Blake says he has an alibi in wife's death
BURBANK, Calif., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Actor Robert Blake for the first time has said witnesses can confirm his whereabouts the night his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, was killed.
Blake, 72, testified Monday in the Burbank, Calif., wrongful death suit filed against him by Bakley's children that he spoke to undocumented workers in Vitello's restaurant on May 4, 2001 -- at the same time his wife was being shot to death outside, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Sources from the Los Angeles Police Department, who asked not to be identified, told the newspaper Blake had never before mentioned such witnesses.
Blake claims he had gone back into the restaurant to retrieve a gun he left behind and when he returned to his car, his wife was dead.
His criminal trial ended in acquittal earlier this year in Van Nuys, Calif.
As to the conversation "Baretta" star claims he had, a police investigator told the Times: "Unless Blake is going to produce those witnesses, it didn't happen as far as we know."
McCartney to help fund music in schools
DETROIT, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Rock superstar Paul McCartney wants to make sure today's children get a better music education than the "very bad" classes he had as kid.
"We had a music class kind of once a week, but the guy used to just put on a record and leave us alone with the record," McCartney, in Detroit for a concert, told USA Today of his music education in Liverpool, England. "So I'm afraid that didn't do an awful lot. We turned it down and told jokes."
To ensure his experience is not repeated, McCartney launched a national campaign Tuesday for his non-profit foundation called Music Lives.
McCartney is selling pewter bracelets engraved with his signature on stops throughout his U.S. concert tour and on his Web site, musiclives.org. The entire $40 raised by each bracelet will go to purchase instruments for children.
Fidelity Investments is the co-sponsor of the foundation and sponsor of McCartney's concert tour.
Museum and book honor world's laziest man
NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- New York's Museum of Modern Art is launching a new exhibit as a companion to Mel Watkins' book "Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Time of Lincoln Perry."
Stepin Fetchit, whose real name was Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, made millions of dollars -- unprecedented for a black actor at the time -- playing what he called "the world's laziest man" in 1920s and 1930s Hollywood films.
His shuffling dimwit persona made him both loved and loathed as he became the first U.S. African-American film superstar, The New York Daily News reported Tuesday. The love gave him marqee billing, but he was criticized for portraying a negative image of black men.
Both Watkin's book and the museum's exhibit, which bow Wednesday, explore the controversy surrounding Perry's life and his rise to stardom.
A museum spokesman told the Daily News Perry has been "dismissed and underappreciated" as an actor and a performer.
The Rev. Al Sharpton said the image portrayed by Perry as Stepin Fetchit is still a difficult one for many African-Americans.
'General Hospital' pages Dr. Drake stat
NEW YORK, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- "Jessie's Girl" singer Rick Springfield is headed back to ABC's "General Hospital" and the role of Dr. Noah Drake.
The Australian rocker portrayed the soap character from 1981 to 1983.
Springfield, 56, returns to "General Hospital" for at least four episodes starting Dec. 2, E! Online reports.
The last time "General Hospital" fans saw Dr. Drake, he was headed to Atlanta, E! noted.
"I guess there was a reason why they didn't kill Noah off in the '80s," Springfield said in a statement. "This should be fun."
