of All Stars, which brought together returning queens to compete for a coveted spot in the “Drag Race Hall of Fame.” Crystal Methyd earned the title during the latest season.
RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: Untucked are produced by World of Wonder Productions.
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EXCLUSIVE: Former Saturday Night Live writer/performer John Higgins, member of the Please Don’t Destroy comedy group, has joined the cast of ABC’s Scrubs for a major recurring role in the upcoming second season of the revival.
He will play Grant, the new Chief Resident, who is envisioned as a thorn in J.D.’s side the way he himself once was for Dr. Cox.
Donald Faison alluded to the casting at D23’s “Scrubs: Scrubbing Back” panel Saturday moderated by Scott Foley — who is returning to the show next season as Sean Kelly — and featuring series stars/executive producers Braff (John “J.D.” Dorian), Faison (Christopher Turk) and Sarah Chalke (Elliot Reid), along with showrunner/executive producer Aseem Batra.
“John Higgins joins the cast, it’s been a lot of fun to watch him work, actually him and Ava Bunn, who plays Tosh. They’ve been great additions,” Faison said.
Bunn, who plays intern Tosh, is being promoted from recurring to series regular in Season 2 alongside Braff, Faison and Chalke.
Reps for ABC and Scrubs producer 20th Television declined comment.
Higgins joins fellow Season 2 recurring cast addition Keyla Monterroso Mejia as surgical nurse Mimi. Not coming back are Season 1 recurring players X Mayo as nurse Raymond and Joel Kim Booster as scheming attending physician and J.D. rival Dr. Kevin Park.
The original series’ creator Bill Lawrence serves as executive producer on the revival via his Doozer Productions alongside the company’s Jeff Ingold and Liza Katzer as well as showrunner Aseem Batra and stars Braff, Faison and Chalke. Scrubs is produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios. The series will return to ABC on Wednesdays Sept. 30 and stream next day on Hulu.
Best known for his work on Saturday Night Live as one-third of the New York-based Please Don’t Destroy, Higgins co-wrote and executive produced Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure Of Foggy Mountain, Universal’s 2023 feature film directed by Paul Briganti and produced by Judd Apatow.
He left NBC’s sketch program last summer to focus on acting. He has coming up the Netflix film Bad Day, directed by Jake Szymanski and starring Cameron Diaz, and a recurring role on Season 2 of Apple TV’s comedy series Stick starring and executive produced by Owen Wilson. Higgins is repped by WME, Mosaic and Ziffren Brittenham.
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Nearly a year after they first appeared onscreen together in Regretting You, Mason Thames and McKenna Grace are playing romantic opposites again.
Following Colleen Hoover romance’s premiere last October, Thames recently revealed he had already worked with Grace on the Green Day-inspired movie Nimrods, which is now playing in theaters.
“So we did Green Day first. Green Day movie first, and then we did Regretting You right after,” he explained to People. “But it was just so wild. The coincidence of two back-to-back is awesome and we love it.”
Thames added, “I’m so happy that we can finally release it to everybody, because it’s felt like my little secret and my little experience, but I really hope people go to see it and feel the love that was used to make this movie, because I’m really happy with it.”
After playing romantic opposites twice now, the real-life couple is open to working together again. “If we were ever going to do another job together, we’d want it to be so special and so awesome, so whenever that moment arises, we’re going to snatch it up,” said Thames.

Mason Thames and McKenna Grace in ‘Nimrods’ (2025) (Inaugural Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection)
In Nimrods, Tommy (Thames) receives a call inviting him and his band Analog Dogs to open for Green Day on New Year’s Eve in Los Angeles. Not realizing it’s his older brother Wayne (Keen Ruffalo) pulling an elaborate prank, Tommy steals Wayne’s car and sets off on a cross-country roadtrip from Kansas City with his bandmates Fred (Kylr Coffman) and Chad (Ryan Foust).
Along the way, Tommy meets fellow punk Olivia (Grace) and strikes up a flirtation after seeing her perform live. Both Thames and Grace appear on the movie’s soundtrack.
“I mean, those kids are fantastic. They can do anything,” raved co-writer/director Lee Kirk to Deadline. “And they’re the nicest kids, creative kids, very eager. They were up for whatever we wanted to do. I was so lucky that McKenna wanted to do it and she wanted to put her song in the movie. I just felt like it gave it some authenticity to it, and Mason with his singing, he rehearsed, he worked on those songs, which were written by Billie Joe [Armstrong’s] son, by the way. Yeah, Jakob wrote those songs for the Analog Dogs.”
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