Issue Date: November 30, 2008
My sister says that Dennis Hopper is the son of Hollywood gossip Hedda Hopper. I disagree. Who's right?
Ardith G. Liercke, Santa Barbara, Calif.
You are. Hedda Hopper's only son died in 1970. Dennis Hopper, 72, is alive, well and playing a record producer in "Crash," an edgy new drama on Starz. Hopper's own TV viewing habits are less edgy. He watches the news, sports and, "with the wife, Desperate Housewives."
Go to top
Will "Survivor" ever take place in the USA? There must be a place that's remote enough.
Gene Flakus, Lawrence, Kan.
It's not just about being remote. It's also about being exotic, Survivor host and producer Jeff Probst tells us. "We promise the viewer an adventure to somewhere that they will probably never go," he says. "That's tough to pull off if you go to Detroit or Montana."
Go to top
I don't remember hearing when Giada De Laurentiis had her baby. Girl or boy? How old now?
Susan Kawano, Mililani, Hawaii
De Laurentiis' daughter, Jade Marie De Laurentiis Thompson, was born March 29 in Los Angeles; she turns 8 months this weekend.
Go to top
Stephen Moyer is delicious as the vampire in "True Blood." Tell us about him. He and Anna Paquin have great chemistry in this new HBO series.
Dawn Ordway, Palm Desert, Calif.
Moyer, who is British, single and a father of two, describes it as "alchemy." He tells us his kids know he's an actor and have been on set "when the action isn't too saucy. ... My son [Billy] is over the moon because my character is called Bill. He thinks it's after him, and I haven't disabused him of that fact." HBO gave the series an early second-season renewal; when we talked, Moyer, 39, was feeling as if "the pressure is off." Still, playing a vampire has its downside: "I'm always the one on the night shoots."
Go to top
Does Wallace Shawn, 65, protest too much? He has more than 100 credits (this month he was on "Gossip Girl;" he played a newspaperman in "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl"), but he says, "I don't get offered that much because they don't like me that much." Shawn's smile may belie the real guy. "Many people have said, 'You seem like a harmless, cheerful little fellow, but you're saying these bitter things.' What am I bitter about? The way the world works is unjust. It's not just a little bit wrong. It's very, very wrong. I get up, and I'm angry every day."
Go to top
Is "Grey's Anatomy's" Dr. Hahn the same actress who played the victim who survived in "Silence of the Lambs?"
Lori Nuckles Lynchburg, Va.
Yes -- she is Brooke Smith, 41, and, unfortunately, her run on "Grey's" is over. The daughter of a powerful Hollywood publicist, Smith, married and a mom of two, grew up around actors. Did it influence her career choice? "Dr. Freud would probably have a lot to say about it," Smith says. "My mom was always off with actors. Those were the really important people."
Go to top
Why is "Boston Legal" in its last season? It has the best actors and writers of all shows on TV.
Tom and Sandi Catencamp Tomahawk, Wis.
It almost didn't come back at all; ABC and creator David E. Kelley couldn't come to an agreement. The short 13-episode season is a compromise. But you can see plenty of "Legal's" William Shatner, 77, on "Raw Nerve," a talk show on A&E's Bio Channel starting Tuesday. Host Shatner says he gets celebs to lower their guard. "[They] know I'm not going to hurt them," he tells us. He credits his own experiences -- "We're kindred spirits" -- in landing interview subjects like Jimmy Kimmel, Valerie Bertinelli and Leonard Nimoy.
Go to top
BIRTHDAYS
November 30: Elisha Cuthbert, 26; Clay Aiken, 30; Ben Stiller, 43
December 1: Bette Midler, 63; Woody Allen, 73
December 2: Britney Spears, 27; Lucy Liu, 40
December 3: Julianne Moore, 48
December 4: Jay-Z, 39; Marisa Tomei, 44
December 5: Frankie Muniz, 23; Johnny Rzeznik, 43
December 6: Lindsay Price, 32; Janine Turner, 46
Contributing: Gayle Jo Carter, Nancy Mills
 Ask Lorrie Lynch a question about a celeb!
|
