THANK YOU VERY MUCH
Elvis Presley named the top-earning dead celebrity of the past year, according to Forbes magazine. Presley earned $37 million from June 2001 to June 2002, topping Peanuts creator Charles Schulz (second place, $28 million) and John Lennon (third place, $20 million).
Manager: Priestley Will Race Again
As Jason Priestley recovered from head and spinal injuries he suffered in a high-speed crash, his auto racing team manager said he had no doubt the actor would drive again.
“He’s a fighter, one of the toughest little guys I know,” Kelley Racing team manager Jim Freudenberg said less than 24 hours after the former “Beverly Hills, 90210” heartthrob was seriously injured during practice at the Kentucky Speedway.
“He doesn’t give up easily. If I’m going to keep him out of a race car, it’s going to be a fight. That’s just the way he is.”
Priestley, 32, faces weeks of healing and rehabilitation but is expected to fully recover, doctors said Monday.
He was airlifted from the University of Kentucky Hospital to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis late Monday afternoon, and he remained in serious but stable condition Tuesday morning.
He had made previous arrangements to be transferred to the facility here, which has treated several other Indy Racing League drivers, in the event he was involved in a serious accident.
Priestley crashed Sunday during practice for an Infiniti Pro Series race at the speedway in Sparta, Ky. He suffered a broken back, a moderate concussion, a broken nose, fractures in both feet and a host of cuts and bruises on his face and neck.
Priestley was fitted with a back brace Monday to determine the stability of the fracture in his ninth thoracic vertebra. Tests showed no immediate signs of paralysis or permanent neurological damage.
Dr. Andrew Bernard, a UK Hospital trauma surgeon, said he probably would not need spinal surgery but likely would require surgery to repair the broken bones in his feet.
“I’d say it’s going to be many weeks before he’s back up and doing some of the things that he likes to do,” Bernard said.
Hospital officials said family members, friends and members of the Kelley Racing team stayed with Priestley day and night to offer support.
Priestley, a native of British Columbia, starred as Brandon Walsh in the Fox network’s “Beverly Hills, 90210,” which ran from 1990 to 2000.
Freudenberg, who has known Priestley for over a decade, said a sense of dread washed over him when he couldn’t reach Priestley by radio after the crash.
“I asked him to respond, and he didn’t,” Freudenberg began. “I asked him again, and still there was no response, and that was tough.
“It’s a little more than him just being a driver for our race team. He’s a very good friend, and that was one of the hardest days of my life.”
AILING
Close friends saying former president Ronald Reagan’s condition is rapidly deteroriating in his battle with Alzheimer’s disease, the Associated Press reports. Reagan, 91, reportedly no longer recognizes his wife, Nancy.
NOT SO BLUE HAWAII
Nicolas Cage and Lisa Marie Presley tying the knot Saturday on the Big Island of Hawaii, their publicists confirmed Monday. Staff at their hotel tell the newspaper that mom Priscilla Presley attended the ceremony, along with Cage’s son from a previous marriage.
Elle ‘The Body’ Macpherson Is Expecting Again
Supermodel Elle Macpherson said on Monday she and her fiancĂ Arpad Busson are expecting their second child.
The baby is due in early February, Macpherson said in a statement.
Macpherson, dubbed “The Body” at the height of her fame as a model, was engaged to her long-time boyfriend Busson earlier this year. The couple has a 4-year-old son, Flynn.
Actor Jason Priestley Improving After Racing Crash
Actor Jason Priestley has temporary memory loss after a weekend racing car accident in which he broke his back but should recover from his injuries, his doctors said on Monday.
The Canadian-born Priestley, 32, best-known for his role as a teen heartthrob in the decade-long run of the TV show “Beverly Hills, 90210,” was able to speak his name to assembled family and friends and was taken off a respirator.
“He is becoming more aware of his surroundings. He can verbalize his name. He can recognize his family and friends. His neurological function is the key here,” said Dr. Stephen Stapczynski of the Kentucky Medical Center.
The memory loss from the moderate concussion Priestley sustained in the 180 mph crash should wear off, but he will need surgery to repair his broken back, the doctor said. He could move his extremities when asked, and apparently did not suffer any paralysis.
Priestley also suffered fractures to both feet and lacerations on the bridge of his nose, left cheek and neck. He was listed in serious but stable condition.
“He doesn’t have any injury that he shouldn’t recover (from),” Stapczynski told reporters.
“Obviously, we’re avoiding stressing him. We’re not wanting him to work too hard. … We’re letting him rest and recover.”
Later on Monday, Priestley was flown to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, which is renowned for its treatment of injured race drivers.
