Death List Members in the News
May 2007
Charles Nelson Reilly
January 2007
Bobby Hamilton
December 2006
Gerald Ford
November 2006
Jack Palance
August 2006
Fidel Castro, Kirk Douglas, John Madden
July 2006
Keith Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, Phyllis Diller,
B.B. King, Dale Jarrett, Arnold Palmer
May 2006
Keith Richards, David Blaine
April 2006
April 30 - Tony Stewart
April 24 - Gerald Ford
April 19 - B.B. King
April 19 - Queen Elizabeth
April 19 - Mickey Rooney
April 18 - Bob Barker
April 17 - Harry Morgan
April 14 - Charlton Heston
April 13 - David Blaine
April 11 - Vin Scully
April 11 - Muhammad Ali
April 10 - Hugh Hefner
April 7 - Muhammad Ali
April 5 - Arnold Palmer
April 3 - Jerry Lewis
March 2006
Courtney Love, Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin, Jerry Lewis, Osama Bin Laden,
Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Gerald Ford
February 2006
Walter Cronkite, Brian Dennehy, Don Knotts, Willie Mays, Vin Scully, Tony
Bennett, Courtney Love, Bob Barker
January 2006
Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, B.B. King, Walter Cronkite, William Shatner, Courtney
Love, Nick Nolte
December 2005
Richard Pryor, Ozzy Osbourne & Queen Elizabeth, Nick Nolte, Hugh Hefner,
Tony Bennett, Tony Stewart, David Blaine
November 2005
George Michael, Courtney Love, William Shatner, Muhammad Ali
October 2005
Rosa Parks, William Shatner, Joe Namath, B.B. King, Jerry Lewis, Tony Stewart,
Arnold Palmer, Richard Pryor, Jack Klugman, Michael Waltrip, Hugh Hefner,
Dale Jarrett
September 2005
Courtney Love, Ozzy Osbourne, B.B. King, Michael Waltrip, Willie Nelson, Courtney
Love, Jerry Lewis, Arnold Palmer
August 2005
William Shatner, Vin Scully, Ron Popeil, Hugh Hefner, Dale Jarrett, Keith
Richards, Ozzy Osbourne, John Madden, Courtney Love, Richard Pryor, Sterling
Marlin, Tony Stewart, Tony Bennett, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis
July 2005
Arnold Palmer, Richard Pryor, Courtney Love, Jerry Lewis, Muhammad
Ali, Kirk Douglas, Bob Barker, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett,
Phyllis Diller, Michael Waltrip, Gerald Ford, Mickey Rooney, Jack Klugman,
Keith Richards, Nick Nolte, Rosa Parks, Luther Vandross
June 2005
Jim Otto, Vin Scully, Tony Bennett, Gerald Ford, Tony Stewart, Queen Elizabeth,
Muhammad Ali, Ozzy Osbourne, Jack Klugman, John Madden
May 2005
Michael Waltrip, Queen Elizabeth, Fidel Castro, Tony Stewart, Walter Cronkite,
Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, George Michael, Vin Scully, Keith Richards, Don
Knotts, Brian Dennehy, Michael Waltrip, Wilford Brimley, Ozzy Osbourne, Willie
Mays, Bob Barker, Nick Nolte, Jim Otto
April 2005
Larry Hagman, Richard Pryor, Willie Mays, Phyllis Diller, David Blaine, Tony
Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Muhammad Ali, Nick Nolte and William Shatner, B.B.
