�Borat� star Sacha Baron Cohen is set to play flamboyant rocker Freddie Mercury in a dramatic feature focusing on his glory days as the frontman of Queen, its producers said yesterday.
The untitled film is being written by Peter Morgan, the British scribe behind �The Queen� and �The Last King of Scotland.� No director is attached yet.
Shooting will begin next year, said producer Graham King, whose GK Films is partnering on the project with Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal�s Tribeca Productions, and Queen manager Jim Beach.
Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is set to take on the role of Freddie Mecury in a dramatic feature
The project has the cooperation of Mercury�s estate and the three surviving members of Queen, a spokeswoman for GK Films said. Guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor will oversee the musical content of the film, which will feature both original Queen music and Mercury solo music. (Bassist John Deacon has retired from the music industry.)
The film will focus on a period of a few years leading up to what was arguably Queen�s greatest moment: Its performance at the Live Aid charity concert in 1985, when the band mesmerised London�s Wembley Stadium and a worldwide TV audience with such hits as �We Will Rock You� and �Radio Ga Ga.�
The band continued touring and recording even as Mercury�s health deteriorated. A day after finally admitting he had AIDS, Mercury succumbed to the disease in 1991, at age 45.
Born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar and educated in India, Mercury co-founded Queen in 1971 with May, Taylor and Deacon. The moustachioed and buff Mercury was never shy about his camp sensibilities even as the band drew part of its musical inspiration from the progressive and hard rock genres.
Queen hit the big time in 1975 with its fourth album, �A Night at the Opera,� which included the Mercury-composed anthem �Bohemian Rhapsody.� Mercury also wrote such Queen hits as �Crazy Little Thing Called Love� and �We are the Champions.�
Off stage, Mercury lived a very private life, rarely consenting to interviews and never discussing his homosexuality.
Baron Cohen rose to fame in his envelope-pushing roles as a bumbling Kazakhstan reporter in �Borat� and as a fashionista in �Bruno.�
An album of previously unheard tracks by Michael Jackson is due out in November, reported Rolling Stone on August 2.
Tracks will be chosen from among the numerous hard drives Jackson left of completed songs and recording collaborations.
Ten as-yet-unreleased tracks will reportedly make up the new album.
According to Jackson�s former manager Frank DiLeo, the vaults contain more than 100 songs, including collaborations with Akon, Will.i.am and Ne-Yo, any of which may potentially be included on the first album.
The forthcoming album will be the first in a ten-album, seven-year deal inked by the Jackson Estate and Sony BMG following Jackson�s death. That deal will also see the release of classic album re-issues and greatest hits collections.
Smith died in Florida from an accidental prescription drug overdose in February 2007.
Two Los Angeles doctors used multiple fake names to funnel �powerful addictive medications� to Anna Nicole Smith, prosecutors said yesterday at the opening of a trial into the Playboy model�s sudden death three years after it occurred.
Prosecutors also alleged that Smith�s lawyer and one-time boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, helped keep the buxom blonde actress over-medicated, calling various doctors to obtain painkillers and other drugs, and sometimes administering them.
Smith, a fashion model and TV actress famous for marrying an 89-year-old oil billionaire, died in Florida from an accidental prescription drug overdose in February 2007 at the age of 39.
The two doctors and Stern are not charged with causing Smith�s death, but are charged with unlawfully prescribing and giving controlled substances to an addict for three years.
Stern, and doctors Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor, have all pleaded not guilty. They could face more than five years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutor Renee Rose told a jury at Los Angeles Superior Court that Stern and Kapoor put Smith back on the same level of medication even after she had emerged from a 2006 detox plan while pregnant with her daughter Danielynn.
But lawyers for Stern said Smith was not an addict but had dealt with chronic pain since 2000, and that she used other names to keep her medical issues private from the media.
�He (Stern) cared for her, he cherished her, he loved her,� said Stern�s defence lawyer Steven Sadow. �He relied in good faith on the medical judgment of doctors.�
Eroshevich, a psychiatrist who at one time lived next door to Smith, flew to the Bahamas on several occasions to deliver muscle relaxants, anti-anxiety, sleep aids and anti-depressants, prosecutor Rose said.
But a lawyer for Eroshevich said she was �not a pill-mill� and that the prescriptions she wrote were not illegal.
Kapoor�s attorney said there was a legitimate medical purpose for the drugs Kapoor prescribed.
Stern, Kapoor and Eroshevich were charged after a criminal investigation ordered by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who has vowed to crack down on prescription drug abuse in the state.
Brown has ordered probes into the drug-related deaths of more than 200 people in recent years. His officials also helped with the investigation of Michael Jackson�s death last year which led to involuntary manslaughter charges against the singer�s personal physician, Dr Conrad Murray.
The trial of Anna Nicole Smith�s two doctors and Stern is expected to last several weeks
A statue of John Lennon stands at the facade of the Hard Days Night Hotel in Liverpool, England.
John Lennon�s handwritten lyrics to �A Day in the Life� sold for US$1.2 million (RM3.96 million) in New York yesterday, almost doubling the estimated price, Sotheby�s auction house said.
Considered one of the Beatles� greatest songs and the final track on �Sgt Pepper�s Lonely Hearts Club Band�, the lyrics were sold to a private American collector on the telephone after an intense six-minute bidding battle, Sotheby�s said.
