Ring influences Voight

Ring influences Voight
WARSAW, Poland -- Jon Voight, above, says the ring he kept from his role playing the late Pope John Paul II helps him be a better person. "I feel him. I think, 'Wait a minute, Jon, if you are wearing this ring you'd better think a little better,"' Voight said Friday at a news conference the day the movie "Pope John Paul II" opened in cinemas across Poland, the late pope's homeland. The flat, gold-colored ring with a figure of St. Peter on it, given to him after starring in the movie, "makes me better," Voight said, adding that he'll probably wear it for the rest of his life.
Tyson-Holyfield refereesues ex-law partners
RENO, Nev. -- The referee whose action led to Mike Tyson's temporary banishment from boxing for biting Evander Holyfield's ear has sued his former law partners. Mills Lane contends in his district court lawsuit filed Friday that the Reno law firm of Lane, Fahrendorf, Viloria and Oliphant stopped payments to him after he suffered a March 2002 stroke, although he continued to be a partner until July 2005. Lane attorney John Ohlson said when the partnership was formed in 2001, the agreement called for Lane to be a "rainmaker," a partner whose name and reputation alone would draw new clients. "Their agreement specified that they didn't expect him to practice law, but that they expected him to make rain," Ohlson told the Reno Gazette-Journal. The suit seeks more than $10,000 in damages as well as court costs and attorney fees. Lane, 68, a former Reno judge and district attorney, refereed 102 championship fights involving such boxers as Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and Larry Holmes. He gained international attention in 1997 when he disqualified Tyson for biting off a piece of Holyfield's ear during a heavyweight fight in Las Vegas.
Gibson speaks in Maya
NEW YORK -- Mel Gibson will give audiences a preview of the ancient language spoken in his upcoming movie, "Apocalypto." During a brief appearance on the Academy Awards on Sunday, Gibson spoke Maya, the only language in the film. His last movie, "The Passion of the Christ," was performed in Latin and Aramaic. "I wanted to shake up the stale action-adventure genre," Gibson told Time for a story on the magazine's Web site. "Apocalypto" is set in pre-Columbian Mexico and is being shot on the fringe of southern Mexico's rain forests. It addresses the end of civilizations and contains warnings about environmental degradation and political fear-mongering.
Lovett to be honored
AUSTIN -- A new soundtrack award honoring artists for their contributions to Texas film will be presented to Lyle Lovett, the Austin Film Society announced. Lovett will receive the AMD Live Soundtrack Award at the sixth annual Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards on Friday, Former Gov. Ann Richards will preside over the ceremony, which will also recognize inductees Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey, Cybill Shepherd and JoBeth Williams. The society lauded Lovett's soundtrack for Robert Altman's "Dr. T and the Women" and the 2003 album "Smile," a collection of his covers from various soundtracks.
Book inspired Blair
LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair, who wrenched his party from the left to the center of the political spectrum, said he had been inspired to enter politics by a book about socialist icon Leon Trotsky. At a World Book Day event at London's Commonwealth Club recently, Blair said Isaac Deutscher's biography of the Russian communist leader was the book that meant the most to him. Deutscher's three-volume work -- "The Prophet Armed," "The Prophet Unarmed" and "The Prophet Outcast" -- paints a sympathetic portrait of Trotsky, who helped Vladimir Lenin lead the 1917 Russian revolution but was later driven out by Joseph Stalin. He was murdered by an agent of Stalin in Mexico in 1940.
Today's birthdays
TV personality Ed McMahon is 83. Conductor Sarah Caldwell is 82. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is 80. Author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is 78. Country singer Doug Dillard is 69. Actress-writer Joanna Miles is 66. Actor Ben Murphy is 64. Opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is 62. Singer Mary Wilson (The Supremes) is 62. Rock singer-musician David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) is 60. Actor-director Rob Reiner is 59. Singer Kiki Dee is 59. Rock singer-musician Phil Alvin (The Blasters) is 53. Actor Tom Arnold is 47. Actor D.L. Hughley is 42. Country songwriter Skip Ewing is 42. Actress Yvette Wilson is 42. Actor Shuler Hensley is 39. Actress Connie Britton is 38. Actress Moira Kelly is 38. Actress Amy Pietz is 37. Basketball player Shaquille O'Neal is 34. Country singer Trent Willmon is 33. Country musician Shan Farmer (Ricochet) is 32. Rapper Beanie Sigel is 32. Rapper Bubba Sparxxx is 29. Actor Eli Marienthal is 20. Actor Jimmy Galeota is 20. Actress Savannah Stehlin ("The Family Stone") is 10.