Priestley’s car, a smaller version of the type raced on the Indy car circuit, apparently ran over a patch of “oil-dry,” an absorbent material used to soak up oil from another car, during the final practice for the Indy Racing Infiniti Pro Series in Sparta, Kentucky. The car turned sideways, then corrected and slammed head-on into the outside wall.
Priestley is an experienced driver who has raced competitively for 10 years and was ranked seventh in points after three races in the series, league officials said.
The 100-mile race was run later on Sunday, with series points leader A.J. Foyt IV taking the checkered flag. Priestley had qualified his Dallara-Infiniti on Saturday for a start next to pole-sitter Foyt.
Priestley won a 1998 Grand-Am race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, and has worked for ABC Sports as an announcer for Indy Racing League broadcasts.
Cage, Presley Reportedly Marry
Lisa Marie Presley reportedly has gotten hitched again.
A published report in Hawaii says Presley tied the knot Saturday with actor Nicolas Cage in a ceremony on the Big Island.
Hotel staff tell The Honolulu Advertiser that Lisa Marie’s mother Priscilla attended, along with Cage’s son from a previous marriage.
The 34-year-old Presley previously was married to Michael Jackson.
Actor Priestley Fractures Spine in Racing Crash
Actor and racing enthusiast Jason Priestley fractured his spine and suffered a head injury on Sunday when he crashed his car into a wall during practice for the Indy Racing Infiniti Pro Series at Kentucky Speedway, officials said.
The 32-year-old Canadian-born actor, best known for starring as teen hunk Brandon Walsh in the long-running television series “Beverly Hills, 90210” was flown to the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington.
Henry Bock, medical services director for the Indy Racing League, said Priestley suffered a spinal fracture, a head injury and fractures to both feet. He was “stable and responding” and was listed in serious condition at the hospital where he was undergoing testing.
Asked about Priestley’s head injury, Bock said: “Whether that’s a concussion at this time, I think we would call it that. We have no indication from any of the scans … that he has any further damage to his head.”
The doctor said Priestley had fractured one of his vertebrae and the injury could be called a broken back, but he was “moving all his extremities” and there was no indication that the spinal cord itself had been damaged.
Priestley has been driving for Kelley Racing in the Indy Racing League’s Infiniti Pro Series season, which started in July. The accident occurred early on Sunday during practice when Priestley hit a retaining wall while taking a turn at the racetrack in Sparta, Kentucky.
“It was a one-car crash. He hit the wall,” said Kim Miller, spokeswoman for Indy Racing.
Previously Priestley won a 1998 Grand-Am race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Priestley found fame in the 1990s in “90210” before the series ended in 2000 after a 10-year run. He then worked in London, performing in “The Jazz Man” and has starred in numerous films.
He has also worked for ABC Sports as an announcer for Indy Racing League broadcasts, including the Indianapolis 500.
Serena Williams Wants to be Actress
Serena Williams, the world’s top-ranked woman’s tennis player, has added struggling actress to her resume.
The 20-year-old says she’s been taking classes and has a new acting coach.
“I’m trying to get some parts. A lot of people want me, but my schedule right now is kind of conflicting with my acting,” she said Thursday at a tennis tournament in Manhattan Beach.
Williams said she’d love to work with Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins or Morgan Freeman.
And what kind of part would she want to play?
“With my time schedule, I’d have to have a small role,” Williams said, “but I’d like the movie to be all about me, so maybe I can get hurt in the beginning of the movie and I can just stay in a coma until the end.”
Known as a practical joker, Williams was asked if she was serious about a future in show business.
“I’m very serious as a heart attack,” she said, giggling.
Warrant Issued for Crue’s Vince Neil
Motley Crue’s Vince Neil is wanted on a misdemeanor battery warrant for allegedly punching a record producer outside a West Hollywood nightclub last April, the district attorney’s office reported.
A warrant for Neil’s arrest was issued Wednesday, said district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison. If convicted, the heavy metal band’s lead singer could face a maximum of six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Neil’s manager, Burt Stein, called the allegation ridiculous, predicting the 41-year-old singer would be “completely exonerated.”
Michael Schuman said he was standing outside the Rainbow Room nightclub just after midnight on April 28 when Neil arrived in a red Rolls-Royce sedan, got out and punched him in the face.
Schuman, 47, fell to the ground, fracturing an elbow, while Neil stood over him and taunted him, according to the record producer’s attorney, Trent Copeland.
The attorney said there was a delay in prosecuting the case because Neil no longer lives in the area and detectives were unable to locate him.
Stein said Neil has cooperated fully with Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators.