Issue Date: December 18, 2005
USA WEEKEND: 20 Years Young
WHO WAS NEWS IN DECEMBER 1985
Sportscaster Howard Cosell retires after 20-plus years with ABC ...
Phil Donahue hosts "citizens summit" between U.S. and Soviet audiences ...
Roger Maris dies at 51
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What's the latest on Angie Harmon? Any relation to Mark Harmon?
Mike Mclellan, Mesa, Ariz.
No. And she tells us that, cancellation of NBC's "Inconceivable" aside, her work life is percolating and at home she's fulfilled. This week, you can see her in "Fun with Dick and Jane." The day we talked, she'd had a costume fitting for "Seraphim Falls," a post-Civil War drama in which she'll play wife to Liam Neeson. Having had second daughter, Avery, in June (Finley is 2), Harmon is juggling, but husband Jason Sehorn is a huge help. "I have the best of both worlds," says Harmon, 33. "My career only goes up with each baby I have."
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Atoosa Rubenstein "gets" teen girls. At least that's what my teen, Alicia, tells me. She has been a Rubenstein fan since Rubenstein, at 26, was editor of "CosmoGIRL!" Now 33, Rubenstein is editor of "Seventeen" and an executive producer of "Miss Seventeen," the MTV reality show on which she'll choose an intern Monday night. The winner also gets a scholarship and her face on "Seventeen." Rubenstein tells me she wants a person with confidence who goes the extra mile. "I'm in a war," she says of her competitive market, "and I need soldiers I know are with me."
James Marsters, so great in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel," is now on "Smallville." Anything else?
Beverlie Wages, Muncie, Ind.
He's shopping a TV pilot about "a conflicted hero who attacks with chains and razors." Marsters, 43, admits that as a kid, "superpower and the whole proving yourself physically and fighting was very interesting to me." Does his Brainiac intrigue his son, 9? Not at all, says the divorced Marsters. "It's more important I know the rules of Yu-Gi-Oh! and how to throw a Frisbee."
What's the inside scoop on the Food Network's Alton Brown?
Christine MacNamara, Turnersville, N.J.
Brown, 43, the charming host of "Good Eats," soon will begin a new show, "Feasting on Asphalt," about his coast-to-coast trip along Highway 50, and a new "gigantic" "Good Eats" book. Brown doesn't see himself as a food "celeb" and jokes that he'll ask Bobby Flay what that feels like. He admits to having a thing for a certain dairy product: "I am simply mad about cheese."
Who is the father of Martha Stewart's daughter, and how long were they together? Is she Martha's only child?
T. Jagosh, Bradenton, Fla.
Yes. Alexis, 40, seen at her mother's side on "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart," is the only child of Stewart's 29-year marriage to publishing executive Andy Stewart. (He later married Martha's former assistant.) Mother and daughter had a rocky relationship for years but seem to get along today.
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Chazz Palminteri, 53, is a New Yorker, so it's no surprise that the Christmas movie he directed, "Noel," now on DVD, is an homage to a Big Apple all crisp with cold and dusted with snow. Palminteri, who likes directing because "I like to be the guy in charge," says it's about "how five strangers' lives intertwine and how, through their meetings, their lives become better the next day ... sort of a modern-day 'It's a Wonderful Life.'" It may not run relentlessly on cable through the holidays, but it's sweet. And what holiday movie, with stars like Penelope Cruz and Robin Williams, wouldn't be fun to watch?
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"Half & Half's" Valarie Pettiford says inspiration for her Big Dee Dee comes from "Dynasty's" Alexis Carrington and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show's Sue Ann Nivens. "Kill them with a smile," she tells us. The married singer, dancer and former soap star, who landed on the UPN show soon after moving from New York to the West Coast, is grateful it turned out well. "Sitcom life is truly the best. You can have a great life, make great money doing great work," says Pettiford, 45. Movies, however, not so much. The problem? "All of us [African-American women] are vying for one little role."
Contributing: Gayle Jo Carter, Christopher Cognac, Elissa Petruzzi, Brian Truitt
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BIRTHDAYS
December 18: Katie Holmes, 27
December 19: Jake Gyllenhaal, 25
December 20: Chris Robinson, 39
December 21: Samuel L. Jackson, 57
December 22: Ralph Fiennes, 43; Diane Sawyer, 60
December 23: Estella Warren, 27
December 24: Ryan Seacrest, 31
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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