newsmakers

newsmakers

‘King’s Speech’ named fan favorite at festival

TORONTO

“The King’s Speech” is the fans’ favorite at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The British/Australian film is a critically acclaimed portrait of a stammering monarch preparing for war. It stars Colin Firth as King George VI, Geoffrey Rush as his Australian speech therapist and Helena Bonham Carter as the Queen Mother.

Film Festival director Piers Handling predicted Oscar nominations for the three leads and a possible best picture slot for Tom Hooper’s film, noting it garnered steady attention throughout the 11-day movie festival that ended Sunday.

The Toronto International Film Festival is a prime launching place for big Hollywood movies and Academy Awards contenders.

Randy Quaid, wife face burglary charges

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.

Actor Randy Quaid and his wife are facing burglary charges in California after the owner of the couple’s old house reported they had been living there without permission.

A representative of the property owner called Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies Saturday afternoon to report that squatters had been staying in the guest house illegally. When deputies arrived at the house that evening, they found Randy and Evi Quaid, who said they had owned the property since the 1990s.

The property owner’s representative provided documents that showed his client had bought the home in 2007 from a man who had purchased it from the Quaids several years earlier. A contractor showed police more than $5,000 in damage to the guest house that he believed was caused by the Quaids.

Police arrested the Quaids on charges of felony residential burglary and entering a noncommercial building without consent, a misdemeanor. Police also charged Evi Quaid, 47, with resisting arrest.

Bail was set at $50,000 each. Messages left with Quaid’s attorney and agent were not immediately returned Sunday.

Last September, the couple was charged with defrauding an innkeeper of more than $10,000 as well as conspiracy and burglary after an invalid credit card was used at San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Arnie Tolks had said an invalid card also was used at The Biltmore, a luxury resort in Santa Barbara.

Felony charges later were dropped against Randy Quaid, 59. Evi Quaid pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of defrauding an innkeeper and was sentenced to three years’ probation. She also was ordered to perform 240 hours of community service.

Randy Quaid won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Emmy for his portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson in “LBJ: The Early Years,” but he’s perhaps best known for his roles in the “National Lampoon’s Vacation” movies, “Independence Day” and “Kingpin.”

He is the older brother of fellow actor Dennis Quaid.

Hungarian bass Laszlo Polgar dies

BUDAPEST, Hungary

Laszlo Polgar, a Hungarian bass and member of the Zurich Opera, died Sunday. He was 63.

Polgar died in Zurich, Hungarian State Opera spokeswoman Judit Varkonyi said. The cause of death was not disclosed by the family.

Polgar had participated in the Budapest opera’s season-ending gala concert in June and his death was unexpected, Varkonyi said.

Polgar’s most famous role was probably that of Bluebeard in Bela Bartok’s “Bluebeard’s Castle,” for which Polgar won the Grammy Award for best opera recording in 1999 along with soprano Jessye Norman, conductor Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Polgar’s versatility and deeply resonant voice allowed him to play many other major roles, including Rocco in Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” Sarastro in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” Basilio in Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” Philip II in Verdi’s “Don Carlos” and Gurnemanz in Wagner’s “Parsifal.”

Polgar was born Jan. 1, 1947, in Somogyszentpal, southwest Hungary, and studied at the Hungarian Music Academy between 1967 and 1972.

He moved to Zurich in 1991, where he initially earned 20 times his Hungarian income.

“I do not expect the Hungarian Opera to compete with it,” Polgar told Hungarian newspaper Magyar Hirlap in 1994. “What I expect is respect and affection. If I get these two, I happily go home and sing there.”

Polgar is survived by his wife, Agnes, and three daughters: Katalin, Judit and Eva.