William Frawley Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

The Television Critics Association (TCA) has announced the winners of the organization’s 38th Annual TCA Awards, recognizing the best television offerings from the 2021-2022 season.

William Frawley, the Iowa-born vaudevillian whose quick-witted comebacks and grumpy but lovable portrayal of Fred Mertz on the legendary sitcom "I Love Lucy" endeared him to millions of Americans, died on this day in history, March 3, 1966. He was 79.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentEverybody in the industry seems to like and admire J.K. Simmons, and why wouldn’t they? He’s talented, versatile, dependable and affable. The fan club includes Aaron Sorkin, writer-director of Amazon’s “Being the Ricardos,” for which Simmons is Oscar-nominated as supporting actor.Sorkin’s last seven screenplays have centered on real people, but he tells Variety he doesn’t picture the person, or any actor, when writing.

Joining Deadline as part of the Amazon Studios presentation at Contenders Film: The Nominees event were two of the stars of Aaron Sorkin’s funny, moving and cleverly constructed story of the relationship of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos, which all takes place in a week during the course of a taping of an episode of I Love Lucy.

Tim Gray Senior Vice PresidentJ.K. Simmons was reluctant to appear in “Being the Ricardos.” But reading Aaron Sorkin’s script, “I was able to see the gift that Aaron was giving to each of the actors.”It’s a gift exchange: Simmons is so versatile and talented that he brings gifts to any filmmaker he works with.Oscar voting runs Jan. 27-Feb.

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

We may have found our Fred and Ethel Mertz!

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons has been tapped to play actor William Frawley in Amazon’s and Aaron Sorkin’s Being The Ricardos, film about the relationship between the I Love Lucy stars. Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem are in final negotiations to play Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in the film with Sorkin writing and directing. Frawley famously played Ball and Arnaz’s co-star in the I Love Lucy show in the role of Fred Mertz.