Entertainment Today: Showbiz News

BABY GIRL FOR CATHERINE AND MICHAEL

Oscar-winning parents Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas welcomed their second child into the world early Sunday.

Carys Zeta Douglas, the couple's first daughter, was born at Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J., not far from the couple's Manhattan home. Carys, who was 6 pounds, 12 ounces, when she was born, has a 2-year-old brother, Dylan Michael Douglas.

According to the family's publicist, mother and daughter are "doing fantastic."

The very pregnant Zeta-Jones wowed audience members and television viewers when she performed a song from the Best Picture winner "Chicago" at the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles last month. The actress won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of a murderous songbird in the musical.

"X-MEN" ACTORS DEFEND DIRECTOR

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Patrick Stewart are defending Bryan Singer against reports the "X-Men" director was "difficult."

Asked about stories that Singer got into a huge row with an executive producer one day, Romijn-Stamos said: "I actually wasn't there the day that happened, so I read it just like you did. The thing is he is a brilliant filmmaker and he made a brilliant movie and you gotta do what you gotta do to make a brilliant movie. I don't know exactly what happened, so I don't want to comment on it, plus I have to work with him on 'X-Men 3' and he's a really good friend of mine."

Stewart told reporters in New York Monday he noticed a significant improvement in the atmosphere on the set of the sequel compared to that on the set of the first film.

"It was different," he noted. "It was much more relaxed, much more easy-going. Bryan yelled less, which was good, except the only downside of that was that he kept telling people how much less he was yelling."

STARS TURN OUT FOR B'WAY'S BEST

Big stars aren't just acting in Broadway's hottest plays, they're also turning out in droves to see them.

Actress Kim Basinger recently was spotted at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre checking out the sexy cast of "The Look of Love," while singer/actress Bette Midler also caught a preview of the show and stopped backstage afterward to praise the cast's performance of 30 Bacharach & David love songs.

Basinger also took in a performance of Baz Luhrmann's production of Puccini's "La Boheme," along with opera star Placido Domingo, actor Ben Vereen, playwright Terrence McNally, director Garry Marshall, and Tony Award-winner Judith Ivey.

Actors Paul Reiser, Uma Thurman, Ethan Hawke, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and, of course, Basinger also were all seen attending a recent performance of "Nine," starring Antonio Banderas, Chita Rivera, Jane Krakowski and Mary Stuart Masterson.

Gay major league ball player Billy Bean, as well as Broadway diva Patti Lupone and Garry Marshall, attended a performance of the baseball-themed "Take Me Out."

Meanwhile, "Life (x) 3" at Broadway's Circle in the Square Theater continues to draw the stars. Patrick Stewart was seen at a performance and afterward he and "Star Trek" buddy Brent Spiner, who stars in the show, went out to celebrate. Other stars spotted recently include Alfred Molina -- who starred in Yasmina Reza's "Art" -- Steenburgen and Danson, Christine Lahti, Woody Harrelson, Woody Allen and Soon-Yi, Andrea Martin, Katherine Helmond, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Kevin Spacey, Robert Sean Leonard, Dan Lauria, James van der Beek and Mary Tyler Moore.

Al Roker, Charlie Rose, Peter Boyle, Joan Rivers and Peter Strauss were spotted checking out recent performances of "The Play What I Wrote."

"Life (x) 3"'s Helen Hunt was seen at "Batbra's Wedding" checking out her former "Mad About You" co-star John Pankow in the cast, while Reiser, another alum of the sit-com, was seen catching a performances of "A Day in the Death of Joe Egg."

GWYNETH MAKES 20th CENTURY STYLE LIST

Gwyneth Paltrow was the only young Hollywood actress named on a new list of the 20th century's most stylish women.

Compiled by Harpers & Queen for a new photographic exhibition in London, the list also honors such style icons as Joan Collins, Judi Dench, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Vivien Leigh, Ali McGraw, Jackie Kennedy Onassis and, of course, Princess Diana and Madonna.

The exhibition, which opens at London's Getty Images Gallery on April 30, recognizes those who have influenced the dress sense of their fellow women over the past 100 years.

Said Harpers & Queen editor Lucy Yeomans: "Style doesn't have to be a label. It's not something you find in your wardrobe. You've either got it, or you haven't. And these women definitely have it."