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LONDON (Reuters) - David Bowie's first album of new music in a decade sees the influential musician back to his best, critics said in reviews rushed out on Tuesday, two weeks before its release.
"The Next Day", which hits stores in Britain on March 11 and a day later in the United States, could even be the "greatest comeback in rock'n'roll history", according to The Independent's Andy Gill.
As well as a series of glowing reviews, this week also saw the launch of the second single from the 14-track album called "The Stars (Are out Tonight)", accompanied by a surreal video starring the Starman himself and Tilda Swinton as his wife.
In it the middle-aged couple's daily routine is upset by the arrival of a group of mysterious, androgynous celebrities next door who enter their dreams and reawaken old desires and fears.
"They burn you with their radiant smiles/Trap you with their beautiful eyes" read the lyrics on Bowie's official website.
As befits an "event" album with so much hype surrounding it, several newspapers gave The Next Day a track-by-track analysis.
"David Bowie's The Next Day may be the greatest comeback album ever," said Gill in his five-star assessment.
"It's certainly rare to hear a comeback effort that not only reflects an artist's own best work, but stands alongside it in terms of quality," he added.
Neil McCormick of the Telegraph also gave the record top marks, calling it "an ... emotionally charged, musically jagged, electric bolt through his own mythos and the mixed-up, celebrity-obsessed, war-torn world of the 21st century."
BOWIE MANIA
Even in an age when veteran musical comebacks are a daily occurrence, the fascination with Bowie appears to be huge.
Music magazine NME is dedicating a six-page cover feature to the singer, while the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is staging a major exhibition looking at his music, art and groundbreaking fashion.
More than 26,000 tickets have already been sold to the show, which opens on March 23.
Alexis Petridis, writing in the Guardian, argued that, while containing references to Bowie's past work, it largely avoided becoming a sonic memoir of a stellar musical career.
And he said that the secrecy surrounding the making of the album, and genuine media surprise when it was announced on Bowie's 66th birthday last month, risked overshadowing the quality of the music itself.
"That doesn't seem a fair fate for an album that's thought-provoking, strange and filled with great songs," he said. "Listening to it makes you hope it's not a one-off, that his return continues apace."
Songs singled out by critics included "Valentine's Day", couched, according to Gill, "in one of the album's most engaging pop arrangements", and "Dancing Out In Space", described by Will Hodgkinson of The Times as a "nightclub smash".
"You Feel So Lonely You Could Die", the penultimate track, provides the climax which McCormick calls "fantastic, a lush companion piece to Ziggy's Rock'n'roll Suicide that drips vitriol in place of compassion."
Now that the album is complete, the question on many fans' lips is whether Bowie will return to the stage to perform live.
The singer himself has dodged the limelight altogether since the comeback, but guitarist Gerry Leonard told Rolling Stone magazine that he thought it was "50-50" that Bowie would tour.
The glam-rock star, born David Jones in south London in 1947, shot to fame with "Space Oddity" in 1969, and later with his alter ego Ziggy Stardust, before establishing himself as a chart-topping force in the early 1980s.
His long absence from the music scene led to speculation he had retired, with British newspapers reporting as recently as October that he had disappeared from the limelight for good.
Bowie's last album of new material was "Reality", released a decade ago, and he underwent emergency heart surgery while on tour in 2004. His last stage performance was as a guest at a charity concert in New York in 2006.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Singer Bobby Brown, the ex-husband of the late Whitney Houston, was sentenced to 55 days in jail on Tuesday after admitting to driving drunk last year.
Brown pleaded no contest, an admission of guilt under California law, to driving under the influence and driving on a suspended license in October in a Los Angeles suburb.
Police said they stopped Brown after seeing him driving erratically, and that he failed a field sobriety test. It was his second arrest for drunken driving in 2012.
Brown did not appear in court on Tuesday and his plea was entered by his attorney. He must report to jail on March 20
The New Edition singer was also sentenced to four years probation, ordered to install an ignition interlock device and to attend an alcohol counseling program.
Brown and Houston divorced in 2007 after 15 years of what Houston later described as a drug- and alcohol-fueled marriage. Houston drowned accidentally in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on February 11, 2012, from the effects of heart disease and cocaine.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance.
The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted the clip.
The clip shows Fisher, 56, singing "Skylark" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at times appearing to struggle to remember the lyrics. Fisher also appears to use paper to clean up after a small dog that shares the stage with her, and then stuffing the paper into a couch behind her.
"There was a medical incident related to Carrie Fisher's bipolar disorder," Fisher's spokeswoman Carol Marshall said in a statement. "She went to the hospital briefly to adjust her medication and is feeling much better now."
The actress has previously discussed her struggle with bipolar disorder. And in her 2009 memoir "Wishful Drinking," she also described her alcoholism and drug abuse.
Fisher is the daughter of Hollywood stars Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher and, aside from starring in the first three "Star Wars" films, wrote the bestselling novel "Postcards from the Edge" about an actress recovering from drug addiction. She wrote the screenplay for a 1990 movie adaptation.
She in recent years had a recurring role on the animated comedy "Family Guy" and has guest starred in a number of other television shows.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Todd Eastham)
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rapper Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake are teaming up for a 12-city summer stadium tour that will include concerts in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, music promoter Live Nation said on Friday.
The "Legends of the Summer" tour will kick off at the Roger's Center in Toronto on July 17, and finish on August 16 at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami.
Venues in Boston, Detroit and Baltimore will also be included in the tour.
Earlier this week Live Nation said the duo, who together have won 23 Grammy awards and two Emmys and have sold 67 million albums, will also be performing together in London at the Wireless Festival on July 12-13.
Timberlake's new album, "The 20/20 Experience," which will be released next month, features "Suit & Tie," a collaboration with Jay-Z. The two performed a duet together at the Grammy Awards earlier this month.
(Reporting by Noreen O'Donnell; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress Megan Fox has been cast in the new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie, according to filmmaker Michael Bay, who directed the actress in two Transformers films.
The two appear to have resolved their differences after Fox compared Bay to Hitler in a magazine interview. The actress was replaced by British model and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in the third Transformer film after making the comment.
"TMNT: we are bringing Megan Fox back into the family!" Bay wrote on his website.
Fox's agent confirmed that the 26-year-old new mother would play April O'Neil, the crime-fighting turtles' human friend.
In an interview with the British magazine "Wonderland" in 2009 Fox described Bay as nightmare to work with.
"He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is," she said.
Bay responded in a 2011 GQ interview saying executive producer Steven Spielberg had advised him to fire Fox.
"Megan loves to get a response," he said. "And she does it in kind of the wrong way."
Bay has said that one of the original creators of the Ninja Turtles was helping to develop the script for the film that is due to be released in May 2014.
(Reporting by Noreen O'Donnell; editing by Patricia Reaney and Jackie Frank)
(Reuters) - Cleotha Staples, a founding member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame R&B and gospel group The Staple Singers, has died after a decade-long battle with Alzheimer's disease, the group said on Friday. She was 78.
Staples, who died on Thursday at her Chicago home, is best known for singing on the group's 1970s hits, including "I'll Take You There," "Respect Yourself" and "Let's Do It Again."
"We will keep on," Mavis Staples, the group's lead singer, said in a statement. "Yvonne and I will continue singing to keep our father's legacy and our sister's legacy alive."
Mavis, who is known for her raspy voice that gave the group its distinct personality, said she would dedicate her forthcoming album to Cleotha's memory.
The oldest of five children, Staples was born in Drew, Mississippi, to Roebuck "Pops" Staples and Oceola Staples. The family moved to Chicago when Staples was 2 years old in 1936, where sisters Mavis and Yvonne were born.
The Staple Singers, known as "God's greatest hitmakers," were formed in 1948 with Pops on guitar and siblings Mavis, Cleotha, Pervis and Yvonne singing.
The group first played churches in the Midwest and put out their first recording in 1953. Their gospel hits included "On My Way to Heaven," "With the Circle Be Unbroken" and "Pray On."
The family became active in the civil rights movement in 1962 after hearing Martin Luther King Jr. speak while the family was on tour. They are thought to be the first black group to cover Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' in the Wind" in 1963.
The Staples Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and were honored with a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2005.
Cleotha Staples is survived by her sisters Mavis and Yvonne and brother Pervis.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Lisa Shumaker)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rapper Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake are teaming up for a 12-city summer stadium tour that will include concerts in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, music promoter Live Nation said on Friday.
The "Legends of the Summer" tour will kick off at the Roger's Center in Toronto on July 17, and finish on August 16 at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami.
Venues in Boston, Detroit and Baltimore will also be included in the tour.
Earlier this week Live Nation said the duo, who together have won 23 Grammy awards and two Emmys and have sold 67 million albums, will also be performing together in London at the Wireless Festival on July 12-13.
Timberlake's new album, "The 20/20 Experience," which will be released next month, features "Suit & Tie," a collaboration with Jay-Z. The two performed a duet together at the Grammy Awards earlier this month.
