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Reclusive Hollywood actress Deanna Durbin dies at 91

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 04 Mei 2013 | 23.28

(Reuters) - Deanna Durbin, a singing child movie star of the 1930s who became one of the world's highest paid actresses before turning her back on stardom, has died at the age of 91.

Her son Peter H. David was quoted as telling The Deanna Durbin Society newsletter that the actress died "a few days ago", thanking her admirers for respecting her privacy. No other details were given.

The actress was born Edna Mae Durbin in Winnipeg, Canada, but moved to California with her British-born parents when she was young. She broke into the movies in 1936, aged 14, when she appeared in "Every Sunday" with Judy Garland, according to her biography on the IMDb film website.

She made her name playing the ideal teenage daughter in "Three Smart Girls" in 1936 and in its profitable follow-up the next year, "One Hundred Men and a Girl", which was credited with saving Universal studios from bankruptcy.

Capitalizing on her fame, Universal cast Durbin in a series of musical movies including "That Certain Age" and "Mad About Music" which made the actress with the sweet soprano voice into one of Hollywood's most popular stars.

Durbin shared a special Juvenile Award with Mickey Rooney at the 1938 Oscars for their "significant contribution in bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth".

At 25, Durbin was the second highest-paid woman in America behind her fellow actress Bette Davis, according to the New York Times, and her fan club ranked as the world's largest during her active years.

But Durbin found fame hard to handle and, despite trying to move on from her image as the perfect daughter with films such as "Christmas Holiday" (1944) and "Lady on a Train" (1945), she walked away from stardom aged about 28.

"I couldn't go on forever being Little Miss Fixit who burst into song," she once said.

From 1949 she stayed out of the limelight, moving to France with her third husband, the French director Charles David. She gave only one interview in the following decades and rejected all offers of a comeback. Her husband died in 1999.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Kevin Liffey)


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Mariah Carey goes as Cinderella for Disneyland wedding vow renewal

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a sumptuous princess ceremony that shut down Disneyland, Mariah Carey and her comedian husband Nick Cannon renewed their weddings vows and celebrated the second birthday of their twins.

Wearing matching Cinderella and Prince Charming-style costumes, and riding in a horse-drawn crystal carriage, the "We Belong Together" singer and the "American Idol" judge tweeted photos and video of the celebration on Tuesday night at the southern California theme park.

"On our way to renew our vows. I love you Nick Cannon shut down Disneyland," Carey tweeted. "Celebrating our anniversary and dembabies birthday (can you believe they're 2??)."

With the Sleeping Beauty Castle as a backdrop, and in a ceremony themed "Do You Believe in Fairy Tales?," Carey, 43, and Cannon, 32, marked the fifth anniversary of their wedding with a vow renewal. That was followed by a party for some 250 guests, celebrity TV show Entertainment Tonight said in an exclusive report.

Entertainment Tonight said the reception in the Disney theme park's Fantasyland area was adorned with 15,000 blooms and 10,000 crystals.

Carey and Cannon married on April 30, 2008, and their twins Moroccan and Monroe were born on the same day in 2011.

The couple have renewed their vows every year, choosing the Eiffel Tower in Paris last year for their celebration.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; editing by Chris Wilson)


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Jackson doctor was 'in desperate financial straits': trial witness

By Brandon Lowrey

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's personal doctor was in financial and legal troubles at the time of the singer's death, a Los Angeles detective testified on Wednesday in the wrongful death lawsuit brought by Jackson's family against concert promoters AEG Live.

Conrad Murray was "in desperate financial straits," and under legal pressure with liens against his property in Nevada, Los Angeles police detective Orlando Martinez told a jury in the civil trial.

Martinez, who investigated Jackson's 2009 death, said Murray had unpaid student loans, was behind on credit card bills and owed rent for his business.

Murray, who had asked for $5 million to care for the singer, was convicted in 2011 for Jackson's involuntary manslaughter of Jackson through an overdose of powerful anesthetic propofol weeks before a planned series of 50 concerts.

Jackson's immediate family accuses AEG Live, who were promoting the London concerts, of negligence in hiring Murray, failing to conduct proper background checks and going to extreme lengths to get the singer ready for the shows. Murray is not being sued.

AEG Live maintains that Jackson kept his dependency on propofol secret from outsiders, that a proposed contract with Murray was never fully executed and they could not have foreseen that Murray posed a danger to Jackson.

Martinez was the second witness called by attorneys for Jackson's family. A paramedic who tended to Jackson after the overdose, testified on Tuesday that Murray had appeared "frantic," "pale" and "sweating" but never mentioned that Jackson had taken propofol, which is typically used in surgical settings.

Jackson, 50, was pronounced dead in a Los Angeles hospital on June 25, 2009, a day after a rehearsal and three weeks before the first concert on his "This Is It" tour.

Jackson's 82-year-old mother Katherine and the singer's two oldest children Prince and Paris, are also on the witness list later in the civil trial along with singers Diana Ross and Prince, and "The Incredible Hulk" actor Lou Ferrigno.

Attorneys for AEG Live warned jurors on Monday that the trial, expected to last three months, would expose "some ugly stuff" about the King of Pop.

(Editing by Eric Kelsey and David Brunnstrom)


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Why the Rock is the first pro wrestler (or athlete) to become a movie star

By Lucas Shaw

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Ask a group of pro wrestling fans to name their favorite lord of the ring and you might get 10 different answers.

Older fans grew up idolizing Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and "Nature Boy" Ric Flair while newer fans might list Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin and John Cena.

Yet ask those same people to pick their favorite wrestler-turned-movie star and the decision gets a whole lot easier.

There's only one choice.

Dwayne Johnson, better known as The Rock, has starred in three movies over the past three months, "Snitch," "G.I Joe: Retaliation" and "Pain & Gain," and each film was the top new release at the box office its opening weekend.

His next movie, "Fast & Furious 6," will have to face down "The Hangover Part III" and "Epic" to keep that streak alive, but no one questions whether it will be a hit. Every film in the franchise has been, and early projections suggest the only question is whether it will hit $500 million, $750 million or $1 billion worldwide.

Johnson is currently in the midst of a streak unheard of not only in the history of former wrestlers but also other athletes who tried to cross over into the film business. Hogan, Cena, Shaq and even O.J. Simpson made a few movies, but none of them became a bona fide movie star. (Note: One sage reader pointed out that we forgot about Olympic swimming gold medalists Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe, who became "Tarzan" and "Flash Gordon," respectively. How could we forget Weissmuller's yell?)

"Everyone sitting in my chair is trying to work with Dwayne," Jeff Kirschenbaum, co-president of production at Universal, which has released five movies starring Johnson, told TheWrap. "I don't think he's having a moment. This isn't his 15 seconds of fame. He now has enough experience and craftsmanship that it's going to be a long run."

While this isn't the first time Johnson has been atop the box office, this is his first uninterrupted string of hits. His early films ranged from financially successful ("The Scorpion King," "The Game Plan," "The Tooth Fairy") to disappointing ("Doom," "The Rundown").

"I don't know that no one took him seriously because of wrestling, but he's the only person who has ever truly emerged out of that," an individual close to Johnson, who declined to be identified, told TheWrap.

So how did this happen? How did a former football player and member of the inimitable Rock 'n' Sock Connection became one of the most successful actors working today?

It starts with protein.

"He wakes up at 4 a.m. just so he can eat protein," Kirschenbaum, skinny as the Rock is broad, said. "He goes back to bed for an hour and at 5 a.m. he works out - when most people aren't even awake. He woke up an hour early just so the protein is already there to build muscle."

Johnson's morning routine has become a Hollywood legend, alongside Sean Penn's partying and Amanda Bynes' drunk driving.

Ask anyone who's worked with Johnson why he has succeeded where others have failed and they jump to tell a story about those pre-dawn workouts. It's what Ric Roman Waugh, who directed Johnson in "Snitch," dubbed the actor's "sweat equity."

"A lot of people can say 'we worked hard and can stay up late'," Waugh said. "But if they could only understand the amount of stuff he's putting into one day, it's astounding. The sky could be falling in his world, but in that moment you need him to focus, he's 100 percent with you."

That workload has only increased over the past two years. Since resurrecting his wrestling career in 2012, Johnson has expanded his film and TV work. Not only is he starring in several movies this year, but he just produced his first film, "Snitch," and is about to host a competition show on TNT, "The Hero."

When he first decided to try his hand at acting, Johnson retired from the WWE at the height of his popularity. Yet his specific wrestling personality explains why Johnson found his way in Hollywood where the likes of Hogan and Cena did not.

Like most any other wrestler, he can use his hands or a two-by-four to destroy someone. He demonstrated as much in early films like "The Scorpion King," where he played a mercenary, and "Walking Tall," where he played a veteran eager to rid his town of corruption.

Kirschenbaum described those early performances as "raw," and those early characters as two-dimensional. That is where the career path of most former pro wrestlers both started and stopped.

