Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Rachel McAdams Doesn’t Own a TV




RACHEL McAdams doesn’t own a television.

The actress — who stars in the new Guy Ritchie movie Sherlock Holmes — says she has avoided buying a TV set because she knows she would be addicted to it.

“The problem for me is it’s like my crack — ‘Don’t put the cookies in the cupboard because you can’t not have them all the time’ — so I have a problem,” she said.

“My sister was telling me about this Hoarders show on TV.

“So I almost want to go out and get a television.”

 

Rachel, 31, recently admitted that she was lazy in high school.








“I would fake sick all the time to the point where I’d convince myself I was sick,” she said. “In high school I really didn’t pay attention. I took the bare minimum to get by.”




Nicole Kidman's neighbours angry at planting of leylandii trees ahead of sister's wedding


December 25, 2009: NICOLE KIDMAN has upset neighbours at her Australian country home after she planted 150 trees and built an "ugly" fence around the perimeter of the property to protect her privacy, designed to keep out the paparazzi in Bunya Hill, New South Wales, ahead of her sister Antonia's nuptials, which are expected to be held there at the end of the month December 2009

The Hollywood actress is back in her native country for the holidays with her husband, Keith Urban, and their daughter Sunday Rose.

The star has taken extreme measures to help safeguard their privacy on the big day, erecting a green nylon fence and surrounding the property with fast-growing cypress leylandii saplings, which can reach up to 20 metres (65 foot) high. But the added security measures, which are reportedly a tactic to keep prying camera lenses away during the ceremony, have infuriated the star's neighbours. Local residents are unhappy with the "ugly" fence and the newly-planted trees, which many fear could blight the landscape in years to come.




Neighbour Greg Barnsley says, "We respect that Nicole wants her privacy but if she wants trees, let them be Australian ones. She could be gone in a couple of years and then we will be left with them forever. They grow to an enormous height. Yes these ones are small now but they are going to be huge."

TV presenter Antonia Kidman will exchange vows with Craig Marran after accepting his proposal in September (09) - she has four children from her 11-year marriage to Angus Hawley which ended in 2007.

The actress has had the cypress leylandii saplings, ranging from 4ft to 6ft tall, placed around her 140-acre Bunya Hill estate to shield it from onlookers.

The fast-growing trees can reach up to 20 metres high and eight meters wide, and have caused disputes between neighbours all over the world. The picturesque $6 million five-bedroom property, built in the 1870s, is in a village called Sutton Forest, about 60 miles south-west of Sydney.

The actress, who lives in Nashville with her country singer husband Keith Urban, has boosted security there ahead of her sister Antonia's wedding to the financier Craig Marran, which is expected to take place at the retreat before the end of the year.

As well as the trees, she has also had an "ugly" green nylon fence erected by the main gate and an earth mound built to shield the property from the main road.

But it is the mammoth tree-planting project which has upset locals, who have been campaigning against leylandii for several years arguing they can grow to an immense height and turn into an eyesore.

Greg Barnsley, 49, whose property borders onto Bunya Hill said residents of the quiet town did not want the area ruined by the oversized trees.

"They grow to an enormous height," Mr Barnsley said. "Yes these ones are small now but they are going to be huge."

"They are out of character with the area, they are not even Australian natives.

"We respect that Nicole wants her privacy but if she wants trees let them be Australian ones.

"She could be gone in a couple of years and then we will be left with them forever."

While the dispute rages, Kidman, Urban and the couple's 18-month old daughter Sunday Rose have been staying in Sydney with Kidman's parents Anthony and Janelle.

The family is expected to move to the Bunya Hill property for the rest of the Christmas holidays.


Courtesy: Bonnie Malkin

Hard-working Murphy frail


HARDWORKING: Brittany Murphy and Peter Bogdanovich on the set of Abandoned in Los Angeles in June.

 
Brittany Murphy was a hardworking actress, who was juggling multiple movie projects in the months leading up to her unexpected death, her film directors say.

While none of the films boasted the big budgets of Murphy's 8 Mile or Sin City, directors who recently worked with the 32-year-old actress say she was dedicated, insightful and happy as she wrapped two indie thrillers and prepared to start shooting a romantic comedy next month.

Murphy was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre after collapsing at her Hollywood Hills home Sunday morning. The county coroner's office is awaiting the results of toxicology and tissue tests before releasing an official cause of death.

Murphy spent the month of June shooting Abandoned, a thriller in which she stars as a woman who embarks on a frantic search for her boyfriend when he disappears from a hospital after a routine treatment.

