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Comic actor Reg Varney dead at 92

LONDON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- British comic actor Reg Varney, best known for his work on the TV series "On the Buses," has died at the age of 92, following a short illness, his family said.

Varney, who played Stan Butler on the 1970s comedy, died Sunday in the Budleigh Salterton nursing home where he was recently admitted after suffering a chest infection, his daughter Jeanne Marley told The Times of London.

"He's always been very young for his age. When he was in 'On The Buses' he was playing a 35-year-old, but he was actually 50," Marley said of her father, who started off in show business as a singer, piano player and stand-up comic.

The Times said Varney also had the distinction of being the first person to make a withdrawal from an automated teller machine at Barclays Bank in London in 1967.

Varney's wife Lilian died in 2002. He is survived by his daughter, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Friend: Cyrus death claim a hoax

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Miley Cyrus' friend Mandy Jiroux says someone posted a fake message supposedly from her on YouTube, falsely reporting the U.S. pop star was dead.

E! Online said a video set to Cyrus' song "Goodbye" and posted on the "Miley and Mandy Show" YouTube page early Sunday featured an alleged message from Jiroux claiming Cyrus had been killed by a drunken driver, even though the teen actress and singer is alive and well.

"Hey guys, this is Mandy and I have some very sad news :( ... We're very hurt to tell everyone this, but Miley died this morning after being hit by a drunk driver. Miley told us if anything ever happened to her, then we should let her fans know before the public," the Internet message attributed to Jiroux said. "R.I.P. honey, we will miss you so much."

However, Jiroux told E! News the video is the work of "a hacker" and it is being removed from the YouTube Web site.

She also wrote on her MySpace page that "some1 hacked the miley and mandy youtube account" and emphasized, "MILEY IS OK!!"

Stars line up to bid farewell to 'TRL'

NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- 50 Cent, Justin Timberlake and Beyonce were among the artists who turned out for the final taping of the music video show "TRL" in New York.

Fall Out Boy, Kid Rock, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg and Nelly also showed up for the MTV flagship show's 2,247th episode Sunday, The New York Times said. Hip-hop mogul Diddy, who is the show's most frequent guest, also dropped by for his 38th "TRL" taping.

The show reportedly had been canceled due to falling ratings, in part, because of the popularity of music and social networking Web sites.

"This is like a big high-school reunion in a way," the Times quoted Timberlake as telling former "TRL" host Carson Daly, who returned for the show's finale. "We kind of all grew up together."

Craig happy 'Quantum' followed up 'Royale'

NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- British actor Daniel Craig says he is pleased "Quantum of Solace" was made as a sequel to "Casino Royale" because he felt there was still more story to tell.

"Quantum of Solace," in which Craig reprises his "Royale" role of secret agent James Bond, was No. 1 at the U.S. box office this past weekend. The new movie picks up where the previous 007 flick left off, as opposed to sending Bond off on an unrelated adventure.

"We all wanted to continue this story (we started in 'Royale.') We wanted to finish this story off," Craig told UPI in New York recently. "We had unpicked the onion skins of this organization -- the bad guys, and he'd fallen in love and he was going to run off and go give up his job. So, that kind of colliding and Vespa's death, we wanted to finish off. So, hopefully, by the end of 'Quantum of Solace,' we've got this kind of whole character and now we can do what we want."

The actor admitted the increasingly spectacular stunts in the Bond movies can be a bit daunting, but insisted he tries to do what he can himself to maintain the sense of reality for moviegoers.

"So, there I find myself jumping out of a 30-foot window onto the top of a bus in Italy, going, 'What the hell's just happened to my life?'" he laughed. "But I think it's an intrinsic part of the movie. I selfishly want the audience not to snap out of the action. I want them to go, 'Oh, it's him!'"