Top Story: Roger Moore Collapses on NY Stage
Veteran actor Roger Moore, who played secret agent James Bond in the ’70s and ’80s, collapsed on stage in New York and was taken to an area hospital on Wednesday. The London-born actor was a celebrity guest in Broadway’s The Play What I Wrote, directed by Kenneth Branagh. According to British media report, Moore fell to the floor during a song-and-dance number halfway through the second act of the show. The curtain came down for a short time but the performance resumed and Moore went on through the last 10 minutes of the show. He is being treated in a Manhattan hospital for respiratory problems and is reported to be in stable condition. “I can confirm he collapsed during a performance of a play, but I have no more information as to his condition,” his London agent told Reuters.
Dangerfield Goes Home
Rodney Dangerfield appeared in good shape Wednesday, just one month after having brain surgery. The 81-year-old comedian was released from the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center on April 21, nearly two weeks after undergoing surgery to improve his blood flow for an upcoming heart valve replacement. “I feel like a new man,” Dangerfield told The Associated Press, a long scar visible on the right side of his head. “I have all the doctors here to thank.”
Depardieu Crashes Bike
French actor Gerard Depardieu, who starred in the romantic comedy Green Card, slightly injured his right leg in a motorcycle accident near Paris’ old opera house, the AP reports. Police said Depardieu, 54, was able to walk away from the scene of the accident. This isn’t the actor’s first road accident. In 1998, Depardieu crashed his motorcycle when his blood-alcohol content was five times over the legal limit, escaping with leg and face injuries.
Townshend Cautioned Over Child Porn
The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, who was arrested earlier this year during a high-profile crackdown on Internet child porn, will be placed on a register of sex offenders after being formally cautioned Wednesday, Reuters reports. A DNA sample will be taken from him and he will be listed on the national Sex Offenders Register for five years. Townshend, 57, admitted using his credit card to access a child pornography Web site but said he was merely carrying out research for a future book. However, police said accessing such images for research or out of curiosity is not a defense.
Actor Robert Conrad Paralyzed
A court hearing in Robert Conrad‘s drunk driving case has been delayed until June 10 because the actor is partially paralyzed, Reuters reports. Conrad, who played U.S. Secret Service James West in the 1960s TV series The Wild Wild West, was left partially paralyzed by the car accident in which he is accused of drunken driving. The 68-year-old actor was arrested on March 31 after his car collided with another vehicle in northern California. Police said Conrad‘s blood alcohol level far exceeded legal limits. His paralysis, however, is not permanent and Conrad is expected to leave a physical rehabilitation facility soon.
Berry in MLK Memorial Ads
Oscar winner Halle Berry and TV weatherman Al Roker will star in a new ad campaign to raise money for a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the AP reports. The public service announcements will feature Berry being escorted to a “colored section” at the back of a restaurant and Roker not being able to find a treadmill that isn’t marked “white guests only.” The ads were unveiled Wednesday as part of an effort over the next year and a half to raise $40 million needed to break ground on the national memorial to the civil rights leader. The ads will be placed on radio, TV, newspapers and magazines.
Role Call: Piven Joins Moore’s Road Trip, Hanks’ Playtone To Fly With CGI
Jeremy Piven has been cast opposite Mandy Moore in an untitled Warner Bros. project for veteran TV director Andrew Cadiff. The pic, slated to go into production in mid-June, centers on the U.S. President’s 18-year-old daughter, who runs away on a European road trip. Piven is set to play a key Secret Service agent … Playtone Production partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman will turn Mary Howitt’s 1829 poem The Spider and the Fly into a CGI film for Universal Pictures. The project, written and directed by Bradley Peyton (Evelyn, The Cutest Evil Dead Girl), focuses on a fetching young fly who gets flattered by a spider who tries to charm her into joining him in the spider web.