Director Michael Feifer said the actress was delightful to work with and dedicated to the project.

"She knew her material, and she was on her game," he said on Tuesday. "She was professional. She was there for me. She was healthy."


The role required Murphy to sprint through a parking structure and run up and down stairs.

"She's such a pro and so good at her craft that she could turn it on and off as necessary," Feifer said. One minute she'd be immersed in a dramatic scene, the next she'd be joking around with the crew or playing with her white Maltese, which often accompanied her on set.

Her husband, Simon Monjack, was also on set, serving as Murphy's hair and makeup artist.

"The two of them really took care of each other," Feifer recalled. "He was her teddy bear, and she was just his little princess."

Murphy immediately followed that film with a turn as a psychiatrist in the mystery thriller Something Wicked. Executive producer Scott Chambers told the Los Angeles Times that though Murphy appeared frail, he was impressed with her work ethic.

"She looked ill, as much as 10 pounds underweight, and she's a small person to begin with," he said. "She easily could have made an excuse not to come to work, but she didn't. She said, 'I've got to get better, but I want to do this part.'"

She spent three weeks working on the film. Next, she was set for another thriller, The Caller, but parted ways with the filmmakers last month amid rumors she was fired.

In January, she was to begin shooting the romantic comedy Shrinking Charlotte. Writer-director Rene Eram told E! News that Murphy was "impressive" and professional, but looked very thin.

"I noticed that she had dropped a lot of weight in the last six months," he said.

The future of the three films is unclear. None have secured theatrical distribution.

Abandoned, which also stars Dean Cain, Mimi Rogers and Peter Bogdanovich, will complete post-production in about three months, Feifer said. He hopes the film will be released in 2010, but producers want to be sensitive about the timing.

"We don't want it shown in a bad light and don't want it to look like anybody's trying to make any money on her passing away," he said. "It's a very fragile situation."

Post-production work also continues on Something Wicked, which could begin festival screenings in the spring. Chambers said the Murphy family's wishes may be considered and could result in postponements of those screenings.

Eram said he hopes to recast Murphy's part in Shrinking Charlotte.
 
 
Murphy, we love you...............


Tuesday, December 22, 2009

'Clueless' actress Brittany Murphy dies after collapsing in shower; death 'appears to be natural'


Actress Brittany Murphy was rushed to the hospital Sunday morning. She was pronounced dead on arrival. She was pronounced dead at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angles Sunday at 10:04 a.m. PST, a spokesperson for the hospital informed. The Los Angles Police Department said they are investigating the death, but refused to discuss details.

Hollywood stunner Brittany Murphy, who found big-screen success after her breakout role in "Clueless," died Sunday after collapsing in the shower at her Hollywood Hills home.

Los Angles cops are investigating the 32-year-old's sudden death, but a coroner official said it "appears to be natural."



An autopsy is pending - over the objections of her British screenwriter husband, Simon Monjack, who told hospital staffers he didn't want one.

The screen siren and singer was in full cardiac arrest and could not be revived after her beloved mother - who told paramedics the actress was diabetic - found her unconscious in the shower.

According to a witness, five paramedics who arrived after the 8 a.m. 911 call feverishly administered CPR as Monjack wandered around in his pajama bottoms. Murphy had been suffering from flu-like symptoms for days and was throwing up profusely in the hours before she died.  "There were a lot ... a lot of prescriptions in the house," a source said.

The troubled starlet rose to fame in 1995 as the sidekick Tai in "Clueless," who went from awkward wallflower to snotty hottie. She has appeared in more than 25 movies since then, including 1997's "Bongwater," "Girl, Interrupted" in 1999, "8Mile" and "Sin City."

Murphy, whose gravelly voice rocked the animated film "Happy Feet," even broke into the dance club world with the hit single "Faster Kill Pussycat."

Murphy lived in Edison, N.J., before moving to California when she was 13 and landing her first television role in "Blossom."

She underwent a transformation from a too-pudgy-for-Hollywood brunette to a bone-thin blond - with cleavage ample enough to land her in Maxim's 100 hottest women in 2006.

Speculation over her weight loss haunted her for years, but she dismissed reports that her weight was connected to drug use or an eating disorder. "I have never tried [cocaine] in my entire life,"she told Jane magazine.

Friends openly worried that she had become addicted to the prescription painkiller Vicodin after undergoing plastic surgery.

"Brittany has been living life on the edge," one source told Britain's Daily Mail.

