Actress Lynn Redgrave dead at 67
HARTFORD, Conn., May 3 (UPI) -- British actress Lynn Redgrave has died of breast cancer in Connecticut, a publicist speaking on behalf of her children said Monday. She was 67.
The BBC confirmed the actress's Sunday death, which is the latest tragedy to strike the Redgrave acting dynasty in little more than a year.
Redgrave's brother, Corin, died of prostate cancer last month and her niece, Natasha Richardson, died after a skiing accident in March 2009.
Born March 8, 1943, in London, Lynn Redgrave was the daughter of late actor Michael Redgrave and late actress Rachel Kempson. She was also the younger sister of actress Vanessa Redgrave.
Lynn Redgrave studied drama at Queensgate School and had a well-established reputation for stage and screen roles when in the late 1970s she became popular in the United States for
television appearances, including a situation comedy, "House Calls," in which she co-starred with Wayne Rogers. It had its debut in December 1979.
Her movie career began with roles in "Tom Jones" in 1963 and "The Girl with Green Eyes" in 1964. Then came "Georgy Girl," for which she won a New York Film Critics award as best actress in 1966 in a tie with Elizabeth Taylor's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" as well as a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination.
More than three decades later, she won a Golden Globe Award and another Oscar nomination in 1999 for best supporting actress for her role as the long-time housekeeper of "Frankenstein" director James Whale in "Gods and Monsters."
"The 3 1/2 decades since (my last Golden Globe) have humbled me," she told reporters backstage. "I've been up and down ... I've been out. I'm having a renaissance at age 55."
Her film credits also included Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask," "The Deadly Affair," "Smashing Time," "The Virgin Soldiers," "Don't Turn the Other Cheek," "Every Little Crook and Nanny," "The Happy Hooker," "The National Health," "The Big Bus," "Peter Pan," "Kinsey," "The White Countess" and "The Jane Austen Book Club."
Polanski slams U.S. extradition bid
LOS ANGELES, May 3 (UPI) -- Film director Roman Polanski, who is under house arrest in Switzerland, says the United States wants to extradite him to "serve me on a platter to the media."
The 76-year-old Oscar winner has been under house arrest since December 2009 while he awaits a decision regarding whether he will be extradited to the United States in the decades-old case in which he was accused of drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. He was held in a Swiss jail for nearly two months before he posted bail and was placed under house arrest.
The filmmaker, who had been living in France but was in Switzerland to attend a film festival at the time of his arrest last year, has not traveled to the United States since he pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to having unlawful sex with a minor. He fled the United States before he could be sentenced.
Polanski's lawyers have alleged misconduct on the part of the Los Angeles criminal justice system at the time of the plea deal and are fighting extradition from Switzerland to the United States.
Polanski spoke about the situation during the weekend for the first time since his arrest last year.
"I can no longer remain silent because the United States continues to demand my extradition more to serve me on a platter to the media of the world than to pronounce a judgment concerning which an agreement was reached 33 years ago," E! News quoted Polanski as saying in a statement.
"I have had my share of dramas and joys, as we all have, and I am not going to try to ask you to pity my lot in life. I ask only to be treated fairly like anyone else," he continued. "It is true: 33 years ago I pleaded guilty, and I served time at the prison for common law crimes at Chino, not in a VIP prison. That period was to have covered the totality of my sentence. By the time I left prison, the judge had changed his mind and claimed that the time served at Chino did not fulfill the entire sentence, and it is this reversal that justified my leaving the United States."
Chely Wright confirms she is gay
NEW YORK, May 3 (UPI) -- U.S. country music singer-songwriter Chely Wright has confirmed she is gay.
People.com recently announced a celebrity planned to come out as homosexual in this week's issue of its magazine.
The announcement sparked much media speculation about who the star would be.
"There had never, ever been a country music artist who had acknowledged his or her homosexuality," Wright, 39, told People. "I wasn't going to be the first."
She went on to say she later experienced a change of heart.
"Nothing in my life has been more magical than the moment I decided to come out," Wright said.
The award-winning musician is to publish her memoir, "Like Me," later this week. She is also to release "Lifted off the Ground," her first album in five years, People.com noted.
Seth Green marries Clare Grant
LOS ANGELES, May 3 (UPI) -- Seth Green's publicist confirmed the U.S. actor and screenwriter has married his longtime girlfriend, model-actress Clare Grant.
A source told People.com the couple exchanged vows at a private vineyard in Northern California Saturday.
No other details about the ceremony were immediately available.
Green is a former child actor who went on to co-star in TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," as well as the films "Rat Race," "Without a Paddle" and "Old Dogs."
He is also the executive producer and co-creator of "Robot Chicken," for which Grant does voice work, People.com noted. Green lends his voice to the character of Chris on the animated series "Family Guy," as well.
