Comedian Schimmel dies from injuries
PHOENIX, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Comedian Robert Schimmel died in a Phoenix hospital from injuries suffered in automobile accident, his spokesman said. He was 60.
Schimmel was a passenger in his daughter's car when she lost control after swerving to avoid another accident on I-10 in Phoenix on Aug. 26.
The actor was best known for his appearances on the "Howard Stern Show" and appeared on several HBO programs, including his own special, "Unprotected," ABC News said Saturday.
Schimmel's daughter, Aliyah, 19, remains hospitalized, and his 11-year-old son was uninjured. Aliyah was expected to recover from her injuries, Schimmel's spokesman, Howard Bragman, said.
Schimmel had a heart attack in 1998 and in 2000 was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, from which he recovered. He later wrote a book about his treatment, calling it "Cancer on $5 a Day (chemo not included)."
Schimmel was arrested in 2009 after an altercation with his now ex-wife, the New York Daily News reported.
Jordin Sparks starring in 'In The Heights'
NEW YORK, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Season 6 "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks is starring as "Nina" in Broadway's "In The Heights" for a limited engagement.
Sparks, 20, was 17 when she won the Fox TV singing competition. She is now taking her cred -- boosted by a platinum album, five Top 20 hits and a Grammy nomination -- to the Great White Way, where she is gracing the stage of the hit musical through Nov. 14.
"The singing is the easy part. It's in the telling of the story and staying in character each day where I learn something different," Sparks told the New York Daily News Saturday.
Sparks said she is "trying to put me in there as well as still being Nina," a student at Stanford University who returns to New York's Washington Heights neighborhood to "confront her past as well as her painful present," the News said.
Bristol Palin 'not heartbroken' over Levi
HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Bristol Palin "tried to make it work" with Levi Johnston, the father of her child, but they "aren't meant to be," she told Jay Leno in Hollywood.
"I'm not disappointed. I'm not heartbroken," Palin, the eldest daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, told Leno on NBC's "Tonight Show" Friday.
"I tried to make it work for my son. It didn't work, and I realized that we're not meant to be, and I'm just focused on being a good mom," Palin said.
Leno asked Palin about Johnston's purported plans to run for mayor of Wasilla -- where Sarah Palin was mayor from 1996 to 2002.
"He needs to move to Wasilla, to the city limits, and he needs to get his GED," Bristol Palin responded with a laugh.
She told Leno rehearsals for her upcoming stint on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars" are no joke.
"We've had three days of rehearsals. I expected it to be hard work, but I'm so uncoordinated and don't have any rhythm so we're starting from scratch," she said.
'Crocodile Dundee' free to leave Australia
SYDNEY, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan is free to leave Australia after reaching a deal with tax officials who grounded him over a tax dispute, his attorney says.
Hogan's lawyer issued a statement saying the actor would be allowed to fly back to Los Angeles but first must provide monetary security in the multimillion-dollar tax dispute. The amount of security wasn't specified.
Hogan, 70, who resides in Los Angeles with his wife and son, is in a long-running dispute with the Australian Tax Office over the amount of taxes he owes in Australia. When he returned to Australia to attend the funeral of his mother, the Australian Tax Office placed a travel restriction on him and prevented him from leaving the country.
Hogan is best known for his performance as Crocodile Dundee -- a wise-cracking denizen of the Australian outback who travels to New York City -- in the 1986 movie of the same name.
He also was featured in a series of ads for Australian tourism.
Hogan's lawyer, Andrew Robinson, issued a statement Friday saying his client still has outstanding issues with the Australian tax department, The Age newspaper in Melbourne reported.
"While the commissioner and Mr. Hogan remain in dispute on more general taxation issues, Mr. Hogan continues to protest his innocence and denies any wrongdoing," the statement said.
The Age said the agreement that allows Hogan to return to the United States followed a "cordial and co-operative meeting" between lawyers for the tax office and Hogan.
