newsmakers

April 29, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

Bullock files for divorce and adopts a baby

AUSTIN, Texas

Sandra Bullock has filed for divorce from her husband, Jesse James, citing discord and conflict of personalities without “any reasonable expectations of reconciliation.” The divorce petition, which was filed Friday, said the couple has no child under age 18 who is entitled to support. The Oscar-winning actress revealed Wednesday on People magazine’s Web site that she is adopting a 31/2-month-old boy, Louis Bardo Bullock, who was born in New Orleans. Bullock and James, 41, began the adoption process four years ago, the People article said, and brought Louis Bardo Bullock home in January but decided to keep the news to themselves until after the Academy Awards.

James and Bullock separated in March after five years of marriage, after reports that the celebrity motorcycle builder and reality-TV star had been unfaithful. Bullock’s divorce papers were filed in a Travis County court in Austin, Texas, where Bullock owns two downtown restaurants and is believed to have a home.

‘Good, Bad, Ugly’ screenwriter dies

ROME

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter Furio Scarpelli, who co-wrote some of the best Italian comedies of the postwar period and who ventured into the spaghetti-western genre with the “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 90.

During a decades-long, prolific partnership with Age, Scarpelli co-wrote some of Italy’s finest postwar movies, including the iconic comedy “Big Deal on Madonna Street.” Age, whose real name was Agenore Incrocci, died in 2005. The pair also wrote “Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo” (“The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”), the spaghetti-western classic directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood.

But it was the comedies that mostly made their name. Their sense of humor and an unforgiving display of the vices of Italian people became the pair’s trademark and made for memorable roles and lines for actors such as Marcello Mastroianni. Age and Scarpelli received two Oscar nominations for best screenwriting in the 1960s. Scarpelli also received another nomination for “Il Postino” (“The Postman”) in 1996.

Gabourey Sidibe, Tyson set for ‘View’

NEW YORK

Oscar-nominated actress Gabourey Sidibe and former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson will appear on ABC’s “The View” next week. The network announced Wednesday that Sidibe will mark her first time as guest co-host of “The View” next Tuesday. She made her acting debut in the critically acclaimed film “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”

Then on May 7, “Iron Mike” Tyson will sit down with host Barbara Walters for the first time since her memorable interview with Tyson and then-wife Robin Givens in 1988 on ABC’s “20/20.”

Jessica Seinfeld wins copycat claim

NEW YORK

A federal appeals court has sided with comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s wife in her trademark dispute with another cookbook author.

Missy Chase Lapine had claimed Jessica Seinfeld copied her secrets on how to get children to eat vegetables.

The New York appeals court said Wednesday that “stockpiling vegetable purees for covert use in children’s food is an idea that cannot be copyrighted.”

Both books were published in 2007. Seinfeld’s is called “Deceptively Delicious.” Lapine’s is titled “The Sneaky Chef.”