Issue Date: May 21, 2006
What is Gwyneth Paltrow's mom, Blythe Danner, doing now?
Carole and Harold Witman, Hot Springs Village, Ark.
Danner plays bigoted but fascinating Izzy Huffstodt on Showtime's "Huff," and she won an Emmy for it last fall. Widowed in 2002, Danner, 63, says she has no inclination to date. "I don't even think about that. Somebody wanted to put me online. I said, 'Over my dead body!' " She finds comfort in her director son Jake, Gwyneth and grandchildren Apple and new baby Moses. "Not to sound melodramatic, but when your partner for 33 years has gone, so unexpectedly really, as Joan Didion says far more eloquently than I could, there is such a meaninglessness, there's such a void, and then a baby comes along ... and there's meaning again."
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Iris Bahr, seen in spring's "Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector," has a most unusual résumé. She served in the Israeli military. She traveled Southeast Asia and much of South America alone as a young woman. She went to Brown for neuropsychology and religious studies but discovered theater. "My dream is, I never want to be typecast," says Bahr, who also has been seen on "E-Ring" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm," among other shows. Bahr, who won't reveal her age, thinks comedy is "more of a meritocracy [than other acting] because you have to be funny." She's writing a solo show and has a book due this fall about her travels. "You create your own experience," says Bahr, which somehow sounds not at all like dippy psychobabble coming from her.
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Playing the "must-get" prof on WB's "The Bedford Diaries" brought back memories of his own favorite teachers for Matthew Modine. "Real tough, enthusiastic, demanding -- those are the people you remember," he says. "The ones that push you through -- I can't even remember their faces." Modine, 47, now doing a play in London, got a chance to impress his daughter when he took her to the BAFTA awards, where she spotted "Harry Potter" star Rupert Grint.
Who is the actress playing Garcia, the computer whiz on CBS' "Criminal Minds?"
Barbara Papish, Beverly, Mass.
That's Kirsten Vangsness, an L.A. actress more accustomed to working in theater for free. Her unique delivery of two lines in the pilot led to her part as a regular, FBI hacker Penelope Garcia. As a kid, Vangsness, 33, tells us she was "overweight and sort of weird and couldn't really fit in." She does now. "Minds" is a go for a second season, so you'll see more of her. Maybe even literally. "It's very flattering that they like my face and they do these giant close-ups, but you have no idea the stuff I am wearing. I am wearing the craziest outfits, and no one knows."
Remember Brett Butler and her sitcom "Grace Under Fire?" Is she working on anything else, or is she retired?
Mark Moreland, Winchester, Va.
Butler, whose old sitcom is now on Oxygen, will host "Moochers," an "unscripted series" produced by Dr. Phil McGraw and his son Jay. The idea: to help people get rid of deadbeat relatives and friends. CBS ordered six episodes, but at press time there was no air date.
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It's not easy acting in a Speedo. Ask Peter Mullan, who does just that in the new movie "On a Clear Day." Mullan got hypothermia in the frigid waters of the Irish Sea while playing a man who, upon losing his job, decides to swim the English Channel. "He's one of those guys confronting his demons," Mullan says. "He has to give himself a ridiculous challenge." A married dad of three whose Scottish brogue is thicker than morning fog, Mullan, 46, says he trained for 5 1/2 months: "I learned how to look more impressive than one actually is." He hates swimming ("it's profoundly boring") but still does it several days a week. "I made myself a promise to keep it up," he says.
Why was there no talk of Ann Curry replacing Katie Couric as "Today's" anchor?
Cheryl Oreilly, Marshfield, Wis.
Because "Today," wanting to remain first among morning shows, needed a "name" replacement who brings the same journalistic experience, charisma and presence that Couric will take to CBS' nightly news. Few have it, but they got it in Meredith Vieira. Curry adds much to the "Today" team, however. So NBC might want to make sure she's happy, too.
TV movie critic Richard Roeper no longer wears his glasses. Did he get contact lenses?
Justin Licklider, Charlottesville, Va.
No. Lasik surgery. "As a softball player, I was always breaking my glasses," he tells us by e-mail. "As a moviegoer, I was always trying to get them smudge-free. Now I don't have to worry about either problem." How his new sight will affect reviews, only time will tell. But, as Roeper happily reports, "Natalie Portman now looks even better on the big screen."
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BIRTHDAYS
May 21: Lisa Edelstein, 39
May 22: Naomi Campbell, 36
May 23: Kelly Monaco, 30; Jewel, 32; Drew Carey, 48; Joan Collins, 73
May 24: Kristin Scott Thomas, 46; Priscilla Presley, 61; Patti LaBelle, 62; Bob Dylan, 65
May 25: Anne Heche, 37; Mike Myers, 43; Connie Selleca, 51
May 26: Jessalyn Gilsig, 33; Lenny Kravitz, 42; Sally Ride, 55; Stevie Nicks, 58
May 27: Joseph Fiennes, 36
Contributing: Bridget Byrne, Gayle Jo Carter, Carissa Marsh
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
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