In Brief: 'A Different World' star Mary Alice dead; 'Creed III' moves, and more

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Actress Mary Alice, best known for portraying Leticia “Lettie” Bostic on NBC’s A Different World and Effie Williams in the 1976 original version of Sparkle, died Wednesday at her home in Manhattan, a spokesperson for the NYPD confirms to People. She was 85. A cause of death was not given. Alice also played The Oracle in The Matrix Revolutions, and won an Outstanding Supporting Actress Emmy in 1987 for her role as Marguerite Peck in I’ll Fly Away. Her other film credits include Spike Lee‘s Malcolm X, Awakenings, opposite Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, and Clint Eastwood‘s A Perfect World. On TV she appeared in shows such as Oz and Law & Order

The release date for third Creed movie — and ninth installment in the Rocky film franchise — has been pushed back from Nov. 23, 2022 to March 3, 2023, according to Variety. The film will again have Michael B. Jordan starring Apollo Creed’s son Adonis, who “makes peace with his late father’s burdensome legacy,” while Rocky travels to Vancouver “to bury the hatchet with his estranged son and meet his grandson.” Creed III will also bring back co-star Tessa Thompson as his love interest, Bianca, and Phylicia Rashad as Adonis’ mother, Mary Ann. Sylvester Stallone, however, will not appear in the film…

Mindhunter‘s Holt McCallany has been tapped for a role in Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two, according to Deadline. Returning for the film, along with with Tom Cruise, are Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby and Frederick Schmidt. Henry Czerny, who appeared in the first Mission: Impossible movie back in 1996 as IMF Director Eugene Kittridge, also returns, along with newcomers Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss, Cary Elwes and Shea Whigham. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two, the eighth film in the series, is set for a theatrical release on June 28, 2024…

CODA Oscar winner Troy Kotsur is attached to star in a Disney+ series based on the football team from the California School for the Deaf Riverside as the team’s coach, according to Variety. The show will tell the true story of the CSDR Cubs’ 2021 football season, when the team went undefeated and got all the way to the California State Championship. The writing and production team, both in front of and behind the cameras, will include artists from the Deaf community, according to the outlet…

Former The View panelist Elisabeth Hasselbeck will be returning to the ABC daytime panel show — at least temporarily — as a guest host, according to People. “It will be an honor to co-host The View, share our bestselling children’s book, ‘Flashlight Night’, and as always tackle hot topics!” Pray for me y’all!” the conservative TV host and author tells the outlet. Hasselbeck originally appeared on The View from 2003-2013 as the conservative seat on the show, which has also been filled by Candace Cameron Bure and Meghan McCain, among others…

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