MOURNED: Irish actor Richard Harris, best known for starring roles in This Sporting Life and A Man Called Horse and as Professor Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, died Friday at a London hospital after a bout with cancer, his family said. He was 72.
DUDE, WHERE'S MY DEAL? That '70s Show costars Mila Kunis, Danny Masterson Laura Prepon and Wilmer Valderrama signing lucrative deals to stay with the hit comedy through May 2005. Meanwhile, no contracts yet with key ensemble cast members Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher.
KUDOS! Grammy winner Shakira on Thursday sweeping MTV's first Video Music Awards for Latin America, snagging Best Female Artist, Pop Artist, Artist from the North Region, Video and Artist of the Year. Juanes picked up Best Male Artist, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers claimed International Rock Artist.
COURTING: A six-man, six-woman jury selected to try Winona Ryder on shoplifiting charges. Among the jurors: former Sony studio boss Peter Guber.
CALLING IT QUITS? Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon telling TV Guide Online that the Buffster might hang it up in May. "I'm beginning to suspect that it may be [Buffy's] last season," Whedon said. "Nothing's official, but. . .the way people are talking, there's a finality to it." Ratings for this season are off 16 percent compared to this time last year.
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE: Late Beatle George Harrison set to receive a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to British cinema at the British Independent Film Awards next Wednesday.WELCOME BACK: R&B trio En Vogue, one of the most successful girl groups of the 1990s, releasing its first album in more than two years on November 12. The Gift of Christmas will also mark the introduction of a new member.
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND: The National Association of Cosmetologists, a group of barbers in Los Angeles, asking the Reverend Jesse Jackson to apologize for demanding an apology from the makers of hit movie Barbershop because of jokes about U.S. civil rights leaders.
HEADING EAST: AOL Time Warner planning to invest $483 million to build an outdoor movie studio that is also expected to become a tourist attraction in China's eastern province of Zhejiang, the largest-ever foreign investment in the Chinese film industry.
TOO OLD? Veteran sitcom writer Gary Miller, 54, suing the WB network and the producers of Reba, claiming he was denied promotion and finally fired because they thought he was too old.
JUST SAY NO: Balthazar Getty and Mary McCormack set to star in USA Network's miniseries Traffic. Based on the hit movie, the series will interweave several stories on the drug war.
COMING HOME: The widow of lyricist Sammy Cahn, whose songs included "Three Coins in the Fountain" and "High Hopes," planning to bequeath her husband's four Oscars to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
BACK FOR SECONDS: E! announcing Thursday that The Anna Nicole Show will return for a 13-episode second season in early 2003. The reality sitcom is the cable network (and parent of E! Online)'s highest-rated show ever. The final two episodes of the current season air this Sunday and November 3, respectively. Shooting on the new season begins next month.
WHOLE LOTTA TALK: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones issuing a joint statement denying plans to get back together for a Led Zeppelin reunion tour. The three rockers said they were responding to "completely speculative" British press rumors.