LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A day after their counterproposal to major studios' "final" contract offer was rebuffed, Screen Actors Guild leaders huddled on Friday to consider their next move in a Hollywood labor stalemate almost certain to drag into next week. In a brief statement released in the evening, SAG said its negotiating team "met behind closed doors throughout the day today discussing bargaining strategies. The negotiations team remains committed to continue to bargain for a fair contract."
But no further talks were scheduled, and SAG made no mention of how it might proceed to reopen negotiations now that management has taken the position that bargaining is over. It concluded by saying it would provide another update on Monday.
The contract at issue covers the work of 120,000 SAG members in prime-time TV and movies, an industry still reeling from a 100-day screenwriters' strike that ended in February. A strike by the actors union was seen as unlikely, for now.
The old SAG contract expired hours after studios' bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, presented the union their "final" offer as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition on June 30.
SAG nonetheless delivered a counteroffer during a four-hour meeting on Thursday that ended with the studios refusing to budge and insisting that SAG submit the industry's latest proposal to union members for a vote.
SAG leaders have so far been unwilling to do so, saying the studio offer -- mirroring terms endorsed on Tuesday by the smaller American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in a separate TV-only contract -- falls short in several areas.
SAG has, for example, sought higher residual payments for actors from DVD sales and to extend contract coverage to virtually all made-for-Internet programming.
The two sides even disagreed over whether they were still bargaining, or what constitutes a rejection.
"Our national negotiating committee did not, as has been erroneously reported, reject the AMPTP's offer," SAG said in its statement on Friday. "Instead, we made a comprehensive counterproposal that adopted some of their proposals and offered alternatives on others."
But AMPTP spokesman Jesse Hiestand responded by saying, "The counterproposal to a final offer is a rejection to a final offer. It can't be anything else."
How the status of talks is defined is more than academic. With the old contract now lapsed, the studios could declare a formal impasse in talks, freeing them to impose the terms of their latest offer, or to institute a lockout.
Both moves are widely seen as unlikely for now, in part because they could backfire on the studios by giving SAG a rallying point for its members.
So far, SAG leaders have played down the likelihood of a strike, a move that would require a 75 percent vote by members. Many industry watchers doubt SAG could muster the support needed in light of lingering fatigue from the writers work stoppage and a souring economy
2008年7月11日星期五
2008年7月6日星期日
Miley Cyrus Gives U.S. Troops a Shout-Out
Los Angeles (E! Online) - Teen sensation Miley Cyrus headlined America's Freedom Festival in Provo, Utah, on the Fourth of July. Known as "one of the largest patriotic celebrations in America," the sixth annual event was telecast live to the nation's troops around the globe. The concert, dubbed the "Stadium of Fire," was emceed by conservative political TV and radio commentator Glenn Beck.
Cyrus, 15, clad in a conservative all-white outfit of jeans and a tank top, performed in front of nearly 60,000 fans, singing her biggest hits and debuting songs off her new album. The reigning tween queen dedicated "Simple Song" to American troops.
"I want to take a minute to dedicate this song to all of our troops we got out there," she told the crowd. "I know God has an ultimate plan, so I'm stoked."
E! News is told that, prior to the show, Cyrus visited with kids from a local cancer hospital and signed autographs.
Missing from the Independence Day show was Miley's best friend and backup dancer, Mandy Jiroux. But Miley & Mandy fans need not worry about a BFF split: Jiroux couldn't make the show because she was performing in Boulder, Colo., this weekend with her girl group, the Beach Girlz, at a volleyball event.
Cyrus took in a fireworks show after her concert, despite her fears. In a conference call with reporters earlier in the week to promote the concert, Miley said: "I actually am really, really scared of fireworks so I would always sit in the car. Fireworks scare me so badly. Like, on my concert tour, any time pyro goes off, I'm like crossing my fingers. I really don't like it."
Following the concert, Cyrus flew back to Tennessee, where she is still filming the Hannah Montana movie, which is scheduled to wrap later this month.
Cyrus, 15, clad in a conservative all-white outfit of jeans and a tank top, performed in front of nearly 60,000 fans, singing her biggest hits and debuting songs off her new album. The reigning tween queen dedicated "Simple Song" to American troops.
"I want to take a minute to dedicate this song to all of our troops we got out there," she told the crowd. "I know God has an ultimate plan, so I'm stoked."
E! News is told that, prior to the show, Cyrus visited with kids from a local cancer hospital and signed autographs.
Missing from the Independence Day show was Miley's best friend and backup dancer, Mandy Jiroux. But Miley & Mandy fans need not worry about a BFF split: Jiroux couldn't make the show because she was performing in Boulder, Colo., this weekend with her girl group, the Beach Girlz, at a volleyball event.
Cyrus took in a fireworks show after her concert, despite her fears. In a conference call with reporters earlier in the week to promote the concert, Miley said: "I actually am really, really scared of fireworks so I would always sit in the car. Fireworks scare me so badly. Like, on my concert tour, any time pyro goes off, I'm like crossing my fingers. I really don't like it."
Following the concert, Cyrus flew back to Tennessee, where she is still filming the Hannah Montana movie, which is scheduled to wrap later this month.
2008年7月4日星期五
Headstone Swiped from Joy Division Singer's Grave
Los Angeles (E! Online) - Ian Curtis wasn't around long but he left quite an impression Someone has stolen the memorial gravestone that marks the late Joy Division singer's final resting place in a West England cemetery, British authorities said Thursday.
Curtis, who was recently played by Sam Riley in the well-received biopic Control, hanged himself May, 18, 1980, at the age of 23, right before his band was about to embark on its first U.S. tour. The post-punk visionary's body was cremated in Macclesfield, where he grew up.
The more than 20-year-old stone marking the spot where his ashes are buried is inscribed with "Ian Curtis, 18-5-80" and bears the signaturely gloomy sentiment, "Love Will Tear Us Apart, " the title of Joy Division's biggest song.
A spokesman for the Cheshire Police said in a statement that the theft occurred sometime between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.
"There is no CCTV in the area and there are no apparent leads as to who is responsible for the theft," Inspector Gareth Woods said. "This is a very unusual theft and we are confident that someone locally will have knowledge about who is responsible or where the memorial stone is at present."
"We had to break the news to Debbie [Woodruff, Curtis' widow] and she was shocked and found it difficult to take in. She is in a state of disbelief and shock," said a spokesman for the Macclesfield Borough Council.
Woodruff penned the memoir Touching From a Distance on which Control was based.
New Order drummer Stephen Morris, who formed his current band with his Joy Division mates after Curtis' death, told Britain's Telegraph newspaper that the thief probably swiped the stone as a "sick souvenir.
"We've all been wild and reckless in our time, but surely this represents a new low. It's probably a fan who has taken it, and I would appeal to them to return it or leave it at the nearest police station."
Curtis, who was recently played by Sam Riley in the well-received biopic Control, hanged himself May, 18, 1980, at the age of 23, right before his band was about to embark on its first U.S. tour. The post-punk visionary's body was cremated in Macclesfield, where he grew up.
The more than 20-year-old stone marking the spot where his ashes are buried is inscribed with "Ian Curtis, 18-5-80" and bears the signaturely gloomy sentiment, "Love Will Tear Us Apart, " the title of Joy Division's biggest song.
A spokesman for the Cheshire Police said in a statement that the theft occurred sometime between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.
"There is no CCTV in the area and there are no apparent leads as to who is responsible for the theft," Inspector Gareth Woods said. "This is a very unusual theft and we are confident that someone locally will have knowledge about who is responsible or where the memorial stone is at present."
"We had to break the news to Debbie [Woodruff, Curtis' widow] and she was shocked and found it difficult to take in. She is in a state of disbelief and shock," said a spokesman for the Macclesfield Borough Council.
Woodruff penned the memoir Touching From a Distance on which Control was based.
New Order drummer Stephen Morris, who formed his current band with his Joy Division mates after Curtis' death, told Britain's Telegraph newspaper that the thief probably swiped the stone as a "sick souvenir.
"We've all been wild and reckless in our time, but surely this represents a new low. It's probably a fan who has taken it, and I would appeal to them to return it or leave it at the nearest police station."
Paisley says working with Griffith a highlight
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Brad Paisley says he got to mark a biggie off his wish list when Andy Griffith agreed to be in the video for his new single, "Waitin' On a Woman." "He has influenced my life more than most people that I grew up with — more than most people that I actually knew my whole life," Paisley said recently. "I wrote Andy a letter telling him what he has meant to me over the years and asked him to be in the video."
In the video, which began airing this week, the 82-year-old star of the long-running TV series "Matlock" and "The Andy Griffith Show" plays a kindly gentleman who advises Paisley's character to be patient when waiting for a woman.
"Andy heard the song and wanted to commit to working the long hours necessary to get the video right, and he really adopted this music video as if it was his own," said Paisley, whose past videos have featured Jason Alexander, William Shatner, Maureen McCormick, Jerry Springer and others.
In the video, which began airing this week, the 82-year-old star of the long-running TV series "Matlock" and "The Andy Griffith Show" plays a kindly gentleman who advises Paisley's character to be patient when waiting for a woman.
"Andy heard the song and wanted to commit to working the long hours necessary to get the video right, and he really adopted this music video as if it was his own," said Paisley, whose past videos have featured Jason Alexander, William Shatner, Maureen McCormick, Jerry Springer and others.
Spielberg group gives $1M to Pa. Jewish museum
PHILADELPHIA - A foundation created by Steven Spielberg is giving $1 million to the National Museum of American Jewish History. The money from the Righteous Persons Foundation will go toward a new, five-story museum building being built in Philadelphia.
With the donation, officials say the museum's capital campaign has raised $111 million toward its $150 million goal. The new museum is set to open in 2010.
Spielberg helped establish the Righteous Persons Foundation in 1994 after directing his Oscar-winning Holocaust film "Schindler's List."
The museum was established in 1976 and is dedicated to telling the story of the American Jewish experience. It is constructing the new building in hopes of raising its profile and increasing the number of visitors.
With the donation, officials say the museum's capital campaign has raised $111 million toward its $150 million goal. The new museum is set to open in 2010.
Spielberg helped establish the Righteous Persons Foundation in 1994 after directing his Oscar-winning Holocaust film "Schindler's List."
The museum was established in 1976 and is dedicated to telling the story of the American Jewish experience. It is constructing the new building in hopes of raising its profile and increasing the number of visitors.
Lost footage of "Metropolis" surfaces in Argentina
BERLIN (Reuters) - Film historians had doubted they would ever find the missing portions of "Metropolis" -- until three reels of the science fiction film made in Germany a long time ago, were discovered in a country far, far away. Two film fans in Argentina uncovered the fragile footage in a small museum earlier this year -- over eight decades after Fritz Lang's dystopian classic first began to shed scenes.
With its cold, monumental vision of mechanized society, "Metropolis" forged a template for generations of science fiction cinema, and its enduring influence has been cited on films from "Blade Runner" to "Fahrenheit 451" and "Star Wars."
"We were overjoyed when we heard about the find," Helmut Possmann, head of the foundation which owns the rights to the film, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, told Reuters.
"We no longer believed we'd see this. Time and again we had had calls about supposed footage but were disappointed."
"Metropolis," which depicts a tumultuous class struggle in a vast, urban society, was the first film to be entered into UNESCO's Memory of the World Register -- which aims to preserve cultural achievements of outstanding significance.
Released in 1927, set a century later, the silent film was not a commercial success and nearly ruined the studio behind it. According to some estimates, it still ranks as one of the most expensive movies ever made once inflation is factored in.
Soon after its premiere, the movie was heavily cut to make it more accessible, and several new versions emerged. A series of efforts were made to restore the film over the years but roughly a quarter of it was believed to be lost.
However, there were those in Argentina who knew better.
NO HOAX
According to the magazine of German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Buenos Aires film distributor Adolfo Z. Wilson acquired a long version of "Metropolis" in 1928 which survived as a copy, and finally ended up in the archive of a local film museum.
Having heard talk of the Wilson reels, a couple of cinema aficionados -- one of whom had just taken charge of the archive -- discovered the canisters containing them earlier this year and brought a DVD of the contents to Germany for analysis.
The director of the Buenos Aires Film Museum, Paula Felix-Didier, told reporters on Thursday the film in Buenos Aires was a copy of the original version that premiered in Germany and was adapted for use on a 16mm-projector.
Possmann at the Murnau foundation said the experts had no doubts about the authenticity of the reels.
"We're not being fooled," he said. "The film can now be shown more or less as Lang originally intended it. In terms of understanding what it's about, we'll be seeing a new film."
Although estimates of its original length vary depending on the speed at which it is shown, Possmann said "Metropolis" was conceived as a film lasting just over 2-1/2 hours.
Around 20 to 25 minutes of footage that fleshes out secondary characters and sheds light on the plot would be added to the film pending restoration, he added. But around 5 minutes of the original were probably still missing, he said.
Due to the poor condition of the film stock, it was too early to say how long restoration would take, Possmann said.
"It's taken several years with similar films," he added.
With its cold, monumental vision of mechanized society, "Metropolis" forged a template for generations of science fiction cinema, and its enduring influence has been cited on films from "Blade Runner" to "Fahrenheit 451" and "Star Wars."
"We were overjoyed when we heard about the find," Helmut Possmann, head of the foundation which owns the rights to the film, the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, told Reuters.
"We no longer believed we'd see this. Time and again we had had calls about supposed footage but were disappointed."
"Metropolis," which depicts a tumultuous class struggle in a vast, urban society, was the first film to be entered into UNESCO's Memory of the World Register -- which aims to preserve cultural achievements of outstanding significance.
Released in 1927, set a century later, the silent film was not a commercial success and nearly ruined the studio behind it. According to some estimates, it still ranks as one of the most expensive movies ever made once inflation is factored in.
Soon after its premiere, the movie was heavily cut to make it more accessible, and several new versions emerged. A series of efforts were made to restore the film over the years but roughly a quarter of it was believed to be lost.
However, there were those in Argentina who knew better.
NO HOAX
According to the magazine of German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, Buenos Aires film distributor Adolfo Z. Wilson acquired a long version of "Metropolis" in 1928 which survived as a copy, and finally ended up in the archive of a local film museum.
Having heard talk of the Wilson reels, a couple of cinema aficionados -- one of whom had just taken charge of the archive -- discovered the canisters containing them earlier this year and brought a DVD of the contents to Germany for analysis.
The director of the Buenos Aires Film Museum, Paula Felix-Didier, told reporters on Thursday the film in Buenos Aires was a copy of the original version that premiered in Germany and was adapted for use on a 16mm-projector.
Possmann at the Murnau foundation said the experts had no doubts about the authenticity of the reels.
"We're not being fooled," he said. "The film can now be shown more or less as Lang originally intended it. In terms of understanding what it's about, we'll be seeing a new film."
Although estimates of its original length vary depending on the speed at which it is shown, Possmann said "Metropolis" was conceived as a film lasting just over 2-1/2 hours.
Around 20 to 25 minutes of footage that fleshes out secondary characters and sheds light on the plot would be added to the film pending restoration, he added. But around 5 minutes of the original were probably still missing, he said.
Due to the poor condition of the film stock, it was too early to say how long restoration would take, Possmann said.
"It's taken several years with similar films," he added.