(Reporting by Noreen O'Donnell; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress Megan Fox has been cast in the new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie, according to filmmaker Michael Bay, who directed the actress in two Transformers films.
The two appear to have resolved their differences after Fox compared Bay to Hitler in a magazine interview. The actress was replaced by British model and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in the third Transformer film after making the comment.
"TMNT: we are bringing Megan Fox back into the family!" Bay wrote on his website.
Fox's agent confirmed that the 26-year-old new mother would play April O'Neil, the crime-fighting turtles' human friend.
In an interview with the British magazine "Wonderland" in 2009 Fox described Bay as nightmare to work with.
"He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is," she said.
Bay responded in a 2011 GQ interview saying executive producer Steven Spielberg had advised him to fire Fox.
"Megan loves to get a response," he said. "And she does it in kind of the wrong way."
Bay has said that one of the original creators of the Ninja Turtles was helping to develop the script for the film that is due to be released in May 2014.
(Reporting by Noreen O'Donnell; editing by Patricia Reaney and Jackie Frank)
(Reuters) - Cleotha Staples, a founding member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame R&B and gospel group The Staple Singers, has died after a decade-long battle with Alzheimer's disease, the group said on Friday. She was 78.
Staples, who died on Thursday at her Chicago home, is best known for singing on the group's 1970s hits, including "I'll Take You There," "Respect Yourself" and "Let's Do It Again."
"We will keep on," Mavis Staples, the group's lead singer, said in a statement. "Yvonne and I will continue singing to keep our father's legacy and our sister's legacy alive."
Mavis, who is known for her raspy voice that gave the group its distinct personality, said she would dedicate her forthcoming album to Cleotha's memory.
The oldest of five children, Staples was born in Drew, Mississippi, to Roebuck "Pops" Staples and Oceola Staples. The family moved to Chicago when Staples was 2 years old in 1936, where sisters Mavis and Yvonne were born.
The Staple Singers, known as "God's greatest hitmakers," were formed in 1948 with Pops on guitar and siblings Mavis, Cleotha, Pervis and Yvonne singing.
The group first played churches in the Midwest and put out their first recording in 1953. Their gospel hits included "On My Way to Heaven," "With the Circle Be Unbroken" and "Pray On."
The family became active in the civil rights movement in 1962 after hearing Martin Luther King Jr. speak while the family was on tour. They are thought to be the first black group to cover Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' in the Wind" in 1963.
The Staples Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 and were honored with a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2005.
Cleotha Staples is survived by her sisters Mavis and Yvonne and brother Pervis.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Lisa Shumaker)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rapper Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake are teaming up for a 12-city summer stadium tour that will include concerts in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, music promoter Live Nation said on Friday.
The "Legends of the Summer" tour will kick off at the Roger's Center in Toronto on July 17, and finish on August 16 at the Sun Life Stadium in Miami.
Venues in Boston, Detroit and Baltimore will also be included in the tour.
Earlier this week Live Nation said the duo, who together have won 23 Grammy awards and two Emmys and have sold 67 million albums, will also be performing together in London at the Wireless Festival on July 12-13.
Timberlake's new album, "The 20/20 Experience," which will be released next month, features "Suit & Tie," a collaboration with Jay-Z. The two performed a duet together at the Grammy Awards earlier this month.
(Reporting by Noreen O'Donnell; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's first Oscar-winning animator Bob Godfrey, whose work ranged from the children's TV cartoon "Roobarb" to mock-erotic movies like "Kama Sutra Rides Again", has died aged 91, his family told the BBC on Friday.
Godfrey, often referred to as "The Godfather of British Animation", was born in Australia but educated in England and started his career as a graphic artist in London in the 1930s before gaining work in the film industry.
He was the first British animator to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for his 1975 musical comedy "Great", about civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Godfrey was nominated three other times for Oscars, including for his 1971 short film "Kama Sutra Rides Again", one of his mock-erotic exploitation films that focused on the hypocrisy of British attitudes towards sex.
Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick so admired the film that he screened it alongside UK showings of "A Clockwork Orange".
"Much of Godfrey's work has been predicated on satirizing the foibles and minutiae of what it means to be 'British'," said his biography on the British Film Institute website.
For nearly 50 years Godfrey worked with some of animation's biggest names including Monty Python's Terry Gilliam, poking fun at orthodoxy and establishment thinking. He retired in 1999.
His work ran along two tracks - adult material and quirky children's cartoons which he wanted to appeal to adults too.
He was known for his children's cartoons "Roobarb", about a warring cat and dog, and "Henry's Cat".
His death comes after the death on Sunday of veteran actor Richard Briers, aged 79, who narrated "Roobarb" and also the character of Brunel in Godfrey's film "Great".
Aardman Animations studio founder Peter Lord tweeted: "Dear old Bob Godfrey is no more. A great influence and inspiration to me and my generation of animators. Also a lovely bloke."
In an interview with the Guardian in 2001, Godfrey said he had one professional regret.
"I'd love to have done a full-length feature but I can't seem to stretch myself to that length," he told the newspaper.
"When you look at my films, they appear to be a series of 30-second commercials cut together. I'm a short distance man whether I like it or not."
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; editing by Andrew Roche)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress Megan Fox has been cast in the new "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie, according to filmmaker Michael Bay, who directed the actress in two Transformers films.
The two appear to have resolved their differences after Fox compared Bay to Hitler in a magazine interview. The actress was replaced by British model and actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in the third Transformer film after making the comment.
"TMNT: we are bringing Megan Fox back into the family!" Bay wrote on his website.
Fox's agent confirmed that the 26-year-old new mother would play April O'Neil, the crime-fighting turtles' human friend.
In an interview with the British magazine "Wonderland" in 2009 Fox described Bay as nightmare to work with.
"He wants to be like Hitler on his sets, and he is," she said.
Bay responded in a 2011 GQ interview saying executive producer Steven Spielberg had advised him to fire Fox.
"Megan loves to get a response," he said. "And she does it in kind of the wrong way."
Bay has said that one of the original creators of the Ninja Turtles was helping to develop the script for the film that is due to be released in May 2014.
(Reporting by Noreen O'Donnell; editing by Patricia Reaney and Jackie Frank)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lady Gaga said she has undergone surgery to repair an injured hip that forced the pop singer last week to cancel the remainder of her concert tour.
The "Born This Way" singer thanked fans in a blog post on her littlemonsters.com fan website on Thursday, saying the setback was "just a bump in the road."
"As they wheeled me into surgery...I thought about all of your pain and perseverance, your unique family situations, school environments, health issues, homelessness, identity struggles," wrote Lady Gaga, who often engages with her fans about their personal problems.
"So I thought to myself, 'I'm alive; I'm living my dream, and this is just a bump in the road,'" she added.
The 26-year-old singer tweeted on Wednesday that she was heading into surgery to treat a labral tear of her right hip.
No timetable has been set for Lady Gaga to return to performing, and her tour operator said last week that she would need "strict downtime."
Lady Gaga has been on the road for two years, performing concerts on six continents.
The injury forced her to cancel some two dozen concerts in the United States as part of her "Born This Way Ball" tour.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)
(Reuters) - Hollywood couple Diane Lane and Josh Brolin are divorcing after more than eight years, their representatives said on Thursday.
"I can confirm Diane Lane and Josh Brolin have decided to end their marriage," said Lane's spokeswoman, Kelly Bush.
A source close to the couple termed the split as "amicable" and said it was a mutual decision.
The divorce will be the second for both Lane and Brolin. They have no children together.
Lane, 48, who was Oscar-nominated for her role in the 2002 film "Unfaithful," and Brolin, 45, married in August 2004 after being introduced by Barbra Streisand, the actor's stepmother through her marriage to James Brolin.
Josh Brolin played a lead role in last summer's sci-fi comedy franchise "Men in Black 3" and his most recent film appearance was the January release "Gangster Squad."
(Reporting By Noreen O'Donnell in New York; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)
(Please note that this story contains strong language in paragraphs 10 and 21.)
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Shia LaBeouf is taking a cue from his former co-star Alec Baldwin and using Twitter to defend his actions - in this case his split from "Orphans" on Broadway.
The show, which begins previews in less than a month, was to be the "Transformers" star's Great White Way debut. In a brief statement Wednesday, the actor's departure was attributed to those pesky "creative differences."
But LaBeouf, whose propensity to over-share has gotten him in trouble in the past, took to Twitter within hours of the announcement to post private emails from the show's director Daniel Sullivan and co-stars Baldwin and Tom Sturridge.
He also mused about the role of theater in society and posted his audition video for the show (he's twitchy, intense and, it must be said, pretty convincing as a criminal with a short fuse).
The correspondence does little to clarify the reasons for his abrupt exit, though his exchange with Sullivan hints at chemistry issues with Baldwin.
"I'm too old for disagreeable situations," Sullivan writes. "You're one hell of a great actor. Alec is who he is. You are who you are. You two are incompatible. I should have known it. This one will haunt me. You tried to warn me. You said you were a different breed. I didn't get it."
