'Virgin' actor pleads innocent in stabbing
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Shelley Malil, a supporting player in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," has pleaded innocent in a California court to a charge of attempted murder.
The actor who has appeared on "Scrubs," "The West Wing" and "Seinfeld" is accused of stabbing his girlfriend, 35-year-old Kendra Beebe, at least 20 times at her San Marcos house while her two young children were home, E! Online said. He allegedly became enraged after seeing her with another man.
Malil, 43, was arrested earlier this week at an Ocean City train station. He is being held on $10 million bail at the San Diego County Detention Center.
E! Online said the attempted murder charge brought against him includes the special circumstances of premeditation, causing great bodily injury and using a deadly weapon.
Malil could face life in prison if convicted.
Beebe was hospitalized in critical condition Sunday night, E! Online said. The entertainment news Web site didn't offer an update on her condition in its report Wednesday.
"There was a prolonged attack," prosecutor Steve Carver told the media following Malil's arraignment. "He came up and started stabbing her immediately without any words or argument."
Carver said the attack only ended when a neighbor intervened.
"He did not stop his murderous acts voluntarily but because of the heroic acts of the neighbor," Carver said.
E! Online said Malil's representatives have not issued a comment since his arrest.
John Lennon's killer rejected for parole
ALBANY, N.Y., Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Mark David Chapman, who has spent more than two decades in a New York prison for killing John Lennon, has been turned down for parole again.
The decision released Tuesday was the fifth rejecting Chapman for release, the New York Daily News reported.
Chapman shot Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980, in front of the Dakota, the New York apartment house where the former Beatle lived with his wife, Yoko Ono. He sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for the killing.
Ono wrote the Parole Board opposing release, saying that she feared for her own life and those of Lennon's two sons if Chapman is free. She told the News that Chapman himself might not be safe outside of prison.
A two-person Parole Board panel agreed that Chapman has had a clean record in prison for the past 14 years. But the board found that his good conduct doesn't outweigh his crime.
"Your conduct thus precipitated a horrendously tragic event which has impacted many individuals," the panel said in its ruling.
Paula Wagner stepping down as CEO of UA
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Paula Wagner is stepping down from her chief executive officer post at United Artists so she can concentrate on producing films, the Hollywood studio said.
UA and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios confirmed Wednesday that Wagner will move to the role of a producer under her own independent production shingle and be attached to UA's "most exciting film properties."
"In November 2006, United Artists was reborn under a partnership formed between Tom Cruise, Wagner and MGM," the studios said in a news release. "Wagner will continue to be a part owner of UA and hold a significant stake in UA's future success. Nothing will change in regard to Mr. Cruise's involvement with UA and he continues to have a substantial ownership interest in the company. Furthermore, Mr. Cruise and Ms. Wagner will continue to work on film projects together."
'Rocky Horror' creator not part of remake
LONDON, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- "The Rocky Horror Show" creator Richard O'Brien says he is not involved in a planned remake of the movie adaptation of his 1973 British stage musical.
The campy 1975 film "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," starring Susan Sarandon, Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick and Meat Loaf, went on to become a cult classic.
But O'Brien told the BBC he is not involved in a planned remake of the original movie, which he co-wrote based on his stage show.
The new film reportedly is being co-financed by Sky Movies in England and MTV in the United States.
"I have no view on whether it should be remade but it doesn't have my blessing," O'Brien told the BBC. "I'm not co-producing it and I won't be involved in any way. The first I heard about it was when people sent me cuttings from U.S. papers."
O'Brien said he thinks the new film's makers said he was collaborating on the remake "to suggest I've given the project my seal of approval."
"I don't know where they'll go with it really," he said. "I've even heard that they're going to put new songs in. I wrote the book, the music and the lyrics. Where are they going to get the songs from? Who's going to do that? That's a bit strange, isn't it?"
