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Civil rights-era singer Odetta dead at 77

NEW YORK, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Civil rights movement-era singer Odetta died of heart disease Tuesday in New York, her manager said. She was 77.

Doug Yeager told The New York Times Odetta had been hoping to sing at the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama next month.

Odetta, who was born Odetta Holmes, got her start singing in coffeehouses and wound up at Carnegie Hall. She also sang "O Freedom" at the 1963 civil rights march on Washington.

She grew up listening to blues, jazz and folk music, and earned a music degree from Los Angeles City College. In 2005, she told National Public Radio "School taught me how to count and taught me how to put a sentence together. But as far as the human spirit goes, I learned through folk music."

Her career waned in the 1970s and '80s but revived in the 1990s with regular appearances on the public radio show "A Prairie Home Companion." In 1999 she recorded her first album in 14 years and she was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Medal of the Arts and Humanities from. In 2003 she received a "Living Legend" tribute from the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center Visionary Award.

Odetta was married three times, to Don Gordon, Gary Shead and Iverson Minter, a musician known professionally as Louisiana Red. The first marriages ended in divorce.

Polanski seeks to have sex charges dropped

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Roman Polanski's lawyers have filed a request in a Los Angeles court asking that criminal charges brought against the filmmaker 30 years ago be dropped.

The Oscar-winning director pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful intercourse with a minor after he was accused of having sex with a 13-year-old girl in actor Jack Nicholson's home in 1977. Shortly before he was due to be sentenced, the French-born Polanski fled the United States and headed to Europe. He has not returned since.

The Los Angeles Times said Polanski is requesting the case be dismissed in light of "repeated, unlawful and unethical misconduct," allegedly perpetrated by a prosecutor and the trial judge, which the director's lawyers say is evident in the HBO documentary "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired."

A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Jan. 21 before Judge Peter Espinoza, the Times said.

Polanski's films include "The Pianist," "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown." He is also known for his doomed marriage to Sharon Tate, an actress who was eight month pregnant with his child when she was stabbed to death in 1969 by members of the Manson family cult.

Swayze angry about tabloid lies

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze says contrary to reports saying otherwise he hasn't taken a turn for the worse and started saying goodbye to his loved ones.

The 56-year-old star of "The Outsiders," "Dirty Dancing," "Ghost" and "Point Break," has been battling pancreatic cancer for months.

He recently wrapped work on the upcoming TV show "The Beast," while undergoing treatment for the disease.

Although media reports last week suggested Swayze was losing his fight, the actor issued an exclusive statement to People magazine Tuesday refuting the claims.

"I'm very proud of the work I've done on my new series 'The Beast,' and I am happy to be back home for the holidays. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to say you're gonna do something and do it," Swayze said.

He added, however, that "the only thorn in my side" is how "many tabloids have been consistently reporting lies and false information about me and those close to me."

"They're reporting that I'm on my last legs and saying goodbye to my tearful family," he said. "Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive disease and from the moment I was diagnosed, I knew I was in for the fight of my life. It's a battle, and so far, I've been winning. ... It's upsetting that the shoddy and reckless reporting from these publications cast a negative shadow on the positive and good fight I'm fighting. For me, my family, and those close to me, it amounts to downright emotional cruelty. That makes me angry when hope is so precious."

Kelly Rutherford expecting baby No. 2

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Kelly Rutherford's publicist told Usmagazine.com the U.S. television actress is pregnant with her second child.

Rutherford and her German businessman husband, Daniel Giersch, are already the parents of a 2-year-old son named Hermes.

The actress is a "Melrose Place" alum who can now be seen on "Gossip Girl."