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Actress Amanda Bynes denies bong-throwing charges

Fri, 24 May 2013 17:48:47 -0400

By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - American actress Amanda Bynes appeared in court on Friday and denied charges of possessing marijuana and tossing a bong out of the window of her 36th-floor Manhattan apartment. The former Nickelodeon child star, who appeared in court dressed in gray sweatpants, a long-sleeved black shirt and a disheveled platinum blonde wig, was released on her own recognizance after spending a night in jail after her arrest on Thursday. ...

Elizabeth Taylor's first wedding dress up for auction

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:11:14 -0400

LONDON (Reuters) - The wedding dress worn by film star Elizabeth Taylor for her first marriage to hotel heir Conrad Hilton in 1950 will go up for sale next month, auction house Christie's said on Friday. The simple, but elegant garment created by Hollywood costume designer Helen Rose for the then 18-year-old Taylor is an oyster shell-colored, floor-length satin gown with a fine silk gauze off-the-shoulder illusion neckline. The dress, which was a gift from MGM film studios, has a top estimate of 50,000 pounds ($75,300). ...

Singer and Piaf songwriter Georges Moustaki dies at 79

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:12:51 -0400

PARIS (Reuters) - French singer and songwriter Georges Moustaki, beloved in France for his songs celebrating liberty and collaborations with Edith Piaf, died on Thursday after a long illness. He was 79. The Greek-born singer grew up in Alexandria, Egypt, and arrived in Paris in 1951, where he began to play guitar at nightclubs and met some of the period's best-known singers. He was introduced to Edith Piaf in the late 1950s and started to write songs for the Parisian star, the most famous of which was "Milord" about a lower-class girl who falls in love with an upper-class British traveler. ...

Jon Stewart's humor a hit with millions of envious Chinese

Mon, 20 May 2013 02:39:37 -0400

By Jane Lee SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Humor may not always translate well, but Jon Stewart is picking up millions of fans in China, where his gloves-off political satire is refreshing for many in a country where such criticism is a rarity - especially when directed at their own leaders. A recent segment on North Korea scored over 4 million views on microblogger Sina Weibo, and even stodgy state broadcaster CCTV has used Stewart's "The Daily Show" in a report, though they wouldn't let a Chinese version of him near their cameras. ...

Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift big winners at Billboard Awards

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:13:51 -0400

(Reuters) - Pop stars Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift won the big prizes on Sunday at the Billboard Music Awards, which also honored legendary performers Madonna and Prince. Bieber, who was named top male artist, also performed at the show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. He also took home Billboard's first Milestone Award, chosen by fans, for musical innovation and ingenuity. "I'm 19 years old. I think I'm doing a pretty good job, Bieber said. "It should really be about the music. This is not a gimmick. I'm an artist and I should be taken seriously. ...

Singer George Michael gets medical treatment after car crash

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:52:06 -0400

LONDON (Reuters) - British singer George Michael has received medical treatment after a car crash on Thursday, his publicist said. The 49-year-old former Wham! frontman was being treated for "minor cuts and bruises" after the accident, Michael's spokeswoman said. "George Michael was a passenger in a vehicle involved in a traffic accident yesterday evening, no third party was involved," a spokeswoman said on Friday. "He is being treated for superficial cuts and bruises but is fine." British media reported that the accident occurred just outside London on a motorway during rush hour. ...

Churchill and Stalin in all-night wartime drinking session

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:56:02 -0400

LONDON (Reuters) - Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill enjoyed an alcohol-fuelled all-nighter in Moscow as World War Two was in full swing, previously secret files have revealed. Relations between the two leaders were stiff until Churchill arranged a tete-a-tete with Stalin, with the aid of interpreters, which led to a late-night boozy banquet in 1942, according to files released by Britain's National Archives. ...

Music's Dr. Dre, Iovine give $70 million to USC academic program

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:16:10 -0400

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper Dr. Dre and music mogul Jimmy Iovine have donated $70 million to establish an entrepreneurial undergraduate program at the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles school said on Wednesday. The gift will create a new degree pulling faculty members from the university's business, fine arts, music and engineering departments. The Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation will begin in the fall of 2014 and enroll a first class of 25 students, USC said. Dr. ...

Japanese octogenarian becomes oldest to reach Everest summit

Thu, 23 May 2013 04:34:20 -0400

By Gopal Sharma KATHMANDU (Reuters) - An 80-year-old Japanese mountain climber who has had four heart surgeries reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday becoming the oldest person to conquer the world's highest mountain. Yuichiro Miura, who took the standard southeast ridge route pioneered by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay 60 years ago, reached the top of the 8,848 meter (29,028 feet) mountain at about 9:00 a.m. (0315 GMT). He was accompanied by three other Japanese, including his son, and six Nepali sherpas. ...

A Minute With: Zachary Quinto on 'Star Trek,' Spock and coming out

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:17:48 -0400

By Zorianna Kit LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Zachary Quinto has transitioned swiftly from a television villain into an unlikely action film star in J.J Abrams' rebooted "Star Trek" franchise, playing the series' most recognizable half-Vulcan, Spock. The 35-year-old actor, who gained fame as super-villain Sylar in sci-fi television series "Heroes," will reprise his role as the pointy-eared first officer of the starship Enterprise in "Star Trek Into Darkness," which will be released in theaters on Friday. ...

Human Rights Watch advocate Cynthia Brown dead at 60

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:26:21 -0400

(Reuters) - Cynthia Brown, who played a key role for Human Rights Watch for almost two decades, has died after a battle with cancer, the global advocacy group said. She was 60 years old. Brown, who joined the organization in 1982 as a researcher and became program director in 1993, died Sunday in New York City, Human Rights Watch said on its website. "She was principled and uncompromising — and played a big part in making Human Rights Watch that way," Kenneth Roth, the group's executive director, said in a statement. ...

Actress Gina Lollobrigida's diamonds fetch $4.9 million at auction

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:59:47 -0400

(Reuters) - Diamond jewelry belonging to Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida sold for more than 4.74 million Swiss francs ($4.9 million) on Tuesday in Geneva and set a record for pearl earrings, auctioneer Sotheby's said. Lollobrigida, a leading sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s, said she was selling the jewelry to raise money for stem cell research. A pair of diamond and natural pearl earrings sold for 2.29 million francs ($2.37 million), an auction record. The earrings beat the $1. ...

Steve Carell helps 'The Office' close its doors in moving finale

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:39:15 -0400

By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The doors of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch closed for the last time on Thursday as NBC's "The Office" wrapped up after a nine-season run with a nostalgic finale featuring a long-awaited wedding and the return of the show's biggest star, Steve Carell. Emmy-winning mockumentary "The Office," adapted from Ricky Gervais' British series of the same name, saw a documentary crew filming the daily lives of employees at the Dunder Mifflin paper company, led for several years by hapless boss Michael Scott, played by Carell. ...

Angelina Jolie has double mastectomy to elude cancer

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:23:12 -0400

By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oscar-winning film star Angelina Jolie revealed on Tuesday that she underwent a double mastectomy after learning she had inherited a high risk of breast cancer and said she hoped her story would inspire other women fighting the life-threatening disease. Jolie, an actress who has long embodied Hollywood glamour and has in recent years drawn nearly as much attention for her globe-trotting work on behalf of refugees as for her role as a celebrity mom, disclosed her choice in an op-ed column in the New York Times. ...

DiCaprio's wildlife charity auction brings in $38.8 million

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:39:54 -0400

By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Christie's auction house raised $38.8 million through a charity art auction and donations, Christie's said on Tuesday, with proceeds to benefit environmental and conservation causes. The 33 works in The 11th Hour Auction organized by the star of the new film "The Great Gatsby" sold for $31.74 million on Monday evening and set 13 records for artists including Carol Bove, Joe Bradley, Mark Grotjahn, Raymond Pettibon and Mark Ryden among others. ...