�The outstanding price achieved for these handwritten lyrics is testament to the iconic status of the Beatles, John Lennon and especially this song,� said David Redden, Sotheby�s Books and Manuscripts Department international chairman.
According to Sotheby�s, the record for Beatles lyrics at auction is US$1.25 million paid for �All You Need Is Love� in 2005.
Sotheby�s described �A Day in the Life� as �the revolutionary song that marked the Beatles� transformation from pop icons to artists.�
The single sheet of paper features a rough draft of the lyrics, including crossings out and a spelling error where �film� is written as �flim�.
On the reverse side is a neater version written in capital letters and with fewer corrections.
Apparently added later is the line: �I love to turn you on�, for which the song was banned by the BBC when it first came out in 1967 because the words were deemed to be a reference to taking drugs.
�Sgt Pepper�s Lonely Hearts Club Band� topped the US and British charts, won four Grammy awards in 1968 and is ranked number 26 in Rolling Stone magazine�s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The lyrics once belonged to Mal Evans, the Beatles� road manager.
Jackson gestures during a news conference at the O2 Arena in London in this March 5, 2009 file photo
Backup dancers for Michael Jackson perform for the presentation of the game �Michael Jackson� during the Ubisoft media briefing at the Los Angeles theatre ahead of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles on June 14, 2010.
In Tokyo, fans are planning a sleepover surrounded by his possessions; in Los Angeles, devotees will visit his grave; and on TV and radio stations around the world, lovers of the King of Pop�s music won�t stop �til they get enough.
Fans, museums and some members of Michael Jackson�s family will mark today�s one-year anniversary of the singer�s death with special exhibits, tributes and flash mob dances from Manila to Manhattan.
In the family hometown of Gary, Indiana, matriarch Katherine Jackson will unveil a monument to the singer outside the humble house where the legendary Jackson 5 began their singing career half a century ago. A memorial and candlelight vigil will follow, ending with the song �We are the World.�
Jackson�s children � Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket � are expected to mark today�s anniversary privately in Gary.
By contrast, in the Philippines prisoners who danced their way to fame with their �Thriller� YouTube video in 2007, will pay homage to the singer with some more fancy footwork.
Jackson�s sudden death at age 50 on June 25 last year in Los Angeles sparked an outpouring of grief around the world for the former child star, who was rehearsing for a series of London concerts aimed at reviving a career shattered by bizarre events as an adult and allegations of molesting children.
A year on, with Jackson�s personal doctor awaiting trial on a criminal charge of causing the singer�s death by giving him a powerful aesthetic as a sleep aid, memories are focused on the artist who won 13 Grammys and whose dancing rocked the world.
There are no major tributes planned by the official Michael Jackson estate, which now controls rights to the �Beat it� singer�s music, likeness and other memorabilia.
But Jackson�s estranged father Joe has helped organise a �Forever Michael� tribute at a Beverly Hills hotel tomorrow, where 1970s band The Chi-Lites and a niece of the Jackson clan are expected to perform.
Katherine Jackson, 80, has given the fund-raising dinner her blessing, and her self-published book of personal family photographs � �Never Can Say Good-bye� � will be sold there. But Michael Jackson�s estate is not part of the event.
Elsewhere, �The Ultimate Thriller� tribute stage show makes its way from Europe and the Middle East across the Atlantic for the first time, kicking off a US tour today near Boston.
Fans are expected to gather at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, where the Jackson 5 launched their careers, and Madame Tussaud in New York will install an exhibit as part of a global wax celebration of Jackson�s career.
Some of the more unusual events will take place in Asia, where Jackson had a devoted following even after his 2005 trial and acquittal on charges of abusing a young boy.
At the world�s only official Michael Jackson exhibition, fans selected at random will pay US$1,000 (RM3,200) for an opportunity to sleep the night inside the Neverland Collection at Japan�s Tokyo Tower. Some of the singer�s clothes, furniture and awards from his famed Neverland Valley Ranch in central California have been on display there since May.
The cemetery where Jackson is buried near Los Angeles will open its gates to all fans today but they will not be allowed into the vast mausoleum containing his body. Balloons, doves, radios and candles have also been banned in what officials hope will be a quiet and respectful occasion.
Yet, airwaves will be filled with Michael Jackson hits. MTV is among numerous TV and radio outlets planning wall-to-wall videos, retrospectives and documentaries throughout the weekend looking at the singer�s influence, key developments of the past year and how his family has fared.
And fans looking for ways to mark the anniversary by text or Twitter were offered a list of song-based, 140 character lines from mobile entertainment company Predicto.
They include �ABC EZ as 123 o simple as doe ray me abc baby u and me grl� and �Cuz this is thrilla thrilla nite there ain�t no 2nd chance against the thing w/40 eyz, girl.�
Singer Jennifer Hudson arrives at the Pre-Grammy Gala presented by the Recording Academy and Clive Davis in Beverly Hills, California, January 30, 2010.
LOS ANGELES, June 30 � Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson broke down as she spoke for the first time publicly about the murders of her mother, brother and nephew.
The one-time �American Idol� contestant, who went on to win an Academy Award three years ago for a supporting role in her feature debut �Dreamgirls,� said the 2008 triple-slaying was �surreal.�
�It�s all a blur. It was surreal,� she said during an episode of US cable channel VH1�s documentary series �Behind the Music� broadcast two days ago. �It was like I was outside of myself.�
The bodies of Hudson�s 57-year-old mother Darnell Donerson and 29-year-old brother Jason Hudson were discovered inside the home where Hudson grew up in Chicago. Her 7-year-old nephew Julian King was later found dead in a vehicle.
