Beyonce shows marriage, miscarriage and Blue Ivy in documentary

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Beyonce is letting fans into her private life, introducing daughter Blue Ivy to the world and talking about motherhood, marriage and miscarriage in a new documentary.

The 31-year-old pop singer and her rapper husband, Jay-Z, 43, one of music's most influential couples, have guarded their privacy fiercely.

But in "Life is But a Dream," airing on Saturday on cable channel HBO, Beyonce gives fans a glimpse of how she works and even a peek at baby Blue Ivy, who has been shielded from paparazzi since her birth in January 2012.

The film, which Beyonce co-directed, is part of a return to performing after a year off since her first child was born.

Beyonce began her comeback with a controversial lip-synched performance of the national anthem at President Barack Obama's inauguration in January, followed by a live performance at the Super Bowl halftime show that wowed critics.

At the New York premiere of the documentary on Tuesday, the new mother said she wanted to share her altered perspective on life.

"Knowing that at this point in my life, this age is so wonderful because I see everything differently and I hope that I can share that with other people," she said.

The "Crazy in Love" singer addresses the widely reported claim from 2011 that she was faking her pregnancy, calling it "the most ridiculous rumor I've ever heard of me."

"To think that I'd be that vain ... especially after losing a child. The pain and trauma from that just makes it mean so much more to get an opportunity to bring life into the world," she says in the documentary.

The HBO film shows footage of a sonogram, Beyonce's growing bump and grainy video of herself posing nude as she neared her due date.

The arrival last year of Blue Ivy Carter gained worldwide media attention and prompted Beyonce to share more with her fans, launching a Tumblr page with snapshots of her family life.

Her miscarriage had been kept secret from the public until Jay-Z referred to it in his song "Glory," that he released following the birth of Blue Ivy.

In the documentary, Beyonce touched on the topic briefly, saying, "It was the saddest thing I've ever been through."

"My life is a journey. ... I had to go through my miscarriage, I believe I had to go through owning my company and managing myself ... ultimately your independence comes from knowing who you are and you being happy with yourself," she said.

"Life is But a Dream" also gives a peek into the Grammy-winner's four-year marriage to Jay-Z, showing the couple singing Coldplay's "Yellow" to each other.

"This baby has made me love him more than I ever thought I could love another human being," she says.

The film shows Beyonce putting herself and her team through grueling choreography rehearsals in 2011 and planning every second of her performances at big awards shows that year.

Beyonce has also announced a new album for this year. "The Mrs Carter Show World Tour" - Jay-Z's real name is Shawn Carter - will kick off in April with more than 40 performances in Europe and North America.

"Life is But a Dream" airs on HBO on Saturday, the same day as Beyonce's interview with Oprah Winfrey on the OWN cable channel.

(Additional reporting by Alicia Powell at Reuters TV in New York, editing by Jill Serjeant and Doina Chiacu)

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In newly released love letters, LBJ's sweet side comes to life

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lyndon B. Johnson was so smitten when he met Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor in 1934 that he took her on a first date the very next day -- and asked for her hand in marriage.

Taylor adored her suitor but was worried about rushing into marriage, according to dozens of love letters between the two set to be released for the first time by the LBJ Presidential Library on Thursday, Valentine's Day.

In the pages of about 90 letters that the newly renovated library plans to post on its website, Johnson seems lonely and impatient, persistently urging Taylor to make up her mind. She says she wants to wait until they know each other better, though she also writes that she is afraid of losing him.

"All I can say, in absolute honesty, is -- I love you, I don't know how everlastingly I love you, -- so I can't answer you yet," Taylor wrote him shortly after they met that September.

Johnson, then 26 and working in Washington, D.C., as a secretary to Congressman Richard Kleberg, met Taylor, 21, through a friend while visiting Texas and asked her for a date the next morning. They had breakfast at the Driskill Hotel in Austin and spent the day sightseeing. That same day, he popped the question, asking her to become his wife.

After he returned to Washington, they spent two and a half months exchanging a flurry of letters and phone calls before going to San Antonio on November 17 to, as she later put it, "commit matrimony."

In the letters, Johnson implores her to write to him frequently.

"Give me lots of letters next week," he wrote to her. "I'm going to need them. Mix some 'I love you' in the lines and not between them."

Johnson's letters begin "My dear" or "Dear Bird." She addresses him as "My Dearest Lyndon" and signs "Devotedly, Bird." They sent each other photos. He sent her books.

"I wish you were here this minute because I feel silly and gay and I want to ruffle up your hair and kiss you and say silly things!" wrote Taylor, who had recently graduated from the University of Texas and was living with her father in Karnack, in East Texas.

A few of the letters had been released before, but this is the first time that all of the letters are being made public.

People probably won't be shocked to see a sweet side of Lady Bird Johnson, but reading tender sentiments from her husband, the hard-charging politician, is a different matter, said granddaughter Catherine Robb.

Johnson, who served in the U.S. House and Senate and as vice president, ascended to the presidency in 1963 as the nation grieved over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Johnson closed out his administration in 1969 under the cloud of Vietnam. He died in 1973.

He was known for giving the "Johnson Treatment" -- he'd lean in close, push people's buttons and get under their skin.

"I don't think people think of him as being terribly vulnerable," Robb, an Austin lawyer, told Reuters. In the letters, "you see a much more personal side of him, much more unguarded."

For example, he writes to his future wife that he carries a little orange comb in his billfold.

"It is the only thing I have from my little girl at Karnack and when I get lonesome and blue or happy and ambitious I always get pleasure when I look at the little comb and think … just think," Johnson wrote.

Robb, who had weekly dinners with her grandmother for years before she died in 2007, recalled one meal at the Driskill Hotel - the site of her grandparents' first date.

"I asked her what she thought about this brash, impatient young man who proposed almost immediately and who she put off for a whopping two and a half months," Robb said. "She thought it was reasonable to wait an appropriate period of time, but she realized that she didn't want to be without him - he was something so special and this was an extraordinary adventure she was going to enjoy if she said yes."

Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson honeymooned in Mexico and were married for 39 years. They had two daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb.

(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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Lady Gaga needs hip surgery, cancels remainder of tour

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lady Gaga canceled the remainder of her "Born This Way Ball" concert tour to undergo hip surgery, promoters Live Nation said on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old singer announced she was suffering from an inflammation of the joints on Tuesday, but the tour operator said Gaga's injuries were more serious than she realized.

"After additional tests this morning to review the severity of the issue, it has been determined that Lady Gaga has a labral tear of the right hip," Live Nation said in a statement.

"She will need surgery to repair the problem, followed by strict downtime to recover. This, unfortunately, will force her to cancel the tour so she can heal," it added.

Gaga has been on the road for two years, traveling across six continents.

