Brendan Mullen, Who Gave LA Punk a Stage, Dead at 60

Roger Corman, Gordon Willis, John Calley share the spotlight

(NEWSER) - A mere 65 years after her unforgettable screen debut, Lauren Bacall has won an Academy Award. The honorary Oscar was a high point of a ceremony last night in Los Angeles that also celebrated the careers of filmmaker Roger Corman, cinematographer Gordon Willis, and producer John Calley. "I can't believe it, a man at last!" the 85-year-old Bacall joked as she hoisted her new hardware. More»

Who cares about Grauman's Chinese Theatre when you can shop near Paris Hilton?

(NEWSER) - Gone are the days when tourists came to Hollywood to gawk at the stars on the Walk of Fame. The new hot attractions are reality TV locales. And Los Angeles—hurting for visitors, with hotel occupancy rates down 14%—welcomes the attention: “It’s a new element that we are seeing that we are able to tap into to promote the city,” a visitors bureau rep tells the Los Angeles Times. More»

MTV, Paris Hilton, the Oscars among franchises needing a makeover

(NEWSER) - Like Wall Street and Detroit, Hollywood is sinking under stagnant numbers and outdated business plans. The Los Angeles Times runs down some Tinseltown properties in need of a bailout.

• MTV: The once counter-culture juggernaut should take a hint and develop edgy new dramas a la Gossip Girl.
• Law and Order: Old, tired, and indistinguishable, the show needs to consolidate.

Her memory's 'still not the same,' says 'Murphy Brown'

(NEWSER) - Murphy Brown and Boston Legal star Candace Bergen very quietly had a stroke six years ago. She returned to work just two weeks later, but her memory is still "not quite the same," the actress reveals in a surprising New York Magazine interview. Bergen, now 65, is reluctant to discuss the stroke because "I just don't want it to be a liability," explains the actress, who's now making her Broadway debut in Gore Vidal's the Best Man. She admits she was nervous about doing theater. “My concern with theater was no retakes,” Bergen says. “I had no confidence in my memory." Now she's "so grateful" she decided to take on the challenge. Bergen is just the latest major actress to reveal secret health problems. Earlier this month Kathy Bates said she kept a diagnosis of ovarian cancer under wraps because she was under contract to do a movie at the time. More»

Blade Runner star struck guard: cops

(NEWSER) - Blade Runner vamp Sean Young was busted outside a post-Oscars party after she slapped a security guard when she was told to leave, according to officials. Now she's demanding an apology, reports TMZ . "She was trying to get into the party and couldn't," a Hollywood police commander tells AP . But the 52-year-old actress—who starred in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, No Way Out, Wall Street, and most recently, Celebrity Rehab—says the guards were overzealous, and she wasn't doing anything wrong. "I was just standing by the little line," says Young, who earlier in the evening had posed for photos with Angelina Jolie, Michelle Williams, and Sandra Bullock . "I wasn't bothering anybody." More»