Celeb chef Anne Burrell's body found near dozens of pills, sources say
Celebrity chef Anne Burrell's body was found next to dozens of pills inside her Brooklyn home, sources told The Post Thursday, as police continue to investigate her death.
Burrell's official cause of death has yet to be revealed.
Madison McGaw/BFA.com/Shutterstock
Burrell, 55, was found unresponsive in her shower Tuesday morning after her husband, Stuart Claxton, found her and called 911, police said.
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Burrell, the longtime host of 'Worst Cooks in America,' was one of the Food Network's biggest stars.
Follow The Post's coverage on Anne Burrell's death
Among the high-profile chefs who have offered their condolences are Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray, who shared the TV spotlight with Burrell over the years.
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Chef Anne Burrell poses during a Food Network event.
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Burrell performed improv at a Brooklyn venue the night before her death and was last seen 'in great spirits' around 1 a.m. that morning, according to a witness.
She reportedly suffered cardiac arrest, but the city medical examiner has not ruled on the cause of Burrell's death and sources told The Post it is premature to speculate on whether the pills that were found next to her body played any role.
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New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
‘Jaws' turns 50: How other classic movies bit off the shark's signature riff — from ‘Caddyshack' to ‘Clerks'
Like the killer great white shark, the 'Jaws' theme song took a big bite out of movie history. The terrifying two-note theme of the 1975 summer blockbuster — which turns 50 on June 20 — has been riffed on in other classic films for its cultural impact that is still striking fang-crunching fear in the masses five decades later. Composer John Williams' menacing motif has been referenced — and ripped on — in other big films that have taken it from horror to humor. 9 'Jaws' defined the summer blockbuster after its release on June 20, 1975. Courtesy Everett Collection 'I think it's a compliment when anything becomes parodied that much, like, if you work your way into a popular comedy movie or something,' film music historian Tim Greiving — who wrote the upcoming biography 'John Williams: A Composer's Life' — exclusively told The Post. ''It's, like, acknowledging that this is something that is so culturally important, or that everybody recognizes it, that you can kind of play on it. If it was a little more obscure, the reference wouldn't work. I'll take it as a compliment.' But while the theme has been spoofed, Williams — who won his first of four Oscars for Best Original Score for 'Jaws' — took it very seriously. 'I think that serious intention comes through in the music and keeps it from being campy,' said Greiving. 9 Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider co-starred in 1975's 'Jaws.' Courtesy Everett Collection Still, the theme has been played for laughs in classic comedies such as 'Airplane!' and 'Caddyshack.' 'The funny thing is, John Williams has talked about [how] sometimes he plays it in concert, and people start laughing, and it's not supposed to make you laugh, although it made ['Jaws' director] Steven Spielberg laugh when he first heard it,' said Greiving. 'So it has this interesting psychological effect now.' 'But I think at its core, it still does what it was supposed to do — which is freak you out.' Here, we dive into seven films that have sunk their teeth into the 'Jaws' theme. '1941' 9 Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi co-starred in the 1979 war comedy '1941.' Courtesy Everett Collection The opening scene of Spielberg's 1979 war comedy pays homage to the 'Jaws' theme. with Susan Backlinie — who played Chrissie Watkins, the shark's first victim in 'Jaws.' 'Airplane!' 9 Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen and Peter Graves took 1980's 'Airplane!' to comic heights. ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Col As what appears to be a fin — but turns out to be a 747 — cuts through the clouds, the sinister riff of 'Jaws' takes this 1980 disaster comedy off in its opening credits. 'Caddyshack' 9 Ted Knight and Chevy Chase were golfing goofballs in 1980's 'Caddyshack.' ©Orion Pictures Corp/Courtesy Everett Collection When a candy bar is mistaken for a turd in a swimming pool, the 'Jaws' theme heightens the horror in the 1980 comedy starring Billy Murray and Chevy Chase. '9 1/2 Weeks' 9 Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger steamed up the screen in 1986's '9 1/2 Weeks.' ©Orion Pictures Corp/Courtesy Everett Collection When a kid claims that his friend can fart the 'Jaws' theme in this 1986 erotic drama, Mickey Rourke mimics it. How sexy. 