Top Story
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced Thursday that actor Gene Hackman will be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award at this year’s Golden Globe Awards. Hackman, 72, has worked on nearly 80 films in a career that has spanned over five decades and encompassed stage, television and features. He won a Best Actor Oscar for 1971’s The French Connection and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for 1992’s Unforgiven–as well as Golden Globe Awards for both films. Hackman also took best actor honors for The Royal Tenenbaums at last year’s Golden Globes. Previous honorees include Harrison Ford, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Sean Connery and Sophia Loren. Hackman will be presented with the award at the 60th annual Golden Globe banquet at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Jan. 19. NBC will air a live telecast of the event.
Celebs
Three associates of rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder in a series of raids yesterday around Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Reuters reports. Officials said the raids stemmed from investigations into the April murder of then-Death Row employee Alton McDonald, who was gunned down in April while pumping gas in South Los Angeles, and the revenge killing of another man connected with the label, Eric Daniels, in June.
A 15-year-old girl has been charged with murder in the shooting death of actor Merlin Santana, The Associated Press reports. Santana was shot early Sunday in South Los Angeles while sitting in the passenger side of a parked car. The teen was also charged with attempted murder of a man who was with Santana at the time of the shooting. Police are still looking for other suspects. No motive has been given for the slaying.
Tube
The unedited version of George Butler‘s 1977 documentary Pumping Iron, which includes a marijuana smoking scene, debuts on the Cinemax channel Friday. The documentary follows Arnold Schwarzenegger as he prepares to defend his Mr. Olympia title against Lou Ferrigno.
Tim Allen, who is currently starring in The Santa Clause 2, has signed a deal to produce a sitcom for ABC. The show will revolve around four guys who have been friends since high school and how the world has changed for them. The former Home Improvement star has not signed to appear in front of the camera, Variety reports.
Howie Mandel will turn his hidden-camera pranks often seen on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and Live With Regis and Kelly into a sitcom for NBC. According to Variety, Mandel will star as himself–a family man with three kids who spends his days thinking up pranks for a major NBC talk show.
Music
Rapper Eminem cleaned up at the MTV Europe Music Awards yesterday, winning best male, best hip-hop and best album for The Eminem Show. Other winners included Kylie Minogue, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Linkin Park, who took home two awards each. Jennifer Lopez walked away with best female award while Pink won best song for “Get the Party Stared.”
