Annie’s An Orphan Once More: “Daddy Warlocks” Albert Finney Has Died

Albert Finney
Albert Finney, right, gettings his head shaved for his role as Daddy Warbucks by his close personal friend and RECOiL writer/director/actor Brian DiMaio, left.

London-Actor Albert Finney, best known to those of here at TDQ as Daddy Warbucks in the criminally-underrated 1982 classic “Annie,” died Thursday from a chest infection. He was 82.

He won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Winston “Winnie” Churchill in “The Gathering Storm.” He also appeared in such TV programs as “Cold Lazarus,” “My Uncle Silas,” and “A Rather English Marriage.”

Besides rescuing Annie from rotten, alcoholic Miss Hannigan, he also appeared in films like “Erin Brockovich,” “Skyfall,” “RECOiL” and “Murder on the Orient Express.”

He was survived by his third wife, Penelope, and one son.

“I Wanted To Be Aileen Quinn More Than Anything!” A TDQ Q&A With Actress Hillary Hickam

Hillary Hickam

It’s Hillary Hickam, everybody!

This week’s TDQ Q&A is with actress Hillary Hickam. Hillary spoke to us about the allure of Glenn Close, her latest movie, “TiF” and how she believes she sun will always come out tomorrow. Here is this week’s TDQ Q&A with actress Hillary Hickam:

The Daily Quarterly: What made you want to be in show business?

Hillary Hickam: I think I was born performing.  I sang along with the radio when I was 2 years old and learned every song my Daddy played on his stereo. I began playing the piano at around 4 or 5 years old and loved the performance and competitive aspects of that. I loved singing in Sunday school and church, and then I did my first play in kindergarten and fell in love with acting!

TDQ: Who was your favorite actor/actress growing up?

HH: Pierce Brosnan and Bruce Willis. Yes, I had crushes on both of them but I also appreciated their acting styles and absolute freedom in front of the camera. I also adored Tim Curry, who I got to see on stage a few times as a kid. My favorite actress was Glenn Close; I saw her in “Dangerous Liaisons” and I don’t think I’ve ever been the same since.

Hillary Hickam

Hillary Hickam worked for a time as a spy for the CIA wearing wires to collect evidence. No. I am being told those are microphones for film making.

TDQ: What was your favorite movie growing up?

HH: “ANNIE.” My sweet grandmother took me to see it in the theatre 13 times one summer! I loved it so much. I think I had the entire thing memorized by the second viewing and sang along and spoke all the words from then on. (Luckily I was in a small town in Oklahoma so I don’t think there were very many other people in the movie theatre!) I wanted to be Aileen Quinn more than anything!

TDQ: What is the best advice you have ever gotten?

HH: Pray, and pray specifically, all the time.

TDQ: What is the worst advice you have ever gotten?

HH: “Play it safe.” Nobody who played it safe ever achieved anything worthwhile! I’m a risk- taker and sometimes that means I fall flat on my face, but I get back up and risk failing again!

Hillary Hickam

Here’s Hillary Hickam with close personal friend Elton John.

TDQ: Who are your influences?

HH: I would like to think I am influenced a bit by Glenn Close, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Montgomery, Stephanie Zimbalist, Melissa Gilbert, and Audrey Hepburn.  They are all certainly my models and kept me mesmerized growing up. Today, I look up to actresses such as Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Julie Bowen, Melissa George, and the entire cast of “Desperate Housewives,” (not because I thought it was the greatest show, but because the ensemble work in the cast was exceptional and each of those actresses was just amazing.) Television influences me a great deal these days because it is drawing some of the finest actors we have to it and there is so much to learn from them. Shows like “House of Cards,” “Homeland,” “Downtown Abbey,” and “Modern Family” to name a few, have these fantastic ensemble casts including huge Broadway legends like Mandy Patinkin! I mean, that is inspiring.

TDQ: Tell us about your upcoming horror film, “TiF”

HH: It’s a thriller that centers on my character who has built an entire empire based on solving other people’s phobias. She has a wildly successful television show and is somewhat of a celebrity. The movie seems to be following “a day in her life” as she helps someone with his phobia and then it kind of has a dark, M. Night Shyamalan twist to it. I was so blessed to work with a really great cast and an incredibly talented, hard-working crew. I miss them!

Hillary Hickam

Hillary Hickam is just the girl next door. (If the girl next door beams with inner and outer beauty and talent and is super cool and fun. Not the girl next door when I was a kid. She was, like 65, weather beaten, heavy smoker, mean…)

TDQ: You lived previously for some time in Jacksonville, Florida. Aside from possible earthquakes, what’s been the biggest adjustment moving to Hollywood? What do you miss most about Jacksonville?

HH: I think I am a big city girl,having grown up in Texas, so the real adjustment was living in Jacksonville and adjusting to the slow pace and ease of no traffic! Loved it! The thing I miss most about Jacksonville is the ocean. Our home is right on the beach in Atlantic Beach, and I miss my morning walk by the ocean every single day. I fly home as often as possible to look at my ocean.

TDQ: If you are allowed to say, what is the next project you’ll be working on?

HH: I don’t have the permission to say just yet, but it will be exciting!

TDQ: Where do you see yourself in five years?

HH: I hope I have the luxury to live in Jacksonville again and just “commute” to work in LA or NY or wherever the next acting job takes me.  At the very least, I am looking forward to being in the same city as my dogs and their daddy at the same time. It’s tough on a family to be bi-coastal!

Check out Hillary on and follow her on .

Vampire-FDR-Grandfather Edward Herrmann Dies At 71

Edward Herrmann

1976 Tony Award winners Edward Herrmann, left, with Donna McKechnie, Lynn Redgrave, and Brian DiMaio. McKechnie won for “A Chorus Line” while Herrmann and Redgrave won for “Mrs. Warren’s Profession.” DiMaio received his Tony for, in his words, “being in the right place at the right time.”

New York—Edward Herrmann, best known for his portrayal of the rich, grumpy grandpa with a heart of gold on “The Gilmore Girls,” died on New Year’s Eve after battling brain cancer. He was 71.

Herrmann won an Emmy Award for his role on “The Practice,” and played FDR in the TV films “Eleanor and Franklin” and “Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years,” as well as portraying the wheelchair-bound president in the film adaptation of “Annie.”

Besides “Annie,” Herrmann also appeared in such films as “The Paper Chase,” “The Lost Boys,” “RECOiL” and “The Purple Rose of Cairo.”

He also was prolific in his voiceover work for documentaries on PBS and The History Channel. He won a Tony Award in 1976 for his role in “Mrs. Warren’s Profession on Broadway.”

He is survived by two daughters, Ryan and Emma, and a son, Rory. Continue reading

“I Was In Love With Patrick Dempsey When He Was A Gawky Teenager:” A TDQ Q&A With Actress/Dancer/Singer/Writer Danielle Bouloy

Danielle BouloyThis week we chat with actress/singer/dancer/writer Danielle Bouloy. Danielle spoke to us about her numerous, numerous jobs, her association with FitVentures, her cameo in “The Fire Project,” and not settling in her life or career. Here is this week’s TDQ Q&A with Danielle Bouloy:

The Daily Quarterly: How did you hear about thedailyquarterly.com?

Danielle Bouloy: Same way I hear about all incredibly vital news organizations: Facebook. Some time in the not-so-distant past, I noticed that my handy-dandy Facebook Home Page was slowly becoming cluttered with ubiquitous posts by my childhood friend, Brian DiMaio. That was my first inkling there was a new, hard-hitting news periodical clogging up the interwebs. Continue reading