NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Actor to speak at commencement

BINGHAMTON, N.Y.

William Baldwin has been invited to deliver remarks at Binghamton University’s fall commencement in upstate New York.

The 47-year-old actor is also expected to receive the University Medal for his service to his alma mater during Sunday’s ceremony for more than 400 graduating students.

Baldwin graduated from Binghamton in 1985 with a degree in political science. As an alumnus, he has helped oversee the school’s goal of raising $95 million this year.

The Massapequa, N.Y., native has most recently appeared in the NBC television series “Parenthood.” He was also in the hit film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”

Binghamton University is a public institution, with more than 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Actor Collins pays fine for leaving accident

JACKSON, Miss.

Police in Mississippi say actor and former television host Gary Collins has paid a $500 fine for leaving the scene of an accident last month.

Collins was cited for the misdemeanor Nov. 2 after his Jeep rear-ended a car at a stoplight in Jackson. Police say he exchanged information with the other driver but left before authorities arrived. Police later went to his house and gave him the ticket.

Collins attorney, Tom Royals, has said the charge was reasonable.

Collins is married to former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley. He starred in the 1970s series “The Sixth Sense” and has made appearances on such series as “JAG,” “Yes, Dear” and “The Young and the Restless.”

Collins hosted the talk show “Hour Magazine” in the 1980s, and won a daytime Emmy for it in 1983.

Big Man Clemons is living in the future

NEW YORK

The Big Man has seen the future — and it features Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

Saxophonist Clarence Clemons recorded a webcast this week with his longtime bandmates in Asbury Park, N.J. — just part of his current whirlwind of activities.

He’s playing the national anthem on Sunday at the Jets-Miami Dolphins football game in New Jersey, then heads to a California show next week. He’s also busy rooting on his nephew and fellow saxophonist, Jake Clemons.

In between it all, he was checked out this week by the Manhattan medical team overseeing his recovery from the back surgery he underwent a year ago.

“It takes a village to run the Big Man — a village of doctors,” Clemons told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “They all applauded me. I’m starting to feel better; I’m moving around a lot better.”

A few days earlier, on Tuesday, he’d spent hours with the E Street Band, recording the performance at the historic Asbury Park Carousel House. Some of the musicians hadn’t been together for a year. But they seamlessly picked up where they left off, he says.

Associated Press