King, Ozzy Osbourne, Rosa Parks, Luther Vandross, Pope John Paul II
March 2005
Ozzy Osbourne, Pope John Paul II, Courtney Love, Phyllis Diller, Vin Scully,
Fidel Castro, Ed Asner, Bob Barker, B.B. King, Arnold Palmer, Keith Richards,
Muhammad Ali, Jack Palance, Jack Klugman, Sterling Marlin, Joe Namath, Charlton
Heston, Jerry Lewis, Horatio Sanz
February 2005
Pope John Paul II, Wilford Brimley, Tony Stewart, Queen Elizabeth, Willie
Nelson, B.B. King, Ozzy Osbourne, Dale Jarrett, Fidel Castro, Phyllis Diller,
Courtney Love, Gerald Ford, Larry Hagman, Rosa Parks, Mickey Rooney, Hugh
Hefner
January 2005
Willie Mays, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, B.B. King, Vin Scully, John Madden,
Johnny Carson, Brian Dennehy, Kirk Douglas, William Shatner, Rosa Parks, Jerry
Lewis, Courtney Love, Pope John Paul II, Willie Nelson, Mickey Rooney, Gerald
Ford, Bob Barker
December 2004
Richard Pryor, Queen Elizabeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Keith Richards, Rosa Parks,
Nick Nolte, Don Knotts
November 2004
Kirk Douglas, Ozzy Osbourne, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Lewis, Larry Hagman, Johnny
Carson, Queen Elizabeth, B.B. King, Muhammad Ali
October 2004
Courtney Love, Keith Richards, Tony Bennett, Fidel Castro, Ernest Borgnine,
Mickey Rooney, Willie Nelson, Jack Klugman, Jack Palance, Pope John Paul II,
Hugh Hefner, Rodney Dangerfield
September 2004
Courtney Love, Arnold Palmer, Rosa Parks, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker,
Nick Nolte, Tony Bennett
August 2004
Arnold Palmer, Rodney Dangerfield, Bob Barker, Brian Dennehy, Ernest Borgnine,
Rosa Parks, Walter Cronkite, Willie Mays, Pope John Paul II, Fidel Castro,
Julia Child, Jerry Lewis, Mickey Rooney, Joe Namath, B.B. King
July 2004
Rosa Parks, Courtney Love, Fidel Castro, Nick Nolte, Don Knotts, Larry Hagman,
Kirk Douglas, William Shatner
April 30, 2006: Stewart goes airborne
Tony
Stewart walked away unscathed from a frightening accident Saturday when his
car flipped onto its roof during the Busch Series race at Talladega (Ala.)
Superspeedway.
Stewart, the defending Nextel Cup champion from Columbus, Ind., was running in third when he drove into Kenny Wallace's path and the two cars touched. The hit wasn't hard but enough to send Stewart's car airborne.
"I take 100 percent responsibility for this one. I just drove in front of (Wallace's) nose," Stewart said. "I looked in that little side mirror and I thought I had enough room to get down, and I didn't. I just clipped him."
His Chevrolet landed on its roof near the start/finish line and skidded several hundred feet toward the first turn. The car was also hit by rookie Danny O'Quinn, who couldn't avoid Stewart during the 10-second slide.
It took medical personnel several minutes to get Stewart out of the car because it was upside down and at an awkward angle. Once out, he went to the medical care facility to be examined.
From IndyStar.com
April 24, 2006: Bush and Former President Gerald Ford Meet
RANCHO
MIRAGE - After visiting the marines at Twentynine Palms President Bush paid
a visit to former President Gerald Ford.
The 92-year-old Ford and his wife Betty welcomed the President to their home in Rancho Mirage just outside Palm Springs. The two have lived there since 1977.
Mr. Ford is the oldest living ex-president and was hospitalized for nearly two weeks in January with pneumonia. Betty Ford spent a night in the hospital last week for what were described as routine tests.
After the visit, the two presidents posed for pictures.
From ABC7.com
April 19, 2006: B.B. King hit by dual tragedies
NEW
YORK -- Family tragedies weighed heavily as blues icon B.B. King gave his
10,000th career performance at his namesake New York club, it was reported
Wednesday.
King, 80, proved he was a true trouper by even making the trek to New York from the Gulf Coast, the New York Daily News reported.
During his 9,999th show Monday night, King told his New York audience he had driven night and day from Mississippi where he buried his son, Leonard, on Easter Sunday, the News said. King said his son died of colorectal cancer.
King was also still reeling from the shooting death last week of his 14-year-old grandson as well, the newspaper said. The youth was killed in a convenience store, but King's rep had no further details on the shooting.
From United Press International
April 19, 2006: Scandals behind her, Europe's longest-reigning monarch shows no sign of slowing
LONDON
– Jane Freebairn once met Queen Elizabeth II. She curtsied, said hello,
and like so many others who have encountered the monarch, came away a bit
star-struck.
