Entertainment

Betty Anne Rees, Actress in ‘The Unholy Rollers’ and ‘Sugar Hill,’ Dies at 81

Published

3 weeks ago

June 12, 2024

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She also appeared on ‘The F.B.I.,’ ‘My Three Sons,’ ‘Mannix,’ ‘Lou Grant’ and many other shows.

Betty Anne Rees, who portrayed tough women who weren’t very nice in The Unholy Rollers and Sugar Hill, two 1970s offerings from the B-movie factory American International Pictures, has died. She was 81.

Rees died Monday at her home in Hemet, California, after a series of falls and a possible stroke, her niece, Kathleen Loucks, told The Hollywood Reporter. She also was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the early 1990s.

The Ohio native played Janet Ingram, the secretary for Fred MacMurray’s Steve Douglas, on the last of My Three Sons’ 12 seasons in 1971-72. (Abby Dalton was Janet on an episode three years earlier.)

In The Unholy Rollers (1972), directed by Vernon Zimmerman, Rees portrayed Mickey Martinez, a star of the Los Angeles Avengers roller derby team who does not get along with popular new player Karen Walker (1970 Playboy Playmate of the Year Claudia Jennings).

The film, executive produced by Roger Corman and edited by Martin Scorsese, was rushed into production to take advantage of the publicity generated by MGM’s big-budget roller derby movie, Kansas City Bomber, starring Raquel Welch.

Betty Anne Rees (left) and Claudia Jennings in 1972’s *The Unholy Rollers*.

Courtesy Everett Collection

Paul Maslansky’s cult blaxploitation film Sugar Hill (1974) starred Marki Bey as Diana “Sugar” Hill, a woman who enlists a voodoo priestess (Zara Cully of The Jeffersons) to bring back long-dead African slaves to take revenge on the Southern mob boss (Robert Quarry) responsible for her fiancé’s death.

As Celeste, the mobster’s racist girlfriend, Rees gets into a fight in a bar with Sugar and (spoiler alert) gets carried off by the zombies at the end.

Elizabeth Anne Rees was born on April 14, 1943, in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Her father, James, was an attorney who owned racehorses, and her mother, Margaret, was a homemaker.

She graduated from Shaker Heights High School in 1961 and attended the University of Miami before studying acting at the Pasadena Playhouse and appearing on the daytime soap operas General Hospital and The Doctors. In New York, she roomed with future Benson star Caroline McWilliams, later the wife of Michael Keaton.

Rees showed up on a 1966 episode of the ABC series Shane, starring David Carradine, then made her way onto two films released the following year, The Cool Ones and Banning.

Rees went on to appear on such other shows as Adam-12, Medical Center, Mannix, Mod Squad, The F.B.I., Police Woman, S.W.A.T., The Streets of San Francisco, Lou Grant, Barnaby Jones and, in 1978 for her last credit, The Incredible Hulk.

Later, she ran Gloria Marshall Figure Salons, designed kitchens and was said to have invented a goofy ’80s gift for bosses called the “Executive Teething Ring.”

In addition to her niece, survivors include her sister, Barbara; her nephew, Brian; and her cats, Honey Bear and Lovey, who need a home. (Please email Loucks at [email protected] if you can help.)

Rees never married, but her niece said she had a romance in the 1960s with Art Modell, who had recently acquired the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.

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Entertainment

Tia Mowry ‘Becoming the Partner I Want’ After Cory Hardrict Split (Exclusive)

Published

5 hours ago

July 1, 2024

Entertainment Tonight

Tia Mowry ‘Becoming the Partner I Want’ After Cory Hardrict Split (Exclusive)

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Entertainment

Sophia Bush & Ashlyn Harris Mark End of Pride Month in an Adorable Way

Published

9 hours ago

June 30, 2024

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Sophia Bush and Ashlyn Harris are celebrating a special milestone.

The two marked the end of their first Pride Month as a couple with an adorable mirror selfie, which the soccer star shared June 30.

Sophia, 41, and Ashlyn, 38, are twinning in the photo, with both wearing chains on their pants, with the One Tree Hill alum clad in jeans and her partner sporting a pair of black slacks. Ashlyn captioned the photo, “Happy Pride to Me.”

At the start of Pride Month, Sophia shared a moving message under a quote about pride.

“You are perfect,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories. “No matter how long it might take, you’ll find your people. And they will help you find more and more of yourself. It’s worth it. You’re worth it.”

And Ashlyn shared an Instagram reel of her and Sophia on a trip to Paris, which the Chicago P.D. star reshared, writing, “Mine. PROUD.”

The two began dating last year, months after Sophia filed for divorce from estranged husband Grant Hughes and Ashlyn filed papers to end her marriage to fellow soccer star Ali Krieger.

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Entertainment

Alex Albon Explains His Ordeal of Driving F1 Car Amidst Jetlag

Published

11 hours ago

June 30, 2024

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As F1 continues to increase the number of races on its calendar, drivers and team personnel face more hectic schedules. Many suffer from jet-lag, including Williams’ Alex Albon who brought his 2023 Las Vegas GP experience to light.

Albon explained how, after FP1 of the inaugural race in Vegas, he was struggling to keep his eyes open. The session was abandoned after just eight minutes due to a loose drain cover, because of which FP2 too, started late – by 2.5 hours.

The delay didn’t go down well with drivers who were awake past midnight. Staying awake at such ungodly hours took a toll, and Albon speaks of the jet-lag. “I was so jetlagged. And they really wanted this FP2 to happen. Didn’t they? I don’t know what was going on. There must have been some insurance thing going on.”

“We’re doing 330 km/hr (205 miles/hr) down the straight and I am just like trying to keep my eyes open down the straight. Wasn’t fun,” the 28-year-old added.

The race too, wasn’t particularly comfortable for Albon who missed out on points. He could only finish P12 in that race, but was impressive taking the whole of 2023 into account.

His performances almost single-handedly helped Williams finish P7 in the standings at the end of the season. He scored 27 out of the 28 points the team amassed. 2024, however, hasn’t been too kind to the Thai-British driver so far.

Alex Albon and Williams’s difficult start to 2024

Williams has managed just two points after the first nine races of the 2024 season. They came thanks to Albon’s P9 finish in Monaco. In stark contrast, by this time last year, Albon had five more points.

Although the Grove-based outfit is struggling, it does seem that Albon and the team are witnessing an uptick in performance. This is because even though Albon retired in Montreal two weeks ago, he was unfortunate to have come out of the ace with zero points. That’s because Carlos Sainz made a mistake which took him out.

Speaking of how his race ended, Albon said (as quoted by formula1.com), “Frustrating as for sure points were available today“.

Therefore, with Williams showcasing promise in the last two races after a difficult start to the year, they will hope to finish at-least seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, a spot currently occupied by Haas.

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