NEWS MAKERS

NEWS MAKERS

Stalking suspect enters insanity plea

LOS ANGELES

A man accused of stalking Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity on Monday on the eve of his trial. Robert O’Ryan, 36, entered the plea and waived his right to a jury trial, clearing the way for a judge to determine if he is guilty and sane. Opening statements in the felony stalking and burglary case were expected to begin today.

O’Ryan is accused of going to a Los Angeles studio where Johnson was performing on “Dancing With the Stars” last year in an attempt to meet the gymnast. Authorities said a search of the car O’Ryan drove from Florida turned up two guns and love letters to Johnson. He also faces two misdemeanor charges involving concealed weapons.

Coleman’s ex-wife: We planned to re-wed

NEW YORK

Gary Coleman’s ex-wife calls their relationship “golden” and says that before his recent death, they had planned to renew their marital vows. In an interview aired on Monday’s “Good Morning America,” Shannon Price says she had ordered that Coleman be taken off of life support on the advice of his doctors. The one-time child actor died May 28 in Utah at 42 after suffering a brain hemorrhage two days earlier.

Price told ABC News that she had found Coleman lying in a pool of blood in their kitchen after hearing what she called “a big smack.”

The couple had divorced in 2008, but Price says they later agreed that divorce “wasn’t the right choice.”

Coleman starred for eight seasons on the sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes.” It debuted in 1978, when he was 10.

Producer says ‘Annie’ to return to Broadway

NEW YORK

The sun will rise in 2012 on a new Broadway production of “Annie.” The Tony Award-winning musical, based on the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip, debuted in 1977. Producer Arielle Tepper Madover said Monday she’s acquired production rights to the play that sparked a childhood interest in theater. Among Madover’s credits are “Hair,” “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Frost/Nixon.”

The “Annie” score includes the songs “It’s the Hard Knock Life” and “Tomorrow,” a salute to optimism that predicts “the sun will come up tomorrow.” The play’s Broadway revival is scheduled for fall 2012.

Kristofferson to mark Tootsie’s big day

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Kris Kristofferson will help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, a landmark Nashville honky tonk. The country music icon and actor will headline a Nov. 7 show at the Ryman Auditorium, across the alley from the back door at Tootsie’s.

In a way, he’s repaying a debt: Kristofferson stayed in a room above the bar before his career took off in the early 1970s. Hundreds of country music’s biggest stars have slipped out the back door at the Ryman to play and party at Tootsie’s over the years. Artists like Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton and George Jones could be found there on Saturday nights after Grand Ole Opry performances.

Zeta-Jones, Lansbury to end ‘Music’ stint

NEW YORK

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury are handing off “A Little Night Music” to Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch. Zeta-Jones and Lansbury will give their final performance of the Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical at the Walter Kerr Theatre on June 20. Performances will resume July 13 with Peters playing Desiree Armsfeldt and Stritch as Madam Armfeldt.

The musical revival, based on Ingmar Bergman’s film “Smiles of a Summer Night,” opened on Dec. 13. It originally premiered on Broadway in 1973.

Michael Caine memoir due this fall

NEW YORK

Sir Michael Caine hasn’t finished telling us what it’s all about. The 77-year-old Academy Award-winning actor is working on a second memoir, “The Elephant to Hollywood,” a sequel that will come nearly 20 years after “What’s It All About?”

Henry Holt and Co. will release the new book in November. The publisher announced the book Monday. Caine’s many films include “Alfie,” “Educating Rita,” and two works for which he received Oscars, “Hannah and Her Sisters” and “The Cider House Rules.”

Strait is top artist of the past 25 years

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

George Strait sits atop Billboard’s list of the top 25 country music artists of the past 25 years. The Texas-based singer beat out Garth Brooks on a star-studded list compiled by the magazine to coincide with its Country Music Summit on Monday and today in Nashville, Tenn.

Strait and Brooks are followed by Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson and Tim McGraw in the top five. Billboard used success on its country album and song charts to compile the list.

Strait has been the country music standard in the years the list covers. He’s sold more than 68.5 million albums and had 82 top 10 songs on Billboard charts, as well as 44 No. 1 singles. He’s had a top 10 hit in 30 consecutive years, a Billboard record.