The daily dish... a spicy serving of celebrity news
Published: November 09, 2009, 12:30 am
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Not giving in…
Prostate cancer couldn’t keep Dennis Hopper away from the Breeders’ Cup on Saturday.
The actor and artist, 73, attended the Breeders’ Cup in support of The V Foundation for Cancer Research, the official charity of the year-ending thoroughbred championships Saturday at Santa Anita Park in Southern California.
It was revealed last month that Hopper had been diagnosed with cancer, although he said Saturday he’s been battling it for the past nine years. He’s started a new, experimental treatment at the University of Southern California that he says he hopes will help. “It has great promise,” Hopper said. “Everything’s good right now.”
Hopper is one of racing’s biggest and best-known fans and has been to five Breeders’ Cups. The “Easy Rider” star recently finished shooting the second season of “Crash,” a TV version of the Oscarwinning 2004 film. Hopper also has several film projects in the works.
Convict gone wild…
A judge sentenced “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis on Friday to 301 days already served and a year of probation for filing false income tax returns and bribing Nevada jail workers.
U. S. District Judge S. James Otero accepted the terms of a plea deal between Francis and prosecutors, who struck the agreement after learning on the eve of trial that a key witness had withheld information from them.
The soft-porn mogul was indicted by a federal grand jury on tax evasion charges in 2007. He initially was accused of taking $20 million in fraudulent tax deductions.
Under the deal, Francis pleaded guilty in September to two misdemeanor counts of filing false tax returns and one count of bribing Nevada jail workers in exchange for food.
He acknowledged omitting more than $500,000 in interest income on his 2003 tax returns and said he gave more than $5,000 in goods to the jail employees.
The plea deal also required Francis to pay $250,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Fraternal justice…
Two-time Oscar-nominated actor James Woods has sued a Rhode Island hospital over the 2006 death of his younger brother.
Woods told the Associated Press he wants “justice” for his brother, Michael, who was 49 when he died at Kent Hospital in Warwick of what was believed to be a heart attack.
Woods claims his brother received negligent medical care. A spokesperson for the hospital did not return an e-mail seeking comment Friday. It was not immediately clear how much money or other damages Woods is seeking.
A jury was selected last week and lawyers argued motions in court Friday. Opening statements are scheduled for today.
Drew a library draw…
An Ohio library has acquired a piece of art that will help celebrate the local connection to fictional kid detective Nancy Drew.
The painting created in 1931 as cover art for the fifth Nancy Drew book will now hang in the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library.
The library had been looking for an original Nancy Drew cover for years and bought its find through an online auction in March with $9,500 in donations.
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