Entertainment TV show moves to Abu Dhabi
ET Bil Arabi has moved to Abu Dhabi. The Arabic version of the American showbiz news programme Entertainment Tonight, which is broadcast on MBC, will be produced at twofour54. Jamal Awadhi, the head of commercial for twofour54's film and television services, described the move as a big coup. "The production of this popular entertainment show at our studios reinforces Abu Dhabi's reputation as a world-class production hub and a centre for Arabic broadcast content," he said. ET Bil Arabi joins a growing list of TV productions in Abu Dhabi, including the Syrian drama Al Ikhwa (The Brothers) and Iftah Ya Simsim, the upcoming relaunched Arabic version of the educational American TV series Sesame Street. ET Bil Arabi is on MBC 4 from Sunday to Thursday at 8pm. – The National staff
Comedy actress Anne Meara dies
Actress and comedian Anne Meara, whose comedy partnership with her husband, Jerry Stiller, helped launch a 60-year career in film and TV, died on Saturday at the age of 85. The couple's son is Night at the Museum and Zoolander star Ben Stiller. The husband and wife duo performed as Stiller & Meara on The Ed Sullivan Show and other shows in the 1960s and won awards for radio and TV commercials. Meara appeared in dozens of films and TV shows, including All My Children, Rhoda, Alf and Sex and the City. She appeared with her son in 2006's Night at the Museum. Meara was twice nominated for an Emmy Award for her supporting role on Archie Bunker's Place and received two other Emmy nods. – AP
Renowned jazz trumpeter dead at 85
Marcus Belgrave, a jazz trumpeter who graced stages and studios with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Cocker and Motown artists galore, died on Sunday at the age of 78. Belgrave died at a care facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the cause of death was heart failure, said Hazelette Crosby-Robinson, a cousin of Belgrave's wife Joan. Belgrave remained active on the Detroit and international jazz scenes up until his death. Born into a family of musicians in Chester, Pennsylvania, he started playing professionally at 12 and joined The Ray Charles Band in the late 1950s – what he once described as "the beginning of my musical life". He moved to Detroit in 1962 and became a studio musician for Motown Records, playing on hits including My Girl, The Way You Do the Things You Do and Dancing in the Street. After Motown decamped to California in the early 1970s, Belgrave stayed in Detroit and co-founded Tribe Records, recording with a collective of jazz artists. He became an original member of Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in 1988 at the request of Wynton Marsalis, and in 2006 was featured at Jazz at Lincoln Center's presentation, Detroit: Motor City Jazz. He also was a prolific mentor and teacher, serving as a professor or visiting artist at numerous institutions, including Detroit-area schools, Michigan State University, Stanford University, University of California and Oberlin College. In 2009, he received the Kresge Foundation's Eminent Artist award, honouring nationally acclaimed artists who have pursued careers in Detroit. In a special book the philanthropic foundation published at that time, Belgrave said: "After 65 years of letting the music live through you, it just comes to you." Kresge president and chief executive Rip Rapson said that "Detroit has lost a piece of its soul". – AP
