Parton, Smith picked for Gospel Hall of Fame

Parton, Smith picked for Gospel Hall of Fame

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dolly Parton, Michael W. Smith, Dr. Bobby Jones and the Dixie Hummingbirds will be inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame.

The ceremony will be held Feb. 2 in Nashville.

GMA President John Styll says this year’s inductees have achieved success in different areas of music and entertainment, but all share a common heritage of gospel music.

Producer Lari Goss will also be inducted.

The selections were announced Wednesday.

‘Mentalist’ gets prized post-football slot

LOS ANGELES — CBS is giving a juicy post-championship game time slot to its new hit series, “The Mentalist.”

An episode about murder and the theft of a multimillion-dollar painting will air 10 p.m. EST Jan. 18, after the National Football League’s American Football Conference championship game. The drama series regularly airs Tuesday nights.

“The Mentalist,” which stars Simon Baker as a fake psychic who turns his skills to helping California state crime fighters, has been a ratings winner for CBS since its fall debut. A show that airs after a big sports event gets additional exposure and a shot at more viewers.

Hollywood studio head Tanen dies at age 77

LOS ANGELES — Ned Tanen, a former Universal Pictures and Paramount chairman who greenlighted a string of hits including “Top Gun” and “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” has died. He was 77.

Tanen died Monday at his Santa Monica home, his friend Alisa Covington said.

“He taught me about integrity, that it was never about the flavor of the month, that it was always about the talent,” former Paramount Motion Picture Group head Sherry Lansing said. “And he had a wicked sense of humor.”

Tanen’s entertainment career began with MCA in 1954. He became a talent agent, packaged television shows and then founded MCA’s Uni Records, which helped launch stars such as Neil Diamond, Elton John and Olivia Newton-John.

In the 1970s he moved to MCA’s movie division, Universal Pictures, where he was involved in “American Graffiti,” a low-budget movie by then-unknown director George Lucas. He was president of Universal from 1976 to 1982, a tenure marked by Oscar-winning successes such as “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “E.T.” and “On Golden Pond.”

He quit at the height of his success, telling The Wall Street Journal he was tired of playing the “Hollywood game” and wanted to concentrate on the creative side of movies.

Tanen went independent. He was producer or executive producer for three movies in the 1980s that portrayed the angst of white youth: “Sixteen Candles” and “The Breakfast Club” by director John Hughes and Joel Schumacher’s “St. Elmo’s Fire.”

The young actors in those movies included Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez.

Tony-winning musical recovers its costs

NEW YORK — The producers of “In the Heights” say the Tony-winning musical has recouped its $10 million production costs in the 10 months since it opened on Broadway.

The show, a celebration of Latino life in an upper Manhattan neighborhood, stars Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also wrote its music and lyrics. The production won the 2008 Tony Award for best musical as well as three other Tonys.

“In the Heights” began life off-Broadway in January 2007 for a six-month run. The show reopened last March at Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre, where it recently broke the house record with two consecutive weeks of $1 million-plus grosses.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Joan Baez is 68. Actress Susannah York is 68. Guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin is 65. Singer Buster Poindexter is 59. Singer Crystal Gayle is 58. Guitarist Eric Erlandson (Hole) is 46. Actress Joely Richardson is 44. Guitarist Carl Bell of Fuel is 42. Singer Steve Harwell of Smash Mouth is 42. Singer Dave Matthews of the Dave Matthews Band is 42. Singer A.J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys is 31. Guitarist Drew Brown of OneRepublic is 25. Singer Paolo Nutini is 22.