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.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2