'Spaceballs' 9 Bill Pullman and John Candy parodied 'Stars Wars' in 1987's 'Spaceballs.' Mel Brooks' 1987 'Star Wars' parody plays off the menacing motif from 'Jaws' while chasing a rebel ship. 'Back to the Future II' 9 Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd reunited for 'Back to the Future II' in 1989. The shark tale's theme plays as Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly encounters an advertisement for 'Jaws 19' — the 18th sequel to the original — when he travels to 2015. 'Clerks' 9 Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson co-starred in Kevin Smith's directorial debut 'Clerks' in 1994. Jeff Anderson's character in Kevin Smith's 1994 cult classic dips into the 'Jaws' theme as his triangular tortilla chip cuts through some 'thick & chunky' salsa.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Inside the ‘Jaws' theme song creation 50 years ago: ‘Everyone's scared of those two notes'
They were the two notes of terror heard around the world. They were the two notes of terror heard around the world. But director Steven Spielberg initially laughed off composer John Williams' 'Jaws' theme that would become the signature sound — and sign — of the great white shark's attack in the summer blockbuster that opened 50 years ago on June 20, 1975. 'I expected to hear something kind of weird and melodic, something tonal, but eerie; something of another world, almost like outer space under the water,' said Spielberg in a 2012 Blu-ray featurette on the making of 'Jaws.' 7 'When everyone came out and said 'Jaws' scared them out of the water, it was Johnny who scared them out of the water,' said director Steven Spielberg of John Williams' 'Jaws' theme. Bettmann Archive 7 John Williams won the first of his four Oscars for Best Original Score for 'Jaws' in 1976. Bettmann Archive 'And what he played me instead, with two fingers on the lower keys, was 'dun-dun, dun-dun, dun-dun.' And at first, I began to laugh. He had a great sense of humor, and I thought he was putting me on.' But Williams was scaring up the menacing motif that would sink its teeth into moviegoers — and terrify beachgoers — for generations to come in the film classic that would launch his and Spielberg's careers into historic heights. While Spielberg might have first thought it was a joke, Williams was dead serious about the ominous ostinato of notes E and F played by tuba player Tommy Johnson. 'He said, 'You can't be serious?'' Williams — who had previously worked with Spielberg on 1974's 'The Sugarland Express' — told Classic FM in 2022 about his chilling riff to 'represent our primordial fear.' 'I think in Spielberg's mind … you want something really complicated and layered and, you know, atonal horror music or whatever,' film music historian Tim Greiving — who wrote the upcoming biography 'John Williams: A Composer's Life' — exclusively told The Post. 7 'You can almost think of it as, like, it is the shark,' said film historian Tim Greiving of the 'Jaws' theme. Courtesy Everett Collection 'But John Williams has such a great story instinct that he knew that the simpler, the better, that kind of economy and just, like, pure drive was what this movie needed. So, yeah, in this way he knew better than Spielberg.' To Greiving, Williams struck just the right note with the 'Jaws' theme. 'It so perfectly represents the mindless, just predatory instinct of a shark,' he said. 'You can almost think of it as, like, it is the shark.' But, he added, there's also a 'sense of a heartbeat' that captures 'you in the water with your heart rate kind of accelerating as the shark gets closer to you.' 7 'He said, 'You can't be serious?' ' said John Williams (left) of Steven Spielberg's initial reaction to his 'Jaws' theme. Courtesy Everett Collection The 'deceptively simple' phrase was just the right hook to harpoon the masses. 'It's just a very effective storytelling device,' said Greiving. 'I think anything more complicated than that wouldn't have been nearly as effective.' The 'Jaws' theme became a cultural touchstone in and of itself. 'Because 'Jaws' was such a huge phenomenon, it … just permeated everything,' said Greiving. 'And you had this musical signature, this musical brand to that phenomenon. So it's just an easy way to sort of shorthand reference 'Jaws' as a whole phenomenon.' 'I think it's like the opening of Beethoven's Fifth or the strings of 'Psycho.' It's just something so instantly recognizable that those kinds of things just catch on … and, you know, they just never go away, right? That's the brilliance of it.' 7 The shark in 'Jaws' had its own theme, which struck fear across generations. Getty Images However, Greiving notes that the two-note 'Jaws' theme that that has struck fear across generations is just a small part of the score that won Williams the first of his four Oscars for Best Original Score. 