Lithgow, Perez celebrate N.Y. Times best-seller list

Lithgow, Perez celebrateN.Y. Times best-seller list
NEW YORK (AP) -- This book changed my life. That oft-mouthed phrase was the title of a 12-hour reading marathon Saturday featuring actor John Lithgow, actress Rosie Perez and dozens of others -- all celebrating 70 years of The New York Times best-seller list. Lithgow's life-changing book was "Winnie the Pooh." "The characters are not hesitant to use wonderful words like 'pathetic' and 'bracken' -- reeds along the river. He uses those words, knowing kids will ask 'What does that mean?'" said Lithgow, star of the Broadway musical "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." Rosie Perez read an excerpt from "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." But the writing that changed her adult life was "The Princess Bride," by William Goldman, where a grandfather reads to his granddaughter while skipping from fairy tale to reality and back.
John Waters will directnew show for Court TV
Film director John Waters -- whose strange sensibilities helped turn movies like "Female Trouble," "Pink Flamingos" and "Hairspray" into major cult classics -- will be directing a new half-hour series this winter about true-crime domestic murders on Court TV. The show is the network's toe-dip into scripted drama. "'Til Death Do Us Part" will focus on a single spousal murder in each episode, beginning with a re-enactment of the wedding, the Los Angeles Times reports. Waters will serve as the "groom reaper," walking the viewer through each story. "Every bad marriage," said Marc Juris, the network's programming and marketing manager, "does have a happy wedding."
Creator of 'Commander'turns reins over to Bochco
NEW YORK (AP) -- ABC's new hit drama "Commander in Chief" has a new commander. Creator Rod Lurie said while it was painful to leave the show, he is confident in his successor, veteran producer Steven Bochco, known for "NYPD Blue" and "Hill Street Blues." Lurie was asked to step aside after he became bogged down by the demands of producing, writing and directing. "I feel like my baby is being adopted," he told Time magazine. "But at least it's being adopted by a Rockefeller." Lurie will stay with the show, which stars Geena Davis as president, but Bochco will have most of the control. "I understand their decision," Lurie said. "The screenplays and production were lagging behind. They have an asset that needs to be protected."
hAfter Caesar's Palace,Dion will try for baby
PARIS -- Celine Dion is already planning to have a second child after her contract with Caesar's Palace ends in 2007. The 37-year-old singer said she plans to begin in vitro fertilization treatments at a New York clinic after finishing her work at the Las Vegas venue, a gig she started in 2003. "I'm approaching 40 years old, and I have to tend to that," Dion told the French Entertainment magazine Tele 7 Jours. "This frozen embryo that is in New York is my child waiting to be brought to life." The Canadian-born singer and her manager-husband, Rene Angelil, had their first child, Rene-Charles, in 2001 through in vitro fertilization after years of trying. Dion said she has 350 shows left to perform at Caesar's Palace.
Notable death
NEW YORK -- Shirley Horn, the jazz pianist and vocalist who got her start opening for Miles Davis and became revered as a master interpreter of American standards, has died. She was 71. Horn died Thursday night in her native Washington, D.C., after a long illness, according to a statement released Friday by her record label Verve Records. Horn was often compared with Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McRae, and was considered one of the last great jazz vocalists of her era. Last year, Horn was honored by National Endowment for the Arts as a jazz master.
Today's birthdays
Football Hall-of-Famer Y.A. Tittle is 79. Rock musician Bill Wyman is 69. Actor-producer David Nelson is 69. Actor Kevin Kline is 58. Rock musician Ben Gillies (Silverchair) is 26. Singer-actress Monica Arnold is 25. Rhythm-and-blues singer Adrienne Bailon (3lw) is 22.