People talk 080302

Voight takes father-daughter feud public

LOS ANGELES -- Actor Jon Voight has taken his family feud with actress-daughter Angelina Jolie to television.

Voight, who won a best-actor Oscar for the 1978 Vietnam War drama "Coming Home," requested an interview with the syndicated TV show "Access Hollywood" to say he is "broken-hearted" that Jolie won't talk to him. When he tried to approach her at a recent party, he said, a security guard turned him away.

"I've been trying to reach my daughter and get her help, and I have failed and I'm sorry," he said in the interview, which aired Thursday.

Voight, 63, indicated he believes he is to blame for much of the trouble between himself and his daughter, acknowledging that when she was a baby, he had an affair and subsequently left his wife and family.

Jolie, who won a supporting-actress Oscar in 2000 for "Girl, Interrupted," recently filed for divorce from her 46-year-old husband, actor Billy Bob Thornton, and is caring for an infant son, Maddox, she recently adopted from Cambodia. She declined to respond to Voight's remarks.

Voight said he and his daughter did manage to put aside their differences when they worked together on "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider."

"We had a wonderful time, it was great ... and we could say things that we weren't ever able to say to each other," he added.

Elton John to sing at Reno fund raiser

MIAMI -- Elton John has become the latest of Janet Reno's celebrity friends to help her campaign for governor, agreeing to sing at a September fund-raiser in Florida.

The 55-year-old entertainer will perform at a private, $500-per-ticket event Sept. 18 at a suburban Fort Lauderdale hotel, Reno spokeswoman Nicole Harburger said Thursday.

The two met when Reno was U.S. attorney general, and John recently invited the Democratic hopeful to an Academy Awards party, Harburger said.

"He said he'd do anything to support her campaign," she said.

Campaign officials for Reno's main Democratic challenger, Tampa lawyer Bill McBride, said they have their own plans. "But Bill may be singing, not Elton," said McBride spokesman Alan Stonecipher.

Reno has received help in her campaign to unseat Republican Gov. Jeb Bush from former talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell and "The West Wing" actor Martin Sheen.

Last month, she held a fund-raiser at Miami Beach nightclub Level, where she showed off her dancing prowess. The dance party was based on her January 2001 appearance on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

Denzel Washington makes directing debut

TORONTO -- Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington will bring "The Antwone Fisher Story," his directorial debut, to this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

Festival organizers said Thursday it will have a gala presentation.

The film is the story of a hot-tempered sailor (newcomer Derek Luke), whose visit to a naval psychiatrist (Washington) starts him on the road to emotional healing. It will be released in selected U.S. cities in late December.

The 27th Toronto International Film Festival will be held Sept. 5-14.

Brady will host Miss America Pageant

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Comedian Wayne Brady will host the Miss America Pageant this year, the first black master of ceremonies in its 81-year history.

Brady, 30, an Emmy-nominated entertainer best known for his work on ABC-TV's "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" will headline the Sept. 21 telecast culminating in the crowning of Miss America 2003.

He replaces Tony Danza, who had the job last year.

He was picked by pageant officials from a list of potential hosts provided by ABC-TV and Bob Bain, the telecast's executive producer.

George Bauer, interim president and chief executive officer of the Miss America Organization, called Brady a brilliant entertainer who embraces the pageant's ideals.

Asked why it took 81 years before a black host got a chance, he said: "I can't speak for the past 81 years. I can only speak for my time here."

-- From wire reports