Entertainment News from April 2000

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff


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Actor-director-producer Edward Burns is set to buy the late John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s Tribeca apartment for around $2.5 million. The apartment has been up for sale since the publisher died in a plane crash in July.
John Travolta and Kelly Preston welcome their second child, a 9-pound girl named Ella Bleu. The couple planned a “quiet birth,” keeping with Scientology tradition. Travolta said in practicing the method, “you try and keep the delivery room quiet so there's nothing recorded in the child's mind that shouldn't be there while there's pain going on.”
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Nicolas Cage has reportedly withdrawn divorce papers and plans to reconcile with wife Patricia Arquette, who he's been married to since 1995 but living apart from since 1996.
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A Las Vegas judge grants an annulment to Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire couple Darva Conger and Rick Rockwell. The couple were married during the Feb. 15 broadcast of the critically lambasted Fox show. She later learned that Rockwell's former finacée had filed a restraining order against him in 1991.
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Regis Philbin breaks the news on Live With Regis and Kathie Lee that Jerry Seinfeld and wife Jessica Sklar are expecting their first child in October. The couple married in December.
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Jamie Haven, Angelina Jolie's very dear brother, tells USA Today that there's nothing, well, illegal going on between brother and sister. After the Golden Globes and Oscars, when the pair were outwardly affectionate with one another, many were wondering about just how close the siblings are. “It is just a very close relationship and it has nothing to do with what they are implying,” he said.
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Annette Bening and Warren Beatty welcome their fourth child, a 9–pound, 2–ounce girl. She comes nearly two weeks late; the Best Actress nominee brought a suitcase along to the March 26 Oscar ceremony, anticipating the need for a quick exit.
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A stand-in actor, Willie Gaffney, is killed on the set of Proof of Life when the truck he was driving fell 450 feet into a gorge. He was playing the double of David Morse. No one else is hurt in the accident. The film also stars Russell Crowe, Meg Ryan, and David Caruso.
American Beauty wins Best Picture, Actor, and Actress at the British Academy of Film and Television Awards, England's equivalent of the Oscars. London theater director and recent Oscar winner, Sam Mendes, loses out in the Best Director category to Pedro Almodóvar, who helmed All about My Mother. For a full list of winners, see BAFTA awards.
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USA Today reports that NBC is ready to pay Today show co-host Katie Couric $10 million a year to stay with television's No. 1-rated morning show for two more years.
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Welsh-born Anthony Hopkins becomes a U.S. citizen. The Oscar-winning actor retains his British citizenship.
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Oprah Winfrey debuts O magazine. The Queen of All Media graces the cover and plans to be front and center on all issues “for the foreseeable future.” Winfrey labels her latest endeavor “a personal growth guide” that's targeted to the 25-to-49 demographic.
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People magazine reports that Fargo's William H. Macy and Sports Night's Felicity Huffman are expecting their first child. They married in 1997.
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To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Earth Day, ABC broadcast bits and pieces of Leonardo DiCaprio's “interview” with President Clinton as part of its Planet Earth 2000 special. The March sit-down, in which the media-savvy pair discussed environmental issues, stirred controversy, with “serious” journalists outraged over the glamorization of journalism. ABC reportedly contemplated shelving the powwow.
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Rumors have it that Matt Damon has left Winona Ryder for Penelope Cruz, his co-star in the upcoming All the Pretty Horses. The rumor mill also has Ryder cavorting with Mark Wahlberg. Naturally, none of this is confirmed.
Money manager Dana Giacchetto, whose clients include Matt Damon, Cameron Diaz, and Leonardo DiCaprio, is indicted on securities fraud charges. He allegedly bilked clients out of $9 million, using the money to finance his high-falutin' lifestyle.
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Broadway impresario David Merrick, famous for both his productions and his ruthless pursuit of publicity, dies in London at age 88. Not convinced 1961's Subways Are for Sleeping was destined to be a hit, he tracked down ordinary citizens with the same names a Broadway critics, treated them to a preview of the show, and published their glowing reviews. Known as the Abominable Showman, Merrick remains one of the most prolific and profitable producers in Broadway's history, having launched 88 shows, including the Tony Award-winning Beckett, Travesties, Hello, Dolly!, and 42nd Street.
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NBC announces it has renewed Law & Order through the 2005 season—the show's 15th. The extension makes the show television's longest-running police drama. Gunsmoke holds the drama record, with 20 seasons.

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