"She was just an absolute doll since she was born," Bertolotti said from his Branford, Fla., home. "Her personality was always outward. Everybody loved her — people that made movies with her, people on a cruise — they all loved her. She was just a regular gal."

She was set to play a small role in Sylvester Stallone's upcoming film "The Expendables," due out in August. Earlier this month, she abruptly left the Puerto Rico set of "The Caller."

Twitter was abuzz with tributes from stars, like old squeeze Ashton Kutcher, her co-star in 2003's "Just Married."  "See you on the other side kid," Kutcher tweeted. 


               The house of last breath



Screenwriter and director Kevin Smith referred to the actress' oft-quoted line in "Clueless": "G'night, Ms. Murphy; hope you're rollin' with the homies someplace nice."

In a statement, her family called Murphy's death a "terrible tragedy. She was ... a shining star."  Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Brittany Murphy's husband says he was devastated by the 32-year-old's untimely death and that the actress had suffered from laryngitis in the days before she died.

"My world was destroyed," an emotional Simon Monjack told the television entertainment news program "Access Hollywood."

The British screenwriter spoke a day after the "Clueless" star died on Sunday after suffering cardiac arrest at her home.

Recalling how Murphy's body was found, Monjack said her mother "Sharon went into the bathroom because she had been in there a long time. Her mom screamed for me and I ran. Then called 911."

Monjack acknowledged his wife had been sick in the days leading to her death but that none of the symptoms seemed serious.

"She had laryngitis," he said, noting she had seen a doctor. "She had been tired at the end of the year. She had made a couple movies."

He also welcomed the outpouring of support from the Hollywood community, noting: "I couldn't have said it better," when it comes to the message actor Ashton Kutcher wrote via his page on micro-blogging site Twitter.

"2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine. My deepest condolences go out to Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon," wrote Kutcher, who dated Murphy before she married Monjack in 2007 and co-starred with her in "Just Married."

"See you on the other side kid."

World around you, mourns your tour to eternity. We LOVE you.......


Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey talks holiday gifts with the Obamas on 'Christmas at the White House' special


CHICAGO — Dec. 3, 2009, photo released by the White House, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, left, pose with Oprah Winfrey, right, in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington during a taping of a special, "Christmas at the White House," President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama talked holiday gifts when Oprah Winfrey went to the White House to film a Christmas special.

In quotes released Wednesday by Harpo Productions, President Obama tells Winfrey that as a rule he gives "nicer stuff than I get." Michelle Obama responds, "No way, I gave you good gifts last year."

Winfrey's special is to include a tour of White House holiday decorations and an appearance by Bo, the family's dog.

Winfrey also says she asked the president to give himself a grade on the job he has done. Winfrey hasn't revealed the grade Obama gave, but says it "might surprise you."

 


The intimate, informative and entertaining hour-long special will include a one-on-one conversation with the president, marking the first time Oprah has interviewed him since he took office, as well as an exclusive sit-down interview with the first couple. The special will showcase behind-the-scenes preparations as the White House gets ready for the holiday season.

Oprah Winfrey and Sheri Salata are executive producers of Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special. Lisa Erspamer is co-executive producer. Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special is a production of Harpo Productions.

Oprah Winfrey will usher in the holidays at the White House, visiting President Barack Obama and the first lady as they prepare for their family's first Christmas there, on Christmas at the White House:
An Oprah Primetime Special, airing Sunday, December 13, at 10 p.m. ET on the ABC Television Network


Courtesy: ABC & AP


Saturday, December 5, 2009

Stars who strip for a cause

 


Former 'Hanna Montana' star Miley Cyrus reveals new 'Just Breathe' tattoo on ribcage

She dates an older Australian hunk. She's modeled topless for Vanity Fair. She's pole-danced.

As if Miley Cyrus needed another reason to prove to the world she's shedding her virginal "Hannah Montana" image for good, she's gone and done it again - permanently.

The 17-year-old's skimpy, hot pink bikini couldn't take the attention away from her new "Just Breathe" tattoo scrawled in black just underneath her left breast, clearly visible in several images taken by paparazzi. 


Cyrus debuted her fresh ink on Thursday while chatting poolside with friends at a Miami, Fla. hotel, according to the Daily Mail. She was reportedly seen motioning to the tattoo while being photographed.

Cyrus' agent didn't confirm to the British publication whether the tattoo was real or temporary, but one devoted fan suggested in her blog that the tween's ink is a tribute to Vanessa, a 9-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis. It is said that Cyrus bonded with Vanessa after meeting her at a Los Angeles hospital before she passed away in 2007.

