Saturday, December 29, 2001
Danny Glover goesfor the right look
Danny Glover has the secretary-general of the United Nations to thank for his look in the film "The Royal Tenenbaums," now in theaters. Glover said he introduced "Tenenbaums" director Wes Anderson to Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a U.N. event. Glover said Anderson told him, "Man, that's the look I want for you to have in the movie: Kofi Annan with his hair the way it is and the goatee and the mustache."
Germany honorsMarlene Dietrich
BERLIN -- Movie legend Marlene Dietrich was honored on what would have been her 100th birthday in Berlin, the city where she was born but which she shunned for years after turning her back on Nazi Germany.
Wreaths from President Johannes Rau and the city government were laid in a ceremony Thursday at Dietrich's grave in the German capital, where she was born Maria Magdalene von Losch in 1901. Rau sent a message lauding her commitment to "democracy and freedom in Germany" during the Nazi era.
The Berlin mayor's chief of staff marked the anniversary by asking forgiveness for a hostile reception Dietrich received in 1960, prompted by her support for the Allies during World War II and her failure to return home after the war. She was met with bomb threats, signs reading "Marlene Go Home" and editorials calling her a "traitor."
She died in Paris in 1992, never having made another visit to her native country.
"Dietrich was far ahead of many of her contemporaries," said Andre Schmitz, chief of staff to Mayor Klaus Wowereit.
Dietrich, who left Germany for the United States in 1930, turned her back on Germany after Adolf Hitler rose to power three years later. She became a U.S. citizen in 1939, and sang for American troops as they fought her countrymen.
"She didn't betray the real Germany by doing that," Schmitz said.
Today's birthdays
Actress Inga Swenson is 69. ABC newscaster Tom Jarriel is 67. Actress Mary Tyler Moore is 64. Actor Jon Voight is 63. Country singer Ed Bruce is 61. Rock musician Ray Thomas (The Moody Blues) is 60. Singer Marianne Faithfull is 55. Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. is 55. Actor Ted Danson is 54. Actor Jon Polito is 51. Singer-actress Yvonne Elliman is 50. Comedian Paula Poundstone is 42. Rock singer-musician Jim Reid (The Jesus and Mary Chain) is 40. Actor-comedian Mystro Clark is 35. Actor Jason Gould is 35. Actress Jennifer Ehle is 32. Rock singer-musician Glen Phillips is 31. Actor Kevin Weisman is 31. Actor Jude Law is 29. Actor Mekhi Phifer ("Brian's Song") is 27. Actor Shawn Hatosy is 26. Country singer Jessica Andrews is 18.