Davy Jones of "The Monkees," dead at 66

Davy Jones, whose charming grin and British accent won the hearts of millions of fans on the 1960s television series "The Monkees," died Wednesday, according to the Martin County, Florida, sheriff's office. He was 66.
A witness told authorities he was with Jones in Indiantown, Florida, when Jones "began to complain of not feeling well and having trouble breathing," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
Jones was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.
A Martin County law enforcement source with knowledge of the case said Jones apparently suffered a heart attack.
Laurie Jacobson, whose company Living Legends LTD often booked Jones for Hollywood nostalgia shows, spoke with him two days ago about several new bookings.
"He was a vegetarian, and there was not an ounce of fat on the guy," Jacobson said. "He lived on the beach in Florida and ran miles every morning. This is the last person I expected this to happen to. He couldn't have been in better shape."
The diminutive vocalist and actor sang lead on the musical group's hits such as "Daydream Believer" and "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You."
Besides Jones, The Monkees included band members Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith. The pop group was created to star in an NBC sitcom and capitalize on the Beatles' teenybopper popularity. "The Monkees" TV series premiered in the fall of 1966.
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In terms of musical popularity, the project succeeded beyond anyone's expectations, with the group notching a handful of No. 1 songs (including "I'm a Believer," Billboard's top song of 1967) and four No. 1 albums.
The group, which was dubbed the "prefab four" by critics, rebelled against its management in an effort to take control of its musical career.
The move worked to an extent -- band members, who had generally been replaced by session men on Monkees recordings, were allowed to play their own instruments and contribute songs -- but coincided with a decline in the Monkees' popularity. NBC canceled the TV series "The Monkees" after just two seasons, and the band lasted for only one more year after that.
Though the TV show was never a huge ratings hit, its knockabout, Marx Brothers-style comedy -- inspired, to an extent, by the loopier sequences in the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night" -- gained fans and followers, reigniting the band's popularity when MTV reran the show in the mid-'80s.
Demand for Jones at nostalgia shows was brisk, Jacobson said.
"He's been really busy," she said. "He's toured with his band, singing as well. He loved to pick up these little autograph shows. He loved the fans, he loved spending time with his fans. He often got on stage and performed at these shows. The lines for him were always out the door."
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce said flowers in honor of Jones would be placed on The Monkees' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday afternoon.
"That David has stepped beyond my view causes me the sadness that it does many of you," Nesmith posted on his Facebook page Wednesday. "I will miss him, but I won't abandon him to mortality ... David's spirit and soul live well in my heart, among all the lovely people, who remember with me the good times, and the healing times, that were created for so many, including us."
"His talent will be much missed; his gifts will be with us always," said fellow Monkee Peter Tork. "My deepest sympathy to Jessica and the rest of his family."
Beatle Ringo Starr issued a short statement: "God bless Davy. Peace & love to his family, Ringo."
David Thomas Jones was born December 30, 1945, in Manchester, England. He was already famous in his home country when he joined the Monkees. He had starred in the musical "Oliver!" on the London stage as the Artful Dodger and was nominated for a Tony for his performance on Broadway, according to a biography on a Monkees fan site. Indeed, he got a taste of the Beatles' popularity when the "Oliver!" cast appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on February 9, 1964 -- the date of the Beatles' first appearance.
After the Monkees broke up, Jones enjoyed occasional acting roles, including a guest spot on an episode of "The Brady Bunch" and appearances in "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "The Brady Bunch Movie." When he wasn't singing -- he participated in several Monkees reunions over the years -- he was devoted to owning and racing horses.
Jones was married three times. He is survived by his third wife, Jessica Pacheco, and four daughters from his two previous marriages.
He told Britain's Daily Mail last year that he used to be 5 feet 4 inches tall, "but I've lost an inch."
He posted photographs of his horses, his grandchildren and himself on his blog, "Keep up with Jones," sometimes also posting messages to fans.
"I wrote some time ago that not everyone has dreams and hopes that come true," he wrote in a January 2011 message. "Mine have.
"Regrets, yes -- if you don't have them you're a fool. However, I thank all of you -- yeah, you -- for your support and love."

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The A&E Network is getting ready to dig up “Stephen King’s Bag of Bones,” a four-hour epic miniseries based on The New York Times #1 bestselling novel, which features Pierce Brosnan’s return to television. The two-night event premieres on Sunday, December 11 and concludes on Monday, December 12, airing at 9PM ET/PT on both nights. The miniseries is directed by Mick Garris, who has previously adapted King’s work (“The Stand,” “The Shining”) for television.

