'The Cutest Boy In The Eighth Grade'
Don Wasley
If Bill and Hillary Clinton ever split, Don Wasley wants the former First Lady to know he'd be there
for her on the rebound.
"I'm available," says Wasley, a 53-year-old divorced father of two and a former heartthrob of young
Hillary Rodham when they were both growing up in suburban Park Ridge, Ill.
Wasley, described by Hillary during her White House years as "the cutest boy in the eighth grade," now
finds himself between jobs in the shoe business and living quietly by himself in a townhouse in Tiburon,
Calif., just outside of San Francisco, according to my source. On his wall hangs a framed letter, written
to him by the New York senator when she was still First Lady.
The framed letter, Wasley says, acknowledges that she had a crush on him. It came after he wrote to
her after she mentioned that she used to wear a T-shirt in elementary school that asked, "Where's Don Wasley?"
'The Cutest Boy In The Eighth Grade'
Just A Couple Of Guys, Pitching A Hissy
Judd & Mark
Remember the e-mail spat between Judd Apatow & Mark Brazill, the producers from faux?
Read it in all its glory...
Judd & Mark's Hissy Fit
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Once again, didn't see too much TV tonight. This won't last much longer...LOL
Bought some 'bubble lights' for next year at Target today...last year on the day after Christmas
the store was pretty well cleaned out by noon. This year, there was a lot left over for
tomorrow and the next day.
Tonight, Thursday, CBS has a fresh 'Survivor: Africa', followed by
reruns of 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' and 'The Agency'.
NBC has all reruns - 'Friends', '?' in place of 'Inside Schwartz', 'Will &
Grace', 'Just Shoot Me', and 'ER'.
ABC has an hour of 'Whose Line' reruns, then a fresh 'Regis' and 'PrimeTime
Thursday'.
The WB has a fresh 'Popstars', followed by reruns of 'Maybe It's Me' and
'Charmed'.
AMC has Spencer Tracy's last film, 'Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?', a suave Cary Grant in
'Charade', and Hitchcock's 'The Birds'. 'The Birds' was filmed in Bodega Bay, CA,
north of San Francisco. Back in the 80's, it was also a popular site for beginning hang-gliders.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Off They Go...
Leno & Yoakam & Isaak
Taking his show on the road for the holidays, comedian Jay Leno made a daylong flight recently to
entertain troops stationed overseas as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Leno was joined by a bevy of other stars, including fellow comedians Cedric "The Entertainer" and Willie
Barcena, as well as singers Dwight Yoakam and Chris Isaak, in bringing the troops some holiday cheer.
The group left aboard an Air Force KC-10A Extender at midnight Thursday on a 20-plus-hour flight from
Travis Air Force Base to an undisclosed location in southwest Asia. There, they performed for about
1,000 troops, with Leno serving as master of ceremonies.
The group returned early Monday.
Leno, et al
Updated!
BartCop TV!
Visit the site at BC TV
The 'Vidiot' never seems to rest - and doesn't let little things like laundry or
housekeeping get in the way!
Damn near every show on TV must is listed - days & days worth of great reading.
If you have any questions about nearly any tv program, check out
BC TV!
House Fire In Vancouver On Christmas
Frances & Francesca
Clint Eastwood's 8-year-old daughter and his former girlfriend escaped a Christmas morning house fire.
Francesca Eastwood, who crawled out her bedroom window onto the garage roof of the burning home and
jumped into the arms of a neighbor, was not seriously injured.
Her mother, actress Frances Fisher, in Vancouver to film a TV series, was treated at Vancouver General
Hospital for burns to her hands.
Constable Christy Veenstra of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police called Eastwood on Tuesday to tell him what had happened.
His reaction was ``like any father would be who gets a call on Christmas Day about a fire,'' said Veenstra.
``Shock. Very somber. Asked how they were doing. His immediate reaction was to get to his daughter.''
The cause of the fire wasn't immediately known, but there was significant damage, said North Vancouver
assistant fire chief Steve Atkinson.
``They're very, very fortunate to have escaped alive,'' Atkinson said.
Frances Fisher
Out Of Retirement, After 12 Years
''Yule Log''
Brought out of retirement after a 12-year hiatus, the ``Yule Log'' -- quite simply, a camera trained on a
piece of wood set ablaze inside a homey fireplace, with a background of holiday music -- won the Christmas
morning ratings race for New York's WPIX-TV.