All three had been shot. William Balfour, the estranged husband of Hudson�s sister Julia, has been charged with the murders.
Hudson, now 28, disappeared from the spotlight for a few months after the murders, recalling that for two weeks she basically stayed in one room with family and friends.
�I prayed when I�d get up in the morning and prayed before I laid down at night,� she said.
Not long after the murder, Hudson got engaged to David Otunga which whom she had a son last August. Her debut self-titled album went on to win a Grammy award.
She said she knew she needed to get her life back on track.
�In so many ways I channel (my mother) because she was such a great mom,� said said adding that her son �makes me feel like the most special person on earth. I want him to get the same love and the same upbringing my mother gave us.�
Farrah Fawcett's cancer battle is to be the subject of a U.S. TV news special next week (beg11May09).
The actress has been battling anal cancer, which recently spread to her liver, and has suffered complications from an unrelated medical procedure performed in Germany. By this time she is dead ,her death is close timing with the death of Brittay Murphy .
Her two-year fight has been captured on video by best pal Alana Stewart and now the footage will make up a two-hour special, called Farrah�s Story. Fawcett's on/off partner Ryan O�Neal and her former Charlie�s Angels co-stars Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson will appear in the programme.
The actress says, "This film is very personal. At the time, I didn�t know if anybody would ever see it. But, at some point, the footage took on a life of its own and dictated that it be seen."
In this Nov. 8, 2006 file photo, actor David Carradine arrives for the 16th annual Environmental Media Awards in Los Angeles.
David Carradine's widow filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against a French company handling the actor's last film, claiming it failed to provide proper services to protect him.
The lawsuit is against MK2 S.A., a French company responsible for the production of the movie "Stretch."
The lawsuit claims the company promised to provide Carradine the best possible amenities and an assistant to help him navigate Bangkok but left him behind for dinner on the night before the actor was found dead.
"Defendants were negligent in failing to follow industry standard and provide David Carradine, the performer, with sufficient assistant during the course of filming Stretch in Bangkok, Thailand," the lawsuit states.
Officials at MK2 reached Friday morning in Paris had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.
Carradine, star of the popular "Kung Fu" television series and films such as "Kill Bill," had been in the city only three days. The lawsuit also claims Carradine's widow, Anne, has run into difficulties collecting on an insurance policy that MK2 was required to have for the actor.
Carradine, 72, was found hanging naked last June in a suite at a luxury Bangkok hotel. The lawsuit does not offer any additional details about Carradine's death. Thai authorities have never released the results of their investigation.
The lawsuit claims Carradine's assistant and other film staffers left the actor behind for dinner after failing to reach him in his hotel room. He called the assistant an hour later but was told the group was across town and he would have to make his own arrangements that evening.
According to the film database IMDB.com, production on "Stretch" was halted earlier this year. The site lists nearly 100 film credits for MK2, dating back to the late 1960s.
The lawsuit does not specify how much Anne Carradine is seeking.
"The doctors told us that even if they had done surgery on him, he would've died," Gary Coleman's ex-wife, Shannon Price, explains to TMZ in an interview.
"He would've bled to death during the surgery. Even if they did take a chunk out of his brain, he would not be the same. He'd basically be like Muhammad Ali ... I mean, Gary was gone."
TMZ reports that documents show that Price and Coleman were divorced in 2008, but she had retained authority to make medical decisions for him if he was unable to. "I don't want people to be so hard on me thinking I had to pull the plug too early," she said. "He wouldn't have made it anyway. His heart would've just given out. I don't want people to sit there and think ... that I didn't care about him."
Price also acknowledges that people think she had a hand in the fall that led to Coleman's brain hemorrhage. "A lot of people sit there and say, yeah, 'she pushed him,'" she said. "People are so cruel, they don't even know. I was upstairs, he was downstairs. How am I going to push him? Why would I want to hurt my husband, are you kidding?"
In this June 8, 2008 file photo, from left, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, center, and Betty White of the Golden Girls, arrive at the TV Land Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," died Thursday, June 3, 2010. She was 76.
In this June 8, 2008 file photo, actress Rue McClanahan arrives at the TV Land Awards in Santa Monica, Calif.
In this 1978 file photo originally released by ABC, Rue McClanahan, left, and Dabney Coleman are shown in the comedy "Apple Pie." McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," died Thursday, June 3, 2010. She was 76
Rue McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 76.
Her manager, Barbara Lawrence, said McClanahan died Thursday morning at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital of a brain hemorrhage.
She had undergone treatment for breast cancer in 1997 and later lectured to cancer support groups on "aging gracefully." In 2009, she had heart bypass surgery.
In this 1977 publicity image originally released by CBS, from left, Adrienne Barbeau, Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan are shown in a scene from the TV comedy, "Maude." McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," died Thursday, June 3, 2010
In this 1967 file photo originally released by Dorothy Ross Associates, actress Rue McClanahan is shown as Lady MacBird in the production, "MacBird!" in New York. McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," died Thursday, June 3, 2010. She was 76
McClanahan had an active career in off-Broadway and regional stages in the 1960s before she was tapped for TV in the 1970s for the key best-friend character on the hit series "Maude," starring Beatrice Arthur. After that series ended in 1978, McClanahan landed the role as Aunt Fran on "Mama's Family" in 1983.
