BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform at the 2009 Super Bowl halftime show in Tampa, FL. The Super Bowl will be played February 1st, 2009. The 2008 Super Bowl show was watched by more than 148 million viewers in the U.S.

HEATH LEDGER

A former attorney for Heath Ledger is suing over a $10 million life insurance policy he claims has gone unpaidsince the actor's death earlier this year.

Attnorney John S. LaViolette sued Minnesota-based ReliaStar Life Insurance Co. in July claiming the company is trying to avoid paying the claim to Ledger's 2 year old daughter, Matilda Rose.

ED MCMAHON

Court documents show a company founded by Merv Griffin is suing Ed McMahon for a $100,000 loan it claims has gone unpaid.

The Griffin Group Inc. claims it loaned the money to McMahon, Johnny Carson’s sidekick on the “Tonight” show, in 2005.

RUSSELL CROWE

Russell Crowe had to pack on 63 lbs. to play a manipulative CIA boss in "Body of Lies", due out on October 10th.

The spy thriller marks the first time Crowe has worked with Leonardo DiCaprio since 1995's "The Quick and the Dead."

JANET JACKSON

Janet Jackson has been released from Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital.

Janet Jackson, 42, was due to perform in Montreal Monday but canceled after she suddenly got ill during her sound check and had to be rushed to the hospital just before show time.

SCARLETT JOHANSSON & Ryan Reynolds

Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds were married this weekend at a resort outside Vancouver, British Coloumbia. The couple announced their engagement in May.

Johansson most recently starred in the Woody Allen film "Vicky Cristina Barcelona"and Reynolds starred int eh romantic comedy "Definitely Maybe."

HEATHER LOCKLEAR

Heather Locklear was arrested on suspcion of driving under the influence of a controlled substance in the upscale Santa Barbara, California area. Locklear, 47, was pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer Saturday afternoon after a resident reported seeing the actress leaving a parking lotand driving erratically.

PAUL NEWMAN

Paul Newman, one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars, died Friday after a long battle with cancer. He was an Oscar-winning actor, entrepreneur, philanthropist and race car driver.

Newman caught the bug in 1969 for racing when he did the movie "Winning". At 51 he started racing. He formed the Newman/Haas/Lanigan racing team in 1983, with famed racer Mario Andretti as the team's driver.

Newman earned nine acting Academy Award nominations and one for producing a best film contender, but won the statuette only once, as the aging pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson in the Chicago-made "The Color of Money," Martin Scorsese's sequel to 1961's "The Hustler," also staring Newman.

In 1982, the actor and his friend, writer A. E. Hotchner, started up the "Newman Own" company in a basement almost as a joke.

It was reported that the actor made plans for his charity work to continue after his death. Robert Forrester is Vice Chairman of the Newman's Own Foundation. He said Sunday that the actor began planning several years ago to make sure profits from his food company would always benefit charities worldwide. Newman and his company gave away more that $250 million.

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAY SPOTLIGHT

BONNIE HUNT
Born: September 22, 1961
Place: Chicago, IL



Bonnie Hunt has three older brothers, Patrick, Kevin and Tom and to older sisters, Cathy and Carol, and one younger sister, Mary. In 1982, Bonnie worked as a cancer nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. In 1984, she co-founded An Impulse Thing, an improvisational comedy troupe, with Holly Wortell, Andy Miller and John Gripentrog. Hunt also preformed as a member of the Chicago’s world-famous The Second City, joining in 1986.

Hunt teamed with good friend David Letterman in 1993 to produce The Building, a short lived sitcom that was modeled after early-1950s television shows. The show was also filmed live. Mistakes, accidents and forgotten lines were often left in the aired episode. Hunt reportedly, declined the female lead in the series Mad About You, which went to Helen Hunt.

Bonnie and Letterman re-teamed in 1995 with The Bonnie Hunt Show (later retitled Bonnie), which featured many of the same cast member as The Building and the same loose style. The show was praised by critics but soon canceled. Hunt returned to television in 2002 with Life with Bonnie, a show known for clean and offbeat humor. Her role on that show earned her a 2004 Emmy nomination, her first.

She served as screenwriter, director and supporting actress for the 2000 film Return to Me, a romantic comedy starting David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. It was filmed in her Chicago neighborhood and included bit parts for a number of her relatives.

In June 2007, she taped a talk show pilot for Telepictures. The pilot was picked up by NBC Universal for broadcast on its NBC-owned stations as well as for syndication to other broadcast and cable outlets. Her show is again titled The Bonnie Hunt Show. She began her foray into the competitive daytime market in September of 2008.

