In Brief: Will Ferrell huddles up with Prime Video to play Madden, and more

George Maharis, best known for playing Buz Murdock on Route 66, died Wednesday at his home in Beverly Hills, his longtime friend and caregiver Marc Bahan tells The Hollywood Reporter. He was 94. Maharis quit the CBS drama during its third season in 1962 after being hospitalized for a month with hepatitis, He missed several episodes and replaced by Glenn Corbett, who played Lincoln Case. It was two years before Maharis would be able to regularly work again. His other credits included John Sturges’ sci-fi feature The Satan Bug. On TV, he appeared in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, Marcus Welby, M.D., Night Gallery, McMillan & Wife, The Bionic Woman, and Fantasy Island…

Deadline reports Will Ferrell is in talks to play legendary NFL coach and sports commentator John Madden in the upcoming Prime Video Sports Original Madden, helmed by American Hustle director David O. Russell. The movie, per the outlet, follows Madden’s remarkable coaching career and subsequent move to the broadcast booth after the stress of the job nearly destroyed him. Madden was also the face of the top-selling video game Madden NFL. Ferrell will next be seen playing a Mattel CEO alongside Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the Greta Gerwig-directed film Barbie, opening July 21st…

Ed Ames, who played the Native American character Mingo in the 1960s TV series Daniel Boone, died from Alzheimer’s disease on May 21, his wife, Jeanne, said Saturday, according to the Daily News. He was 95. Ames, however, may best be remembered for his now classic Tonight Show moment in which he was given a tomahawk and asked to throw it at a wood panel with the outline of a cowboy on it. Ames threw it straight into the cowboy’s crotch, leading to what’s been called the longest sustained audience laugh in Tonight Show history. Ames first gained fame in the 1950s as part of the pop quartet, the Ames Brothers. He went on to have a successful solo career before segueing into acting…

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