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Comic book aficionado Nicolas Cage sold his personal collection for a cool $1.6 million at an auction in Los Angeles Thursday. The 400 items in the catalog included the 1938 rare Actions Comics No. 1 where Superman first debuted, which sold for $86,250, as well as the 1940 Detective No. 38, where Batman’s sidekick Robin made his first appearance. That one went for $121,000. “He had a very good eye for quality,” Heritage Auction chairman James Halperin told Reuters of Cage‘s meticulous collection. No explanation has been given as to why the Oscar-winning actor decided to auction off his comics.
Celebs
Skynews.com reports that Brad Pitt and his wife Jennifer Aniston had to be rescued by the LAPD when they were trapped in an expensive Beverly Hills furniture shop. Seems throngs of press and adoring fans surrounded the store and the two couldn’t get out. After the police escort got them back to their car, however, the fab couple discovered they had gotten a parking ticket, according to Sky News. Oh, the irony of it all.
Director Kevin Smith (Dogma; Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) will have a street named after him in Paulsboro, N. J. The Jersey native has been filming his off-beat love story Jersey Girl, starring real-life couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, in the small town, and as a show of appreciation, the mayor wants to rename a street in Smith‘s honor.
A London court of appeal today “reluctantly” found in favor of Vanessa Frisbee, Naomi Campbell’s former personal assistant, according to court papers. This was Frisbee’s second appeal of the summary judgement against her for breach of contract. A lower court found that Frisbee had breached her contract when she told the News of the World tabloid that Campbell had physically attacked her when she failed to cover up an alleged fling between Campbell and actor Joseph Fiennes. At the time, the court papers say, Campbell was still living with Formula One boss Flavio Briatore. Frisbee argued that Campbell had wrongfully terminated her contract and that Frisbee was therefore freed from her confidentiality clause. Frisbee also claims she was entitled to disclose the information because it was of “public interest.”
Deaths
WWII historian and author Stephen E. Ambrose, who worked as a consultant for Steven Spielberg‘s Saving Private Ryan and who was best known for his book Band of Brothers, which was made into an Emmy-winning HBO miniseries, died Sunday after a six-month battle with lung cancer. He was 66.
Movies
Several large-scale props worth nearly $55,000 were stolen from the set of Mike Myers‘ The Cat in the Hat, including an 8-foot-long pair of dark blue glasses, a 4-foot golf tee and a blue golf ball 7 feet in diameter and weighing nearly 200 pounds. The police do not have any suspects, but Sgt. Rod Baker of the LAPD quipped to the Associated Press, “We have ruled out the Grinch.”
Tube
Fox has inked a deal with actress Shannon Elizabeth to develop a series for the 2003 fall schedule. The American Pie star is leaning toward doing a comedy.
Theater
Shrek may be heading toward Broadway’s bright lights. Get the full story at our sister site, www.broadway.com.
