Names in the News
Issue date: 4/13/06 Section: Entertainment
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WINDHOEK, Namibia (AP) - Some Namibians say they hope Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will be allowed some privacy during their stay in the southwest African country.
The stars' private security detail kept journalists at a distance, and one government official warned Saturday that any foreign paparazzi found working without official approval would be kicked out of the country.
Immigration officials confirmed that the couple and five other people, including two children, arrived in Walvis Bay on Monday morning on a chartered jet from Paris, prompting speculation their baby will be born in Africa.
Mark Bongers, an advertising executive, said he expected their visit to be good for business.
"It puts Namibia in the spotlight as a tourist destination, but people mustn't go too crazy about it," he said. "I would imagine that they would like a bit of privacy, and I think if people here screw it up for them, then maybe they won't come back."
Media reports have said that the couple has rented all 14 rooms and suites at the Burning Shores resort, a luxury boutique hotel near the famous dunes of the Namibian desert.
A receptionist reached by telephone at The Burning Shore denied that the couple was there, saying the hotel heard they had gone to Cape Town, South Africa.
Pitt's publicist said Jan. 11 that Jolie is pregnant with Pitt's child. It was unclear when the baby was due.
Jolie has traveled to Africa frequently to shoot films and as a U.N. goodwill ambassador. She spent several weeks in Namibia in 2002 while shooting the film "Beyond Borders."
Jolie has called the continent one of hope and possibility, and adopted a daughter, Zahara, from Ethiopia last year. She also has a son, Cambodian-born Maddox, adopted in 2002.
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) - Rue McClanahan recommends two forms of exercise to fight the effects of aging: weightlifting and frequent sex.
"It just depends on the availability of the material," the 72-year-old actress said Friday. "Dumbbells are easy to come by, but most of them are married."
McClanahan said that she used a positive attitude and a sense of humor to help defeat breast cancer and she's using those same attributes to embrace aging.
The actress, best known as Blanche Devereaux on the '80s sitcom "The Golden Girls," was found to have breast cancer in June 1997.
"I was bound and determined I had a lot more to do," McClanahan said during a visit to Joplin, where her family has roots.
McClanahan's autobiography, "My First Five Husbands," will be released around Mothers' Day in 2007, she said.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A city councilman wants to offer a $50,000 public reward for leads in the unsolved murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G.
Councilman Dennis Zine proposed Friday to offer the reward for 60 days.
"I am hopeful someone will come forward with information which will lead to the eventual apprehension of the murderers involved in this case," Zine said in a statement.
Zine's motion was under review by a council committee. A 1997 measure offering a $25,000 reward expired after several months.
The 24-year-old rapper, born Christopher Wallace, was shot and killed March 9, 1997, after a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
A new team of police detectives was recently assigned to the case.
PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) - Edward Albee will teach at Princeton University and write a new play for a local theater as the first person named to a new playwriting fellowship.
Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Princeton University/McCarter Theatre Playwriting Fellowship program will bring Albee to Princeton for several months in the fall of 2007, it was announced Thursday.
The program is a joint effort between Princeton and McCarter, which won a 1994 Tony Award for outstanding regional theater.
Albee, 78, is the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes. He first gained notice with his play "The Zoo Story" in 1959.
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" won a Tony Award, as did "A Delicate Balance" and "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" Albee also has been recognized with the National Medal of the Arts and a Kennedy Center Honor.
The stars' private security detail kept journalists at a distance, and one government official warned Saturday that any foreign paparazzi found working without official approval would be kicked out of the country.
Immigration officials confirmed that the couple and five other people, including two children, arrived in Walvis Bay on Monday morning on a chartered jet from Paris, prompting speculation their baby will be born in Africa.
Mark Bongers, an advertising executive, said he expected their visit to be good for business.
"It puts Namibia in the spotlight as a tourist destination, but people mustn't go too crazy about it," he said. "I would imagine that they would like a bit of privacy, and I think if people here screw it up for them, then maybe they won't come back."
Media reports have said that the couple has rented all 14 rooms and suites at the Burning Shores resort, a luxury boutique hotel near the famous dunes of the Namibian desert.
A receptionist reached by telephone at The Burning Shore denied that the couple was there, saying the hotel heard they had gone to Cape Town, South Africa.
Pitt's publicist said Jan. 11 that Jolie is pregnant with Pitt's child. It was unclear when the baby was due.
Jolie has traveled to Africa frequently to shoot films and as a U.N. goodwill ambassador. She spent several weeks in Namibia in 2002 while shooting the film "Beyond Borders."
Jolie has called the continent one of hope and possibility, and adopted a daughter, Zahara, from Ethiopia last year. She also has a son, Cambodian-born Maddox, adopted in 2002.
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) - Rue McClanahan recommends two forms of exercise to fight the effects of aging: weightlifting and frequent sex.
"It just depends on the availability of the material," the 72-year-old actress said Friday. "Dumbbells are easy to come by, but most of them are married."
McClanahan said that she used a positive attitude and a sense of humor to help defeat breast cancer and she's using those same attributes to embrace aging.
The actress, best known as Blanche Devereaux on the '80s sitcom "The Golden Girls," was found to have breast cancer in June 1997.
"I was bound and determined I had a lot more to do," McClanahan said during a visit to Joplin, where her family has roots.
McClanahan's autobiography, "My First Five Husbands," will be released around Mothers' Day in 2007, she said.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A city councilman wants to offer a $50,000 public reward for leads in the unsolved murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G.
Councilman Dennis Zine proposed Friday to offer the reward for 60 days.
"I am hopeful someone will come forward with information which will lead to the eventual apprehension of the murderers involved in this case," Zine said in a statement.
Zine's motion was under review by a council committee. A 1997 measure offering a $25,000 reward expired after several months.
The 24-year-old rapper, born Christopher Wallace, was shot and killed March 9, 1997, after a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
A new team of police detectives was recently assigned to the case.
PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) - Edward Albee will teach at Princeton University and write a new play for a local theater as the first person named to a new playwriting fellowship.
Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Princeton University/McCarter Theatre Playwriting Fellowship program will bring Albee to Princeton for several months in the fall of 2007, it was announced Thursday.
The program is a joint effort between Princeton and McCarter, which won a 1994 Tony Award for outstanding regional theater.
Albee, 78, is the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes. He first gained notice with his play "The Zoo Story" in 1959.
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" won a Tony Award, as did "A Delicate Balance" and "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" Albee also has been recognized with the National Medal of the Arts and a Kennedy Center Honor.