‘Sopranos’ actor gets 10-year sentence

January 10, 2009 at 12:01a.m.

NEW YORK — A former actor on “The Sopranos” was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for a botched burglary in the Bronx in which an accomplice shot and killed an off-duty police officer. A jury acquitted Lillo Brancato Jr. in the death of the police officer but convicted him of attempted burglary. He had faced up to 15 years in prison.

Popular Mouseketeer Cheryl Holdridge dies

LOS ANGELES — Cheryl Holdridge, a popular Mouseketeer on “The Mickey Mouse Club” TV show in the 1950s, has died. She was 64. Holdridge died Tuesday at her Santa Monica home after a two-year battle with lung cancer, Doreen Tracey, another former Mouseketeer, told the Los Angeles Times.

Born Cheryl Lynn Phelps on June 20, 1944, in New Orleans, Holdridge moved to Los Angeles when she was 2. She became a Mouseketeer in 1956 at the start of the second season of “The Mickey Mouse Club,” which featured 24 young singers and dancers.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Rod Stewart is 64. Singer Pat Benatar is 56. Singer Shawn Colvin is 53. Singer Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies is 45. Guitarist Matt Roberts of 3 Doors Down is 31. Singer Brent Smith of Shinedown is 31. Rapper Chris Smith of Kris Kross is 30.