Gore debuts his film about global warming

Gore debuts his filmabout global warming
WASHINGTON -- Former Vice President Al Gore debuted his global-warming documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," Wednesday night to a Washington audience that included members of Congress and Queen Noor of Jordan.
When he found out when the Washington screening was scheduled, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he told Gore, "I'll make sure we're not going to have any votes tonight so we can come see your movie." Reid said the Bush administration has made a number of mistakes but that "nothing is comparable to his ignoring the death of our planet."
The Washington premiere at the National Geographic Society was held a day after Sharon Stone, David Duchovny and celebrities turned up at the film's Los Angeles screening.
"This movie makes it possible to take a message to many more people in a much shorter period of time," Gore said when he introduced the documentary on Wednesday. It features the former vice president as its main on-screen star.
Fans commission statueto honor Don Knotts
MOUNT AIRY, N.C. (AP) -- Two fans of "The Andy Griffith Show" have commissioned a life-sized bronze statue of Deputy Barney Fife that they plan to donate to Mount Airy, the model for the show's fictional town of Mayberry.
Tom Hellebrand and Neal Shelton are raising money for the $35,000 project as a tribute to Don Knotts, who portrayed the bumbling Fife on the popular '60s TV comedy. Knotts died Feb. 24 at age 81.
Mount Airy has a statue of Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor walking with his son in a scene that recalls the show's opening sequence.
"We felt something needed to be done about honoring Don Knotts," Shelton said. "He was an original."
The pair needed permission from CBS Corp., which owns the rights to "The Andy Griffith Show" characters, and they had to negotiate with city leaders. Everyone agreed it was a good idea.
Hellebrand and Shelton are accepting donations and have agreed to donate any money over the $35,000 they need to a charity in Knotts' name.
They hope to have the statue built and installed by fall.
"Mayberry without Barney Fife just wouldn't be the same," Hellebrand said.
jPoitier is honoredat film festival
CANNES, France -- France gave Sidney Poitier its highest arts honor Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival, where the culture minister praised the Oscar winner for tearing down barriers for black actors in Hollywood.
Poitier, 79, was named a commander in France's order of arts and letters. In 1964, he became the first black performer in a leading role to win an Academy Award, for "Lilies of the Field."
"You are the champion of equality between men," Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said.
Poitier thanked his parents, who were field workers in the Bahamas, for giving him a sense of honesty, integrity and compassion.
He also thanked the directors who broke convention to hire him, calling them "men who chose to change that pattern because it was not democratic, it was not American, it was not human."
Poitier's screen credits also include roles in "The Defiant Ones," "In the Heat of the Night," "A Patch of Blue" and "A Raisin in the Sun."
Today's Birthdays
PBS newscaster Jim Lehrer is 72. TV personality David Hartman is 71. Actor James Fox is 67. Actress Nancy Kwan is 67. Author-director Nora Ephron is 65. Actor Peter Mayhew is 62. Rock singer-composer Pete Townshend (The Who) is 61. Concert pianist David Helfgott is 59. Rock singer-musician Dusty Hill (ZZ Top) is 57. Singer-actress Grace Jones is 54. Rock musician Phil Rudd (AC/DC) is 52. Baseball catcher Rick Cerone is 52. Actor Steven Ford is 50. Rock musician Iain Harvie (Del Amitri) is 44. Actor Jason Gray-Stanford is 36. Rock singer Jenny Berggren (Ace of Base) is 34. Actor Eric Lloyd is 20.