Brosnan plays bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, who is unable to stop grieving after the tragic death of his wife Jo (Annabeth Gish). Suffering from writer’s block, a dream inspires Noonan to return to the couple’s lakeside retreat where he is plagued by nightmares and mysterious ghostly visitations from Sara Tidwell (Rose), a blues singer whose spirit lingers in the house.

Here are some early reviews of A&E’s miniseries, which describe Mick Garris’ adaptation as terrifying in all the wrong ways.

“The explanations, when they come, are violent, sordid and anticlimactic. Mr. King’s original, ambiguous ending is eliminated so that things can end on a more affirmative note.

The King veteran Mick Garris (‘Sleepwalkers,’ the TV version of ‘The Shining’), directing from a screenplay by Matt Venne, delivers some effective jolts of horror early on but seems to lose his touch as the story makes progressively less sense. The final ghostly appearance, which takes place in a bathtub, is more giggly than scary.” — Mike Hale, New York Times.

“Try as Brosnan does, he cannot overcome the dutifully chock full story (adapted by Mike Venne, directed by King regular Mick Garris), which quickly feels like a Stephen King theme park ride.

The original sin at the heart of ‘Bag of Bones’ is a powerful one, but by the time it is revealed, in a shamefully Scooby-Doo-like way, you’re more than ready to get off the ride.” — Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times.

“Barely intrigued viewers — including anyone who has ever seen half an episode of ‘Ghost Whisperer’ — will make quick work of ‘Bag of Bones’ on the first night. This leaves the question of who will come back for a second night of this drivel, especially given the terrifying number of commercial breaks. Perhaps there’s a King novella to be written about the nightmare of watching ‘Bag of Bones,’ in which a ghost who can’t reach the clicker must watch all those ads for Christmas sales. Her torment is eternal.” — Hank Stuever, The Washington Post.

“‘Bag of Bones,’ especially this adaptation of it, doesn’t have the benefit of the great start. It’s never clear what the story is really about, or how its many pieces fit together. It’s just a collection of creepy imagery, lots of screaming and the occasional musical number for Anika Noni Rose. Not that I mind getting to hear her sing; I’d just rather it was in the middle of a much more interesting story.” — Alan Sepinwall, HitFix

The two-night event premieres on Sunday, December 11 and concludes on Monday, December 12, airing at 9PM ET/PT.

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Toilet For Sale

KERNERSVILLE, N.C. – A North Carolina collectibles dealer is hawking a toilet ripped from reclusive author J.D. Salinger's former home.

Rick Kohl of The Vault said Friday he bought the standard white porcelain fixture from a New Hampshire couple who owned a home where the author of "Catcher in the Rye" once lived.

To vouch that this is no phony, Kohl has a letter from the homeowner attesting that she and her husband replaced the toilet while remodeling, and that they knew the workmen who installed it decades ago.

The receptacle has an eBay asking price of $1 million, though Kohl says he's willing to see what the literary giant's home throne will fetch.

The toilet's lid is stamped with a manufacturing date of 1962, well after the 1951 publication date of Salinger's classic novel.

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Roy Rogers' Stuffed Horse Sold

A Nebraska cable TV network ponied up $266,500 for Roy Rogers' stuffed and mounted horse, Trigger, at an auction in New York City on Wednesday.

The movie cowboy's faithful companion was bought by the cable company RFD-TV in Omaha, Neb., at a Christie's auction of items from the now-closed Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Branson, Mo.

Trigger's sale price outpaced the estimated $100,000 to $200,000 it was expected to fetch, with many other items also selling far above estimate.

RFD-TV's chief financial officer Steve Campione says Rogers reflects the company's values. The network airs mainly agricultural, equine and country living programming.

The company's owner, Patrick Gottsch, wanted to buy the whole Rogers collection but didn't have time to work out the deal, Campione said.

"It came to our attention a little too late," Campione said. "By the time we lined up the right financing and kind of got our arms around the value of the collection, it was literally 24 hours ago."

Auctioneer Cathy Elkies said it was the "most colorful, emotional and sentimental" sale she had experienced in her 20 years at Christie's. Many of the bidders in the packed hall came in Western attire and cowboy boots, and there were more than a few tears.

