Issue Date: June 17, 2001
How many elected public offices have Bill and Hillary Clinton held?
Bill True, Utica, N.Y.
Four. And the key word is "elected." Hillary was a savvy never-elected politician when she beat her Republican opponent to become New York's junior senator. Bill was elected attorney general and governor of Arkansas before he was twice elected the nation's chief executive. Interestingly, like Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush held just one office pre-presidency: governor. Most 20th-century presidents had been elected to at least two prior offices, except for Herbert Hoover and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who held no other elected office.
Last I heard, my favorite singing star, Mariah Carey, was making a movie as well as writing and recording the soundtrack. When will they be out?
Melissa Lindsay, Springfield, Ill.
"Glitter" the movie is due in theaters Aug. 31; the soundtrack CD of the same name is out 10 days before. Carey's publicist insists the movie is not based on the singer's own Cinderella-like discovery by much older Sony Records honcho Tommy Mottola, whom she married and divorced. But certain parallels can't be ignored. It's the story of a wanna-be R&B singer who meets a famous DJ, falls in love and makes it big. Carey's love these days is Latin singer Luis Miguel. They have been dating for three years and spend as much time together as they can find.
Monica Potter was superb as Morgan Freeman's co-star in spring's "Along Came a Spider". We think she'll be as successful as her Hollywood twin, Julia Roberts. It's uncanny how much they look, sound and act alike.
Steve and Tracy McClure, Ripon, Calif.
Luckily, Potter, 29, has a sense of humor about the resemblance. "I'm absolutely flattered," she says. "But people also tell me I look like Juliette Binoche and Juliette Lewis." Potter's priorities are a bit different, too. She has two sons, ages 10 and 6, to care for; she left Los Angeles for Cleveland 18 months ago so they could go to school near their grandparents and her ex. Still, she worked hard to achieve the goal her dad, an inventor, set for her at age 3. Why acting for her, not one of her three sisters? "Maybe because I was the biggest dreamer."
I'm one of the many fans of CBS' hit crime drama, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation". Tell me about Jorja Fox, one of the forensic investigators.
Roseanne Turner, Denver, Ind.
She has a talent for being in the show of the moment: Fox, 32, was in ER early on, The West Wing last year and now CSI, plus the acclaimed indie movie "Memento". The New York native is unmarried but "involved, and not allowed to talk about it. I've been sworn to secrecy!" She can talk about her love of animals (she has a dog and two cats); she headed back to New York on her break from CSI to work with the ASPCA. "I'm the wimp of the cast, a little squeamish," she says when asked about her gruesome scenes. "When I met [co-star] Billy [Petersen] and the creator [Anthony Zuiker] for lunch, I order this delicious lunch and they start talking about heads in popcorn containers."
 Online extra: Q&A with CSI's Jorja Fox
How did Kenneth Branagh, the Irish actor-director, get his start? And what is he doing now?
Nancy Hook, Rapid City, S.D.
He's in Greenland working on a film about Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition to the Antarctic. "We'll be stuck on an icebreaker heading north, jumping out, filming in the replica ship and working on dog sleds," Branagh, 40, says with great relish. He intended to be a journalist, but "at 16, I started acting in plays at school ... and my teacher said, 'You could do this professionally.' I became intoxicated with the idea." The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and stage work came next, but by the '90s, Branagh and then-wife Emma Thompson ("Ken and Em" to friends), were Hollywood darlings.
Contributing: Nancy Mills, Patty Rhule, Frappa Stout
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THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS
June 17: Venus Williams, 21; Greg Kinnear, 38
June 18: Roger Ebert, 54; Paul McCartney, 59
June 19: Nate Morris, 30; Paula Abdul, 39; Phylicia Rashad, 52
June 20: Nicole Kidman, 34; John Goodman, 49; Lionel Richie, 52
June 21: Prince William, 19; Juliette Lewis, 28
June 22: Carson Daly, 28; Cindy Lauper, 48; Ed Bradley, 60
June 23: Clarence Thomas, 53
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