Bonnie is a long time Chicago Cubs fan, having not missed an Opening Day at Wrigley Field since 1977.

CELEBRIT BIRTHDAYS & TRIVIA

Celebrity Birthdays

SEPTEMBER

21 – Faith Hill – 41 – Ridgeland, MI
21 – Bill Murray – 58 – Wilmette, IL
21 – Larry Hagman – 77 – Fort Worth, TX
22 – Bonnie Hunt – 47 – Chicago, IL
23 – Jason Alexander – 49 – Newark, NJ
23 – Bruce Springsteen – 59 – Long Branch, NJ
25 – Catherine Zeta-Jones – 39 – Swansea, Wales, UK
25 – Will Smith – 40 – Philadelphia, PA
25 – Heather Locklear – 47 – Los Angeles, CA
25 – Mike Douglas – 64 – New Brunswick, NJ
26 – Olivia Newton-John – 59 – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
27 – Gwyneth Paltrow – 35 – Los Angeles, CA

Trivia

WILL SMITH

Smith spent money freely during his early career and underpaid his income taxes. The Internal Revenue Service eventually assessed a $2.8 million tax debt against Smith, took many of his possessions, and garnished his income. Will Smith has now been consistently listed in the Fortune Magazine’s “Richest 40” list of the forty wealthiest Americans under the age of 40. Smith and his family reside on Star Island (Florida) in Miami, Florida and in Los Angeles, CA, Stockholm, Sweden and Philadelphia, PA. Smith donated a large amount of money to assist Katrina victims.

SHARON STONE

Sharon Stone has lost another round of custody proceedings over her oldest son, eight-year-old, Roan.

A San Francisco judge denied her request for primary custody. Her son has been living with his father. The couple divorced in 2004 after 6 years of marriage. Stone retains visitation rights.

NICOLE KIDMAN

Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman said swimming in Australian Outback waterfalls may promote fertility and might have contributed to her unexpected pregnancy over the past year.

The 41-year-old, who gave birth to daughter Sunday Rose in July, indicated that she and six other women who swam in the waters of a small Outback town during production of the epic romance Australia became pregnant.

LINDSAY LOHAN

Lindsay Lohan has confirmed that she has been dating Samantha Ronson.

After months of mystery, Lindsay Lohan continues to take her relationship with girlfriend Samantha Ronson public. Samantha Ronson is a 31 year old DJ. The pair have appeared in public and been photographed together but have never publicly commented about the extent of their relationship.

JOHNNY DEPP

Johnny Depp, The Pirates of the Caribbean star, 45, has signed to star in two new high-profile Disney projects – and has also agreed to reprise his role as Capt. Jack Sparrow in a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie now in development

He has been cast as Tonto in a movie version of The Lone Ranger and as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s version of Alice in Wonderland, due out in 2010.

DAVID BLAINE

Magician-daredevil David Blaine has safely finished his latest stunt: hanging upside-down without a net high over Central Park for 60 hours.

He celebrated completion of the wire act Wednesday night by diving from a platform 44 feet to the ground while attached to a harness.

CLAY AIKEN

Clay Aiken is confirming that he is gay. Clay has just recently become a father to son Parker Foster Aiken, weighing 6 lbs., 2 oz. and was 19 inches long. He was born at 8:08 a.m. on August 8th.

He indicated that he cannot raise a child to lie or hide things. The baby's mother is Aiken's friend and record producer Jaymes Foster.

EMMA WATSON

Harry Potter star Emma Watson is ready to trade acting for academia and the brainy beauty is even considering some American colleges.

Watson, now 18, has made more than $17 million from the nine years she has spent playing the hardest-working girl at Hogwarts. The final Potter film is set to wrap in fall 2009.

EMMY AWARDS

The Emmy Awards had one of its smallest audiences ever on Sunday.

Nielsen Media Research’s preliminary estimate was that 12.24 million people watched Sunday’s show. If that number holds up when more complete national ratings come in, it will be less than the 2007 and 1990 shows, which were both slightly under 13 million.

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS & TRIVIA

Celebrity Birthdays & Trivia

SEPTEMBER

15 – Prince Harry – 24 – London, England
15 – Tommy Lee Jones – 62 – San Saba, TX
16 – Nick Jonas – 16 – Wyckoff, NJ
16 – Marc Anthony - 40 – New York City, NY
16 – David Copperfield – 52 – Metuchen, NJ
16 – Peter Falk – 81 – New York City, NY
16 – B B King – 83 – Itta Bena, MI
16 – Lauren Bacall – 84 – New York City, NY
18 – Lance Armstrong – 37 – Plano, TX
18 – Frankie Avalon – 69 – Philadelphia, PA
18 – Robert Blake – 75 – Nuttey, NJ
19 – Jimmy Fallon – 33 – Brooklyn, NY
19 – Trisha Yearwood – 43 – Monticello, GA
19 – Adam West – 79 – Walla Walla, WA
20 – Sophia Loren – 73 – Rome, Italy
20 – Dr. Joyce Brothers – 82 – New York City, NY


Trivia











B B King






In the mid-1950s, while B.B. was performing at a dance in Twist, Arkansas, a few fans became unruly. Two men got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove, setting fire to the hall. B.B. raced outdoors to safety with everyone else, then realized that he left his beloved $30 acoustic guitar inside, so he rushed back inside the burning building to retrieve it, narrowly escaping death. When he later found out that the fight had been over a woman named Lucille, he decided to give the name to his guitar to remind him never to do a crazy thing like fight over a woman. Ever since, each one of B.B.'s trademark Gibson guitars has been called Lucille.

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAY SPOTLIGHT

Tommy Lee Jones
Born: September 15, 1946
Place: San Saba, TX

Jones graduated from the St. Mark’s School of Texas, where he is now on the board of directors, and attended Harvard on a need-based scholarship, staying in Mower B-12 as freshman, across the hall from future Vice President Al Gore. As an upperclassman, he was roommates with Gore and Bob Somerby, who later became editor of the media criticism site, the Daily Howler. Jones played offensive tackle on Harvard’s undefeated 1968 varsity football team. Jones graduated cum laude with a degree in English in 1969.

He then moved to New York City to become an actor. He started acting on Broadway and in television. He made his debut in movie in Love Story, in 1970. Between 1971 and 1975, he portrayed Dr. Mark Toalnd on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live, and then he played the role of an escaped convict who was hunted down by the police in Jackson County Jail.

In 1983, he received an Emmy Best Actor for his performance as murderer Gary Gilmore in a TV adaptation of Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song.

In the 1990s, movies such as The Fugitive co-starring Harrison Ford, which won him wide acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Batman Forever co-starring Val Kilmer, and Men in Black, with Will Smith brought him tens of millions of dollars and made him one of the top actors of Hollywood.

Jones was married to Kate Lardner from 1971 to 1978. Jones has two children from his second marriage to Kimberlea Cloughley, Victoria Kafka (born 1991) and Austin Leonard (born 1982). On March 19, 2001. he married his third wife, Dawn Laurel.

JESSICA SIMPSON

Jessica Simpson's "Do You Know" has debuted atop Billboard's country chart. The album, which sold 65,000 copies since coming out last week, ranked No. 4 on the Billboard Top 200.

Simpson's first single, "Come on Over," hit No. 18 on the Hot Country Songs list last month.

HILARY SWANK

Hilary, the Oscar-winning actress, 34, is recovering after having a minor procedure to have a small growth removed, according to People.

GARY COLEMAN

Gary Coleman was formally charged Wednesday with reckless driving and disorderly conduct following an altercation at a bowling alley in Utah. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Coleman, 40, was backing out of a bowling alley around midnight on Sept. 6 when his truck hit Colt Rushton, 24, as well as another car. Rushton was taken to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries.

RYAN O'NEAL

Actor Ryan O'Neal and his son Redmond were arrested on suspicion of meth possession at the star's home in Malibu Wednesday, the Lost Angeles Times reports.

Authorities found Redmond, 24, in possession of the drug while a vial was discovered in Ryan's bedroom, Los Angeles County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore told the paper.

Ryan, 67, and Redmond were released from the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff's station Wednesday morning. Bail had been set at $10,000.

BRAD PITT

Brad Pitt donated $100,000 to fight California's Proposition 8, a ballot initiative that would take away same-sex couples' right to marry. Pitt's donation is the largest thus far to the anti-Prop 8 campaign by an A-list celebrity, the L.A. Times reported.

This week, Pitt and Jolie ranked sixth on Parade magazine's list of the most generous celbrities. They gave $8.4 million in 2007.

CHRISTINE APPLEGATE

Christina Applegate will be a presenter at the Primetime Emmy Awards.

Applegate, 36, who is nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for ABC's Samantha Who? - revealed last month that she underwent a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, but then declared herself cancer-free.