It wasn't just the monarch's regal air and manners that impressed Freebairn as she recalled the meeting a few years ago at a memorial ceremony for war dead at Westminster Abbey. “I had the most awful urge to try and touch her,” she said. “She has the most amazing skin. It looks so soft. Of course, one doesn't.”
The queen turns 80 on Friday, but her schedule – and that skin – make it easy to forget she's a grandmother who sailed past Britain's retirement age 15 years ago and seems unlikely to slow down anytime soon.
Her ceremonial birthday is celebrated nationally in late June, when the weather is warmer, so Friday's affair will be modest – birthday wishes from the people of the town of Windsor, where she has a castle, and a black-tie dinner hosted by Prince Charles, her eldest son, at Kew, another suburban London palace.
But Britons are treating Friday as a milestone. Prime Minister Tony Blair led tributes to the queen in the House of Commons, and BBC TV ran a two-hour special on her life. On Wednesday she had lunch at Buckingham palace, her London home, with 99 guests born on the same day she was.
Although the queen has no political powers, she has become a symbol of stability in tumultuous times.
A teenager in World War II, Elizabeth took the throne just short of her 26th birthday after her father, King George VI, died, and was crowned the following year, 1953. In the 1960s she presided over the breakup of Britain's vast empire, and in 1970s over its difficult entry into what would become the European Union. As Europeanization abolished Britain's shillings and pence, its pounds and ounces, the queen remained a reassuring constant. In the 1980s, as economic upheavals polarized Britain between left and right, she was a rare unifying force.
On the throne for 54 years, she is Europe's longest-reigning monarch, and given her apparent good health, could well surpass her illustrious ancestor Queen Victoria's 63 years on the throne.
She has also weathered shattering personal crises. Three of her four children are divorced, the messiest breakup being that of Charles from Diana. After Diana's death in a 1997 car crash, a public perception took hold that the monarch disliked the princess and did not grieve appropriately. Her prestige, it was said, would never recover.
But last week, as the queen visited Guildford, 30 miles southeast of London for the ancient Easter ritual of Maundy Thursday, the storm seemed all but forgotten.
“There's a lot of talk about the monarchy not being popular,” observed Nigel Patrick, who was at Guildford's cathedral with his wife, Paula, and daughter Samantha. “But there's a lot of people out here on a cold, windy day.”
Wearing a pale yellow suit and matching hat, the queen arrived in her chauffeur-driven Bentley. Accompanied by Prince Philip, her husband of more than 58 years, she was greeted by hundreds of people with cameras and flags. More than an hour later the queen emerged, and received a bouquet of spring flowers from 11-year-old Samantha.
“I was very nervous,” Samantha said. “It's probably hard, being the queen. You're watched all the time.”
Indeed, few Britons are more heavily scrutinized than this short, bespectacled grandmother of seven, with silvery hair and a somewhat clipped, high-pitched speaking style that has kept generations of standup comedians in business.
She has about 470 official engagements each year, according to Buckingham Palace. She has visited 129 countries on more than 250 official royal tours. She has conferred more than 380,000 knighthoods and other honors, and has launched 23 ships. She gets a nightly report on proceedings in Parliament and meets privately with the prime minister every Tuesday night. From Winston Churchill to Blair, she has reigned over 10 prime ministers.
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine – and generally considered the doyenne of royalty watchers – agrees that the monarch's personality is not suited to life under the microscope.
“She's a very humble person, and she doesn't particularly enjoy being the center of attention – which, of course, she is, most of the time,” Seward said. “I imagine it's very difficult for her because she comes across as quite shy.”
Given her above-the-fray role, it is impossible – and considered most unseemly – to chat to her about anything controversial. The only safe areas, says Seward, are the queen's private passions – horses and dogs.
But those who have met her say she seems genuinely interested in who they are and what they've done.
“She's incredibly well-versed in putting people at ease,” said Bernard Donoghue, the head of governmental affairs for VisitBritain, the country's tourism agency.
“She's well briefed by a small but very professional team of people, so she knows exactly who everyone is and what they're doing. And because she's met more people than probably anyone else in the world, she has a storehouse of anecdotes and can relate your experiences to the experiences of someone else. It's incredibly flattering.”
Republic, a small but vocal movement, continues to question why Britain has a taxpayer-funded monarchy. But even its leaders think the effort is stalled, at least for as long as Elizabeth reigns.
