Issue Date: January 25, 2004
Am I correct that Carla Gugino played Michael J. Fox's girlfriend on the first season of "Spin City"? If so, why did she leave?
Bryan Kroeger, Wausau, Wis.
Gugino, 32, played City Hall reporter Ashley Schaeffer when "Spin City " debuted in 1996, but the producers decided to focus Fox's character on his crazy workplace and make the comedy less of a "Mad About You"-style relationship show. Less than thrilled, Gugino left after 12 episodes. "I loved working with everybody, and Michael is an incredible guy," she tells us. "But I had no interest in being the Girlfriend in the Apartment."
Quick! I need information on the stunning Hans Matheson, who played the title character in the recent Masterpiece Theatre production of "Dr. Zhivago."
Jane Moore, Worthington, Minn.
Matheson has a knack for playing the romantic hero in epic period pieces, but his next big role may put an end to that. He recently finished I"mperium," a six-part TV miniseries, filmed in Tunisia, about five centuries of Roman history. He plays the deranged Emperor Nero, not exactly in keeping with his knight-in-shining-armor tendency. Matheson, 28 and single, is Scottish but lives in Bromley, England. He plays acoustic guitar and fiddle, too.
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Hope Davis & The Golden Globes
Hope Davis is off to the party of a lifetime. Look for her at this Sunday's Golden Globes ceremony, where she's one of five nominees for best supporting actress in a movie. She's excited, of course, and honored. But the morning her nomination, for "American Splendor," was announced, she was in bed in New York, sick with a stomach bug. Her agent called (she has no TV, so she wasn't watching it live), and her husband, who was up early with baby Georgia, woke Davis to tell her the news. They celebrated that night by seeing "Something's Gotta Give." Davis, 39, is no doubt here to stay -- she's next in "Proof," with Gwyneth Paltrow -- but ask her where she'll be in five years and she says that's a scary question: "I feel like I'm on this little wave, but then [you look ahead and] see yourself washed up on the shore."
I love Benjamin McKenzie, who plays Ryan Atwood on Fox's "The O.C." Please tell me anything you can about him, starting with his age.
Destiny DeMeyer, Fond du Lac, Wis.
McKenzie, the trouble magnet on the popular show, is 25 and from Austin, Texas. Although he's older than Ryan, he says they're both loners. Relatively new to acting, he struggled to find work -- waiting tables and such in the meantime -- for about a year. His real name is Benjamin McKenzie Schenkkan
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When Barbara Taylor Bradford talks about the characters in "Emma's Secret," her new, 19th novel, you forget they're not real. Her British accent still clear after 40 years here, she explains connections, motivations and personalities with such detail and enthusiasm you're certain these are living, breathing people. Of course, that's Bradford's secret. Prolific as she is, writing is a discipline for the author, who does it in her New York apartment, two white bichon frisés at her feet. "I don't know whether I believe it when writers tell me they just sit down and start writing," says Bradford, 70. "I don't start writing until I know what's on the last page."
Will "Survivor" producer Mark Burnett ever do a U.S. version of the series? Death Valley, the Mojave Desert or the Rockies might make great locations.
Kix Forrest, Reno
Burnett nixes cold places outright and deserts for lack of water. He might consider some islands off Florida, he says, but he isn't keen on any American location. He'd think about it only "if I ever did a genuine, shorter "Celebrity Survivor" in the summer." Nothing like that is in the works, though. Burnett's "All-Star Survivor" premieres after the Super Bowl next week
With all the hype over Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, I started wondering two things: First, did Moore and Bruce Willis ever legally divorce? Second, is Willis dating anyone?
Amber Martin, Pleasant Hill, Calif.
Willis and Moore finalized their divorce three years ago. Willis, 48, has his own September-May romance going, with ex-"Baywatch" beauty Brooke Burns, now a special events correspondent for "The Best Damn Sports Show Period." She's 26, a year older than Kutcher. Moore is 41.
"Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts is a definite asset to the show. What's her background?
Kathy Stricker, Troy, Mich.
She's been contributing to GMA and other ABC shows since '95. A sports buff who operates on little sleep "because I watch ball games at night," Roberts also works for ESPN. A former college basketball player, she now prefers golf and is "a Pilates fiend. [It] has changed my world. I know I'm an inch taller!" The native Alabamian is in Manhattan during the week, Connecticut for "SportsCenter" on weekends. How does she do it? "I'm one of those obnoxious to-do-list people."
Where do they get contestants for the Miss USA pageant? We have a Miss Wisconsin, but she competes for the Miss America crown.
Brenda Mehlberg, Clintonville, Wis.
The Miss USA contestants come from a separate state pageant circuit. In addition to Miss Wisconsin, you have a Miss Wisconsin USA, who competes in the national Miss USA pageant. Pageant differences: Miss America, a non-profit college scholarship program, includes a talent competition; Miss USA, a for-profit owned by NBC and Donald Trump, does not.
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BIRTHDAYS
January 25:
Alicia Keys, 23
January 26:
Vince Carter, 27
Wayne Gretzky, 43
Ellen DeGeneres, 46
Paul Newman, 79
January 27:
Bridget Fonda, 40
January 28:
Elijah Wood, 23
Nick Carter, 24
Joey Fatone, 27
Sarah McLachlan, 36
January 29:
Heather Graham, 34
Edward Burns 36
Oprah Winfrey 50
January 30:
Wilmer Valderrama, 24
Phil Collins, 53
Dick Cheney, 63
Gene Hackman, 74
January 31:
Justin Timberlake, 23
Minnie Driver, 34
Anthony LaPaglia, 45
Contributing: Bridget Byrne, John Griffiths, Tameka L. Hicks, Evelyn Poitevent
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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