ENGAGED
Kate Walsh (Grey's Anatomy), 39, will tie the knot with Fox movie exec
Alex Young, 35.
MARRIED
Singer Amy Winehouse, 23, wed video director Blake Fielder-Civil, 25, on
May 18 in Miami.
BIRTH
Jon Heder (Blades of Glory), 29, and his wife, Kirsten, welcomed their
first child, daughter Evan Jane, last month.
AILING
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bo Diddley, 78, is recovering in an Omaha
hospital after suffering a stroke on May 13. Although the
singer-guitarist's summer tour was canceled, his business manager says
''he's progressing very well.''... Jenna Fischer (The Office), 33, was
hospitalized in NYC with four broken bones in her back after falling
down some stairs at an NBC party on May 14. The actress has been
discharged and is expected to make a full recovery in time to shoot new
episodes of The Office this summer.... The cancer that plagued actress
Farrah Fawcett, 60, has returned, just three months after doctors gave
her a clean bill of health.
DEPARTURE
On May 22, NBC announced Dateline co-anchor Stone Phillips, 52, will be
leaving the show at the end of June after the network opted not to renew
his contract. He won't be replaced, and Ann Curry will remain as the
sole anchor. ''It's been a wonderful 15 years,'' Phillips said in a
statement.
COURTS
Ryan Phillippe (Crash), 32, has requested joint custody of his two
children with Reese Witherspoon, 31 (Walk the Line). The actress asked
for physical custody of the kids when she filed for divorce in
November.... Cameraman Coley Laffoon, 33, who filed for divorce from
actress Anne Heche (Men in Trees), 38, in February, is now seeking at
least $33,000 a month in spousal support and primary custody of the
couple's 5-year-old son. In court papers, he claims Heche is unfit to
raise the child due to ''bizarre and delusional behavior.'' Said Heche's
rep: ''Laffoon has resorted to filing lies with the court because Anne
would not cave in to his astronomical monetary demands.''... Former Creed
frontman Scott Stapp, 33, spent a night in a West Palm Beach, Fla., jail
on May 20 after allegedly throwing a bottle at his wife, model Jaclyn
Nesheiwat. The singer is expected to appear in court June 22. Says
Stapp's lawyer, ''Scott is not guilty.''... On May 21, Lane Garrison
(Prison Break), 27, pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and DUI
charges, stemming from a December 2006 crash that killed one of his teen
passengers and injured two others. Garrison, whose sentencing is
scheduled for Aug. 2, may face more than six years in an L.A. prison.
DEATHS
Actress/producer/activist Yolanda King, 51, the eldest child of Martin
Luther King Jr., who portrayed Rosa Parks in the 1978 miniseries King,
of unknown causes, May 15, in Santa Monica.... Terry Ryan, 60, who wrote
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, which was later turned into a 2005
movie, of cancer, May 16, in San Francisco. — Additonal reporting by Alice Lee Tebo
Legacy: Carl Wright (1932-2007)
A comedy-club veteran who appeared in Hollywood hits like Big Momma's
House and Barbershop, Wright died of cancer at his Chicago home
May 19. ''He had thousands of jokes that he could tell at any given
time,'' recalls director George Tillman Jr., who gave Wright his first
big-screen role in 1997's Soul Food. Barbershop costar Ice Cube agrees:
''Rappers call themselves MCs, but we all could learn from a true
professional MC like Carl Wright.'' — Simon Vozick-Levinson
A Hollywood Cha Cha Cha
On May 17, Mexican directors and pals Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men),
Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth), and Alejandro González Iñárritu
(Babel) announced a business venture called cha cha cha. This
five-feature, reportedly $100 million deal with Universal Pictures and
Focus Features International will produce a movie from each helmer, as
well as one from both Rodrigo García (Nine Lives) and Alfonso's brother,
Carlos Cuarón ''We wanted to be involved with these filmmakers,'' says
Universal International president David Kosse. ''Spanish-language films
in Mexico can do the kind of business a summer tentpole can.'' First up:
Carlos Cuarón's soccer film Rudo y Cursi, with Gael García Bernal. — Nicole Sperling