'I talked to [Oscar-winning composer] Hans Zimmer for my book, and he just said, 'You know, everyone's scared of those two notes, but for composers, we're scared of everything after those two notes, because the whole thing is so impressive,' ' he said. 'And I think John Williams, as he often does, takes a simple idea, a simple motif, and just expands it and develops it into basically a symphony.' Williams went on to score more than 100 films, including other classic Spielberg collaborations such as 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' 'E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,' 'Jurassic Park,' 'Schindler's List' and the 'Indiana Jones' franchise,' but he never imagined that the repeated pattern of 'Jaws' would never go away. 7 'He knew better than [Steven] Spielberg,' said Tim Greiving of John Williams (left) proposing the 'Jaws' theme. Getty Images 'At that time, I had no idea that it would have that kind of impact on people,' he told Classic FM. And Spielberg has credited the 'Jaws' theme as a major part of the movie's success. 'When everyone came out and said 'Jaws' scared them out of the water, it was Johnny who scared them out of the water,' Spielberg said in the Blu-ray featurette. 'His music was scarier than seeing the shark.' 7 Richard Dreyfuss (left) and Robert Shaw co-starred in the 1975 summer blockbuster 'Jaws.' Getty Images But for Greiving — whose Williams biography will be released on Sept. 2 — the 'Jaws' theme is even bigger than movies. 'I think the two-note theme in 'Jaws' is maybe the most famous musical unit in the history of music. I think you could argue that,' he said. 'I think more people around the world recognize these two notes played as the 'Jaws' theme more than almost any other piece of music.'
New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
Long Island's ‘monster' shark hunter legend may have inspired ‘Jaws,' iconic Capt. Quint
Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they wouldn't get it right. The Steven Spielberg classic 'Jaws' takes place in a fictional small town in New England — but Long Islanders claim the blockbuster movie and novel that inspired it owes a hat tip to a late local legend. 'Monster' hunter fisherman Frank Mundus — a proud son of Montauk — was the inspiration for Robert Shaw's salty Capt. Quint in the movie, which turns 50 on Friday, family and friends said. Advertisement 4 Although Steven Spielberg's epic 'Jaws,' which turns 50 Friday, depicts unprecedented terror and calamity offshore in the small fictional New England town of Amity Island, its true story belongs to Long Island. Courtesy of Pat Mundus 'Anybody who knows anything about fishing knows that it's based on him,' the shark hunter's daughter Pat Mundus told The Post. 'Everybody on the East End knows,' she added of the mighty man who died in 2008 at 82. Advertisement Mundus, who lives in Greenport, said people still ask her daily if she's related to Frank. The Brooklyn-born seaman came to the Montauk Point from the north jersey shore in the early 1950s to do what wasn't traditionally done before: intentionally go out in search of the feared apex predators of the sea. The self-branded 'monster fisherman' turned the tide of 'the family-friendly inshore fishing image that Montauk had,' said Pat, a former oil tanker worker who is now 68. Advertisement Mundus couldn't give two flying fins, however. 'He branded himself a 'monster fisher' because he knew that it would attract more charter customers,' she explained, adding that there was a method to the madness. As a boy in the city, Mundus tried jumping from roof to roof between a pair of three-story buildings and fell to the ground, breaking his arm and developing a near-fatal infection. The miracle recovery — one that hindered his schooling to the point he finished eighth grade at nearly 18 — is what gave Mundus his 'big booming energy.' 'He painted one toenail red and the other blue and called them port and starboard. He wore an earring. He went barefoot everywhere. He played pranks and made a public spectacle of himself.' Advertisement Perhaps Mundus' most iconic gag was when 'he had another guy dress up as a Frankenstein-like monster and they put him in a waterproof casket and marked it offshore.' 'They 'discovered' the guy, they brought the casket back and opened it up on the dock, and this big monster sprang out.' By the 1960s, the attention-grabbing antics were enough to reel in 'Jaws' author-to-be Peter Benchley. The penman fatefully rode on Mundus' boat, the Cricket, which was named for the running joke that its captain looked like Jiminy. 'My father was a very intelligent person, but not terribly well-educated, so he didn't know who Peter Benchley was,' Mundus, one of Frank's three daughters, said. 