Sammy Tran articles

Mama Cass Elliot was one of the biggest voices of the 1960s, but she kept one enormous secret from the world. In 1967, the Mamas & the Papas singer gave birth to a daughter named Owen, yet never publicly revealed who the father was. Cass passed away seven years later, taking that secret with her. Then, on Owen's 19th birthday, Michelle Phillips finally uncovered the truth: Her father was a musician named Chuck Day, but the reason he'd remained absent from her life was even more surprising.

Mercedes McCambridge became the most acclaimed voice actor of her time before moving on to a successful Hollywood career. But while she looked back on a long life of improbable accomplishments, the unspeakable happened.

Some of classic rock's biggest songs began with musicians fooling around, mocking the music industry, or trying something so ridiculous that nobody expected it to work. Others weren't exactly jokes, but their bizarre origins make their success almost as surprising. From a deliberately terrible love song to a rock anthem invented on a tour bus, these stories reveal just how unpredictable hit-making can be. And in one particularly hilarious case, a band tried to embarrass its record label, only to end up with another smash hit.

Eric Clapton didn't simply fall for another man's wife. He fell for the wife of one of his closest musical friends: George Harrison.

When a teenage Dick Van Dyke tried to enlist during WWII, his mother made a startling confession: He was actually a year older than he'd been led to believe. She claimed she'd changed his birthday because he'd been born prematurely, but when Dick questioned his grandmother, he discovered the real reason. His parents had conceived him before they were married, and they'd altered his birthday to hide the scandal. But as Dick began piecing together the truth, he realized just how far his family had gone to keep their secret.

For decades, television was considered a step down from Hollywood movies, and some major stars wanted nothing to do with it. But that attitude led to some spectacular missed opportunities. John Lithgow dismissed a role that would make Kelsey Grammer a legend, while another movie star reportedly wouldn't even consider playing Don Draper. And those weren't the only actors who watched someone else become famous playing a character they could have had.

Halloween costumes once leaned heavily on monsters and homemade disguises. As movies became central to popular culture, screen characters increasingly joined them.

A great movie should work whenever you watch it, but certain films seem to belong to a particular time of year. Here are seven movies for every season.

We haven't even reached the end of 2026, yet horror has already delivered tiny independent successes, huge theatrical hits, and acclaimed franchise entries.