On Tuesday, she postponed four U.S. shows saying she was suffering from synovitis that left her temporarily unable to walk. Synovitis is an inflammation of the joints that sometimes follows a sprain, strain or injury.

According to her website, the singer was due to play another 20 dates in the United States.

Live Nation said ticket holders would have their money refunded, starting on Thursday.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie venture into winemaking

(Reuters) - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have gone into the wine business, helping to produce a rose called Miraval from their French estate and putting their names on the label, wine website Decanter.com reported.

The movie star couple have been working with French winemaker Marc Perrin starting with the 2012 harvest, the website said. The Miraval wine will be on the market in March, and white wines will begin arriving by the end of this summer.

"They ... want to ensure they are making the best Provence wines they can," Perrin told Britain-based Decanter.com. on Wednesday.

"They were present at the blending sessions this year, and are relooking at everything from the installations in the winery - where we have already switched to stainless steel tanks - to reworking the labels across the range of wines," he added.

The back label of the Miraval wine carries the names Jolie-Pitt and Perrin.

Pitt and Jolie began renting Chateau Miraval in Correns, southern France, about four years ago and later bought the property, which has about 148 acres of vines.

The Miraval wine was formerly called Pink Floyd because the British rock band recorded their 1979 album "The Wall" in a studio on the estate, Decanter.com said.

Pitt last year unveiled a high-end collection of furniture that he helped create with designer Frank Pollaro. He has also worked with architects to create affordable quality housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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In newly released love letters, LBJ's sweet side comes to life

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lyndon B. Johnson was so smitten when he met Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor in 1934 that he took her on a first date the very next day -- and asked for her hand in marriage.

Taylor adored her suitor but was worried about rushing into marriage, according to dozens of love letters between the two set to be released for the first time by the LBJ Presidential Library on Thursday, Valentine's Day.

In the pages of about 90 letters that the newly renovated library plans to post on its website, Johnson seems lonely and impatient, persistently urging Taylor to make up her mind. She says she wants to wait until they know each other better, though she also writes that she is afraid of losing him.

"All I can say, in absolute honesty, is -- I love you, I don't know how everlastingly I love you, -- so I can't answer you yet," Taylor wrote him shortly after they met that September.

Johnson, then 26 and working in Washington, D.C., as a secretary to Congressman Richard Kleberg, met Taylor, 21, through a friend while visiting Texas and asked her for a date the next morning. They had breakfast at the Driskill Hotel in Austin and spent the day sightseeing. That same day, he popped the question, asking her to become his wife.

After he returned to Washington, they spent two and a half months exchanging a flurry of letters and phone calls before going to San Antonio on November 17 to, as she later put it, "commit matrimony."

In the letters, Johnson implores her to write to him frequently.

"Give me lots of letters next week," he wrote to her. "I'm going to need them. Mix some 'I love you' in the lines and not between them."

Johnson's letters begin "My dear" or "Dear Bird." She addresses him as "My Dearest Lyndon" and signs "Devotedly, Bird." They sent each other photos. He sent her books.

"I wish you were here this minute because I feel silly and gay and I want to ruffle up your hair and kiss you and say silly things!" wrote Taylor, who had recently graduated from the University of Texas and was living with her father in Karnack, in East Texas.

A few of the letters had been released before, but this is the first time that all of the letters are being made public.

People probably won't be shocked to see a sweet side of Lady Bird Johnson, but reading tender sentiments from her husband, the hard-charging politician, is a different matter, said granddaughter Catherine Robb.

Johnson, who served in the U.S. House and Senate and as vice president, ascended to the presidency in 1963 as the nation grieved over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Johnson closed out his administration in 1969 under the cloud of Vietnam. He died in 1973.

He was known for giving the "Johnson Treatment" -- he'd lean in close, push people's buttons and get under their skin.

"I don't think people think of him as being terribly vulnerable," Robb, an Austin lawyer, told Reuters. In the letters, "you see a much more personal side of him, much more unguarded."

For example, he writes to his future wife that he carries a little orange comb in his billfold.

"It is the only thing I have from my little girl at Karnack and when I get lonesome and blue or happy and ambitious I always get pleasure when I look at the little comb and think … just think," Johnson wrote.

Robb, who had weekly dinners with her grandmother for years before she died in 2007, recalled one meal at the Driskill Hotel - the site of her grandparents' first date.

"I asked her what she thought about this brash, impatient young man who proposed almost immediately and who she put off for a whopping two and a half months," Robb said. "She thought it was reasonable to wait an appropriate period of time, but she realized that she didn't want to be without him - he was something so special and this was an extraordinary adventure she was going to enjoy if she said yes."

Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson honeymooned in Mexico and were married for 39 years. They had two daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb.

(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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Beyonce shows marriage, miscarriage and Blue Ivy in documentary

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Beyonce is letting fans into her private life, introducing daughter Blue Ivy to the world and talking about motherhood, marriage and miscarriage in a new documentary.

The 31-year-old pop singer and her rapper husband, Jay-Z, 43, one of music's most influential couples, have guarded their privacy fiercely.

But in "Life is But a Dream," airing on Saturday on cable channel HBO, Beyonce gives fans a glimpse of how she works and even a peek at baby Blue Ivy, who has been shielded from paparazzi since her birth in January 2012.

The film, which Beyonce co-directed, is part of a return to performing after a year off since her first child was born.

Beyonce began her comeback with a controversial lip-synched performance of the national anthem at President Barack Obama's inauguration in January, followed by a live performance at the Super Bowl halftime show that wowed critics.

At the New York premiere of the documentary on Tuesday, the new mother said she wanted to share her altered perspective on life.

"Knowing that at this point in my life, this age is so wonderful because I see everything differently and I hope that I can share that with other people," she said.

The "Crazy in Love" singer addresses the widely reported claim from 2011 that she was faking her pregnancy, calling it "the most ridiculous rumor I've ever heard of me."

"To think that I'd be that vain ... especially after losing a child. The pain and trauma from that just makes it mean so much more to get an opportunity to bring life into the world," she says in the documentary.

The HBO film shows footage of a sonogram, Beyonce's growing bump and grainy video of herself posing nude as she neared her due date.

The arrival last year of Blue Ivy Carter gained worldwide media attention and prompted Beyonce to share more with her fans, launching a Tumblr page with snapshots of her family life.

Her miscarriage had been kept secret from the public until Jay-Z referred to it in his song "Glory," that he released following the birth of Blue Ivy.

In the documentary, Beyonce touched on the topic briefly, saying, "It was the saddest thing I've ever been through."

"My life is a journey. ... I had to go through my miscarriage, I believe I had to go through owning my company and managing myself ... ultimately your independence comes from knowing who you are and you being happy with yourself," she said.

