Cyd Charisse, the long-legged beauty who danced with the Ballet Russe and starred in MGM musicals with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, has died.
Hundreds of firefighters were battling a large blaze that broke out on Sunday on a back lot at Universal Studios, site of movie and television production, a spokesperson for a neighbouring fire department said. Burbank firefighter David Ortiz said that about 200 firefighters and two helicopters had been deployed to assist the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Hollywood filmmaker Sydney Pollack, who won a pair of Academy Awards for the epic romance <i>Out of Africa</i> and earned praise for his acting stints in films such as <i>Tootsie</i> and <i>Michael Clayton</i>, died on May 26 after a battle with cancer, his spokesperson said. He was 73.
Actor Harrison Ford cracked the box-office whip as his latest Indiana Jones movie grossed a hefty -million from its first day in North American theatres. That bodes well for a movie industry looking to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to help shake the movie business out an early summer slump.
As United States banks mop up the mess from billions of dollars of bad home loans, buyers are finding the days of cheap money are over and, in many cases, tougher versions of old lending rules now apply. People of modest means have seen the American dream of home ownership move further out of reach.
When to slow down and retire? For most people in their 60s the decision is a no-brainer — the sooner the better. But in the rare air of movie stardom, where careers are fuelled by a mix of talent, ego, vanity and, sometimes, cosmetic surgery, it seems to be a far harder decision.
Irvine Robbins, who delighted ice cream afficionados by conjuring up ever more inventive flavours as co-founder of the Baskin-Robbins empire, has died aged 90. Robbins, who started the Baskin-Robbins ice-cream chain with late brother-in-law Burt Baskin in 1945, died on May 5 at the Eisenhower Medical Centre in Rancho Mirage, California.
Diamonds may be forever. But what’s a girl to do when she gets dumped or divorced and those rings, necklaces and love gifts lose their emotional sparkle? Help is just a click away on new websites that provide an outlet for selling jewellery from past relationships, sharing break-up stories and helping broken hearts heal.
A giant inflatable pig that went missing from a Southern California music festival at the weekend has been found in tatters in a desert town. The pig, which has been a signature Pink Floyd stage prop since its appearance on the 1977 cover of Animals, broke away from its tethers on Sunday night at Coachella Valley Arts and Music Festival.
A grizzly bear featured in the recent Will Ferrell film Semi-Pro and touted as one of the ”best trained” in show business has killed its handler, but officials said on Wednesday they were puzzled by what provoked the attack. The 317kg bear bit Stephan Miller in the neck on Tuesday at a facility where wild animals are trained for film and TV productions.
Sharon Sarmiento knew it was time to unplug when she realised she was blogging in her dreams and hearing imaginary instant messages. She is part of a new grassroots movement in which tech geeks, internet addicts, Blackberry thumbers and compulsive IMers are wresting back control of their lives by daring to switch off — if only for a day.
Thousands of protesters were expected to line the route of the latest leg of the Olympic torch’s ”Journey of Harmony” on Wednesday as officials in San Francisco braced themselves for a repetition of the tumultuous scenes in Paris and London. A broad coalition of protest groups has converged on the city.
The Los Angeles Times on Monday retracted a story that linked hip-hop mogul Sean ”Diddy” Combs to the 1994 shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur, admitting that the report relied on fake FBI documents. The move came three weeks after the paper’s website carried a lengthy story by Pulitzer Prize-winner Chuck Philips.
Authorities removed more than 180 women and children from the Texas compound of a polygamist sect on Saturday evening after receiving reports of ”sexual and physical abuse”. The 10 000-member Mormon group is led by Warren Jeffs, who was convicted in Utah last year on two counts of accomplice to rape.
Charlton Heston, the chisel-jawed Hollywood icon best remembered for his Oscar-winning performance in the 1959 epic <i>Ben Hur</i>, died on April 5 at his home, his family said. He was 84. Heston’s family said in a statement that the actor died with his wife of 64 years, Lydia, by his side.
Tennis greatness is measured in Grand Slam triumphs, but that doesn’t make the game’s best players immune to the lure of Olympic gold. Andy Roddick has decided to skip the Beijing Games in August in order to prepare for a run at the US Open, but for most of the top players on the ATP and WTA tours, the Games remain a key event in the 2008 calendar.
A woman who claims she was ordered by federal airport screeners to remove her nipple rings with pliers demanded an apology from the United States Transportation Security Administration on Thursday. Mandi Hamlin (37) also called for an investigation into the February 24 incident in Lubbock, Texas.