Argentines find lost 'Metropolis' scenes
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Lost scenes from the sci-fi classic "Metropolis," recently discovered in the archives of a Buenos Aires museum, were shown to journalists for the first time in decades on Thursday. A long-lost original cut of the 1927 silent film sat for 80 years in a private collection and then in the Museum of Cinema in Buenos Aires, where it was discovered in April with scratched images that hadn't been seen before.
Museum director Paula Felix-Didier said theirs is the only copy of German director Fritz Lang's complete film.
"This is the version Fritz Lang intended," said Martin Koerber, a curator at the Deutsche Kinemathek film museum in Berlin, Germany.
"Metropolis," written by Lang and his actress wife Thea von Harbou, depicts a 21st century world divided between a class of underworld workers and the "thinkers" above who control them.
Soon after its initial release at the height of Germany's Weimar Republic, distributors cut Lang's three-and-a-half-hour masterpiece into the shorter version since viewed by millions worldwide.
But a private collector carried an original version to Argentina in 1928, where it has stayed, Felix-Didier said.
In the 1980s, Argentine film fanatic Fernando Pena heard about a man who had propped up a broken projector for "hours" to screen "Metropolis" in the 1960s. But the version of the film he knew was only one-and-a-half hours long. For years, he begged Buenos Aires' museum to check their archives for the man's longer version.
This year, museum researchers finally agreed and in April uncovered the reels in the museum's archive.
In June, Felix-Didier flew with a DVD to the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation in Wiesbaden, Germany, which owns the rights to "Metropolis." Researchers there confirmed that the scenes were original.
News of the find excited film enthusiasts worldwide.
"This is a movie that millions and millions of people have seen since its release and yet, in many ways, we've never seen the true film," said Mike Mashon, head of the Moving Image section of the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington.
"Metropolis" was reissued in the U.S. in 2002 by Kino International Corp., which owns the rights to distribute the film domestically, Kino's general manager Gary Palmucci said.
Kino may rerelease the new, complete version of the film, although Palmucci said it is too soon for details.
Meanwhile, Buenos Aires' Museum of Cinema is holding its treasure tight.
"The film hasn't left the museum and it won't leave until the city government and the Murnau Foundation decide what to do," Felix-Didier said.
Museum director Paula Felix-Didier said theirs is the only copy of German director Fritz Lang's complete film.
"This is the version Fritz Lang intended," said Martin Koerber, a curator at the Deutsche Kinemathek film museum in Berlin, Germany.
"Metropolis," written by Lang and his actress wife Thea von Harbou, depicts a 21st century world divided between a class of underworld workers and the "thinkers" above who control them.
Soon after its initial release at the height of Germany's Weimar Republic, distributors cut Lang's three-and-a-half-hour masterpiece into the shorter version since viewed by millions worldwide.
But a private collector carried an original version to Argentina in 1928, where it has stayed, Felix-Didier said.
In the 1980s, Argentine film fanatic Fernando Pena heard about a man who had propped up a broken projector for "hours" to screen "Metropolis" in the 1960s. But the version of the film he knew was only one-and-a-half hours long. For years, he begged Buenos Aires' museum to check their archives for the man's longer version.
This year, museum researchers finally agreed and in April uncovered the reels in the museum's archive.
In June, Felix-Didier flew with a DVD to the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation in Wiesbaden, Germany, which owns the rights to "Metropolis." Researchers there confirmed that the scenes were original.
News of the find excited film enthusiasts worldwide.
"This is a movie that millions and millions of people have seen since its release and yet, in many ways, we've never seen the true film," said Mike Mashon, head of the Moving Image section of the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington.
"Metropolis" was reissued in the U.S. in 2002 by Kino International Corp., which owns the rights to distribute the film domestically, Kino's general manager Gary Palmucci said.
Kino may rerelease the new, complete version of the film, although Palmucci said it is too soon for details.
Meanwhile, Buenos Aires' Museum of Cinema is holding its treasure tight.
"The film hasn't left the museum and it won't leave until the city government and the Murnau Foundation decide what to do," Felix-Didier said.
Priestley says music industry 'a mess' but works
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Jason Priestley says he got a crash course on the Nashville music industry while directing a reality series about the Canadian band the Road Hammers. Priestley, 38, followed the group to Nashville as they sought a record deal.
"I got there as an outsider following this band who had a lot of autonomy in Canada and were basically left alone by their record label and did things how they wanted to do them and were successful," the former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star told The Associated Press recently. "And here I am following them around in Nashville and they get greeted a lot with 'That's not the way we do it here' or 'Let me tell you how we do it in Nashville.' It was very interesting."
The series, "The Road Hammers," premiered last month on the Great American Country channel, where it's airing in eight half-hour weekly episodes (Thursday nights at 8:30 Eastern).
Priestley, who's Canadian, filmed the series last summer. He did a similar project a decade ago with the Canadian rock group Barenaked Ladies, following them on their U.S. tour.
"I have a lot friends who are musicians. I think I'm just fascinated by that industry," Priestley said. "It's just amazing that it works at all. It's a mess, but it works."
"I got there as an outsider following this band who had a lot of autonomy in Canada and were basically left alone by their record label and did things how they wanted to do them and were successful," the former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star told The Associated Press recently. "And here I am following them around in Nashville and they get greeted a lot with 'That's not the way we do it here' or 'Let me tell you how we do it in Nashville.' It was very interesting."
The series, "The Road Hammers," premiered last month on the Great American Country channel, where it's airing in eight half-hour weekly episodes (Thursday nights at 8:30 Eastern).
Priestley, who's Canadian, filmed the series last summer. He did a similar project a decade ago with the Canadian rock group Barenaked Ladies, following them on their U.S. tour.
"I have a lot friends who are musicians. I think I'm just fascinated by that industry," Priestley said. "It's just amazing that it works at all. It's a mess, but it works."
Rachael Ray employee claims anorexia bias
NEW YORK - A former accountant for Rachael Ray's TV cooking show has filed a $1 million lawsuit saying he was forced out of his job because he has an eating disorder. Aaron Ferguson says in papers filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court that he has suffered from anorexia for about six years. He says his supervisor repeatedly exhibited "hostile behavior" and made "vile," discriminatory and hurtful comments.
The comments included, "Anorexics are sick in the head," and, "Anorexics should not be able to work," his court papers say.
Ferguson's lawyer, William H. Kaiser, said Thursday, "The things that were said in front of my client were hurtful, and once they knew he had a problem with it they should have stopped."
Ferguson says he repeatedly complained about his supervisor's use, in his presence, of discriminatory language regarding anorexics but their superiors did nothing that improved his situation.
Ferguson said he began working in July 2007 for CBS Television Distributions Inc., a CBS Corp. unit and the producer and owner of the "Rachael Ray" show. After he complained about his treatment, he says, he was forced out in October 2007.
Kaiser said the firing was retaliation: "He was punished for complaining."
The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, names CBS Corp., CBSTD Inc. and three employees of the show as defendants. Ray is not named as a defendant.
A CBS spokesman referred calls to show spokeswoman Lauren Nowell, who said she could not comment on pending litigation.
The comments included, "Anorexics are sick in the head," and, "Anorexics should not be able to work," his court papers say.
Ferguson's lawyer, William H. Kaiser, said Thursday, "The things that were said in front of my client were hurtful, and once they knew he had a problem with it they should have stopped."
Ferguson says he repeatedly complained about his supervisor's use, in his presence, of discriminatory language regarding anorexics but their superiors did nothing that improved his situation.
Ferguson said he began working in July 2007 for CBS Television Distributions Inc., a CBS Corp. unit and the producer and owner of the "Rachael Ray" show. After he complained about his treatment, he says, he was forced out in October 2007.
Kaiser said the firing was retaliation: "He was punished for complaining."
