Patrick Swayze has checked himself into the hospital for observation after contracting pneumonia, A&E President Abbe Raven announced on Friday at a meeting of the Television Critics Association.
Swayze, who has pancreatic cancer, was scheduled to discuss his upcoming drama The Beast. Robert DeBitetto, A&E’s programming senior vice president, explained his absence.
“Patrick has asked that I tell you that this morning he checked himself into the hospital for observation,” said DeBitetto.
“Chemotherapy can take its toll on the immune system, and illnesses are a part of that. Patrick wishes me to tell you that he’s very sorry he cannot attend, but plans to get back to promoting The Beast soon.” Earlier this week, Swayze told ABC’s Barbara Walters that his yearlong battle with pancreatic cancer put him “through hell” while he pushed ahead on his new TV series.
The 56-year-old actor also owned up to his fear: “Yeah, I’m scared. Yeah, I’m angry. Yeah, I’m [asking], ‘Why me?”’
Will Ferrell says audiences should expect the unexpected from his upcoming one-man Broadway show and HBO special about US President George W. Bush.
Ferrell, known for his Bush impersonation on the TV comedy show Saturday Night Live, said on Friday there’s nothing derivative about the production. He says it will surprise people with its twists and turns and what it has to say about Bush.
Executive producer Adam McKay says the show aims to be funny but also hold the Bush administration’s feet to the fire.
Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush is set to begin previews on Jan. 20 and open on Feb. 5.
Can he type with those shades on? Bono is now a contributing columnist for the New York Times.
The Irish rocker’s first column, a lengthy meditation on Frank Sinatra, appeared yesterday. He also did a podcast for the column.
Bono called the gig “an honor,” and joked that he’s “never been great with the full stops or commas.”
The 48-year-old U2 rocker has been an advocate in the fight against AIDS and poverty in Africa.
R. Kelly can officially bump and grind with whomever he chooses: He has finalized his divorce from his wife.
Kelly and his former wife, Andrea, confirmed they were officially divorced after 11 years of marriage.
A joint statement on Thursday said they had reached an amicable resolution concerning all issues related to their marriage and will share joint custody of their three children.
The 41-year-old Kelly — known for the hits Bump N’ Grind, I’m a Flirt, Trapped in the Closet, I Believe I Can Fly and many others — was acquitted of child pornography charges last year.
A convicted pedophile, fugitive filmmaker Roman Polanski, on Friday lost his bid to disqualify the Los Angeles County court system from considering his motion to dismiss a 30-year-old charge of unlawful sex with a minor.
Lawyers for the Oscar-winning director behind such classics as Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown filed court papers this week requesting the case be referred to the California Judicial Council for “selection of an impartial, out-of-county” judge.
But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza ruled the defense motion “discloses no legal grounds for disqualification” and was therefore “ordered stricken.”
Polanski’s lawyers filed a separate motion last month seeking to dismiss the 30-year-old case altogether, citing “extraordinary new evidence” of prosecutorial and judicial misconduct.
Polanski, 75, an Academy Award winner in 2003 for directing the Holocaust drama The Pianist, fled the US for France in 1978 as he was about to be sentenced for his guilty plea on charges of having unlawful sex with an underage girl.
His bid to dismiss the matter stems from claims that the now-dead Los Angeles judge in the case was improperly coached by a deputy district attorney, David Wells, since retired, ahead of sentencing.
Those allegations gained public attention a year ago in the documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, in which Wells spoke of his contact with the judge.
Polanski originally was indicted on six charges, including rape, for having sex with a 13-year-old girl after plying her with champagne and drugs. The director insisted the sex was consensual but pleaded guilty to a single count of having sex with a minor, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Vilified in the US media at the time, the director has earned a measure of sympathy in Hollywood for the 1969 tragedy of the murder of his then-pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, by followers of Charles Manson.
The victim in the sex case against him, Samantha Geimer, now in her 40s and a mother of three living in Hawaii, has said she believes Polanski’s long exile from Hollywood has been punishment enough. A civil suit brought by her family years ago eventually was settled.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique