When the history of the AIDS epidemic in Los Angeles is written, the names most often remembered are the politicians, physicians, and activists who became public faces of the crisis. Yet among those who quietly shaped the city's response from the earliest days was Hugh O. Rice, a man whose influence reached beyond headlines and television cameras. For more than two decades, Rice dedicated his life to serving the LGBTQ community, helping transform a small community clinic into one of the nation's most important centers for health care, advocacy, and support. He was not a firebrand. He was something rarer: a steady hand in a time of panic.

Spend enough time watching the TMZ Livestream and you eventually realize that the celebrity stories are only part of the attraction. While viewers may initially tune in for the latest Hollywood scandal, courtroom drama, sports controversy, or breaking entertainment news, many stay because of the people delivering it. What began as a behind-the-scenes look at the making of TMZ Live has evolved into something far more interesting—a daily gathering of reporters, producers, lawyers, content creators, and commentators whose personalities have become as familiar to regular viewers as the celebrities they cover. The chemistry between the staff, the running jokes, occasional disagreements, and genuine friendships have helped transform the livestream into one of the most unique programs on YouTube. Because there are simply too many contributors to profile in a single article, what follows is only a representative sampling of the many faces who help make the TMZ Livestream the success it has become. Countless others work both on camera and behind the scenes, and their efforts are every bit as essential to keeping the gossip machine running.

Every weekday morning, while most people are commuting, checking their phones, or pretending to work, a unique part of YouTube wakes up. Here, thousands tune in to watch people at work—not actors, reality stars, or gamers, but actual employees. Specifically, the staff at TMZ. At first, this might sound like a boring idea for a show. Watching reporters at their desks, producers sorting papers, and lawyers debating celebrity scandals doesn’t seem exciting. Yet, the TMZ Livestream has become strangely addictive on YouTube. I stumbled upon it by chance.

There are filmmakers who make movies, and then there is Steven Spielberg, who manages to turn even the biggest spectacles into deeply human stories. With Disclosure Day, his long-awaited return to extraterrestrial mysteries, Spielberg delivers the kind of intelligent, emotionally satisfying blockbuster Hollywood rarely produces anymore. At two hours and twenty-five minutes, the film never drags. Not once did I check my watch or feel the story lose momentum. From its opening scenes to its breathtaking finale, Disclosure Day kept me completely engaged.

The world of classic television lost one of its most familiar and dependable faces on June 12, 2026, when actor and comedian Ronnie Schell passed away at the age of 94. He is probably best known for his role as Duke Slater, the wisecracking Marine who served as Jim Nabors' sidekick on the hit sitcom Gomer Pyle, U. S. M.C. But Schell's career stretched across more than sixty years, and while he was never a marquee-name performer, he was frequently one of the most reliable in the room -- a comic actor whose laid-back charm and comedic timing allowed him to fit seamlessly into any television show he graced.

For many childhoods spent watching Disney films and programming, Tinker Bell has always been this twinkling icon of magic, childhood, and whimsy. She’s fluttered across television screens, dusted pixie dust over Disney’s logoed castle, and solidified her stance as one of the most recognizable cartoon characters of all time. But behind Disney’s legendary fairy was a woman who used her vivacity, elegance, and spirit to help shape Tinker Bell into a character audiences love. Actress, dancer, radio star, and author Margaret Kerry, who served as Disney’s real-life visual reference for Tinker Bell, passed away June 11, 2026, in Wilmington, North Carolina. She was 97 years old and had been fighting lung cancer. Margaret Kerry’s death concludes a Hollywood career that spanned from films of the Golden Age to the rise of Disney.

On June 28, 1970, Hollywood Boulevard hosted an event that many city officials had tried hard to prevent. For the first time, gay men and lesbians marched openly, legally, and with pride down a major American street, demanding dignity, equality, and recognition. Today, Pride parades take place in cities worldwide and attract millions. But in 1970, the idea of a public gay parade was so controversial that Los Angeles officials opposed it at every turn. That it happened at all stands as one of California’s most remarkable civil rights victories.

After several weeks of modest releases, moviegoers finally have a weekend packed with variety. Science fiction, action, psychological suspense, camp comedy, and giant-monster mayhem all arrive in theaters, offering something for nearly every taste. The biggest attraction is undoubtedly Steven Spielberg's long-awaited return to large-scale science fiction, but several smaller releases may prove just as interesting depending on what kind of movie experience you're seeking. Here's a look at what's opening this weekend and whether it's worth your hard-earned ticket money.

Long before Hollywood acknowledged queer identity, addiction, and sexual freedom, Pepi Lederer lived dangerously and restlessly at the center of one of its most glamorous and scandalous circles. Beautiful, reckless, and charismatic but emotionally adrift, Pepi moved through the lavish world of Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst like a bright flame—driven, searching, and ultimately self-destructive. Her short life brimmed with privilege, wild parties, forbidden romances, painful addiction, and tragedy, ending in a shocking suicide that sent tremors through the Hearst empire in 1935.

Some actors always seem just out of reach, not quite forgotten but caught between major fame and cult status. Steve Cochran spent years in that middle ground. If you bring up his name to casual movie fans, they might not know it, but classic film lovers instantly picture his dark eyes, sly grin, broad shoulders, and the dangerous energy that made him one of Hollywood’s most convincing villains in the late 1940s and 1950s. He looked like trouble, and by most accounts, he often was.

There are certain actors I will watch in almost anything. Allison Janney is one of them. Frankly, I would watch her read the proverbial phone book and probably come away entertained. She possesses that increasingly rare quality among actors: the ability to make even ordinary dialogue sound like something worth listening to. Fortunately, Miss You, Love You, HBO/Max's intimate new drama written and directed by Jim Rash, gives her far more to work with than a phone book. It gives her grief, anger, regret, loneliness, and a mountain of dialogue, and Janney makes every moment count.

Hollywood has long been interested in politics, but sometimes the roles are reversed. Every so often, a performer leaves the stage to try something even harder than entertaining: leading a community. Sometimes, these efforts work out well. Other times, they show that being popular and being a good leader are not always the same.