Playwright Lanford Wilson dead at 73
NEW YORK, March 25 (UPI) -- Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson has died from complications of pneumonia in Wayne, N.J., said his longtime collaborator Marshall W. Mason.
Mason confirmed Wilson's death Thursday at the age of 73 to The New York Times.
The Sag Harbor, N.Y., resident, who was born in Lebanon, won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for drama for "Talley's Folly."
He also wrote the plays "The Gingham Dog," "Talley & Son," "Fifth of July," "Burn This," "Angels Fall," "Redwood Curtain," "The Hot l Baltimore," "Lemon Sky" and "Balm in Gilead."
Wilson is survived by two half-brothers, John and Jim, and a stepsister, Judy, the Times said.
Battery report filed against Vince Neil
LAS VEGAS, March 25 (UPI) -- Vince Neil's ex-girlfriend filed a battery report with Las Vegas police after an alleged physical confrontation with the Motley Crue rocker, TMZ said Friday.
The woman was with two friends at a Hal Sparks concert at the Las Vegas Hilton when Neil allegedly yelled obscenities at her, prompting security at the hotel to summon police, sources told the celebrity news Web site.
The woman told police Neil became physically abusive with her and one of her friends, TMZ said. Neil had not been arrested for the alleged incident, the report said.
The musician and former "Skating with the Stars" contestant served 10 days in jail last month on a driving under the influence charge.
Goldberg smoked pot before Oscar win
LOS ANGELES, March 25 (UPI) -- U.S. actress Whoopi Goldberg admits in a newly discovered 1992 video clip she smoked marijuana before accepting her Oscar statuette for her work in "Ghost."
Goldberg's win marked the first time an African-American woman took home an Academy Award since Hattie McDaniel did so in 1940 for "Gone with the Wind," E! News noted.
TMZ this week posted online a video clip dated Aug. 9, 1992, in which Goldberg talks about how she calmed her nerves before the 63rd Annual Academy Awards.
"Smoking cigarettes and pot every now and then are my habits," said the actress, who later served as Oscars host four times and is now the moderator on "The View."
"And I thought, 'I've got to relax,'" she recalled in the video. "So I smoked this wonderful joint that was the last of my home-grown."
She said when presenter Denzel Washington read her name as the winner: "I popped up. I thought: 'Oh [expletive] ... OK, up the stairs ... around to the podium ... there's millions of people, pick up the statue, get the statue.'"
Goldberg went on to give a heartfelt acceptance speech, during which she said: "Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted this. You don't know!"
Lopez apologizes for Alley 'piggy' quip
LOS ANGELES, March 25 (UPI) -- Talk-show host George Lopez has apologized for using the word "piggy" to describe Hollywood actress Kirstie Alley, who has battled weight issues for years.
On Monday's edition of "Lopez Tonight," Lopez joked about Alley's performance on "Dancing with Stars," using a parody of the "This Little Piggy" nursery rhyme as the punch line.
The New York Daily News said Lopez apologized via Twitter Thursday to Alley for his remarks.
"I misjudged the joke," he tweeted. "No malice was intended and I apologize to Kirstie."
Shortly before Lopez's apology, Alley told her fans not to "worry about George's comments," the Daily News said.
"Just remember what happens to the big bad, drunk woolf," Alley tweeted. "Falls in a boiling pot of vodka. Piggy laughs."
