newsmakers

newsmakers

Dylan voted into elite arts academy

If he lived in England, he’d surely be Sir Bob Dylan.

The most-influential songwriter of his time has become the first rock star voted into the elite, century- old American Academy of Arts and Letters, where artists range from Philip Roth to Jasper Johns and categories include music, literature and visual arts. According to executive director Virginia Dajani, officials couldn’t decide whether he belonged for his words or for his music, so they settled on making him an honorary member, joining such previous choices as Meryl Streep, Woody Allen and a filmmaker who has made a documentary about Dylan, Martin Scorsese.

“The board of directors considered the diversity of his work and acknowledged his iconic place in the American culture,” Dajani said recently. “Bob Dylan is a multitalented artist whose work so thoroughly crosses several disciplines that it defies categorization.”

‘Hope’ actress gets dirty at family’s home

TAMPA, Fla.

Emmy-winning actor Martha Plimpton, who plays a housekeeper on the hit TV comedy “Raising Hope,” got her hands dirty at a Tampa family’s house.

On Tuesday, Plimpton and co-star Garret Dillahunt helped clean the family’s home as part of a Fox network promotion. The show’s season finale is March 28.

Ben Waberman, who is 26, entered and won an online contest by writing an essay about how his family was similar to the Chance clan on the TV show.

Plimpton showed up at the family’s door in the pink uniform she wears on the show, while Dillahunt, who plays a pool cleaner, skimmed leaves out of the Waberman family’s pool.

Waberman’s parents said they were shocked when their son won the contest.

Flu, laryngitis cause Rihanna to cancel

NEW YORK

Rihanna has canceled another stop on her tour because of the flu and laryngitis.

Her representative said the singer’s show in Baltimore on Tuesday would be postponed. Rihanna canceled her Sunday show in Boston because she was sick. Her “Diamonds World Tour” launched in Buffalo, N.Y., on Friday.

Live Nation said in a statement that “Rihanna is still recovering.” The concert promoter said fans “are instructed to retain their tickets pending rescheduling show date information.”

The next date on Rihanna’s tour is Thursday in Philadelphia. She’s supporting her seventh album, “Unapologetic,” which features the hits “Diamonds” and “Stay.”

Kelly Osbourne is home after seizure

LOS ANGELES

Kelly Osbourne is resting at home after being hospitalized for five days after a seizure.

A spokesman for the 28-year-old TV personality says doctors have given Osbourne “a clean bill of health,” finding no conclusive results explaining why she collapsed on the set of E!’s “Fashion Police” last week.

Publicist Marcel Pariseau tells E! News that Osbourne “is looking forward to returning to ‘Fashion Police’ this week and getting back to business and life as usual.”

Osbourne took to Twitter on Monday to thank the doctors and medical staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for “fixing me up enough to go home.”

Vindicator wire services