Rogers' son Roy Jr. cried at the beginning of the sale as he spoke of the family's decision to auction Roy's belongings.

"We hope you get a piece of Roy and Dale and take it home and you'll get to pass it on to your children," he said.

There also were strong emotions among Jamie Nudie, Mary Lynn Cabrall and Julie Ann Ream, who flew in from Los Angeles to reclaim a piece of their personal history.

Nudie's grandfather was the "rodeo tailor" who designed Rogers' colorful Western outfits, as well as Rogers' silver-dollar encrusted 1964 Bonneville convertible that sold for $254,500 on the auction block.

The three women have carried on Nudie's Western tailoring business, and they were there to reclaim the Nudie trailer shaped like a covered wagon that the tailor had given to Rogers as a gift in the 1960s. Ream broke down in tears when her paddle went up and she got the trailer for $3,000 without a fight. The trailer was expected to fetch between $5,000 and $8,000.

"For it to come back into our family — it's amazing," she said.

Ream, the niece of another famous singing cowboy, Rex Allen, said her family was close friends with the Rogers' family. She said some of Rogers' children didn't support the auction, and she didn't think Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans, would have wanted the collection dispersed either.

"They are spinning in their graves right now," she said.

Cabrall, also a family friend, had another take on Rogers' wishes.

"Roy always said, `When I'm dead, skin me and put me up on Trigger,'" she said. "It's a famous quote. If he got his wish, he'd be up here for sale today."

Rogers had Trigger preserved with taxidermy and mounted rearing on its hind legs in 1965. The presale estimate for the horse was $100,000 to $200,000.

Roy Jr. said it was difficult to put the collection up for auction, but he said Rogers had told the family to sell the museum collection if it stopped making money and became a burden.

"You're smiling out of one side of the face and crying out of the other," he said.

As for Trigger's new owner, Campione says RFD-TV hopes to start its own Western museum and is looking to buy more Rogers items.

In the meantime, Trigger will be put to pasture at either the network's office lobby or Gottsch's house until final plans are made.

Other items auctioned Wednesday included Roy's first guitar, which sold for $8,750, compared to an estimated high of $3,000; his first boots, which sold for $7,500, compared to an estimate of $4,000; and a charm bracelet that sold for $20,000, compared to an estimate of $9,000.

All sale prices include the buyer's premium of 25 percent for most items, or 20 percent for prices in excess of $50,000.

The auction was to continue Thursday with more than 1,000 items, including the Rogers' family dinner table, toy six-shooters, Rogers-themed tin lunchboxes and the Jeep "Nellybelle" from the Roy Rogers TV show.

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Kelsey Grammer and Wife Ending Marriage

Kelsey Grammer and his wife are divorcing after nearly 13 years of marriage.

Court records show Camille Grammer filed for divorce from the "Cheers" and "Frasier" star Thursday in Los Angeles.

Grammer and his wife were married in August 1997 and have two children, ages 8 and 5.

The actor's publicist, Stan Rosenfield, issued a statement seeking privacy for the family.

Camille Grammer is seeking physical custody of the children and visitation for the 55-year-old actor.

The filing cites "irreconciliable differences" for the breakup but offers no details.



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Manager Who Discovered Kiss Dies

Bill Aucoin, who discovered the rock group Kiss and helped build them into a musical and merchandising juggernaut, died Monday in Florida. He was 66.

Aucoin died at Aventura Hospital and Medical Center in Aventura of surgical complications from prostate cancer, said Carol Kaye, a family spokeswoman.

A former television cinematographer, Aucoin discovered Kiss in New York City in 1973 and helped launch the makeup-wearing, fire-breathing quartet into a moneymaking machine.

He financed the band's first tour on his personal American Express credit card when money was tight, but he was well rewarded when the band's popularity exploded in 1975 with the hit "Rock And Roll All Nite."

"He was the fifth Kiss," said drummer Peter Criss, who had Aucoin serve as the best man at his second wedding. "If it wasn't for Bill, there would be no Kiss."

Aucoin first saw the band at a showcase gig at New York's Diplomat Hotel, then brought it upstairs to meet with record company executive Neil Bogart, who signed it as the first act on his Casablanca Records label.