Perhaps the ultimate in non-scripted, no-frills programming, the Yule Log aired from 8-10 a.m. The Tribune
Co.-owned indie pulled a 3.1 rating and 10 share for the two hours, according to Nielsen Station Index numbers.
The Yule Log had been a WPIX staple from 1966-89 and later was revived on the Internet. The log, along with
other holiday programming including the mid-1980s edition of ``A Christmas Carol'' starring George C. Scott,
helped WPIX win the day from sign-on to sign-off.
''Yule Log'' Rules!
''Buffy'' Cuts Her Hair
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Buffy's about to cut that Spike right out of her hair. Either that or Buffy the Vampire Slayer is just taking
a scissors-style poke at its old haircut-conscious network, the WB.
Whatever the case, brace yourselves, Scooby geeks: Sarah Michelle Gellar has chopped her long, blond locks for
the January 8 episode of Buffy. According to a UPN press release, "In a moment of panic over her relationship
with Spike, Buffy chops off her hair."
But before you start thinking Buffy went and pulled a Felicity--which, you might recall, spawned a hair-raising
media frenzy and the WB's infamous "no haircut" policy--reps for Buffy say the snipping wasn't quite so drastic
for the bloodsucker-battling heroine.
"It's not Keri Russell short," insists a spokeswoman for producer 20th Century Fox Television. The episode,
appropriately titled "Gone," was filmed at the beginning of November, and "she cut barely five inches--it's
to her shoulders," the Fox rep adds. "It looks like her hair did in the second season."
Viewers will get a chance to decide for themselves January 8.
Buffy Cuts Her Hair
Fun Link
Magonia
Fellow travellers on the ship of fools
To Direct ''Anger Management''
Peter Segal
Director Peter Segal (''Nutty Professor II: The Klumps'') will test his comic mettle again with ``Anger
Management,'' starring Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson.
Sandler will play a timid businessman who is wrongly sentenced to an anger-management program, where he has
his life turned upside-down by an ultra-aggressive instructor who hardly practices what he preaches.
Segal will be paid more than $2 million to shoot the Revolution Studios project, while Sandler and
Nicholson have agreed to payments under their normal asking price in order to maintain the picture's $56 million budget.
Filming begins in Los Angeles in mid-March. Revolution has a domestic distribution deal with Sony Pictures.
''Anger Management''
New!
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Re-Incarnation Of Benjamin Franklin?
Billy Bob
Billy Bob Thornton thinks he just might be the re-incarnation of . . . Ben Franklin. "I feel real connected
to him somehow. He was really quite a guy," the quirky star of "Monster's Ball". Thornton also said he might
be interested in playing Franklin in a movie. "Most people just hear about him flying a kite," Thornton says.
"He did a lot of [bleep]. I thought that if I ever played a real-life person, I'd play him. Maybe I will."
Billy Bob On Ben Franklin
Pawn Or Power Player?
Michael Jackson
The bitter, burgeoning battle between the Grammys on CBS and Dick Clark's American Music Awards on ABC rages on.
The pawn in the power play is Michael Jackson. CBS, which will air the 44th Annual Grammys February 7, has
announced it will rebroadcast its November sweeps hit Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special on January 9 from 9-11 p.m. ET/PT.
That just happens to be the exact same time slot when the 29th American Music Awards airs on ABC.
The move appears to be a slap in the face of ABC and particularly Dick Clark, who produces the AMAs.
Jackson is scheduled to appear on Clark's Grammy-rivaling trophy fest accepting the Artist of the Century
award. The singer was originally supposed to be performing on the AMAs, but, according to Clark, Grammy
honcho Michael Greene used "unfair business practices" to keep Jackson off the ABC show.
That led Clark to launch a $10 million lawsuit last week against Greene, president of the National Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences. After years of accusing Greene of banning artists who performed on the AMAs from
appearing on the Grammys, Clark says he finally pulled the trigger on a lawsuit after his longtime pal
Jackson allegedly reneged on a commitment to perform on the AMAs because of Greene's arm-twisting.
For its part, CBS, which stood firmly alongside the Recording Academy in supporting Greene and the Grammys'
booking policies, says the Jackson rerun is merely a coincidence and not a malicious move countering Clark's lawsuit.
For those keeping score at home, the AMAs, whatever their ratings, are also scheduled for a rebroadcast:
January 11 on ABC Family, the Alphabet network's cable outlet.
