Laura Schlessinger shifts to satellite radio

NEW YORK – Talk-show host Laura Schlessinger won't stay away from radio very long — only a weekend, in fact.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. said Monday it has a multiyear deal with Schlessinger to bring her "Dr. Laura" advice program to satellite radio in January. Specific terms were not revealed.

Schlessinger had said in August that she was quitting her syndicated radio program, a week after she apologized for using the N-word on the air 11 times while talking to a black woman, and activists demanded her ouster.

She ends her traditional radio program on Friday, Dec. 31. The following Monday, her "Dr. Laura" show will begin live at 2 p.m. on Sirius XM. It will air for three hours a day on Monday through Friday.

Schlessinger announced on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Aug. 17 that she was walking away from her radio show when her contract ended. The next day Sirius talk programming chief Jeremy Coleman called her to discuss a switch, she said.

"The first and most important thing that appealed to me was the freedom to speak my mind without advertisers and affiliates being attacked by activist groups that just love to censor anything they don't agree with," she said. "That just about made my heart and head explode."

The liberal watchdog Media Matters for America was a persistent critic. Its leadership didn't accept her apology and sought to encourage advertisers to drop her show. She was reading the Media Matters website when she decided, "that's it, I'm done with this," Schlessinger said.

In the radio incident that prompted her to quit, Schlessinger said to the woman involved, who was married to a white man, that "if you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race."

Schlessinger said she'll have some new segments on her show, including interviews with people about situations "that are relevant to the morals, values, principles and ethics that I nag about every day."

She said she's sure she'll say things that will offend someone.

"When I talk about married couples staying together for the sake of the children, somebody's offended," she said. "When I talk about mothers staying home with their babies, feminists are offended. When I talk about how wives should have more sex with their husbands, women are offended."

Schlessinger will be the biggest radio star to jump from traditional to satellite radio since Howard Stern, who had also tired of controversies over things he said and found the opportunity for a big payday.

She's likely to sacrifice some viewers. It's estimated her show is currently heard by about 8 million people a day. Sirius XM has 20 million subscribers, but it's not certain how many of them will be interested in Schlessinger. The service does not release figures estimating listeners for their shows.

Her show will also be available online and through apps on many smart phones, Sirius said; shows will be repeated on radio over the weekend.

Randy Quaid says Canada has saved his life

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Randy Quaid said if it weren't for Canada's refugee system, he and his wife would be dead.

The actor made the comment Tuesday as he entered his immigration and refugee board hearing in Vancouver, where he and his wife Evi were picked up last month on an outstanding warrant in the United States.

The pair quickly claimed refugee status and their hearings have been conducted amid their bizarre claims of being hunted by what they call "Hollywood star whackers."

They say many of their friends have died under mysterious circumstances and believe they could be next on the hit list. Quaid is hoping to convince Canada's Immigration and Refugee board that he and his wife are targeted by Hollywood killers and thereby accomplish what no other American has ever done in Canada: Gain refugee status.

"I feel good. If it wasn't for Canada's refugee laws my wife and I would be dead," Quaid said before he entered court.

Quaid and his wife remain fugitives from a California court after the couple failed to appear last week for their arraignment on felony vandalism charges for the fourth time.

Randy Quaid is going through two hearings at Canada's immigration board.

The first is to determine his refugee claim and the second is to determine whether he is admissible to Canada. At that hearing, immigration officials have submitted voluminous evidence of his alleged criminality in the United States. If found inadmissible, he faces deportation back to the United States.

His admissibility hearing has been postponed to Dec. 22.

In the meantime, Evi and Randy say they feel safe in Canada, which they believe is out of their would-be killers' reach.

Bruce Willis to front Russian bank ad campaign

MOSCOW (Reuters) – The tough guy image of Hollywood actor Bruce Willis will be used in a new campaign for a mid-sized Russian bank, the lender has said.