Cystic fibrosis is an unpreventable disease that causes thick mucus to build up in lungs, causing infections and making it difficult to breathe. Often times, people who are diagnosed with cystic fibrosis die at a young age because of lung complications.

The legal age for getting a tattoo in Tennessee, Cyrus' home state, is 18. But other states with the same law allow minors to get inked with parental consent.           
Courtesy: Lia Eustachewich


 
 
 
 

Joanna Krupa is not afraid to show off a little skin - or stir up some controversy!  The model, who also graces the cover of Playboy's December issue, has the Catholic League barking about her latest pictorial. Krupa appears nude, sporting only angel wings and a strategically placed crucifix in a new PETA ad with the tagline, "Be an angel for animals," encouraging pet lovers to adopt.

"It's understandable that the Catholic League is wary of another sex scandal, but the sex we're talking about pertains to dogs and cats," said the sexy former "Dancing With the Stars" contestant, 30. "As a practicing Catholic, I am shocked that the Catholic League is speaking out against my PETA ads, which I am very proud of. I'm doing what the Catholic Church should be doing, working to stop senseless suffering of animals, the most defenseless of God's creation."

But this isn't Joanna's first scandalous ad that's had tongues wagging ...

Courtesy: PETA

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Beyonce tops Grammy nominations with 10 nods



Beyonce topped the list of nominees for the 52nd Grammy Awards, leading the way with 10 nods ahead of teenage country star Taylor Swift with eight.

R&B superstar Beyonce scooped nominations in the coveted record of the year and album of the year categories, for her single "Halo" and her chart-topping double-album "I Am ... Sasha Fierce." The former "Destiny's Child" singer also picked up a nod in the song of the year category.

But Beyonce is likely to face fierce competition in the major categories from Swift, eccentric songstress Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas, who all earned nominations in best album, record and song.

Trailing Beyonce and Swift in overall nominations were the Black Eyed Peas, Maxwell and Kanye West with six nods each.

This year's nominations were announced at a star-studded concert performance in Los Angeles where Beatles legend Ringo Starr and Katy Perry were among the presenters.

Swift, 19, who has already enjoyed success this year at the American Music Awards and Country Music Awards, earned a nod for her album "Fearless."

Other nominees were the Black Eyed Peas for "The E.N.D", Lady Gaga ("The Fame") and Dave Matthews Band for "Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King."

Grammy chief Neil Portnow praised Swift as a "phenomenon in entertainment." "She crosses so many genres and generations. She?s really struck a chord with people because her music is so honest," Portnow said.



In the record of the year race, Beyonce's "Halo" will go up against Black Eyed Peas infectious pop track "I Gotta Feeling", the Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody," Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" and Swift's "You Belong with Me."

The nominees for song of the year, awarded to the songwriters, are Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," Maxwell's "Pretty Wings," Beyonce's No.1 single "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)," Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" and Swift's "You Belong with Me."

Maxwell -- who returned from a seven-year hiatus with his album "BlackSummersNight" -- celebrated his multiple nominations with a rousing performance of Michael Jackson's "The Lady In My Life."

The 36-year-old Brooklyn based R&B described his raft of Grammy nods as "very surreal."

"I was living in obscurity, so to come back and to make a record based on my own life experiences and not my desire to be number one, and to have this reception -- I feel like I?ve already won," he said.

The best rock album nominees meanwhile comprise AC/DC's "Black Ice," "Live From Madison Square Garden" by Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood, "21st Century Breakdown" by Green Day, "Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King" by the Dave Matthews Band and "No Line on the Horizon" by U2.

The best new artist category saw nods for the Zac Brown Band, Keri Hilson, MGMT, Silversun Pickups and The Ting Tings.

Next year's Grammy Awards will be presented on January 31 at the Staples Center for Los Angeles.




BEYONCE VOTED THE QUEEN OF POP
Beyonce Knowles has been chosen the queen of pop by hundreds of fans. British music lovers voted the Crazy in Love star as the 'World's Greatest Pop Star, leaving Britney Spears in second place and Eminem in third place. Pink and Madonna made the fourth and fifth place respectively. Menawhile, Beyonce reveals her plans when she wraps up her tour in February. “I'm going to take – hopefully – a couple of months off. I'm not going to plan anything. I'll perhaps take some art classes, I'll visit some museums and I'll check out some shows on Broadway. I'd like to travel somewhere – maybe Egypt – without anyone, without any security, and focus on things I've always wanted to do myself.”