“The problem in Britain is that the public doesn't want to get rid of Elizabeth II,” says Republic's Stephen Hasler. He said popular opinion is that she does a good job – though he doesn't personally agree – and that to call for her dethronement is disloyal.
“No one wants to change things while the queen is there,” he said. “The debate about the monarchy will begin in earnest when Charles takes over.”
That may take a while. Elizabeth's mother, the nationally beloved Queen Mother, lived to 101.
From the Associated Press, Jennifer Quinn
April 19, 2006: Ocean City honors veteran star
OCEAN
CITY
Ask Mickey Rooney about his favorites among his more than 275 movies and he answers, all of them.
Ask him details about life on the set of It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and he says it was great fun filming all his movies.
"They're all special," he said.
Rooney, 85, refuses to live in the past, and he won't wax nostalgic over a career that began when he was a child. Instead, he looks forward.
He looks forward to the 15 dates he and wife Jan will play in England in June.
He looks forward to Night At The Museum, the movie he just filmed with Robin Williams, Ben Stiller and Dick Van Dyke.
And he looks forward to being grand marshal at the 21st annual Doo Dah Parade in Ocean City on Saturday.
In addition to riding in the parade during his first visit to Ocean City, he'll receive a lifetime achievement award. The city has designated this week as Mickey Rooney Week.
"I'm happy to be in Ocean City," he said recently during a phone interview from his home in Ventura County, Calif. "Bring the families and say hello."
The Doo Dah parade celebrates humor, honors legendary comedians and features a bizarre collection of brigades -- as well as 500 waddling basset hounds.
Events will include the third annual Pieasco, during which 100 enthusiasts plaster each other with shaving-cream pies.
A comedy show, "A Tribute To Mickey Rooney," will be held at 8 p.m. at Tabernacle Auditorium, Fifth Street and Wesley Avenue. It will feature comics and music by the Original Hobo Band of Pitman and Elvis impersonator Ted Prior.
Rooney and Soupy Sales will greet fans at a dessert buffet following the show.
Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. in Brooklyn on Sept. 23, 1920. He moved to Kansas City, then to the West Coast by age 6.
Shortly thereafter, Rooney landed his first film role in Not To Be Trusted.
His big break came in 1927 when he was cast for "Mickey "Himself' McGuire," a series based on a comic strip.
He never looked back.
Jan Chamberlin is Rooney's eighth wife -- Ava Gardner was among the first seven -- and wedded bliss has lasted 31 years.
They have been touring together and performing The One Man One Wife Show.
During the show, which had a five-week stint off-Broadway, Rooney and Chamberlin sing. Rooney also plays piano. They are accompanied by a five-piece band.
"We love each other," Rooney said. "We have our squabbles like everyone. But we forgive each other."
One thing appears certain. Although Rooney is looking forward, he's not looking forward to retirement. "I've been lucky enough to do this since I was 2 years old," he said. "I love being in front of the public."
From the Courier-Post, William H. Sokolic
April 18, 2006: Bob Barker Returns to 'The Price Is Right'
After
a short break due to a torn ligament in his leg, BOB BARKER invites contestants
to "come on down" as he returns to his hosting duties on "The
Price Is Right" this afternoon.
We recently spotted Bob in a wheelchair and wearing a cast on his leg while visiting L.A. City Hall. "It happened over a period of time," he explains. "At my age, it just plum wore out!"
The veteran game show host didn't seem to let his injury slow him down as he stood to address the L.A. Country board of supervisors, where he argued against a proposal to expand the animal habitat at the L.A. Zoo, asking that the elephants be moved to a natural sanctuary instead.
Over the years, Bob has has become a highly visible figure in the animal rights movement. So much so that in June of 2001, Harvard Law School established the Bob Barker Endowment for the Study of Animal Rights Law to support teaching and research in this field.
Bob currently holds the record of being the oldest game show host, and the oldest man to host a weekday television program since the inception of network television.
In 2003, Bob celebrated his 80th birthday with a prime-time special on CBS. It featured guest appearances by CÉLINE DION along with talk-show host LARRY KING.
Today, the celebrated TV personality proved once again that age is only a number as he was back on "The Price is Right" set to continue the regular taping schedule for one of the longest running and best known game shows in the world.
From ETonline.com
April 17, 2006: Hollywood producer, actors to be honored at heritage awards
OKLAHOMA
CITY - Veteran actors Buck Taylor and Harry Morgan and movie producer A-C
Lyles will be honored Saturday by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage
Museum in Oklahoma City.
Lyles will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award during the 45th annual awards ceremony while Taylor and Morgan will be inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers.
Pawhuska rancher Frederick Drummond and the late conservationist John Muir will be inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners.
Retired U-S Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will serve as emcee of the ceremony.
From the Associated Press
Excerpt from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, March 10, 2006:
Master of Ceremonies for the 2006 Western Heritage Awards is Retired Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Celebrity awards presenters include Ernest Borgnine, Robert Carradine, Michael Martin Murphey, Baxter Black, Dean Smith, Red Steagall and John Wayne's granddaughter, Anita La Cava Swift.
Veteran actor Buck Taylor will accept induction honors into the Museum's Hall of Great Western Performers. Taylor, who played gunsmith Newly O'Brien for eight years in the legendary Western television series Gunsmoke, is still a working character actor, most recently along side such stars as Julia Roberts and George Strait in Grand Champion. He has starred in more than 38 films including such favorites as Tombstone, Gettysburg, Wild Wild West and Gods and Generals.
Actor Harry Morgan, who is unable to attend the gala, also will be inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers. Although remembered by many as the firm but decent Colonel Sherman T. Potter on the long-running series M*A*S*H, Morgan's credits include a long list of classic Westerns. He had strong roles in The Ox-Bow Incident, The Far Country, Cimarron, How the West Was Won, Support Your Local Sheriff, Support Your Local Gunfighter, The Apple Dumpling Gang, The Shootist and The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again.
April 14, 2006: Charlton Heston's Final Battle
On
the eve of ABC's semi-annual Easter weekend airing of CECILLE B. DeMILLE's
classic 'The Ten Commandments' Saturday night, screen great CHARLTON HESTON's
son FRASER shares some never-before-told tidbits with ET about the making
of the movie -- and updates us on how his 81-year-old, Oscar®-winning
father is doing in his battle with Alzheimer's.
"He's doing as well as can be expected," Fraser tells ET. "It's an insidious disease."
Charlton announced he had Alzheimer's in August of 2002, and Fraser says his father is under excellent care and will remain at home most likely for the rest of his life. He says his father is in quite good health, in good spirits and is exhibiting a kind of courage Fraser has never seen before. Charlton and his first and only love, LYDIA, recently celebrated their 62nd wedding anniversary and Fraser says, "She's doing really well. Very brave. She will endure."
Charlton's role as Moses in 1956's 'The Ten Commandments' is arguably his most famous one, and Fraser says his dad "likes the film a lot, and his own work in it" and has seen it "plenty of times."
Believe it or not, it was Fraser himself who played baby Moses when he was less than a year old in the movie: "I was the little guy in the basket," he says, adding that DeMille contacted his father before he was born, asking whether they were expecting a boy or girl. Once Fraser was born, the Hestons received a telegram from the famous director saying, "Congratulations. He's got the part."
The dramatic biblical epic, with an all-star cast that includes YUL BRYNNER as the Pharaoh, ANNE BAXTER as Queen Nefretiri, EDWARD G. ROBINSON as Dathan, the overseer of the slaves and YVONNE DeCARLO as Moses' wife, has played semi-annually on ABC since the early '70s, and Fraser says his father would "stumble into it every so often."
Fraser says the project was a seminal film for his dad and that a Hollywood era ended with its release. "It's a heck of a film," says Fraser. "It still holds up. It's a different style than today ... [It's] marvelously timeless; a story that [still] speaks to so many people."
From ETonline.com
April 13, 2006: David Blaine to
live in aquarium for a week
He'll conclude by trying to break breath-holding record on ABC special
NEW
YORK - David Blaine intends to sleep with the fishes — but only for
a week, and in full public view.
The 33-year-old magician will perform his latest stunt by living underwater for seven days and nights in a "human aquarium" in front of New York's Lincoln Center.
He will conclude by attempting to hold his breath underwater longer than the record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds.
The finale of his latest stunt will air live in a two-hour ABC special on May 8 (8 p.m. EDT).
