Issue Date: November 16, 2003
Renée Zellweger is one of my favorite actresses. Lately, however, pictures show her face has changed. Are we talking plastic surgery?
Zed Daniels, Houston
No. But Zellweger, 34, does have a new fullness to her face. The usually svelte, size-4 actress gained 20 pounds to play the single-gal heroine making her way in a "smug-marrieds" world in next fall's "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" -- just as she did for the 2001 original. That performance won Zellweger her first Oscar nod, and she seemed to have little trouble going from Bridget's size back to her normal tiny self. Although few in weight-obsessed Hollywood would consider such a role requirement, Zellweger again took it on with relish, bragging to magazines about her fatty-meat consumption and wearing a "Donut Queen" T-shirt.
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In the complicated world of Fox's "24," nothing is too outlandish, so why shouldn't the U.S. president (played on the show by Dennis Haysbert) have a doctor who's also his girlfriend? Enter Wendy Crewson. "Being the girlfriend is a step up," she says. "I've been a lot of wives, to presidents and otherwise, but there's something more interesting about being the girlfriend. It allows you a life outside of his career." Like "24" star Kiefer Sutherland, Crewson, 47, is a native of Canada. She now lives in Toronto with children Maggie, 14, and Jack, 11, and husband Michael Murphy, whom she met making the 1988 HBO miniseries "Tanner '88" (he played the title character, a presidential candidate). Crewson has two movies coming up: "In A Home at the End of the World," she plays the mother -- she says with a mock snort of disgust -- of Colin Farrell, but "it's his mother when he's young!" And she's Robert Redford's girlfriend in "The Clearing." "I like going from wives to mistresses at this late date in my life," she says. Who wouldn't when Robert Redford is involved?
Is something going on at NBC's "ER" that makes people want to jump ship? I hear Noah Wyle, whose Dr. Carter has been a key character from the start, is the latest to leave.
Elizabeth Vosch, Melbourne, Fla.
Don't worry; Carter is still in the picture. Wyle, 32, last of the original cast members, wanted extra time off with his wife, Tracy, and son, Owen, 1, so he asked to be written out for a few episodes. He'll be back this Thursday.
I have a few questions about U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan: What's his job description? How much is he paid? Who pays him? To whom does he answer?
Gloria Bronson, Albany, Ga.
Annan's "boss" is the 191-member U.N. community. And, as head of what is essentially the world's governing body, he wears many hats. He must be "equal parts diplomat, advocate, civil servant and CEO," says U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric. "He is the spokesman for the interests of the world's peoples, particularly the poor and vulnerable." Annan, 65, gets $227,253 a year (plus a cost-of-living adjustment), paid out of the U.N. budget, which is made up of dues paid by each member country. He also gets free housing in New York and $25,000 for entertainment. Annan, an economist from Ghana, lives with wife Nane in a Sutton Place mansion. He was re-elected secretary-general in 2001 and is serving his second five-year term.
Filmgoers have seen little of former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton lately. Does he have any new movies? And is he still with the young woman who had his child a few years back?
Patricia Arvantes, Falls Church, Va.
This weekend, you can catch Dalton playing Brendan Fraser's father and a parody of himself -- an aging actor who in his heyday played a super secret service agent -- in "Looney Tunes: Back in Action". Once considered one of Britain's most eligible bachelors, the Welsh-born Dalton, 57, married the woman you mention, Ukrainian actress-model Oksana Grigorieva, 33, soon after the birth of their son, Alexander, now 6. Although Dalton played 007 only twice (in 1987's "The Living Daylights" and 1989's "License to Kill"), he has worked in a number of television miniseries here and in England and was last seen in the 2001 movie "American Outlaws." Next month, he returns to his stage roots in "His Dark Materials," a two-part, six-hour play at London's National Theatre.
I see that underrated actress Mary Steenburgen has a new series on CBS, "Joan of Arcadia." What else, besides being Mrs. Ted Danson, has she been up to?
S. Garelik, Bronx, N.Y.
Steenburgen has a small part in "Elf," as Will Ferrell's stepmother. And she's in an upcoming CBS movie, "This Must Be Love," with her husband. But the well-received drama "Joan of Arcadia" is her focus -- and playing mom to Jason Ritter, son of the late John Ritter, is just one of the reasons. She wants to be careful about his privacy, so she'll say only that the younger Ritter's colleagues "are there for him" since the sudden death of his 54-year-old dad two months ago. But she has known Jason, 23, since he was "a little boy" (he is a year older than her eldest child). Of course, Steenburgen, 50, also is happy the show is a ratings winner at 8 p.m. ET on Fridays. She admits those involved were nervous about how it would be received: "If you just take the description at face value -- 'God talks to a teenage girl' -- it sounds not so fabulous."
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BIRTHDAYS
November 16: Maggie Gyllenhaal, 26; Marg Helgenberger, 45
November 17: Daisy Fuentes, 37; Danny DeVito, 59; Lauren Hutton, 60; Martin Scorsese, 61
November 18: Chloë Sevigny, 29; Owen Wilson, 35
November 19: Jodie Foster, 41; Meg Ryan, 42; Larry King, 70
November 20: Bo Derek, 47
November 21: Björk, 38; Goldie Hawn, 58
November 22: Jamie Lee Curtis, 45
Contributing: Bridget Byrne, Evelyn Poitevent, Andrew Smith, Frappa Stout
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