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Some say the term “movie star” is outmoded, since studios don’t make as many movies or build up their acting talent as they once did. But I think the term still applies to George Clooney, who’s very much with us as he nears retirement age (63) this month. But don’t expect him to slow down.

When movie buffs discuss the greatest directors of old Hollywood, the same names tend to crop up: John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler, George Cukor, and of course, Hitchcock. Worthy picks of course, but why not Fred Zinnemann? Granted he worked in a wide variety of genres (much like contemporary George Stevens), making him harder to classify. Also he started directing features roughly 15 years after these pioneers of talking pictures. Still, his track record is every bit as impressive.

It was gratifying, if not particularly surprising, to see Cillian Murphy capture the Best Actor Oscar this year. He’d just starred in the year’s most critically acclaimed film, “Oppenheimer,” which also took Best Picture. It was a big performance in a very big movie.

It was 60 years ago when a mind-blowing 73 million viewers tuned in to the top variety program on television, the Ed Sullivan Show, and first experienced the four lads from Liverpool known as the Beatles. That seismic event, which included follow-up appearances on the next two Sullivan shows that month, launched the band on a trajectory of success not even their most ardent early fans could have imagined. And it happened so fast. 

The English-born Mulligan was born into a family of educated professionals (her mother a lecturer, her father in the hotel business) who discouraged the idea of their teenage daughter pursuing an acting career instead of going to university — hardly the first loving parents to do so.

After World War 2, as the world faced the sobering reality of the Atomic Age, Hollywood films would go darker to reflect this mood, shifting from wartime propaganda and lighter fare to the more unsettling terrain of film noir and doomsday science fiction. But just before that happened, the industry managed to produce three enduring Christmas classics in the space of one year: “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Bishop’s Wife,” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” Notably, all were nominated for best picture at the Oscars, though none won.  

Having first become entranced with the ethereal beauty and outsize talent of Catherine Deneuve over half a century ago, it’s astounding to think this stunningly gifted French actress just turned 80.