Entertainment Briefs March 5, 2010
Barbara Walters ready to end her Oscars TV special
NEW YORK - Barbara Walters says her last Oscars special will be her best.Walters will sit down with actresses Sandra Bullock and Mo'Nique, both nominated for Academy Awards. Bullock is up for Best Actress for "The Blind Side." Mo'Nique is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "Precious."
Walters says she believes both will win.Walters is ending a 29-year-old tradition of talking to celebrities on Hollywood's biggest night by bidding farewell in her March 7 special.
While the 80-year-old journalist is known for getting stars to open up and often tear up on camera, she says the celebrity interview has become less special in recent years and many stars are overexposed.Walters isn't done with television. She'll continue to do the annual 10 most fascinating people special, co-host "The View" and do occasional pieces for ABC News.
Burt Reynolds released from hospital after bypass
JUPITER, Fla. - Burt Reynolds' manager says the actor has been released from a Florida hospital after a planned heart bypass operation.
Erik Kritzer said in a statement Wednesday that Reynolds had been scheduled for the operation for over a month.Kritzer said Reynolds went into the hospital on Monday and was discharged Tuesday.
Kritzer says the star of "Smokey and the Bandit," ''Deliverance" and "Boogie Nights" told him that he has "a great motor with brand new pipes" and is "feeling great."Last year, Reynolds spent time in a Florida rehab center after treatment for painkiller abuse following back surgery.
Reynolds is 74.
Official: NYC driver says Naomi Campbell hit him
NEW YORK - Naomi Campbell slapped and punched the driver of her Cadillac Escalade in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, then hopped out of the car and ran away, a law enforcement official said. Police were looking for the supermodel, who is known for her feisty temper.The driver, whose name wasn't immediately released, pulled the black Cadillac Escalade over near 58th Street and Second Avenue and called 911 after Campbell became enraged, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.
The driver, who suffered a bruised cheek, and Campbell's assistant were speaking with police at a precinct. He was apparently hired just for the day. Police were considering whether to charge Campbell with a crime.Messages left for Campbell representative Jeff Raymond were not immediately returned.
Campbell has faced a series of lawsuits and criminal cases accusing her of attacking her household employees - and two police officers at London's Heathrow Airport.She pleaded guilty in the Heathrow case in June 2008 after prosecutors said she cursed, kicked and spat at police in a rage over a missing piece of luggage; she was sentenced to 200 hours of community service.
She also did a week of community service sweeping floors and scrubbing toilets in a Manhattan garbage-truck garage in 2007 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault for hurling a cell phone at her maid because of a vanished pair of jeans.In 2000, Campbell pleaded guilty in Toronto to an assault charge for beating an assistant who said the model whacked her on the head with a phone.
A few of Campbell's former aides and maids have sued her, accusing her of violent outbursts; some cases have been settled on undisclosed terms.
Campbell, of Britain, became one of the world's highest-paid models after being discovered at age 15.