"Life is But a Dream" also gives a peek into the Grammy-winner's four-year marriage to Jay-Z, showing the couple singing Coldplay's "Yellow" to each other.

"This baby has made me love him more than I ever thought I could love another human being," she says.

The film shows Beyonce putting herself and her team through grueling choreography rehearsals in 2011 and planning every second of her performances at big awards shows that year.

Beyonce has also announced a new album for this year. "The Mrs Carter Show World Tour" - Jay-Z's real name is Shawn Carter - will kick off in April with more than 40 performances in Europe and North America.

"Life is But a Dream" airs on HBO on Saturday, the same day as Beyonce's interview with Oprah Winfrey on the OWN cable channel.

(Additional reporting by Alicia Powell at Reuters TV in New York, editing by Jill Serjeant and Doina Chiacu)

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Lady Gaga needs hip surgery, cancels remainder of tour

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lady Gaga canceled the remainder of her "Born This Way Ball" concert tour to undergo hip surgery, promoters Live Nation said on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old singer announced she was suffering from an inflammation of the joints on Tuesday, but the tour operator said Gaga's injuries were more serious than she realized.

"After additional tests this morning to review the severity of the issue, it has been determined that Lady Gaga has a labral tear of the right hip," Live Nation said in a statement.

"She will need surgery to repair the problem, followed by strict downtime to recover. This, unfortunately, will force her to cancel the tour so she can heal," it added.

Gaga has been on the road for two years, traveling across six continents.

On Tuesday, she postponed four U.S. shows saying she was suffering from synovitis that left her temporarily unable to walk. Synovitis is an inflammation of the joints that sometimes follows a sprain, strain or injury.

According to her website, the singer was due to play another 20 dates in the United States.

Live Nation said ticket holders would have their money refunded, starting on Thursday.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

18.21 | 0 komentar | Read More

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie venture into winemaking

(Reuters) - Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have gone into the wine business, helping to produce a rose called Miraval from their French estate and putting their names on the label, wine website Decanter.com reported.

The movie star couple have been working with French winemaker Marc Perrin starting with the 2012 harvest, the website said. The Miraval wine will be on the market in March, and white wines will begin arriving by the end of this summer.

"They ... want to ensure they are making the best Provence wines they can," Perrin told Britain-based Decanter.com. on Wednesday.

"They were present at the blending sessions this year, and are relooking at everything from the installations in the winery - where we have already switched to stainless steel tanks - to reworking the labels across the range of wines," he added.

The back label of the Miraval wine carries the names Jolie-Pitt and Perrin.

Pitt and Jolie began renting Chateau Miraval in Correns, southern France, about four years ago and later bought the property, which has about 148 acres of vines.

The Miraval wine was formerly called Pink Floyd because the British rock band recorded their 1979 album "The Wall" in a studio on the estate, Decanter.com said.

Pitt last year unveiled a high-end collection of furniture that he helped create with designer Frank Pollaro. He has also worked with architects to create affordable quality housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Xavier Briand)

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Cristiano Ronaldo, UEFA gift to provide Afghans with limbs: ICRC

GENEVA (Reuters) - Soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo is donating 100,000 euros ($134,600) on behalf of UEFA to help rehabilitate Afghans who have lost limbs, mostly landmine victims, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday.

It is the second time that the Real Madrid and Portugal forward - who has featured a record seven times in the uefa.com user's poll for Team of the Year - has contributed to the ICRC's network of seven orthopedic centers in Afghanistan, it said.

"For me it's a great honor to be able to help others, and it makes me extremely happy to do so," said Ronaldo, who is to present the check before kick-off in Madrid on Wednesday night ahead of the Champion's League match against his former team Manchester United.

On behalf of UEFA, he donated a similar amount in 2008 to the ICRC, which has helped more than 90,000 mine victims and other disabled people in the war-torn country since 1988.

Argentina and Barcelona striker Lionel Messi, who won his fourth successive Ballon d'Or last month, edging out Ronaldo, as well as Xavi Hernandez and Carles Puyol have also donated their UEFA awards to the ICRC program.

($1 = 0.7427 euros)

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Beyonce shows marriage, miscarriage and Blue Ivy in documentary

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Beyonce is letting fans into her private life, introducing daughter Blue Ivy to the world and talking about motherhood, marriage and miscarriage in a new documentary.

The 31-year-old pop singer and her rapper husband, Jay-Z, 43, one of music's most influential couples, have guarded their privacy fiercely.

But in "Life is But a Dream," airing on Saturday on cable channel HBO, Beyonce gives fans a glimpse of how she works and even a peek at baby Blue Ivy, who has been shielded from paparazzi since her birth in January 2012.

The film, which Beyonce co-directed, is part of a return to performing after a year off since her first child was born.

Beyonce began her comeback with a controversial lip-synched performance of the national anthem at President Barack Obama's inauguration in January, followed by a live performance at the Super Bowl halftime show that wowed critics.

At the New York premiere of the documentary on Tuesday, the new mother said she wanted to share her altered perspective on life.

"Knowing that at this point in my life, this age is so wonderful because I see everything differently and I hope that I can share that with other people," she said.

The "Crazy in Love" singer addresses the widely reported claim from 2011 that she was faking her pregnancy, calling it "the most ridiculous rumor I've ever heard of me."

"To think that I'd be that vain ... especially after losing a child. The pain and trauma from that just makes it mean so much more to get an opportunity to bring life into the world," she says in the documentary.

The HBO film shows footage of a sonogram, Beyonce's growing bump and grainy video of herself posing nude as she neared her due date.

The arrival last year of Blue Ivy Carter gained worldwide media attention and prompted Beyonce to share more with her fans, launching a Tumblr page with snapshots of her family life.

Her miscarriage had been kept secret from the public until Jay-Z referred to it in his song "Glory," that he released following the birth of Blue Ivy.

In the documentary, Beyonce touched on the topic briefly, saying, "It was the saddest thing I've ever been through."

"My life is a journey. ... I had to go through my miscarriage, I believe I had to go through owning my company and managing myself ... ultimately your independence comes from knowing who you are and you being happy with yourself," she said.

"Life is But a Dream" also gives a peek into the Grammy-winner's four-year marriage to Jay-Z, showing the couple singing Coldplay's "Yellow" to each other.

"This baby has made me love him more than I ever thought I could love another human being," she says.

The film shows Beyonce putting herself and her team through grueling choreography rehearsals in 2011 and planning every second of her performances at big awards shows that year.

Beyonce has also announced a new album for this year. "The Mrs Carter Show World Tour" - Jay-Z's real name is Shawn Carter - will kick off in April with more than 40 performances in Europe and North America.

"Life is But a Dream" airs on HBO on Saturday, the same day as Beyonce's interview with Oprah Winfrey on the OWN cable channel.

