A big scare for Diaz

A big scare for Diaz
NEW YORK -- Cameron Diaz had the scare of her life while filming the new MTV travel show "Trippin' in Africa" when a lion charged two of her cameramen, reports IMDB.com. The "Charlie's Angels" star was preparing to go on a balloon ride over the Serengeti early one morning when she heard cries for help from her crewmen who had wandered off into the bushes on a bathroom run. Diaz says, "I can hear, I know exactly, like instinctually it's the paws of this cat just running and I hear this growling and then I hear this 'Aarrrghh.' I was like, 'Was that Tony or Tripp, I'm not sure ...' It was one of the lions charging a couple of the guys. They ran like little babies back into the house. I, of course, grabbed my camera and ran outside."
From Pryor's daughter
PHILADELPHIA -- Richard Pryor's daughter is offering a peek at what it was like to grow up with her famous father. In her show "Fried Chicken and Latkes," Rain Pryor discusses seeing cocaine, prostitutes and affluence while visiting her dad. She narrates her story, acts out the parts of other people and sings a few songs. "My dad has always been one to put his life right out there for you to look at. I took that approach because I saw how well audiences respond to it. I try to make you laugh at life," she told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Rain Pryor is the child of a brief marriage between the comedian and a Jewish woman, Shelley Bonus, who was an aspiring actress working as a go-go dancer when she met Pryor in the late 1960s. Her mother struggled to give her daughter a traditional middle-class upbringing in a modest Beverly Hills apartment. But when she visited her well-off father on the other side of town, she was exposed to a dysfunctional lifestyle in a servant-staffed house.
In a blog, O'Donnellapologizes to Alley
MIAMI -- Rosie O'Donnell is saying she's sorry -- in a blog. The comedian recently made headlines when she took pot shots at Kirstie Alley, accusing the "Fat Actress" star of lying about her weight, reports MSNBC.com. "Earlier this evening, Kirstie Alley told Matt Lauer that her fattest was 201," O'Donnell wrote on her Web site. "I almost choked ... I am 220; 'fess up Kirstie -- 201 my bleep! I started to fume." O'Donnell apparently apologized in a phone conversation with Kirstie, and in a more recent Web entry writes, in free-verse style, "the phone/kirstie w/ hurt feelings/i am sorry/4 that. ... never been joan/ kickin people when they are down/too ez -- not me/u r not the target."
Maybe she'll get hired
MIAMI -- During the runway show for Tommy Hilfiger's Resort line during Funkshion: Fashion Week Miami, "Apprentice" alum and real estate diva Katrina Campins walked the entire length of the runway not realizing that both breasts had popped out of the button-down shirt she was wearing. The crowd -- which included publicist Lizzie Grubman, The Roots band member ?uestlove and New York Giants star Jeremy Shockey -- reacted with a collective gasp. A guest was overheard saying Janet Jackson will be first in line to buy this New Tommy outfit.
Rhames no 'Kojak' fan
BOSTON -- Ving Rhames may have picked up a lollipop and stepped into Telly Savalas' shoes for a new version of "Kojak," but he wasn't a fan of the TV show as a child. "Kojak wasn't on in my house," he told the Boston Globe on Sunday. "I grew up in Harlem one block away from the Apollo Theater, where a version of Kojak's show was happening every day in the neighborhood. There were thugs and criminals and detectives running around. Why would I want to watch a show about that? I think I've seen one rerun." Rhames, 43, who is best known for his role as Marsellus Wallace in the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" and the "Mission: Impossible" franchise, said his Kojak will be different. "You'll see my Kojak being very human. He interprets the law of the streets differently than what's on the written page. It's not the law to beat up someone who molests a child. It's not the law to castrate someone who rapes a child. "But if someone does that to your child, could you understand that kind of punishment? I'm not saying you like it, but can you understand it? I guess that sums up Kojak. He's a man who happens to be a detective. He finds his own way to deal with problems." "Kojak," which premiered on the USA Network last week as a two-hour movie, will begin its regular weekly rotation on the network Sunday.
Today's birthdays
Singer Frankie Laine is 92. Actor Richard Dysart is 76. Actor John Astin is 75. Game show host Peter Marshall is 75. Actor-director Warren Beatty is 68. Rock musician Graeme Edge (The Moody Blues) is 64. Rock musician Eric Clapton is 60. Actor Robbie Coltrane is 55. Rap artist MC Hammer is 42. Singer Tracy Chapman is 41. Actor Ian Ziering is 41. Singer Celine Dion is 37. Actor Mark Consuelos is 35. Singer Norah Jones is 26.