newsmakers

November 10, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

‘Family Circus’ creator Bil Keane dies at 89

PHOENIX

Bil Keane’s “Family Circus” comics entertained readers with a simple but sublime mix of humor and traditional family values for more than a half century. The appeal endured, the author thought, because the American public needed the consistency.

Keane, who started drawing the one-panel cartoon featuring Billy, Jeffy, Dolly, P.J. and their parents in February 1960, died Tuesday at age 89 at his longtime home in Paradise Valley, near Phoenix. His comic strip is featured in nearly 1,500 newspapers across the country, including The Vindicator.

Eddie Murphy quits gig as Oscar host

LOS ANGELES

Eddie Murphy has bowed out of his gig as host of the Academy Awards after pal Brett Ratner’s decision to leave the show as producer because of an uproar over a gay slur.

The news of Murphy’s departure came Wednesday, a day after Ratner quit as producer of the Feb. 26 show.

Ratner left amid criticism of his use of a pejorative term for gay men in a question-and-answer session at a screening of his action comedy “Tower Heist,” which stars Murphy and Ben Stiller.

Murphy said in a news release from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that he had looked forward to playing host at the Oscars but that he understands and supports “each party’s decision with regard to a change of producers.”

Morgan Freeman earns DeMille Award

LOS ANGELES

Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman is taking home a new prize: a lifetime-achievement honor at the Golden Globes.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Wednesday that Freeman will receive the group’s Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 69th annual Globes ceremony Jan. 15.

The 74-year-old Freeman is a five-time Oscar nominee who won the supporting-actor prize for 2004’s “Million Dollar Baby.”

New website features Ohio movie locations

CINCINNATI

Ohio sites featured in films and on television are showcased on a new state tourism website. State officials say www.sceneinohio.com debuted Wednesday and is aimed at drawing travelers who increasingly visit places featured in favorite TV shows and movies.

Ohio tourism officials say the Scene in Ohio website makes it easier to find the sites and other nearby attractions. Photos and videos from social media, maps and consumer reviews are included. The website also features highlights of celebrities born in Ohio or with strong Ohio connections and facts about film and television locations and sitcoms set in the state.

Some movie sites include the former Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield featured in 1994’s “The Shawshank Redemption” and Cincinnati’s Fountain Square used for the recently released “Ides of March.”