(Additional reporting by Alicia Powell at Reuters TV in New York, editing by Jill Serjeant and Doina Chiacu)

18.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

In newly released love letters, LBJ's sweet side comes to life

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Lyndon B. Johnson was so smitten when he met Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor in 1934 that he took her on a first date the very next day -- and asked for her hand in marriage.

Taylor adored her suitor but was worried about rushing into marriage, according to dozens of love letters between the two set to be released for the first time by the LBJ Presidential Library on Thursday, Valentine's Day.

In the pages of about 90 letters that the newly renovated library plans to post on its website, Johnson seems lonely and impatient, persistently urging Taylor to make up her mind. She says she wants to wait until they know each other better, though she also writes that she is afraid of losing him.

"All I can say, in absolute honesty, is -- I love you, I don't know how everlastingly I love you, -- so I can't answer you yet," Taylor wrote him shortly after they met that September.

Johnson, then 26 and working in Washington, D.C., as a secretary to Congressman Richard Kleberg, met Taylor, 21, through a friend while visiting Texas and asked her for a date the next morning. They had breakfast at the Driskill Hotel in Austin and spent the day sightseeing. That same day, he popped the question, asking her to become his wife.

After he returned to Washington, they spent two and a half months exchanging a flurry of letters and phone calls before going to San Antonio on November 17 to, as she later put it, "commit matrimony."

In the letters, Johnson implores her to write to him frequently.

"Give me lots of letters next week," he wrote to her. "I'm going to need them. Mix some 'I love you' in the lines and not between them."

Johnson's letters begin "My dear" or "Dear Bird." She addresses him as "My Dearest Lyndon" and signs "Devotedly, Bird." They sent each other photos. He sent her books.

"I wish you were here this minute because I feel silly and gay and I want to ruffle up your hair and kiss you and say silly things!" wrote Taylor, who had recently graduated from the University of Texas and was living with her father in Karnack, in East Texas.

A few of the letters had been released before, but this is the first time that all of the letters are being made public.

People probably won't be shocked to see a sweet side of Lady Bird Johnson, but reading tender sentiments from her husband, the hard-charging politician, is a different matter, said granddaughter Catherine Robb.

Johnson, who served in the U.S. House and Senate and as vice president, ascended to the presidency in 1963 as the nation grieved over the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Johnson closed out his administration in 1969 under the cloud of Vietnam. He died in 1973.

He was known for giving the "Johnson Treatment" -- he'd lean in close, push people's buttons and get under their skin.

"I don't think people think of him as being terribly vulnerable," Robb, an Austin lawyer, told Reuters. In the letters, "you see a much more personal side of him, much more unguarded."

For example, he writes to his future wife that he carries a little orange comb in his billfold.

"It is the only thing I have from my little girl at Karnack and when I get lonesome and blue or happy and ambitious I always get pleasure when I look at the little comb and think … just think," Johnson wrote.

Robb, who had weekly dinners with her grandmother for years before she died in 2007, recalled one meal at the Driskill Hotel - the site of her grandparents' first date.

"I asked her what she thought about this brash, impatient young man who proposed almost immediately and who she put off for a whopping two and a half months," Robb said. "She thought it was reasonable to wait an appropriate period of time, but she realized that she didn't want to be without him - he was something so special and this was an extraordinary adventure she was going to enjoy if she said yes."

Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson honeymooned in Mexico and were married for 39 years. They had two daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb.

(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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Actor Steve Martin is first-time dad at age 67

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor, writer and comedian Steve Martin has become a dad for the first time at age 67 - and managed to keep it secret from the media for more than a month.

Martin and his second wife, Anne Stringfield, 41, "are new parents and recently welcomed a child," a spokeswoman for the actor said on Wednesday.

The spokeswoman gave no details, including the sex of the child or the date of birth. But the New York Post cited unidentified sources as saying the baby arrived in December.

The multi-talented Martin, whose career as a writer and performer dates back more than 45 years, has played a father in movies such as "Parenthood," Cheaper by the Dozen," and "Father of the Bride."

Martin, who has hosted the Oscars ceremony three times, married Stringfield, a former writer at the New Yorker magazine, in 2007. His eight-year marriage to British actress Victoria Tennant ended in divorce in 1994.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey: Editing by Jill Serjeant and Peter Cooney)

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Dave Clark Five bassist Rick Huxley dies aged 72

(Reuters) - Rick Huxley, the bassist for the 1960s British Invasion pop-rock group the Dave Clark Five, has died, the band's leader said on Tuesday. He was 72.

Huxley died unexpectedly at his home in the English countryside on Monday, Dave Clark told Reuters.

The band scored No. 1 hits on both sides of the Atlantic during its decade-long run from 1960-1970.

"Glad All Over" holds the honor of knocking the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" out of the top spot on the UK chart in 1964, while "Over and Over" topped the U.S. chart in 1965.

The cause of death was not immediately known, said Clark, who added that Huxley had been "sprightly and in good shape" despite suffering from emphysema for several years.

"I spoke to him on Friday and he was in great spirits," Clark said in a telephone call. "He went through a recent doctor's check and had a good, clean bill of health. This came totally out of the blue, and I'm just devastated."

Clark remembered Huxley for his modest demeanor and humor.

"He always made me smile and I'll miss that immensely," Clark said. "He was never arrogant and flashy. He was a gentleman and very low key. He was a very, very talented musician and a great friend."

The Dave Clark Five was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

Huxley was born in Dartford, England, east of London, the same town that is home to the Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards.

Huxley is survived by two sons and a daughter.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey in Los Angeles; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)

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Lady Gaga suffering from joint inflammation, postpones shows

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Lady Gaga said on Tuesday she was suffering from a severe inflammation of the joints that left her temporarily unable to walk, forcing her to postpone a handful of upcoming shows on the North American leg of her world tour.

"I am completely devastated and heartsick. I've been hiding this injury and pain from my staff for a month, praying it would heal, but after last night's performance, I could not walk," the singer said in a statement.

Her condition is called synovitis, an inflammation that sometimes follows a sprain, strain or injury.

Gaga posted a similar message in a series of tweets to her 34 million Twitter followers.

"I will hopefully heal as soon as possible and be at 500 percent again, which is what you deserve," she said.

"The Edge of Glory" singer postponed shows in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday, in Detroit on Saturday and in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday.

Lady Gaga, 26, has been on the road for two years on her "Born This Way Ball" world tour. Her website showed tour dates through March 20.

The 200-plus date tour has taken the singer across six continents and was ranked as the sixth top-grossing tour of 2012 by Billboard magazine.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

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"30 Rock" star Alec Baldwin expecting child with new wife

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Alec Baldwin and his new wife Hilaria Thomas Baldwin are expecting their first child together, a representative for the "30 Rock" star said on Tuesday.