MICHAEL PHELPS

Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps will host Saturday Night Live's 34th season premiere this weekend. This is the same stage where is comedy idol Chris Farley once got big laughs.

The swimmer who won a record-setting eight gold medals at last month's Olympics hs been on a pop culture wave since Beijing, making the rounds of the TV talk shows and presenting at MTV's Video Music Awards.

ROGER EBERT

Roger Ebert was given a real-life thrashing earlier this month while watching Slumlord Millionaire at the Toronto Film Festival.

Ebert, 66, can no longer speak. The man in front of him was leaning out into the aisle, obstructing the view. After repeated attempts to get the man's attention, the fellow turned around and "whacked me with a rolled-up program or a festival binder or something," Ebert wrote. Theater staff intervened, and the man was escorted to a different seat.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR

Elizabeth Taylor made a low-key return to public life Thursday night with a trip to her favorite bar. In the film legend's first known appearance since she was hospitalized last month, Taylor headed to The Abbey, a popular West Hollywood gay bar.

ANNE HATHAWAY

Anne Hathaway's ex boyfriend, Raffaello Follieri, the Italian businessman who allegedly defrauded the Vatican, will be going to jail for four-plus years after accepting a plea deal on Wednesday.

Prosecutors have said the 30-year-old Follieri posed as the Vatican's representative to the U.S., telling investors that the Roman Catholic church would sell him property at a steep discount. Authorities said he took their money and spent up to $6 million, much of it on his jet-set lifestyle.

KENNY CHESNEY

Kenny Chesney, the country superstar, has 7 CMA nominations for Entertainer, Male Vocalist, Single, Album and Video of the Year, along with two nods in the Musical Event category.

Chesney has taken home the night's biggest award, Entertainer of the Year, for the past two years in a row.

BRITNEY SPEARS

Britney Spears made a triumphant return to MTV's Video Music Awards, winning three Moonmen, including the night's big honor, video of the year, for her hit "Piece of Me."

Nominated for 16 Moonmen in the past, the pop star nabbed the first award of the night, best female video, for her song "Piece of Me." Later she picked up her second award for best pop video, also for "Piece of Me."

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAY SPOTLIGHT

Adam Sandler

Born: September 9, 1966

Place: Brooklyn, New York

Adam Sandler was born in Brooklyn, New York but moved to Manchester, New Hampshire when he was five. While at New York University, he found he was a natural comic, and nurtured his talent by performing regularly in clubs and on campuses. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1991.

Later in his career, he would often draw on his earliest memories in his comedy and movies. The song "Lunchlady Land" is dedicated to Silvia, the lunchlady at Hayden Dining Hall at New York University. In the movie "Click", Sandler goes to Lake Winnipesaukee, the largest lake in New Hampshire where he went to summer camp.

Sandler played Theo Huxtable's friend, Smitty, on "The Cosby Show" (1987-1988). He started performing in clubs early on, taking the stage at this brother's urging when he was only 17. He was them discovered by comedian Dennis Miller, who caught Sandler's act in Los Angeles. Miller immediately recommended him to "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels. He left "Saturday Night Live" in 1995 to focus on h is acting career.

His first starring role was in 1989 when he starred in the movie "Going Overboard." Most of his earlier films were almost universally despised by movie critics, many of his recent films, starting with "Punch-Drunk Love" (2002), have received almost uniformly positive reviews.

Sandler married actress Jacqueline Samantha Titone on June 22, 2003. They are the parents of Sadie Madison Sandler born on May 6, 2006. He lives with his family in Los Angeles but does have a home in New York. He announced on May 21, 2008 on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" that his wife is expecting another child.

CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS AND TRIVIA

Celebrity Birthdays

SEPTEMBER

7 – Gloria Gaynor – 59 – Newark, New Jersey
8 – Ben Savage – 27 – Chicago, IL
9 – Adam Sadler – 42 – Brooklyn, NY
9 – Hugh Grant – 48, Hammersmith, London, England
9 – Michael Keaton – 57 – Coraopolis, PA
10 – Dan Castellaneta – 50 – Chicago, IL
13 – Jacqueline Besset – 63 - Weybridge, Surrey, England
13 – Ben Savage – 27 – Chicago, IL


Trivia

HUGH GRANT

Grant is known in popular media for his guarded privacy, as he rarely discusses his life in public and chooses instead to fend off personal questions with humor Grant is a supporter of Marie Curie Cancer Care, whose Great Daffodil Appeal he promoted in March 2008. In 1987, Grant met little-known actress Elizabeth Hurley. Grant started dating the aspiring model. After 13 years together, the two made "a mutual and amicable decision" to split in May 2000.

