People talk 8/28

Singleton gets star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

John Singleton has turned Hollywood Boulevard into his 'hood.

The "Boyz N the Hood" director accepted a star Tuesday on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the acclaimed gangland drama about three friends growing up in South Central Los Angeles.

Among the celebrities attending the ceremony outside the historic Chinese Theatre were Laurence Fishburne, who played the tough father in "Boyz N the Hood," and actor-model Tyrese, who starred in Singleton's 2001 drama "Baby Boy."

"Everything John said he would do he has done," Fishburne said. "He has a never-say-die attitude."

The 35-year-old director wrote the script for "Boyz N the Hood" as part of his work as a film student at the University of Southern California.

The film helped launch the acting careers of its young stars, Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube and Morris Chestnut, and earned Singleton Academy Award nominations in 1992 for best director and best screenplay.

"I am tripping out," Singleton said Tuesday. "In 1977, when I was 9 years old, I had a date with my dad to go the Chinese Theatre to see 'Star Wars.' This is where I learned to appreciate cinema. I want to thank my dad for that."

Singleton's other credits include "Poetic Justice," "Shaft," "Higher Learning" and "2 Fast 2 Furious." An anniversary edition of "Boyz N the Hood" debuts on DVD Tuesday.

Virginia senator to marry real estate agentSen. John W. Warner is planning a December wedding to Alexandria real estate agent Jeanne Vander Myde, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

Warner, a five-term Republican from Virginia and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, proposed to Vander Myde Aug. 15 in a small chapel in Scotland's Edinburgh Castle, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

"I'm a very, very fortunate man to have the honor and privilege to be married to this wonderful lady," the 76-year-old told the newspaper in a telephone interview from Botswana, where he and his fiancee were traveling.

"I'm proud of her independence and small business work," the senator said.

The marriage would be the third for Warner and for Vander Myde, 65.

Vander Myde said she met Warner in 1973 when he was secretary of the Navy and she and her husband were attending an inaugural ball at the start of Richard Nixon's second term. She said her husband, Paul, was a fan of Warner's and introduced her to him.

Warner remained friends with the couple. A few months after Paul Vander Myde's death in 2000, Warner said, he and Jeanne Vander Myde "played a couple of games of tennis -- and here we are!"

Warner's first marriage was to banking heiress Catherine Mellon. He married a second time to actress Elizabeth Taylor. Both marriages ended in divorce.

Vander Myde has been twice widowed, Warner said.

The couple plan to wed Dec. 15 at National Cathedral in Washington.

Sharif regrets not sharing Venice with woman

Omar Sharif has traveled the world and seduced a good chunk of it with his dapper manner, yet the Egyptian-born actor laments one dream he has never realized: to see this beautiful city with a woman he loves on his arm.

Sharif is presenting his latest film, "Monsieur Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Quran," at the Venice Film Festival and is receiving a career achievement award here. All this put him in a reflective mood.

"I admit that the Golden Lion career award made me happy, as much as one can talk of happiness today," he wrote in an article in Corriere della Sera newspaper Wednesday, the day the festival opened. "It arrived at the right time -- this year it is exactly 50 years since that I started to make films. It was 1953, more than 80 films ago."

Sharif, the 71-year-old star of films including "Funny Girl" and "Doctor Zhivago," said he'd seen the world, "but Venice continues to amaze me." He described it as "the most beautiful city on the planet."

"Unfortunately, I've never been on the lagoon with a woman I loved," he said. "I never had a romantic stroll down the streets with a woman.-- From wire reports

--"Maybe it's a good thing," he added. "I still have one thing to do in Venice."

Boreanaz still enjoys being an 'Angel'

David Boreanaz says playing the TV vampire "Angel" is like being possessed by a legion of rambunctious spirits.

The supernatural drama on the WB chronicles the "life" of a youthful-looking 250-year-old bloodsucker who's trying to redeem his history of wickedness by helping people in demon-infested Los Angeles.

The DVD of the second season of "Angel" debuts Tuesday.

The program, recently renewed for a fifth season thanks to support from critics and its outspoken fans, often flashes back to Angel's brutal youth in 18th century Europe, his struggle to become good after being cursed with a soul by gypsies, his brooding life as a loner in America during the early 20th century, and his occasional magical reversal into murder and evil.

It's the 32-year-old's eighth year playing Angel, who started out as a love-interest on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in 1997.

"People say, 'Don't you get bored playing this character? Do you feel like you're going to get typecast?' I say, 'You know, I play this character that embodies every character I'd want to play down the line in my career,"' Boreanaz said. "I get to play an action-adventure guy, and the vulnerable hero, or the Satanic cult guy, the evil guy, so I've been having a good time."

Boreanaz said the series has been revamped -- so to speak -- and will include the bleached-blond bad-boy bloodsucker Spike, played by James Marsters, from "Buffy," which ended its run in May.

Jackson to open Neverland to guests

Like a real-life Willy Wonka, Michael Jackson has announced plans to open his carnival-style Neverland Ranch estate to 500 guests.

The invitation-only event, set for Sept. 13, is a one-time-only gathering, complete with dinner, magicians, games and a tractor-trailer full of stuffed animals, according to Jackson publicist Stuart Backerman.

Tickets for two people cost $5,000, with $1,000 from each sale being divided among three charities. Jackson will keep the rest -- Backerman said it would pay for costs of the party.

Jackson's Neverland Ranch, in Santa Barbara County, includes an amusement park with bumper cars, a merry-go-round and a Ferris wheel.

Guests also will receive a "goodie bag" worth about $1,000 and an original painting by Brazilian artist Romero Britto.

Backerman said 250 tickets will go on sale, potentially worth $1.25 million. The maximum $250,000 charitable donation will be split between the Make-A-Wish Foundation for sick children; Oneness, dedicated to erasing racism through art and music; and E Ai Como E Que Fica, a Rio de Janeiro group that provides food, clothing and medical care to impoverished children.

Jackson's former financial advisers settled a lawsuit against him in June that suggested he was overburdened with debt and near bankruptcy. That has led to speculation that the Neverland property, recently assessed at $12.3 million, would go on the market.

Knee injury sidelines athlete's acting careerSerena Williams' dramatic acting debut has been postponed because of her recent knee surgery.

The tennis star had been scheduled to shoot scenes for the Showtime series "Street Time" in mid-August for an episode to air Oct. 1. Now she's expected to begin shooting Sept. 8 for an episode airing on the cable channel at 9 p.m. Oct. 22.

Williams, the 2003 Wimbledon winner, will play a reformed gang member on parole.

"I am looking forward to filming the show. It's something that I am really excited about doing," the 21-year-old said in a statement Tuesday. "It's so nice of them to accommodate me in this way."

Previously, Williams has appeared in TV commercials with her sister, Venus, and played a kindergarten teacher last year in an episode of the ABC sitcom "My Wife and Kids."

"Street Time," starring Rob Morrow, follows the lives of ex-cons and parole officers.