Criss said Aucoin had an eye for what was visually striking and recognized the vast merchandising potential of rock bands in a way that few others could. With Aucoin's help, Kiss became as famous for the vast array of products bearing their likeness — including belt buckles, Halloween costumes and makeup kits, action figurines, vitamins and even a Kiss pinball machine — as they were for their music.

By 1978, they were voted the No. 1 band in America in a Gallup poll.

"He was a genius," Criss said. "Anything you could do, he could do bigger."

After parting with Kiss in the early 1980s, Aucoin managed Billy Squier and Billy Idol.

He is survived by his longtime partner, Roman Fernandez, and two sisters, Betty Britton and Janet Bankowski.

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A tribute from fans, a lawsuit from dad

LOS ANGELES – On the day Michael Jackson's fans paid their respects with tears, tributes, songs and dance, Jackson's father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the doctor charged with giving his son a lethal dose of drugs.

Joe Jackson's visit to a federal courtroom in Los Angeles, while thousands of people were filing through the gates of a nearby cemetery to mourn the man they call the King of Pop, punctuated once again just how brilliantly the star that was Michael Jackson's life had burned, and how suddenly it had been extinguished.

"The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, Gone Too Soon," proclaimed a 100-foot banner spread out near the entrance to Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale on Friday to mark the first anniversary of Jackson's death.

"He's been my idol all my life since I can remember. I feel like I haven't had closure," said Erick Dominguez, who traveled more than 80 miles from his home in Victorville to the Los Angeles suburb to pay his respects. As he spoke, the 37-year-old sales representative, his eyes hidden by sunglasses, began to weep. He was joined by mourners from Italy, France, Spain, Norway and numerous other parts of the world.

Several of Jackson's relatives also visited the cemetery, going to its mausoleum, where Jackson's body is entombed and which is off limits to the public. Brother Tito shook hands with fans as he arrived, and brother Jermaine rolled down a window and waved as the family left in a fleet of luxury vehicles. As they departed, fans released a flock of white doves.

"It was a beautiful sight," said one of the mourners, Courtland Llauger.

In Jackson's hometown of Gary, Ind., hundreds cheered as the entertainer's mother, Katherine Jackson, unveiled a memorial to her son in the front yard of the modest home where he grew up.

"This past year has been very hard on the family," she told the crowd. "If it wasn't for the help of all of you, we wouldn't have made it through."

Jackson died June 25, 2009 at age 50, just before he was to begin a comeback tour. Dr. Conrad Murray has pleaded not guilty to felony involuntary manslaughter. Authorities say Murray provided the entertainer with a mix of sedatives — including the powerful anesthetic propofol — that killed him.

Jackson's father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the physician Friday, seeking more than $75,000. The complaint accuses Murray of professional negligence and contends he tried to conceal his administration of propofol after Jackson's death. Propofol is normally administered only in hospital settings. Murray had been providing it in the bedroom of Jackson's rented mansion in Los Angeles to help him sleep after the physically grueling rehearsals the performer had been putting himself through to get in shape for his comeback.

Murray attorney Charles Peckham said in a statement he expected his client's innocence to be "proven in a court of law."

Away from the courtroom, numerous tributes to Jackson, both poignant and joyful, unfolded throughout the day.

In Japan, hundreds met at Tokyo Tower to honor Jackson with a candlelight vigil, a gospel concert and more. Some got a chance to see some of his possessions, including costumes from his tours and even a 1967 Rolls-Royce Phantom that he used to drive around Los Angeles.

"I don't know what to say. Seeing all his things makes it all come back to me," said Yumiko Sasaki, a 48-year-old Tokyo office worker who said she has been a Jackson fan since she was 12. "It makes me so sad to think that he is gone. He was wonderful."

In New York City, crowds gathered at Harlem's fabled Apollo Theater, where Jackson and his brothers rocketed to fame as the Jackson 5, winning amateur night in the late 1960s. His pictures were hung outside and a sidewalk plaque honored the singer alongside such other Apollo legends as James Brown and Smokey Robinson.

In Santa Barbara's wine country, people showed up throughout the day at Neverland, the playland home where Jackson once lived with his own zoo and amusement park. There, by the front gates, they danced, listened to music and exchanged hugs and tears.

In cyberspace, people also paused to remember Jackson. Among them was Mariah Carey who said via Twitter that she was marking the day by watching the video "You Are Not Alone."

"Love and prayers to MJ 'King of Pop,'" she tweeted. "You will be remembered forever. We miss you."