But an individual close to the production told TheWrap that the split had nothing to do with Baldwin; it was due to conflicts between the star and the show's producers, Frederick Zollo and Robert Cole.
Spokespeople for the production did not respond to requests for comment.
In his emails, LaBeouf also demonstrates a flair for the dramatic that New York theater critics will be denied an opportunity to see in the flesh.
"My dad was a drug dealer," LaBeouf writes. "He was a shit human. But he was a man. He taught me how to be a man. What I know of men Alec is."
"A man owns up," he adds. "That's why Mark McGuire is not a man."
If the message from Baldwin is to be believed, LaBeouf's former cast-mate wishes him well.
After LaBeouf apologizes for creating a "disagreeable situation," Baldwin assures him he doesn't have an "unkind word to say about you."
"I've been through this before," Baldwin writes. "It's been a while. And perhaps some of the particulars are different. But it comes down to the fact that what we all do now is critical. Perhaps especially for you. When the change comes, how do we handle it, whether it be good or bad? What do we learn?"
A spokesman for Baldwin declined to comment and a spokeswoman for LaBeouf did not respond to requests for comment.
Sturridge also is complimentary in his note to LaBeouf.
"I was stunned by the work you were doing, the performance you were giving," he writes."I think you lifted the play to a place higher than maybe it even deserved to be."
This is not the first time that LaBeouf has gotten in trouble for running his mouth off in public. In the past he irritated Steven Spielberg by speaking ill of their collaboration on "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"; said Oliver Stone played too nice when they teamed up on "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps," and once revealed that he hooked up with "Transformers" co-star Megan Fox when she was on a break from her husband Brian Austin Green.
His frank talk and propensity to criticize former collaborators has inspired at least one high-profile rebuke.
Harrison Ford told Details Magazine that he was displeased by his co-stars comments about the Indiana Jones sequel.
"I think I told him he was a f---ing idiot," Ford said. "As an actor, I think it's my obligation to support the film without making a complete ass of myself."
On Wednesday and Thursday, LaBeouf also took the opportunity to share some colorful thoughts about acting, as well as some historical lessons of questionable veracity.
"Actors used to be buried with a stake through the heart," he tweeted. "Those peoples performances so troubled on-lookers that they feared their ghosts."
Oh, and based on his messages with Rick Sordelet, the show's fight director and a faculty member at Yale University's drama school, an MFA may be in LaBeouf's future...possibly one from a certain New Haven-based institute of higher learning.
In a message, Sordelet hails LaBeouf's work ethic and says he has been in touch with the head of the school's acting program about having him matriculate.
"It must have been difficult for others in the room to be schooled by someone who's raw talent and enthusiasm out matched theirs," Sordelet writes.
Sounds like somebody might be passing James Franco on the quad some day soon.
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - An Arkansas Crime Lab preliminary autopsy confirmed country music singer Mindy McCready's death was a suicide from a single gunshot wound to the head, the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office said on Wednesday.
McCready, 37, whose career was overshadowed by substance abuse and suicide attempts, was found dead on the porch of a house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, on Sunday afternoon beside her boyfriend's dead dog. Officials have said she shot the dog.
"It is with the deepest sadness we say goodbye to an extraordinary and gifted talent, a daughter, a mother and friend, Miss Mindy McCready," McCready's family said in a statement released on Wednesday.
The statement requested a time of "quiet" for her family and friends and said McCready's "friends in music" were planning to host a memorial in Nashville soon.
The singer's 1996 debut album, "Ten Thousand Angels," sold 2 million copies. Four other studio albums followed. Her fifth album, "I'm Still Here," was released to acclaim in 2010.
McCready, though, had a complicated personal life with a history of substance abuse, suicide attempts, family disputes and tragedy. She was in a legal dispute over custody of her oldest son, Zander, with the boy's father at the time of her death.
In November 2011, she left Florida with Zander and fled to Arkansas. McCready's mother, who had custody of the child, filed a missing person report against her daughter and regained custody.
Last month, record producer David Wilson, the father of McCready's son Zayne, who was born last year, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in Heber Springs. An investigation was ongoing into his death.
(Editing by David Bailey and Leslie Adler)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Palestinian filmmaker on his way to the Academy Awards said on Wednesday he was held at Los Angeles International Airport and threatened with deportation before being allowed into the United States.
Emad Burnat, whose "5 Broken Cameras" is competing for an Oscar in the Best Documentary Feature category, said U.S. immigration officials took him, his wife and 8-year-old son aside when they arrived in Los Angeles from Turkey on Tuesday evening.
"Immigration officials asked for proof that I was nominated for an Academy Award ... and they told me that if I couldn't prove the reason for my visit, my wife Soraya, my son Gibreel and I would be sent back to Turkey on the same day," Burnat said in a statement.
Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said in a series of Twitter messages that he stepped in to help resolve the situation.
"Although he (Burnat) produced the Oscar invite nominees receive, that wasn't good enough & he was threatened with being sent back to Palestine. ... Apparently the Immigration & Customs officers couldn't understand how a Palestinian could be an Oscar nominee. Emad texted me for help ... I called Academy officials who called lawyers. I told Emad to give the officers my phone # and to say my name a couple of times," Moore tweeted on Tuesday evening.
Burnat said he and his family were detained for about an hour.
U.S. officials declined to comment on the incident, citing privacy laws.
"Travelers may be referred for further inspection for a variety of reasons to include identity verification, intent of travel, and confirmation of admissibility," U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement. "The United States has been, and continues to be, a welcoming nation."
Burnat, a farmer, is the amateur filmmaker behind "5 Broken Cameras," which documents about five years of protests against land seizures by Israeli forces and Jewish settlers in his village of Bil'in in the occupied West Bank. It was co-directed by Israeli activist and filmmaker Guy Davidi.
It is the first Palestinian film to be nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars, according to representatives for the film.
"5 Broken Cameras" is one of five films nominated for an Oscar in the documentary category. One of its competitors is Israeli film "The Gatekeepers," which looks at the decades-old Middle East conflict through the eyes of six top former Israeli intelligence bosses.
The Oscars, the highest awards in the movie industry, will be presented on Sunday in Hollywood.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Joe Garagiola, the Major League baseball veteran best known for his affable personality and quick wit as a sports commentator, game show host and even late-night television personality, retired from broadcasting on Wednesday.
Garagiola, 87, who made his Major League debut with his hometown team, the St. Louis Cardinals, in 1946 and ended his baseball career nine seasons later with the New York Giants, embarked on a much longer broadcasting career in 1955.
He began calling Cardinal radio broadcasts on KMOX that year and went on to a nearly three-decade association with NBC starting in 1961, making his mark as a commentator for the network's baseball game of the week broadcasts into the 1980s.
Garagiola crossed over from sports to NBC's news division, serving as a "Today" show panelist from 1967 to 1973 and again from 1990 to 1992, and also worked in entertainment television.
During the 1960s and 70s, he filled in for Johnny Carson as an occasional guest host of NBC's "Tonight Show" and presented various game shows, including "He Said, She Said", Joe Garagiola's Memory Game", "To Tell the Truth" and "Strike It Rich".
In addition to his Major League stints with the Cardinals and the Giants, the left-handed-hitting catcher played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Chicago Cubs during a 676-game career that earned a .257 batting average, 42 home runs and 255 RBI.
"I really appreciate everything that has happened to me," Garagiola said at news conference at the Arizona Diamondbacks spring training facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. "I don't deserve a lot things that happened to me, but I remember Jack Benny said he had arthritis, and he didn't deserve that either."
Garagiola capped his Hall of Fame broadcasting career as a part-time television analyst for the Diamondbacks since 1998.
(Writing by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Steve Gorman and Pravin Char)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The teenage son of late pop star Michael Jackson has signed up to be a correspondent for the "Entertainment Tonight" television show, following in the footsteps of his show business family.
Prince Jackson, 16, was to debut on "Entertainment Tonight" on Tuesday, interviewing actors James Franco, Zach Braff and director Sam Raimi as they promote their upcoming film "Oz the Great and Powerful," the program said.
Prince, who was born Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., is the oldest of Michael Jackson's three children.
Jackson told the syndicated tabloid news show that he wants to eventually get into the film business.
"I'm looking to become well-rounded as a producer, director, screenwriter and actor," he said.
Jackson's sister Paris, 14, signed up in 2011 to star in a movie called "Lundon's Bridge and the Three Keys," based on a young adult fantasy novel. The film is still in development.
Michael Jackson died unexpectedly at his home in Los Angeles in June 2009 at age 50 from an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol and sedatives.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Bill Trott)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar nominees who don't end up with a coveted gold statuette at the Academy Awards on Sunday won't go home empty handed after all.
Los Angeles-based marketing firm Distinctive Assets will be handing out its annual "Everyone Wins at the Oscars Nominee Gift Bag", valued at more than $45,000, to the talented and well-dressed "losers," the company said on Tuesday.