"If I really shared with you how I felt, I would probably burst out crying," Baldwin told U.S. television program "Extra."

Baldwin, 54, married the yoga teacher, who is 26 years his junior, in a July 2012 wedding in New York.

The child is expected in the summer, the spokesman said, but gave no other details.

"It was a surprise, a wonderful surprise," said his wife, who also works as a correspondent for the TV show.

"Now I'm showing and it's getting to be much more, like, 'Oh, my God, this is actually going to happen'."

The award-winning actor most recently played egotistical television executive Jack Donaghy on the NBC comedy "30 Rock," which broadcast its last episode in January.

Baldwin was married to actress Kim Basinger from 1993-2002. The couple has one daughter, Ireland, who was born in 1995.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Todd Eastham)

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Sarah Palin jabs Washington Post over fake Al Jazeera story

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Sarah Palin, ever-eager to skewer the "lamestream media," took Washington Post blogger Suzi Parker to task Tuesday after the writer mistakenly claimed the former Alaska governor was hired by the TV network Al Jazeera America.

Parker, who writes for the She The People blog, cited the satirical news site the Daily Currant in a story that claimed Palin had joined the Qatari-owned network as a talking head.

"Hey @washingtonpost, I'm having coffee with Elvis this week," Palin quipped on Twitter, claiming she was meeting with the long-dead King of Rock. "He works at the Mocha Moose in Wasilla. #suziparkerscoopers #idiotmedia."

Earlier on Tuesday, Parker had reported that Al Jazeera America hired the former vice-presidential candidate and former Fox News contributor in a post titled "Sarah Palin's plan to reach 'millions of devoutly religious people' through al-Jazeera."

In her original post, Parker called it "a cautionary tale about what can happen when politics and celebrity meet."

Kris Coratti, a Post spokeswoman, pointed TheWrap to a correction on the post, which acknowledged the error. And Al Jazeera said "no discussions have taken place" to hire Palin, whose most recent employer, Fox News, called Al Jazeera "an anti-American terror mouthpiece."

Palin parted ways with the News Corporation-owned network after three years. She had a roughly $1 million contract per year and made more than 150 appearance on air.

But Palin hadn't finished with Parker just yet.

"A @washingtonpost writer once promised not to write about me for a month," Palin tweeted. "That was a good month for me. #idiotmedia."

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Trump may have trouble collecting on $5 million orangutan bet

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A comedian, a millionaire and an orangutan. It may sound like the beginning of a screwball joke, but Donald Trump isn't laughing.

The famously outspoken real estate magnate has sued famously outspoken television host Bill Maher, demanding the $5 million Maher offered to give to charity if Trump could prove his father is not an orangutan.

But legal experts say Trump is unlikely to get a dime from Maher, the host of the HBO series Real Time With Bill Maher, because his offer was clearly made in jest.

"It's parody," said Bryan Sullivan, a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer. "You know Bill Maher is a comedian and a satirist. The offer is so ridiculous."

Trump, however, has taken the comic at his word.

"Attached hereto is a copy of Mr. Trump's birth certificate, demonstrating that he is the son of Fred Trump, not an orangutan," Trump's lawyer, Scott Balber, wrote to Maher last month.

When Maher did not respond, Trump filed a breach of contract lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.

A Maher spokeswoman referred to his show Friday, in which he ridiculed Trump's lawsuit.

"It's never a joke when someone reneges on a commitment that benefits worthy charities," said Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump, in response. "The tone of Mr. Maher's diatribe on Friday evening suggests he is far more concerned with the lawsuit than he wants the public to believe."

Last year, during the presidential campaign, Trump offered to give $5 million to charity if President Barack Obama would release his college records. Trump, who flirted with a possible White House run, previously questioned Obama's citizenship and boasted that he prompted Obama to release his birth certificate.

As a guest on NBC's The Tonight Show last month, Maher offered to give $5 million to charity if Trump could prove he was not the son of an orangutan, since the ape's orange fur matches the color of Trump's trademark gravity-defying coiffure.

"He can donate to a charity of his choice," Maher said. "Hair Club for Men; the Institute for Incorrigible Douchebaggery. Whatever charity."

Under contract law, a verbal offer can create a contractual obligation. But courts make exceptions for obviously satirical offers.

In a New York federal case, Leonard vs. Pepsico, a man sued the soft drink maker after it refused to honor a TV advertisement "offer" of a fighter jet for redeemable Pepsi Points.

District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan said an offer made "evidently in jest" is not a contract and noted the commercial featured a teenager using the jet to get to school.

"This fantasy is, of course, extremely unrealistic," Wood wrote.

Trump's lawsuit alleges that Maher's show is political commentary, not comedy. In a Fox News appearance last week, Trump said he was certain Maher's offer was not a joke.

"That was venom," Trump said. "That wasn't a joke."

(Reporting by Joseph Ax. Editing by Andre Grenon)

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Actor Steven Seagal trains Arizona posse on school security

FOUNTAIN HILLS, Arizona (Reuters) - Action film star Steven Seagal, who racks up big body counts in his on-screen battles with bad guys, took on a new role on Saturday, training posse volunteers for controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio in how to use guns to protect schools in shooting incidents.

Arpaio, who styles himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff," enlisted Seagal to train his Maricopa County posse members at a school in Fountain Hills, a suburb northeast of Phoenix, with children used as stand-ins for scared students.

Seagal, a burly martial arts expert turned actor, guided 48 volunteers through various aspects of responding to a shooting, including room-to-room searches, and critiqued their work.

"I am here to try to teach the posse firearms and martial arts to try to help them learn how to respond quicker and help protect our children," Seagal said.

Arpaio, whose tough stances on crime and illegal immigration have made him a national figure, has dispatched the volunteer posse to patrol schools in response to the shooting rampage that killed 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut school in December.

Those killings touched off a renewed debate over gun violence in the United States. President Barack Obama proposed a sweeping package of gun-control measures, including a ban on assault weapons.

The National Rifle Association, which opposes the gun-control proposal, has advocated placing armed security guards in schools.

Arpaio's volunteers, some trained and qualified to carry the same guns as deputies, can intervene if there is an imminent threat to life. To add realism to the training event, guns firing non-lethal rounds that leave a color mark were used.

"It's important to help protect our children and our schools and we need to do that with whatever means we have," said Rick Velotta, a posse member and retired General Electric manager who attended the training.

About a dozen people protested the event.

"No gun should ever be in a school," said protester Cynthia Wharton, a Fountain Hills resident.

Arpaio's 3,450-strong posse of unpaid men and women has for years helped the sheriff target drunken drivers and illegal immigrants, and chase down fathers who are behind on child support.

