Issue Date: Sept. 8, 2002
Q: I can't believe Melissa Rivers is getting a divorce. I'm sorry to hear it. Can you tell us why?
Bridget Tanner, Evergreen, La.
Mum's the word. But we know it was husband John Endicott, a horse trainer, who filed for divorce May 24 in L.A. The two intend to share custody of son Edgar Cooper, 1. "Their greatest concern is for their child," a rep says. "This is a difficult time for both; they're handling the matter privately." Rivers, 34, co-hosts "E!"'s fashion and Oscar shows with mom Joan (with her above). In 1998, Mom gave the couple a lavish wedding at New York's Plaza Hotel: a nearly $2 million winter wonderland, complete with 60 white birches and more than 20,000 flowers.
Q: I've been watching "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" reruns and would like to know more about Wayne Brady. What else is he doing now?
Wanda Torgerson, Elk River, Minn.
After his prime-time "Wayne Brady Show" tanked last season, the talented Brady picked himself up and created a new "Wayne Brady Show," a syndicated daytime talk and variety series that premiered last Monday. Brady's goal, he tells us, is to uncover the hidden talents of guests; on his wish list are Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Ashley Judd. "I want it to be low-stress so Brad will feel comfortable coming on and playing guitar or singing," says Brady, 30, whose wife is expecting their first child. "Like a big party." The comic, who also has a touring show, says he's a big party guy: "I'm the guy who goes all the way and gets the karaoke host."
Q: I'm a big fan of novelist Fannie Flagg. When will she have a new book out?
Rebecca Henderson, Niota, Tenn.
One's on shelves now. "Standing in the Rainbow" is a colorful look at a forgotten American institution: radio homemakers in the Midwest of the '40s and '50s who broadcast from home to lonely farmers' wives. Flagg's work is historical fiction, but not in the grand sense; much of what she writes comes from people-watching and newspapers. "Small-town papers have hysterical stories," she says. "You can't make that stuff up." The 60-ish Flagg wouldn't be averse to "Rainbow"'s being made into a movie if she could write the screenplay, as she did when her second novel was adapted into 1991's Oscar-nominated "Fried Green Tomatoes." "I never write with that in mind. But once this book was done, I could imagine it onscreen."
Q: Is Stone Phillips of NBC's "Dateline" a family man? How did he get the name "Stone"?
Florence Winstead, Hazel Park, Mich.
From his great-grandfather, who was named Stonewall Jackson Phillips after the Confederate general. The Texas-born anchorman's parents shortened it to "Stone" (which is on his birth certificate) and gave him the middle name "Stockton." A fan of unusual names himself, Phillips, 47, and wife Debra named their son Streeter, now 14, after a town in Texas.
Q: After seeing Josh Hartnett in "Black Hawk Down," I think his eyes, forehead, jaw, voice and mannerisms are very similar to those of "Men in Black II"'s Tommy Lee Jones. Are they related?
Daniel Laws, Pittsford, Mich.
No, but you're not the first to ask. Hartnett, 24, often is told he resembles the veteran actor, who turns 56 next week, and takes it as a compliment, his rep says. Both actors played football: Hartnett in high school (until he injured his left knee), and Jones at Harvard, where he roomed with Al Gore.
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Camille Cosby knows about making history. The producer and educator has been married for 38 years to Bill Cosby, who became the first black lead in a TV series with "I Spy" in the '60s. Now, with her National Visionary Leadership Project, Cosby, 57, is making sure other history-making African Americans aren't forgotten. The Web-based project, which Cosby co-founded with journalist and documentarian Renee Poussaint, trains and pairs college students with luminaries like actor Ossie Davis, 84, to film videotaped biographies. "What they produce is important," she says, "but an integral part is that the young and old share." Will her husband, 65, be a featured elder one day? "That's a few years away yet."
With Frappa Stout. Contributing: Evelyn Poitevent.
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BIRTHDAYS
Sept. 8: Jonathan Taylor Thomas,
21; Pink, 23;
David Arquette, 31.
Sept. 9: Michelle Williams, 22;
Adam Sandler, 36;
Hugh Grant, 42;
Michael Keaton, 51.
Sept. 10: Ryan Phillippe, 28;
Colin Firth, 42.
Sept. 11: Maria Bartiromo, 35;
Harry Connick Jr., 35;
Moby 37.
Sept. 12: Barry White, 58.
Sept. 13: Jean Smart, 43;
Jacqueline Bisset, 58.
Sept. 14: Faith Ford, 38
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 Last week's Who's News
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