newsmakers

newsmakers

‘60 Minutes’ report by Bob Simon airs days after his death

NEW YORK

“60 Minutes” remembered its longtime correspondent Bob Simon on Sunday by airing a story he finished on the day he died, four days earlier.

The story, reported by Simon, looked into a possible new treatment for the Ebola virus. It was produced by Simon’s daughter, Tanya, a veteran “60 Minutes” producer.

After the report, fellow correspondent Steve Kroft spoke of Simon’s “sense of justice and his sense of the absurd,” both of which informed his journalism. Kroft said Simon was “both a model and an inspiration” to his colleagues at CBS News during 47 years at the network.

Simon, 73, died Wednesday night in a car accident in Manhattan. “60 Minutes” will devote its full hour Sunday to him and his career.

Louis Jourdan, French star of Gigi,’ dies at 93

LOS ANGELES

Louis Jourdan, the dashingly handsome Frenchman who starred in “Gigi,” “Can-Can,” “Three Coins in the Fountain” and other American movies, has died. He was 93.

Jourdan’s biographer, Olivier Minne, says the actor died Saturday at his home in Beverly Hills, likely of natural causes.

Succeeding Charles Boyer as Hollywood’s favorite French lover, Jourdan romanced Joan Fontaine, Jennifer Jones, Grace Kelly and Shirley MacLaine in films during the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s.

His film career reached a peak in 1957 with the musical, “Gigi,” playing the Parisian seeking young Gigi as a mistress. The film won nine Academy Awards, includingg best picture.

‘Fifty Shades’ whips up stunning $81.7 million

LOS ANGELES

Audiences were more than curious to check out the big-screen adaptation of the racy phenomenon “Fifty Shades of Grey” this weekend. The erotic R-rated drama sizzled in its debut, earning an estimated $81.7 million from 3,646 theaters in its first three days, distributor Universal Pictures said on Sunday.

In addition to destroying Valentine’s and Presidents Day weekend records, “Fifty Shades of Grey” also has become the second-highest February debut ever, behind the $83.9 million opening of “Passion of the Christ” in 2004.

The chart-topping film cost a modest $40 million to produce. Starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan as Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, it could be on track to earn over $90 million across the four-day holiday weekend.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included in parentheses. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.

1. “Fifty Shades of Grey,” $81.7 million ($158 million).

2. “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” $35.6 million ($23.1 million).

3. “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,” $30.5 million ($13.5 million).

4. “American Sniper,” $16.4 million ($3.7 million).

5. “Jupiter Ascending,” $9.4 million ($15.6 million).

Associated Press