In this article: Birthdays More on Elvis Presley Last week's Who's News

She looks delicate as a rose, yet "Menace" creator George Lucas wanted Portman because she's smart and strong. He signed her onto all three new Star Wars movies, but she'll have to make the next two during breaks from college, which she starts this fall. (She was accepted at Yale and Harvard; her reps won't reveal where she will go.) Portman, an only child, has a comfortable relationship with her folks. Among the values they instilled: Education is more important than money and fame.

Taye Diggs, 28, who played Angela Bassett's much younger beau in "How Stella Got Her Groove Back", must be on Hollywood's up-and-coming list. He's very sexy.
Georgeann Brown Brooklyn, N.Y.

Lots of moviegoers dug Diggs' body in Stella, and the well-muscled, 5-foot-8 star is thankful: "I'm not saying, 'Don't just see me for my body.' Brad Pitt should be thankful if people like to look at him." Now, Diggs is a reluctant groom in The Wood; come fall, he's the lead in The Best Man and part of the ensemble of House on Haunted Hill, a remake of a 1958 Vincent Price thriller. After his 1994 graduation from Syracuse University, Diggs landed in New York City, where he did "the struggling-actor bit. I once had to borrow $300 from a friend to pay the rent. I was only making $100 at Pizzeria Uno."

What's the real story behind the demise of the marriage of Atlanta Braves star third baseman Chipper Jones?
Mary Thompson, Montgomery, Ala.

Jones filed for divorce in April from wife Karin, calling the marriage of 612 years "irretrievably broken." The split seemed inevitable when he revealed he had had a son with another woman in 1998. Jones, 27, admits to other affairs, too. "I wasn't a good husband," he says. "I was leading a hypocritical life. But I thought maybe we could pull it out." Karin Jones says she's taking things "hour by hour, day by day," but in Atlanta, "everything is the Braves. It's impossible to get away from it."

With the 22nd anniversary of Elvis Presley's death looming Aug. 16, I wonder about his ex-wife, who went on to star in those "Naked Gun" flicks. What is she doing now?
Wilma Kersey, Archdale, N.C.

Priscilla Presley, 54, who divorced Elvis in 1973 after six years, is a businesswoman who, with other trustees, made the King's estate a moneymaker. She's president of Presley Enterprises, which runs Graceland and licenses products, among other things. And she still acts: In September, she plays the mother of a child star in a Showtime movie. Presley and longtime love Marco Garibaldi live in Los Angeles with their son.

As a fan of "Melrose Place"'s wicked Heather Locklear, I've followed her life milestones: marriage, the birth of baby. Did she ever have a second child?
Lori Dennler, Hebron, Ky.

No. But the doting mom of one daughter will fit right in when she starts her new job this month on ABC's Spin City. The Melrose temptress, with a well-earned reputation for saving stale shows, joins a cast full of young parents, several with kids the age of Locklear's Ava, 2. As chief of the Senate campaign of the show's New York mayor (Barry Bostwick), Locklear will butt heads with Michael J. Fox's controlling deputy mayor. Locklear, 37, a native Californian married to Bon Jovi drummer Richie Sambora, is expected to move east for the show, taped in New York.

Watching NATO spokesman Jamie Shea, it's hard not to be impressed by his intellect. What can you tell us about his family and background? Is it true he's leaving his post?
Nancy Hunt, Biloxi, Miss.

Professor Shea (as he's titled on his business card) has said he wants to quit at summer's end but hasn't revealed his plans. Correspondents who watched the Cockney-accented British deputy information director during the Kosovo conflict say he should be exhausted. It was largely thanks to Shea, a married father of two, that the media got as much information as they did. He has an uncanny ability to remember names, a good sense of humor and a willingness to grab a beer at day's end. A military scholar with five languages at his command and a NATO book in the works, Shea, 45, has adjunct teaching positions at several universities, including Michigan State and American.

BIRTHDAYS

Aug 1: Tempestt Bledsoe, 26; Coolio, 36; Robert Cray, 46.
Aug 2: Eddie Furlong, 22; Wes Craven, 60.
Aug 3: Martha Stewart, 58; Tony Bennett, 73.
Aug 4: Jeff Gordon, 28; Roger Clemens, 37; Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) 99.
Aug 5: Patrick Ewing, 37; Loni Anderson, 53.
Aug 6: Soleil Moon Frye, 23; David Robinson, 34; Michelle Yeoh, 36.
Aug 7: Charlize Theron, 24; David Duchovny, 39; Garrison Keillor, 57.

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