Category: People

STILL IN THE HUNT
Terminator star and Republican activist Arnold Schwarzenegger told the National Governors Association conference on Monday that although he declined to run for governor this past year, he’s still up for the job. “It’s something that I’m still interested in [for] the future. I think that the greatest thing you can do is serve the people,” the 54-year-old actor said.

Pilot in Aaliyah Crash Used Cocaine
The pilot of the small plane that crashed in the Bahamas last year ó killing 22-year-old singer and actress Aaliyah, himself and seven others ó had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body, aviation officials said Tuesday.
An autopsy performed on Luis Antonio Morales Blanes’ body revealed cocaine in his urine and traces of alcohol in his stomach, the Bahamas Department of Civil Aviation said in a statement.
Authorities are investigating how the substances might have affected the pilot at the time of the August crash. Morales, 30, was sentenced to three years probation on charges of crack cocaine possession 12 days before the crash.
Aaliyah, who was already a two-time Grammy nominee for best female R&B vocalist, was leaving the Bahamas following a video shoot when the Cessna 402-B crashed during takeoff. All nine people aboard died.
The aviation department also said Tuesday the aircraft may not have undergone fuel-pump wiring modifications required in August 1988. Unidentified particles and corrosion found in the fuel filters were “indications that routine maintenance was not being performed,” the statement said.
The investigative committee has not yet been able to talk to the plane’s owner of the airplane, or inspect the engine or aircraft log books, which would show maintenance, it said.
The twin-engine plane was also at least 700 pounds overweight, investigators have said. Although nine people were on board, the plane is certified to carry up to eight including the pilot.
Inspection of the plane’s engine, airframe, propeller and fuel system, however, has shown no cause for malfunction, authorities said Tuesday.
In May, the parents of Aaliyah filed a lawsuit against Virgin Records, alleging that negligence and recklessness caused the plane crash.
The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Diane and Michael Haughton, also named several video production companies and Blackhawk International Airways, the company that operated the plane.
Neither Blackhawk nor Skystream, the plane’s registered owner, had a permit to operate commercial charter flights in the Bahamas, investigators said.
Blackhawk officials couldn’t be reached for comment.

Dude, You’re Gettin’ a Fine
The Screen Actors Guild has punished Ben Curtis, better known as Steven the Dell Computers pitchman. The Guild punished Curtis for shooting commercials during the union’s strike against advertisers in 2000. Total punishment details were undisclosed, although a hefty fine is likely.

NO CHANCE
A Beverly Hills judge refusing a request by Winona Ryder’s lawyers to have the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office removed from her shoplifting case because they claim prosecutors have not treated her “in a fair manner.” Ryder’s lawyers wanted to have the California Attorney General’s Office take over the case.

Timberlake Finding Love with an Older Woman?
Justin Timberlake’s new squeeze is an older woman ó Janet Jackson. Maybe it’s just a fling, but the ‘N Sync heartthrob, 21, has been seeing the diva, 36, for a while.
The pair went public last weekend at a Miami Beach birthday party for rapper Missy Elliott, where Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire were among the celeb guests. They also were spotted two weeks ago at an L.A. club. No comment on the matchup from a rep for Timberlake, who split from Britney Spears in March and is busy making his solo album. And none on Jackson from her reps.

Paul Newman Not a Retiring Type
Paul Newman keeps trying to retire, and he keeps failing miserably.
The film legend, whose new film “Road to Perdition” opens Friday, is still acting and pursuing his other passions, auto racing and philanthropy. Newman raises funds for various charities through the Newman’s Own line spaghetti sauce, salad dressing and popcorn.
“I keep trying to retire from everything and discover that I’ve retired from absolutely nothing,” Newman told reporters.
At 77, Newman’s schedule remains packed, and he said he’s not quite ready for his swan song.
“I just finished the first play that I’d done in 35 years, which is like sticking a rifle in your mouth. So I don’t seem to be able to retire. Maybe you could get me a different swan,” he said.
Newman’s is one of Hollywood’s most storied careers, complete with eight best actor Oscar nominations, for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958), “The Hustler” (1961), “Hud” (1963), “Cool Hand Luke” (1967), “Absence of Malice” (1981), “The Verdict” (1982), “The Color of Money” (1986) and “Nobody’s Fool” (1994).
Long denied the best actor trophy, Newman won for “The Color of Money,” just one year after receiving an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement.
Newman’s wife of 42 years, Joanne Woodward, has been a frequent collaborator. The two starred together in such films as 1958’s “The Long Hot Summer” and 1990’s “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,” and Newman directed her in 1968’s “Rachel, Rachel” and a 1987 film adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.”
“I’d love to do a film with Joanne,” he said. “We’re looking at something down the pike. I can’t really discuss it right now. But there’s still a little vinegar left in the old dog yet.”

