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Phyllida Law Dead: Prolific Actor, Mother Of Emma & Sophie Thompson Was 94

Published

6 minutes ago

August 18, 2026

Phyllida Law, a TV, film and stage actor with more than 140 credits spanning 60-plus years who was the mother of Emma and Sophie Thompson, has died. She was 94.

Her personal manager Jacky Leggo confirmed the news in a statement, saying she “died supremely peacefully at home, surrounded by all her family” on July 27, but did not provide a cause or place of death.

Born on July 6, 1932, in Glasgow, Scotland, Law studied at Bristol Old Vic Theatre school in the 1950s and appeared in several of its stage productions. There she met fellow actor Eric Thompson, whom she would marry in 1957. Their two daughters are two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson and SAG Award winner and multi-Olivier Award nominee Sophie Thompson (Gosford Park).

Law began landing roles on British television in the late 1950s, guesting on such shows as The Lost King, Dr. Finlay’s Casebook and Dixon of Dock Green. She continued working mostly in theater and TV through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s — guest-starring on dozens of series and telefilms — before co-starring opposite Helen Shaver, Lauren Bacall and Malcolm Stoddard in the 1989 feature Innocent Victim aka Tree of Hands.

Along the way was starred onstage with Alec Guinness in 1971’s A Voyage Round My Father in London and played Jacqueline in the original West End cast of La Cage aux Folles in 1986, among other stage productions.

Phyllida Law, far right, with Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, Kate Beckinsale and others in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ (1993)

Samuel Goldwyn Films/Everett Collection

In 1992, Law appeared alongside daughter Emma Thompson and others in Peter’s Friends, directed by and co-starring Thompson’s then-husband Kenneth Branagh. The following year, Law again teamed with her daughter in Branagh’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, playing Ursula. She would co-star along with daughter Sarah in the 1996 feature Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. A year later, she again teamed with Emma for a star turn as Elspeth in mother-daughter drama The Winter Guest. The pic from first-time director Alan Rickman won several awards including three at the Venice Film Festival.

Law continued to work regularly through the 2010s, playing Mrs. Watchit in 2002’s The Time Machine starring Guy Pearce and appearing in such features as Albert Nobbs (2011), Miss Potter (2006) and The Waiting Room (2007). She also guested on numerous TV shows after the turn of the century.

Law was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2014.

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Alex Gibney, Raney Aronson-Rath And More To be Honored At DOC NYC

Published

14 minutes ago

August 18, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: DOC NYC has announced a distinguished group of honorees for its upcoming 13^th edition, set to unspool in New York this November.

The annual Visionaries Tribute, to be held on the festival’s opening day at Gotham Hall in Manhattan, will see Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney and filmmaker-sound recordist JT Takagi honored with Lifetime Achievement awards.

Gibney, director of a highly anticipated film about Elon Musk that will premiere at the Venice Film Festival, has long been recognized as one of the nonfiction film industry’s leading figures. His numerous credits include the Academy Award-winning Taxi to the Dark Side, Oscar-nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Primetime Emmy-winning Going Clear: Scientology & The Prison of Belief, and Primetime Emmy winner Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God. At Sundance earlier this year, Gibney premiered his documentary Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie.

Takagi serves as executive director of Third World Newsreel, a progressive alternative media center, and teaches at The New School and City University of NY. Her filmmaking credits include Bittersweet Survival; Homes Apart: Korea; The Women Outside, and North Korea: Beyond the DMZ. “As a sound engineer, she has recorded numerous public television and theatrical documentaries that have earned Emmy and Cinema Audio Society awards,” notes a release, “including Yance Ford’s Strong Island and Stanley Nelson’s Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution.”

At the Visionaries Tribute, DOC NYC will honor Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Stephen Maing with the Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence, named for the pioneering husband-and-wife filmmaking team. The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize furnished by Drew Associates.

Jill Drew, general manager of Drew Associates, said, “Observational documentary demands patience, perseverance, and precision planning. Stephen Maing has proven to be a master of the form. He is also a filmmaker for our times, focusing on characters who confront oppressive power structures. He has a gift not only for wielding a camera, but also for using it as a tool of empathy.”

Maing’s most recent film, The Great Experiment, which he directed with Eric Daniel Metzgar, premiered in March at the True/False festival in Columbia, MO. His previous films include Union, directed with Brett Story; Crime + Punishment; High Tech, Low Life, and The Surrender.

Oscar winner Raney Aronson-Rath (20 Days in Mariupol) will receive DOC NYC’s Leading Light Award, which honors “an individual making a critical contribution to documentary in a role other than as a filmmaker.”

Aronson-Rath serves as editor-in-chief and executive producer of Frontline, the PBS flagship investigative journalism documentary series. She also leads the GBH Documentary Unit, which encompasses Frontline, Nova, and American Experience. Among her recent credits is the Sundance award-winning documentary One in a Million, which Aronson-Rath executive produced.

“The Visionaries Tribute is an annual reminder of the breadth and depth of talent in our field,” commented DOC NYC co-founder and Director of Special Projects Thom Powers, who oversees the Visionaries event. “This year’s honorees exemplify a spirit of truth-telling against the odds. Alex Gibney has made several of the most attention-getting documentaries of the 21st Century. JT Takagi has a remarkable career as both a sound recordist and leader of Third World Newsreel. Stephen Maing has upheld a standard of excellence in observational filmmaking through his works. And Raney Aronson-Rath has led PBS’s Frontline to excel despite deep funding cuts to public television.”

DOC NYC

DOC NYC’s competitive sections, as well as features and shorts named to its prestigious Short List section, and other news will be announced in the coming weeks. The festival takes place both in person and online: in-person events run from November 11-19 in New York City at IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Village East by Angelika. The festival’s online presentations extend through November 29, with online screenings available to viewers across the U.S.

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‘Ragtime’ Sets Lincoln Center Record In Its Final Week; ‘Paranormal Activity’ Sells Out First Four Previews – Broadway Box Office Report

Published

20 minutes ago

August 18, 2026

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Broadway’s Ragtime went out on a huge note Sunday, breaking its own box office record to become the highest grossing Broadway show in the history of Lincoln Center Theater. The musical revival, directed by Lincoln Center Theater’s artistic director Lear deBessonet, grossed a whooping $1,963,666 for its final eight performances. Only the 27 productions running […]

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Steven Zaillian & Richard Price Limited Series Getting Netflix Order

Published

27 minutes ago

August 18, 2026

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EXCLUSIVE: More than three years ago, Netflix swooped in to take Ripley, Steven Zaillian‘s limited series starring Andrew Scott, amid a programming strategy shift at Showtime, where the project had been set. The move was a success, with Ripley landing 13 Emmy nominations and winning four awards, including for Zaillian’s directing work.

Out of that relationship has come a second Zaillian limited series for Netflix. According to sources, the six-episode series has been greenlighted off multiple completed scripts, though I hear there may be some details, including rights, that are still being hammered out.

Zaillian co-wrote the crime/mystery drama, tentatively titled Ghettoside, with Richard Price. It is a follow-up to the duo’s 2016 HBO limited series The Night Of. The two executive produce with Zaillian’s frequent collaborator Garrett Basch (The Night Of, Ripley).

Details about the new Netflix series are sketchy; I hear the 2015 non-fiction book Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy is being used as source material.

Reps for Netflix declined comment.

When confirmed, the Netflix show will join Basch’s three current series, Very Young Frankenstein, Seven Sisters and The Lowdown, all at FX.

The Night Of earned 13 Emmy nominations. Its five wins include a Lead Actor In a Limited Series or Movie for star Riz Ahmed.

Zaillian is repped by WME and Gang, Tyre, Ramer, Brown & Passman; Price is repped by UTA.