Of course, this isn't the first time Jackson's been at the center of a network tug-of-war between ABC and
CBS. In November, ABC removed Jackson's performance of "Man in the Mirror" from its broadcast of the United
We Stand: What More Can I Give? benefit concert after CBS complained that Jackson was violating an agreement
barring him from appearing on a competing network until after his CBS special aired.
Michael Jackson As A Weapon?
Not Good News From Broadway
7 Shows Shuttering
Broadway shows ``By Jeeves,'' ``The Rocky Horror Show'' and ``Kiss Me, Kate'' will shutter at year's
end, with ``Dance of Death,'' ``Hedda Gabler,'' ``The Women'' and ``Thou Shalt Not'' closing shortly after.
Which leaves the sobering prospect that three shows -- ``The Producers,'' ``The Lion King'' and ``Mamma Mia!'' -- could
very well produce one-third of Broadway's total gross.
Come Jan. 6, 14 shows will be taking part in Season of Savings, a discount theater ticket program offered by the League of
American Theaters & Producers. The program reaches the public through 28-page brochure inserts that will appear in tristate-area
newspapers. Tickets go for between $45 (``Cabaret'' and others) and $65 (``Aida'') during first-quarter 2002 and are offered in
conjunction with reduced rates for hotels, restaurants, transportation and parking.
Most Broadway shows also are offering their own more steeply discounted winter sales, as advertised in various newspapers.
7 Shows Shuttering
'Ban Hunting With Hounds'
Sir Paul McCartney
Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney renewed calls Wednesday for the government to ban hunting with dogs.
McCartney and other British celebrities called on the ruling Labor government to allow a free vote on
the issue in parliament.
His demand comes on one of busiest days in the British fox hunting calendar, when thousands take part in
fox hunts or line the routes to protest against the practice.
``We want to live in a country where it is illegal to inflict pain and suffering by hunting wild animals
with dogs -- an activity that we along with most British people believe is cruel, unnecessary and outdated,''
McCartney and other campaigners said in a letter to the government. Among those supporting the campaign are
McCartney's fashion designer daughter Stella, actress Jenny Seagrove and former model Twiggy.
A ban on hunting with hounds, brought in 10 months ago to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, was
partially lifted Monday.
Prime Minister Tony Blair pledged after his June re-election to give members of parliament a chance to ban fox hunting.
Paul McCartney & Fox Hunting
Living In 2 Different Worlds
Kim Coles
Kim Coles says she lives in two different worlds: the regular world and Hollywood.
``In the regular world, I am a funny, smart, semi-foxy size 16 who very much likes the woman she has
grown to become,'' the actress says in the January issue of Rosie magazine. ``In Hollywood, I am a funny,
smart, cute, chubby actress who would get a lot more work if she were thinner.''
The 39-year-old Coles says she's worked as a plus-size model and she's gotten down to a size 8 by running
and lifting weights - but she wasn't happy then. She was hungry and tired.
``By the time I started working on the sitcom 'Living Single,' around 1993, I had gained 15 to 20 pounds.
Eventually I put all the weight back on,'' she says. ``I finally realized that while being healthy and fit
is important, being miserably skinny is not. Today I am fortunate, because I still work despite my size
and sometimes because of it.''
Kim Coles
TV Land Commissioned Statue
Mary Richards
Mary Richards won't be tossing her hat in downtown Minneapolis until spring.
The cable channel TV Land commissioned a $55,000 bronze sculpture by Milwaukee artist Gwendolyn Gillen
showing Mary Tyler Moore - as her TV news producer character, Mary Richards - tossing her hat in the
air in downtown Minneapolis, as depicted in the opening credits of ``The Mary Tyler Moore Show.''
Originally, the sculpture was to have been installed this fall, but TV Land asked for a postponement
after business slowed at its New York offices following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The sculpture
now will be installed in April, said Mary Altman, spokeswoman for the city's Office of Cultural Affairs.
Mary Richards Statue
Baby News
Cindy Margolis
Cindy Margolis will soon be downloading a baby from her burgeoning belly. Margolis, who was the most
gawked-at woman on the Web in the late '90s, tells mystique-magazine.com that she and deli mogul hubby
Guy Starkman are expecting. Let's hope motherhood treats Cindy better than her acting career. Aside from
her ill-fated TV outing "The Cindy Margolis Show," she's landed bit parts in "Austin Powers" and the
Carrot Top vehicle "Chairman of the Board."
Cindy Margolis
New! Updated!
(10 Dec., 2001)
The official BartCop Astrologer, Geneva, has done good, again!
Currently, look at the charts of George Harrison.
Very interesting reading!
Waiting Tables Near LAX?
Halle Berry
In "Monster's Ball," Halle Berry plays waitress Leticia, widow of a Death Row inmate, who falls in love
with a former prison guard played by Billy Bob Thornton.
In real life, Berry worked as a waitress years ago when she moved from Cleveland to Chicago to pursue a modeling career.
Recently, Marie Claire magazine challenged the 35-year-old actress to don a wig and waitress uniform, and
work at a real diner under the name Leticia.
Berry obliged the magazine by briefly working at Pann's, a diner that's near the Los Angeles International
Airport. Then she wrote a first-person account on her experiences for the February issue.
Portraying Leticia — a single mother living in Georgia — brought back a lot of memories for Berry, who was
raised by her mother after her abusive father left when she was 4.
"I am finding Leticia a hard character to shed," she adds. "Both in the movie and in this diner, she has
taught me that you have to live, even when the unthinkable happens ... No matter what pile of s--- is thrown
your way, you have to deal with it, eat it, do whatever you have to do and move on."
Halle Berry
Liberal Radio !
Erin Hart
Liberal radio - what a concept!
Join Erin Hart at www.710kiro.com or www.kiro710.com (It's
a browser thing) when she subs for Lou Pate on Dec. 27th and 28th from 1 am to 5 am (that's Thursday and Friday REALLLY early,
or late depending on your pov).
She'll be back to celebrate the New Year and Year in Review Dec 29th and 30th, regular or near regular time.
For more details, visit Erin's homepage, http://www.erinistas.com/.
Say 'Hi' to Brian, the Webmaster, and, while you're there, check out his computer tips!
A Step Too Far
Steve Bing
Millionaire producer Steve Bing, locked in a war of words with actress Elizabeth Hurley over the
paternity of her unborn baby, filed suit against a British tabloid Wednesday for printing his phone
number and urging readers to call and berate him.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims libel, invasion of privacy, and infliction of
emotional distress, and asks for damages of $10 million or more. It names the publisher of The Mirror
and four reporters and an editor for the London-based paper as defendants.
Earlier this month, The Mirror, which has called the producer a ``sleazeball'' for his alleged treatment
of the pregnant actress, published his business phone number and told readers they had a chance to tell
him ``exactly what you think of him.''
``They basically gave his telephone number out and told readers to call up and tell him how they feel,''
said Bing's lawyer, Marty Singer. ``He got death threats. It was a very reckless thing to do.''
Bing is the grandson of New York real estate magnate Leo Bing and has produced such films as ``Get Carter.''
A Step Too Far
Last Saturday Night In NYC
Michael & Derek
Even after he plunged another dagger into the Knicks Saturday night, Michael Jordan was mobbed when he walked
into the VIP room of Eugene with Derek Jeter and Ahmad Rashad. Jordan, puffing on a cigar, graciously signed
autographs and posed for pictures before downing bottles of Veuve Clicquot and vodka with Jeter and company.
Also at the red-hot party were Chelsea Clinton and a passel of pals, plus sexy starlet Summer Altice,
who was celebrating her birthday with model Jacqui Rickards.
Last Saturday Night
Impending Nuptials?
Shriver - Lazenby
Love match when Australian actor George Lazenby agreed to step into Sean Connery's patent leather pumps and play
James Bond in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," it pretty well ended his career. The fans in those 1969 days
would accept no substitutes for Connery as Agent 007.
Now Lazenby, 62, has resurfaced on the arm of former tennis queen Pam Shriver, and they will be wed shortly.
Pam made a fortune of the pro circuit, invested wisely and is a star commentator on ESPN. According to the
L.A. Times, she's selling her Brentwood home for about $900,000 and is looking for something more lavish in
which to reside with the still-dashing Lazenby.
Shriver - Lazenby
BC Entertainment Favorite Link
Moose & Squirrel Information One-Stop
http://geocities.com/mooseandsquirrel1
What a great site! Information and reference materials of the first order!
Between 'Moose & Squirrel' and 'Google', who needs 'refdesk'!
