Issue Date: December 21, 2003
We lost four great entertainers in 2003. Who do you think has the talent to become the next Katharine Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Bob Hope and Gregory Hines?
Ros Patterson, Indianapolis
Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones have the talent and the will to reign as long as Hepburn did, and the handsome Matt Damon just might become another Peck. Savion Glover follows in Hines' footsteps when it comes to dance. But replacing Hope? Can't be done.
Will "7th Heaven" star Ashlee Simpson follow in older sister Jessica Simpson's footsteps by going into singing as well as acting?
Ellen Sheehey, Essex, Vt.
Ashlee, 19, is hot on her sister's trail. First she toured with Jessica, 23, as a backup dancer, and now she's putting out a CD. The rock-heavy album, not yet titled, should be ready by summer. If that isn't enough, Simpson also is filming a pilot for MTV, a reality show about the making of her CD. Despite her workload, she'll continue on the WB's "7th Heaven" and may appear in the second season of her sister's MTV show.
In January 1965, I got Army basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and had a bunkmate named Stephen King. Could it have been the famous author?
John Heaney, Warren Center, Pa.
No. King didn't graduate from high school until 1966. In 2002, after 46 novels, he announced plans to retire upon the completion of his seven-book "Dark Tower" series. He put out the fifth book, "Wolves of the Calla", last month; the sixth and seventh are due next year. But King, also a back-page columnist for "Entertainment Weekly" magazine, recently said he is "open to what comes next."
Who has the role of Peter in the new version of "Peter Pan," due out on Christmas Day?
Jess Moore, Charlottesville, Va.
After a long search, Universal decided on adorable child actor Jeremy Sumpter, 14, who made his screen debut in "Frailty" in 2001. French actress Ludivine Sagnier, 24, who co-starred in 2002's "8 Women", plays Tinker Bell, and British actress Rachel Hurd-Wood, 13, has her first featured role, as Wendy.
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Hollywood is hard enough to break into without getting typecast after your first important film. That's what happened to Djimon (JI-mon) Hounsou, now onscreen in Irish director Jim Sheridan's In America. Even after he got good reviews as the leader of a slave uprising in Steven Spielberg's 1997 movie Amistad, Hounsou says, "It was a challenge to convince people that I'd been living in Los Angeles a long time and that I do speak English. The studios thought I'd bring a translator." Hounsou, 39, was born in Benin, in West Africa, then moved to France at 13 to live with older brothers. "It's not unusual for African families to better their kids' lives by sending them to Europe," he says. "They wanted me to be a doctor. But I rebelled when I was 19."
I like British actress Rhona Mitra, of ABC's The Practice. I remember her from Gideon's Crossing. What else do you know about her?
Jack Lucey, Boca Raton, Fla.
Mitra, 27, tells us she is as no-nonsense as paralegal Tara Wilson, her character on the Sunday-night series. The half-Indian, half-Irish actress makes no bones about the drama's "new and improved" feel this season: "They've lightened the writing; there's more wit. It's been running for eight seasons, and none of the current cast members wants to be anywhere else. It's almost a new show."
What is the actor who played Ralphie in 1983's A Christmas Story doing now?
James E. Merkel, Chapel Hill, N.C.
Peter Billingsley, 32, produces a TV show, "Dinner for Five," for the Independent Film Channel. He was 12 when he made the movie but quit acting at 20 to "try other things," he says. "A Christmas Story," just out on DVD, airs for 24 hours every Christmas on TNT (this year, starting at 6 p.m. ET Wednesday), but Billingsley doesn't get tired of it: "It's just a fun movie."
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BIRTHDAYS
December 21: Kiefer, Sutherland, 37; Andy Dick, 38; Ray Romano, 46; Jane Kaczmarek, 48; Samuel L. Jackson, 55; Jane Fonda, 66
December 22: Ralph Fiennes, 41; Diane Sawyer, 58
December 23: Susan Lucci, 57
December 24: Ricky Martin, 32; Mary Higgins Clark, 76
December 25: Annie Lennox, 49; Sissy Spacek, 54; Jimmy Buffett, 57
December 26: Jared Leto, 32; John Walsh, 58
December 27: Cokie Roberts, 60
Contributing: Nancy Mills, Andrew Smith, Frappa Stout, Jennifer Vishnevsky
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