Get a closer look at some of Hollywood's perfect pairs.

Hollywood Power Couples

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s perfect pairs.

"The Gentlemen" and "Slow Horses" return this fall, while the "Reacher" spin-off series "Neagley" makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

2026 Fall TV and Streaming Watch Guide

&quot;The Gentlemen&quot; and &quot;Slow Horses&quot; return this fall, while the &quot;Reacher&quot; spin-off series &quot;Neagley&quot; makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

Get a closer look at these actors from their many TV and streaming series roles.

Streaming Stars, Then and Now

James H. Nicholson was a longtime theater owner and exhibitor and worked as a promo man for Realart Pictures prior to 1954, when he founded American Releasing Corp., Two years later, he decided he wanted to expand globally and, with lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff, formed American International Pictures. The company turned out hundreds of movies over the next 35 years. AIP discovered an audience that was being ignored by mainstream Hollywood--teenagers--and in its early years, it turned out movies about monsters, hot rods and rock'n'roll, and the drive-ins filled with kids. In the 1960s, AIP turned out a string of zany, inexpensive but highly profitable "Beach Party" movies full of sand, songs, surf and (tame) sex. In 1964, 48-year-old Nicholson divorced his wife Sylvia and married 24-year-old actress Susan Hart. When the biker craze hit, AIP was there with The Wild Angels (1966). Nicholson continued to make AIP movies until June 1972, when he resigned as AIP's president and immediately formed a new company, Academy Pictures Corp., headquartered at the brand new Luckman Building, 9200 Sunset Blvd. He soon announced a six-picture deal with 20th Century Fox, who had sought him out. The six pictures included "The Legend of Hell House," "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry," "The Blackfather," "Street People" and "The Thousand Year Old Man," the latter based on a Nicholson original. (The sixth title, unannounced, was to have been "Death Race," on which he had collaborated with his good friend Robert Thom. Nicholson re-titled it "Death Race 2000.") In December 1972, two of those movies were "in the can" when Nicholson died of lung cancer that had metastasized. "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry," budgeted at $1,000,000, reaped $28,000,000, 20th's largest grossing film of that year; it has been reported that its huge profits enabled 20th to make "Star Wars." In the meantime, the floundering AIP became a subsidiary of Filmways, with Filmways' head Richard Bloch now calling the shots. When Arkoff left Filmways in 1980, he attempted to follow in Nicholson's footsteps, basing his new distribution company Arkoff International Picture (notice the identical initials, AIP) at 9200 Sunset. It was responsible for just one theatrical release, the sex- and nudity-filled "Hellhole" (1985).

[on <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0000339/?ref_=nmqu_qu">Roger Corman</a>&#39;s <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0000590/?ref_=nmqu_qu">Edgar Allan Poe</a> adaptations] Poe writes the first reel or the last reel. Roger does the rest.

Each time our monster got his desserts, he had actually enacted a modern version of the medieval morality play. We had filmed &quot;Everyman.&quot;

Quotes

James H. Nicholson

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