The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, names CBS Corp., CBSTD Inc. and three employees of the show as defendants. Ray is not named as a defendant.
A CBS spokesman referred calls to show spokeswoman Lauren Nowell, who said she could not comment on pending litigation.
Call girl in Spitzer case drops "Gone Wild" suit
MIAMI (Reuters) - The call girl linked to the sex scandal that prompted the resignation of then-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in March has dropped a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis. A statement from an attorney for Ashley Alexandra Dupre said the complaint, filed in April in federal court in Miami and alleging illegal use of Dupre's name and image, was withdrawn on Thursday.
"Ms. Dupre wants to eliminate all negativity from her life and focus on the positive. She has prospects for many exciting new projects and is looking forward to starting a new chapter," the statement said.
In the lawsuit, Dupre contended she was 17 and not old enough to sign a legally binding contract when she appeared partially nude in video footage filmed in 2003 by members of Francis' Mantra Films production company in Miami Beach.
On spring break vacation at the time, she was drunk when told to sign a video release form, according to the complaint, which sought damages in excess of $10 million.
Francis had denied the allegations.
Dupre was identified in media reports in March as the woman named "Kristen" linked to "Client 9," the frequent client of an upscale prostitution ring.
U.S. media, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, have said Spitzer was the anonymous "Client 9."
"Ms. Dupre wants to eliminate all negativity from her life and focus on the positive. She has prospects for many exciting new projects and is looking forward to starting a new chapter," the statement said.
In the lawsuit, Dupre contended she was 17 and not old enough to sign a legally binding contract when she appeared partially nude in video footage filmed in 2003 by members of Francis' Mantra Films production company in Miami Beach.
On spring break vacation at the time, she was drunk when told to sign a video release form, according to the complaint, which sought damages in excess of $10 million.
Francis had denied the allegations.
Dupre was identified in media reports in March as the woman named "Kristen" linked to "Client 9," the frequent client of an upscale prostitution ring.
U.S. media, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, have said Spitzer was the anonymous "Client 9."
Just a Minute With: Josh Peck for "The Wackness"
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Josh Peck has spent much of his teenage and young adult life in front of television cameras portraying the chubby, goofy character Josh in the Nickelodeon cable TV series "Drake & Josh."
But a slimmed-down Peck, 21, is now starring in art house drama "The Wackness" as a New York City high school dope dealer, Luke Shapiro, who trades marijuana for counseling with his psychologist, portrayed by Sir Ben Kingsley.
The role in the adult-oriented film, in which Luke falls in love for the first time, is a major departure from Peck's TV show aimed at young teenagers. Peck, who grew up in Manhattan, talked to Reuters about the movie and his career.
Q: You started at age 9 doing stand-up comedy and then went on to acting, what interested you from the start?
A: "It gave me a lot of confidence, and I felt accepted in this arena, and I would see a lot of kids' performances and think I could really do that. I didn't see why I couldn't."
Q: With "Wackness," did you think you needed to take a role that was opposite of straight-arrow Josh in "Drake & Josh" in order to change your image as an actor.
A: "The ("Drake & Josh") audience has supported me over the past several years -- have made me who I am -- and for that I'm forever in their debt. But this is its own genre. Doing "The Wackness" was an oddly selfish endeavor because I was only thinking of myself. I read the material and felt like I could portray this character in an honest way. I identified with some of his attributes and a lot of his weaknesses."
Q: Like what?
A: "The universal themes of his vulnerability and his sort of disillusionment and cynicism at that time in his life. I felt like I definitely went through a stage where I thought: 'If this was adulthood, I don't want any part of it."'
Q: Do you think some of your "Drake & Josh" fans will be surprised that Josh has become the dope-dealing Luke.
A: "I guess I'm hoping they can take a leap of faith with me, that although they haven't seen me in this type of forum before, they can accept me in the direction and chances I want to take. Also, for me, I was 15 when I started doing the show, and a lot of the audience was 12, and now I'm 21 and they're 18, which I think might be a perfect age to see the movie."
Q: How have you changed in those years, as an actor?
A: "Every role, I think, can be extremely therapeutic. It's not therapy exactly. For that I pay a professional. (laughs)"
Q: But do you sell dope to that professional?
A: "I'd never tell. (laughs again) But there's something very cathartic about being able to take past experiences and infuse them into this kind of character. It's nice to bring some legitimacy to heartbreak that I've experienced in my real life and thought I'd never recover from."
Q: That begs the question, has your heart been broken?
A: "Shattered, my friend. Shattered! But that makes life -- if you're able to persevere through the difficulty -- that much sweeter. It's necessary, but when you're in the middle of it, you don't know if you're going to live or die and you're plastered to your mom's couch eating Rice Krispie treats."
Q: In "Wackness," you worked with an Oscar winner and master actor in Sir Ben Kingsley, what did you learn?
A: "How to conduct myself as a professional on set. When I did ask for advice, he was less interested in me as a actor and more interested in me as a person. ... You're only an actor a part of time, but you're a human being all of the time."
Q: You were a chubby kid, but you took it on yourself to lose a lot of weight. Why was that important?
A: "For me, getting healthy was about myself. A lot of guys can be bigger and are comfortable with it. For me, I wasn't really comfortable. From a health perspective, I just knew that if there were ever a time to get healthy it was this age. If I can also inspire kids to get healthy -- I know how tough it was growing up as a chubby kid. For them to know there was someone out there who got healthy, that's pretty cool."
But a slimmed-down Peck, 21, is now starring in art house drama "The Wackness" as a New York City high school dope dealer, Luke Shapiro, who trades marijuana for counseling with his psychologist, portrayed by Sir Ben Kingsley.
The role in the adult-oriented film, in which Luke falls in love for the first time, is a major departure from Peck's TV show aimed at young teenagers. Peck, who grew up in Manhattan, talked to Reuters about the movie and his career.
Q: You started at age 9 doing stand-up comedy and then went on to acting, what interested you from the start?
A: "It gave me a lot of confidence, and I felt accepted in this arena, and I would see a lot of kids' performances and think I could really do that. I didn't see why I couldn't."
Q: With "Wackness," did you think you needed to take a role that was opposite of straight-arrow Josh in "Drake & Josh" in order to change your image as an actor.
A: "The ("Drake & Josh") audience has supported me over the past several years -- have made me who I am -- and for that I'm forever in their debt. But this is its own genre. Doing "The Wackness" was an oddly selfish endeavor because I was only thinking of myself. I read the material and felt like I could portray this character in an honest way. I identified with some of his attributes and a lot of his weaknesses."
Q: Like what?
A: "The universal themes of his vulnerability and his sort of disillusionment and cynicism at that time in his life. I felt like I definitely went through a stage where I thought: 'If this was adulthood, I don't want any part of it."'
Q: Do you think some of your "Drake & Josh" fans will be surprised that Josh has become the dope-dealing Luke.
A: "I guess I'm hoping they can take a leap of faith with me, that although they haven't seen me in this type of forum before, they can accept me in the direction and chances I want to take. Also, for me, I was 15 when I started doing the show, and a lot of the audience was 12, and now I'm 21 and they're 18, which I think might be a perfect age to see the movie."
Q: How have you changed in those years, as an actor?
A: "Every role, I think, can be extremely therapeutic. It's not therapy exactly. For that I pay a professional. (laughs)"
Q: But do you sell dope to that professional?
A: "I'd never tell. (laughs again) But there's something very cathartic about being able to take past experiences and infuse them into this kind of character. It's nice to bring some legitimacy to heartbreak that I've experienced in my real life and thought I'd never recover from."
Q: That begs the question, has your heart been broken?
A: "Shattered, my friend. Shattered! But that makes life -- if you're able to persevere through the difficulty -- that much sweeter. It's necessary, but when you're in the middle of it, you don't know if you're going to live or die and you're plastered to your mom's couch eating Rice Krispie treats."