But her most loved role came in 1985 when she co-starred with Arthur, Betty White and Estelle Getty in "The Golden Girls," a runaway hit that broke the sitcom mold by focusing on the foibles of four aging � and frequently eccentric � women living together in Miami.
"Golden Girls" aimed to show "that when people mature, they add layers," she told The New York Times in 1985. "They don't turn into other creatures. The truth is we all still have our child, our adolescent, and your young woman living in us."
Blanche, who called her father "Big Daddy," was a frequent target of roommates Dorothy, Rose and the outspoken Sophia (Getty), who would fire off zingers at Blanche such as, "Your life's an open blouse."
Fellow "Golden Girl" Betty White called McClanahan a close and dear friend.
"I treasured our relationship," said White, who was working in Los Angeles on the set of her TV Land comedy "Hot in Cleveland" on Thursday. "It hurts more than I even thought it would, if that's even possible."
McClanahan snagged an Emmy for her work on the show in 1987. In an Associated Press interview that year, McClanahan said Blanche was unlike any other role she had ever played.
"Probably the closest I've ever done was Blanche DuBois in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' at the Pasadena Playhouse," she said. "I think, too, that's where the name came from, although my character is not a drinker and not crazy."
Her Blanche Devereaux, she said, "is in love with life and she loves men. I think she has an attitude toward women that's competitive. She is friends with Dorothy and Rose, but if she has enough provocation she becomes competitive with them. I think basically she's insecure. It's the other side of the Don Juan syndrome."
The We TV cable network said it would honor McClanahan with a marathon of "Golden Girls" episodes featuring Blanche on Friday night. The Logo network said it would replay all episodes of "Sordid Lives," her last TV series, on Sunday.
Vicki Lawrence worked with McClanahan on "Mama's Family." Lawrence called her "a consummate professional, an actor's actor."
"It was my good fortune to get to work with her on the first season and a half of 'Mama's Family.' When she got stolen away from 'Mama's Family' to do 'Golden Girls,' I cried," Lawrence said in an e-mail.
After "The Golden Girls" was canceled in 1992, McClanahan, White and Getty reprised their roles in a short-lived spinoff, "Golden Palace."
McClanahan continued working in television, on stage and in film, appearing in the Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau vehicle "Out to Sea" and as the biology teacher in "Starship Troopers."
She stepped in to portray Madame Morrible, the crafty headmistress, for a time in "Wicked," Broadway's long-running "Wizard of Oz" prequel.
In 2008, McClanahan appeared in the Logo comedy "Sordid Lives: The Series," playing the slightly addled, elderly mother of an institutionalized drag queen.
During production, McClanahan was recovering from 2007 surgery on her knee. It didn't stop her from filming a sex scene in which the bed broke, forcing her to hang on to a windowsill to avoid tumbling off.
McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Okla., to building contractor William McClanahan and his wife, Dreda Rheua-Nell, a beautician. She graduated with honors from the University of Tulsa with a degree in German and theater arts.
McClanahan's acting career began on the stage. According to a 1985 Los Angeles Times profile, she appeared at the Pasadena (Calif.) Playhouse, studied in New York with Uta Hagen and Harold Clurman, and worked in soaps and on the stage.
She won an Obie � the off-Broadway version of the Tony � in 1970 for "Who's Happy Now," playing the "other woman" in a family drama written by Oliver Hailey. She reprised the role in a 1975 television version; in a review, The New York Times described her character as "an irrepressible belle given to frequent bouts of `wooziness' and occasional bursts of shrewdness."
She had appeared only sporadically on television until producer Norman Lear tapped her for a guest role on "All in the Family" in 1971.
She went from there to a regular role in the "All in the Family" spinoff "Maude," playing Vivian, the neighbor and best friend to Arthur in the starring role.
When Arthur died in April 2009, McClanahan recalled that she had felt constrained by "Golden Girls" during the later years of its run. "Bea liked to be the star of the show. She didn't really like to do that ensemble playing," McClanahan said.
McClanahan was married six times: Tom Bish, with whom she had a son, Mark Bish; actor Norman Hartweg; Peter D'Maio; Gus Fisher; and Tom Keel. She married Morrow Wilson on Christmas Day in 1997.
She called her 2007 memoir "My First Five Husbands ... And the Ones Who Got Away."
Yes, Dr. Derek Shepherd has plenty to look gloomy about on the season finale of "Grey's Anatomy." A shooter is on the loose in the hospital, and that's not even the end of it
There are a few ways to look at the jam-packed two-hour season finale of "Grey's Anatomy." It was a cleaning-out of a couple of characters that were going nowhere; it was a whirlwind tour through a bunch of long and drawn-out romantic story lines; and it gave several actors massive, Emmy-baiting showcases.
But mostly, it was an absorbing and suspenseful story that went just a little off the rails from the sheer amount of business heaped upon it.
It began with Gary Clark, who's been suing the hospital over the death of his wife. He showed up with a gun and almost immediately did away with the little used Dr. Reed Adamson, one of the Mercy West imports, in the supply room.
