Character actor Bruno Kirby dies at 57 in LA
LOS ANGELES - Bruno Kirby, a veteran character actor known for playing the best friend in two of Billy Crystal's biggest comedies "When Harry Met Sally" and "City Slickers," has died. He was 57.
Kirby died Monday in Los Angeles from complications related to leukemia, his wife Lynn Sellers said in a statement Tuesday. He had been recently diagnosed with the disease.
"We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from Bruno's fans and colleagues who have admired and respected his work over the past 30 years," his wife said. "Bruno's spirit will continue to live on not only in his rich body of film and television work but also through the lives of individuals he has touched throughout his life."
Born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu in 1949 in New York City, he was the son of actor Bruce Kirby. His early work included the 1971 film "Young Graduates," as well as appearances on the television show "Room 222" and the made-for-TV movie "The Summer Without Boys."
In 1974, he scored a role in "The Godfather: Part II," which won several Academy Awards, including best picture. In the film, Kirby played young "Pete Clemenza," following Richard S. Castellano's role in the first installment.
Over the next few years, Kirby made various TV appearances, including "Fame" and "Hill Street Blues," before landing the role of "2nd Lt. Steven Hauk" in Robin William's "Good Morning, Vietnam."
That was followed two years later by the romantic comedy "When Harry Met Sally," in which Kirby played Crystal's best friend. In 1991, Kirby once again appeared as Crystal's cheery friend in "City Slickers," - along for a mid-life adventure driving cattle on a dude ranch.
He also appeared in 1997's "Donnie Brasco," and recently in an episode of the HBO hit series "Entourage."
Along with his wife and father, Kirby is survived by his stepmother Roz Kirby, brother John Kirby and stepbrother Brad Sullivan.
No information on funeral arrangements was immediately available.
Internet a daily habit for most Canadians
Almost two-thirds of Canadians with home access to the internet use the web daily, according to a new report from Statistics Canada.
An estimated 7.9 million Canadian families, or 16.8 million adults, connect to the internet at home, says the Canadian Internet Use Survey released Tuesday.
The survey asked more than 30,000 Canadians aged 18 years and over about their internet use for 2005.
The internet has changed the way Canadians get their news and conduct their banking. It's become a common source for travel information and occupies hours out of the week for millions of Canadians.
The survey found men and women use the internet in roughly equal numbers, a change from 2001, when more men than women were online.
But there are clear differences in the way men and women use the internet, with women more likely to seek out health or medical information and men more likely to access government websites.
Men spend more time online
About 56 per cent of men had used the internet to download government forms or file income taxes, compared to 48 per cent of women.
Men spend more time on the internet, with 43 per cent going online for more than 10 hours a week, compared to about 34 per cent of women.
The most common use of the internet by Canadians is e-mail, used by 91 per cent of households with home access, followed by general browsing (84 per cent), seeking information about weather or road conditions (67 per cent) and travel arrangements or bookings (63 per cent).
Six out of 10 users regularly seek out their news or sports information online and the same number pay their bills online.
Younger users, defined as those under 25, were more likely to report using the web for education, training or school work. Sixty-one per cent of young people used it to play games.
The majority of internet users reported having a high-speed connection, with half using cable and 59 per cent of those connecting via telephone having a high-speed service.
Rural use lags
There is still a digital divide, as Canadians with higher incomes, better education, children in the home or living in urban areas are more likely to have internet access.
Only 58 per cent of residents of small towns or rural areas accessed the worldwide web at home, well below the national average of 68 per cent of all Canadians.
Rates of internet use in cities were much higher, ranging from 68 per cent in Montreal to 77 per cent in Ottawa-Gatineau or Calgary.
About 81 per cent of households with children under age 18 had internet access, compared with 61 per cent of households without children.
About 85 per cent of Canadians between the ages of 18 and 44 used the internet, compared with only half of those 45 years of age and older.