Q: In "Wackness," you worked with an Oscar winner and master actor in Sir Ben Kingsley, what did you learn?
A: "How to conduct myself as a professional on set. When I did ask for advice, he was less interested in me as a actor and more interested in me as a person. ... You're only an actor a part of time, but you're a human being all of the time."
Q: You were a chubby kid, but you took it on yourself to lose a lot of weight. Why was that important?
A: "For me, getting healthy was about myself. A lot of guys can be bigger and are comfortable with it. For me, I wasn't really comfortable. From a health perspective, I just knew that if there were ever a time to get healthy it was this age. If I can also inspire kids to get healthy -- I know how tough it was growing up as a chubby kid. For them to know there was someone out there who got healthy, that's pretty cool."
Former Whitesnake guitarist dies
LONDON (Reuters) - Fellow musicians have paid tribute to Mel Galley, former guitarist in British hard rock band Whitesnake who died of cancer this week aged 60.
Galley also played in Trapeze.
"He took my hand as a boy and walked me through my earliest chapters as a young musician," Glenn Hughes, a singer and bass guitarist with Trapeze, said on his website.
"He alone is responsible for my career as a working musician/singer-songwriter," added Hughes, who went on to play with Deep Purple.
Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale also said he "treasures the memory of knowing him and working together with him," according to the BBC.
Galley played with Whitesnake between 1982 and 1984, when he had to leave the band after hurting his arm in an accident.
On a posting on his MySpace page shortly after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Galley paid tribute to his wife and two sons and added:
"I have enjoyed a great life, traveled the world having some amazing experiences, met all sorts of people and played with some of the best musicians there are."
Galley also played in Trapeze.
"He took my hand as a boy and walked me through my earliest chapters as a young musician," Glenn Hughes, a singer and bass guitarist with Trapeze, said on his website.
"He alone is responsible for my career as a working musician/singer-songwriter," added Hughes, who went on to play with Deep Purple.
Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale also said he "treasures the memory of knowing him and working together with him," according to the BBC.
Galley played with Whitesnake between 1982 and 1984, when he had to leave the band after hurting his arm in an accident.
On a posting on his MySpace page shortly after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Galley paid tribute to his wife and two sons and added:
"I have enjoyed a great life, traveled the world having some amazing experiences, met all sorts of people and played with some of the best musicians there are."
French and tourists seem indifferent to Brangelina
NICE, France - Partially eclipsed by the glitterati of Cannes and the royal glare of Monaco, Nice is a place where even the brightest stars — like Brangelina — are greeted by little more than indifference. Only the presence of paparazzi outside the seaside hospital where Angelina Jolie is waiting to give birth to twins gives any indication that the star is in the seaside resort in Southern France.
The Cote d'Azur has long been the playground of the rich and famous. Elton John, Bono and Brigitte Bardot are among the stars with houses in the region. But Nice likes to think of itself as more down-to-earth than its celebrity-crazed neighbors.
"Of course it is less glamorous. It's more for active people, people who love art, sport and gastronomy," said tourism bureau spokeswoman Isabelle Billey Quere. "It's a real town," she said, with a university, France's largest airport and largest art collection outside of Paris, 7.5 miles of shoreline — and a population that has grown accustomed to the arrival of foreigners and celebrities from at least the mid-19th century.
There are no gaggles of autograph-seekers waiting to catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt as he comes and goes, and just a handful of English-speaking tourists held their cell phones aloft in an attempt to snap photos of two of the couple's children leaving the hospital on Thursday. Jolie herself is on the fifth-floor with tinted windows — affording her privacy along with a fabulous view of the Mediterranean.
The constant flow of celebrities through the Riviera also contributes to the blase reception, said Nancy Wilson, assistant editor of the English-language Riviera Reporter and correspondent for People magazine.
"But I think all the French have this attitude, that celebrities' private lives are their own concern, and that celebrities are no better than them," Wilson said. "French people are very proud, especially the women, who are very sexy and confident; they see Angelina Jolie and don't aspire to be her."
No one is more surprised than the Nicois that Jolie and Pitt chose their city — and a regular maternity ward where normal citizens go to have their babies.
When their daughter Shiloh was born in 2006, the couple went all the way to the African nation Namibia, where the government shielded their privacy by requiring journalists seeking to cover the birth to have written permission from the couple to obtain a visa and ringing the couple's luxury hotel with heavy security.
In Southern France, a strong culture of respect for privacy seems to have had nearly the same effect.
"(Celebrities) love Nice because they can be anonymous here, not like Monaco or Cannes. They can go around town and no one tries to approach them. It is very easy for them," said Myriam Chokairy, the international press spokeswoman for the tourism office.
Just last week, Chokairy said her brother ran into Tony Parker and Eva Longoria at their neighborhood pharmacy.
"They were regular customers. No one bothered them," she said.
Jolie and Pitt and their four children — including their adopted children Maddox, 6; Pax, 4; Zahara, 3 — have been settling into a new home in Correns, in the Provence region, about 60 miles from the Lenval clinic where Jolie arrived Sunday. Her doctor said she will remain in the hospital until she gives birth "in the coming weeks."
The Cote d'Azur has long been the playground of the rich and famous. Elton John, Bono and Brigitte Bardot are among the stars with houses in the region. But Nice likes to think of itself as more down-to-earth than its celebrity-crazed neighbors.
"Of course it is less glamorous. It's more for active people, people who love art, sport and gastronomy," said tourism bureau spokeswoman Isabelle Billey Quere. "It's a real town," she said, with a university, France's largest airport and largest art collection outside of Paris, 7.5 miles of shoreline — and a population that has grown accustomed to the arrival of foreigners and celebrities from at least the mid-19th century.
There are no gaggles of autograph-seekers waiting to catch a glimpse of Brad Pitt as he comes and goes, and just a handful of English-speaking tourists held their cell phones aloft in an attempt to snap photos of two of the couple's children leaving the hospital on Thursday. Jolie herself is on the fifth-floor with tinted windows — affording her privacy along with a fabulous view of the Mediterranean.
The constant flow of celebrities through the Riviera also contributes to the blase reception, said Nancy Wilson, assistant editor of the English-language Riviera Reporter and correspondent for People magazine.
"But I think all the French have this attitude, that celebrities' private lives are their own concern, and that celebrities are no better than them," Wilson said. "French people are very proud, especially the women, who are very sexy and confident; they see Angelina Jolie and don't aspire to be her."
No one is more surprised than the Nicois that Jolie and Pitt chose their city — and a regular maternity ward where normal citizens go to have their babies.
When their daughter Shiloh was born in 2006, the couple went all the way to the African nation Namibia, where the government shielded their privacy by requiring journalists seeking to cover the birth to have written permission from the couple to obtain a visa and ringing the couple's luxury hotel with heavy security.
In Southern France, a strong culture of respect for privacy seems to have had nearly the same effect.
"(Celebrities) love Nice because they can be anonymous here, not like Monaco or Cannes. They can go around town and no one tries to approach them. It is very easy for them," said Myriam Chokairy, the international press spokeswoman for the tourism office.
Just last week, Chokairy said her brother ran into Tony Parker and Eva Longoria at their neighborhood pharmacy.
"They were regular customers. No one bothered them," she said.
Jolie and Pitt and their four children — including their adopted children Maddox, 6; Pax, 4; Zahara, 3 — have been settling into a new home in Correns, in the Provence region, about 60 miles from the Lenval clinic where Jolie arrived Sunday. Her doctor said she will remain in the hospital until she gives birth "in the coming weeks."
Brinkley: Husband's affair 'shattered' my life
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. - A tearful Christie Brinkley testified at her divorce trial Thursday that she was devastated by her husband's affair with a teenager and his attempts to find other paramours through pornographic Web sites.