"Most wrestlers have been straight-forward characters or amped up versions of the real individual," Adi Shankar, producer of "The Grey" and an avid wrestling fan, told TheWrap. "Hulk Hogan acted in a bunch of B-movies playing Hulk Hogan."

Instead, Johnson and his representatives experimented from the get-go, taking roles most wrestlers would not want to touch.

He played the straight man next to Sean William Scott in "The Rundown," which also called for him to get dry humped by a gaggle of baboons.

He then played a gay bodyguard in "Be Cool," and later entered the family area with "Tooth Fairy" and "Journey 2." All of his hits in 2013 feature action scenes, but "Snitch" is an adult drama and "Pain & Gain" is as quirky as a Michael Bay movie comes.

"Most action stars out there would never ever break their brand," Waugh, a former stunt man, said. "They would read a script and see a scene where they get beat down and say the guy has to punch me at least 10 times and hit me with a bat 14 times. Dwayne is completely fearless."

Unlike most of his peers, Johnson's popularity in wrestling was never predicated on physical prowess or intimidation.

"Stone Cold would get over because he'd beat everyone up. Shawn Michaels was one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. Mick Foley would just do crazy stuff," Shankar said. "The Rock got over because he was funny. You take humor out of the Rock and you don't have anything."

Shankar can remember when he first fell in love with The Rock. The Undertaker, one of the largest, most intimidating wrestlers in the WWE, had just battered and bruised the former football player. At the next event, The Rock came out and challenged him.

"He said 'Undertaker, you think you impress The Rock with your Mickey Mouse tattoos?' He acted like the Undertaker's goal in life was to come out and impress The Rock," Shankar recalled. "He wasn't a heavyweight champion at this point - just a guy coming up. The Undertaker had been around for a decade."

He was a showman first and a wrestler second.

"No matter how bad the show was, The Rock could cut a promo and save it," Shankhar said. "He could get on the mic and speak for three minutes and save a bad show."

Some claim the same now applies to poorly received films, with some dubbing Johnson franchise Viagra. Did your last sequel fail? Hire Johnson.

Some, like Waugh, love this term. Yet many chafe against the idea that Johnson saved their movies, believing it disrespectful to the previous success of the franchises he joined.

Whether Viagra or a supporting hand, there is one thing all directors and studio executives can agree on.

"My biggest concern on my next movie is that he's not in it,"Waugh said.


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Longest-serving soap actor charged in UK with rape

LONDON (Reuters) - William Roache, the world's longest serving soap actor according to Guinness World Records, was charged on Wednesday with two counts of rape against an underage girl, British prosecutors said.

Roache, 81, who plays Ken Barlow in the popular soap opera "Coronation Street", is the latest high-profile figure to be accused of sex crimes in Britain since the death of BBC television presenter Jimmy Savile in 2011.

Savile was one of the BBC's biggest stars in the 1970s and 1980s, but after his death police discovered he had allegedly committed sex crimes on an unprecedented scale, triggering an investigation that has netted several other celebrities.

"We have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest for Mr Roache to be charged with two offences of rape relating to a girl, aged 15, in 1967," said prosecutor Nazir Afzal in a statement.

Roache is expected to appear at Preston Magistrates' Court, in northern England, on May 14. Neither he nor his representatives have made any comment since his arrest earlier on Wednesday.

Roache's arrest was not directly related to Savile investigations.

Other high-profile figures arrested in connection with sexual crimes since the Savile probe began include celebrity publicist Max Clifford, glam-rock singer Gary Glitter and comedian Freddie Starr, all of whom deny any wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas; Editing by Michael Roddy)


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Laura Bush, top country singers headline George Jones memorial

(Reuters) - Country music legend George Jones will be remembered in a public memorial service featuring former First Lady Laura Bush and a list of speakers and musical performers including Brad Paisley and Alan Jackson on Thursday at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee.

Jones, whose honky-tonk career spanned more than six decades, died in Nashville last week at the age of 81.

The memorial service will be open to the public, the singer's publicist announced.

Jones, known for such hits as "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and "Window Up Above," will get a royal tribute from some of country music's biggest musicians, including singers Charlie Daniels, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt and Wynonna Judd.

Speakers at the service will also include singer Kenny Chesney, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and TV news anchor Bob Schieffer.

The funeral will be broadcast on local and national television in the United States and on satellite radio.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Gary Hill)


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Beyonce, J.Lo to headline London charity concert for women

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Florence & The Machine are teaming up for a four-hour charity concert in London next month to benefit women's health and education projects around the world.