Among Canadians with a personal computer who did not use the internet from home, 29 per cent said they had no interest, 25 per cent said they had no need for it and 16 per cent said it cost too much.
...Canadian version of The One will not appear this fall
CBC Television's version of The One: Making of a Music Star will not air in the fall of 2006, the network confirmed on Tuesday.
A U.S. version of the reality series, hosted by CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos and aired simultaneously on CBC and ABC, was cancelled July 28.
Both ABC and CBC had poor ratings for the show, and the U.S. network cancelled it after only two weeks.
However, the Canadian version of the reality show is "still under development," according to CBC spokesman Jeff Keay.
"I'm able to confirm that it is not in the fall schedule for 2006," he said.
The public broadcaster has bought rights to the show, which is a hit in several countries, and originally said the Canadian edition of the talent search would air in the fall of 2006 or early 2007.
At the time of the cancellation, CBC held out hope the Canadian version of the show would go ahead. However, on Tuesday Keay could not confirm whether it would ever appear.
"I'm not able to say what the long-term plan will be," he said.
ABC got 3.1 million viewers for the first episode of the show, the smallest audience ever for the summer debut of a reality series.
In Canada, The One had 236,000 viewers for its debut. In comparison, about 1.2 million Canadians watched established hit Canadian Idol that night, while 938,000 tuned into another rival, Rock Star: Supernova.
Television critics panned the show for being too slick in some portions and under-produced in others.
There was also criticism in Canada of CBC's decision to bump The National from its time-slot on two nights in Eastern Canada to air the reality series.
"Star Trek" Unveils New Captain's Log
Now they're really boldly going where no one has gone before.
In news that will make Trekkers' hearts atwitter, all five Star Trek captains--William Shatner's Kirk, Patrick Stewart's Picard, Avery Brooks' Sisko, Kate Mulgrew's Janeway and Scott Bakula's Archer--are beaming aboard Star Trek: Legacy, a new videogame marking the 40th anniversary of the legendary sci-fi franchise.
The game, due out this fall from Bethesda Softworks, will be the first time the five stars from the five TV series will team up for a Star Trek project.
Shatner, who will reprise his career-defining role of Captain James. T. Kirk on the original Star Trek voyage from 1966 to 1969, tells Reuters that he hopes his participation in the game might spark renewed interest in Star Trek. The franchise had been labeled "in decay" by Activision, which previously held the game license, and saw its most recent incarnation, Star Trek: Enterprise, fizzle out with lackluster ratings and uninspired plots. Some fans and industry watchers believed the end was near.
"It's been around a long time, it's a staple of American life and I think we need something new and different," Shatner told the wire service, noting that he just couldn't resist returning to the part that made him a legend. "I couldn't imagine someone else playing Captain Kirk, even in a videogame, so I kind of got a little territorial."
Joining him in the virtual Starfleet will be Stewart, returning as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, the first Star Trek spinoff, which had a successful syndication run from 1987 to 1994.
Also coming back is Brooks, who played Captain Benjamin Lafayette Sisko on the syndicated Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from 1993 to 1999; Mulgrew who essayed Captain Kathryn Janeway on UPN's Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 to 2001; and, rounding out the captain's log, is Bakula who portrayed Captain Jonathan Archer in UPN's Enterprise, which aired from 2001 to 2005.
Legacy, available on PC and Xbox 360, will give fans the chance to command their own starship from 60 different vessels from each of the Star Trek eras as they do battle with Klingons, Romulans and the Borg. There will be both single-player campaigns and an online multiplayer mode.
The actors--or their pixelated alter egos--won't actually appear in the real-time strategy game; instead, their voices will offer advice and plot development.
"If it's a good game, keeping true to the characters the best they can, and having an interesting story that branches, I think a game can bring a freshness to the franchise like Star Trek," said Shatner, who last lent his voice to a videogame in 1997's Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
The thesp, whose Comedy Central Roast airs Sunday at 10 p.m., knows a thing or two about breathing new life into Gene Roddenberry's baby, having written nine Star Trek novels detailing the continuing journeys of Kirk and friends as they seek out new life and new civilizations, etc. His latest tale, Captain's Glory, finds the iconic character squaring off with Picard as the Federation faces a new enemy called the Totality.