Among the items in the gift bags, known as swag bags, are trips to Australia, Hawaii and Mexico, personal training sessions, condoms, a bottle of tequila, hand-illustrated tennis shoes, appointments for injectable fillers and 'portion-controlled' dinnerware for those watching their figure, Distinctive Assets said in a statement.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars, stopped its practice of giving gift baskets to presenters and performers in 2007 after the practice came under closer scrutiny from U.S. tax authorities.
Celebrities who receive gifts and free trips at awards shows are expected to declare them to the Inland Revenue Service as income and pay the appropriate taxes.
The Distinctive Assets gift bag is not endorsed by the Academy but has been creating consolation goodie bags for 11 years now. The bags are delivered to the losing nominees to their homes directly or through their agents or publicists.
This year's "Not Everyone Wins...." swag bag also includes an under-the-counter water filtration system, acupuncture and aromatherapy sessions, a one-week stay at a fitness and weight-loss retreat, and a one-year membership to London's Heathrow Airport's private VIP service.
Nominees' children also benefit: they get to enroll in professional all-kid circus classes.
The Academy Awards, the highest honors in the movie business, will be handed out a ceremony on Sunday in Hollywood.
(Reporting by Zorianna Kit, editing by Jill Serjeant and Philip Barbara)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British singer Morrissey has convinced a Los Angeles concert venue to not sell meat at concessions during his performance next month.
The longtime animal rights activist and former singer for 1980s rock group The Smiths urged the Staples Center arena to shutter the concession stands of fast food chain McDonald's and to halt the sale of meat by other outlets at the venue for his March 1 performance.
"We respect Morrissey's lifestyle and his concern for the wishes of so many of his fans and are happy that we are able to honor his requests in this manner," Lee Zeidman, the arena's general manager, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Staples Center operator Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) said the arena will also roll out a special line of meatless food concessions, including vegan sloppy Joes, vegan sushi, and hummus and pita bread.
"I don't look upon it as a victory for me, but a victory for the animals," the "Irish Blood, English Heart" singer said earlier this week.
AEG and its promoter subsidiary Goldenvoice will donate a portion of ticket sales from the show to the animal rights group PETA, Morrissey said.
Morrissey, 53, who co-wrote The Smiths' 1985 song "Meat Is Murder," postponed a series of concerts on his North America tour last month after being hospitalized for a bleeding ulcer.
He is expected to relaunch the tour with a performance on U.S. late-night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" next week.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - Troubled country music star Mindy McCready, whose platinum singing career was shadowed by substance abuse and suicide attempts, was found dead on Sunday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, an Arkansas sheriff said. She was 37.
McCready's body was found on the porch of a house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, on Sunday afternoon. She was pronounced dead at the scene "from what appears to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound," the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Deputies had been dispatched to the area following reports of "shots fired," the sheriff's office said.
McCready, whose albums include "Ten Thousand Angels" and "If I Don't Stay the Night," had a complicated personal life, marked by a history of substance abuse, suicide attempts, family disputes and tragedy.
Last month, record producer David Wilson, the father of her youngest son, was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in the same Arkansas town.
Some fellow musicians paid tribute to McCready on Twitter as news of her death spread.
"My thoughts and prayers go out to Mindy McCready and her family today," country singer Tracy Lawrence tweeted.
Country star Carrie Underwood wrote, "I grew up listening to Mindy McCready... so sad for her family tonight. Many prayers are going out to them."
Born in Fort Myers, Florida, McCready learned to sing as a child at her local Pentecostal church. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to break into the country music business at the age of 18, according to allmusic.com.
She achieved early success with her 1996 debut album, "Ten Thousands Angels," which sold 2 million copies. Four other studio albums followed.
While successful in her career, McCready's personal life had begun to unravel in recent years.
In 2004 she was convicted of prescription drug fraud and placed on parole. Three years later she spent time in jail for violating her parole terms.
She had two young sons. Her first, Zander, was born in 2006. As her personal problems deepened, she became embroiled in a legal dispute over custody.
In November 2011, she left Florida with Zander and fled to Arkansas. McCready's mother, who had custody of the child, filed a missing person report against her daughter, and regained custody.
Her son with Wilson, Zayne, was born last year.
McCready appeared on the television show "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew."
According to the biography posted on VH1's website (http://www.vh1.com/shows/celebrity_rehab_with_dr_drew/season_3/cast_member.jhtml?personalityId=13232 ) as part of her appearance on the show, McCready said that she believed her only true addiction was to violent relationships.
In 2011 McCready appeared on HBO's show "Celebrity Close Calls" about life and death situations. That same year she also appeared on the network's "Celebrity Ghost Stories."
Her fifth album, "I'm Still Here," was released to acclaim in 2010.
The sheriff's office said McCready's body would be taken to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for an autopsy, adding that "the matter will be fully investigated."
(Additional reporting by James B. Kelleher in Chicago Writing by Tim Gaynor in Phoenix; Editing by Eric Beech and Mohammad Zargham)
BERLIN (Reuters) - Half a life-time ago, artist Yoko Ono lay in an Amsterdam hotel bed with husband John Lennon, staging a week-long "bed-in" for peace and feeling they were very alone in their activism.
Today, Ono, whose own energy for campaigning has never tired, sees a world full of activists, maintaining her energy and faith in humanity.
"When John and I did the bed-in, not many people were with us. But now there are so many activists, I don't know anyone who is not an activist," she told Reuters in an interview in Berlin on Monday, her 80th birthday.
"Even the corporations - John always used to say the corporations need to be with us... Corporations now say 10-20 percent of their profits will go to such and such charity. They have to do that almost for people to feel good about it."
The late Beatle and Ono's 1969 bed-in to protest against the Vietnam war was repeated in Montreal, Canada. Press attention was huge, but much of it was mocking.
Ono, who gave a sell-out concert in Berlin on Sunday alongside their son Sean Lennon which closed with the anthem "Give peace a chance", said it was still critical to stand up for peace despite new conflicts in the intervening decades.
"I don't want to be drowning in sadness. I think we have to stand and up and change the world," she said.
The artist, born to a wealthy Japanese family in Tokyo in 1933, has recently become a passionate opponent of fracking, a controversial procedure which has sharply lifted energy output in the United States but which critics fear pollutes drinking water deep underground and could increase earthquake risks.
"Fracking is an incredible risk to the human race, I don't know why they even thought of doing it," she said.
Ono, whose birthday is being marked by a major retrospective of her work in Frankfurt, said she feels she is becoming freer in her art.
"My attitude has changed... I'm allowing things to happen in a way I hadn't planned before," she said.
Asked about her feelings on becoming an octogenarian, she said: "I'm surprised. It is a miracle in a sense that I am 80, I am proud about it. Not everybody gets there."
(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson, editing by Gareth Jones and Paul Casciato)
LONDON (Reuters) - British actor Richard Briers, best known for the 1970s TV sit-com "The Good Life" but also for his Shakespearean roles, has died at the age of 79, prompting a flood of tributes for "a national treasure".
The actor, who spent a lifetime on the stage, had recently spoken publicly of battling a serious lung condition for years, saying that "the ciggies got me" after a lifetime smoking habit.
He said his health was failing after being diagnosed with emphysema five years ago even though he gave up smoking 10 years ago.
"I was diagnosed five years ago and didn't think it would go quite as badly as it has," he told a newspaper interview last month. "I used to love smoking. It's totally my fault."
His agent said he died on Sunday at his London home.
Briers's career ranged from television, to theatre, to film and radio with the actor, trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, making his West End debut in the late 1950s.
In "The Good Life", he played alongside actress Felicity Kendal as a married couple who decide to drop out of the rat race and try out a life of self-sufficiency.
His film credits included "A Chorus Of Disapproval" in 1989 and "Watership Down" in 1978 in which he was the voice of Fiver. He also narrated the children's cartoon series "Roobarb and Custard".
But he won wide acclaim for his Shakespearean work after joining Kenneth Branagh's Renaissance Theatre Company. He appeared in a list of Branagh's films including "Henry V", "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Hamlet".
Briers, who was married with two daughters, was awarded an OBE in 1989 for services to the arts.
Branagh paid tribute to Briers, telling reporters: "He was a national treasure, a great actor and a wonderful man. He was greatly loved and he will be deeply missed."
Actor Stephen Fry on Twitter described him as "the most adorable and funny man imaginable".
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, editing by Paul Casciato)
(Reuters) - Famed jeweler Bulgari said on Sunday it would put eight pieces of the late actress Elizabeth Taylor's jewels on display at its Beverly Hills boutique, more than a year after the Hollywood star's world-class collection fetched record prices at auction.
The exhibition of pieces from that sale will include jewels Taylor obtained and wore during well-documented times in her storied life, including the filming of "Cleopatra," which launched her romance with Richard Burton, Bulgari said.
