To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Audiobook)

2026 Academy Awards Winners

 

Best supporting actress

• Elle Fanning, "Sentimental Value"

• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, "Sentimental Value"

• Amy Madigan, "Weapons" - WINNER

• Wunmi Mosaku, "Sinners"

• Teyana Taylor, "One Battle After Another"

Best animated feature film

• "Arco"

• "Elio"

• "KPop Demon Hunters" - WINNER

• "Little Amélie or the Character of Rain"

• "Zootopia 2"

Best animated short film

• "Butterfly"

• "Forevergreen"

• "The Girl Who Cried Pearls" - WINNER

• "Retirement Plan"

• "The Three Sisters"

Best costume design

• "Avatar: Fire and Ash" -- Deborah L. Scott

• "Frankenstein" -- Kate Hawley - WINNER

• "Hamnet" -- Malgosia Turzanska

• "Marty Supreme" -- Miyako Bellizzi

• "Sinners" -- Ruth E. Carter

Best makeup and hairstyling

• "Frankenstein" - WINNER

• "Kokuho"

• "Sinners"

• "The Smashing Machine"

• "The Ugly Stepsister"

Best casting

• "Hamnet" -- Nina Gold

• "Marty Supreme" -- Jennifer Venditti

• "One Battle After Another" -- Cassandra Kulukundis - WINNER

• "The Secret Agent" -- Gabriel Domingues

• "Sinners" -- Francine Maisler

Best live action short film

• "Butcher's Stain"

• "Jane Austen's Period Drama"

• "A Friend of Dorothy"

• "The Singers" - WINNER

• "Two People Exchanging Saliva" - WINNER

Best supporting actor

• Benicio del Toro, "One Battle After Another"

• Jacob Elordi, "Frankenstein"

• Delroy Lindo, "Sinners"

• Sean Penn, "One Battle After Another" - WINNER

• Stellan Skarsgård, "Sentimental Value"

Best adapted screenplay

• "Bugonia" -- Will Tracy

• "Frankenstein" -- Guillermo Del Toro

• "Hamnet" -- Maggie O'Farrell and Chloé Zhao

• "One Battle After Another" -- Paul Thomas Anderson - WINNER

• "Train Dreams" -- Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar

Best original screenplay

• "Blue Moon" -- Robert Kaplow

• "It Was Just an Accident" -- Jafar Panahi

• "Marty Supreme" -- Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie

• "Sentimental Value" -- Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt

• "Sinners" – Ryan Coogler - WINNER

Best production design

• "Frankenstein" - WINNER

• "Hamnet"

• "Marty Supreme"

• "One Battle After Another"

• "Sinners"

Best visual effects

• "Avatar: Fire and Ash" - WINNER

• "F1"

• "Jurassic World Rebirth"

• "The Lost Bus"

• "Sinners"

Best documentary short film

• "All the Empty Rooms" - WINNER

• "Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud"

• "Children No More: 'Were and Are Gone'"

• "The Devil is Busy"

• "Perfectly a Strangeness"

Best documentary feature film

• "The Alabama Solution"

• "Come See Me in the Good Light"

• "Cutting Through Rocks"

• "Mr. Nobody Against Putin" - WINNER

• "The Perfect Neighbor"

Best original score

• "Bugonia" -- Jerskin Fendrix

• "Frankenstein" -- Alexandre Desplat

• "Hamnet" -- Max Richter

• "One Battle After Another" -- Jonny Greenwood

• "Sinners" -- Ludwig Göransson - WINNER

Best sound

• "F1" - WINNER

• "Frankenstein"

• "One Battle After Another"

• "Sinners"

• "Sirât"

Best film editing

• "F1" -- Stephen Mirrione

• "Marty Supreme" -- Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie

• "One Battle After Another" -- Andy Jurgensen - WINNER

• "Sentimental Value" -- Olivier Bugge Coutté

• "Sinners" -- Michael P. Shawver

Best cinematography

• "Frankenstein"

• "Marty Supreme"

• "One Battle After Another"

• "Sinners" - WINNER

• "Train Dreams"

Best international feature film

• Brazil, "The Secret Agent"

• France, "It Was Just an Accident"

• Norway, "Sentimental Value" - WINNER

• Spain, "Sirât"

• Tunisia, "The Voice of Hind Rajab"

Best original song

• "Dear Me" from "Diane Warren: Relentless"

• "Golden" from "KPop Demon Hunters" - WINNER

• "I Lied to You" from "Sinners"

• "Sweet Dreams of Joy" from "Viva Verdi!"