Eddie Van Halen And His Actress Wife Valerie Bertinelli Have Split
Dutch-born rocker Eddie Van Halen and his actress-wife of 21 years, Valerie Bertinelli, separated several months ago but have no plans at the moment to seek a divorce, her publicist said on Tuesday.
The 47-year-old guitarist, who disclosed a year ago that he was undergoing treatment for cancer, split from Bertinelli, 42, in October 2001, according to a spokeswoman for the actress, Heidi Schaeffer.
She declined to give further details, other than to say the couple’s separation was amicable and that no third party was involved.
Van Halen, who overcame a highly publicized battle with alcohol dependence in the late 1990s, has an 11-year-old son with Bertinelli.
“Because they’re the parents of a young son, they’ve requested that their family’s privacy be respected at this time,” Schaeffer said.
Van Halen, regarded as one of the most influential guitarists in the history of rock music, married Bertinelli in 1981. She is perhaps best known for her role on the 1970s television sitcom “One Day at a Time.”

Legendary Actor Rod Steiger Has Died At The Age Of 78
Actor Rod Steiger has died of pneumonia and kidney failure at age 78.
Steiger won the Academy Award as best actor of 1967 for his role as the unrelenting police chief of a small Southern town in “In the Heat of the Night.”
He died at a Los Angeles-area hospital at 9 a.m., said his publicist, Lori De Waal.
A devoted practitioner of method acting, Steiger prided himself in undertaking challenging roles, especially real-life persons. “My generation of actors was taught to be able to create different people; that’s what an actor is supposed to do,” he explained.
In movies and television, he convincingly portrayed such figures as Mussolini, Rasputin, Pope John XXIII, Rudolph Hess, Pontius Pilate, Napoleon, W.C. Fields and Al Capone.
“I’m 60 percent virgin and 40 percent whore,” he claimed in a 2000 TV interview. “I’ve not sold out that much, and I’ve made my own mistakes.”
He admitted that he made a big mistake in declining the lead in “Patton,” believing the film would glorify war and killing. George C. Scott played the role, and it brought him an Academy Award (which he refused).

She’s Back
Here’s that Amy Fisher column we’ve been hearing about for weeks.

Pioneering Disney Animator Ward Kimball Dies
Pioneering animator Ward Kimball, who helped modernize Mickey Mouse’s look in 1938 and created the character Jiminy Cricket for the Disney classic “Pinocchio,” died on Monday at age 88.
Kimball, a member of Walt Disney’s trusted cadre of cartoon artists known as the “nine old men,” died of natural causes at a hospital in Arcadia, a suburb northeast of Los Angeles, the Walt Disney Co. said in a statement.
During a Disney career that stretched from 1934 until his retirement in 1973, Kimball animated or served as directing animator on such feature classics as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Pinocchio,” “Fantasia,” “Cinderella” and “Alice in Wonderland.”
Two animated shorts he created for Disney — “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Bloom” (1953) and “It’s Tough to be a Bird” (1969) — won Academy Awards.
In the late 1950s, he also wrote and directed three landmark shows about space exploration for the “Disneyland” television series — “Man in Space,” “Man and the Moon” and “Mars and Beyond” — that were widely credited with sparking public interest in America’s space program.
But perhaps Kimball’s most distinguished achievement was his development of Jiminy Cricket, the affable, top-hatted sidekick and conscience of the living puppet who longed to be a real boy in Disney’s 1940 adaptation of “Pinocchio.”
Kimball also was credited with animating the famed crow sequence in “Dumbo” and playing a key role in developing a more sophisticated cartoon design for Disney’s signature character, Mickey Mouse, in 1938.
“He was a brilliant animator and filmmaker with a distinctive style and humor all his own,” said Roy E. Disney, vice chairman of the Disney company.
Film critic Leonard Maltin said of Kimball, “Ward had a pixie-ish spirit that was irresistible.”
In addition to his animation career, Kimball was an accomplished trombonist and founding member of the popular jazz group the Firehouse Five Plus Two. He also led some of his fellow Disney employees in a Dixieland band that recorded albums, played concerts and appeared on TV and in films.
As an antique toy collector and model train enthusiast, Kimball and his wife built a full-sized steam locomotive railroad which the couple ran on their ranch in Southern California.