MINNIE DRIVER

Minnie Driver became a first-time mom to son Henry Story Driver. The baby was born Friday, September 5, 2008 in Los Angeles and weighed 9 lbs., 12 oz.

Driver, 38, who has not revealed the identity of the father

CELBBRITY BIRTHDAY SPOTLIGHT

Racquel Welch
Born: September 5, 1940
Place: Chicago, Illinois


She is the oldest of three children. Her father immigrated from La Paz, Bolivia, her mother was an Irish-American.

Raquel took dancing lessons as a child, and was winning beauty pageants by the time she was a teenager. After attending High School (Class of 1958), she entered San Diego State College on a theater arts scholarship. The following year she married a high school sweetheart, James Welch. Her marriage broke up and she moved with her two children to Dallas, TX, where she modeled for Neiman Marcus and worked as a cocktail hostess, intending to move to New York City from there. Instead, she moved back to California.

Her fist featured role came in the beach film A Swingin' Summer, which led to a contract with 20th Century Fox. She was than cast in a leading role in the sci-fi hit Fantastic Voyage (1966), which made her a star. She was the last star created under the studio system.

Raquel Welch became one of the leading sex symbols of the 1960s and 1970s. Playboy called her the "Most Deisred Woman" of the 1970s. Despite her sex symbol persona in films and countless magazine layouts, including one for Playboy, Raquel never appeared nude in a film or posed nude for a magazine.

Celebrity Birthdays and Trivia

Celeb Birthdays

AUGUST

31 - Richard Gere - 59 - Philadelphia , PA

SEPTEMBER

1 - Gloria Estefan - 51 - Havana, Cuba

1 - Lily Tomlin - 59 - Detroit, MI

3 - Charlie Sheen - 43 - New York City, NY

4 - Beyonce Knowles - 27 - Houston, TX

4 - Paul Harvey - 90 - Tulsa, OK

5 - Raquel Welch - 68 - Chicago, IL

5 - Bob Newhart - 78 - Oak Park, IL

Trivia

BOB NEWHART

Newhart became famous mostly on the strength of his audio releases, in which he became the world's first solo “straight man.” Newhart is known for his deadpan delivery and a slight stammer which early on he incorporated into the persona around which he built a successful career. On his TV shows, although he got his share of funny lines, often he worked in the Jack Benny tradition of being the "straight man" while the sometimes somewhat bizarre cast members surrounding him got the laughs. His 1960 comedy album, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, went straight to number one on the charts, beating Elvis Presley and the cast album of The Sound of Music. Button Down Mind received the 1961 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Whenever Newhart was asked whom he admired the most as a comedian, he never hesitated with his somewhat surprising answer: Richard Pryor.

AKON

Akon will go to trial on criminal charges he tossed a fan offstage at a concert last summer.

The 35-year-old singer is accused of tossing a teenager off the stage during a June 2007 concert at a minor league baseball stadium near Poughkeepsie.

Akon asked for the jury trial in Fishkill Town Court, NY. He’s due back in court Dec. 1. He pleaded not guilty in December to misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree harassment, a violation.

OPRAH WINFREY

Oprah Winfrey taped the season premiere of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” at a downtown park in Chicago. She invited 150 U.S. Olympic athletes to join her. The athletes were introduced under a shower of red, white and blue confetti.

Winfrey intended the show to be both a welcome home for athletes who competed in Beijing and also a chance to showcase Chicago as the city bids for the 2016 Games.

Hundreds of fans stood in line for hours outside Winfrey’s Chicago studio last weekend to wait for tickets. For those who couldn’t get passes for the 2,000 seats, about 7,000 lawn spots were made available.

Another 2,000 seats were set aside for the Olympians’ family and friends. Tickets for Winfrey’s Chicago tapings are usually available only by phone.

Stand Up for Cancer

Katie Couric, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams evening news anchors are planning to join dozens of A-list entertainers and sports figures on “Stand Up to Cancer,” a live, one-hour special being simulcast at 8 p.m. EDT Friday on ABC, CBS and NBC, as well as cable’s E! Entertainment channel.

KATIE HOLMES

Holmes, 30, who has been rehearsing in New York City for her upcoming Broadway debut in arthur Miller's All My Sons.

She appears as a guest star on ABC's drama, Eli Stone doing a song and dance number with costar Matt Letscher.