Issue date: October 22, 2000
People tell me Green
Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader has been famous for decades.
Why? I'm 31 and know nothing about him.
Dylan Clark Boulder, Colo.
Nader, 66, the godfather of the consumer movement, was precisely your age in 1965 when he published Unsafe at Any Speed, the best seller that made his name. It exposed hazardous cars being produced, especially General Motors' popular rear-engined Corvair. With the proceeds, and cash from a court settlement with GM (which had sent detectives to dig up dirt on him), the Harvard Law grad formed a group of young lawyers known as "Nader's Raiders." They urged followers nationwide to form citizen-action groups. Nader's presidential campaign has been less effective, in part because he hasn't addressed young voters' unfamiliarity with his work.
Did Demi Moore stop
appearing in movies after her divorce from Bruce Willis? I haven't
seen her since.
Gene Mullen, Hendersonville, Tenn.
You may be forgiven for missing Moore in Passion of Mind,
which was in theaters for about five minutes last spring. Her two
big pre-breakup films, G.I. Jane and Striptease, were
no blockbusters either, so it's hard to measure the effect on her
career of her separation from Willis (they're not yet divorced).
He's now the bigger star by far; she sticks close to the Idaho home
she shares with her three daughters.
Will Diana Ross reunite
with Supremes Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong since her summer "Return
to Love" tour tanked?
Richard Cross Wyandotte, Mich.
Don't count on it, says author Mark Bego, who helped Wilson write two autobiographies. "Without an olive branch offered," he tells us, "there will be no further big-budget tours for the Supreme Miss Ross. By now, Diana must realize she can't call herself 'the Supremes' without the originals. The public didn't buy it." Ross' tour with "replacement" Supremes who joined the group years after she left was canceled after 12 dates and sluggish sales. At issue from the start: cash. "Mary and Cindy deserve a fair percentage of any tour money," Bego says, "which is something Ross inexplicably refused to offer them."
I took my niece to
see the summer hit X-Men and we walked out impressed with
the little-known actor Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine.
Lynn Keenan, Colchester, Vt.
Get used to that hairy face. Jackman will be in a sequel he can't wait to shoot. He's now filming a romantic comedy with Ashley Judd. An accomplished stage actor and singer at home in Australia, Jackman, 32 on Saturday, first hit it big in an Aussie TV drama as a prisoner set on seducing
his counselor; five years ago, in real life, he married the actress who had that role, Deborra-Lee Furness. It was a high-profile event down under. They now have a baby, Oscar. Could the name be prophetic?
Where is former CBS
White House reporter Scott Pelley? I noticed him because, in addition
to his good reporting, he was such a sharp dresser.
Ronald Potempa, Norwood Park Township, Ill.
Pelley, now a 60 Minutes II correspondent, owes his style
to his wife, Jane, who has "remarkable fashion sense," and to Giorgio
Armani, whose suits you see him wear. The 43-year-old father of
two was a teenage news junkie in Lubbock, Texas, when he began idolizing
CBS' Dan Rather. Today, Pelley is one of several newsmen considered
possible successors to Rather, fanchor since 1981. "It's
a humbling thought that I could ever be in that position," he says.
But of course he'd like the job. Asked whether he misses the glamour
of the White House beat, Pelley tells us there is little glamorous
about it. "The American people would be appalled at the state of
the [White House] press room. It's a filthy firetrap." And Air Force
One? "A magnificent aircraft for everyone but reporters."
I enjoyed your Sept.
1-3 item on The West Wing's Renee Estevez, but I'm afraid
you mixed up the family names. Renee's father, Martin Sheen, was
born Ramon Estevez. (I went to high school with him in Dayton, Ohio.)
Carlos Estevez is the given name of his son Charlie Sheen.
Jim Lurz, Reidsville, N.C.
You're right. Thanks for catching our confusion.
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THIS WEEK'S
BIRTHDAYS
October 22: Zac Hanson, 15; Jeff Goldblum, 48
October 23: Keith Van Horn, 25; Johnny Carson, 75
October 24: Monica, 20; Kevin Kline, 53
October 25: Marion Ross, 72
October 26: Natalie Merchant, 37; Dylan McDermott, 38; Hillary
Clinton, 53; Pat Sajak, 54
October 27: Toni Braxton, 33; Matt Drudge 34
October 28: Joaquin Phoenix, 26; Julia Roberts, 33; Lauren
Holly, 37; Bill Gates, 45; Dennis Franz, 56
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