Last year, Arpaio sent posse members to Hawaii to investigate the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate at the request of local Tea Party activists, a key Arpaio constituency.

A sometime resident of the Phoenix Valley and member of Arpaio's posse, Seagal, 60, starred in big-budget films in the 1980s and early 1990s, earning a reputation as an action star in movies like "Above the Law" and "Under Siege."

He more recently played a corrupt Mexican drug lord in the 2010 film "Machete."

Seagal also has been sworn in as a sheriff's deputy in a Texas county along the border with Mexico and appeared in a reality TV show detailing his work as a reserve deputy in New Orleans.

(Reporting by Aron Ranen; Writing by Tim Gaynor and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by David Bailey and Eric Beech)

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Chris Brown shows up at Grammys smiling after car crash

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown showed up smiling at the Grammy Awards show on Sunday, saying he was just a little banged up after crashing his car into a wall on the eve of the annual music industry awards.

"Little bit of bumps, I'm good though," Brown, 23, dressed in a white Lanvin suit, told E! News on the red carpet.

Brown crashed his Porsche into a wall in Beverly Hills on Saturday and told police he was trying to elude aggressive paparazzi.

"I'll get another one," Brown, laughing, told E! News on Sunday. "Insurance is good."

"Paparazzi tend to get out of hand. It's all good, though. No injuries," he added.

Brown's "Fortune" was nominated for best urban contemporary album at Sunday's Grammys, but Frank Ocean walked off with the award.

The crash came almost exactly four years after Brown assaulted his girlfriend, singer Rihanna, the night before the awards show in 2009.

Rihanna and Brown have recently rekindled their relationship, but the pair walked the red carpet separately on Sunday. Rihanna won a Grammy for Best Short Form Video for her hit "We Found Love" and performed during the awards show.

Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to beating and punching Rihanna and is still on probation. Last week, a Los Angeles judge ordered a new report on the community service that Brown was told to carry out as part of his sentence after prosecutors alleged that he had cut corners.

(Reporting By Susan Zeidler; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)

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"Midnight Express" editor Gerry Hambling dead at 86

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Gerry Hambling, the British film editor whose credits include "Midnight Express," "Pink Floyd: The Wall" and "Mississippi Burning," died February 5 in England. He was 86.

Hambling, who entered the film industry at 16 as an editor's apprentice, was a longtime collaborator of director Alan Parker, editing 14 of his films.

"He was undoubtedly one of the finest film editors that the British film industry has produced," Parker remembered.

John Grover, vice chairman of the Guild of British Film Editors, which Hambling helped found in 1966, remembered Hambling as a man of "warmth and understanding."

"He was a hard working technician who loved loud music and fast action sequences; he was rather hard on equipment but never got used to editing electronically as he preferred to handle film, something he could 'see and feel,'" Grover said. "He will be missed by friends and colleagues for his warmth and understanding. It was an honor to have known him."

Hambling won three BAFTA Awards, and received the Career Achievement Award from the American Cinema Editors in 1998. He had also been nominated for six Oscars.

Hambling's last editing job was on the 2003 Parker drama "The Life of David Gale," starring Kate Winslet and Kevin Spacey.

Hambling died in Burwell, Cambridgeshire.

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A Minute With: Soderbergh about his new film "Side Effects"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh delves into the world of prescription drugs in his new film "Side Effects," a psychological thriller that opens on Friday.

Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum play a couple whose lives unravel when she begins taking a new anti-anxiety medication prescribed by her psychiatrist, played by Jude Law.

Soderbergh, 50, spoke with Reuters about his own experiences with prescription drugs, shooting in New York and what he plans to do on his self-imposed hiatus from film-making.

Q: "Side Effects" shows characters either taking medication or prescribing them. Have you ever needed to take medication for your mood, for example?

A: "Luckily, my equilibrium is fairly consistent, so I've never been in a position of wanting or needing something to stabilize my mood. The Inderal beta blocker, what they call the "speaking drug," is miraculous. I use that. A buddy of mine turned me on to it because I said, "I really hate getting up in front of people." He says, "You've got to try Inderal." It keeps you calm and keeps you from getting anxious. That's my only pill experience."

Q: No pain-killing drugs that have landed so many in rehab?

A: "I had kidney stones once, which were not fun. They give you (pain-killer) Oxycontin and I thought, 'Oh boy, this is the one.' People turn their lives upside down to try and get this stuff. But it did nothing for me."

Q: You shot "Side Effects" in New York, which is where you live. What were some of the challenges shooting there?

A: "I was really fascinated by how the paparazzi came around when we were shooting out on the street. The unwillingness on the part of the city to give you certain physical parameters to work within that allow some amount of privacy to do your work was shocking. There were times where I was literally bumping in to them while we were trying to work."

Q: You're officially taking a break from film. How are you staying busy?

A: "I'm still working on stuff, just not movies. I've got this website (Extension765.com) that's going to go up sometime in March or April where (personal and movie items will be) accessible to get or buy."

Q: Like what?

A: "I have closets full of memorabilia, slates, scripts with my notes in them, badges from film festivals ... I can auction it off (online) and give the money to charity. I will also have my photography and a whole line of film related T-shirts."

Q: What's the concept behind the T-shirts?

A: "When they were being designed, I would test them out by wearing them to the set to see if people knew the movie references. There was this one Black Pony Scotch shirt. That's a very, very obscure reference from a famous film noir from the 1940s where there is a five-second pan across a table and you see this bottle of Black Pony Scotch."

Q: What's the movie?

A: "Laura" (by director Otto Preminger).

Q: Is the name of your site another obscure film reference?

A: "'The Conversation.' Whenever Gene Hackman calls to find out what's going on, Harrison Ford answers the phone and says, 'extension 765.'"

Q: Are you up to anything else at the moment?

A: "Yes. I've also designed a pair of super high-end audiophile headphones - what will be limited edition. I've been work working (on them) with the RED (digital) camera people."

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit; Editing by Eric Kelsey, Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)

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California boy to be arraigned in "swatting" prank on actor Kutcher

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors charged a 12-year-old boy on Thursday with making a false emergency call that sent police swarming to the home of actor Ashton Kutcher in a "swatting" prank.

The name of the boy, who was arrested by Los Angeles police in December, was withheld due to his age. He was scheduled to be arraigned in a juvenile court in Los Angeles on Friday.

The trend toward placing false emergency calls is known as "swatting" because SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) officers often are sent to the purported crime scenes. Authorities say such situations can be dangerous due to the risk of a misunderstanding between police and occupants of a building.

The boy has been charged with two felony counts each of making false bomb threats and computer intrusion in connection with the October 3 emergency call that drew police to the Hollywood Hills home of Kutcher, star of the sitcom "Two and a Half Men," and a similar call on October 10 that sent police to a Wells Fargo Bank.