”Nappy-headed hos,” the phrase that cost radio shock jock Don Imus his job and triggered a debate on how far free speech can go, was named on Thursday as the most egregious politically incorrect turn of phrase in 2007. Trailing behind that phrase in the annual survey by Global Language Monitor, a word usage group, were ”ho-ho-ho” and ”carbon-footprint stomping”.
A San Diego judge on Thursday ordered coffee giant Starbucks to pay more than $100-million in tips and interest owed to staff across outlets in California. It was not immediately clear how the money might be divided up between the estimated 100 000 current and former baristas.
One-time Olympic superstar Marion Jones on Friday began a six-month jail sentence for lying about her steroid use, a punishment likely to grab the attention of baseball home-run king Barry Bonds. Jones (32) reported to a correctional facility in Fort Worth, Texas, United States Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Traci Billingsley said.
No image available
/ 25 February 2008
No Country for Old Men was living up to its front-runner status at Sunday’s Academy Awards, winning best adapted screenplay for the Coen brothers and best supporting actor for Javier Bardem. La Vie En Rose star Marion Cotillard was a surprise winner in the best-actress category.
No image available
/ 25 February 2008
No Country For Old Men won the Oscar for best film and its makers, brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, were named best directors on Sunday, giving the bleak crime drama four of the world’s top movie awards. Members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honoured a wide range of movies, actors and actresses from several countries.
No image available
/ 24 February 2008
Hollywood stars will parade across the red carpet for Sunday’s Academy Awards after weeks of debate over whether a writers’ strike that had derailed other award shows would be settled in time for the Oscars. However, the Oscars competition itself appears to hold little suspense, with clear favourites generally expected to win.
No image available
/ 16 February 2008
Paparazzi are getting a lot of bad press these days, so it takes some chutzpah to launch a photography exhibit called Paparazzi as an Art Form in the heart of celebrityville. Buzz Foto hopes its 26 shots will show that paparazzi photography, despite its reputation for intrusiveness and bad manners, can be a form of art.
No image available
/ 13 February 2008
Allan Grant, a Life magazine staff photographer who captured such historic moments as the atomic bomb tests in the Nevada desert to some of the last photos of Marilyn Monroe before her suicide, has died. He was 88. Grant died at his home in Brentwood on February 1, said his wife, Karin Grant.
No image available
/ 12 February 2008
Dolly Parton’s breasts may be two of the wonders of the entertainment world, but the country music icon says they are a pain in her back. Parton (62) said on Monday she would postpone her upcoming North American tour after doctors told her to take it easy for six to eight weeks to rest her sore back.
No image available
/ 11 February 2008
Actor Roy Scheider, a two-time Oscar nominee best known for his roles as a small-town police chief in Jaws and his portrait of famed choreographer Bob Fosse in All That Jazz, died on February 10 at age 75. Scheider died of complications from multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood cells.
No image available
/ 10 February 2008
British pop singer Amy Winehouse, whose rapid descent from promising newcomer to emaciated junkie played out in the full glare of the public eye last year, took home five Grammy awards on Sunday. The Soweto Gospel Choir won a second Grammy for their album African Spirit.
No image available
/ 1 February 2008
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton shared a debate stage alone for the first time on Thursday, striking a cordial tone and highlighting their opportunity to make history as the next United States president. ”Just by looking at us, you can tell we aren’t more of the same,” said Clinton, a New York senator who would be the first woman US president.
No image available
/ 31 January 2008
Troubled pop icon Britney Spears was rushed to hospital in an ambulance early on Thursday morning for the second time this month for an involuntary mental health evaluation, United States media reported. Spears was taken to the UCLA Medical Centre at about 1.30am local time, celebrity website TMZ.com said.
No image available
/ 30 January 2008
The city that popularised the fast-food drive-through has a new innovation: 24-hour vending machines stocked with medical marijuana. Patients suffering from chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments that marijuana is said to alleviate can get their pot with a dose of convenience from a large machine.
No image available
/ 28 January 2008
Daniel Day-Lewis and British veteran Julie Christie underscored their status as Oscars frontrunners on Sunday after winning the top prizes at the 14th Screen Actors’ Guild awards. British-born star Day-Lewis was crowned best actor for his performance as a tyrannical oil prospector in There Will Be Blood.