Blaine's previous feats of endurance include balancing on a small platform for 35 hours and surviving inside a massive block of ice for 61 hours, both of which were performed in New York. In 2003, he fasted for 44 days in a suspended acrylic box over the Thames River in London.
The "human aquarium" in which Blaine will float is a specially built 8-foot acrylic sphere. He will receive liquid nutrition through a tube and the water will be kept at a balanced temperature to help keep his core temperature close to 98.6 degrees F.
Passers-by will be able to touch the aquarium, take pictures with Blaine and communicate with him. He will enter the sphere on May 1.
To prepare for the challenge, Blaine trained with U.S. Navy Seals and a world class free-diving team. An inside look at his training will be shown on the ABC special, which is titled, "David Blaine: Drowned Alive."
From the Associated Press
April 11, 2006: Scully: No thrill making call on Bonds
HE IS THE voice of baseball, his descriptions an accent of grace upon so many of the Dodgers' extraordinary moments. From a perfect game by Sandy Koufax to a no-hitter by Fernando Valenzuela and a World Series home run by Kirk Gibson, Vin Scully has spun history into magic.
In 1974, when Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's all-time home run record in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Scully called it. But at the start of a season in which Barry Bonds could pass Ruth and then Aaron for perhaps the most cherished mark in American sports, the Dodgers' Hall of Fame announcer wants no part of that history.
"I would just as soon it not happen against the Dodgers," Scully told the Los Angeles Times. "With Aaron, it was a privilege to be there when he did it. It was just a great moment.
"With Bonds, no matter what happens now, it will be an awkward moment. That's the best word I can think of now. If I had my druthers, I would rather have that awkward moment happen to somebody else."
From InsideBayArea.com
April 11, 2006: CKX buys rights to Muhammad Ali image for $50 mln
NEW
YORK - Entertainment and licensing firm CKX Inc. said on Tuesday it purchased
an 80 percent interest in the name, image and likeness of boxing great Muhammad
Ali for about $50 million in cash.
CKX said the agreement covers all other rights of publicity for Ali, 64, as well as certain trademarks and all existing license agreements.
Ali retains a 20 percent interest in the licensing rights to his own name, which will be operated through a newly formed company named G.O.A.T. LLC. G.O.A.T. stands for the "Greatest of All Time," a reference to Ali's self-proclaimed sports title.
Ali was an Olympic gold medalist in 1960 and a three-time world heavyweight champion. Since retiring from boxing, he has taken a prominent role in charity missions in Africa and Asia. He received a U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in November.
The trademark and licensing business surrounding Ali has generated about $4 million to $7 million in annual revenue over the last five years, CKX said. The company will undertake its own audit of the financial data surrounding the business.
CKX may also be required to purchase all or part of Ali's remaining interest in the new company as of the fifth year following the purchase, the company said.
CKX also owns the rights and develops entertainment surrounding such iconic figures as Elvis Presley and the popular IDOLS reality show brand, including American Idol.
It plans further deals to purchase or partner with companies that control established entertainment assets.
CKX also said it has reached an agreement in principle with a group of banks to increase an existing $50 million financing facility to a $125 million revolving credit facility.
CKX shares were down 3.5 percent at $13.40 on the Nasdaq.
From Reuters
April 10, 2006: Mr. Playboy Hugh Hefner Throws A Pajama Party For His 80th Birthday
Los
Angeles - Playboy magazine creator, Hugh M. Hefner celebrated his 80th birthday
with a traditional celebration: A cake, lots of friends, a chorus of 'Happy
Birthday' and a bevy of willing buxom blondes a quarter of his age.
For the party his legendary mansion was transformed into a glitzy hutch filled
with hand painted Playboy bunnies.
Hef's hair is thinner now and gray, almost white in places. His hearing is
gone in one ear and he has the slightest bit of trouble walking but otherwise,
the man dressed in black silk pyjamas and a scarlet silk jacket with black
lapels shows few other signs that he is becoming an octogenarian.
The guest list to Hefner's Saturday birthday party, included Hollywood's Oliver Stone and Owen Wilson, businessman celebrity Donald Trump and Paris Hilton, doing some very accurate impressions of a posing playmate.