Trust bank, a top-30 lender by assets, hung pictures of the "Die Hard" star on the streets of Moscow on Monday with the phrase "Trust is just like me, but a bank."

The "Die Hard" star replaces Trust's previous frontman, Russian weight-lifter Vladimir Turchinsky, who unexpectantly dropped dead last year at age 46.

Trust said Willis's character reflects the bank's values in terms of "trust and dignity."

Willis, 55, who plays an old-school CIA agent in his latest movie "RED", will front the campaign for at least a year, Trust said in a statement.

"The Moscow call immediately raised their (Willis's agents) interest," Dmitry Chukseyev, who was involved in negotiations with the star's agents and serves as Trust's vice-president for communications, told Reuters by telephone.

The bank did not give details on the cost of the deal with Willis, who also occasionally performs as a blues singer.

Michelle Obama and friends see 'Fela!' on Broadway

NEW YORK – The audience at Thursday's performance of "Fela!" on Broadway got an extra thrill when an unannounced guest arrived — the first lady.

Michelle Obama and six girlfriends stunned theatergoers when she arrived at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on 49th Street to catch the Tony Award-winning musical about Fela Kuti, the Afrobeat artist and Nigerian political activist.

"When the audience realized that she was in the audience, they just went nuts," said Stephen Hendel, who co-conceived and produced the show. "People started standing up and applauding, saying 'We love you!' and 'We love you, Michelle!' It took a minute or so to get the audience to settle down."

The musical features dancers mingling with the audience and the first lady's group was seated along Row G, where many of the dancers cross over. The Secret Service asked the dancers not to change their performance but to give Obama some extra space.

Hendel was one of only few people who knew ahead of time that the first lady was coming. The cast was only told 20 minutes before Obama's arrival. She and her friends arrived shortly after 8 p.m. as the overture was ending.

The audience also cheered wildly when the musical made reference in the first act to one of Kuti's nicknames: Black President. Said Hendel: "The whole place just exploded."

At the end, the first lady's group gave the musical a standing ovation and Obama stayed to greet and congratulate each sweaty member of the cast as they passed. "She was hugely gracious," said Hendel, who watched the night's performance with his wife, Ruth, also one of the show's producers.

"It's a wonderful feeling that this show would have Mrs. Obama come to it."

Broadway shows have lured Obama before. She and daughters Sasha and Malia attended performances of "Memphis" and "The Addams Family" in March. And she and her husband saw "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" during a date night in 2009.

"Fela!" was nominated for a Tony Award as last year's best musical. It won for Best Choreography, Best Costume Design and Best Sound Design. In addition to the Hendels, it is also produced by actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith and hip-hop star Jay-Z.

A production opened this week at London's National Theatre with Sahr Ngaujah, who originated the title character on Broadway. The Broadway run, which features Kevin Mambo in the title role and Patti LaBelle as his mother, ends Jan. 2.

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Online: http://felaonbroadway.com

Zsa Zsa Gabor released from hospital

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Ailing 93-year-old Hollywood socialite and actress Zsa Zsa Gabor was released from hospital Saturday, her publicist told AFP.

"Zsa Zsa Gabor has been released from Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center this morning and she's at her home in Beverly Hills right now. She had an infection in her leg and she was being treated with antibiotics," said John Blanchette.

Gabor was rushed to hospital Friday after she complained of pain in her leg and swelling, which doctors at her home diagnosed as a massive blood clot that needed treatment in hospital.

It was the latest in a series of health complications and hospital visits by Gabor in recent months.

The actress was hospitalized in July after falling and breaking her hip. She underwent hip replacement surgery but suffered more complications, including a blood clot for which she had more surgery.

During another hospital stay in August, she called in a priest to administer last rites, then left the hospital a day later insisting that she wanted to be back at home.

The Hungarian-born actress's lengthy film career includes spots in a dozen films and television series, including John Huston's 1952 "Moulin Rouge" and the 1958 film noir "Touch of Evil" by Orson Welles.

She also lent her voice to several animated films and TV series.