More significantly, he shot Alex, who dragged himself into an elevator where he waited patiently to be discovered � much like Carter once did in the famous "Carter and Lucy get stabbed" sequence on "ER," in the shadow of which this episode inevitably exists. When Reed's body was discovered, the hospital went into lockdown.
Meanwhile, Lexie and Mark found Alex and dragged him into a conference room, where Mark cut him open and Lexie stuffed balled-up surgical gloves in his mouth to keep him from screaming. (Seriously, pretty intense, this whole thing.) Their battle to save Alex was on.
In the most harrowing story of the episode, Clark came into the room where Bailey was hiding with Percy and a patient named Mary (played by Mandy Moore). Bailey heard Clark ask Percy if he was a surgeon, and when Percy said yes, Clark shot him. So when Clark dragged Bailey out from under the bed (yikes!) and asked her if she was a surgeon, she lied and said she was a nurse. Once Clark left, Bailey's battle to save Percy was on.
Meanwhile, Meredith was elsewhere in the hospital, happily learning that she was pregnant. But before she could tell Derek, Clark found and shot him as a horrified Cristina and Meredith looked on from the opposite walkway. (It must be said: It was a very nicely composed sequence). Meredith and Cristina's battle to save Derek was on.
Down in the OR, Owen and Teddy were mid surgery when the lockdown began. They had to move the patient, making Avery the only one there to receive Meredith and Cristina when they brought Derek in. This left only Cristina to do Derek's surgery.
But when Clark found them (he really got around), he put a gun to Cristina's head and demanded she stop working on Derek. A horrified Meredith and a conveniently arriving Owen looked on as Avery bluffed Clark into thinking Derek was dead long enough for Clark to leave � and then, naturally, they saved Derek's life anyway. Alex was spared, too. Lexie barely survived an encounter with Clark herself, then announced to the half-conscious Alex that she loved him. This fact was not lost on Mark, who proposed to her last week. Lexie didn't even mind when Alex briefly mistook her for Izzie in a state of delirium, so their relationship seemingly is on track.
Not everybody is so lucky: Owen picked Cristina over Teddy, but Cristina had already dumped him by then, so it's not quite clear whether she intends to take him back.
But you can't win them all. When Bailey heroically dragged Percy through the corridors of the hospital only to find that the elevators were stopped for the lockdown, she realized there was no way to get him to the OR and that he would die. She sat on the floor with him, cradled his head in her lap and stayed with him until he died. So that's two Mercy Westers who didn't find spots in the story and got themselves killed as a result.
Much of the episode worked, until one part that felt like it had been tacked on for no good reason: Meredith miscarried while all the madness in the OR was developing.
There was a lot to like about the episode: Bailey's devastated explosion of temper at the elevators, Cristina's speech to Meredith about how she herself couldn't operate on Derek with Meredith in the room, and the scene in which Webber calmly talked Clark into killing himself to end the standoff.
But the miscarriage felt very much like an add-on, not quite earned. Having a pregnancy announced and lost in the same episode seems manipulative, and not really up to what was going on the rest of the time. The other unsuccessful segment involved Arizona and Callie, who once again bickered annoyingly during an otherwise tense and serious story. They then got back together once again because they papered over their child issues again, with Arizona apparently agreeing to have kids even though she still doesn't actually seem to want them.
All in all, it was a very well-done finale, but it got away from the writers just a little at the end. With the shooter seemingly everywhere you didn't want him and everyone trapped with precisely the most dramatic person possible, it got a little ridiculous.
But in the end, the acting � including big nights for Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh and Ellen Pompeo � carried it off.
Lynn Redgrave, an actress who excelled in unglamorous screen roles, notably in "Georgy Girl" (1966) as an ugly duckling in swinging London, and then alternated between supporting roles and a long engagement as spokeswoman for Weight Watchers, died May 2 at her home in Kent, Conn. She was 67.
No cause of death was reported, but Ms. Redgrave had been treated for breast cancer in recent years. She explored her struggles with cancer and bulimia in books and one-woman shows, which also touched on her place in one of Britain's greatest theatrical dynasties.
Ms. Redgrave was the youngest child of actors Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson and the sibling of actress Vanessa Redgrave and actor Corin Redgrave, who died April 6 at 70. Corin's daughter Jemma became an actress, as did Vanessa Redgrave's daughters Joely Richardson and Natasha Richardson, who died last year at 45 from injuries in a skiing accident.
Unlike her siblings, Lynn Redgrave said she did not plan on a career in the arts. She entered the family business only after her interest in horse jumping proved unrealistic. Under the tutelage of her brother-in-law, , celebrated director Tony Richardson, Ms. Redgrave made a memorable film debut as a barmaid who screams "Rape!" in "Tom Jones" (1963) before moving on to larger parts on stage and screen.
Impressed by her performance in "Tom Jones," Laurence Olivier hired Ms. Redgrave for his National Theatre Company and cast her in works by Shakespeare and Bertolt Brecht. She displayed a talent for light comedy, reportedly stealing the show as a less-than-erudite flapper in Noel Coward's "Hay Fever," while also taking screen roles that elevated her public recognition.
In "Girl With Green Eyes" (1964), Ms. Redgrave was the slang-spewing, man-eating roommate of a country girl played by Rita Tushingham. Two years later, Ms. Redgrave gained 18 pounds for the starring role in "Georgy Girl," in which she was cast as a frumpy, good-hearted soul who finds love with her father's boss, played by James Mason.
