People talk 8B

Graham apologizes for anti-Semitic remark

CINCINNATI -- The Rev. Billy Graham condemned anti-Semitism on Friday, a few days after he apologized to local Jewish leaders for comments he made to President Richard Nixon in the 1970s.

On the second night of his four-day appearance, Graham noted that anti-Semitism has been on the rise in Europe. He reminded a crowd of about 37,000 at Paul Brown Stadium that bigotry is sinful.

"We need to do everything we can to be friends and neighbors to those chosen by God to be his people," Graham said.

When he arrived in Cincinnati to prepare for his appearance, Graham met with local Jewish leaders and apologized for his taped comments during a 1972 meeting with Nixon in the Oval Office.

On the audio tape released in March, Graham discussed his feelings about Jews in the media, saying, "This stranglehold has got to be broken or this country's going down the drain."

Graham told local Jewish leaders on Sunday that he doesn't remember making the remark.

Graham's mission marks his first public appearance in nine months. The 83-year-old preacher has been homebound in recent years by a variety of ailments, including Parkinson's disease.

King announces 'ghost' writer for best-seller

NEW YORK -- The mystery has been solved: Stephen King is not the author of "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer," a best seller based on the fictional character from King's "Rose Red" TV miniseries.

"Now it can be told -- the actual author of 'The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer' is suspense novelist Ridley Pearson," said King, who many assumed had written the book. He made the announcement in a message posted this week on his Web site.

"Ridley did a great job -- I couldn't have done better myself."

Rimbauer is a tormented industrialist's wife who lived in Seattle at the turn of the 20th century. Her diaries were "edited" by another fictional character, Dr. Joyce Reardon, a specialist in paranormal studies.

Connick household welcomes third child

NEW YORK -- There's another girl in the Harry Connick Jr. household.

The crooner's wife, Jill Goodacre Connick, gave birth to daughter Charlotte on Wednesday, a publicist for the singer said Friday.

Both mother and daughter were doing fine, the publicist said.

The Connicks already have two young girls -- Georgia and Sara Kate.

Connick, whose hits include "It Had to Be You," co-starred in the 1998 film "Hope Floats." He wrote the score for the Broadway musical "Thou Shalt Not."

Goodacre Connick is a former Victoria's Secret model.

The Connicks live outside of New York.

McKellen makes impact without words

SAN FRANCISCO -- Actor Ian McKellen says he wants to ride in a pink Cadillac for his stint as grand marshal in this weekend's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Parade.

McKellen, who starred in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and "Gods and Monsters," and actress Sharon Gless will serve as celebrity grand marshals in Sunday's parade.

Gless, best known for the '80s TV police drama "Cagney & Lacey," has a regular role as the mother of a gay man on the Showtime cable television series "Queer as Folk."

McKellen, 63, says he's comfortable as an openly gay actor.

"You don't always have to say things to have an impact," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Apparently the sight of me and my boyfriend holding hands at the Oscars quite caught people's eye. In regard to its impact, it was thought to be almost as good as an openly gay man getting an Oscar."

Documentary presents new Bruce Lee footage

LOS ANGELES -- A new documentary about Bruce Lee has reconstructed the finale to the late martial-arts star's unfinished film "Game of Death" nearly 29 years after his death.

"Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey," debuting on the American Movie Classics channel Tuesday night, features 33 minutes of finished footage presented according to an original outline by Lee, who also wrote and directed the movie.

The final scenes feature Lee's character as he fights his way through three levels of a pagoda to claim a treasure.

Producers released a version of the film five years after Lee died in 1973, but Lee only appeared in 11 minutes, and much of the new footage has never been seen publicly.

Some admirers of Lee considered the 1978 version an insult to his legacy because it features look-alikes in sunglasses and cardboard cutouts of the fighter in unfinished scenes.

"I didn't know what to think. They had to finish the movie with what they had and what they could add to it with other actors. They couldn't do it the way he wanted it done," said basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a trainee of Lee's who starred as the film's final villain.

Abdul-Jabbar said he was glad the documentary features at least part of the film in the way Lee intended.

Lee's displays of physical might and acrobatics earned him a cult following when he began starring in thrillers such as 1972's "Fists of Fury" and 1973's "Enter the Dragon."

But less than a year after his starring debut, he died at 32 from a brain edema.

-- From wire reports