• "Train Dreams" from "Train Dreams"

Best director

• Chloé Zhao, "Hamnet"

• Josh Safdie, "Marty Supreme"

• Paul Thomas Anderson, "One Battle After Another" - WINNER

• Joachim Trier, "Sentimental Value"

• Ryan Coogler, "Sinners"

Best actor

• Timothée Chalamet, "Marty Supreme"

• Leonardo DiCaprio, "One Battle After Another"

• Ethan Hawke, "Blue Moon"

• Michael B. Jordan, "Sinners" - WINNER

• Wagner Moura, "The Secret Agent"

Best actress

• Jessie Buckley, "Hamnet" - WINNER

• Rose Byrne, "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You"

• Kate Hudson, "Song Sung Blue"

• Renate Reinsve, "Sentimental Value"

• Emma Stone, "Bugonia"

Best picture

• "Bugonia"

• "F1"

• "Frankenstein"

• "Hamnet"

• "Marty Supreme"

• "One Battle After Another" - WINNER

• "The Secret Agent"

• "Sentimental Value"

• "Sinners"

• "Train Dreams"

Mar-A-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida

Mar-A-Lago

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Land of Sweet Forever by Harper Lee

 

The Land of Sweet Forever is a collection of short stories by American author Harper Lee, published posthumously on October 21, 2025, by HarperCollins.^[1] The book features eight previously unpublished short stories discovered after her 2016 death, in an apartment she owned in New York City.^[2] Eight additional pieces, which appeared in different publications between the years 1961 and 2006, are also included.^[3] The book's introduction is by Casey Cep, the author of Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee.^[4]

The eight newly released stories were written after Lee dropped out of the University of Alabama School of Law and prior to the success of her novels Go Set a Watchman and To Kill a Mockingbird at a time when the young author was submitting short fiction pieces to publishing outlets.^[5] In 2024, her estate approved these stories for publication along with eight previously published pieces that were written after the acclaim of To Kill a Mockingbird, when Lee's subsequent work was more readily published.^[6]

Contents

Stories

• The Water Tank
• The Binoculars
• The Pinking Shears
• A Roomful of Kibble
• The Viewers and the Viewed
• This is Show Business?
• The Cat's Meow
• The Land of Sweet Forever

Essays and Miscellaneous Pieces

• Love—in Other Words
• Crackling Bread
• Christmas to Me
• Gregory Peck
• When Children Discover America
• Truman Capote
• Romance and High Adventure
• A Letter from Harper Lee

Let's Kill Uncle (1966)

 

Let's Kill Uncle—also known as Let's Kill Uncle Before Uncle Kills Us^[1]—is a 1966 American black comedy psychothriller film^[2] film produced and directed by William Castle, about a young boy trapped on an island by his uncle, who is planning to kill him. The boy's only friend is a young girl, who tries to help him.

It stars Nigel Green, Mary Badham, Pat Cardi and Robert Pickering and is based on a 1963 novel written by Rohan O'Grady, the pen name of Canadian author June Margaret O'Grady Skinner. It was filmed in Universal Studios on the largest sound stage, taking advantage of the process screen,^[3] with a location shot of a beach in Malibu, California.

Plot

Following the death of multi-millionaire Russell Harrison, his $5 million estate falls to his only child, 12-year-old Barnaby Harrison, who will receive the money upon reaching adulthood. In the meantime, Barnaby will live with his uncle, Major Kevin Harrison, who resides on a remote, sparsely populated island. The major was a war hero, a former British commando whose autobiography, Killing the Enemy, details multiple accounts of extreme close combat. Aboard the boat to the island is Chrissie, who is Barnaby's age. The two children constantly argue, with Chrissie believing Barnaby is telling fantastic lies about his uncle's exploits. Chrissie has come from a broken home and will be living with her Aunt Justine, who also resides on Uncle Kevin's island.