'Hef' has a lot to make him feel young. He lives with three young, blonde girlfriends in his ornate mansion in Holmby Hills, California, with its free ranging exotic birds, stone grotto and games room, still living the fantasy that his iconic brand has projected to men everywhere for the past fifty years.
From KABC TV, Los Angeles
April 7, 2006: Muhammad Ali Slowed but Still Punching
Parkinson's
disease has diminished his voice and slowed his body, but Muhammad Ali still
exercises regularly in a gym at his home, punching a heavy bag and sometimes
sparring playfully in a boxing ring, his wife says.
He hasn't driven a car in 15 years and "he's no longer the type to pick up the phone and call friends the way he used to, but we converse," his wife, Lonnie, said in an interview in the March-April issue of Neurology Now, an American Academy of Neurology magazine for patients, their families and caregivers.
"Don't get me wrong, it's not like he's sitting there espousing rhetoric, but his words still carry impact, they're still very important," she told the magazine. "You absolutely can understand what he wants, what he says, what he's thinking."
Ali, 64, has been in the public eye in recent months. He was unable to walk unassisted but still spirited in November when he was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Bush, and playful again a few days later at the dedication of a center named for him in Louisville, Ky.
The magazine piece offers a rare glimpse of his home life in Berrien Springs, Mich.
"Muhammad is getting older," Lonnie Ali said. "And we're tired of being on the road all the time. We have a 14-year-old at home and he's in school, so we don't like to leave him behind so much."
Asked whether his busy travel schedule is too much to handle, the boxing great gave the magazine a single hoarse word: "No."
His daughter Rasheda said that he loves magic tricks and that he amuses his grandchildren by drawing pictures for them.
Because his disease has interfered with his balance and posture, she told the magazine, "when I'm with him, I just hold his hand while we walk."
She took him to the new version of the movie "King Kong," she said, and he "just loved it. ... He ate all my popcorn and we just had a wonderful time."
Asked what he would tell his fellow Parkinson's patients if he regained his voice, she said, "He would tell them what he tells me when we're alone and we're talking. He'd say, `Don't give up. Believe in yourself.' "
From the Associated Press
April 5, 2006: Masters-Palmer and Nicklaus in par-three curtain call
AUGUSTA,
Georgia - Arnold Palmer, 76, and Jack Nicklaus, 66, made a curtain call at
the Augusta National on Wednesday, delighting their fans by competing in the
traditional par-three contest on the eve of the U.S. Masters.
It was the only opportunity for the galleries to see the pair, who combined to win a total of 10 green jackets, in action this week and thousands descended on the tiny nine-hole course.
When the year's opening major begins on Thursday it will mark the first time in more than half a century that neither American has teed off in the main event.
Nicklaus, who played his final competitive round at Augusta last year, was in contention in the par-three tournament as he finished three shots behind winner Ben Crane who returned a four-under 23.
American Crane, who employed Dallas Cowboys quarterback Drew Bledsoe as his caddie, is hoping to end a long hoodoo.
Since the pre-tournament event became part of Masters week, no winner of the par-three has gone on to claim the green jacket.
The par-three produced three holes-in-one, Irishman Padraig Harrington, South Africa's Tim Clark and American Arron Oberholser aceing the 135-yard ninth.
Harrington, champion of the par-three in 2004 and joint winner in 2003, had help from his mother who caddied for the European Ryder Cup player and selected the club for his hole-in-one.
There have been 61 aces since the eve of Masters event was first played in 1960.
From Reuters, Steve Keating
April 3, 2006: Jerry Lewis to Guest Star on 'Law & Order'
NEW
YORK - Jerry Lewis' next acting gig is no laughing matter. This fall, the
80-year-old comedian will play the homeless uncle of Richard Belzer's police
Detective John Munch in a guest spot on "Law & Order: Special Victims
Unit," an NBC spokeswoman said Monday.
In the episode titled, "Uncle," detectives find Lewis' character living on the street and arrest him as a suspect in a murder case.
Lewis took a dramatic detour in 1983 as a talk-show host kidnapped by an aspiring comic, played by Robert De Niro, in Martin Scorsese's "The King of Comedy."
Belzer will lead a Friars Club celebrity roast of Lewis in New York on June 9.
From the Associated Press
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