TV, movie and music news | News Briefs

News Briefs TV, movie and music news

See Categories

See Archive

Archive: March 2011 (21-30 of 94)

Mar 24 2011 08:09 PM ET

Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Lanford Wilson has died at 73

by Adam B. Vary

Categories: Legacy, Stage

Image Credit: Marty Reichenthal/AP Images

Lanford Wilson, an American playwright who won the Pulitzer Prize for his play Talley’s Folly and whose work often broke ground in the depiction of homosexuality, died today of complications from pneumonia, according to the New York Times. He was 73. Born in Lebanon, Mo., Wilson co-founded the off-Broadway theater company the Circle Repertory Company, which debuted several of Wilson’s plays, including The Hot l Baltimore (1973), Fifth of July (1978), and Talley’s Folly (1980), a one-act play set in real time about a man and a woman deciding whether to get married.

Mar 24 2011 05:07 PM ET

Elizabeth Taylor to be buried today

by Mandi Bierly

Categories: In Memoriam, Movies

Elizabeth Taylor is expected to be buried Thursday at Forest Lawn in Glendale, Calif., says People, citing reports. The service will be strictly for family members, including her 10 grandchildren. Taylor died Wednesday at the age of 79. Swift burial is a Jewish custom. Forest Lawn-Glendale is also the final resting place of her friend Michael Jackson.

Mar 24 2011 04:58 PM ET

Filmmaker, cinema verite pioneer Richard Leacock dies at 89

by Sandra Gonzalez

Categories: Legacy, Movies

Image Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Richard Leacock (pictured, center), a cinema vérité documentary filmmaker best known for his film Primary, which followed John F. Kennedy during his presidential campaign, has died.

Leacock, who also produced The Flesh (1962) and 1 P.M. (1972), was known for his unobtrusive, candid film style and is often said to have inspired the first wave of reality television programs. The 89-year-old died Wednesday in Paris, according to the Associated Press.

“Richard Leacock was one of the true pioneers of documentary filmmaking,” said director Martin Scorsese in a statement. “His work spanned a vast array of subjects, styles and approaches to the form, and he was involved in some of the finest and most important documentaries in the history of cinema, from Robert Flaherty’s Louisiana Story to Primary and The Chair to Monterey Pop. He was instrumental in the development and use of lightweight, portable equipment, which opened the way for genuinely independent filmmaking. And he had a remarkably sensitive, quick camera eye. He paved the way for all of us.”

Mar 24 2011 02:19 PM ET

Rachel Zoe gives birth to bananas baby boy

by Kate Ward

Categories: Celebrity Babies!

Get ready to die hearing this good news: Rachel Zoe has welcomed her first child with husband Rodger Berman. The stylist and Rachel Zoe Project star, famous for phrases like “I die” and “Bananas!” gave birth to son Skyler Morrison Berman in Los Angeles, People reports. “Mom and Dad ‘LITERALLY’ could not be happier or more in love with their son!” Zoe and Berman said in a statement.

Read more:
Rachel Zoe tweets her pregnancy

Mar 24 2011 10:56 AM ET

Zsa Zsa Gabor hospitalized after hearing Liz Taylor died

by Jeff Labrecque

Categories:

Zsa Zsa Gabor was hospitalized with high blood pressure after she learned the sad news that Elizabeth Taylor had died on Wednesday, according to the AP. Her publicist said that the 94-year-old actress was crushed by the news and exclaimed, “Oh, Jane Russell and Liz Taylor — I’m next.”

Gabor has been in poor health for some time, and part of her right leg was amputated in January. But her publicist said, “She’s not going to be the third,” referring to the superstition that celebrity deaths occur in threes.

Mar 23 2011 09:28 PM ET

Lindsay Lohan turns down plea deal, will stand trial

by Adam B. Vary

Categories: Misc.

Lindsay Lohan’s lawyer confirms that the actress has rejected a plea deal in her felony grand theft trial, and opted instead to turn the case over to a jury. (The deal reportedly involved jail time.) Had she accepted the prosecution’s offer, the court had set a March 25 date for Lohan to enter a “guilty” or “no contest” plea for the charge of swiping a $2,500 necklace from a Venice, Calif. store. A preliminary hearing for the trial proper has been scheduled to begin on April 22. If convicted, Lohan is facing up to three years in prison.

A statement from Lohan’s lawyer reads: “Ms. Lohan has maintained her innocence from the moment this case was filed and she has never wavered. Though many advised her to follow the safe route by taking ‘the deal,’ the truth is, Ms. Lohan is innocent; she has a strong defense; and we are confident that a jury will listen to the evidence fairly and acquit her.”

Mar 23 2011 06:29 PM ET

'Boardwalk Empire' star Paz de la Huerta arrested for third-degree assault

by Kate Ward

Categories: Misc.

NYPD cops have confirmed with EW that Boardwalk Empire star Paz de la Huerta was taken into custody Tuesday in New York City for third-degree assault. Though authorities aren’t releasing any other details, reports claim the actress got into a brawl with The City cast member Samantha Swetra at the Standard Hotel Sunday before being escorted out of the building by security. Lindsay Lohan was also reportedly at the scene, and helped Swetra “tend to her wound.” De la Huerta’s rep has not yet responded to EW’s request for comment.

Mar 23 2011 04:35 PM ET

ABC News declines to press charges against Chris Brown

by Jeff Labrecque

Categories: Misc., Music

ABC News confirms to EW that it will not press charges against Chris Brown, the hip-hop singer who reportedly vandalized the Good Morning America dressing room after the show’s host Robin Roberts asked him questions about his 2009 assault of then-girlfriend, Rihanna. This morning’s GMA reviewed yesterday’s events, revealing a shattered glass window overlooking Times Square that was in Brown’s dressing room. There was speculation that a charge of vandalism might violate Brown’s probation stemming from his 2009 plea bargain.

Mar 23 2011 01:58 PM ET

Michael Lohan formally charged with domestic violence

by Jeff Labrecque

Categories: Lawsuits

Michael Lohan has been formally charged with misdemeanor domestic violence after a woman, reportedly his ex-girlfriend, accused him of striking her on Monday, according to People. Lindsay Lohan’s father was arrested on Monday and initially charged with inflicting corporal injury on a cohabitant, false imprisonment, and preventing a report of victimization. Those charges were dropped. Lohan himself was later hospitalized for an unrelated medical condition while he was in police custody, but was released from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center yesterday. He’s due to be arraigned in Beverly Hills Court on May 23.

Mar 23 2011 11:50 AM ET

Howard Stern sues Sirius XM over bonus

by Mandi Bierly

Categories: Lawsuits

Howard Stern and his agent filed a lawsuit against Sirius XM Radio Inc., Stern’s employer for the next five years, claiming it owes them stock awards for helping to grow its subscribers. Per the AP, Stern’s production company, One Twelve Inc., and his agent Don Buchwald, say Sirius awarded them a bonus after Stern started with the company in January 2006, but failed to do so the next four years when its growth targets were also exceeded. Sirius has issued the following statement: “SIRIUS XM just signed a contract through 2015 with Howard Stern, and he is a valued part of our company. We were thus surprised and disappointed by the subsequent legal action initiated by his production company and agent. We have met all of our obligations under the terms of our 2004 agreement with Howard, his agent and production company.”