COLD FEET: Now Noel Gallagher has canceled his wedding a few days after brother and Oasis-bandmate Liam did the same. Seems Noel thought all the press attention would focus on Liam, giving him a shot at a very private ceremony with Meg Matthews on Valentine's Day. Then Liam announced that "obsessive and intrusive" media scrutiny had forced him and Patsy Kensit to remain single.
INDICTED: A federal grand jury has indicted Autumn Jackson and alleged accomplice, Jose Medina, on charges she tried to extort $40 million from Bill Cosby by telling tabloids she is his illegitimate daughter. If convicted of all counts, they face a possible total prison term of 12 years and fines of $750,000.
OSCAR TODAY: Ticket sales for Jerry Maguire went up 44 percent, for The English Patient 64 percent and for Shine 53 percent on Tuesday over Monday..."Roderick Jaynes," nominated for an Oscar for his film editing work on Fargo, turns out to be a pseudonym for the film's director and producer Joel and Ethan Coen...Goldie Hawn joined the list of Oscar presenters. The big show is March 24.
COMPLAINING: Anne Archer and "Shaft" singer Isaac Hayes went to Capitol Hill Thursay to condemn the government of Germany for its treatment of their fellow Scientologists. "People's lives are being ruined," Archer said.
REMEMBERING REYNOLDS: Actress Marjorie Reynolds, caught between Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire in Holiday Inn and later was the tormented wife on TV's The Life of Riley, has died at age 79. Her family said she died February 1.
COURTWATCH: A Los Angeles judge will allow TV cameras to cover the trial of a suit against Pamela Lee Anderson by a movie company that claims she reneged on a contract. Trial was set for April 21.
FAMILIAR FACES: Prosecutors in Boulder, Colorado hired two big players in O.J. Simpson's defense--forensic scientist Henry Lee and DNA expert Barry Scheck--to help the investigation into the murder of little JonBenet Ramsey.
REISSUED RAY: Rhino Records--the premier archive label--has reached an agreement with Ray Charles for the exclusive North American rights to all his post-1959 songs. Classics like "Hit The Road Jack," "Georgia On My Mind" and "America The Beautiful" will be cleaned up and reissued.
HAPPY: Claire Danes will play the female lead in the new production of Les Miserables with Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush. Shooting starts in April in Paris...The X-Files's Gillian Anderson got her first movie role, with Sharon Stone, Gena Rowlands and Harry Dean Stanton in The Mighty, a story about a boy whose physical growth stops at the age of six. For all the casting news, see The Dotted Line.
DIVERSIFICATION: Earvin "Magic" Johnson is reportedly close to signing a deal to produce movies for Fox. He already owns a chain of movie theaters.
LOST AND FOUND: Encouraged by the success of Star Wars, Columbia plans to re-release Close Encounters of the Third Kind this fall and Warners is discussing a 30th-anniversary showing of 2001: A Space Odyssey next year... Not only is the 1960s TV series Lost In Space coming back as a $70 million movie, but New Line Cinema is negotiating with a broadcast network to produce an animated and a live-action TV series in 1998. The sci-fly film will star William Hurt, Gary Oldman and Mimi Rogers.
TIMELESS: ABC will replace Clueless with Step by Step effective Friday, March 7, in the 9:30 slot. The sitcom may return next season.
R-FILES: The Motion Picture Association of America gave an R rating to the remake of Lolita, despite its plot line about an older man fixated on a teenager. A source at the association said it didn't contain graphic scenes. Jeremy Irons stars.