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BIRTHS Actor Mel Gibson, 43, and his wife, Robyn, 43, welcomed their seventh child, a yet-to-be-named boy, April 14. The couple have five sons — twins Christian and Edward, 16, Willie, 14, Louis, 11, and Milo, 8 — and one daughter, Hannah, 18.
ACCIDENTS Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, 24, remains high and dry. On April 16, while he was shooting his feature The Beach on the Andaman Sea near Phuket, Thailand, strong winds and swells flooded a camera boat carrying him, costar Tilda Swinton, 39, and other cast and crew members. DiCaprio and the others were not injured; the production was not delayed.
EXITS CNN announced April 19 that after an 18-year career, foreign correspondent Peter Arnett, 64, is leaving the network. CNN says it has ''reached an understanding'' that will bring Arnett's service ''to an amicable conclusion.'' In the same statement, Arnett said, ''I've had a long and wonderful relationship with CNN.'' Arnett was reprimanded by the network last July for his involvement in the ''Tailwind'' story, jointly reported by CNN and TIME (both owned by EW's parent company, Time Warner), claiming the U.S. military used nerve gas while attempting to capture American defectors in Laos in 1970. A subsequent investigation resulted in the network issuing a correction.
DEATHS Ventriloquist Senor Wences, 103, of natural causes, April 20, in New York. Born in Spain, Wences is best known for appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show with his characters Johnny the hand puppet and Pedro the Head in a Box, which made his trademark ''S'awright? S'awright'' a national catchphrase.... Rock pioneer Skip Spence, 52, of lung cancer, April 16, in Santa Cruz, Calif. A founding member of Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape, Spence battled mental illness from the late '60s until his death....Actress Ellen Corby, 87, of natural causes, April 14, in Woodland Hills, Calif. A character actress for many years, Corby received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for 1948's I Remember Mama and is best known for playing the resolute grandmother on TV's The Waltons from 1972 to 1979, for which she won three Emmys and a Golden Globe.... Entertainer Anthony Newley, 67, of renal cell cancer, April 14, in Jensen Beach, Fla. Besides acting in 1948's Oliver Twist and 1967's Doctor Dolittle, Newley composed the score for 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, wrote Sammy Davis Jr.'s 1972 hit ''Candy Man,'' and cowrote and starred in the 1962 Broadway hit Stop the World, I Want to Get Off.... Veteran voice-over actress Jean Vander Pyl, 79, of lung cancer, April 10, in Dana Point, Calif. Vander Pyl was the warmly whiny Wilma on the animated series The Flintstones from 1960 to 1966, as well as the voice of many other Hanna-Barbera characters.
