PASSAGES: Band Wants to Sue Celine

WARNED: The British band Muse is threatening to sue Celine Dion for trademark infringement over her use of the name for her upcoming Las Vegas stage show, to be called “Muse,” Ananova.com reports. Dion reputedly has offered the band $32,000 to use the name, but the members have refused, according to the news site. Muse lead singer Matt Bellamy is quoted as saying: “They’ve told us they are pressing ahead with the Muse name whether we like it or not. They think if we try and sue them they will crush us with their might.” Neither Dion nor her representatives have commented.

REVAMPED: CBS announced a new anchor lineup to start Oct. 26 on its “Early Show.” The network will bring back Harry Smith, 51, and team him with three women: Julie Chen, 32, the lone holdover from the current “Early Show” team; former NBC sportscaster Hannah Storm, 40; and Rene Syler, 39, a news anchor at the CBS-owned station in Dallas. “We’re not going to reinvent the wheel,” said CBS News President Andrew Heyward. “We’re just trying to give it another spin.” Bryant Gumbel and Jane Clayson last sat in the struggling show’s hot seats — rather, anchor chairs.

DECIDED: Britain’s High Court ruled Monday that the tabloid Daily Mail was justified in printing a photo of supermodel Naomi Campbell, 32, leaving a drug rehab center because she had lied to the media about her drug problems. “Where a public figure chooses to make untrue pronouncements about his or her private life, the press will normally be entitled to put the record straight,” said Lord Phillips in delivering the decision that reversed a lower court ruling. Campbell had sued the Mail for breach of privacy. The new ruling means Campbell will have to pay the court costs of the trial, which Mirror editor Piers Morgan put at $1.1 million, Reuters reports. On her Web site, Campbell vowed to appeal.

MOURNED: Character actor Dennis Patrick, 84, a regular on TV’s “Dallas” (as Vaughn Lelend) and the classic daytime horror soap “Dark Shadows,” died of possible smoke inhalation in a weekend fire at his Hollywood Hills home, officials tell Reuters. Firefighters found Patrick dead on Sunday afternoon, with the body of his dog on the floor next to him. Last week, another L.A. actor also died in a housefire: Teresa Graves, who appeared on TV’s “Laugh-In” and “Get Christie Love!”

CAST: Penelope Ann Miller, 38, has been tapped to play Rudolph Giuliani’s ex-wife, Donna Hanover, 52, in “Rudy!” USA Network’s upcoming biopic of the former New York mayor, according to the Hollywood Reporter. She will star opposite James Woods, 55, who will portray Giuliani, 58. The film is due to debut in January.

Related Articles