People talk 10/5/01

Brolin, Driver put mutual stop to wedding plans

LOS ANGELES -- Actor Josh Brolin and actress Minnie Driver have canceled their wedding plans.

Brolin, 33, and Driver, 30, announced their engagement in April but did not set a wedding date.

The split was "mutual and amicable," Driver's publicist, Ame Van Iden, said Wednesday, without disclosing details of the breakup.

The London-born Driver, who's had romances with "Good Will Hunting" co-star Matt Damon and "Grosse Point Blank" co-star John Cusack, met Brolin on the set of 1998's "Slow Burn."

Brolin previously was married to actress Deborah Adair.

The son of actor James Brolin, he also has appeared in "The Goonies," "Flirting With Disaster" and "Hollow Man."

Driver earned an Oscar nomination for her role in "Good Will Hunting" and also starred in "Return to Me" and "Beautiful."

Leno's wife praises Afghan women's rights

LOS ANGELES -- Mavis Leno carried her four-year fight for women's rights in Afghanistan to a big stage: husband Jay Leno's "The Tonight Show."

Introduced by Leno as "the smartest person I've ever known in my life," Mavis Leno used her appearance Wednesday to discuss the plight of Afghan women and her hopes for their future.

"Everything that constitutes human rights, but life itself, has been swept away from them by the Taliban," she said, referring to the ruling Afghan regime.

As part of the Los Angeles-based Feminist Majority Foundation, Leno has been an outspoken critic of the Taliban and supporter of increased humanitarian aid to Afghan women since 1997.

In her first "Tonight" appearance in two years, Leno said that until recently, Afghanistan was a moderate country that granted women equal rights in education and employment.

"We're just talking 1996, not talking about the 1920s," she said. Then the Taliban "took over at the point of a gun" and put women in a situation she said "essentially amounts to house arrest."

The Taliban, accused of sheltering Sept. 11 terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden, faces increasing international isolation. But Mavis Leno said there is still a burgeoning effort to establish a constitutional democracy there.

"If this could happen, after five years of torment, these women could see the world again and come out and be free, and it would be one human rights situation out of all the endless list that would end happily," she said.

Gregory Hines goes on with shows in Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. -- Tap dancer and Emmy nominee Gregory Hines believes the time is right to share his art, so he's going ahead with two shows in Kansas this week.

After performing Thursday at the Topeka Performing Arts Center, Hines was to appear Friday night at the Carlsen Center on the campus of Johnson County Community College in Overland Park.

"I'm going to sing. I'm going to dance," Hines told The Topeka Capital-Journal by phone from a tour stop in Springfield, Ohio. "I'm going to go out there and try to distract the people for about an hour or so."

Hines, 55, has been traveling by air in the weeks since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and said he has seen calm among his fellow passengers. On one flight, the pilot suggested that the passengers introduce themselves to one another "and connect a little bit, which was nice," he said.

Hines plans to return to Los Angeles for Sunday night's Emmy Awards show, in which he is nominated as outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or movie for the title role of "Bojangles." It took him 12 years to get the Showtime film made, about the life and career of tap dancer and entertainer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

Wynonna Judd plans two shows at Army base

FRANKLIN, Tenn. -- Wynonna Judd plans to rally the troops at Fort Campbell, Ky., on Friday with two shows at the Army base.

The shows are a response to the terrorist attacks on the United States, Rondal Richardson of Judd's management company, Wynonna Inc., said Wednesday.

"I am a Kentucky girl, and it made perfect sense to come home to be with these families," the singer said in a statement.

"Since Sept. 11, I have been searching for a way to actually do something to make a difference during this trying time for our nation. I am so inspired by the renewed sense of patriotism of our country, and I want to participate with and remind the soldiers at Fort Campbell that we are unified behind them."

The Ashland, Ky., native came to fame in partnership with her mother, Naomi Judd, with hits including "Why Not Me" and "Mama He's Crazy." On her own, she has scored hits such as "No One Else on Earth."

Actress charged in vehicle death of boy

LOS ANGELES -- Actress-model Rebecca Gayheart has been charged with misdemeanor manslaughter for the death of a 9-year-old boy she struck with her car in June.

The Los Angeles City Attorney's office declined to file a more serious felony charge against the former "Beverly Hills, 90210" star, saying the accident did not involve alcohol or drugs.

But the lesser charge, issued Sept. 18, indicates that investigators believe some degree of negligent driving caused the child's death.

If convicted, she could face fines, a year in jail and loss of her driver's license.

"It's a sad case," said her lawyer, Harlan Braun. "It's one of those things that could happen to anybody."

Jorge Cruz Jr. was hit on June 13 in Hollywood and died the next day from severe head injuries. The Los Angeles Police Department said several cars had stopped to allow the youngster to cross a street when Gayheart's Jeep entered a left-turn lane to pass slowing cars and struck him.

The 29-year-old actress expressed "sorrow and regret" for the accident, and paid for Cruz's hospitalization and funeral.

-- From wire reports