Lump-Sum Pay Off?
Mariah Carey
It didn't take long for the glitter of pop diva Mariah Carey's new multimillion dollar record deal with EMI Group
Plc to lose its luster.
Three months after the commercial flop of her first EMI release, the British-based music giant is seeking to buy
out Carey's contract by offering her a huge lump-sum payment in exchange for her departure from EMI's Virgin Records
label, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.
The Times put the value of Carey's EMI contract at $80 million for four albums, although other reports have said
she signed for as much as $118 million for five albums.
``Glitter,'' Carey's debut album at Virgin and the soundtrack to the film she starred in, sold a disappointing
two million copies worldwide since its release in September. By comparison, her 1993 album ``Music Box,'' released
by Sony, sold more than 20 million copies domestically and overseas.
Carey is one of numerous high-profile recording acts -- among them R.E.M., Macy Gray, and Shelby Lynne -- whose
latest albums tanked during a year in which the music industry has seen declining sales overall.
EMI executives are now in talks to pay a multimillion dollar settlement to Carey in return for her agreement
to bail out of the label, the Times said.
Mariah Carey
Jobs They Missed On 'Career Day'
Toy Inventor
The fortresses sit, rarely noticed, next to a video store in Palo Alto, among warehouses in San
Francisco's Mission District, near docks in Sausalito.
Some of them don't have windows or signs marking their entrances. At one, visitors must pound on the door or
holler through the mail slot just to be admitted.
"The public doesn't need to know what goes on here," explained a man who works inside.
After all, he and his colleagues work in the top-secret business of toy invention. Those lucky enough to pass
through the doors of the studios - in which secretive designers create some of the world's most fun toys, most
intriguing board games and silliest bubble-blowing devices - are in for an eye-catching, awe-inspiring treat.
In their ultra-cool jobs, the designers - who have backgrounds in a variety of fields, including mechanical
engineering, business and art - think up the next toy topping kids' holiday wish lists. Design a trendy blockbuster
like Tickle Me Elmo or a classic like Monopoly, and fame and fortune follow.
But until the toys hit the shelves, those in the competitive business must zip their lips about just what goes on inside.
With about 20 toy studios, the Bay Area is the second largest of these kooky hot spots. New York leads the nation
with close to 30. "The Bay Area attracts creative risk-takers, and being in the toy area is a real risky thing,"
explained Bob Moog, head of San Francisco's University Games. "You're developing products whose success or failure
depends on the taste of 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds. Secondly, 70 percent of the toys sold in America are sold between
Nov. 1 and Christmas. That's much riskier than buying or selling, say, motor oil."
But it's a lot more fun.
Here, take a peek behind the doors of three studios.
Jobs They Missed On 'Career Day'
www.tagenttoy.com
www.ugames.com
www.skylinetoys.com
More Billy Bob
''Monster's Ball''
Billy Bob Thornton said he and Halle Berry got through their intense, explicit love scene in the movie ``Monster's Ball''
because they both have stable personal lives off-camera.
Thornton plays a death row prison guard who falls in love with Berry's character, the wife of a man who's recently been executed.
``I know who Halle is in real life. Halle is a woman who has a great marriage and has a great husband, who I know,
and she's a stepmom. She's real focused on her life and real focused on her family,'' Thornton said.
``I'm in exactly the same situation. I'm in a family that has a stepmom, and I'm a father, and our life is very important to us.''
More Billy Bob
An ``Honest Mistake''
geraldo
Fox News Channel said Wednesday that war correspondent Geraldo Rivera had made an ``honest mistake'' in his
reporting of a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan.
The network said it had accepted Rivera's explanation and planned no further action.
A Fox News Channel statement said network executives had reviewed the tapes of Rivera's work and concluded:
``It was an honest mistake. Based on Geraldo Rivera's 30-year track record, Fox News has full confidence in
his explanation and journalistic integrity. This is not the first, nor will it be the last, mistake made in a war zone.''
The network has no plans to discuss the incident on the air.
Bob Steele, ethics director at The Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank, questioned the extent of
Fox News Channel's investigation into its star correspondent.
``Unfortunately for Geraldo Rivera, his track record is marred,'' Steele said. ``He has been significantly
criticized in the past for everything from hyperbole to factual inaccuracy. This incident raises profound
questions about his journalism and his ethics.''
geraldo's ''honest mistake''
Tale Of A Cad's Cad?
john clark
Lynn Redgrave's embittered ex-husband is writing a tell-all book about his "travails" over the past three
years with the Oscar-nominated actress.
