Entertainment News
May 11, 2008LOS ANGELES - A memorabilia dealer who profited from O.J. Simpson for many years is the latest former crony to write a tell-all book, this one alleging a groggy Simpson, high on marijuana, confessed to killing his ex-wife after he was acquitted.
Mike Gilbert also claims he helped his former friend wiggle out of the murder charges by suggesting how to bloat his hands so they wouldn't fit the notorious bloody gloves.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Carrie Underwood is the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry.
The singer joined the cast of the long-running country music show Saturday. Garth Brooks handled her formal induction and Vince Gill sang a duet with her.
LOS ANGELES - A source says backstage meddling has caught up with the father of "American Idol" favourite David Archuleta.
A person working for the TV talent contest says Archuleta's dad has been banned from rehearsals.
ATLANTA - Former President Jimmy Carter often sent his mother to meet with foreign dignitaries and attend state funerals, but it wasn't until he started researching a new book about her life that he learned just what the woman known as "Miss Lillian" did on those visits.
"Mama had developed a reputation for expressing unorthodox opinions and not being constrained by any outside advice," Carter writes in "A Remarkable Mother," which chronicles Lillian's life from her birth in 1898 to her death from cancer in 1983. "The officials in the State Department were always quite nervous about what she would do or say that might violate protocol and damage relations between our government and that of the country she was visiting."
LOS ANGELES - The dossier spills over into two drawers of files full of hand-scribbled notes, maps marked with sharp black dots - and snapshots of a shadowy figure, scattering bird seed.
This is Laura Dodson's nemesis.
NEW YORK - An actor in "The Little Mermaid" was injured after falling at least six metres through a trap door to the stage minutes before the popular Broadway production was set to begin.
The 51-year-old man was unconscious when taken from the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday, the Fire Department said. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital Centre with injuries to his leg and arm.
ANKARA, Turkey - Soprano Leyla Gencer, who made her career at Italy's famed La Scala opera house, has died in Milan, officials said Saturday. She was 80.
The singer known as La Diva Turca - the Turkish Diva - died Friday of respiratory problems and heart failure at home in Milan, La Scala and the Turkish State Opera and Ballet said.
Everywhere they go, "American Idol" contestants attract a crowd of admirers, well-wishers, gushy handmade signs and screams fit for a vintage Beatle. But when it comes to feting finalists, home is where the "I (heart) you" is.
In what's become an annual "Idol" rite of passage, the remaining three contestants - David Archuleta, Syesha Mercado and David Cook - headed to their respective hometowns Friday for a dose of family and the inevitably intense local rah-rah routine, showing just how stirred up communities get when one of their own shines on TV's biggest stage.
CLEARWATER, Fla. - A judge in Florida says the 17-year-old son of wrestler Hulk Hogan must serve eight months in jail for reckless driving.
Nick Bollea was led off to begin his sentence immediately after Friday's ruling. When he's released, he will be on five years' probation and lose his driving privileges for three years.
LAS VEGAS - Toni Braxton's return to the stage on the Las Vegas strip has been pushed back for at least another month.
A spokeswoman for Harrah's Entertainment says the target date to resume "Toni Braxton: Revealed" at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel is now June 6.
YONKERS, New York - Singer Mary J. Blige is establishing a foundation to help women develop careers and gain self-confidence.
Blige, whose current album is "Growing Pains," and Steve Stoute, who founded a youth-oriented brand consulting firm, say they're setting up the Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now.
LOS ANGELES - She's not just fast. She's very fast.
Meet Daphne, the speedy new character on NBC's "Heroes," who plans to give the show's superhumans - especially time traveller Hiro and his sidekick, Ando - a run for their money when she debuts on the popular NBC series' upcoming third season, which went back into production last week.
NEW YORK - Forget the Empire State Building.
Some New York tourists are eager to see the city's other landmarks: Carrie's stoop, Charlotte's gallery and that restaurant where Samantha threw a martini in a boyfriend's face.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says California must increase tax incentives to movie and television studios as a way to keep them from moving their productions out of state.
He says incentives being offered by other states are luring studios away and costing California tens of thousands of jobs.
ATLANTA - Even though Raven-Symone can now add movie producer to her long list of accomplishments, some people still perceive her as just a little girl.
But the former "That's So Raven" star is trying to show she's graduated from the child phenom role and has more substance to her than the animated character that's still endlessly shown, via reruns, on the television screen.
CHICAGO - Until the last minute, it still wasn't clear that it would go ahead. But after nearly six years of delays, R. Kelly's child pornography trial finally got under way Friday as the court began selecting a jury.
About 150 potential jurors packed into the courtroom to hear the judge read the 14-count indictment against the 41-year-old R&B superstar, who is accused of videotaping himself having sex with a girl as young as 13.
LOS ANGELES - Near as Lee Pace can tell, the best way to scare audiences away is to tell them how good something is.
"I think people are really cautious about important movies," said Pace, who stars in "The Fall," opening Friday. "If you're told, 'There's an important movie coming out,' people would rather chew glass than go see it."
NEW YORK - Uma Thurman responded to French cosmetics giant Lancome's lawsuit against her with one of her own Friday, taking their contract dispute over the use of her name and face in an advertising campaign to federal court.
The "Kill Bill" star said in her lawsuit that Lancome Parfums et Beaute & Cie boosted its worldwide sales and enhanced its "prestige, stature and bargaining power" by helping retailers and others use her name and likeness in advertising and promotions after her contract expired.