Meanwhile, Bethesda is prepping Star Trek: Tactical Assault for the PSP and the Nintendo DS, also due out this fall. Bethesda also plans to release a first-person shoot-'em-up arcade version called Star Trek: Encounters for the PlayStation 2 next month.
Also coming this fall is four-disc Stat Trek: The Animated Series set on DVD, containing the 1970s Saturday morning revival of the series that featured the voices of the original cast. Paramount has set a Nov. 21 release date for the collection.
The studio, which has also produced and distributed all 10 Trek movies from 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture to 2002's bomb Star Trek: Nemesis, has signed a $22.5 million deal with Lost creator J.J. Abrams to pilot the 11th installment for release sometime in 2008.
Abrams told TV Guide in an interview last week that he and screenwriting partners Robert Orci and Alex Kurtxmann are already deep into development on the new Star Trek, which will take the series back to its roots with a prequel focusing on the early days of Kirk and Spock.
"We have an incredible beginning of a really dramatic story, and it very much honors the canon of Star Trek. On the other hand, it won't be like anything you've seen before," the Mission: Impossible 3 helmer told the magazine. "I think we have an incredible story, but we've sort of promised each other we wouldn't talk about the specifics yet. But I can say that we're actively working on it, we're in the middle of breaking the story, and it's coming along great."
Star Trek officially hits the big 4-0 next month. The original series debuted Sept. 8, 1966 on NBC.
'City Slickers' actor Bruno Kirby dies
LOS ANGELES - Bruno Kirby, a veteran character actor who costarred in "When Harry Met Sally," "City Slickers" and many other films, has died at age 57, his wife said Tuesday.
Kirby died Monday in Los Angeles from complications related to leukemia, according to a statement from his wife, Lynn Sellers. He had recently been diagnosed with the disease.
"We are incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support we have received from Bruno's fans and colleagues who have admired and respected his work over the past 30 years," his wife said. "Bruno's spirit will continue to live on not only in his rich body of film and television work but also through the lives of individuals he has touched throughout his life."
Kirby was perhaps best known for his roles opposite Billy Crystal in 1989's "When Harry Met Sally" and 1991's "City Slickers."
Other film credits included "Good Morning, Vietnam," "The Godfather: Part II" and "Donnie Brasco." More recently, he played Phil Rubenstein on the HBO series "Entourage."
'Ace Ventura 3' in the works
Plans to film a third installment of "Ace Ventura" will likely go forward without original pet detective Jim Carrey in the fold.
The Hollywood Reporter says movie studio Morgan Creek has hired writers Jeff Sank, Justin Heimberg and his brother Jason to pen the script to the popular comedy franchise.
Calling on Carrey to star in the film will be difficult, given that the storyline is expected to focus on the detective's son, who attempts to follow in his dad's footsteps.
The first two comedies, 1994's "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and 1995's "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" racked up over $180 million in North America and established Carrey as a superstar in Hollywood.
There is no director or cast attached as yet.
Bob & Doug brew up CBC special
Hosers Bob & Doug McKenzie are coming back for a last hurrah, co-creator Dave Thomas said Monday.
Thomas and collaborator Rick Moranis have sold the idea of a comedy special to CBC-TV, Thomas told the Sun from L.A. The one-hour show is tentatively scheduled for May of 2007. It will mark the 24th anniversary of their hoser flick Strange Brew, which still boasts a cult following.
"There will be original footage of us as the hosers," Thomas said of the special, which will also include vintage clips and fresh interviews with other Brew stars, as well as with Demi Moore, who auditioned but was rejected for a role.
As for reprising the McKenzie Brothers, "It will probably be our last time to do this, too," Thomas said. Then they'll take off, eh!