Authorities have accused the boy of having reported men armed with guns and explosives in Kutcher's home and that several people had been shot. Dozens of emergency personnel were sent to the house. Kutcher was not home at the time.

Swatting calls in recent months have also sent police to the homes of singers Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Bill Trott)

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One year later, Grammys recall scramble over Whitney Houston death

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grammy host LL Cool J called it a "death in our family" and it was he who suggested starting the Grammy Awards show last year with a prayer for Whitney Houston.

Behind the scenes, Grammy Awards producers had worked all night to re-shape the music industry's biggest night just 24 hours after the drowning death of the troubled superstar in a Beverly Hills hotel.

Producers and musicians tell the tale in a one-hour TV special "The Grammys Will Go On: A Death in the Family" to be broadcast on CBS on Saturday on the eve of this year's Grammy Awards ceremony.

The singer, known both for her soaring ballads and well-chronicled history of drug abuse, is also expected to be remembered at the annual pre-Grammy party hosted in Beverly Hills on Saturday by her mentor, record producer Clive Davis.

Earlier this week, Madame Tussauds museum unveiled four different wax figures of Houston at various stages of her 35-year career that will go on display at its attractions in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Houston, 48, was found face down in a bathtub on February 11 2012, in what authorities later called an accidental drowning due to cocaine use and heart disease.

"My heart started racing. I started hyper-ventilating," recalls Grammy Awards show director Louis J. Horvitz in the TV special, as news reached Grammy rehearsals last year of Houston's death.

Producers realized immediately that despite months in the planning, the live TV ceremony the next day would have to reflect Houston's passing.

TEARS AND TOUGH TIMES

Scripts were re-written, clips of Houston's many previous Grammy performances were added, and the call went out to Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson to come in and perform Houston's signature song "I Will Always Love You."

"Moments later (after hearing news of Houston's death) I got the call to sing in her memory. I would do anything for Whitney," Hudson recalls in the TV special.

Rehearsal footage shows an emotional Hudson breaking into tears while practicing the song. "By the time she got to the end, there wasn't a dry eye in the house," said Horvitz of her rehearsal.

"We are used to tough situations," said veteran Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich, recalling how Aretha Franklin was called on to replace a sick Luciano Pavarotti in 1998 while the live Grammy show was on the air.

But the death of Houston, a six-time Grammy winner with some 200 million records sold, was something different.

It was rapper and Grammy host LL Cool J who suggested opening the awards telecast with a prayer for Houston. But he said his legs were shaking backstage with the pressure of balancing sorrow over her death with respect for all the other artists due to perform, and win awards that night.

"I was in this weird no-man's land between mourning and celebration," the rapper said.

The TV special also shows artists like Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Bruno Mars struggling to continue rehearsals, old footage of Houston in her prime, and clips of Davis telling guests at his annual music industry party that the singer had been found dead hours earlier in a hotel room in the same building.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Actor Steven Seagal trains Arizona posse on school security

FOUNTAIN HILLS, Arizona (Reuters) - Action film star Steven Seagal, who racks up big body counts in his on-screen battles with bad guys, took on a new role on Saturday, training posse volunteers for controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio in how to use guns to protect schools in shooting incidents.

Arpaio, who styles himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff," enlisted Seagal to train his Maricopa County posse members at a school in Fountain Hills, a suburb northeast of Phoenix, with children used as stand-ins for scared students.

Seagal, a burly martial arts expert turned actor, guided 48 volunteers through various aspects of responding to a shooting, including room-to-room searches, and critiqued their work.

"I am here to try to teach the posse firearms and martial arts to try to help them learn how to respond quicker and help protect our children," Seagal said.

Arpaio, whose tough stances on crime and illegal immigration have made him a national figure, has dispatched the volunteer posse to patrol schools in response to the shooting rampage that killed 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut school in December.

Those killings touched off a renewed debate over gun violence in the United States. President Barack Obama proposed a sweeping package of gun-control measures, including a ban on assault weapons.

The National Rifle Association, which opposes the gun-control proposal, has advocated placing armed security guards in schools.

Arpaio's volunteers, some trained and qualified to carry the same guns as deputies, can intervene if there is an imminent threat to life. To add realism to the training event, guns firing non-lethal rounds that leave a color mark were used.

"It's important to help protect our children and our schools and we need to do that with whatever means we have," said Rick Velotta, a posse member and retired General Electric manager who attended the training.

About a dozen people protested the event.

"No gun should ever be in a school," said protester Cynthia Wharton, a Fountain Hills resident.

Arpaio's 3,450-strong posse of unpaid men and women has for years helped the sheriff target drunken drivers and illegal immigrants, and chase down fathers who are behind on child support.

Last year, Arpaio sent posse members to Hawaii to investigate the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate at the request of local Tea Party activists, a key Arpaio constituency.

A sometime resident of the Phoenix Valley and member of Arpaio's posse, Seagal, 60, starred in big-budget films in the 1980s and early 1990s, earning a reputation as an action star in movies like "Above the Law" and "Under Siege."

He more recently played a corrupt Mexican drug lord in the 2010 film "Machete."

Seagal also has been sworn in as a sheriff's deputy in a Texas county along the border with Mexico and appeared in a reality TV show detailing his work as a reserve deputy in New Orleans.

(Reporting by Aron Ranen; Writing by Tim Gaynor and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by David Bailey and Eric Beech)

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A Minute With: Soderbergh about his new film "Side Effects"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh delves into the world of prescription drugs in his new film "Side Effects," a psychological thriller that opens on Friday.

Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum play a couple whose lives unravel when she begins taking a new anti-anxiety medication prescribed by her psychiatrist, played by Jude Law.

Soderbergh, 50, spoke with Reuters about his own experiences with prescription drugs, shooting in New York and what he plans to do on his self-imposed hiatus from film-making.

Q: "Side Effects" shows characters either taking medication or prescribing them. Have you ever needed to take medication for your mood, for example?

A: "Luckily, my equilibrium is fairly consistent, so I've never been in a position of wanting or needing something to stabilize my mood. The Inderal beta blocker, what they call the "speaking drug," is miraculous. I use that. A buddy of mine turned me on to it because I said, "I really hate getting up in front of people." He says, "You've got to try Inderal." It keeps you calm and keeps you from getting anxious. That's my only pill experience."

Q: No pain-killing drugs that have landed so many in rehab?

A: "I had kidney stones once, which were not fun. They give you (pain-killer) Oxycontin and I thought, 'Oh boy, this is the one.' People turn their lives upside down to try and get this stuff. But it did nothing for me."

Q: You shot "Side Effects" in New York, which is where you live. What were some of the challenges shooting there?

