Celebrity queen Oprah top earner
Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey reigns supreme among celebrities, according to Forbes magazine's power rankings of the top 100 celebrities released last week. Winfrey moved up from No. 3 in 2004 to supplant Passion of the Christ director Mel Gibson at the top of the list. Golf star Tiger Woods held on to his runner-up position and Gibson slid into third place. The Forbes power rankings give the most weight to a celebrity's earnings over the past 12 months but also factor in popularity standards including Internet presence, press clippings, magazine cover stories and mentions on TV.
Cruise has honorable intentions
Actor Tom Cruise announced his engagement on Friday to actress Katie Holmes. Cruise said in Paris that Holmes had accepted his proposal, made in the early morning atop the Eiffel Tower. Holmes remained speechless during the news conference but was wearing a diamond ring described as massive. No date was set for the wedding. Should it take place, the wedding will be the third for Cruise, 42, and the first for Holmes, 26, who were first seen together two months ago.
Whole lotta settlin' going on
Jerry Lee Lewis' divorce settlement with his sixth wife, Kerrie Lynn McCarver Lewis, has been approved by a Mississippi judge who promptly sealed the court records. Outside the courthouse in Hernando, where the agreement was reached on the day the case was to proceed to trial, Lewis said, "It's been a long day, and it's been an expensive day." Lewis, 69, and Kerrie Lewis, 42, were married in 1984. J.W. Whitten, the road manager for Lewis, whose hits include Great Balls of Fire and Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On, said the settlement cleared the way for him to resume a regular concert schedule and complete an album for release in the fall. "We leave for Europe June 24," Whitten said. "We needed this to be over just so we could get back to making some money."
Pope TV
CBS is planning a four-hour mini-series about Pope John Paul II, who died in April. The story told by the production, tentatively titled Pope John Paul II, extends from his youth in Poland to the later days of his 26-year reign. The mini-series, a joint venture with several European broadcasters, is based on a script supervised by historians at the Vatican, said Bela Bajaria, senior vice president for movies and mini-series at CBS, who added that exclusive filming had taken place in St. Peter's Square in Rome. No date for broadcast was announced, but the series could go on the air in the fall.
Harry Potter star to play another orphan
After winning global stardom as Harry Potter, British schoolboy actor Daniel Radcliffe has signed up for a new film role that will take him outside the realms of wizardry for the first time, it was announced Wednesday. But, remaining an orphan like Harry Potter, 15-year-old Radcliffe will appear in December Boys, the story of four orphans growing up in 1960s Australia. The movie is based on the novel of the same name by New Zealand-born author Michael Noonan. It will be directed by Rod Hardy of the top the US law series The Practice.
40,000 prostitutes expected for World Cup
Around 40,000 prostitutes will offer their services to football fans at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, according to experts. Supporters from across the globe will flock to watch their teams in action at the World Cup, running from June 9 to July 9, offering a bigger market for prostitutes to exploit. Cologne and Dortmund, two of the host cities for the World Cup, have even erected a number of wooden "sex huts" for the football showpiece with condoms and showers at hand. Prostitution was legalized in Germany in 2001 but only in designated areas.
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