"My world was completely shattered," the former Sports Illustrated model said. "My life as I knew it had vanished."
Brinkley took the stand in state Supreme Court a day after the trial opened with testimony from her architect-husband, Peter Cook, and his former mistress, Diana Bianchi, who was 18 when she began seeing him. Brinkley and Cook are mainly arguing over custody of their children, ages 10 and 13.
Brinkley said she learned about the betrayal when Bianchi's stepfather tapped her on the shoulder after she spoke at a Southampton High School graduation in June 2006.
"That husband of yours won't knock it off. He's having an affair with my teenage daughter," said the stepfather, Brian Platt, a Southampton Village police officer who testified to the same thing Wednesday.
Brinkley said she looked at Cook, sitting in the front row at the graduation. When he shook his head in denial before she even confronted him with the allegation, she thought: "My God, it's true. He did do that."
Cook initially denied the liaison, but he has since apologized and argues it should not disqualify him from getting custody of his children. He testified Wednesday that he gave Bianchi a $300,000 payoff, had trysts with her in his office and Brinkley's Hamptons homes and spent thousands of dollars on online porn.
Brinkley said after learning of his cheating she told him to give his computer passwords to her "if you've got nothing to hide" and found e-mails from Bianchi and porn sites he had visited. He was trying "to connect with people" in their neighborhood, she said.
"It was not a voyeur site. It was a meeting site," she said. "It was more than I could bear."
Cook, who testified that Bianchi was his only extramarital lover, said he and Brinkley used pornography "to get the mood going" during the last half of their 10-year marriage.
Brinkley said that before she learned of the affair, the marriage's biggest problem was Cook's relationship with Alexa Ray Joel, her daughter with "Piano Man" singer Billy Joel.
Cook constantly picked on her daughter for the slightest things, she said, echoing Alexa Joel's testimony Wednesday.
"You married me and my children," Brinkley said she would tell Cook. "You've got to find a way to love Alexa."
Alexa Joel, 22, testified that Cook treated her well before he married her mother but criticized her constantly afterward. She said he called her out for chewing loudly, complained about her piano playing and once shoved her head into a bucket of water while demanding she clean up a plumbing leak caused by her lengthy shower.
Cook denied Joel's account when he returned to the stand Thursday, saying he had "absolutely not" pushed her into the bucket. He said he tried to stop her "loud, aggressive" piano playing only when his and Brinkley's younger children were going to bed and was only backing up Brinkley's own admonishments about her daughter's chewing and protracted showers.
Cook's lawyer tried to portray Brinkley's testimony as courtroom theater.
"If you want to call me an actress, that's fine," Brinkley replied.
"I'm no Meryl Streep, but I have been in a very successful movie," she said with a sheepish smile while referring to 1983's "National Lampoon's Vacation."
"Thirty years later, it's still got legs," she said.
Brinkley, 54, and Cook, 49, wed in 1996. She filed for divorce a decade later after his affair with Bianchi became a tabloid scandal.
"My world was completely shattered," the former Sports Illustrated model said. "My life as I knew it had vanished."
Brinkley took the stand in state Supreme Court a day after the trial opened with testimony from her architect-husband, Peter Cook, and his former mistress, Diana Bianchi, who was 18 when she began seeing him. Brinkley and Cook are mainly arguing over custody of their children, ages 10 and 13.
Brinkley said she learned about the betrayal when Bianchi's stepfather tapped her on the shoulder after she spoke at a Southampton High School graduation in June 2006.
"That husband of yours won't knock it off. He's having an affair with my teenage daughter," said the stepfather, Brian Platt, a Southampton Village police officer who testified to the same thing Wednesday.
Brinkley said she looked at Cook, sitting in the front row at the graduation. When he shook his head in denial before she even confronted him with the allegation, she thought: "My God, it's true. He did do that."
Cook initially denied the liaison, but he has since apologized and argues it should not disqualify him from getting custody of his children. He testified Wednesday that he gave Bianchi a $300,000 payoff, had trysts with her in his office and Brinkley's Hamptons homes and spent thousands of dollars on online porn.
Brinkley said after learning of his cheating she told him to give his computer passwords to her "if you've got nothing to hide" and found e-mails from Bianchi and porn sites he had visited. He was trying "to connect with people" in their neighborhood, she said.
"It was not a voyeur site. It was a meeting site," she said. "It was more than I could bear."
Cook, who testified that Bianchi was his only extramarital lover, said he and Brinkley used pornography "to get the mood going" during the last half of their 10-year marriage.
Brinkley said that before she learned of the affair, the marriage's biggest problem was Cook's relationship with Alexa Ray Joel, her daughter with "Piano Man" singer Billy Joel.
Cook constantly picked on her daughter for the slightest things, she said, echoing Alexa Joel's testimony Wednesday.
"You married me and my children," Brinkley said she would tell Cook. "You've got to find a way to love Alexa."
Alexa Joel, 22, testified that Cook treated her well before he married her mother but criticized her constantly afterward. She said he called her out for chewing loudly, complained about her piano playing and once shoved her head into a bucket of water while demanding she clean up a plumbing leak caused by her lengthy shower.
Cook denied Joel's account when he returned to the stand Thursday, saying he had "absolutely not" pushed her into the bucket. He said he tried to stop her "loud, aggressive" piano playing only when his and Brinkley's younger children were going to bed and was only backing up Brinkley's own admonishments about her daughter's chewing and protracted showers.
Cook's lawyer tried to portray Brinkley's testimony as courtroom theater.
"If you want to call me an actress, that's fine," Brinkley replied.
"I'm no Meryl Streep, but I have been in a very successful movie," she said with a sheepish smile while referring to 1983's "National Lampoon's Vacation."
"Thirty years later, it's still got legs," she said.
Brinkley, 54, and Cook, 49, wed in 1996. She filed for divorce a decade later after his affair with Bianchi became a tabloid scandal.
Rachael Ray employee claims anorexia bias
NEW YORK - A former accountant for Rachael Ray's TV cooking show has filed a $1 million lawsuit saying he was forced out of his job because he has an eating disorder. Aaron Ferguson says in papers filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court that he has suffered from anorexia for about six years. He says his supervisor repeatedly exhibited "hostile behavior" and made "vile," discriminatory and hurtful comments.
The comments included, "Anorexics are sick in the head," and, "Anorexics should not be able to work," his court papers say.
Ferguson's lawyer, William H. Kaiser, said Thursday, "The things that were said in front of my client were hurtful, and once they knew he had a problem with it they should have stopped."
Ferguson says he repeatedly complained about his supervisor's use, in his presence, of discriminatory language regarding anorexics but their superiors did nothing that improved his situation.
Ferguson said he began working in July 2007 for CBS Television Distributions Inc., a CBS Corp. unit and the producer and owner of the "Rachael Ray" show. After he complained about his treatment, he says, he was forced out in October 2007.
Kaiser said the firing was retaliation: "He was punished for complaining."
The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, names CBS Corp., CBSTD Inc. and three employees of the show as defendants. Ray is not named as a defendant.
A CBS spokesman referred calls to show spokeswoman Lauren Nowell, who said she could not comment on pending litigation.
The comments included, "Anorexics are sick in the head," and, "Anorexics should not be able to work," his court papers say.
Ferguson's lawyer, William H. Kaiser, said Thursday, "The things that were said in front of my client were hurtful, and once they knew he had a problem with it they should have stopped."
Ferguson says he repeatedly complained about his supervisor's use, in his presence, of discriminatory language regarding anorexics but their superiors did nothing that improved his situation.
Ferguson said he began working in July 2007 for CBS Television Distributions Inc., a CBS Corp. unit and the producer and owner of the "Rachael Ray" show. After he complained about his treatment, he says, he was forced out in October 2007.
