People: Burial of Casey Kasem sparks daughter’s angry post
More than six months after radio icon Casey Kasem’s death, his body has finally been buried.
In Norway.
Kerri Kasem, the eldest of Casey Kasem’s children from his first marriage, lit up Facebook on Monday on learning of the burial, which, according to Norwegian news outlet VG, took place at Vestre Cemetery in Oslo on Dec. 16.
“This morning my family and I learned that my Dad’s abusive wife Jean Thompson Kasem and their daughter Liberty conned a cemetery in Norway into burying my Dad there,” she wrote.
“Even with ALL the letters from my father’s friends and family stating that he wanted to be buried in the UNITED STATES, the country in which he was born and raised, his wishes were, once again, ignored by his unfaithful wife.”
(A private investigator hired by Kerri Kasem has alleged that Jean Kasem was having a yearslong affair at the time of her husband’s death.)
Kerri Kasem has been convinced that the overseas burial is part of a continuing effort by her father’s widow to thwart an elder-abuse investigation.
After Casey Kasem died June 15 in Gig Harbor, Washington, where he had been taken by his wife, his remains were transported to Montreal and then, in mid-August, to Norway.
Fleming to star in Broadway show
Opera star Renee Fleming will make her Broadway debut this spring, playing – what else? – an opera star. The four-time Grammy Award-winner will star in “Living on Love” at the Longacre Theatre beginning April 1.
In the play, Fleming plays a diva whose conductor-husband starts to fall for a woman hired to ghostwrite his autobiography. She retaliates by hiring her own ghostwriter, but also gets romantically attached.
Said the soprano: “I’ve spent my life singing tragic characters, so to be able to make people laugh is an extraordinary joy.”
Fleming, who has performed around the world and serenaded Queen Elizabeth and President Barack Obama, this year became the first opera singer to sing the national anthem at the Super Bowl.
Lin will direct third ‘Star Trek’
The USS Enterprise is about to get a little faster. “Fast & Furious” director Justin Lin is taking the helm of the third installment in Paramount’s “Star Trek” franchise. Lin’s rep confirmed the news Monday.
Lin is no stranger to franchises. He directed several of Universal’s “Fast & Furious” films, including the massively successful “Fast & Furious 6,” which made more than $788 million worldwide.
J.J. Abrams directed the first two films in the rebooted “Star Trek” series.
The birthday bunch
Actor Ronnie Schell is 83. Actor Frederic Forrest is 78. Rock musician Jorma Kaukonen is 74. Actor-comedian Harry Shearer is 71. Actress Susan Lucci is 68. Rock singer Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) is 50.