New York mayoral hopeful Quinn opens up about overcoming bulimia

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:18:23 -0400

By Edith Honan NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn spoke out on Tuesday about her decade-long struggle with bulimia and alcohol abuse after her mother's death from breast cancer. "It was such a challenging time, and it was a time where everything was just bad," Quinn, the speaker of the New York City Council, told an audience at Barnard College. "I thought I was the only 16-year-old girl in the world who had no ability to deal with her mother dying. ...

U.S. TV journalist Barbara Walters announces retirement

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:51:38 -0400

(Reuters) - Trailblazing broadcast journalist Barbara Walters, known for her interviews with world leaders and celebrities and the first woman to co-anchor a U.S. evening news program, said on Monday she will retire in the summer of 2014. With tears in her eyes, Walters, 83, announced her upcoming resignation on "The View," the all-woman show she created in 1997. "I have been on television for over 50 years," she said as her co-hosts watched. "In the summer of 2014 I plan to retire from appearing on television." Walters described her career as amazing, fascinating, and sometimes bumpy. ...

Harvey Weinstein hosts Obama as Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel watch

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:50:57 -0400

By Ira Teinowitz LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - It was Harvey Weinstein and President Obama again Monday. Weinstein, a longtime backer of the president, is hosting one of three Democratic fundraisers in New York with Georgiana Chapman that feature comments by the president. Weinstein has his name on one of two of the events sponsored by the Democratic National Committee in private homes, the White House said. Tickets for the event in Weinstein's five-story West Village home ranged from $16,200 to $20,000. Some 65 people showed up, including Justin Timberlake, Jessica Biel and Tommy Hilfiger. ...

Documents in case against Internet activist Swartz to be released

Mon, 13 May 2013 18:27:11 -0400

BOSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday ordered the release of previously sealed documents in the criminal hacking case against deceased Internet activist Aaron Swartz. Swartz committed suicide in January before going to trial for allegedly stealing millions of academic articles from a private database using a computer network at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Swartz's estate asked for the documents to be released to shed light on what they have termed an overzealous prosecution of the 26-year-old. ...

Ousted Hearst executive Scott Sassa rebounds from sexting scandal with El Rey gig

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:07:40 -0400

By Brent Lang LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Sassa will serve as the English-language cable network's new vice chairman. El Rey is being jointly launched by "El Mariachi" director Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures. Sassa served as the president of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication group which oversaw the company's stakes in television properties like ESPN, History and Lifetime. He was brought low last March, however, when he was linked to an extortion plot involving a stripper and a series of sexually charged text messages. ...

Jackie Robinson biopic made pitcher who faced him a villain: daughter

Sat, 11 May 2013 12:33:39 -0400

By Kevin Murphy KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - When a racist pitcher beans Jackie Robinson in the head in the new movie about the first black man to play major league baseball, Sherrill Duesterhaus wants everybody in the theater to know it's a lie. Duesterhaus' father, Fritz Ostermueller, threw the pitch, but it did not hit Robinson in the head and there is no evidence he uttered, "You don't belong here and you never will," as shown in "42," the Warner Bros. Pictures film that opened in April. ...

U.S. judge blocks sale of basketball star Bryant's jersey, rings

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:18:19 -0400

By David Jones NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A federal judge has temporarily blocked an auction house from selling basketball great Kobe Bryant's jerseys, championship rings and other memorabilia worth up to $1 million in a case stemming from a dispute between the Los Angeles Laker and his mother. The All-Star guard has asked the courts to halt the sale of his belongings, which are in possession of his mother, Pamela Bryant, saying he had not been consulted and only learned of the sale in a press release issued by Goldin Auctions. ...

Rapper Psy wows Harvard with global appeal, dance moves

Thu, 09 May 2013 22:30:40 -0400

By Ross Kerber CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - South Korean rapper Psy said he "partied hard" when his dance number drew its first 10 million views on YouTube last summer. Little did he know "Gangnam Style" would become the most-viewed video in the online service's history, with a global following and nearly 1.6 billion views as of Thursday. ...