Kaiser said the firing was retaliation: "He was punished for complaining."
The lawsuit, filed late Wednesday, names CBS Corp., CBSTD Inc. and three employees of the show as defendants. Ray is not named as a defendant.
A CBS spokesman referred calls to show spokeswoman Lauren Nowell, who said she could not comment on pending litigation.
Larry Harmon, longtime Bozo the Clown, dies at 83
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Larry Harmon, who turned the character Bozo the Clown into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83. His publicist, Jerry Digney, told The Associated Press he died at his home.
Although not the original Bozo, Harmon portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, he licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.
"You might say, in a way, I was cloning BTC (Bozo the Clown) before anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA," Harmon told the AP in a 1996 interview.
"Bozo is a combination of the wonderful wisdom of the adult and the childlike ways in all of us," Harmon said.
Pinto Colvig, who also provided the voice for Walt Disney's Goofy, was the first Bozo the Clown, a character created by writer-producer Alan W. Livingston for a series of children's records in 1946. Livingston said he came up with the name Bozo after polling several people at Capitol Records.
Harmon would later meet his alter ego while answering a casting call to make personal appearances as a clown to promote the records.
He got that job and eventually bought the rights to Bozo. Along the way, he embellished Bozo's distinctive look: the orange-tufted hair, the bulbous nose, the outlandish red, white and blue costume.
"I felt if I could plant my size 83AAA shoes on this planet, (people) would never be able to forget those footprints," he said.
Susan Harmon, his wife of 29 years, indicated Harmon was the perfect fit for Bozo.
"He was the most optimistic man I ever met. He always saw a bright side; he always had something good to say about everybody. He was the love of my life," she said Thursday.
The business — combining animation, licensing of the character, and personal appearances — made millions, as Harmon trained more than 200 Bozos over the years to represent him in local markets.
"I'm looking for that sparkle in the eyes, that emotion, feeling, directness, warmth. That is so important," he said of his criteria for becoming a Bozo.
The Chicago version of Bozo ran on WGN-TV in Chicago for 40 years and was seen in many other cities after cable television transformed WGN into a superstation.
Bozo — portrayed in Chicago for many years by Bob Bell — was so popular that the waiting list for tickets to a TV show eventually stretched to a decade, prompting the station to stop taking reservations for 10 years. On the day in 1990 when WGN started taking reservations again, it took just five hours to book the show for five more years. The phone company reported more than 27 million phone call attempts had been made.
By the time the show bowed out in Chicago, in 2001, it was the last locally produced version. Harmon said at the time that he hoped to develop a new cable or network show, as well as a Bozo feature film.
He became caught up in a minor controversy in 2004 when the International Clown Hall of Fame in Milwaukee took down a plaque honoring him as Bozo and formally endorsed Colvig as the first. Harmon denied ever misrepresenting Bozo's history.
He said he was claiming credit only for what he added to the character — "What I sound like, what I look like, what I walk like" — and what he did to popularize Bozo.
"Isn't it a shame the credit that was given to me for the work I have done, they arbitrarily take it down, like I didn't do anything for the last 52 years," he told the AP at the time.
Harmon protected Bozo's reputation with a vengeance, while embracing those who poked good-natured fun at the clown.
As Bozo's influence spread through popular culture, his very name became a synonym for clownish behavior.
"It takes a lot of effort and energy to keep a character that old fresh so kids today still know about him and want to buy the products," Karen Raugust, executive editor of The Licensing Letter, a New York-based trade publication, said in 1996.
A normal character runs its course in three to five years, Raugust said. "Harmon's is a classic character. It's been around 50 years."
On New Year's Day 1996, Harmon dressed up as Bozo for the first time in 10 years, appearing in the Rose Parade in Pasadena.
The crowd reaction, he recalled, "was deafening."
"They kept yelling, `Bozo, Bozo, love you, love you.' I shed more crocodile tears for five miles in four hours than I realized I had," he said. "I still get goose bumps."
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Harmon became interested in theater while studying at the University of Southern California.
"Bozo is a star, an entertainer, bigger than life," Harmon once said. "People see him as Mr. Bozo, somebody you can relate to, touch and laugh with."
Besides his wife, Harmon is survived by his son, Jeff Harmon, and daughters Lori Harmon, Marci Breth-Carabet and Leslie Breth.
Although not the original Bozo, Harmon portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, he licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos.
"You might say, in a way, I was cloning BTC (Bozo the Clown) before anybody else out there got around to cloning DNA," Harmon told the AP in a 1996 interview.
"Bozo is a combination of the wonderful wisdom of the adult and the childlike ways in all of us," Harmon said.
Pinto Colvig, who also provided the voice for Walt Disney's Goofy, was the first Bozo the Clown, a character created by writer-producer Alan W. Livingston for a series of children's records in 1946. Livingston said he came up with the name Bozo after polling several people at Capitol Records.
Harmon would later meet his alter ego while answering a casting call to make personal appearances as a clown to promote the records.
He got that job and eventually bought the rights to Bozo. Along the way, he embellished Bozo's distinctive look: the orange-tufted hair, the bulbous nose, the outlandish red, white and blue costume.
"I felt if I could plant my size 83AAA shoes on this planet, (people) would never be able to forget those footprints," he said.
Susan Harmon, his wife of 29 years, indicated Harmon was the perfect fit for Bozo.
"He was the most optimistic man I ever met. He always saw a bright side; he always had something good to say about everybody. He was the love of my life," she said Thursday.
The business — combining animation, licensing of the character, and personal appearances — made millions, as Harmon trained more than 200 Bozos over the years to represent him in local markets.
"I'm looking for that sparkle in the eyes, that emotion, feeling, directness, warmth. That is so important," he said of his criteria for becoming a Bozo.
The Chicago version of Bozo ran on WGN-TV in Chicago for 40 years and was seen in many other cities after cable television transformed WGN into a superstation.
Bozo — portrayed in Chicago for many years by Bob Bell — was so popular that the waiting list for tickets to a TV show eventually stretched to a decade, prompting the station to stop taking reservations for 10 years. On the day in 1990 when WGN started taking reservations again, it took just five hours to book the show for five more years. The phone company reported more than 27 million phone call attempts had been made.
By the time the show bowed out in Chicago, in 2001, it was the last locally produced version. Harmon said at the time that he hoped to develop a new cable or network show, as well as a Bozo feature film.
He became caught up in a minor controversy in 2004 when the International Clown Hall of Fame in Milwaukee took down a plaque honoring him as Bozo and formally endorsed Colvig as the first. Harmon denied ever misrepresenting Bozo's history.
He said he was claiming credit only for what he added to the character — "What I sound like, what I look like, what I walk like" — and what he did to popularize Bozo.
"Isn't it a shame the credit that was given to me for the work I have done, they arbitrarily take it down, like I didn't do anything for the last 52 years," he told the AP at the time.
Harmon protected Bozo's reputation with a vengeance, while embracing those who poked good-natured fun at the clown.
As Bozo's influence spread through popular culture, his very name became a synonym for clownish behavior.
"It takes a lot of effort and energy to keep a character that old fresh so kids today still know about him and want to buy the products," Karen Raugust, executive editor of The Licensing Letter, a New York-based trade publication, said in 1996.
A normal character runs its course in three to five years, Raugust said. "Harmon's is a classic character. It's been around 50 years."
On New Year's Day 1996, Harmon dressed up as Bozo for the first time in 10 years, appearing in the Rose Parade in Pasadena.
The crowd reaction, he recalled, "was deafening."
"They kept yelling, `Bozo, Bozo, love you, love you.' I shed more crocodile tears for five miles in four hours than I realized I had," he said. "I still get goose bumps."
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Harmon became interested in theater while studying at the University of Southern California.