Ms. Redgrave earned an Academy Award nomination for "Georgy Girl," putting her in direct competition with her sister, Vanessa, who starred the same year in "Morgan!" (They both lost to Elizabeth Taylor for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?")
Nevertheless, "Georgy Girl" was Ms. Redgrave's breakthrough and perhaps her finest and most enduring performance, combining what critics regarded as an unpretentious acting style that managed to convey vulnerability and great personal appeal.
"Miss Redgrave has magic in the very way she transforms face and figure from scene to scene, bringing inner beauty and grace to physical terms, contracting and expanding for the size of passion, for the grand laugh at life's ironies and the takeoff on its pretenses," wrote reviewer Judith Crist. "Hers is a beautiful performance."
"Georgy Girl" cemented Ms. Redgrave's place in popular culture but had, in her own words, typecast her as "the happy lass with the broken heart." She played variations on that role for years to come, including the play "My Fat Friend," which reached Broadway in 1974. She spent most of the 1980s as the spokeswoman for Weight Watchers and wrote a well-received book about her eating binges, "This Is Living: How I Found Health and Happiness."
Her acting career, meanwhile, was scattershot. She appeared in "The Deadly Affair" (1966), a spy thriller directed by Sidney Lumet, and the slapstick comedy "Smashing Time" (1967) with Tushingham. One of her few bright spots was Woody Allen's "Every Thing You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask" (1972); she played a queen who sports an unbreakable chastity belt.
Mostly, she appeared in a series of admittedly "terrible" films such as "The Happy Hooker" (1975), in the title role as the author Xaviera Hollander. She also starred in short-lived TV series, most improbably as the Irish-Catholic love interest of the kvetching Jewish comedian Jackie Mason on "Chicken Soup" (1989).
Peter Lopez, pictured with wife of 20 years Catherine Bach, has been found dead at his LA home
Eighties pin-up: Catherine Bach played Daisy Duke in the Dukes Of Hazzard
Tragic scene: A coroner's van leaves the home of Catherine Bach and Peter Lopez in Encino, LA
The husband of Dukes Of Hazzard pin-up Catherine Bach has committed suicide, reports claim in the United States.
Peter Lopez, 60, is said to have been found dead on his lawn with a gunshot wound to the head.
An LAPD spokesman, Lt John Romero, confirmed: 'We're still in the early stages of investigation, but what we gather is it's an apparent suicide.' Police were called at 11.30am local time to the couple's Encino home.
Lopez, a music lawyer, who represented Michael Jackson for seven years and also had The Eagles, Andrea Bocelli and Michael Buble, married Bach in 1990 and the couple have two children.
He helped to found the law firm Kleinberg Lopez Lange Cuddy & Klein.
A statement today read: 'We are deeply shocked and saddened by the unexpected loss of our friend and partner.' Bach, 56, is said to be distraught. Lopez's mother, Eleanor, told the website Radar Online: 'She is falling apart, I don't blame her. She's in shock.'
She said he had shown no outward signs of depression and appeared happy in his work.
'I just can't believe it. I spoke to him just last nigh and he seemed fine. I've been in and out of hospital lately and he's been calling me every day to make sure I'm okay.'
She said the spot where he is believed to have killed himself was up a hill in the garden with views extending over the Valley.
Bach called Mrs Lopez to say 'Peter's not here any more' before going to collect the couple's daughters, Sophia and Laura, from school.
John Schneider, who played Bo Duke alongside Bach's Daisy in the show which ran from 1979 to 1985, rushed to his co-star's side to lend support.
Lopez is Bach's second husband. She married David Shaw in 1976 but divorced him in 1981.
Raymone Bain, Michael Jackson's former general manager, said: 'I'd known Peter for 20 years. I can't think of a nicer individual. He was a good guy. I'm just so shocked.'
TMZ reported Saturday that Ambre Lake, the Season 2 winner of Bret Michaels' Rock of Love reality show talked to people who close to Bret who said he is conscious and in good spirits after suffering a brain hemorrhage.
At this point Bret remains in ICU in critical condition. He is under 24 hour doctors care and supervision. We are hopeful that further tests will locate the source of the bleeding, which has still not been located. As we all know Bret is a fighter and we are hopeful that once all is complete the slurred speech, blurred vision and dizziness, etc. will be eliminated and all functions will return to normal."
POISON FRONT MAN Bret Michaels, known to a new generation for the reality shows "Rock of Love" and "Celebrity Apprentice" (on now, but taped months ago), was still listed in critical condition yesterday, Reuters reported, but he was conscious.
His speech, however, was slurred, according to his publicist.
Michaels was taken to an undisclosed hospital Friday after a complaining of a terrible headache. Doctors said he had suffered a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage, or bleeding at the base of his brain stem.
Yesterday, doctors had yet to determine the source of the bleeding.
"Bret is a fighter and we are hopeful that once all is complete, the slurred speech, blurred vision and dizziness, etc., will be eliminated and all functions will return to normal," a statement from his publicist said.
Just last week, Michaels had an emergency appendectomy at a private-care facility for diabetics after complaining of stomach pains before he was to perform at Sea World in San Antonio. He later wrote on his Web site that though the surgery "has taken its toll," doctors expected him to make a full recovery.
UPDATE: But Bret's rep posted a note on the rocker's Web site on Sunday saying, "Everyone at Michaels Entertainment would like to thank all fans and friends for their continued thoughts and prayers through this difficult time.
