Issue date: November 26, 2000
In my opinion, the country
has been lucky to have Madeleine Albright as secretary of State. What
will she do after President Clinton leaves office?
Lealand Luck, South Boston, Va.
She hasn't decided. But she'll have many options. Her predecessors have gone to universities, corporate boards and think tanks. It's even been suggested that Albright, born in Prague 63 years ago, could succeed Vaclav Havel as president of the Czech Republic. That, at least, she has ruled out, with diplomatic graciousness, of course. As for anything else, she says she's been too busy working in these last months of her tenure to give much thought to what she'll do next, but she leaves no doubt she'll continue working. Retirement is not on her horizon.
Settle a family bet: How
many times did Elizabeth Taylor marry Richard Burton?
Sarah Hamilton, Detroit
Taylor, married eight times in all, wed Burton twice. Yet some Liz and Dick
followers think their passion was so intense they might have married
a third time had Burton not died in 1984. These days, the actress
and AIDS activist is seen more often with her "dear friend" Michael
Jackson than with suitors. And in spite of illness after illness,
she continues to say she wants to work. In fact, Taylor, 68, just
finished These Old Broads, a TV movie to air in Feburary,
with Shirley MacLaine, Joan Collins and Debbie Reynolds. Reynolds'
daughter, Carrie Fisher, wrote the script.
Did The West Wing's
John Spencer star in a previous TV series?
Jennifer Bethel, Milford, Mass.
He was Tommy Mullaney in the last years of L.A. Law. But he's
better as Leo McGarry, President Bartlett's chief of staff and dearest
friend on West Wing. Spencer tells us he and Martin Sheen,
who plays Bartlett, have begun to behave like their characters:
"I find myself taking care of him."
St. Louis quarterback Kurt
Warner had a stunning 1999 season ending in a Super Bowl win. But he came
out of nowhere. What's his story?
James Seagraves, Wheatland, Mo.
It's a story Hollywood couldn't write better, an underdog's tale of beating
poverty and having faith in God and family. Warner, 29, sidelined at press
time with a broken finger, went to Northern Iowa on a football scholarship
with hopes of someday playing pro. A 1994 stint in Green Bay's training
camp didn't work out, so he went back to Cedar Falls and stocked groceries
for $5.50 an hour. Eventually, the Arena League called and he played three
years for the Iowa Barnstormers, plus two for the NFL in Europe, before
making the Ram roster (barely) in '99. Today, he's married to the girlfriend
he helped support on his grocery store check and is a dad to her two kids.
They have a son together, too.
The Magic Man explains
it all
When David Blaine, a modern-day Houdini and more, starts talking about new stunts he might try -- walking from Alaska to New York, falling off the Brooklyn Bridge -- it's easy to dismiss him as a little nuts. Yet this is the man who was "buried alive" for seven days and who this week will be frozen for three, in a block of ice on display in New York's Times Square. Blaine, 27, will be freed from the ice on an ABC special, Wednesday at
10 p.m. ET. How and why does he do it? As it turns out, there's nothing magical about this stunt.
The magician-illusionist-daredevil explains:
How do you train for these
feats of endurance?
For this one, I've been training five months: running stairs to the tops of buildings, working the cardio, standing without sitting. I've been practicing
staying awake. And I've been immersing myself
in ice water to get my body acclimated.
What motivates you?
I like the idea of walking on that line between life and death. It's the ultimate test.
Are there lessons you want
viewers to get?
You can achieve anything in the will of the mind. These stunts are not illusions. They're exactly what you see: tests of endurance. I've got tons in mind.
Who inspired you?
I got the ultimate confidence [in myself] from my mom. There's nothing
you can't do if you have that. Other influences included Orson Welles
and Hermann Hesse, particularly Hesse's Siddhartha. I love
where Orson Welles went with War of the Worlds. I have a
copy of Siddhartha in every room in my house. I keep copies
to give to my friends.
What do you get out
of these stunts, besides fame and fortune?
When you set a challenge for yourself and you achieve it, you will
feel euphoric. I imagine it is what being born is like.
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THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS
November 26: Tina Turner, 61
November 27: Jaleel White, 24; Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, 43
November 28: Anna Nicole Smith, 33; Paul Shaffer, 51
November 29: Kim Delaney, 38; Vin Scully, 73
November 30: Ben Stiller, 35; Billy Idol, 45; Dick Clark, 71
December 1: Bette Midler, 55; Richard Pryor, 60; Lee Trevino, 61;
Woody Allen, 65
December 2: Britney Spears, 19; Monica Seles, 27; Stone Phillips,
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