Jack Lemmon

Frankie Thomas, 85, who became famous in the 1950s for his starring role in the TV children's show Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, died of respiratory failure May 11 in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He began acting on Broadway in the early 1930s and soon ventured west to Hollywood, where he appeared in films including A Dog of Flanders, Boys Town and The Major and the Minor, as well as four Nancy Drew movies. In 1950, he beat out actors including Jack Lemmon to win the title role of Tom Corbett, a Space Academy cadet who was training to become a member of the elite Solar Guard, 400 years in the future.

Can the same script make for a great film twice, even when the movies are shot 40 years apart? Watch Showtime tonight and find out.First comes the pay-cable channel's 1997 version of "Twelve Angry Men" (9 p.m.-10: 40 p.m.), which sticks 12 men in a jury room on the hottest day of summer and lets them have at it. All but 1 are convinced the defendant -- a Hispanic teen charged with murdering his father -- is guilty. Only one, in this case Jack Lemmon, believes in his innocence; yet that one juror's intransigence keeps the rest from going home, and his attempts to sway their opinions open all sorts of cans of worms.

The Towsontowne Dinner Theater's production of Neil Simon's female version of ''The Odd Couple'' is a little rough, but all this is more than atoned for by some excellent performances and a Simon script that may be having its premiere in this area.''The Odd Couple'' first appeared in 1965 with Walter Matthau and Art Carney in the cast. Matthau and Jack Lemmon did the film version (1968), and the play underwent a sex change in 1984 when the female version appeared at the Mechanic with Rita Moreno and Sally Struthers.

Pro Musica Rara and baroque dancers perform today at 0) BMABaroque music is more closely tied to dance than any other variety of what we today refer to as "classical" music. This afternoon at 3:30 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Pro Musica Rara will present an unusual opportunity to perceive the interconnections between these two genres. The program will feature Boston's Ken Pierce Baroque Dancers, who will perform their historical reconstructions of dances from Purcell's "The Faerie Queene."

He was fired in a very public way from "Gone With the Wind," saw one of his greatest works, "A Star Is Born," butchered by studio hacks before its release, and had some incredible bombs, like "Bluebird," with Elizabeth Taylor. And, yet, the film career of George Cukor is one of the most distinguished in the history of the medium. That's the central story line for "On Cukor," a cultural gem of a documentary from PBS' American Masters series, premiering Wednesday night at 9:30 on public television stations MPT (Channels 22 and 67)

NOW OR NEVER Local singer and TV personality Carolyn Black-Sotir stars in The Sweetest Sounds, a Celebration of the Music of Richard Rodgers Sunday at 3 p.m. at Stephens Hall Theatre. The show pays tribute to Rodgers, whose music graced Broadway and the silver screen for six decades, and highlights his collaborations with Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein III and Stephen Sondheim. The theater is at 8000 York Road on the campus of Towson University. Tickets are $20-$24 and $15 for students.

MUSIC PIANO ROCK This weekend, piano rocker Ben Folds collaborates with conductor Frank McNamara and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to create a unique musical experience. This is Folds' U.S. orchestral debut. Anna Eisenberg The event takes place at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St., tomorrow and Saturday, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are $34-$84. For details, call 410-783-8100. FILM UNDERGROUND FILMS This weekend's MicroCineFest 2005 at the G-Spot offers underground filmmakers in Baltimore a chance to showcase their talents.

Robert Altman, who last week won the best-director prize at the Cannes Film Festival -- where his "The Player" also won Tim Robbins a best-actor nod -- has lined up financing for two new projects. One, "L.A. Short Cuts," is an intertwining of several Raymond Carver short stories; "Player" alums Peter Gallagher, Andie MacDowell, Jack Lemmon, Lily Tomlin and Lyle Lovett are committed to the film, as is Jeff Daniels.The other, "Pret a Porter, will be the director's take on the fashion industry.

HOLLYWOOD -- Lee Remick, the alluring actress who gained fame and empathy as the haunting alcoholic in "Days of Wine and Roses," died yesterday at her home here of cancer.The versatile performer, who was known for her talent in blending the innocence of youth and the sensuality of womanhood into a single dramatic commodity, was 55.Tumors had been found on her kidneys and lungs in 1989 after she fell ill while making a film in France.Ms. Remick's diversity as an actress was evident throughout what proved a lengthy career for a woman who died so young.

HOLLYWOOD -- It is the most searing film about Hollywood in years, a funny, nasty, insider's look at an icy, Armani-suited studio executive who glides through power lunches, chats on cordless phones, makes glib judgments about movies and gets away with murder, quite literally. And Hollywood, which enjoys self-laceration as much as mean gossip, has, curiously, embraced the Robert Altman film, "The Player."Although the film is not scheduled to be released in New York and Los Angeles until April 24, advance screenings in the last few weeks have stirred attention.