Included are Taylor's first piece of Bulgari jewelry, an emerald-and-diamond brooch which achieved a record per-carat price for any emerald at the Christie's sale. The brooch sold for $6,578,500, setting a record price for an emerald jewel and emeralds per carat at $280,000.
An emerald and diamond necklace which sold at the Christie's auction for $6.1 million, and a diamond and gold sautoir set with six ancient Roman coins acquired for $5.9 million, will also be shown along with other diamonds, sapphires and more.
The jewels, widely reported to have been bought from the Taylor estate by Bulgari at the December 2011 auction of her collection at Christie's, will go on display this week in advance of next Sunday's Academy Awards, Bulgari said.
"There couldn't have been a more appropriate celebrity to have fallen in love with Bulgari," it said in announcing the display.
Noting Taylor's "grounded" nature in contrast to her impossibly glamorous life, it said Bulgari is known for creating jewels that pair precious stones with items of no intrinsic value such as antique coins, ceramics and silk cords.
Burton, whom Taylor married and divorced twice, once famously quipped that "The only Italian word Elizabeth knows is Bulgari." The Italian luxury house was founded in 1884 in Rome by Greek Sotirios Voulgaris, known in Italy as Sotirio Bulgari.
It was acquired in 2011 for 4.3 billion euros ($6.01 billion) and other considerations by the French luxury house LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA.
Taylor died in 2011 aged 79 of congestive heart failure. The Christie's auction of her gems took in a record $116 million.
(Editing by Chris Michaud and Todd Eastham)
(Reuters) - Travis Barker will skip the Australian tour of pop-punk band Blink-182, citing a long-term fear of flying that worsened after he survived a fatal crash nearly five years ago that killed two friends.
"I'm sorry to announce I won't be joining Blink-182 on this Australian tour," Barker, 37 and drummer for the group, wrote on Facebook. "I still haven't gotten over the horrific events that took place the last time I flew when my plane crashed and four people were killed, two being my best friends."
Barker was one of two survivors of the 2008 crash when a private plane he was on burst into flames during an aborted takeoff. He spent several months in hospital with injuries.
Barker said he had hoped to get to Australia by ship if need be for the tour, which starts on Wednesday in Sydney, but that schedules hadn't worked out.
"Once again, I'm sorry to all the fans," he said.
The band, also writing on Facebook, said Barker would be replaced on the tour by Brooks Wackerman from Bad Religion and Tenacious D.
"The band knew the chances of Travis overcoming his fear of flying, which was magnified after the horrible plane crash of 2008, would be a challenge, but we wanted to play for our fans in Australia nonetheless," they said, adding that cancelling the tour had not been an option.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Paul Tait)
LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - Troubled country music star Mindy McCready, whose platinum singing career was shadowed by substance abuse and suicide attempts, was found dead on Sunday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, an Arkansas sheriff said. She was 37.
McCready's body was found on the porch of a house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, on Sunday afternoon. She was pronounced dead at the scene "from what appears to be a single self-inflicted gunshot wound," the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Deputies had been dispatched to the area following reports of "shots fired," the sheriff's office said.
McCready, whose albums include "Ten Thousand Angels" and "If I Don't Stay the Night," had a complicated personal life, marked by a history of substance abuse, suicide attempts, family disputes and tragedy.
Last month, record producer David Wilson, the father of her youngest son, was found dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound in the same Arkansas town.
Some fellow musicians paid tribute to McCready on Twitter as news of her death spread.
"My thoughts and prayers go out to Mindy McCready and her family today," country singer Tracy Lawrence tweeted.
Country star Carrie Underwood wrote, "I grew up listening to Mindy McCready... so sad for her family tonight. Many prayers are going out to them."
Born in Fort Myers, Florida, McCready learned to sing as a child at her local Pentecostal church. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to break into the country music business at the age of 18, according to allmusic.com.
She achieved early success with her 1996 debut album, "Ten Thousands Angels," which sold 2 million copies. Four other studio albums followed.
While successful in her career, McCready's personal life had begun to unravel in recent years.
In 2004 she was convicted of prescription drug fraud and placed on parole. Three years later she spent time in jail for violating her parole terms.
She had two young sons. Her first, Zander, was born in 2006. As her personal problems deepened, she became embroiled in a legal dispute over custody.
In November 2011, she left Florida with Zander and fled to Arkansas. McCready's mother, who had custody of the child, filed a missing person report against her daughter, and regained custody.
Her son with Wilson, Zayne, was born last year.
McCready appeared on the television show "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew."
According to the biography posted on VH1's website (http://www.vh1.com/shows/celebrity_rehab_with_dr_drew/season_3/cast_member.jhtml?personalityId=13232 ) as part of her appearance on the show, McCready said that she believed her only true addiction was to violent relationships.
In 2011 McCready appeared on HBO's show "Celebrity Close Calls" about life and death situations. That same year she also appeared on the network's "Celebrity Ghost Stories."
Her fifth album, "I'm Still Here," was released to acclaim in 2010.
The sheriff's office said McCready's body would be taken to the Arkansas State Crime Lab for an autopsy, adding that "the matter will be fully investigated."
(Additional reporting by James B. Kelleher in Chicago Writing by Tim Gaynor in Phoenix; Editing by Eric Beech and Mohammad Zargham)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lady Gaga canceled the remainder of her "Born This Way Ball" concert tour to undergo hip surgery, promoters Live Nation said on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old singer announced she was suffering from an inflammation of the joints on Tuesday, but the tour operator said Gaga's injuries were more serious than she realized.
"After additional tests this morning to review the severity of the issue, it has been determined that Lady Gaga has a labral tear of the right hip," Live Nation said in a statement.
"She will need surgery to repair the problem, followed by strict downtime to recover. This, unfortunately, will force her to cancel the tour so she can heal," it added.
Gaga has been on the road for two years, traveling across six continents.
On Tuesday, she postponed four U.S. shows saying she was suffering from synovitis that left her temporarily unable to walk. Synovitis is an inflammation of the joints that sometimes follows a sprain, strain or injury.
According to her website, the singer was due to play another 20 dates in the United States.
Live Nation said ticket holders would have their money refunded, starting on Thursday.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Stacey Joyce)
(Reuters) - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have gone into the wine business, helping to produce a rose called Miraval from their French estate and putting their names on the label, wine website Decanter.com reported.
The movie star couple have been working with French winemaker Marc Perrin starting with the 2012 harvest, the website said. The Miraval wine will be on the market in March, and white wines will begin arriving by the end of this summer.
"They ... want to ensure they are making the best Provence wines they can," Perrin told Britain-based Decanter.com. on Wednesday.
"They were present at the blending sessions this year, and are relooking at everything from the installations in the winery - where we have already switched to stainless steel tanks - to reworking the labels across the range of wines," he added.
The back label of the Miraval wine carries the names Jolie-Pitt and Perrin.
Pitt and Jolie began renting Chateau Miraval in Correns, southern France, about four years ago and later bought the property, which has about 148 acres of vines.
The Miraval wine was formerly called Pink Floyd because the British rock band recorded their 1979 album "The Wall" in a studio on the estate, Decanter.com said.
Pitt last year unveiled a high-end collection of furniture that he helped create with designer Frank Pollaro. He has also worked with architects to create affordable quality housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, is writing a memoir about her years at the social network website where she was once director of marketing, publisher HarperCollins said on Thursday.
Zuckerberg, 30, signed a two-book deal with HarperCollins that will include her memoir "Dot Complicated," and a children's picture book, scheduled to be released in the fall.
"Technology has changed virtually every part of our lives, resulting in a modern, digital society that feels a lot like the wild, wild West," Zuckerberg said in a statement.
"I am thrilled to be working with HarperCollins to share some of my own crazy experiences on the front lines of social media, and to inspire people of all ages to embrace technology, as well as the new set of social norms that come along with it."
"Dot Complicated" will cover Zuckerberg's six-year role in marketing at Facebook and her decision to leave the social media site to set up her own company, Zuckerberg Media, an entertainment production studio.
HarperCollins said the book will also be released in a digital format that will feature "innovative and engaging interactive components" that will include social media integration and a platform for crowd-sourced stories.
Zuckerberg, who left Facebook in August 2011, served as executive producer for the Bravo reality show "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley" and is the editor of the lifestyle blog "Dot Complicated."
HarperCollins Publishers is a subsidiary of News Corp.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lyndon B. Johnson was so smitten when he met Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor in 1934 that he took her on a first date the very next day -- and asked for her hand in marriage.
Taylor adored her suitor but was worried about rushing into marriage, according to dozens of love letters between the two set to be released for the first time by the LBJ Presidential Library on Thursday, Valentine's Day.
In the pages of about 90 letters that the newly renovated library plans to post on its website, Johnson seems lonely and impatient, persistently urging Taylor to make up her mind. She says she wants to wait until they know each other better, though she also writes that she is afraid of losing him.
"All I can say, in absolute honesty, is -- I love you, I don't know how everlastingly I love you, -- so I can't answer you yet," Taylor wrote him shortly after they met that September.
Johnson, then 26 and working in Washington, D.C., as a secretary to Congressman Richard Kleberg, met Taylor, 21, through a friend while visiting Texas and asked her for a date the next morning. They had breakfast at the Driskill Hotel in Austin and spent the day sightseeing. That same day, he popped the question, asking her to become his wife.
After he returned to Washington, they spent two and a half months exchanging a flurry of letters and phone calls before going to San Antonio on November 17 to, as she later put it, "commit matrimony."
In the letters, Johnson implores her to write to him frequently.
"Give me lots of letters next week," he wrote to her. "I'm going to need them. Mix some 'I love you' in the lines and not between them."
Johnson's letters begin "My dear" or "Dear Bird." She addresses him as "My Dearest Lyndon" and signs "Devotedly, Bird." They sent each other photos. He sent her books.
"I wish you were here this minute because I feel silly and gay and I want to ruffle up your hair and kiss you and say silly things!" wrote Taylor, who had recently graduated from the University of Texas and was living with her father in Karnack, in East Texas.
A few of the letters had been released before, but this is the first time that all of the letters are being made public.
People probably won't be shocked to see a sweet side of Lady Bird Johnson, but reading tender sentiments from her husband, the hard-charging politician, is a different matter, said granddaughter Catherine Robb.
Johnson, who served in the U.S. House and Senate and as vice president, ascended to the presidency in 1963 as the nation grieved over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Johnson closed out his administration in 1969 under the cloud of Vietnam. He died in 1973.
He was known for giving the "Johnson Treatment" -- he'd lean in close, push people's buttons and get under their skin.
"I don't think people think of him as being terribly vulnerable," Robb, an Austin lawyer, told Reuters. In the letters, "you see a much more personal side of him, much more unguarded."
For example, he writes to his future wife that he carries a little orange comb in his billfold.
"It is the only thing I have from my little girl at Karnack and when I get lonesome and blue or happy and ambitious I always get pleasure when I look at the little comb and think … just think," Johnson wrote.
Robb, who had weekly dinners with her grandmother for years before she died in 2007, recalled one meal at the Driskill Hotel - the site of her grandparents' first date.
"I asked her what she thought about this brash, impatient young man who proposed almost immediately and who she put off for a whopping two and a half months," Robb said. "She thought it was reasonable to wait an appropriate period of time, but she realized that she didn't want to be without him - he was something so special and this was an extraordinary adventure she was going to enjoy if she said yes."
Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson honeymooned in Mexico and were married for 39 years. They had two daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb.
(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Leslie Adler)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lady Gaga canceled the remainder of her "Born This Way Ball" concert tour to undergo hip surgery, promoters Live Nation said on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old singer announced she was suffering from an inflammation of the joints on Tuesday, but the tour operator said Gaga's injuries were more serious than she realized.
"After additional tests this morning to review the severity of the issue, it has been determined that Lady Gaga has a labral tear of the right hip," Live Nation said in a statement.
"She will need surgery to repair the problem, followed by strict downtime to recover. This, unfortunately, will force her to cancel the tour so she can heal," it added.
Gaga has been on the road for two years, traveling across six continents.
On Tuesday, she postponed four U.S. shows saying she was suffering from synovitis that left her temporarily unable to walk. Synovitis is an inflammation of the joints that sometimes follows a sprain, strain or injury.
According to her website, the singer was due to play another 20 dates in the United States.
Live Nation said ticket holders would have their money refunded, starting on Thursday.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Stacey Joyce)
(Reuters) - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have gone into the wine business, helping to produce a rose called Miraval from their French estate and putting their names on the label, wine website Decanter.com reported.
The movie star couple have been working with French winemaker Marc Perrin starting with the 2012 harvest, the website said. The Miraval wine will be on the market in March, and white wines will begin arriving by the end of this summer.
"They ... want to ensure they are making the best Provence wines they can," Perrin told Britain-based Decanter.com. on Wednesday.
"They were present at the blending sessions this year, and are relooking at everything from the installations in the winery - where we have already switched to stainless steel tanks - to reworking the labels across the range of wines," he added.
The back label of the Miraval wine carries the names Jolie-Pitt and Perrin.
Pitt and Jolie began renting Chateau Miraval in Correns, southern France, about four years ago and later bought the property, which has about 148 acres of vines.
The Miraval wine was formerly called Pink Floyd because the British rock band recorded their 1979 album "The Wall" in a studio on the estate, Decanter.com said.
Pitt last year unveiled a high-end collection of furniture that he helped create with designer Frank Pollaro. He has also worked with architects to create affordable quality housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lyndon B. Johnson was so smitten when he met Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor in 1934 that he took her on a first date the very next day -- and asked for her hand in marriage.
Taylor adored her suitor but was worried about rushing into marriage, according to dozens of love letters between the two set to be released for the first time by the LBJ Presidential Library on Thursday, Valentine's Day.
In the pages of about 90 letters that the newly renovated library plans to post on its website, Johnson seems lonely and impatient, persistently urging Taylor to make up her mind. She says she wants to wait until they know each other better, though she also writes that she is afraid of losing him.
"All I can say, in absolute honesty, is -- I love you, I don't know how everlastingly I love you, -- so I can't answer you yet," Taylor wrote him shortly after they met that September.
Johnson, then 26 and working in Washington, D.C., as a secretary to Congressman Richard Kleberg, met Taylor, 21, through a friend while visiting Texas and asked her for a date the next morning. They had breakfast at the Driskill Hotel in Austin and spent the day sightseeing. That same day, he popped the question, asking her to become his wife.
After he returned to Washington, they spent two and a half months exchanging a flurry of letters and phone calls before going to San Antonio on November 17 to, as she later put it, "commit matrimony."
In the letters, Johnson implores her to write to him frequently.
"Give me lots of letters next week," he wrote to her. "I'm going to need them. Mix some 'I love you' in the lines and not between them."
Johnson's letters begin "My dear" or "Dear Bird." She addresses him as "My Dearest Lyndon" and signs "Devotedly, Bird." They sent each other photos. He sent her books.
"I wish you were here this minute because I feel silly and gay and I want to ruffle up your hair and kiss you and say silly things!" wrote Taylor, who had recently graduated from the University of Texas and was living with her father in Karnack, in East Texas.
A few of the letters had been released before, but this is the first time that all of the letters are being made public.
People probably won't be shocked to see a sweet side of Lady Bird Johnson, but reading tender sentiments from her husband, the hard-charging politician, is a different matter, said granddaughter Catherine Robb.
Johnson, who served in the U.S. House and Senate and as vice president, ascended to the presidency in 1963 as the nation grieved over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Johnson closed out his administration in 1969 under the cloud of Vietnam. He died in 1973.
He was known for giving the "Johnson Treatment" -- he'd lean in close, push people's buttons and get under their skin.
"I don't think people think of him as being terribly vulnerable," Robb, an Austin lawyer, told Reuters. In the letters, "you see a much more personal side of him, much more unguarded."
For example, he writes to his future wife that he carries a little orange comb in his billfold.
"It is the only thing I have from my little girl at Karnack and when I get lonesome and blue or happy and ambitious I always get pleasure when I look at the little comb and think … just think," Johnson wrote.
Robb, who had weekly dinners with her grandmother for years before she died in 2007, recalled one meal at the Driskill Hotel - the site of her grandparents' first date.
"I asked her what she thought about this brash, impatient young man who proposed almost immediately and who she put off for a whopping two and a half months," Robb said. "She thought it was reasonable to wait an appropriate period of time, but she realized that she didn't want to be without him - he was something so special and this was an extraordinary adventure she was going to enjoy if she said yes."
Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson honeymooned in Mexico and were married for 39 years. They had two daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb.
(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Leslie Adler)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lady Gaga canceled the remainder of her "Born This Way Ball" concert tour to undergo hip surgery, promoters Live Nation said on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old singer announced she was suffering from an inflammation of the joints on Tuesday, but the tour operator said Gaga's injuries were more serious than she realized.
"After additional tests this morning to review the severity of the issue, it has been determined that Lady Gaga has a labral tear of the right hip," Live Nation said in a statement.
"She will need surgery to repair the problem, followed by strict downtime to recover. This, unfortunately, will force her to cancel the tour so she can heal," it added.
Gaga has been on the road for two years, traveling across six continents.
On Tuesday, she postponed four U.S. shows saying she was suffering from synovitis that left her temporarily unable to walk. Synovitis is an inflammation of the joints that sometimes follows a sprain, strain or injury.
According to her website, the singer was due to play another 20 dates in the United States.
Live Nation said ticket holders would have their money refunded, starting on Thursday.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Stacey Joyce)
(Reuters) - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have gone into the wine business, helping to produce a rose called Miraval from their French estate and putting their names on the label, wine website Decanter.com reported.
The movie star couple have been working with French winemaker Marc Perrin starting with the 2012 harvest, the website said. The Miraval wine will be on the market in March, and white wines will begin arriving by the end of this summer.