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Ed Hardy Make-up

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Amanda Bynes Retires?

Amanda Bynes claims that she is retiring from acting. She definitely hasn't been acting because she has not starred in a film since 2007.

Amanda must have realized that her career wasn't going anywhere so she has decided to quit acting at age 24.

"Being an actress isn't as fun as it may seem," she wrote on her Twitter page. "If I don't love something anymore, I stop doing it. I don't love acting anymore, so I've stopped doing it."

"I know 24 is a young age to retire but you heard it here first I've #retired," she added.

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Did Ex-wife Shannon Kill Gary Coleman?

Sounding defensive, Shannon Price, actor Gary Coleman's ex-wife fuels the suspicion that she may have contributed to Gary's recent death. Adding to that is their rocky relationship and possibly Gary's estate. However, that estate may not be worth much at all. Over the course of his Diff'rent Strokes career, Coleman earned roughly $18 million. Coleman's parents set up a trust fund for the money, but wrote themselves into the agreement as paid employees. When the court dissolved the trust, his parents' share was said to be worth only $770,000, while Coleman himself reportedly saw only $220,000. Coleman successfully sued his parents and managers, but for nowhere near the amount he had earned during the course of the show; reports of the settlement ranged from $1.8 to $3.8 million. Unless Gary was careful with that money there truely may be little in the bank. As this plays out, time will show if Shannon had any involvement in Gary Coleman's passing.

Gary Coleman’s ex-wife said on “Good Morning America” Monday that she would take her own life before ever harming him and that the couple had actually been planning to renew their wedding vows until health issues intervened.

Shannon Price, who arrived for the interview in a wheelchair, also described the moments leading up to the fall that eventually resulted in Coleman’s death.

"I asked him if he could make me some food," she told the ABC show. "He went down there (to the kitchen) and I heard this big smack. I went down there and found him in a pool of blood.

"People can say whatever they want. I know the truth," she said. "I would never hurt my husband, ever."

Price and the former child star, who died May 26 of an intracranial hemorrhage, married in 2007 when she was 22 and he was 40. They divorced in 2008 but she said they planned to remarry.

"We decided that (divorce) wasn't what we wanted,” she told GMA. “We just had a disagreement. After we filed and it went through we decided that wasn't the right choice."

Health issues delayed their vow renewals, she said, adding, "I have had a lot of health issues. I have seizures, I have anxiety. I miss my husband a lot. I can barely get around. It's been a trial."

Coleman had a lifelong history of health problems, including congenital kidney disease that resulted in two kidney transplants, and heart surgery complicated by pneumonia last fall.

"We discussed death a few times and he always said he would be very unfair if he left me and I really respect that," Price told GMA, "because I loved him and he loved me and we just can't live without each other."

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Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers

Kylie Minogue's new song All The Lovers.
See and hear it here.

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Actor, Dennis Hopper Passes Away

Dennis Hopper, who brought the counterculture to Hollywood with "Easy Rider" and led a career marked by successes, failures and comebacks, has passed away at age 74.

Hopper, who was twice nominated for Oscars and earned a star this year on the Walk of Fame, died Saturday at his home in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles, family friend Alex Hitz said. Hopper had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009.

"We rode the highways of America and changed the way movies were made in Hollywood," Peter Fonda, his "Easy Rider" co-star, said in comments carried by several news outlets. "I was blessed by his passion and friendship."

The success of "Easy Rider" and failure of his next film, "The Last Movie," fit the pattern for the talented but wild Hopper, who also had parts in such favorites as "Rebel Without a Cause," "Apocalypse Now," "Blue Velvet" and "Hoosiers."

Other tributes were posted on celebrities' websites and Twitter feeds.

"So long Dennis," actress Virginia Madsen, who starred in the Hopper-directed "The Hot Spot," said on her Twitter page. "U taught me so much."

After a promising start that included roles in two James Dean films, Hopper's acting career languished as he developed a reputation for tantrums and drug abuse. On the set of "True Grit," Hopper so angered John Wayne that the star reportedly chased Hopper with a loaded gun.

"Much of Hollywood," wrote critic-historian David Thomson, "found Hopper a pain in the neck."

All was forgiven when he collaborated with Fonda on a script about two pot-smoking, drug-dealing hippies on a cross-country motorcycle trip.

On the way, Hopper and Fonda befriend a drunken young lawyer (Jack Nicholson in a breakout role) but arouse the enmity of Southern rednecks and are murdered before they can return home.