John Clark was married to Redgrave for 32 years. She divorced him in 1999 after discovering he'd had a love
child with their daughter-in-law, and he now lives in a trailer on the beach in Malibu after being evicted
from the house the couple shared. He's vowing revenge against Redgrave for his descent into disrepute.
Clark claims that he first met his son's future wife, Nicolette, in 1990, when she was a "depressed young
visiting English friend, a dis-fellowshipped [excommunicated] Jehovah's Witness whose mother had just died in the street.
Clark says Nicolette ended up staying with him and Redgrave, and worked as their personal assistant. After
giving birth to Clark's love child Zachary, Nicolette needed a green card to stay in the U.S. "She married
our son [Ben] for that purpose only, which was illegal and arranged by Lynn," Clark claims.
In 1999, Redgrave discovered that Clark had fathered a child with Nicolette, whom Ben had by then divorced.
Redgrave filed for divorce, and Clark told the sordid story of intra-family infidelity to the National Enquirer.
Since the scandal broke, Clark's children have not spoken to him, Redgrave has repeatedly savaged him in the
press, and Nicolette has claimed he "manipulated" her into bed and "used her as a piece of meat."
Seems Like He Still Doesn't Get It
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Memory
Sir Nigel Hawthorne
Sir Nigel Hawthorne, the veteran British actor whose memorable stage and screen roles ranged from a control-freak
politico to insane royalty, died Wednesday at age 72.
Hawthorne suffered a heart attack at his home in Hertfordshire, north of London, his agent Ken McReddie told
wire reports. The thespian had been battling pancreatic cancer for nearly two years and recently underwent chemotherapy.
While his distinguished career spanned five decades, Hawthorne's biggest success came late in life, gaining
acclaim for his role as the smooth civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby on the BBC's long-running political satire,
Yes, Minister. In 1995, he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his lead role in The Madness of King George,
chronicling the fall into insanity of England's King George III. The original stage production also earned him
an Olivier Award in 1992.
Most recently, Hawthorne costarred with Whoopi Goldberg in the TNT movie Call Me Claus, playing Santa Claus.
And despite his failing health, Hawthorne helped promote the movie's release to home video.
Hawthorne was born in Coventry, England, in 1929, but was raised in South Africa. While he began his acting
career in a Cape Town theater production and then moved to London at the age of 22, Hawthorne was a late bloomer,
not experiencing major success until he neared middle age.
In a 1999 interview, Hawthorne said it was theater figure Joan Littlewood who pushed him to take risks and
led him to rethink his philosophy toward acting. "Instead of putting on funny noses and funny voices and
'acting,' the more I was myself, the more I understood who I was and the more I presented this fallible
absurd being that we all are, the more successful I would be," he told Scripps Howard News Service.
International recognition finally came while in his fifties, when he starred in 1980's Yes, Minister. The
long-running series (and its sequel Yes, Prime Minister) aired through 1987 and was shown in more than 50
countries. The role earned Hawthorne five British Academy Awards, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once
invited him to tea at Downing Street and asked to shoot a scene with the cast.
"I'm always astonished the people still remember that show," he once told London's Sunday Times. "In America,
people come up to me and say, 'Hi, Sir Humph!' I can walk down Whitehall today and every policeman on the
beat will say good morning to me."
His big-screen credits also included Amistad, The Object of My Affection, Demolition Man and Gandhi. On stage,
Hawthorne picked up a Tony Award in 1991 for his portrayal of writer C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands. The thespian
was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999.
Hawthorne also happened to be gay, but he was uncomfortable taking the role of gay activist, and he even
bristled at tabloid reports about his 20-year relationship with theater manager Trevor Bentham.
"Ian McKellen always said I should come out. But why?" he told the Times. "I feel that too much fuss is made
about being gay. I've been a homosexual all my life. My partner and I don't want to stand up and say we're
gay, because we think that's wrong. The best way to get people to accept you is to move about the community
and show them there's nothing to be afraid of."
Hawthorne is survived by Bentham. Funeral arrangements were not immediately known.
Sir Nigel Hawthorne
"Boondocks" (9 Oct 01)
Still MISSING
Marc Chagall's "Study for 'Over Vitebsk'"
