Monitor

News + Notes

Stage

EW Presents...

Exclusive star interviews

EW Games

Monitor

Celebrity news for the week of June 20, 2008

More

By Simon Vozick-Levinson

EXPECTING
Another baby is out there for Gillian Anderson, 39, and her businessman boyfriend, Mark Griffiths. The X-Files star already has an 18-month-old son with Griffiths and a 13-year-old daughter from an earlier marriage to X-Files assistant art director Clyde Klotz.

BIRTHS
Newlyweds Jessica Alba (The Love Guru), 27, and producer Cash Warren (Made in America), 31, have a new maid of Honor: That's the name of their daughter, born June 7 in L.A.... It's a girl for Oxygen reality stars Tori Spelling, 35, and husband Dean McDermott, 41. Stella was born June 9 in L.A., joining her 1-year-old big brother, Liam. McDermott also has a 9-year-old son from a previous marriage.... Vin Diesel, 40, is a fast, furious father. A daughter, his first child with his girlfriend, model Paloma Jimenez, arrived April 2.

SPLIT
Anne Heche, 39, has finally reached a financial settlement in her divorce from cameraman Coley Laffoon, 34. The couple, who separated in January 2007, agreed on June 6 that Heche will pay Laffoon $275,000, plus $3,700 a month in child support for their 6-year-old son, Homer.

CONTROVERSY
Spike Lee, 51, and Clint Eastwood, 78, have reached an unofficial cease-fire in their mini war of words. Lee first criticized Eastwood at a press conference at last month's Cannes Film Festival, questioning the lack of black actors in Eastwood's 2006 WWII films, Letters From Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers. On June 6, Eastwood snapped back in an interview with U.K. newspaper The Guardian, saying that Lee ''should shut his face.'' Lee then smoothed things over the same day, telling an MTV reporter, ''I'm going to take the Obama high road. It's not a feud.''

FINANCIAL WOES
Former Tonight Show sidekick Ed McMahon, 85, appeared on Larry King Live June 5 to explain his ongoing monetary difficulties. McMahon said he's had fiscal issues ever since a 2007 neck injury prevented him from working, but added that he was ''optimistic'' he'd be able to resolve his outstanding debts soon. He's currently facing foreclosure on his L.A. home after a bank claimed on Feb. 28 that he hasn't been paying back the $4.8 million loan it gave him.

COURTS
Dennis Farina, 64, was charged with three misdemeanor weapons counts in L.A. on June 4. The former Law & Order cast member was arrested last month after allegedly trying to bring a .22 handgun through airport security; Farina has said he didn't realize he was carrying the gun. The actor is due back in court next month.... Steve-O (né Stephen Glover), 33, pleaded guilty to cocaine possession on June 3 in L.A. The Jackass star, who wrote on his blog that he'd spent time in an L.A. psychiatric ward after his arrest in March, was sentenced to a rehab program and two years' probation.... L.A. prosecutors decided on June 9 not to press charges against Warren G, 37. The ''Regulate'' rapper was arrested on suspicion of marijuana possession during a June 8 traffic stop. Prosecutors said that they were dropping the case due to ''insufficient evidence.''... Coolio, 44, was arrested June 10 in L.A. after officers, who had pulled over his car for expired registration tags, discovered he also had an outstanding warrant for driving with a suspended license. He was released on bail that same day.

DEATHS
Robert J. Anderson, 75, who played the young George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, of melanoma, on June 6, in Palm Springs, Calif.... Actor-director Mel Ferrer, 90, who starred alongside then wife Audrey Hepburn in 1956's War and Peace, of complications from pneumonia, June 2, in Carpinteria, Calif. ''He was a very talented man of great charm,'' says Norman Lloyd, who appeared with Ferrer on Broadway in 1939's Everywhere I Roam. ''I've known a lot of people in show business, and he was certainly one of the best.''... Artist Alton Kelley, 67, who designed iconic psychedelic posters for musicians such as the Grateful Dead and the Steve Miller Band, after a long illness, on June 1, in Petaluma, Calif. — with additional reporting by Stewart Allen

RECOVERING
Patrick Swayze, 55, is moving forward with his career as he recuperates from pancreatic cancer. On June 9, A&E greenlit The Beast, a new hour-long drama in which he'll star as an unconventional but seasoned FBI agent partnered with a rookie. Production for the first 13 episodes will begin this summer, and the series is expected to premiere in early 2009. In March, Swayze revealed that he's responding well to medical treatment and said in a recent statement, ''I can't wait to get to work.''

LEGACY
JIM MCKAY
(1921-2008) The iconic sports journalist, who died June 7 of natural causes, knew the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat firsthand. As host of ABC's Wide World of Sports for decades, he covered everything from cliff diving to horse racing, and became the first sportscaster to win an Emmy. In 1972, while anchoring the Munich Olympic Games, McKay delivered news of the Israeli hostage massacre with the immortal words ''They're all gone.'' ''He brought a reporter's eye...[and] humanity to every assignment,'' said Bob Costas in a statement. ''He had a combination of qualities seldom seen in the history of the medium, not just sports.'' — Alisa Cohen