"They ... want to ensure they are making the best Provence wines they can," Perrin told Britain-based Decanter.com. on Wednesday.
"They were present at the blending sessions this year, and are relooking at everything from the installations in the winery - where we have already switched to stainless steel tanks - to reworking the labels across the range of wines," he added.
The back label of the Miraval wine carries the names Jolie-Pitt and Perrin.
Pitt and Jolie began renting Chateau Miraval in Correns, southern France, about four years ago and later bought the property, which has about 148 acres of vines.
The Miraval wine was formerly called Pink Floyd because the British rock band recorded their 1979 album "The Wall" in a studio on the estate, Decanter.com said.
Pitt last year unveiled a high-end collection of furniture that he helped create with designer Frank Pollaro. He has also worked with architects to create affordable quality housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Beyonce is letting fans into her private life, introducing daughter Blue Ivy to the world and talking about motherhood, marriage and miscarriage in a new documentary.
The 31-year-old pop singer and her rapper husband, Jay-Z, 43, one of music's most influential couples, have guarded their privacy fiercely.
But in "Life is But a Dream," airing on Saturday on cable channel HBO, Beyonce gives fans a glimpse of how she works and even a peek at baby Blue Ivy, who has been shielded from paparazzi since her birth in January 2012.
The film, which Beyonce co-directed, is part of a return to performing after a year off since her first child was born.
Beyonce began her comeback with a controversial lip-synched performance of the national anthem at President Barack Obama's inauguration in January, followed by a live performance at the Super Bowl halftime show that wowed critics.
At the New York premiere of the documentary on Tuesday, the new mother said she wanted to share her altered perspective on life.
"Knowing that at this point in my life, this age is so wonderful because I see everything differently and I hope that I can share that with other people," she said.
The "Crazy in Love" singer addresses the widely reported claim from 2011 that she was faking her pregnancy, calling it "the most ridiculous rumor I've ever heard of me."
"To think that I'd be that vain ... especially after losing a child. The pain and trauma from that just makes it mean so much more to get an opportunity to bring life into the world," she says in the documentary.
The HBO film shows footage of a sonogram, Beyonce's growing bump and grainy video of herself posing nude as she neared her due date.
The arrival last year of Blue Ivy Carter gained worldwide media attention and prompted Beyonce to share more with her fans, launching a Tumblr page with snapshots of her family life.
Her miscarriage had been kept secret from the public until Jay-Z referred to it in his song "Glory," that he released following the birth of Blue Ivy.
In the documentary, Beyonce touched on the topic briefly, saying, "It was the saddest thing I've ever been through."
"My life is a journey. ... I had to go through my miscarriage, I believe I had to go through owning my company and managing myself ... ultimately your independence comes from knowing who you are and you being happy with yourself," she said.
"Life is But a Dream" also gives a peek into the Grammy-winner's four-year marriage to Jay-Z, showing the couple singing Coldplay's "Yellow" to each other.
"This baby has made me love him more than I ever thought I could love another human being," she says.
The film shows Beyonce putting herself and her team through grueling choreography rehearsals in 2011 and planning every second of her performances at big awards shows that year.
Beyonce has also announced a new album for this year. "The Mrs Carter Show World Tour" - Jay-Z's real name is Shawn Carter - will kick off in April with more than 40 performances in Europe and North America.
"Life is But a Dream" airs on HBO on Saturday, the same day as Beyonce's interview with Oprah Winfrey on the OWN cable channel.
(Additional reporting by Alicia Powell at Reuters TV in New York, editing by Jill Serjeant and Doina Chiacu)
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lyndon B. Johnson was so smitten when he met Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor in 1934 that he took her on a first date the very next day -- and asked for her hand in marriage.
Taylor adored her suitor but was worried about rushing into marriage, according to dozens of love letters between the two set to be released for the first time by the LBJ Presidential Library on Thursday, Valentine's Day.
In the pages of about 90 letters that the newly renovated library plans to post on its website, Johnson seems lonely and impatient, persistently urging Taylor to make up her mind. She says she wants to wait until they know each other better, though she also writes that she is afraid of losing him.
"All I can say, in absolute honesty, is -- I love you, I don't know how everlastingly I love you, -- so I can't answer you yet," Taylor wrote him shortly after they met that September.
Johnson, then 26 and working in Washington, D.C., as a secretary to Congressman Richard Kleberg, met Taylor, 21, through a friend while visiting Texas and asked her for a date the next morning. They had breakfast at the Driskill Hotel in Austin and spent the day sightseeing. That same day, he popped the question, asking her to become his wife.
After he returned to Washington, they spent two and a half months exchanging a flurry of letters and phone calls before going to San Antonio on November 17 to, as she later put it, "commit matrimony."
In the letters, Johnson implores her to write to him frequently.
"Give me lots of letters next week," he wrote to her. "I'm going to need them. Mix some 'I love you' in the lines and not between them."
Johnson's letters begin "My dear" or "Dear Bird." She addresses him as "My Dearest Lyndon" and signs "Devotedly, Bird." They sent each other photos. He sent her books.
"I wish you were here this minute because I feel silly and gay and I want to ruffle up your hair and kiss you and say silly things!" wrote Taylor, who had recently graduated from the University of Texas and was living with her father in Karnack, in East Texas.
A few of the letters had been released before, but this is the first time that all of the letters are being made public.
People probably won't be shocked to see a sweet side of Lady Bird Johnson, but reading tender sentiments from her husband, the hard-charging politician, is a different matter, said granddaughter Catherine Robb.
Johnson, who served in the U.S. House and Senate and as vice president, ascended to the presidency in 1963 as the nation grieved over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Johnson closed out his administration in 1969 under the cloud of Vietnam. He died in 1973.
He was known for giving the "Johnson Treatment" -- he'd lean in close, push people's buttons and get under their skin.
"I don't think people think of him as being terribly vulnerable," Robb, an Austin lawyer, told Reuters. In the letters, "you see a much more personal side of him, much more unguarded."
For example, he writes to his future wife that he carries a little orange comb in his billfold.
"It is the only thing I have from my little girl at Karnack and when I get lonesome and blue or happy and ambitious I always get pleasure when I look at the little comb and think … just think," Johnson wrote.
Robb, who had weekly dinners with her grandmother for years before she died in 2007, recalled one meal at the Driskill Hotel - the site of her grandparents' first date.
"I asked her what she thought about this brash, impatient young man who proposed almost immediately and who she put off for a whopping two and a half months," Robb said. "She thought it was reasonable to wait an appropriate period of time, but she realized that she didn't want to be without him - he was something so special and this was an extraordinary adventure she was going to enjoy if she said yes."
Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson honeymooned in Mexico and were married for 39 years. They had two daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb.
(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Leslie Adler)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor, writer and comedian Steve Martin has become a dad for the first time at age 67 - and managed to keep it secret from the media for more than a month.
Martin and his second wife, Anne Stringfield, 41, "are new parents and recently welcomed a child," a spokeswoman for the actor said on Wednesday.
The spokeswoman gave no details, including the sex of the child or the date of birth. But the New York Post cited unidentified sources as saying the baby arrived in December.
The multi-talented Martin, whose career as a writer and performer dates back more than 45 years, has played a father in movies such as "Parenthood," Cheaper by the Dozen," and "Father of the Bride."
Martin, who has hosted the Oscars ceremony three times, married Stringfield, a former writer at the New Yorker magazine, in 2007. His eight-year marriage to British actress Victoria Tennant ended in divorce in 1994.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey: Editing by Jill Serjeant and Peter Cooney)
(Reuters) - Rick Huxley, the bassist for the 1960s British Invasion pop-rock group the Dave Clark Five, has died, the band's leader said on Tuesday. He was 72.
Huxley died unexpectedly at his home in the English countryside on Monday, Dave Clark told Reuters.
The band scored No. 1 hits on both sides of the Atlantic during its decade-long run from 1960-1970.
"Glad All Over" holds the honor of knocking the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" out of the top spot on the UK chart in 1964, while "Over and Over" topped the U.S. chart in 1965.
The cause of death was not immediately known, said Clark, who added that Huxley had been "sprightly and in good shape" despite suffering from emphysema for several years.
"I spoke to him on Friday and he was in great spirits," Clark said in a telephone call. "He went through a recent doctor's check and had a good, clean bill of health. This came totally out of the blue, and I'm just devastated."
Clark remembered Huxley for his modest demeanor and humor.
"He always made me smile and I'll miss that immensely," Clark said. "He was never arrogant and flashy. He was a gentleman and very low key. He was a very, very talented musician and a great friend."
The Dave Clark Five was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.
Huxley was born in Dartford, England, east of London, the same town that is home to the Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards.
Huxley is survived by two sons and a daughter.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey in Los Angeles; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Lady Gaga said on Tuesday she was suffering from a severe inflammation of the joints that left her temporarily unable to walk, forcing her to postpone a handful of upcoming shows on the North American leg of her world tour.