"'Easy Rider' was never a motorcycle movie to me," Hopper said in 2009. "A lot of it was about politically what was going on in the country."

Fonda produced "Easy Rider" and Hopper directed it for a meager $380,000. It went on to gross $40 million worldwide, a substantial sum for its time.

It was a hit at Cannes, netted a best-screenplay Oscar nomination for Hopper, Fonda and Terry Southern.

The establishment gave official blessing in 1998 when "Easy Rider" was included in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Its success prompted studio heads to schedule a new kind of movie: low cost, with inventive photography and themes about a restive baby boom generation. With Hopper hailed as a brilliant filmmaker, Universal Pictures lavished $850,000 on his next project, "The Last Movie."

The title was prescient. Hopper took a large cast and crew to a village in Peru to film the tale of a tribe corrupted by a movie company. Trouble on the set developed almost immediately, as Peruvian authorities pestered the company and drug-induced orgies were reported.

The film took a drug-and-drink addled Hopper nearly a year to edit, and when it was released, "The Last Movie" was such a crashing failure that it made Hopper unwanted in Hollywood for a decade, and forced him to find work in Europe.

He made a remarkable comeback, starting with a memorable performance as a drugged-out journalist in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam War epic, "Apocalypse Now." Hopper was on drugs off camera, too, and his rambling chatter was worked into the film.

Hopper made a series of scattershot film appearances in the 1980s, but steady use of drugs and alcohol led him into rehab and at one point a hospital's psychiatric ward.

Upon his release, Hopper joined Alcoholics Anonymous, quit drugs and launched yet another comeback. It began in 1986 when he played an alcoholic ex-basketball star in "Hoosiers," and earned an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.

His role as a wild drunk in "Blue Velvet," also in 1986, won him more acclaim, and years later the character wound up No. 36 on the AFI's list of top 50 movie villains.

He also returned to directing, with "Colors," "The Hot Spot" and "Chasers."

Dennis Lee Hopper was born in 1936, in Dodge City, Kan., and spent much of his youth on the nearby farm of his grandparents.

After moving to San Diego with his family, he played Shakespeare at the Old Globe Theater.

Scouted by the studios, Hopper was under contract to Columbia until he insulted the boss, Harry Cohn. From there he went to Warner Bros., where he made "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Giant" while in his late teens.

Later, he moved to New York to study at the Actors Studio, where Dean had learned his craft.

Hopper married five times. In January he filed to end his 14-year marriage to Victoria Hopper, who said in court filings that the actor was seeking to cut her out of her inheritance, a claim Hopper denied.

He was married to a scion of a Hollywood family Brooke Hayward for eight years and to Mamas and the Papas singer Michelle Phillips for eight days.

He married Victoria Duffy, who was 32 years his junior, in 1996.

Hopper maintained a frantic work pace in the last two decades of his life.

He made it to the top of the box office as a vengeful bus bomber in the 1994 hit "Speed," and in the 2000s, he was featured in such films as "Jesus' Son" and the television series "Crash."

"Work is fun to me," Hopper told a reporter in 1991. "All those years of being an actor and a director and not being able to get a job — two weeks is too long to not know what my next job will be."



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Lindsay Lohan To Be Arrested

Click photo for her bio.

Soon to be just 24, Lindsay Lohan faces arrest when she returns from France to Los Angeles after an exasperated Beverly Hills judge said the actress had "no valid excuse" for missing a probation hearing on Thursday.

Judge Marsha Revel issued an arrest warrant for the "Mean Girls" actress after hearing Lohan missed three alcohol education classes imposed in a 2007 drunken driving case.

Revel also said Lohan should undergo random weekly drug and alcohol testing on her return to California, be fitted with an alcohol monitoring bracelet and should not drink any alcohol until a formal hearing to determine whether she has violated her probation.

Lohan's lawyer told Revel that the actress was stranded in France because her passport had been stolen during a trip to the Cannes film festival.

"If she wanted to be here it looks to the court like she could have been here," Revel said. "There is really no valid excuse."

"She has to take this seriously. I warned her before," said Revel, who in October extended Lohan's probation after other missed classes and warned her she risked being sent to jail.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told reporters that Lohan could potentially be arrested at the airport when she eventually arrives.

She could also surrender herself to authorities and be booked and processed before posting bail, set at $100,000and being released.

