HOLLYWOOD - Top Story
Tim McGraw was awarded the Entertainer of the Year award at the 35th annual Country Music Association awards held at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 7. Among the night's biggest winners was the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? for Album of the Year, which has sold 2.5 million copies to date. Toby Keith won Male Vocalist of the Year and Lee Ann Womack was named Female Vocalist of the Year. Singer-songwriter Sara Evans won Music Video of the Year for her song "Born to Fly." The award show closed with a number of artists singing the patriotic theme "America the Beautiful."
Pregnant
Ben Stiller and wife Christine Taylor are expecting their first child. According to People magazine, Stiller called his father, comedian Jerry Stiller, at the set of the CBS sitcom The King of Queens to deliver the news. Ben Stiller, 35, and Taylor, 30, married in May 2000. British film actress Liz Hurley is expecting a baby with her American film producer boyfriend Stephen Bing. "Elizabeth Hurley is delighted to confirm that she is expecting a baby in April," her spokeswoman told Reuters. Hurley split with her former boyfriend, actor Hugh Grant, in May of last year after 13 years. Ailing
Nathan Lane was forced to cut back his schedule for the New York musical The Producers because he was plagued by vocal problems, The Associated Press reports. The actor has been suffering from chronic vocal fatigue and was out of the musical through much of last week. Actor Brad Oscar will fill in for him at the Wednesday and Saturday matinees through Nov. 18, when Lane is scheduled to return for his regular schedule.
In Court
Actor C. Thomas Howell was acquitted on all five misdemeanor counts against him for confrontation with a skateboarder last year. According to AP, prosecutors said Howell struck a 20-year-old skateboarder with his pickup truck on Dec. 9, drove away, and later returned with a hammer and threatened to hit him. Howell said that he didn't hit a skateboarder but that the two men got into an argument. Jurors said that prosecution witnesses gave conflicting accounts of what happened. If convicted, Howell could have faced more than four years in jail.
In General
Kelsey Grammer wants to deal with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a future episode on the NBC sitcom Frasier after the show's executive producer David Angell and his wife, Lynn, died on one of the four hijacked airplanes, AP reports. "It's been crossing my mind lately that we need to at least address [Sept. 11] in some way," Grammer said. "To completely ignore it would be a mistake." Absolutely Fabulous, one of the defining British comedy shows of the decade, is back, as Comedy Central launches six new episodes starting on Nov. 12 at 9 p.m. EST. According to AP, Jennifer Saunders will play the frizzy-haired panicky Edina and Joanna Lumley will return as Patsy, Edina's chic best friend. Saunders, who also writes the show, told the wire that the show is "about a life panic, about staying on top, keeping yourself together."