newsmakers

newsmakers

Stephen Collins’ divorce finalized

LOS ANGELES

A judge has finalized the divorce of veteran television actor Stephen Collins and his wife of nearly 30 years.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael J. Convey signed the pair’s judgment during a brief hearing Friday.

The divorce gained notoriety after Collins’ estranged wife, Faye Grant, disclosed the actor had inappropriate contact with underage girls in court filings. Audio that Grant recorded of a therapy session with Collins in 2012 in which he acknowledged molesting three girls was posted on celebrity website TMZ last year.

Collins, who starred on the series “7th Heaven,” lost several roles as a result of the audio’s release.

Children’s TV activist Peggy Charren dies

BOSTON

Peggy Charren, the founder of Action for Children’s Television who waged a decades-long fight to improve the quality of children’s programming, has died. She was 86.

Charren, who had vascular dementia, died Thursday at a nursing home in Dedham, according to Sugarman-Sinai Memorial Chapel in Providence, R.I.

Charren founded Action for Children’s Television in 1968 because she was so frustrated by the poor quality of programming — which she called “wall-to-wall monster cartoons” — available to her daughters.

Associated Press