But the platinum blonde is especially known for her flamboyant lifestyle, legal troubles, nine marriages and a propensity to call just about everyone "darling" with her distinctive accent.

London exhibit examines centuries of drug history

LONDON – So you think drug culture began at Woodstock in the 1960s? Think again.

A massive bong statue spanning the length of a room, the laudanum-induced 'Kubla Khan' manuscript and psychedelic videos in a riot of color await those curious enough to learn about 3,500 years' worth of human drug use.

"High Society," an exhibition opening Thursday at London's Wellcome Collection museum, examines the controversial history of opium, from pre-biblical practices to today's entire illegal drug market, which is worth an estimated $320 billion per year, according to the United Nations.

The multimedia extravaganza features over 200 artifacts, ranging from dope-inspired paintings and documents, to documentaries and art videos, to giant graphics examining the bloody trail of today's drug trade.

A confession corner gives visitors the chance to share personal experiences with mind-altering substances — anonymously, of course.

One of the aims of the exhibit is to de-stigmatize today's illegal drugs and show there is more to the subject than visitors may have thought, said Caroline Fisher, one of the show's co-curators.

After all, substances that many people ingest freely today — alcohol, caffeine and tobacco — have all been criminalized in years past or are still illegal in some parts of the world.

"Most people don't know that much about drugs earlier than the 1960's, they think that drug culture all started about 50 years ago," Fisher said. "But there's actually a really long and fascinating history behind it."

The oldest artifact — a decrepit, poppy-shaped clay opium jug — dates back to 1500 B.C.

In one of the exhibit's six sections, it presents kaleidoscope of what societies have labeled good or bad drugs and the paraphernalia needed to use them: a Victorian tobacco pipe alongside a contemporary needle kit for injecting drugs, a digital cannabis vaporizer, Chinese beer and Marks & Spencer wine.

A section titled "Collective Intoxication" shows cross-cultural appreciation of drugs in group settings, from the rituals of the Amazon's Barasana people to the "Love-in's" of the 1960's.

Co-curator Mike Jay, a historian and author, says the exhibit should challenge people to step back from the polarized debate about drugs to take a broader historical and cultural view.

"This is a subject that people come to with very strong prejudices on either side. What we're trying to do for people on both sides is to disturb those prejudices," said Jay, whose book "High Society: Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture" accompanies the exhibition.

"High Society" is free and runs until February 27.

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Online:

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/exhibitions/high-society.aspx

$35 million Warhol Coke bottle lifts Sotheby's auction

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A black-and-white Coke bottle on canvas by Andy Warhol sold for $35.36 million on Tuesday at Sotheby's robust contemporary and post-war art auction.

The sale of 54 works, an impressive 91 percent of which found buyers, totaled $222.4 million including commissions, beating the high pre-sale estimate of $214 million.

Five artists set auction records as collectors continued vying for works in the post-war art sector, an increasingly sought after sector of the art world.

"In this new market, it was a huge success," said Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's worldwide head of contemporary art, who also served as auctioneer.

It was the fourth successful sale in two weeks for Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips de Pury & Co.

After a precipitous decline following the 2008 financial crisis, the art market has made a solid recovery in 2010, driven in part by a huge infusion of new collectors abroad with fortunes newly forged in oil, gas and gold.

Led by Warhol's "Coca-Cola (4) (Large Coca-Cola)," which far surpassed the high estimate of $25 million, the sale was more evidence of the growing appetite for post-war works.

The market for such works, along with contemporary art, has in recent years challenged and sometimes eclipsed the demand for earlier Impressionist and "modern" auction categories.

"What's happening is that people have been moving into this market from the Impressionist market. ... It's become one market," said Meyer.

Prices commanded by top Warhols had put the pop artist in the same league as Matisse and Picasso, he added.

On Monday, Warhol's "The Men in Her Life," a multi-image depiction of favored subject Elizabeth Taylor, soared to $63.4 million at Phillips.

