Issue Date: February 23, 2003
How is young pop star Brandy doing with her new baby daughter?
Victoria Sanders, Brooklyn, N.Y.
The two, along with Brandy's husband, songwriter-producer Robert Smith, have been inseparable. At the end of 2002, the trio spent weeks in a recording studio working on Brandy's next CD. It's the follow-up to "Full Moon", which could win a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album at this Sunday's awards (CBS, 8 p.m. ET). Smith says baby Sy'rai, 8 months, is so quiet he could play with her and record at the same time. Of course, Brandy, 24, still is learning to balance motherhood and music, but she says she's certain that if she had to choose just one, she'd be a mom.
Why do decent actors leave quality TV shows that are still strong? Rob Lowe isn't the first to do it, but his departure from NBC's "The West Wing" is the most recent case in point.
Susan Smith, Chicago
Sometimes actors expect their TV success will transition easily to film offers. But in Lowe's case it seemed to be about money and ego -- not enough of the first to satisfy the second. Lucky for Lowe, 38, he landed on his feet. Even as he was finishing his work on "West Wing" last month, NBC announced it had signed him to star in a legal drama for fall, "Lyon's Den". His per-episode salary reportedly will be in the low six figures, giving him that raise he wanted and didn't get from "West Wing", which paid $75,000 a show.
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Rick Marin would never make it on "The Bachelorette". The former "New York Times" feature writer reveals a not-so-pretty dating past in his biting first book, "Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor", new in stores. With "Sex and the City" dominating our dating culture, he tells us, his aim was to save the male reputation even at the expense of his own. "The book is meant to go beyond the "Maxim", beer-and-girls view of the male psyche," he says. "That's there, but it's not the whole story." Once a lonely singleton hustling for women and freelance work in New York, Marin, 40, is writing a screenplay from the book for Miramax and will wed editor-turned-entrepreneur Ilene Rosenzweig in May. Who'll play him in the movie? "Ben Affleck, I wish," says Marin, a brunet with Elvis Costello specs. "People have suggested Jimmy Fallon."
"Access Hollywood"'s Nancy O'Dell and Pat O'Brien have the easy rapport of a husband and wife. Are they?
Angie Martirone, Northfield, N.J.
No, and O'Dell, who is separated from husband Richard O'Dell, had a good laugh when we asked. Yet the anchors do know a lot about each other. O'Dell spilled a few secrets: O'Brien, 55, calls her "tall Britney Spears"; they both eat candy Dots on the set; he keeps women's face cream in his dressing room; and she coveted his assignment to interview Eminem. O'Dell, 30-something, says U2's song "One" captures their relationship, particularly the line "we're one, but we're not the same."
Clint Eastwood's latest movie, "Blood Work", is a top video rental. How many films has he made?
Bill Swisher, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Eastwood has appeared in 55 films and starred in 44 -- and he's now directing his 24th, a psychological drama with Laura Linney, Marcia Gay Harden and Sean Penn. For those reasons and more, the Screen Actors Guild plans to make the man's day on March 9: On the SAG Awards show (TNT, 8 p.m. ET), Eastwood, 72, will accept a Lifetime Achievement Award. It's well-deserved. The still-handsome star, also a producer and composer, is famous for his efficient shoots and precision budgets. He'll add SAG's award to his large collection, which includes two Oscars as well as honors from the Kennedy Center and the American Film Institute.
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As if opera weren't challenging enough, Denyce Graves has tackled another musical genre. The 38-year-old mezzo-soprano, featured in a 2001 USA WEEKEND cover story, just released a CD of songs from South America and the Caribbean, and she's touring to promote it. She tells us she needed a language coach to record this album, "The Lost Days", because opera requires her to sing in Italian, German and French -- but never Spanish. It also includes a song written for her by Cuban composer Chucho Valdés. "We were doing his "Habanera de Lorraine", and I said, 'Excuse me. Who's Lorraine?' " she says. "So he wrote a song ["Romanza de Denyce"] for me." Graves recently starred in "Carmen" in New York and will perform in the Berlin Opera's "Bluebeard's Castle" at month's end. "I don't have down time," she says. "I have more breaks when I'm away performing an opera than I do at home."
TV's "Ed" is tackling the topic of teen obesity. Is stomach stapling -- the serious procedure recently undergone by one character -- also being considered by the actor who plays him?
L. Bammel, Troy, Mich.
Michael Genadry, 24, who plays hefty high-schooler Mark Vanacore on NBC's quirky Wednesday drama, actually had gastric bypass surgery in mid-September. "Ed"'s producers were supportive; they wrote his experience into the third season's plans, and it will be a recurring theme, with direct references to how many pounds he has shed. It also helps the writers explain Genadry's sudden decrease in size: By late January, four months after surgery, the 5-foot-9 actor had dropped from 473 pounds to 353.
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THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS
February 23: Kristin Davis, 38
February 24: Paula Zahn, 47
February 25: Sean Astin, 32; Téa Leoni, 37
February 26: Erykah Badu, 32; Tony Randall, 83
February 27: Josh Groban, 22; Chelsea Clinton, 23; Elizabeth Taylor, 71
February 28: Mario Andretti, 63
March 1: Mark-Paul Gosselaar, 29; Chris Webber, 30; George Eads, 36; Ron Howard, 49; Harry Belafonte, 76
With: Frappa Stout. Contributing: Tameka Hicks, Bob Makela.
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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