At this point Bret remains in ICU in critical condition. He is under 24 hour doctors care and supervision. We are hopeful that further tests will locate the source of the bleeding, which has still not been located. As we all know Bret is a fighter and we are hopeful that once all is complete the slurred speech, blurred vision and dizziness, etc. will be eliminated and all functions will return to normal."
RadarOnline reports that Bret's father, Wally Sychak talked to his son on the phone on Friday, and Bret is doing well, but is still in intensive care. "He sounded upbeat and positive but they had him sedated," Sychak told Radar. "But he's doing good. He sounded like my son."
On Wednesday, before he was hospitalized, Michaels told fans he was "not 100%."
Navegante, the bull who left the Spanish bullfighter gored, went for Tomas� groin and subsequently perforated a vein and artery.
Tomas, who has an A- blood type (which is rare), suffered a loss of 17 pints of blood. There was even an announcement made over the loudspeakers at the arena for anyone with the same blood type to please donate for possible transfusions later.
He was rushed to to the hospital where doctors performed surgery and was stabilized. Although there are some reports that surgery was performed directly at the arena. He would undergo more surgery later in the day.
His manager, Salvador Boix said, �Now he has new blood and is in intensive care, waiting to see how things evolve.�
As you can see by the video below, Tomas is right by the bull when it turns quickly, impaling him in the groin and throwing him up in the air. It was hard for me to watch. Eh, I�m a lightweight when it comes to that kind of stuff.
The 34-year-old bullfighter, who was born Jos� Tom�s Rom�n Mart�n, started fighting when he was only 11 years old. He is a highly respected matador in Spain, and keeps to himself and out of the public eye. He surprised many by retiring back in 2002, without offering any explanation why but came out of retirement in 2007 and was quoted as saying, �living without bullfighting is not living�.
We wish for a speedy recovery for Jose Tomas. It is unclear how many weeks he will be out of the ring. You can see more pictures of him plus watch the �bullfighter gored� video
Mother: Rebbie has three children, and cared for her brother Michael's orphans following his death
Heart to heart: Rebbie appeared on NBC's Today Show to talk about the welfare of Michael Jackson's three children.
Family resemblance: Rebbie, front left, with her brothers and sisters in the 1970s
She normally lets her more famous siblings take the limelight, but the 'other Jackson' made a rare appearance on U.S. TV yesterday.
And although the family resemblance was obvious it was clear Rebbie, the oldest of the ten Jackson children, has indulged in fewer visits to the plastic surgeon than some of her more famous siblings.
The 59-year-old, born Maureen Reillette, appeared on U.S. TV to talk about her younger brother Michael's three children, who she lived with for the first three months after his death
Michael and LaToya Jackson pictured in 2003... both having had a significant amount of cosmetic surgery
Rebbie has three children of her own, daughters Stacee and Yashi, and son Austin. They were born following her marriage to childhood sweetheart Nathaniel Brown in 1968, when she was just 18.
The union split her family with her mother Katherine supporting it and her controlling father Joe refusimg to walk her down the aisle.
As the oldest of children, he hoped Rebbie would have a career in the music industry, like her brothers who formed The Jackson 5.
She did go onto have a career in the music industry, releasing the album Centipede in 1984, followed by Reaction and R U Tuff Enuff.
Rebbie told NCS's Today Show Michael's sons Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket were 'stable' and 'doing fine.'
She was asked if their father's death had forced the children to grow up quicker.
'Yes and no,' she said. 'You are right, it can force them to grow up quicker as they are without their father.'
'But they are with family members, they are insulated, surrounded by a lot of cousins, I think it is helping them to be stable.
'It is helping them to take their minds of all of that. But it is very difficult.
'It was very difficult, very hard, and we went through a lot of different emotions.
'But day by day you could see the progression of the family members getting better and dealing with the situation better and feeling, you could say serene.
'They seem to be doing okay, they seem to be doing fine."
And Rebbie said that her mother, Katherine Jackson, is managing as she brings up the children.
'She is okay, I talked with her 3 or 4 days ago. She seems to be coping with things. It is hard, it has not been easy but she is holding up.'
Asked if she was following the investigation into her brother's death and blamed Dr. Conrad Murray, she replied: 'Yes I do. But I think it is a lot more than that possibly, we will find out. It is interesting what is going on.'
The attorney for Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, today aggressively contested media reports -- based on a leaked witness report -- that Murray attempted to hide evidence and delayed calling 911 as Jackson lay dying and said investigators rushed to implicate Murray in the star's death.
"It's just a bold-faced lie," Ed Chernoff said in an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America" that aired today. "[The] doctor called 911 as soon as he could� Let me just say, unequivocally, he did not � he was not cleaning up any bottles� The scene was not consistent with anyone trying to clean something up."
Chernoff said Murray did not immediately call 911 because there was no house phone in the room where Jackson was and he could not leave his patient to make the call.
Murray stands accused of administering the lethal dose of a powerful sedative that killed the pop superstar. He pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in February.
Chernoff said his client isn't responsible for the star's death, and that police rushed to blame someone.
"Let's say that this extremely famous, worldwide personality like Michael Jackson was found dead under unusual circumstances such as this. And the police came out and said, 'We've investigated and we just, we can't really put the blame on anybody at this point.' What do you think would happen then?" Chernoff said. "I think there was a tremendous amount of pressure to find somebody to blame. I think that was Dr. Murray� I think, my personal opinion, a conclusion was made and the investigation was conducted in order to back it up."
When asked about Chernoff's claim that police bowed to public pressure and blamed Conrad the Los Angeles Police Department told ABC News its investigation is continuing.
Murray appeared in court Monday for a preliminary hearing in which a California judge could have stripped him of his license to practice medicine, but did not.
"Well I mean the doctor had a good day," Chernoff said. "I think that was stressing him out more than anything else, was his ability to keep going, taking care of patients..."
Murray told investigators he gave Jackson the drugs Propofol, Lidocaine, Ativan and Versed during the early hours of June 25, 2009, according to an unsealed affidavit.
He also told detectives that he left the room after he gave Jackson a final dose of Propofol, before he returned to the room to find that Jackson had stopped breathing, according to the affidavit. Jackson was pronounced dead later that day at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Chernoff did not offer an alternative chain of events, but said such a scenario doesn't equate to responsibility.
"If the prosecution's theory is that Dr. Murray injected a bunch of drugs into Michael Jackson, walked out of the room and he died as a result, that's absolutely false," he said. "Dr. Murray is not guilty of causing the death of Michael Jackson. Period."
Chernoff said Murray could not have been aware of everything Jackson was doing on his own over the months he was treating the star.
"Dr. Murray is just now learning what he was -- what he may have been doing," Chernoff said. "Dr. Murray cannot tell you what Michael Jackson was doing in the background. I reckon he had plenty of time to do things."
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Michael Jackson's sister, Janet Jackson, placed blame for her brother's death squarely on Conrad's shoulders.
"He was the one that was administrating," Janet Jackson said in November. "I think he is responsible."
After saying Murray's financial troubles could impact his case as far as the use of expert witnesses and specialists and citing the deluge of negative publicity his client's received, Chernoff said he still does not feel like the underdog in the case.
"We walk into the courtroom and people are yelling, calling him a murderer. They don't know anything about the facts," Chernoff said. "If we get a fair jury -- people in there who are not preconditioned, who do not have a preconceived notion about guilt, and Dr. Murray will walk out. Because he's not guilty."
A manslaughter conviction in California caries a potential sentence of two to four years in prison.
The involuntary manslaughter case against Michael Jackson's cardiologist was assigned to a trial judge Monday in a brief proceeding that drew fans and family members of the late pop star.
Dr. Conrad Murray
In this Monday, Feb. 8, 2010 file photo, Michael Jackson's physician, Conrad Murray, right, arrives for his arraignment at the Airport Branch Courthouse in Los Angeles, where he is expected to face involuntary manslaughter charges in Jackson's death.
Dr. Conrad Murray, his attorneys and prosecutors assembled before Supervising Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza, who in moments assigned the case to Judge Michael Pastor and sent them to his courtroom.
Pastor scheduled a June 14 court date to take up remaining procedural issues including the setting of a date for a preliminary hearing and Murray's fight to keep his California medical license.
The state attorney general, representing the state medical board, has moved to revoke Murray's license pending trial.
Earlier, about 50 Jackson fans waved signs and chanted outside the courthouse.
The fans sang "We Are the World," wore T-shirts emblazoned with Jackson's picture and the slogan, "Justice 4 Michael," and carried placards demanding stronger charges against Murray.
Fans in a courthouse hallway called out "Hi Janet" as Jackson's sister Janet arrived. The late pop star's parents, Joe and Katherine, and brother Jermaine also attended.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
Normally, such a procedural hearing would draw few spectators.
But with Jackson's death as the backdrop, crowds of fans and media were expected, and Jackson family members have committed to attending all court proceedings against Murray.
Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said the Jackson family notified court officials that up to 15 courtroom seats would be needed.
"It's basically a housekeeping hearing, but it will be the housekeeping hearing heard around the world," said Loyola University law professor Laurie Levenson. "There is no detail too minute for the international media."
Murray's attorneys contend the license issue is critical to his ability to pay for his defense.
The doctor has a history of serious financial problems and his attorneys, Ed Chernoff and Joseph Low, said in a recent court filing that the effect of losing his license would be devastating to Murray.
"He is, without fear of overstatement, hanging on by a thread," the attorneys wrote. "His ability to pay for his own defense depends almost entirely on his ability to continue to treat patients."
Murray, 57, a cardiologist, has clinics in Las Vegas and Houston and also has a license to practice in California. Should his California license be lifted, his lawyers suggest there would be a "domino effect" with other states moving to do the same.
Already, Nevada authorities have filed a formal complaint against Murray saying he twice failed to mention delinquent child support payments on applications to renew his medical license. Miranda Sevcik, spokeswoman for Murray and Chernoff, says Murray's legal team hopes to resolve the complaint in a way that allows the doctor to keep his license.
As a condition of his $75,000 bail, Murray has been ordered not to administer any anesthetic.
Jackson was 50 and about to launch a series of comeback shows in London when he died last June after being rushed to a hospital from his Beverly Hills home. Murray, who signed on in May at $150,000 a month to keep Jackson healthy through the comeback tour, told police he had been treating him for insomnia.
The legendary pop star was found to have died from acute intoxication with the hospital anesthetic propofol and other sedatives as a contributing factor.
Chernoff has said that nothing Murray gave the singer should have killed him.