"She will be treated just like every other inmate in the Los Angeles county jail system," Whitmore said of the booking procedure.

Lohan's lawyer Shawn Chapman Holley said Lohan now has a new passport. It was not immediately clear when she would arrive back in Los Angeles.

Holley was asked by reporters outside court if she thought the judge had been harsh on Lohan, Holley said she "can't help but believe that part of the judge's impetus for doing this" is the heavy media coverage of the actress.

The alcohol education classes are part of Lohan's sentence for a 2007 arrest for drunken driving, reckless driving and driving under the influence of cocaine.

She was also sentenced to 24 hours jail but spent just 84 minutes behind bars in 2007 because of overcrowding in Los Angeles lock-ups.

The former "Parent Trap" child star is now at risk of being sentenced to more jail time if Revel deems she has violated the terms of her probation once she attends a rescheduled court hearing at a date to be determined.

Lohan was photographed hitting the party circuit in Cannes this week and her frequent night-clubbing in Los Angeles and New York has been a source of celebrity gossip for months.

But officials from the alcohol education program she attends said in court documents that Lohan "has never come (to class) under the influence, been rude or disrespectful" and is "receptive to ideas regarding lifestyle changes".

Lohan's estranged father Michael Lohan attended Thursday's hearing and said through his lawyer afterward that he had asked Revel to send his daughter to a rehab clinic.

Lohan was considered one of Hollywood's most talented young actresses after films like "Bobby" and "Freaky Friday". But her life has spun out of control despite three stints in rehab.

In her last movie role with a U.S. theatrical release, Lohan played a stripper in the 2007 box-office flop "I Know Who Killed Me." She was dropped last month from a movie project after the film's financial backers deemed her "unbankable."

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Chastity Bono/Chaz Bono

Chastity Bono With Mom, Cher Early 1970's


Chastity Bono Now Chaz Bono


Chastity Bono


Chaz Bono On A Date With Jennifer Elia
2009 Hollywood

CHER'S DAUGHTER is now officially a man! Chaz Bono recieved legal status as a male on Thursday after a judge approved the request made by the writer, activist and reality TV star in Santa Monica, California. Born as Chastity Bono to Sonny Bono and Cher, the 41 year old, had undergone a sex change operation last year and turned her identity to Chaz Bono.

Born as Chastity Bono, the only child of Sonny Bono and Cher, the LGBT advocate claims she had realised that she was a lesbian at a young age. In a book, the 41 year old had penned, “As a child, I always felt there was something different about me. I’d look at other girls my age and feel perplexed by their obvious interest in the latest fashion, which boy in class was the cutest, and who looked the most like cover girl Christie Brinkley. When I was 13, I finally found a name for exactly how I was different. I realized I was gay.

Though the gender change treatment for Bono had begun shortly after her 40th birthday, but with this legal change in identity, Chaz Bono has completed an important phase in his transition to male gender.

Bono's attorney Kristina Wertz of the Transgender law center claimed that the legal identity change had complete an important phase in Chaz Bono's transition. She stated,"Chaz couldn't be happier. This is an important step in his transition and will allow him to change a variety of his identity documents to show who he truly is."

Bono who began his sex change operation procedure in March 2009, had said in December,"It's hard for me to articulate how this feels – when you've lived your whole life in a body and having everybody relate to you as something you don't feel. When that finally gets righted, it's just amazing. I finally get to live my life the way I've always wanted to."

The news that Bono gained permission for a legal gender change, that is his choice for a gender change led to him being recognised as a man legally, has led to a large search for images, photos and pics of Bono before his sex change operation and after. These pictures which are available various websites, give a detailed look at how the daughter of famous singer Cher turned into a man.

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Red Door to the Afterlife

This red granite door was intended to provide a passageway for the spirit into the afterlife. It was originally at the tomb of User who was a high official of Queen Hatshepsut.
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Leaving Las Vegas, Hitler's Favorite Car

