People: Castro? Close, but no cigar
Michael Moore thinks he has the perfect guest for this year’s Academy Awards broadcast: Fidel Castro.
Castro, who is 81 and in poor health, announced his retirement as president of Cuba this week.
“Sicko,” Moore’s Oscar-nominated documentary on the health-care industry, concludes with a trip to Cuba, where he seeks care for a group of 9/11 responders who have experienced health problems.
They are greeted with open arms at a Havana hospital and given what appears to be top-notch care that they could not get in the United States.
“I got some great news today because I was trying to figure out how I was going to get Castro into the Oscars, and for me he resigns today so he can come to L.A. and go as my guest and perhaps give the acceptance speech,” Moore said Tuesday.
“As long as he keeps it under five hours. I’m telling you, that’s got to be a ratings grabber. … If I could talk to (Oscar producer) Gil Cates and maybe get Castro in a dance number at the beginning of the show? Great.”
D-I-S by P-E-T-A
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has named Aretha Franklin as its worst-dressed celebrity of the year.
PETA mocked the “Queen of Soul” for wearing “yet another vulgar fur” at the Grammys, asking: “How ‘bout some R-E-S-P-E-C-T for animals?”
Not-so-cheap shot by Sharif
A parking lot attendant who says he was punched by Omar Sharif has won a knockout decision in court.
A default judgment for more than $318,000 was entered Tuesday in favor of Juan Luis Ochoa Anderson after the 75-year-old actor failed to show up for a deposition.
Sharif pleaded no contest last year to misdemeanor battery and was ordered to take an anger management course for the incident outside a Beverly Hills steakhouse in 2005.
The hills have eyesores
Comedian Pauly Shore is suing his horror-movie director neighbor, Wes Craven, in the latest move in their property dispute.
Shore claims a landslide on his Hollywood Hills property in December 2006 was caused by Craven’s failure to properly maintain a hillside on his property.
Craven filed a suit in June alleging that Shore upgraded his home with a pool, spa and landscaping that caused water to seep down a slope and damage the director’s property.
Rambo’s ready to rumble
Sylvester Stallone says he wouldn’t mind squaring off in court against the private investigator accused of tapping his phone.
Prosecutors say Stallone was one of several stars who had their phones illegally wiretapped or had their names run through police databases at the direction of Anthony Pellicano.
“In this town, nothing seems as it is,” Stallone said. “There’s so much skullduggery.”
The birthday bunch
Announcer Don Pardo is 90. Director Jonathan Demme is 64. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 49. Comedian Rachel Dratch is 42. Actress Jeri Ryan is 40. Actress Drew Barrymore is 33. Singer James Blunt is 31.