Ailing Dave OK
Dave Chappelle was hospitalized for exhaustion over the weekend in Los Angeles, Associated Press reports.
The District-born funnyman, 33, checked into an emergency room on Saturday and was released a few hours later, his publicist Carla Sims said.
“It was exhaustion; he had been traveling. He’s fine,” Miss Sims said, while declining to provide further details.
Mr. Chappelle walked away from a $50 million deal to continue his Comedy Central show in May 2005 and briefly took a respite in South Africa. He has said reports that he checked into a mental health center in that country are false. He has since returned to the stand-up circuit. In April, he broke the endurance record at the Laugh Factory comedy club in Los Angeles by delivering a more than six hour-long stand-up routine.
’Lear’ must cover rear
Sir Ian McKellen has been asked to avoid nudity during a key scene in William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” when it is staged in strait-laced Singapore this week — a request he called “silly,” Agence France-Presse reports.
But the British actor, who plays the lead role, said he hadn’t been offended by the compromise intended to allow minors in the city-state to watch the play. People under 18 would have been barred from looking at the 68-year-old’s naked body, even though he has disrobed for the scene in question during performances in Britain.
“It is King Lear doing it, not Ian McKellen doing it, so I don’t take particular offense if I’m told, ’Would you mind not doing it?’ ” the actor said prior to today’s kickoff of the play’s world tour in Singapore.
Mr. McKellen starred as Gandalf in the “Lord of the Rings” movie trilogy.
After its Singapore engagement, “King Lear” will be seen in Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and London’s West End.
Grace note
Dresses, jewelry and memorabilia belonging to Grace Kelly are scheduled to go on display in New York later this year to mark the 25 years since the death of the film star-turned-princess of Monaco.
According to AFP, items from the exhibition will include evening gowns, photographs, letters, video and other items spanning her life, most of which have never been seen outside of the tiny principality of Monaco.
“The pieces selected for this exhibition highlight her great beauty and style for which she is so well-known,” said James Niven, vice chairman of Sotheby’s and son of actor David Niven, a close friend of the late princess.
The exhibition is being organized by Monacan authorities and Sotheby’s in collaboration with the Monaco royal family and will open in mid-October. Among the featured items: the blue satin column dress and cloak she wore to the 1955 Academy Awards ceremony when she accepted the best actress Oscar for her role in “The Country Girl,” the Oscar statuette itself and the taffeta dress with floral motif she wore when she first met her future husband, Prince Rainier III, while attending the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.
Compiled by Robyn-Denise Yourse from Web and wire reports
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