"It's a global, 20th-century iconic market," Meyer said.

Other highlights included a pair of works by Gerhard Richter that fetched $13.23 million and $11.3 million, and Francis Bacon's "Figure in Movement," which sold for $14 million. Each more than doubled the low estimate.

In all, six works sold for more than $10 million, including an untitled Rothko which went for $22.5 million.

The auctions conclude on Wednesday with Christie's contemporary and post-war sale, which is expected to be the season's biggest.

Jill Clayburgh's co-star had no idea she was sick

NEW YORK – In one of her final roles, Jill Clayburgh plays the mom of charismatic Viagra salesman Jamie Reidy (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the romantic comedy "Love and Other Drugs."

Gyllenhaal and the film's director Edward Zwick said they had no idea the Oscar-nominated screen legend was battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia at the time. They learned of it after their work together.

"I think part of her sickness is what made her live her life ... and really cherish the moments she had and cherish the people she was with," said Gyllenhaal while promoting the film in New York on Sunday. "And she did when she was with us, cherish those moments, and they made us all love her."

Gyllenhaal filmed with Clayburgh in September of 2009.

Clayburgh, 66, died Friday at her home in Lakeville, Conn., after a 21-year battle with the disease.

Gyllenhaal credits Clayburgh's iconic portrayal of a divorcee in 1978's "An Unmarried Woman" with helping his own mother through divorce.

"It helped her through that time in a way that no other movie or anybody else had," he said.

"She left an indelible impression on me," he said. "You don't really need much time to work or meet somebody and know that they're really alive ... and when I heard that (she was sick) I just thought, you know there's that moment when you go like 'oh, like maybe that might be why she was so extraordinary.' And it makes me want to encourage people to wake up and live it like Jill did."

Zwick said directing Clayburgh was "a real privilege."

"Her legacy is an extraordinary kind of acting which is of the highest level of authenticity but also of comedy. She managed to do both those things at once," he said.

"Love and Other Drugs," opening Nov. 24, also stars Anne Hathaway as Maggie, a free-spirited artist suffering from early onset Parkinson's disease.

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Online:

http://www.loveandotherdrugsthemovie.com/

New series shows family hurting financially

NEW YORK – Pawnbrokers, hoarders and cake bakers are unlikely subjects for popular reality series. Could families hit hard by the recession be next?

The WE television network on Saturday premieres "Downsized," an eight-episode series about the blended family of Laura and Todd Bruce who are struggling financially following the collapse of Todd's construction business.

Bruce used to take in $1.5 million a year. But in the first episode, he's shown emptying a bottle of change and his kids are shown dumpster-diving and selling a favorite baseball mitt to pay the month's rent.

"It's the face of the economic issue of our times," said John Miller, chief programming executive at the women-centered WE network.

One of WE's competitors, Lifetime, last week began airing "The Fairy Jobmother," about a supernanny-like consultant who tries to shape up jobless families.

Recession TV is a trend that can cut both ways. People with their own financial troubles may appreciate seeing others go through the same things, making them feel less alone or stigmatized. Yet it can be excruciating to watch the wounded pride on Bruce's face as he tells his wife not to borrow money from her father, or the shame of his 17-year-old daughter who tries to buy groceries and is told at the checkout that the family's public benefits had run out.

The Bruces have been married five years and have seven children from previous marriages. They live outside Phoenix. They lived well when construction was booming, frequently eating out, and didn't react quickly when tougher times came. Bruce racked up credit card debt trying to keep up and pay employees when the work went away. Laura Bruce is a schoolteacher, waitressing on the side and about to teach fitness.

They answered an ad from a television show looking for families who wanted to save money.

For the series, Miller said producers wanted a family "that felt like people next door that you would love to hang out with.

"They are a family that is facing a terrifying part of their lives and are united, instead of lashing out at each other," he said. "Instead of saying, `We're doomed,' they say, `We're a family and we're going to make it.'"

