Entertainment News from May 2000
Updated August 5, 2020 |
Infoplease Staff
- 1
- When negotiations break down in a heated contract dispute, Time Warner Cable blacks out ABC from 3.5 million households. The timing couldn't be worse for ABC: the May sweeps are just underway. ABC, which is owned by Disney, and Time Warner had been discussing how much Disney would pay Time Warner to be part of the company's cable system. In the end, ABC returned to the air after two days, and the two companies agreed to extend discussions through July 15.
- Steve Reeves, actor and former Mr. Universe, who played the title character in 1959's Hercules, dies at age 74. His other film credits include Last Days of Pompeii and Thief of Bagdad.
- 5
- Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton marry in Las Vegas. The Oscar winners exchanged vows in a short ceremony at the Little Church of the West. It's the fifth marriage for Thornton, 44, and the second for Jolie, 24.
- 6
- ER's Noah Wyle and makeup artist Tracy Warbin marry in a ceremony at a California winery. They met on the set of The Myth of Fingerprints.
- 7
- Debonair actor, producer, and diplomat Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. dies at age 90. He starred in 75 films, including The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) and Gunga Din (1939). The son of silent film legend Douglas Fairbanks, the younger actor initially resisted swashbuckling roles to avoid inevitable comparisons with his father, but his most successful films were indeed action adventures.
- 9
- Hayden Christensen has reportedly been chosen to play Anakin Sykwalker in Star Wars: Episode II, according to Variety. The 19-year-old Canadian will star opposite Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala.
- 11
- George Clooney makes what he planned on being a surprise appearance on Julianna Margulies' farewell to ER. His two-minute return was a well-kept secret until NBC publicized it amid leaks.
- 10
- Halle Berry pleads no contest to a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of a car accident. She's fined $13,500 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. The sentence stems from a February incident in which she allegedly crashed into a car and fled the scene. Neither drugs nor alcohol were involved. Berry sustained a gash in the forehead, and the other driver, Hetal Raythatha, suffered a broken wrist and back and neck pain.
- 13
- Ben Stiller and actress Christine Taylor marry in a private ceremony on Hawaiian Island of Kauai. It's the first marriage for both. Taylor is best known for playing Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie.
- 14
- The six cast members of Friends sign a two-year contract, with each actor earning $750,000 per episode, up from the $125,000 they now make.
- 15
- NBC announces its fall schedule and reveals that Frasier has been pulled from the Thursday lineup. Will & Grace will take its place in the coveted 9 p.m. timeslot. Frasier moves to Tuesday at 9 p.m.
- 18
- Dana Carvey testifies that in 1998 a surgeon performed angioplasty on the wrong artery. Carvey sued Elias Hanna for an undisclosed amount. The doctor blamed the mistake on Carvey's “unusual anatomy.”
- 19
- Rosie O'Donnell wins her fourth consecutive Best Talk Show Host at the Daytime Emmy Awards. General Hospital earn its seventh consecutive award for Best Soap Opera. See Daytime Emmys for a full list of winners.
- 21
- British stage actor Sir John Gielgud, known for his intelligence, sensitivity, fine voice, and ability to interpret both classic and modern playwrights, dies at age 96. Widely considered one of the finest actors of the 20th century, Gielgud specialized in portraying Shakespearean characters, though he was able to seamlessly transform himself into a virtuoso character actor in plays by Oscar Wilde, Anton Chekhov, and Harold Pinter. His performance of Hamlet, first given in 1929 and repeated more than 500 times, is considered one of the great interpretations of the role. Other stage credits include Romeo and Juliet, Measure for Measure, and Julius Caesar. He won an Oscar for his portrayal of the butler in 1981's Arthur.
- 22
- Lars Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark takes the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and the movie's star, Icelandic rock star Björk, wins best actress. Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-Wai won top acting honors for In the Mood for Love. For a full list of winners, see Cannes.
- 23
- Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy announces that the band will disband after its The Sacred and Profane Tour 2000, which will wrap up by the end of the year.
- Elizabeth Hurley and Hugh Grant announce that they've split up, temporarily at least. They said in a statement, “It is a temporary thing. It is a mutual and amicable decision. [They] would like to stress that there are no third parties involved.”
- 24
- In keeping with the year's awards mishaps (remember the stolen Oscars?), nearly 10,000 tapes of Everybody Loves Raymond episodes were stolen from a North Hollywood parking lot. The tapes were set to be sent to television academy members for Emmy Award consideration.
- 26
- ABC wins the May sweeps for the first time in five years, due in large part to the continued success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
- 29
- Mission: Impossible 2 takes in $71.8 million in its first four days of release, making it the second-highest four-day opening of all time. The Lost World: Jurassic Park holds the record, with a whopping $90.2 million.
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