Even after reaching their destination, Barnaby's misbehavior continues. He keeps up a constant litany of tall tales to impress or frighten Chrissie. Barnaby, however, worships his heroic Uncle Kevin and enjoys reading his book. One night, the major, clad in his wartime beret and battledress, awakens Barnaby and takes him on "an adventure". Leading Barnaby to high cliffs overlooking the crashing surf, Harrison hypnotizes Barnaby, planting the suggestion that he walk off the cliffs to his death. But from far below, Aunt Justine spies Barnaby perilously close to the edge of a high cliff and shouts at him, waking him from his trance. A shaken Barnaby believes he was walking in his sleep until Uncle Kevin later jovially explains he meant to kill Barnaby for his inheritance. Though his first attempt failed, he vows he will try again.

Based on Barnaby's previous lies and bad behavior, no one believes his claims of his uncle's persecution. That is, until Chrissie discovers the truth and gleefully suggests they kill uncle before uncle kills Barnaby. The trio begin a series of intricate assassination attempts against each other. Their battle finally ends in a stalemate. As a result, the only harm inflicted is psychological, not physical. But the children are left to reflect on which is worse.

Cast

• Nigel Green as The Uncle – Major Kevin Harrison
• Mary Badham as Chrissie
• Pat Cardi as Barnaby Harrison
• Robert Pickering as Sgt. Frank Travis
• Linda Lawson as Justine
• Ref Sanchez as Ketchman
• Nestor Paiva as Steward
• William Castle as Russell Harrison

Production

The film was William Castle's third and final film for Universal Pictures, with Castle purchasing the film rights for the novel soon after its 1963 publication. Universal's casting director, John Badham, cast his younger sister Mary, who had gained acclaim in the role of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). He also chose Pat Cardi, who had recently appeared in Universal's And Now Miguel (1966); Badham and Castle picked Cardi over both Stanley Livingston—then co-starring on My Three Sons—as well as James Mason's son. Nigel Green had recently co-starred in Universal's The Ipcress File (1965) and Let's Kill Uncle was Green's first lead role. Nestor Paiva was suffering from stomach cancer during the production and died the year the film was released.

During filming, Castle had wanted Barnaby to inherit $20 million, although the total had been $10 million in the novel. Universal insisted on $5 million and when Castle objected, MCA Universal head Lew Wasserman came to see Castle himself, telling him, "For $20 million, I'd kill the kid myself".^{[citation needed]}

Cardi recalled that Nigel Green acted as a real life friendly uncle to him on the set, giving him tips on performing. Cardi admitted that the tarantulas frightened him, so during rehearsals plastic spiders were used, even though both the spider wrangler and Castle told him the real spider had been defanged and was harmless. When shooting the actual scenes, the real tarantula was present, with Castle asking Cardi, "wouldn't it be fun to drop it on Nigel's chest?" Green was unenthusiastic until Castle told him that Sean Connery had a real tarantula walk on his chest in Dr. No (1962). Green shouted, "If it's good enough for Connery, it's good enough for me!", and did the scene without complaint, unaware that Connery actually had a tarantula walk over a glass pane rather than on his naked skin.^[4]

Cardi stated that several endings were shot for the film and "Universal picked the worst one", adding that there "were a lot of politics going on with the film".^[4]

Release

The film was censored in the UK to obtain an A rating. No information is available from the BBFC on what was removed.^[5]

Home media

In June 2020, a restored version of the film was released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.^[6]

Reception

Howard Thompson of The New York Times was unreceptive to the film, writing, "Say this for Let's Kill Uncle. It's the least bad chiller ever made by William Castle [...] [who's] paced the film like molasses."^[7]

In popular culture

English singer-songwriter Morrissey referenced this film in the title of his 1991 album Kill Uncle.^[8]