"I am completely devastated and heartsick. I've been hiding this injury and pain from my staff for a month, praying it would heal, but after last night's performance, I could not walk," the singer said in a statement.
Her condition is called synovitis, an inflammation that sometimes follows a sprain, strain or injury.
Gaga posted a similar message in a series of tweets to her 34 million Twitter followers.
"I will hopefully heal as soon as possible and be at 500 percent again, which is what you deserve," she said.
"The Edge of Glory" singer postponed shows in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday, in Detroit on Saturday and in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday.
Lady Gaga, 26, has been on the road for two years on her "Born This Way Ball" world tour. Her website showed tour dates through March 20.
The 200-plus date tour has taken the singer across six continents and was ranked as the sixth top-grossing tour of 2012 by Billboard magazine.
(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Alec Baldwin and his new wife Hilaria Thomas Baldwin are expecting their first child together, a representative for the "30 Rock" star said on Tuesday.
"If I really shared with you how I felt, I would probably burst out crying," Baldwin told U.S. television program "Extra."
Baldwin, 54, married the yoga teacher, who is 26 years his junior, in a July 2012 wedding in New York.
The child is expected in the summer, the spokesman said, but gave no other details.
"It was a surprise, a wonderful surprise," said his wife, who also works as a correspondent for the TV show.
"Now I'm showing and it's getting to be much more, like, 'Oh, my God, this is actually going to happen'."
The award-winning actor most recently played egotistical television executive Jack Donaghy on the NBC comedy "30 Rock," which broadcast its last episode in January.
Baldwin was married to actress Kim Basinger from 1993-2002. The couple has one daughter, Ireland, who was born in 1995.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Todd Eastham)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown showed up smiling at the Grammy Awards show on Sunday, saying he was just a little banged up after crashing his car into a wall on the eve of the annual music industry awards.
"Little bit of bumps, I'm good though," Brown, 23, dressed in a white Lanvin suit, told E! News on the red carpet.
Brown crashed his Porsche into a wall in Beverly Hills on Saturday and told police he was trying to elude aggressive paparazzi.
"I'll get another one," Brown, laughing, told E! News on Sunday. "Insurance is good."
"Paparazzi tend to get out of hand. It's all good, though. No injuries," he added.
Brown's "Fortune" was nominated for best urban contemporary album at Sunday's Grammys, but Frank Ocean walked off with the award.
The crash came almost exactly four years after Brown assaulted his girlfriend, singer Rihanna, the night before the awards show in 2009.
Rihanna and Brown have recently rekindled their relationship, but the pair walked the red carpet separately on Sunday. Rihanna won a Grammy for Best Short Form Video for her hit "We Found Love" and performed during the awards show.
Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to beating and punching Rihanna and is still on probation. Last week, a Los Angeles judge ordered a new report on the community service that Brown was told to carry out as part of his sentence after prosecutors alleged that he had cut corners.
(Reporting By Susan Zeidler; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A comedian, a millionaire and an orangutan. It may sound like the beginning of a screwball joke, but Donald Trump isn't laughing.
The famously outspoken real estate magnate has sued famously outspoken television host Bill Maher, demanding the $5 million Maher offered to give to charity if Trump could prove his father is not an orangutan.
But legal experts say Trump is unlikely to get a dime from Maher, the host of the HBO series Real Time With Bill Maher, because his offer was clearly made in jest.
"It's parody," said Bryan Sullivan, a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer. "You know Bill Maher is a comedian and a satirist. The offer is so ridiculous."
Trump, however, has taken the comic at his word.
"Attached hereto is a copy of Mr. Trump's birth certificate, demonstrating that he is the son of Fred Trump, not an orangutan," Trump's lawyer, Scott Balber, wrote to Maher last month.
When Maher did not respond, Trump filed a breach of contract lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.
A Maher spokeswoman referred to his show Friday, in which he ridiculed Trump's lawsuit.
"It's never a joke when someone reneges on a commitment that benefits worthy charities," said Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump, in response. "The tone of Mr. Maher's diatribe on Friday evening suggests he is far more concerned with the lawsuit than he wants the public to believe."
Last year, during the presidential campaign, Trump offered to give $5 million to charity if President Barack Obama would release his college records. Trump, who flirted with a possible White House run, previously questioned Obama's citizenship and boasted that he prompted Obama to release his birth certificate.
As a guest on NBC's The Tonight Show last month, Maher offered to give $5 million to charity if Trump could prove he was not the son of an orangutan, since the ape's orange fur matches the color of Trump's trademark gravity-defying coiffure.
"He can donate to a charity of his choice," Maher said. "Hair Club for Men; the Institute for Incorrigible Douchebaggery. Whatever charity."
Under contract law, a verbal offer can create a contractual obligation. But courts make exceptions for obviously satirical offers.
In a New York federal case, Leonard vs. Pepsico, a man sued the soft drink maker after it refused to honor a TV advertisement "offer" of a fighter jet for redeemable Pepsi Points.
District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan said an offer made "evidently in jest" is not a contract and noted the commercial featured a teenager using the jet to get to school.
"This fantasy is, of course, extremely unrealistic," Wood wrote.
Trump's lawsuit alleges that Maher's show is political commentary, not comedy. In a Fox News appearance last week, Trump said he was certain Maher's offer was not a joke.
"That was venom," Trump said. "That wasn't a joke."
(Reporting by Joseph Ax. Editing by Andre Grenon)
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Gerry Hambling, the British film editor whose credits include "Midnight Express," "Pink Floyd: The Wall" and "Mississippi Burning," died February 5 in England. He was 86.
Hambling, who entered the film industry at 16 as an editor's apprentice, was a longtime collaborator of director Alan Parker, editing 14 of his films.
"He was undoubtedly one of the finest film editors that the British film industry has produced," Parker remembered.
John Grover, vice chairman of the Guild of British Film Editors, which Hambling helped found in 1966, remembered Hambling as a man of "warmth and understanding."
"He was a hard working technician who loved loud music and fast action sequences; he was rather hard on equipment but never got used to editing electronically as he preferred to handle film, something he could 'see and feel,'" Grover said. "He will be missed by friends and colleagues for his warmth and understanding. It was an honor to have known him."
Hambling won three BAFTA Awards, and received the Career Achievement Award from the American Cinema Editors in 1998. He had also been nominated for six Oscars.
Hambling's last editing job was on the 2003 Parker drama "The Life of David Gale," starring Kate Winslet and Kevin Spacey.
Hambling died in Burwell, Cambridgeshire.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grammy host LL Cool J called it a "death in our family" and it was he who suggested starting the Grammy Awards show last year with a prayer for Whitney Houston.
Behind the scenes, Grammy Awards producers had worked all night to re-shape the music industry's biggest night just 24 hours after the drowning death of the troubled superstar in a Beverly Hills hotel.
Producers and musicians tell the tale in a one-hour TV special "The Grammys Will Go On: A Death in the Family" to be broadcast on CBS on Saturday on the eve of this year's Grammy Awards ceremony.
The singer, known both for her soaring ballads and well-chronicled history of drug abuse, is also expected to be remembered at the annual pre-Grammy party hosted in Beverly Hills on Saturday by her mentor, record producer Clive Davis.
Earlier this week, Madame Tussauds museum unveiled four different wax figures of Houston at various stages of her 35-year career that will go on display at its attractions in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Houston, 48, was found face down in a bathtub on February 11 2012, in what authorities later called an accidental drowning due to cocaine use and heart disease.
"My heart started racing. I started hyper-ventilating," recalls Grammy Awards show director Louis J. Horvitz in the TV special, as news reached Grammy rehearsals last year of Houston's death.
Producers realized immediately that despite months in the planning, the live TV ceremony the next day would have to reflect Houston's passing.
TEARS AND TOUGH TIMES
Scripts were re-written, clips of Houston's many previous Grammy performances were added, and the call went out to Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson to come in and perform Houston's signature song "I Will Always Love You."
"Moments later (after hearing news of Houston's death) I got the call to sing in her memory. I would do anything for Whitney," Hudson recalls in the TV special.
Rehearsal footage shows an emotional Hudson breaking into tears while practicing the song. "By the time she got to the end, there wasn't a dry eye in the house," said Horvitz of her rehearsal.
"We are used to tough situations," said veteran Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich, recalling how Aretha Franklin was called on to replace a sick Luciano Pavarotti in 1998 while the live Grammy show was on the air.
But the death of Houston, a six-time Grammy winner with some 200 million records sold, was something different.
It was rapper and Grammy host LL Cool J who suggested opening the awards telecast with a prayer for Houston. But he said his legs were shaking backstage with the pressure of balancing sorrow over her death with respect for all the other artists due to perform, and win awards that night.
"I was in this weird no-man's land between mourning and celebration," the rapper said.
The TV special also shows artists like Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Bruno Mars struggling to continue rehearsals, old footage of Houston in her prime, and clips of Davis telling guests at his annual music industry party that the singer had been found dead hours earlier in a hotel room in the same building.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