Heavy metal singer pleads not guilty in California murder-for-hire case

Thu, 09 May 2013 22:22:57 -0400

By Marty Graham VISTA, California (Reuters) - Heavy metal singer Tim Lambesis, the frontman for Christian rock band As I Lay Dying, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a charge of soliciting the murder of his estranged wife. North San Diego County Superior Court Judge Martin Staven set bail for Lambesis at $3 million. He ordered Lambesis to surrender his passport, stay away from his wife Meggan and their three children and remain in San Diego county except to meet with his attorney. If convicted, Lambesis faces up to nine years in prison. ...

Actor Neil Patrick Harris returns to host 67th Tony Awards

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:05:47 -0400

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Neil Patrick Harris will return to host the 67th Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 9th in what will be his fourth stint on the show that honors the best of Broadway, organizers said on Thursday. The Emmy Award winner and star of the TV comedy "How I Met Your Mother," who won plaudits for hosting the Tony Awards last year, said he was very excited to be back. "It'll be more impressive than ever - if my math is correct, it will be 267 times bigger than last year," Harris said in a statement. "Oh wait. No. That can't ... hold on ... carry the one ... ...

DiCaprio, Christie's to hold auction to benefit environment

Fri, 10 May 2013 02:07:13 -0400

By Patricia Reaney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, the star of the new film "The Great Gatsby," and his foundation have teamed up with Christie's for a charity auction next week to benefit environmental causes. Thirty-three works, many created for and donated to the auction by some of the world's top artists, will go under the hammer on Monday in New York at The 11th Hour Auction, which aims to raise as much as $18 million to protect the last wild places on Earth and their endangered species. "A lot of the works of this quality have never been at auction. ...

A Minute With: Baz Luhrmann on Gatsby, DiCaprio and Jay-Z

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:43:39 -0400

By Zorianna Kit LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann brings to life F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic American novel, "The Great Gatsby" which opens in U.S. theaters Friday before unspooling at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15. The film reunites Luhrmann with actor Leonardo DiCaprio, with whom he last worked on the big screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Romeo + Juliet" in 1996. DiCaprio stars as Jay Gatsby, a millionaire pining for a lost love, played by Carey Mulligan, during the height of the hedonistic 1920's. Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton also star. ...

Madonna to be honored for top grossing tour at Billboard Awards

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:32:56 -0400

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Madonna will be honored at the Billboard Music Awards show this month for her 2012 MDNA tour, the high grossing concert tour of the year, organizers of the awards show said on Wednesday. The singer will accept the Top Touring Artist award at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 19th for the tour that grossed more than $305 million from 88 sold-out shows and attracted an audience of 2.2 million people. ...

Hip hop star Lauryn Hill gets three months for tax evasion

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:21:53 -0400

By David Jones NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A U.S. magistrate judge sentenced Grammy-winning hip hop artist Lauryn Hill to three months in prison, three months in home confinement and a $60,000 fine on Monday for federal tax evasion. Hill pleaded guilty last year to three counts of failing to file tax returns on more than $1.8 million of income between 2005 and 2007 and faced up to three years in prison. Hill has attributed her failure to pay taxes to years of pressure she experienced as a recording star while raising six children, forcing her to go underground and stay out of the public ...

Mirren, dressed as queen, reads royal riot act to noisy drummers

Mon, 06 May 2013 06:57:23 -0400

LONDON (Reuters) - Actress Helen Mirren has delivered another show-stopping performance as Britain's Queen Elizabeth after storming out of a London theatre dressed as the monarch to deliver an expletive-riddled tirade at a group of drummers ruining the play. Infuriated by loud drumming outside the Gielgud Theatre, where Mirren is portraying the queen in the play "The Audience", she burst out in full costume during the interval on Saturday night to tell them to shut up, with a few swear words thrown in for good measure. "I'm afraid there were a few 'thespian' words used. ...