J.D. Blackwell articles

Gene Hackman never seemed like your typical leading man, and he wasn't. The rugged Hackman had to claw his way up the Hollywood ladder with tooth and nail—and his bitterness and anger about this were the driving forces behind many of his legendary successes.

The success of child star Tommy Kirk made a fortune for Disney—and then he simply disappeared. What happened to him? And what made him leave the entertainment world behind?

At his lowest point, Johnny Cash crawled into a cave with no intention of coming back out—then had an epiphany that saved his life.

Frankie Lymon was one of rock and roll's first great teenage stars in the 50s, but his potential was cut short at the age of 25.

Macaulay Culkin is a bundle of contradictions. His parents raised him poor in America’s most expensive city. On film he was left home alone, but in his real life he was crowded with his six siblings in a tiny apartment. He was, at one point in his career, the highest-paid child movie star, and yet he received seven nominations for worst actor of the year. His best friend was an alleged predator, but Culkin claims he didn’t get harmed. There's so much to Macaulay Culkin you don't know.

Victoria Principal rose to fame on Dallas, then reinvented herself through bestselling books, skincare, production, and philanthropy, building a lasting second career far beyond Southfork and Hollywood stardom for decades.

Discover how Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg’s provocative duet “Je t’aime...moi non plus” survived BBC censorship, Vatican condemnation, and international controversy before becoming a historic UK chart-topping hit single.

NBC bosses wanted Stuart Margolin gone from The Rockford Files, but his two Emmy Award wins changed their minds.

Charles Bronson became Hollywood’s ultimate tough guy in Death Wish, but his private life revealed a devoted husband and father navigating fame, family bonds, cancer, grief, and lasting love offscreen.