The "Sound of Change Live" concert on June 1 in London's Twickenham sports stadium could fund at least 120 projects supporting girls and women in more than 70 nations, if all the tickets are sold, organizers said on Wednesday.

Organized by the Chime for Change campaign, founded by Italy fashion house Gucci, every ticket buyer will be able to choose which project their ticket will fund in what organizers said was a world first for such a venture.

Beyonce, currently on a European tour, will play a 45-minute set. She will be joined in the venture by singer and dancer Lopez, R&B artist John Legend, British indie sensation Ellie Goulding and rapper Timbaland, with more performers still to be announced.

U.S. actors James Franco, Blake Lively and Jada Pinkett Smith will be among the presenters.

"Our goal is to have a great time together while we unite and strengthen the voices of girls and women around the world," Beyonce said in a statement.

Rock promoter Harvey Goldsmith, who helped put on the Live Aid and Live Earth charity concerts, will produce the concert which will also be broadcast internationally.

Ticket prices range from 55-95 British pounds each ($85-$150) and 52,000 tickets are on sale.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)


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Bono's one-time Sydney holiday home sells for record $55.4 million

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Sydney harborfront mansion has been sold for a record-setting A$54 million ($55.4 million) to a Chinese-born businessman, reinforcing the city's growing status as a hot property destination, newspapers said on Thursday.

On the market for six years, the luxurious eight-bedroom "Altona" in exclusive Point Piper was bought in a secret deal with the businessman who currently lives in Melbourne, the newspapers reported.

The property and its heated waterside pool and boathouse, rented by U2 rock star Bono in 2006 for a family holiday, was last sold in 2002 for A$28 million.

While Australian capital city home prices rose by only 1.3 percent in March, top end Sydney properties have attracted strong interest from Chinese buyers, and almost three in four international sales have gone to Asian buyers in recent years.

The Altona sale beat the previous Sydney property sale record of A$45 million, but fell short of the national record of A$57.5 million paid in 2009 by mining services magnate Chris Ellison for a sprawling riverfront home in Perth.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Nick Macfie)


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Monty Python star Michael Palin to receive top British TV award

LONDON (Reuters) - Film and television star Michael Palin, who made his name as a founder of comedy group Monty Python, is to receive one of the British entertainment industry's highest accolades.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) said on Friday that Palin, who turns 70 this month, would be presented with an Academy Fellowship at the organization's annual TV awards ceremony on May 12.

BAFTA Chairman John Willis said the award recognized the contribution Palin had made to the industry over five decades.

"(His) amiable onscreen manner belies the seriousness of his craft," Willis said in a statement.

Palin started out writing television series and wrote and starred in some of Monty Python's best-known sketches including "Dead Parrot" and "The Lumberjack Song".

He won a BAFTA best supporting actor award for the 1988 comedy film "A Fish Called Wanda".

But from the late 1980s he turned his attention to travel documentaries, appearing in "Around the World in 80 Days", "Pole to Pole", and, most recently, "Brazil with Michael Palin".

Palin said it was a "very high honor" for anyone working in television to be awarded a BAFTA Fellowship.

"I'm well aware that any success I've had is down to team work. I've been blessed throughout my career with the inspiration and support of others," he said.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Louise Ireland)


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Witherspoon pleads no contest, video of drunken arrest posted on Internet

(Reuters) - Academy award-winning actress Reese Witherspoon has pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct and paid a $100 fine after she was arrested with her husband following an evening out in Atlanta last month.

The deputy solicitor of the Municipal Court of Atlanta, Ronda Graham, said in a statement on Thursday that "the pending criminal matters against Ms. Reese Witherspoon and Mr. Jim Toth have been resolved."

Toth, 42, entered a guilty plea to drunk driving and received a $600 fine. He must also complete 40 hours of community service.

In a video of the arrest posted on the celebrity website TMZ, Witherspoon is shown accusing the state trooper who arrested her of harassment.

"Do you know my name?" she asks. "You're about to find out who I am."

The video was viewed more than 120,000 times on YouTube by Friday afternoon, and was picked up by other media outlets.

Witherspoon, who won a best actress Oscar for her portrayal of the country singer June Carter Cash in "Walk the Line," apologized for her actions in an interview on the "Good Morning America" television show on Thursday.

She said she panicked after Toth was arrested and had told the officer "crazy things" after having too many glasses of wine in an restaurant in Atlanta, where she is filming a movie.

"I have no idea what I was talking about. And I am so sorry. I was so disrespectful to him," the mother-of-three said.

They were stopped after Toth crossed a double line on the road and then failed a blood-alcohol test.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)


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