Beyonce Knowles surprised her fans when she crowd-surfed during a free show at the O2 Arena in London. The Bootylicious star dived off the stage into the crowd while she was singing her song Halo. Dressed in a hot-pant bodysuit, she managed to continue with the song and sing live as she was passed from fan to fan. Her sister Solange, wrote in Tweeter, "She's just Bad-a**! How many pop stars do you know crowd surfin' in heels and still hitting perfect notes?"

BEYONCE HONORED FOR HER GENEROSITY
Beyonce was inducted into the Miami Children's Hospital Foundation's Hall of Fame as a recognition for her work towards those in needs on Saturday night (Oct. 4). The singer was the guest of honor of the swanky dinner, with tables costing up to $11,000  to raise funds for the Miami-based foundation. Beyonce looked ravishing in a scarlet evening gown.


BEYONCE GETS SEPARATE HOTEL ROOM FOR BAGGAGE
Beyonce Knowles booked a separate hotel room for her large luggage. The superstar, who performed in Liverpool as part of her UK leg, rented a 2,450 pounds-a-night Charles Forte Presidential Suite at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester to keep her 12 bags. "She had seven suitcases, three hand-luggage bags and two boxes, all for her mammoth concert. In the cases there were apparently 14 dresses, lots of shoes, make-up and 25 wigs," said a source at the hotel.  Four helpers were reportedly necessary to help her carried baggage to the room.



Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Actress Meredith Baxter says she's a lesbian


"I am a lesbian, and it was a later-in-life recognition," she said. "I got involved with someone I never expected to get involved with, and it was that kind of awakening. I had a great deal of difficulty connecting with men in relationships."

Meredith Baxter, a star of the 1980's sitcom "Family Ties", said on Wednesday she was a lesbian as media reports and published photos of her and a woman embracing began to surface in public.

Baxter, 62, told NBC's "The Today Show" that she discovered she was gay seven years ago, several years after her divorce from her third husband. She said her five children, who range from ages 25 to 42, supported her when she told them.

Her comments came amid recent online photographs of her walking with her girlfriend of four years, building contractor Nancy Locke, and reports that she attended a Caribbean cruise with some 1,200 lesbians, which she confirmed.

Baxter said she decided to speak to the media to set the facts straight. She also said she was once so paranoid the media would expose her secret that she asked Locke, who was openly gay, to park her truck farther away.

"She said, 'No'. I thought, 'All right.' I had to reach a level of comfort. It wasn't fair to push her back into some kind of secrecy, and the nice thing is that we live very 'out' lives in Los Angeles," Baxter said.


Baxter played Elyse Keaton, mother of Michael J. Fox's conservative-minded teenager Michael P. Keaton, from 1982 to 1989. She has had guest and recurring television roles since then and also runs a skincare company.

Biography:
Born - Baxter was born June 21, 1947 in South Pasadena, California, the daughter of actress and situation-comedy creator Whitney Blake and Tom Baxter, a radio announcer. Her stepfather is sitcom writer Allan Manings
 
Meredith Baxter received extensive training in the arts at the Interlochen Summer Camp in Michigan. Meredith worked as an usher, file clerk and cafeteria checker before getting her first film break in Ben (1971). The 5'7" blonde actress entered the "America's sweetheart" category when she was cast as Bridget Fitzgerald Steinberg, the prettier half of a Catholic-Jewish married couple, in the TV sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie (1972). While the series lasted only a year, her "reel" marriage became a "real" one when, in 1974, she wed her B Loves B co-star David Birney. In addition to yielding a new, hyphenated professional name for Meredith, her union with Birney produced five children before the couple divorced in the early 1990s (she also had two children from a previous marriage). In between stage appearances in such productions as Hamlet, Guys and Dolls and Butterflies are Free, Meredith played Nancy Lawrence Maitland on the TV dramedy Family, winning two Emmy nominations during her four-year (1976-80) stint with this series. In 1982, Meredith agreed to star as flower child-turned-suburban mom Elyse Keaton on the weekly TV comedy Family Ties, having been assured that she would be the star of the series in fact as well as in name. As it happened, Family Ties was dominated throughout its seven-year run by co-star Michael J. Fox. A prolific TV-movie actress, Meredith Baxter-Birney owns the distinction of playing the same real-life character twice, with two entirely different interpretations. When she first played accused murderess Betty Broderick in 1992's A Woman Scorned, Meredith was sympathetic to Broderick's plight, and played the role accordingly; but by the time 1993's Her Final Fury rolled around, Meredith, like everyone else involved in the project, was convinced that Betty Broderick deserved what she got--and played the role in the manner of a Gothic Novel villainess. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Early life
Baxter is best known for her work on two television shows. She first became popular playing the role of Nancy Lawrence Maitland on the television drama Family from 1976 to 1980. She received two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, in 1977 and 1978. The second role is ex-flower child Elyse Keaton on the situation comedy Family Ties, which aired from 1982 to 1989. In reality, she is only fourteen years older than Michael J. Fox, who played her son Alex Keaton. In 1981, she starred with Annette O'Toole and Shelley Hack in HBO's Standing Room Only series production of Vanities.

