According to a story in the Salt Lake City Desert News, Glenn Beck told a doting crowd of fans at Saturday’s “American Revival” event in Utah’s capital city that he was losing his eyesight. After a few jokes about his recent doctor’s visit, Beck reportedly turned serious. “I truly came to a place that is the greatest blessing. Lord, if you need my eyes, they’re yours. They’ve been yours the whole time, anyway. Thank you for letting me see as far as I have.”
Reuters reports Zsa Zsa Gabor has completed hip replacement surgery in a Los Angeles hospital. “We had some great news this morning,” her agent John Banchette told Reuters. “She came out of surgery after three and a half hours.” Gabor — who suffered a hip injury after falling in her home — is sedated and will be kept under watch at the hospital for four to five days.
Gruff-voiced character actor James Gammon, perhaps best known as Cleveland Indians manager Lou Brown in the 1989 big-screen comedy Major League, died Friday in Costa Mesa, Calif., after a battle with cancer, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 70 years old. The Illinois native boasted a lengthy Hollywood resume, with film credits including Urban Cowboy, The Milagro Beanfield War, Ironweed, Silverado, Major League II, and Cold Mountain. He played the father of Don Johnson’s character on Nash Bridges from 1996 to 2001, and guest-starred on TV shows such as Gunsmoke, The Waltons, Charlie’s Angels, Homefront, and Grey’s Anatomy. Gammon also made his mark on the stage, starring in a host of Sam Shepard plays and co-founding the MET Theater in Los Angeles; he earned a Tony nomination for his role in a 1996 Broadway production of Shepard’s Buried Child.
Zsa Zsa Gabor was hospitalized with a broken hip after falling from her bed Saturday night, her husband told CNN. The 93-year-old actress could face surgery later today, he added.
Paris Hilton was detained then released by Corsican police on Friday after they discovered marijuana in her handbag as she arrived by private jet on the French island, according to AFP. Hilton was reportedly carrying less than a gram and was not charged over the incident.
Earlier this month, Hilton was questioned by South African police on allegations of smoking pot outside a stadium during the World Cup soccer tournament.
Update: Hilton tweeted this morning, presumably in response to the AFR story, as follows: “So sick of people making up rumors about me. The latest one about me is completely false too. Don’t believe what you read. Silly nonsense.”
Lindsay Lohan has tapped celebrity attorney Robert Shapiro—one of the defense attorneys for O.J. Simpson at his 1995 murder trial—to serve as a member of her legal team, reports People. Shapiro, who founded the sober living house that Lohan checked into earlier this week, told the magazine that he agreed to represent her ”on the condition she comply with the terms of probation, including a requirement of jail, imposed by Judge Marsha Revel.” On July 6, the troubled actress was sentenced to 90 days in jail for violating her probation.
A federal court in Atlanta upheld tax evasion convictions against Wesley Snipes today. The actor had appealed his conviction on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file taxes from 1999 to 2001. He was found to owe $17 million in penalties and back taxes and also given a 3-year prison sentence.
Peter Fernandez, the voice of several characters on the imported Japanese anime TV series Speed Racer, passed away on Thursday, according to the Anime News Network website. The cause was lung cancer. Fernandez began his acting career early and appeared on Broadway with stage legend Ethel Barrymore at age 11. But it was his voice work on the high-octane cartoon for which he was best known. Fernandez not only dubbed the voice of the show’s title character beginning in 1967, but also Racer X and a host of others. He even wrote the lyrics to the catchy theme song. Speed Racer was adapted from the Japanese cartoon Mach Go Go Go and was turned into a big-budget, live-action Hollywood film in 2008 starring Emile Hirsch and directed by The Matrix‘s Wachowski brothers. Fernandez made a cameo in the film as an announcer. In an interview with The New York Times at the time of the film’s release, Fernandez said, “Of all the things you’ve done in show business, this is the one thing that’s recognized.” Of working on the show, he added, “The only instructions I got was to Americanize it. It was a challenging assignment, because the episodes would come in sporadically and with only rough translations. I never knew what was coming next.”