A: "I was really fascinated by how the paparazzi came around when we were shooting out on the street. The unwillingness on the part of the city to give you certain physical parameters to work within that allow some amount of privacy to do your work was shocking. There were times where I was literally bumping in to them while we were trying to work."

Q: You're officially taking a break from film. How are you staying busy?

A: "I'm still working on stuff, just not movies. I've got this website (Extension765.com) that's going to go up sometime in March or April where (personal and movie items will be) accessible to get or buy."

Q: Like what?

A: "I have closets full of memorabilia, slates, scripts with my notes in them, badges from film festivals ... I can auction it off (online) and give the money to charity. I will also have my photography and a whole line of film related T-shirts."

Q: What's the concept behind the T-shirts?

A: "When they were being designed, I would test them out by wearing them to the set to see if people knew the movie references. There was this one Black Pony Scotch shirt. That's a very, very obscure reference from a famous film noir from the 1940s where there is a five-second pan across a table and you see this bottle of Black Pony Scotch."

Q: What's the movie?

A: "Laura" (by director Otto Preminger).

Q: Is the name of your site another obscure film reference?

A: "'The Conversation.' Whenever Gene Hackman calls to find out what's going on, Harrison Ford answers the phone and says, 'extension 765.'"

Q: Are you up to anything else at the moment?

A: "Yes. I've also designed a pair of super high-end audiophile headphones - what will be limited edition. I've been work working (on them) with the RED (digital) camera people."

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit; Editing by Eric Kelsey, Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)

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California boy to be arraigned in "swatting" prank on actor Kutcher

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors charged a 12-year-old boy on Thursday with making a false emergency call that sent police swarming to the home of actor Ashton Kutcher in a "swatting" prank.

The name of the boy, who was arrested by Los Angeles police in December, was withheld due to his age. He was scheduled to be arraigned in a juvenile court in Los Angeles on Friday.

The trend toward placing false emergency calls is known as "swatting" because SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) officers often are sent to the purported crime scenes. Authorities say such situations can be dangerous due to the risk of a misunderstanding between police and occupants of a building.

The boy has been charged with two felony counts each of making false bomb threats and computer intrusion in connection with the October 3 emergency call that drew police to the Hollywood Hills home of Kutcher, star of the sitcom "Two and a Half Men," and a similar call on October 10 that sent police to a Wells Fargo Bank.

Authorities have accused the boy of having reported men armed with guns and explosives in Kutcher's home and that several people had been shot. Dozens of emergency personnel were sent to the house. Kutcher was not home at the time.

Swatting calls in recent months have also sent police to the homes of singers Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Bill Trott)

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One year later, Grammys recall scramble over Whitney Houston death

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grammy host LL Cool J called it a "death in our family" and it was he who suggested starting the Grammy Awards show last year with a prayer for Whitney Houston.

Behind the scenes, Grammy Awards producers had worked all night to re-shape the music industry's biggest night just 24 hours after the drowning death of the troubled superstar in a Beverly Hills hotel.

Producers and musicians tell the tale in a one-hour TV special "The Grammys Will Go On: A Death in the Family" to be broadcast on CBS on Saturday on the eve of this year's Grammy Awards ceremony.

The singer, known both for her soaring ballads and well-chronicled history of drug abuse, is also expected to be remembered at the annual pre-Grammy party hosted in Beverly Hills on Saturday by her mentor, record producer Clive Davis.

Earlier this week, Madame Tussauds museum unveiled four different wax figures of Houston at various stages of her 35-year career that will go on display at its attractions in New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Houston, 48, was found face down in a bathtub on February 11 2012, in what authorities later called an accidental drowning due to cocaine use and heart disease.

"My heart started racing. I started hyper-ventilating," recalls Grammy Awards show director Louis J. Horvitz in the TV special, as news reached Grammy rehearsals last year of Houston's death.

Producers realized immediately that despite months in the planning, the live TV ceremony the next day would have to reflect Houston's passing.

TEARS AND TOUGH TIMES

Scripts were re-written, clips of Houston's many previous Grammy performances were added, and the call went out to Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson to come in and perform Houston's signature song "I Will Always Love You."

"Moments later (after hearing news of Houston's death) I got the call to sing in her memory. I would do anything for Whitney," Hudson recalls in the TV special.

Rehearsal footage shows an emotional Hudson breaking into tears while practicing the song. "By the time she got to the end, there wasn't a dry eye in the house," said Horvitz of her rehearsal.

"We are used to tough situations," said veteran Grammy Awards producer Ken Ehrlich, recalling how Aretha Franklin was called on to replace a sick Luciano Pavarotti in 1998 while the live Grammy show was on the air.

But the death of Houston, a six-time Grammy winner with some 200 million records sold, was something different.

It was rapper and Grammy host LL Cool J who suggested opening the awards telecast with a prayer for Houston. But he said his legs were shaking backstage with the pressure of balancing sorrow over her death with respect for all the other artists due to perform, and win awards that night.

"I was in this weird no-man's land between mourning and celebration," the rapper said.

The TV special also shows artists like Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney and Bruno Mars struggling to continue rehearsals, old footage of Houston in her prime, and clips of Davis telling guests at his annual music industry party that the singer had been found dead hours earlier in a hotel room in the same building.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Chris Brown crashes car on eve of Grammy Awards

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Embattled R&B singer Chris Brown crashed his car into a wall in upscale Beverly Hills on Saturday, and later told police officers he was trying to elude aggressive paparazzi, police said.

The crash came on the eve of the Grammy Awards, almost exactly four years after Brown assaulted his girlfriend, singer Rihanna, the night before the awards show in 2009.

In the latest incident, Brown told Beverly Hills police that photographers were chasing him right up until the crash, said police Sergeant Kurt Haefs.

The singer was not cited or arrested at the scene, Haefs said. He added the damaged vehicle may have been towed away.

Media reports indicated Brown was driving a black Porsche.

A representative for Brown, who was not injured in the accident, did not immediately return calls on Saturday evening.

Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to beating and punching Rihanna and he faces ongoing legal troubles stemming from the case.

A Los Angeles judge on Wednesday ordered a new report on the community service Brown was due to perform as a result of the conviction, after prosecutors accused the singer of cutting corners on the work.

Prosecutors have cited occasions when they said Brown was not at the recorded location of his community service and instead was performing or traveling, once on a private jet bound for Cancun, Mexico.

Rihanna, who has admitted that she has resumed dating Brown, accompanied him to his court hearing on Wednesday.

Brown's attorney, Mark Geragos, has denied the latest allegations about the singer's community service and accused prosecutors of persecuting his client.

This year, Brown's "Fortune" is nominated for best urban contemporary album at the Grammy Awards.

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Sandra Maler)

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