Since Family Ties ended its run, Baxter has been directing and starring in television movies. She starred as a psychopathic kidnapper in the The Kissing Place (1990). She was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for her work in A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992), in which she plays a divorcée who was convicted of murder in the shooting of her ex-husband and his young wife. She was nominated for, and won, a Daytime Emmy award for her work as a lesbian raising a young son in the CBS after-school special "Other Mothers" (1993).

In 1997, she once again played the mother of a character played by Fox, this time on the situation comedy Spin City. In 2005, she began appearing in television commercials for Garden State Life Insurance Company. In 2006 she temporarily co-hosted the NBC morning television program, Today, with Matt Lauer. In 2007 she made a guest appearance on the ABC drama What About Brian. She also made several 2007 appearances as the dying mother of Detective Lilly Rush on the television series Cold Case.

In recent years, she has created a skin-care line called Meredith Baxter Simple Works,[3] which helps raise funds for her breast cancer research foundation. For her work on the television film My Breast (1994), she received a special award for public awareness from the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

In 2004, she teamed up with former co-star Michael Gross to campaign for John Kerry's candidacy for the Presidency.

In 2009, she is guest starring in season two of the web series We Have To Stop Now.


Personal life
Baxter has been married three times. Her first marriage was to Robert Lewis Bush in 1966; they had two children before divorcing in 1971. She then married actor David Birney, whom she met on the set of the sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie where she played his wife on the series. After the show was canceled, the couple became engaged and were married in 1974. From that date until their divorce in 1989, she was credited as Meredith Baxter Birney, a name still commonly associated with her by the general public as she went by it during her most prominent period of work. They have three children. In 1995 she married actor and screenwriter Michael Blodgett; they divorced in 2000.

Baxter was the guest speaker at the 2008 Southern Commencement for National University in La Jolla, California, and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the university.

In 2009 the The National Enquirer published a piece, later picked up by celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, that Baxter was seen on a lesbian cruise with a female friend which led to speculation on whether or not she was a lesbian or simply enjoying the cruise as a platonic straight friend. On December 2, 2009, she came out as a lesbian on NBC's Today television program. She lives with her partner, Nancy Locke, a general contractor.


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

First look: Harry Potter enters real world in 'Deathly Hallows'

In the next Harry Potter film, most of the action takes place outside the hallowed halls of Hogwarts Castle.

The seventh, and last, book in J.K. Rowling's series about the boy wizard –Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows– is being broken into two films, the first part coming out next November, the second part in 2011.




Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) have disrobed in favor of a casual look for a jaunt in London, here near Piccadilly Circus. Deathly Hallows is the first of the final two Potter films.


The first installment finds young wizards Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) struggling to find their way in the Muggle (human) world, with their own lives in the balance and the fate of the magical realm in their hands.

"They're paranoid," says Grint. "It's quite a scary world because the Snatchers and Death Eaters are running around everywhere. Harry, Ron and Hermione are just camping out in random places, living rough, in regular clothes." Snatchers and Death Eaters are minions of the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

Grint adds, grinning: "Me and Dan actually have some stubble." His facial hair served as a kind of invisibility cloak for the lanky, redheaded Grint, who went unrecognized by fans recently while on location in the Welsh countryside. Dubbed a "road movie" by producer David Heyman, Hallows was envisioned by director David Yates as more grounded in reality than the previous Potter movies.

"It's going to feel very real," Yates says. "We're going for a vérité approach. Being away from Hogwarts, they're like these three refugees on the run. They're out in the big bad world, facing real danger, unguarded by those wonderful benign wizards at Hogwarts. They don't have a home to go to.

"We're kind of pulling away from the magic a bit and bringing more reality to it," he says.

Courtesy: Claudia Puig