Looking back at a sad history
“Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe, who captivated moviegoers as the bespectacled schoolboy wizard, has donated the first pair of glasses he wore as a child to an exhibition marking the horrors of the Holocaust.
The British actor joins Yoko Ono, talk show host Jerry Springer, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other celebrities and members of the public whose spectacles will be linked together in the shape of a railway track – recalling the trains that carried many of the Nazis’ victims to concentration camps throughout Europe.
The 18-year-old Radcliffe, whose mother is Jewish, sent the oval, gray metal-framed pair of glasses he wore as a 6-year-old.
The exhibition in Liverpool will open Jan. 21. The port city in northwest England will host Britain’s Holocaust Day commemorative service on Jan. 27, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
Ono called the project “such a symbolic piece of artwork, which will help people to learn how important it is to never forget the horrors of the Holocaust and to challenge hatred and prejudice wherever it arises.”
Borat as Abbie? Well, yippee!
Is Borat ready for the big time?
Director Steven Spielberg has given the fictional character’s creator, Sacha Baron Cohen, a serious role in his upcoming picture about the riotous 1968 Democratic Party convention, “The Trial of the Chicago Seven.”
Cohen will play Yippies founder Abbie Hoffman, one of the demonstrators charged with inciting a riot during the convention.
A little Faith in Jessica?
Speaking of new career directions, that twang that you hear in the air is the sound of Jessica Simpson going Nashville.
Reuters reports that Simpson, whose career has foundered since her marriage to Nick Lachey ended, is recording a country album.
“I think there is a strength in female country artists,” she says, citing Faith Hill and Shania Twain as examples.
The fat lady has sung
The Three Tenors will never re-form with a new member replacing the late Luciano Pavarotti, says Jose Carreras.
The 61-year-old Spanish singer says that would be disrespectful to Pavarotti, who died of pancreatic cancer in September at age 71.
“For Placido (Domingo) and myself to do something would betray the memory of Luciano, I don’t think that would be ethical,” Carreras says.
Start spreading the news …
Liza Minnelli is preparing to resume her touring schedule on Jan. 12 – one month after collapsing during a show in Sweden.
Her lawyer wouldn’t elaborate on the 61-year-old singer’s health issues, but said: “You wonder why she had the courage to get on the stage when she shouldn’t have.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Barbara Rush is 81. Actress Dyan Cannon is 71. Actress Ann Magnuson is 52. Country singer Patty Loveless is 51. Singer Michael Stipe (R.E.M.) is 48. Actor Dave Foley (“NewsRadio”) is 45. Actress Julia Ormond is 43. Country singer Deana Carter is 42. Actor Jeremy Licht (“Valerie”) is 37. Actress Jill Marie Jones (“Girlfriends”) is 33.