A car expert says he has tracked down Hitler's favorite Mercedes to a garage near the town that helped the Austrian-born Fuehrer become a German citizen.
Classic cars specialist Michael Froehlich said he found the bullet-proof touring car after charting its postwar travels from Austria to Las Vegas and back to Munich, where Hitler burst onto the political scene with a failed putsch in 1923.
"It was the best car in the world at the time. Better than the Bugatti, Bentley, Rolls Royce or whatever," Froehlich told Reuters from his office in Duesseldorf. "It was his favorite car: the one he used most often, which he used for parades."
After being commissioned by a Cypriot buyer to find the vehicle, Froehlich discovered it had been bought by a farmer near Braunschweig, where in 1932 local Nazi officials got Hitler a civil servant's job so he could claim citizenship.
The dark blue car, which Froehlich said had spent decades in the basement of the Imperial Palace Casino in Las Vegas, was recently sold by the heirs of a Munich brewing tycoon before he traced it "in under two months" to northern Germany.
Froehlich said reports the buyer was Russian were mistaken, and rejected the notion that past owners of the vehicle with the number plate "1A 148 461" were admirers of the dictator. "They weren't Nazis from what I can see, I think it's something they saw as a business investment," he said. "I can well imagine that an old Hitler banger has a certain value."
Froehlich declined to name the car's price tag, or give details about the buyer, but said the 1935 edition custom-made vehicle could fetch "more than 10 million euros ($14.91 million)."
Though he had not yet had outside confirmation of the car's authenticity, the owner's paperwork left no doubt, he added.
"The Mercedes sales register shows this 770 K model was ordered for the Fuehrer and Chancellor of the Reich in 1935," he said.
Only 88 of the series were ever made and the Braunschweig car showed all the special modifications made for Hitler, who had to be driven because he had no "Fuehrerschein" -- a German word made up from "driver" and "license" -- Froehlich said.
Editor's Comments:
I really think the no "driver's license" is just another jab at Hitler. Adolf just liked being driven. Can you imagine the leader of any country hoping in the driver's seat of a limo and driving him/herself... It is also known that Adolf had many cars and that he did drive in private. Also that he designed the original Volkswagen Beetle. Prof. Ferdinand Porsche manufactured the first Volkswagen but Hitler drew the design of the body and the air cooled engine.

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Director Roman Polanski House Arrest

The story of Roman Polanski continues to get deeper. The 76-year-old director must stay in his house and wear an electronic bracelet as officials decide whether to extradite him to the U.S. for having sex near 32 years ago with a 13-year-old girl. Polanski will be transferred on Friday to his chalet at Gstaad, Switzerland. Polanski has been in Swiss custody since being arrested Sept. 26 on a U.S. warrant as he arrived in Zurich to receive a lifetime achievement award at a film festival. Authorities in Los Angeles want him returned to be sentenced after 31 years as a fugitive. Polanski was initially accused of raping the 13-year-old girl after plying her with champagne and a Quaalude pill during a modeling shoot in 1977. He was indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molestation and sodomy, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse. Roman fled the USA before being sentenced and has lived in France where he became a citizen. Just do a search for Roman Polanski and see all the other twists and turns...



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Metal to Metal at the Playground, Great Falls, Montana. NBMC Entertainment coverage leading up to Halloween 2009... Bang your heads... A Montana original. See more and order their music at http://www.myspace.com/undun666 and do note the "666." Watch the raw NBMC video below.



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Justin and Drew?

Drew Barrymore has just signed on to star opposite her former boyfriend in the romantic comedy, "Going the Distance." Now there are rumors circling about a possible new flame between Drew and Justin Long. Fueling the curiosity, Justin and Drew were spotted this weekend at the Farmers Market in Hollywood. Their people have declined to comment on their dating or not dating status. Barrymore and Long were once a dating item but broke up last July after seeing each other for nearly a year. They co-starred in the Barrymore produced movie, "He's Just Not That Into You." Drew will next be seen opposite Jessica Lange in director Michael Sucsy's, "Grey Gardens," premiering April 18 on HBO. Justin stars opposite Kristen Bell and Meg Ryan in, "Serious Moonlight," also out next month.

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Bikini Bertinelli

"What am I so afraid of? Come on – it's just a bathing suit!" Those are the words that Valerie Bertinelli told herself after a sleepless night. She was trying to prepare for her first public showing of her body in a bikini in after about thirty years. Valerie is best known for her role as Bonnie Franklin's daughter, Barbara Cooper Royer, on the long-running television series One Day at a Time and her marriage to Eddie Van Halen (1981–2007). Part of her interpretation about the bikini was due to her age. Valerie turns 49 on April 23rd but from the People mag cover it looks like time is on her side. Besides the bikini coming out, she is also proud of all the weight lost recently. Read the People article, Click Here.

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