FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, June 20, 2001

YOU BET YOUR LIFE: Denzel Washington winning Best Actor for Remember the Titans while Whitney Houston nabbed a Lifetime Achievement Award during the inaugural Black Entertainment Television Awards, televised live Tuesday from Las Vegas.

BET ADD: Sanaa Lathan also winning Best Actress for Love and Basketball and hip-hop duo OutKast scoring for Best Male Group and Video.

ATTENTION, GIRLS: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Benicio Del Toro among those making the cut as People magazine's Top 50 Bachelors.

SPRUNG: Rock Hall of Famer Jerry Lee Lewis, 65, has been released from the Memphis hospital where he's spent the past four days getting treated for pnuemonia. A hospital spokesperson says the rocker "is doing just fine."

SHOWING OFF HER OUTBACK? Survivor alum Jerri Manthey will be posing nude for a summer issue of Playboy, according to E! Online TV maven Wanda.

KING OF THE OCEAN? Titanic director James Cameron considering making a 3-D IMAX movie using footage he's shooting for an ABC special on underwater exploration.

CAUTION: In a message on his Website, Hong Kong action star Jet Li warning parents to avoid taking their children to his new rated-R thriller, Kiss of the Dragon, because of graphically intense fight scenes.

GIVE HER REGARDS TO BROADWAY: Rosie O'Donnell telling People that once her TV contract expires next May, she plans on relocating from New York to Miami.

SPEAKING OF BROADWAY... After just 18 months on the job, Disney studio boss Peter Schneider has announced he's stepping down to start his own Broadway theater production and investment company partially funded by the Mouse House. No replacement has been named.

COMEBACK: Rapper Keith Murray ("The Most Beautifullest Thing in This World") announcing he has signed a deal with Def Jam Records. He spent the past three years in prison on assault charges and was released last month.

BLAME GAME: The parents of JonBenet Ramsey have launched a $70 million suit against Court TV. John and Patsy Ramsey say the cable network falsely accused their son, Burke, of being the prime suspect in JonBenet's murder.

HOLLYWOOD UNDER FIRE I: Only days after Columbia Pictures caused a scandal over deceptive marketing practices, Fox Searchlight Pictures acknowledging that one of its advertising executives posed as a moviegoer in TV ads for 1998's Waking Ned Devine.

HOLLYWOOD UNDER FIRE II: Senator Joseph Lieberman planning to make public a letter he will send President Bush asking for support in holding Hollywood accountable for pushing violence on children.

HARD KNOCKS: Charlize Theron appealing to a northern Virginia businessman to spare the life of a rare black rhinoceros scheduled to be shot and killed in a hunt in her native South Africa.

LEAVE IT TO THE AUDIENCE: Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd reporting that the cast of America's Sweethearts shot a new ending Thursday after test audiences wanted a more comedic rather than romantic ending. The new ending reportedly tested well.

SICK BAY: Famed actor John Thaw, the star of the British crime drama Morse, announcing Tuesday he is suffering from cancer of the esophagus, but hopes to be back at work as soon as he recovers.

ARTISTS RIGHTS: Alanis Morissette taking a break from her European tour next month to deliver a keynote speech at the Plug.In Forum, an annual digital music conference scheduled each July in New York City.