Weddings

Pierce Brosnan and former model and TV reporter Keely Shaye Smith are expected to wed Saturday in a secret ceremony in Ireland, Reuters reports. While no details have been made public, speculations have been made that the nuptials will take place at Ballintubber Abbey, in Mayo County, western Ireland. The couple is then expected to host a reception at Ashford Castle hotel in the village of Cong. The bride-to-be hinted to photographers at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday that she was packing a wedding dress by designer Richard Tyler.

Engaged

The Matrix's Laurence Fishburne is engaged to actress Gina Torres, The Associated Press reports. The couple, who met six years ago on a blind date, has not set a wedding date.

Deaths

Ron Townson, the singer of pop group The 5th Dimension, died Thursday. Townson, 68, died at his Las Vegas home of renal failure, following a four-year battle with kidney disease.

Ailing

Madonna has cancelled Friday's sold-out show in New Jersey because she has laryngitis, Reuters reports. "It's bad enough that her doctor recommended complete vocal rest," Madonna's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, told Reuters. The concert, the ninth date in Madonna's 48 shows in the United States, will not be rescheduled.

Supermodel Niki Taylor was admitted to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla., on Tuesday for ongoing problems stemming from an April car accident in Atlanta, Georgia, AP reports. A spokesperson for Taylor, 26, said in a statement that she is in stable condition.

In Court

Comedian Glenn Matthews was convicted Wednesday of robbing nearly $44,000 from Macon, Ga., banks between December 1999 and January of this year, The Associated Press reports. He also fired a shot into the ceiling of the bank before taking off on a bicycle. Matthews apparently told an audience of 300 people at the comedy club that he committed the robberies. Club officials were apparently not amused and called authorities. Matthews could receive up to 60 years in jail.

Honored

Cicely Tyson said she uses her career as a platform for certain issues she wants to address, AP reports. Tyson received a lifetime achievement award at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C.

In General

It seems the cast for the TV series Becker was hit with a 24-hour bug, Variety reports. Five of the show's actors called in sick on Wednesday after Paramount executives declined to discuss pay raises. But the same five showed up to work on Thursday, despite no changes in salary.

Whitney Houston has signed a multi-album deal with Arista Records. AP reports. The Grammy-winning singer will reportedly receive in excess of $100 million in the deal. The deal would top Mariah Carey's deal with Virgin Records, worth about $20 million per album.

A large portion of Universal Picture's American Pie 2 being pirated on the Internet are not actually Universal's, Variety reports. Though the actual film is being pirated in small numbers, most of the copies being swapped via the Web are that of a French-language porn film, with stills from the Pie 2 trailer interspersed.

The beaded Dolce and Gabbana bra worn by Madonna during The Girlie Tour was sold during an online auction for $23,850, Reuters reports. Sothebys.com and Gotta Have It Collectibles Inc., a Manhattan memorabilia shop, sold the bra during a two-week online auction which ended Wednesday.

Director John Frankenheimer will helm the untitled Exorcist prequel, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Production is set to begin in the spring in the United States, England and Africa. The prequel follows Father Merrin back to his first encounter with the devil during missionary work in Africa.

Ex-Spice Girl Victoria Beckham (a k a Posh Spice) lashed out at former bandmate Geri Halliwell and her husband's soccer manager, the BBC reports. When asked which of the two she would save from drowning, she told London's Mirror newspaper: "Neither. I would just sail off and watch them drown." Beckham married footballer David Beckham in 1999.