Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Lansbury set for 'L & amp;O'
LOS ANGELES -- Did Angela Lansbury's departure from TV leave an abyssal hole in your soul, too? Take heart: TV Guide Online says the "Murder, She Wrote" star will do a guest turn as part of a crossover between NBC's "Law & amp; Order: SVU" and "Law & amp; Order: Trial by Jury." She'll play ma to murder suspect Alfred Molina. "Trial" producer Chris Levinson's pa is none other than "Murder" co-creator Richard Levinson.
Presley's expectations
SAN FRANCISCO -- Lisa Marie Presley isn't expecting a lot of radio support for her new album, "Now What." The new CD, which was released Tuesday, features a collaboration with Pink and a cover of Don Henley's '80s hit "Dirty Laundry." Her debut album, "To Whom It May Concern," was released in 2003. "There's not a large market for this kind of music on the radio going on right now. ... So I don't know," she told the San Francisco Chronicle in Sunday's editions. "Last time, I was pushed into the Top 40 thing, and that's not my demographic. I think that was a mistake." Presley, the daughter of Elvis, said making a CD in a studio is one thing, but playing before crowds is another. "When I first started playing live, there were some natural elements, but my discomfort level tipped the scale," the 37-year-old singer said. "The thing with me is, I'm not vain and I don't want attention on me. But you need to be front and center onstage. You have to want attention, and I had to really find my way with being OK with that."
Bacall speaks out again
LONDON -- Veteran actress Lauren Bacall has once again hit out at her fellow stars, this time branding them of "minuscule talent," and for looking too skinny, reports the BBC. She told Radio Times magazine that actresses "only think of stardom" and sacrifice everything for fame. "Today, women with minuscule talent are willing to sacrifice everything for their careers." Bacall, 80, caused controversy in 2004 when she was quoted as saying her "Birth" co-star Nicole Kidman was not worthy of being called a legend. But she denies it was meant as an insult to her acting abilities. "I said I didn't understand why she had to be labeled when she has her whole career in front of her," Bacall said. Bacall said today's crop of stars lacked talent. "Actors today go into TV, which I don't consider has a lot to do with acting. They only think of stardom. If you photograph well, that's enough. I have a terrible time distinguishing one from another. Girls wear their hair the same, and are much too anorexic-looking." She added: "We live in an age of mediocrity. Stars today are not the same stature as Bogie [Humphrey Bogart], Jimmy Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart." Bacall saved barbed praise for Hugh Grant, calling him "charming, marvelous. Not a great actor but he doesn't have to be."
Brando deeded half-acreof paradise to Jackson
LOS ANGELES -- If Michael Jackson ever left the country, he could live out his days on a tropical island paradise -- thanks to his friend Marlon Brando, reports the New York Daily News. A notarized deed obtained by the New York Daily News shows that on June 5, 2003, Brando granted Jackson sanctuary on one of the Pacific islands he owned "for the rest of Jackson's natural life." According to the deed, Brando transferred use of a half-acre on the islet of Onetahi, in the French Polynesian atoll of Tetiaroa, "in consideration of gratitude and affection." Brando informed Jackson in a letter thanking the pop star for hosting a birthday party for Brando's daughter, Nina, now 15. "I can't easily describe the pleasure that has come our way with your invitation to Neverland," wrote Brando, who signed the letter "Love, Dad." But the deed raises the question of whether Brando, who died last July, may have intended Onetahi as a possible refuge for the embattled singer. In 1976, Brando arranged for American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks to fly by private plane to Onetahi after he was indicted for assault and inciting a riot. Brando also spirited his daughter, Cheyenne, to Tahiti after she witnessed his son, Christian, shoot her lover, Dag Drollet, in 1990. Jackson's spokeswoman Raymone Bain insisted the singer wants to clear his name and "has absolutely no plans to flee the country." But Judge Rodney Melville regarded Jackson as enough of a flight risk to impose a $3 million bail and demand that he surrender his passport.
LOS ANGELES -- If Michael Jackson ever left the country, he could live out his days on a tropical island paradise -- thanks to his friend Marlon Brando, reports the New York Daily News. A notarized deed obtained by the New York Daily News shows that on June 5, 2003, Brando granted Jackson sanctuary on one of the Pacific islands he owned "for the rest of Jackson's natural life." According to the deed, Brando transferred use of a half-acre on the islet of Onetahi, in the French Polynesian atoll of Tetiaroa, "in consideration of gratitude and affection." Brando informed Jackson in a letter thanking the pop star for hosting a birthday party for Brando's daughter, Nina, now 15. "I can't easily describe the pleasure that has come our way with your invitation to Neverland," wrote Brando, who signed the letter "Love, Dad." But the deed raises the question of whether Brando, who died last July, may have intended Onetahi as a possible refuge for the embattled singer. In 1976, Brando arranged for American Indian Movement leader Dennis Banks to fly by private plane to Onetahi after he was indicted for assault and inciting a riot. Brando also spirited his daughter, Cheyenne, to Tahiti after she witnessed his son, Christian, shoot her lover, Dag Drollet, in 1990. Jackson's spokeswoman Raymone Bain insisted the singer wants to clear his name and "has absolutely no plans to flee the country." But Judge Rodney Melville regarded Jackson as enough of a flight risk to impose a $3 million bail and demand that he surrender his passport.
Today's birthdays