'He just thought it was a guy who was interested in listening to stories about catching fish.' The depiction of Quint and the lack of recognition of the real story sent Mundus overboard, his daughter said. 4 The real-life story of 'Jaws' is based on the 'monster' hunter fisherman and local legend from Montauk, Long Island, Frank Mundus. Courtesy of Donnie Braddick Advertisement 'He had very carefully crafted his whole image in his own brand for 30 years,' she added. 'And then some guy just came along and stole it without acknowledging who he was.' Even Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine laments to this day that Mundus and the setting of Montauk were shortchanged. 'Frank Mundus was a legendary fisherman who could be in Hemingway's 'Old Man and the Sea,'' he told The Post. What 'Jaws' got wrong Mundus said her father isn't the bitter old salt that his Hollywood counterpart. Advertisement 'He was never in the Navy, he had no revenge against evil — he didn't seek restitution for the loss of his shipmates, who were all eaten by sharks, none of that,' she said. 'He had a flair for being outrageous, but he wasn't angry and pissed off, and would never take a baseball bat to a VHF radio.' When they saw the film in theaters together, Mundus wasn't afraid to speak his mind. 'A couple of times he stood up and said, 'that's impossible, that wouldn't ever work!'' she recalled. Advertisement 4 Pat Mundus, who is the daughter of the famed shark hunter, told The Post, 'Anybody who knows anything about fishing knows that it's based on him.' 'He laughed through all the parts that everybody else was totally scared about.' Although Pat said that her dad moved on from his gripes, Roy Scheider apparently didn't get the message and worried Mundus would do something like give him a black eye — like a doll's eye. The man who played Chief Brody told publicist Todd Shapiro he was petrified of doing film anniversary events on the East End in case he would run into Mundus, according to the PR consultant who tried recruiting Scheider for a reunion. Advertisement Every morning, the NY POSTcast offers a deep dive into the headlines with the Post's signature mix of politics, business, pop culture, true crime and everything in between. Subscribe here! The real sequel Regardless of whether it was fact or fiction, the fame of 'Jaws' reshaped Montauk in the 1980s and transformed the then-quaint fishing village into Sharktown USA. Sam Hershowitz began hosting annual shark tournaments at his marina on Star Island, 'that brought people all the way up from the Carolinas,' he said. 'The first year we had 82 boats, the year after we had 150,' Hershowitz, 85, told The Post, adding that he would play John Williams' iconic 'Jaws' score before they all left for sea. 'The motel owners used to thank me because they would be booked solid.' During the 1986 competition, Mundus and his former colleague Donnie Braddick made more fishing history. 4 Frank Mundus died in 2008 at the age of 82. Courtesy of Pat Mundus They brought in what some record books call the largest ever rod-and-reel caught great white at a whopping 17 feet and 3,427 pounds. Sam's Star Island Yacht Club and Marina has a replica of the big guy that remains a tourist selfie favorite to this day, Hershowitz said, adding that due to shark fishing regulations, it's a record that will never be broken. Braddick, now 69, was captaining a tuna fishing boat when he spotted tons of sharks devouring a dead whale about 25 miles southeast of Montauk Point. The boaters he was with were too frightened, so Braddick had to wait until he brought them back to make a go at the sharks. En route back to land, Braddick spotted Mundus coming in from an overnight charter. 'If you needed heart surgery and the best heart surgeon was passing by, it would be a good idea to grab him,' Braddick, who left Montauk for North Carolina when it became 'credit cards and spending mommy and daddy's money,' told The Post. The duo returned to port and stocked up on essentials — beer and pizza — and headed back out in their respective boats into the moonlit hours. 'In the middle of the night, we felt the boat get bumped…and then it was like, 'oh boy, they're here,'' he recalled of the 'all-star' team that sprang into action to nab a great white. 'We reeled the boat to the fish, not the fish to the boat…after an hour and a half, that fish was like 'f–k it, I've had enough of this s–t' and it just charged the boat…All I see is him steaming at us.' Finally, after masterful gaffing and angling, the beast fell to the men of the sea and was towed back to land. 'The rest was one big friggin' party,' added Braddick. 'A lot of people know about it, and they still talk about it.' While the legend of Mundus is as eternal as the sea, Pat is ready for a new wave and wants to live a life of her own rather than echo family tales, she said. Still, there's one thing Mundus told his kin that she remembers to this day. 'Fear is just not understanding something,' Pat recalled. 'And if you want to get over a fear, you have to gain competency in it.'
