Tony-winning actress Marian Mercer dies

Tony Award-winning "Promises, Promises" actress Marian Mercer, whose five-decade career also included dozens of television appearances, has died in California at age 75. Her husband, Patrick Hogan, says that Mercer died April 27 of Alzheimer's disease complications. Besides her 1969 Broadway hit "Promises, Promises," Mercer won praise for the 1978 revival of "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off" co-starring Sammy Davis Jr. On television, she starred in the ABC-TV comedy "It's a Living" from 1980 to 1982, playing Nancy Beebe. She also had roles on "St. Elsewhere," "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" and "Love, American Style." Along with her husband of 31 years, Mercer is survived by a daughter, Deirdre Whitaker, of Seattle.



'Body Snatchers' star Dana Wynter dies
Dana Wynter, who ran from the Pod People in the 1956 science-fiction classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," has died in Southern California. She was 79. Her son, Mark Bautzer, said the actress died of congestive heart failure. Wynter, who starred in a number of television dramas in the 1960s, was best known for her role as Becky Driscoll in director Don Siegel's paranoid film about townspeople being replaced by emotionless duplicates grown from plant-like pods.

David Beckham Involved in Freeway Car Accident

David Beckham was involved in a minor car accident near Torrance, Calif., the California Highway Patrol says. The soccer star was traveling south on the 405 Freeway when he rear-ended a stalled vehicle.  "Mr. Beckham's black Cadillac SUV collided with the rear of a gold Mitsubishi in the carpool lane," says Jennifer Connolly, spokesperson for California Highway Patrol. The driver of the Mitsubishi, who complained of minor neck pain, was taken to a hospital. Beckham, 36, was not injured in the accident.

`Thor' hammers competition with $66M opening

"Thor" kicked off the summer movie season by smashing the competition at the box office with a $66 million opening weekend. The 3-D action picture from Paramount, based on the Marvel comic, was by far the No. 1 movie. In second place was a holdover from last week, the car-racing sequel "Fast Five" from Universal Pictures. It made $32.5 million for a total of nearly $140 million in just 10 days.
1. "Thor," $66 million.
2. "Fast Five," $32.5 million.
3. "Jumping the Broom," $13.7 million.
4. "Something Borrowed," $13.2 million.
5. "Rio," $8.2 million.

New Celeb Moms and Babies

Tupac Shakur's screenplay set for big screen

A screenplay written by slain rapper Tupac Shakur has been given the green light to be made into a movie. "Live 2 Tell," which Shakur wrote while in jail on weapons charges, centers around a teenage drug lord who tries to turn his back on a life of crime. The script has been purchased by executives at NStar Studios, who have set the budget at $11 million and plan to begin production early next year.  It's not the only Shakur-related project in the works: Morgan Creek Productions is also making a film about his life. Shakur was shot dead in Las Vegas in 1996.

 Amazing Race Winners Meghan Rickey & Cheyne Whitney Marry


TV NEWS
Oprah Winfrey has said that she is disappointed by how little time she has managed to devote to her newly-launched television network OWN. Winfrey launched the Oprah Winfrey Network in January this year to positive ratings, but said that she plans to spend more time working on it once her long-running talk show Oprah ends later this month. "I feel like I have not begun to give anything to OWN," Winfrey said recently. "Doing this right and ending Oprah this way is a full-time job." I wouldn't even say ten percent of my time is on OWN right now. But it will be." The talkshow host said she often wishes she had waited until the end of Oprah before launching the network, but insisted that she has never been one to focus on regrets. "It's not where I want it to be," she added. "[But] don't judge OWN until after three years." Winfrey's final episode of Oprah will air on May 25.


Culminating a lengthy build-up, Fox announced Sunday that Paula Abdul will indeed be joining Simon Cowell on the judges panel of his new TV show, "The X Factor."  This show would never have been the same without Paula and I can't believe I am saying this -- I have missed her a lot, and I am thrilled she's on the show, said Cowell.

Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly will make a guest appearance in an upcoming episode of TNT drama Rizzoli & Isles. O'Reilly, who is friendly with show creator Janet Tamaro, will appear as himself and play a potential murder suspect in an episode set to film in July and air at the end of summer.

Mark Moses has signed up to play a guest role on USA's Covert Affairs. The character will cross paths with Annie Walker (Piper Perabo) when the CIA investigates an information leak at NASA. Moses has played Paul Young on Desperate Housewives since 2004 and also played 'Duck' Phillips on Mad Men. His other television credits include guest roles on Human Target, CSI: Miami and Castle. The new season of Covert Affairs begins on June 7.


Former Pussycat Doll/Dancing star Nicole Scherzinger and Brit hunk Steve Jones have officially been named hosts of Fox’s U.S. port of The X Factor, to premiere this fall.


CSI star Marg Helgenberger has criticized Justin Bieber's behavior during his two guest stints on the series, describing him as "a brat". Helgenberger, who plays Catherine Willows on the CBS drama, made the comments during an interview on a French radio station this weekend, when asked how the cast had responded to the Canadian popstar's involvement. "Justin Bieber wasn't bad," the actress said. "He had never acted before." However, when pressed, Helgenberger admitted that he had often acted childishly during working hours. "I shouldn't be saying this, but he was kind of a brat [on the set]," she explained. "He was very nice to me, but he locked one of the producers in a closet, and he put his fist through a cake that was on the actors' table."