The Bruces haven't seen the first episode. They say the cameras weren't intrusive since they're used to having a lot of people around their house. Laura Bruce said she isn't ashamed by any of it, even though she has to make a painful call seeking money from her stepfather.

The frustration of not being a provider is evident on Todd's face. Cameras show him asking for quick payment for work he's done, and being refused.

They said they had a family meeting to decide whether to participate in the show and the children, who range in age from 10 to 17, all gave the go-ahead. The "nominal" payment for being in the series enabled the couple to pay back their children for money borrowed to make the rent, Laura Bruce said.

"It's about giving parents the ability to say that it's OK to talk to your kids about money because it is so taboo," Todd Bruce said. "They say never talk about money, religion or politics at the dinner table. I think the kids feel less pressure when they know what's going on."

The parents say they feel their children are grounded enough to deal with the attention that will come their way.

WE hopes the Bruce's story will strike a chord with other struggling families.

"People are tired of reality characters that are fun to watch because they are proud of being despicable," he said.

"Sex and the City 2" leads DVD sales chart

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – "Sex and the City 2" followed its predecessor to the top of the national DVD sales chart during its first week in stores, according to data issued Wednesday.

The sequel, which stalled at $95 million at the domestic box office, ended the two-week reign of "How to Train Your Dragon." The cartoon slipped to No. 2 on the Nielsen VideoScan sales chart for the week ending October 31.

Even though just 18% of "Sex and the City 2's" opening tally came from the Blu-ray Disc format, the film managed to lead Nielsen VideoScan's dedicated Blu-ray Disc chart.

Finishing a close second on the Blu-ray Disc chart was the "Back to the Future: 25th Anniversary Trilogy," despite a hefty list price tag of nearly $80. The trilogy also debuted at No. 5 on the overall sales chart, behind "Predators" at No. 3 and "The Girl Who Played With Fire" at No. 4.

"How to Train Your Dragon" led trade publication Home Media Magazine's rental chart for a second consecutive week. "Sex and the City 2" -- not yet available at Netflix and Redbox, which have a combined share of about 60% of the rental market -- debuted at No. 10 on the rental chart.

US actor Spacey receives British royal honour

LONDON (AFP) – Hollywood royalty Kevin Spacey was honoured by genuine British aristocracy on Wednesday when Prince Charles presented him with an award for his services to drama.

The Oscar-winning star was named an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition for his work at London's Old Vic theatre, where he has been artistic director since 2003.

The British heir to the throne presented the award, which is only given to foreign nationals in case of exceptional service to Britain, at a private ceremony in his official London residence, Clarence House.

"I was hugely, hugely delighted that Prince Charles has awarded me the CBE, which the Queen has so generously given to me for my services to theatre," the 51-year-old "American Beauty" star said after the ceremony.

"I am so honoured to live and work in Britain on behalf of the Old Vic Theatre."

Spacey has attracted fellow Hollywood heavyweights to tread the boards during his seven-year tenure at the historic theatre and frequently appears in plays himself.

The theatre, which is based in south London, opened in 1818 and has showcased performances by legendary actors Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench and Peter O'Toole.

E! Entertainment Television returns To Canada

TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) – Good news for celebrity junkies going cold turkey north of the border.

E! Entertainment Television will return to Canada on November 29 after being absent for more than a year, its Comcast parent said Monday.

Local broadcaster CTV has agreed to rebrand its Star! cable channel as E! Canada, bringing shows such as "Keeping Up With The Kardashians," "The Soup" and "E! True Hollywood Story" to 6.2 million homes countrywide.

E! Canada was previously delivered by CTV's Canwest rival, which rebranded its conventional TV network CH in September 2007. The channel faded to black in September 2009.

E! Canada will offer 50% Canadian programing, and 40% in primetime, to comply with local laws. That means homegrown celebrity-driven programing already airing on CTV will air on E! Canada, including "eTalk," TV specials and red carpet programing from Canadian film festivals and award shows.