Issue Date: January 27, 2001
I am a fan of the stunning actress Angela Bassett, most recently in "The Score" with Robert De Niro. What can I see her in next?
Roger Martin, Birmingham, Mich.
Bassett, 43, stars in a CBS movie, "The Rosa Parks Story", to air Feb. 24. Oscar-nominated in 1993 for her performance as Tina Turner, Bassett takes to strong women. She tells us she learned more about Parks -- who, in the segregated Alabama of 1955, refused to give up her bus seat to a white man -- than she ever learned in school. Parks was "forward-thinking, full of strength, [with] a very strong character and will. She shook up the world. And she was the woman for the job." Bassett met Parks, 88, about seven years ago at an Atlanta event. "She was on my left, and James Brown was on my right. I was in heaven. I was sitting between the mother of the civil rights movement and the Godfather of Soul. I was hopelessly inarticulate."
Does Olivia Newton-John still sing and record? I know she was diagnosed with breast cancer some years ago. How is she now?
M.A. Franz, Chicago
She's been cancer-free for nearly 10 years and says being open about her illness, "which I was forced into because the tabloids were about to print I was dying," was the best thing for her. "Women say it was helpful to learn about me, so recovery was something they could look forward to." Newton-John now fosters the ambitions of daughter Chloe, 16 this year. They starred in Showtime's "The Wilde Girls" in November, then went back to Australia, where Newton-John grew up. Chloe, whose dad is Newton-John's ex-husband, actor Matt Lattanzi, will continue to sing while Mom records songs, too.
I watch master carpenter Norm Abram on This Old House and wonder: Is there anything he can't do?
Kay Bruzda, Salina, Kan.
"One thing I can't do -- at least have not attempted yet -- is build a piece of upholstered furniture," Abram, 52, tells us. But that may be it. He has done everything from building this season's deck chair ("one of the most challenging, satisfying projects ever") to restoring a shingle-style house designed by famed architect H.H. Richardson during the second year of "This Old House". "To this day, it was my favorite project," he says. Abram's own home is a colonial reproduction near Boston he shares with wife Elise Hauenstein and daughter Lindsey, 21, from his first marriage. But this New Englander has a thing for New Mexico. "I find the adobe houses interesting and the desert landscape fascinating."
I can find nothing to support your assertion last month that "Thieves"' Melissa George is a grandchild of actors Christopher George and Lynda Day George. I realize the Internet Movie Database says so, but it's wrong.
Michael Holley, Erie, Colo.
You're right. We got it wrong, as did IMDb and several other entertainment Web sites. Melissa George, who starred in ABC's canceled drama, is no relation to Christopher, who died in 1983, or Lynda Day George, who called to tell me she has tried in vain to get Internet resources to correct that "fact." The Georges had two children: son Nick, 36, and daughter Krisinda, 29.
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Justin Berfield -- "Malcolm in the Middle's" devilish Reese -- is a 15-year-old with grown-up sensibilities. He gets good grades (he's home-schooled), likes to read about the Civil War and has a new favorite sport: golf. "I got invited to a tournament last year, when I'd never even picked up a club," he tells us. "I tried to whack at the ball, and it's going everywhere ... so I decided to get lessons." Justin, who lives in L.A. with his parents and older brother Lorne -- who acted in the early '90s -- holds a red belt in the martial art tang soo do and is an avid snowboarder and certified scuba diver. He gets his driver's license next month and already has planned the first outing in his new car, a silver Mercedes C320 sedan. "My friend and I are going to take it down some winding canyons to test the steering. But I don't want to drive it that much. I don't want it to get ruined." He's equally cautious about girls. "I'm not the dating type. I don't need to be seen with a girl on my arm. If one comes around, it comes around."
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BIRTHDAYS
January 27: Bridget Fonda, 38
January 28: Elijah Wood, 21; Nick Carter, 22; Joey Fatone, 25
January 29: Heather Graham, 32; Edward Burns, 34; Oprah Winfrey, 48
January 30: Dick Cheney, 61; Gene Hackman, 71
January 31: Justin Timberlake, 21; Minnie Driver, 32
February 1: Lisa Marie Presley, 34; Sherman Hemsley, 64
February 2: Christie Brinkley, 48; Farrah Fawcett, 55
Contributing: Tameka Hicks, Bart Mills, Frappa Stout
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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