"Bozo is a star, an entertainer, bigger than life," Harmon once said. "People see him as Mr. Bozo, somebody you can relate to, touch and laugh with."
Besides his wife, Harmon is survived by his son, Jeff Harmon, and daughters Lori Harmon, Marci Breth-Carabet and Leslie Breth.
Just how close 'friends' are Madonna and A-Rod?
NEW YORK (AP) — A-Rod and the Material Girl? That's a lot of hits. Reports that Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez and Madonna have become close just as their marriages are disintegrating have both the celebrity gossip industry and the sporting world — each a chatty bunch — buzzing with questions about the two "friends." A third boldface name was added to the saga when Rodriguez's wife fled from New York to the Paris home of rocker Lenny Kravitz, who denied anything improper had happened with the slugger's wife.
Rodriguez remained mum. He signed a couple of autographs before Thursday night's game at Yankee Stadium against Boston, but didn't take questions from a pack of reporters.
The whole story began last week amid tabloid stories that Madonna, who is married to the British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, had consulted a high-profile London divorce attorney. On Tuesday her publicist issued a statement saying Madonna's marriage was not in jeopardy. Then Us Weekly magazine reported that Rodriguez, 32, has been making late-night visits to the Manhattan apartment of Madonna, 49.
Janice Min, editor-in-chief of Us Weekly, said the magazine was "100 percent" confident in its story, which she said was based on multiple sources.
Min said Us Weekly has been careful not to overstate what's known of the relationship, which the latest issue labels a "hot new friendship."
"The facts are that he comes to her apartment late at night, that they have a friendship, that she had never been photographed at a Yankees game until she was photographed in A-Rod's seats," Min said. "I think from those facts we put forth, a lot of people would infer that something more is going on."
Madonna's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, acknowledged the two know each other after meeting at a charity event, but denied any romance. Rodriguez has refused to even address the topic when questioned by reporters, leading some to wonder if he could indeed be involved in the biggest Yankee romance since Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe.
On Thursday, the New York Daily News reported that Rodriguez and wife Cynthia have separated, citing an anonymous source. They were married in 2002 and have two children, Natasha Alexander and Ella Alexander. Then came news that Cynthia visited Kravitz in Paris.
"Cynthia is a friend ... she came here to escape from everything happening in New York City," Kravitz said in a statement. "I opened my home to her as a friend and I find it extremely hurtful that I am now being referred to as an adulterer."
Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said the reports would not faze the club.
"It's no distraction to the team," Steinbrenner said Thursday at the Yankees' complex in Tampa, Fla. "Whether it is to Alex I don't know. But from what I'm hearing, no, it's not."
Coverage of the private lives of Yankees is not new, particularly in an era in which professional athletes are increasingly scrutinized off the field.
Earlier this year, it was reported that former Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens had an affair with country music singer Mindy McCready. Derek Jeter's string of girlfriends also have received considerable press, most notably a relationship with another mega-selling singer, Mariah Carey.
Rodriguez, however, has found himself in the tabloids more than any other Yankee since arriving in New York in 2004. Last year, he was labeled "Stray-Rod" on the front page of the New York Post after being photographed out at night with a former Vegas stripper.
"I think for Alex, he's been through this before, he knows how to handle it," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I'm sure there are times he wishes he could just fit in. That's the price you pay."
"Obviously, everyone likes to keep their life private. Unfortunately, in this world, that doesn't happen."
A copy of a local tabloid with a front-cover headline of "Split!" was on a table in the middle of the Boston clubhouse.
"New York, it's like Us Weekly meets the fun bunch," Red Sox first baseman Sean Casey said.
On Thursday, sports talk radio in New York was dominated by larger concerns: mainly the dim playoff prospects for both the Yankees and Mets.
The sports blog Deadspin wondered Thursday how Rodriguez would be greeted by fans at Yankee Stadium in the team's upcoming series against the Red Sox: "Will there be any cone bras in the stands? Sean Penn masks? The theme from `Evita' being sung by a heavenly choir of visiting Red Sox fans?"
There were, as usual, a lot of fans wearing pinstripe jerseys with his No. 13 on the back for the series opener. One of them, Shawn Richards, said he and nine pals came from western Canada to cheer for Rodriguez.
"A-Rod's the man!" Richards said. "He can do whatever he wants. It's New York."
Rodriguez remained mum. He signed a couple of autographs before Thursday night's game at Yankee Stadium against Boston, but didn't take questions from a pack of reporters.
The whole story began last week amid tabloid stories that Madonna, who is married to the British filmmaker Guy Ritchie, had consulted a high-profile London divorce attorney. On Tuesday her publicist issued a statement saying Madonna's marriage was not in jeopardy. Then Us Weekly magazine reported that Rodriguez, 32, has been making late-night visits to the Manhattan apartment of Madonna, 49.
Janice Min, editor-in-chief of Us Weekly, said the magazine was "100 percent" confident in its story, which she said was based on multiple sources.
Min said Us Weekly has been careful not to overstate what's known of the relationship, which the latest issue labels a "hot new friendship."
"The facts are that he comes to her apartment late at night, that they have a friendship, that she had never been photographed at a Yankees game until she was photographed in A-Rod's seats," Min said. "I think from those facts we put forth, a lot of people would infer that something more is going on."
Madonna's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, acknowledged the two know each other after meeting at a charity event, but denied any romance. Rodriguez has refused to even address the topic when questioned by reporters, leading some to wonder if he could indeed be involved in the biggest Yankee romance since Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe.
On Thursday, the New York Daily News reported that Rodriguez and wife Cynthia have separated, citing an anonymous source. They were married in 2002 and have two children, Natasha Alexander and Ella Alexander. Then came news that Cynthia visited Kravitz in Paris.
"Cynthia is a friend ... she came here to escape from everything happening in New York City," Kravitz said in a statement. "I opened my home to her as a friend and I find it extremely hurtful that I am now being referred to as an adulterer."
Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said the reports would not faze the club.
"It's no distraction to the team," Steinbrenner said Thursday at the Yankees' complex in Tampa, Fla. "Whether it is to Alex I don't know. But from what I'm hearing, no, it's not."
Coverage of the private lives of Yankees is not new, particularly in an era in which professional athletes are increasingly scrutinized off the field.
Earlier this year, it was reported that former Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens had an affair with country music singer Mindy McCready. Derek Jeter's string of girlfriends also have received considerable press, most notably a relationship with another mega-selling singer, Mariah Carey.
Rodriguez, however, has found himself in the tabloids more than any other Yankee since arriving in New York in 2004. Last year, he was labeled "Stray-Rod" on the front page of the New York Post after being photographed out at night with a former Vegas stripper.
"I think for Alex, he's been through this before, he knows how to handle it," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "I'm sure there are times he wishes he could just fit in. That's the price you pay."
"Obviously, everyone likes to keep their life private. Unfortunately, in this world, that doesn't happen."
A copy of a local tabloid with a front-cover headline of "Split!" was on a table in the middle of the Boston clubhouse.
"New York, it's like Us Weekly meets the fun bunch," Red Sox first baseman Sean Casey said.
On Thursday, sports talk radio in New York was dominated by larger concerns: mainly the dim playoff prospects for both the Yankees and Mets.
The sports blog Deadspin wondered Thursday how Rodriguez would be greeted by fans at Yankee Stadium in the team's upcoming series against the Red Sox: "Will there be any cone bras in the stands? Sean Penn masks? The theme from `Evita' being sung by a heavenly choir of visiting Red Sox fans?"
There were, as usual, a lot of fans wearing pinstripe jerseys with his No. 13 on the back for the series opener. One of them, Shawn Richards, said he and nine pals came from western Canada to cheer for Rodriguez.
"A-Rod's the man!" Richards said. "He can do whatever he wants. It's New York."
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