Let’s face it: Newman is getting to be an old man
Paul Newman, whose piercing blue eyes have lit up movie screens for five decades, is planning to retire. Newman, who turned 80 in January, says he’s giving up the activities he once described as his two great passions: acting and motor racing.
“I think both are winding down,” he said Friday. “I’ll probably race for another year.”
The iconic star of “The Hustler” and “Cool Hand Luke” also says he plans to make one last film, “for good luck.”
He won’t say what it is, but hints that a long-rumored reunion with Robert Redford, his co-star in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Sting,” may yet happen.
“I hate to talk about anything until the papers are drawn up, but we’ve been looking for something for 20 years and now we’re looking harder,” Newman said. “I hope something will come of it.”
We remember when she was hip
Jane Fonda will undergo hip replacement surgery after finishing publicity tours for her upcoming film and autobiography.
The 67-year-old actress, fitness guru and political activist stars with Jennifer Lopez in the upcoming “Monster-in-Law,” her first movie since “Stanley & Iris” in 1990. The two-time Oscar winner left acting after marrying her now ex-husband, media mogul Ted Turner.
Her autobiography, “My Life So Far,” is set for release by Random House next month.
Tax fiasco not a plot, says Hatch
Richard Hatch, the first winner of CBS’ “Survivor,” said he thought the network was responsible for paying the taxes on his $1 million prize.
Prosecutors have charged Hatch with filing false 2000 and 2001 tax returns, omitting his income from the reality show as well as $321,000 that he was paid by a Boston radio station.
Hatch backed out of a plea agreement last week, and the U.S. Attorney’s office has turned the case over to a grand jury.
It’s still a B.I.G. mystery
The FBI has closed its investigation into the 1997 murder of rap star Notorious B.I.G., abandoning the theory that a rogue police officer may have been involved.
The rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was shot to death in March 1997 in front of hundreds of witnesses as he left a music industry party in Los Angeles.
Investigators have pursued various theories, including one that the killing, and that of rap star Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas the year before, was the result of a feud between hip-hop figures from the East and West coasts.
And speaking of notorious bigs …
Tara Reid is suing the owners of a Las Vegas condominium project for using her name in an ad that makes fun of her breast-exposure incident last year.
Reid has said she had no idea she was flashing the paparazzi when the strap of her dress slipped off her left shoulder as she walked the red carpet at Sean “P. Diddy” Combs‘ 35th birthday party last November.
The lawsuit claims Reid’s reputation was damaged by an advertisement for Sky Las Vegas Condominiums that reads: “Dear Tara Reid. Come let it all hang out.”
The birthday bunch
Singer Al Jarreau is 65. Singer-actress Liza Minelli is 59. Singer James Taylor is 57. Actor Jon Provost (“Lassie”) is 55. Singer Marlon Jackson (The Jacksons) is 48. Actor Jerry Levine is 48. Actor Courtney B. Vance is 45. Actor Titus Welliver (“Brooklyn South”) is 44. Actress Julia Campbell is 42. Actor Samm Levine (“Freaks and Geeks”) is 23.