Postage stamp will honor the late Frank Sinatra

Postage stamp will honor
the late Frank Sinatra

WASHINGTON — Ol’ Blue Eyes will get his own postage stamp next spring. The stamp commemorating Frank Sinatra was announced Wednesday by Postmaster General John Potter, who called the crooner “an extraordinary entertainer whose life and work left an indelible impression on American culture.” “His recordings, concert performances and film work place him among America’s top artists, and his legendary gift for transforming popular song into art is a rare feat that few have been able to replicate,” Potter said. The stamp image will be unveiled next Wednesday — Sinatra’s birthday — at a ceremony in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Charges against actor
from Ireland are dropped

DUBLIN, Ireland — Prosecutors dropped charges against Jonathan Rhys Meyers on Wednesday after he expressed remorse — through his lawyer — for being drunk and abusive at Dublin Airport. Rhys Meyers, 30, was arrested Nov. 18. The Irish actor faced two charges of public drunkenness and breach of the peace for being abusive after he was refused permission to board a flight to London. Rhys Meyers did not appear at the Dublin District Court arraignment Wednesday. State prosecutors said they had accepted an apology from the actor and dropped the charges. Rhys Meyers, however, was given a legal caution — a probationary action under which he could face harsher penalties if he behaves that way in public in Ireland again. Rhys Meyers is one of Ireland’s best-known actors. His film credits include “Bend It Like Beckham,” “Match Point,” “Mission: Impossible III” and “August Rush.”

Man accused of stalking
Thurman rejects plea deal

NEW YORK — A former psychiatric patient has rejected a plea offer that would have put him in a mental health facility and settled charges that he stalked Uma Thurman for nearly two years. Jack Jordan refused to plead guilty Wednesday to attempted coercion, a felony the court would have reduced to a misdemeanor once he completed at least a year in a mental health program. Jordan, who is free on $10,000 bail, is accused of following and contacting the 37-year-old actress since 2005. The coercion charge stems from Jordan allegedly saying in an e-mail that he might kill himself if he saw Thurman with another man. Jordan, a graduate student at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., is living in Massachusetts with his parents.

Former Lohan bodyguard
sues celebrity magazine

LOS ANGELES — One of Lindsay Lohan’s former bodyguards says a celebrity magazine damaged his career as a protector of Hollywood’s rich and famous by publishing a photo of him along with a tell-all article. Andrae “Doc” Renard Newman filed a libel lawsuit against Star magazine Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging he was misidentified as Lee Weaver, another of the 21-year-old actress’ former bodyguards, in a photo caption accompanying the article.

The story was titled, “Lindsay’s Bodyguard Bares All! Her Sick Secret World,” and appeared in Star’s July 25, 2007, edition. According to the lawsuit, the editors knew the caption was wrong but published it anyway.

“As soon as Star was notified that we identified the wrong bodyguard in the photo caption of the Lohan bodyguard tell-all, Star immediately withdrew the article from its Web site and corrected, retracted and apologized for the error,” said Editor-in-Chief Candace Trunzo. Newman says his reputation as a celebrity bodyguard was damaged because potential clients demand privacy and trustworthiness, and he could lose his job as a security guard at a Hollywood club.

Today’s birthdays

Jazz musician Dave Brubeck is 87. Actor James Naughton is 62. Actress JoBeth Williams is 59. Talk show host Wil Shriner is 54. Comedian Steven Wright is 52. Rock musician Peter Buck (R.E.M.) is 51. Rock musician David Lovering (Pixies) is 46. Actress Janine Turner is 45. Writer-director Judd Apatow is 40. Rock musician Ulf “Buddha” Ekberg (Ace of Base) is 37. Actress Colleen Haskell is 31.