She’s looking for more backbone
Susan Sarandon, a harsh critic of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton‘s stance on the Iraq war, offered nothing but praise Tuesday as they teamed up to promote spinal cord research.
“I don’t really want to make it about her. I don’t think she’s a bad person,” Sarandon said before taking the stage at a rally for the Christopher Reeve Foundation, which is pushing Congress to pass legislation named after the late “Superman” actor.
The actress offered a warm introduction for Clinton, considered an early front-runner for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination in 2008, saying: “We are all very lucky to have her here today as a leader in Congress.”
Just two days earlier, British television aired an interview with Sarandon in which she complained Clinton had “crumbled under the pressure of that moment.”
“I’m not particularly supportive of her,” she added. “I’d like to find somebody that really has a moral bottom line … man or woman.”
Just packed his trunk and left
Keith Richards has been released from a New Zealand hospital where the Rolling Stones guitarist was admitted with a head injury after he reportedly fell out of a palm tree.
Richards, 62, suffered a mild concussion while on vacation in Fiji. One newspaper reported that Richards got on a Jet Ski after the fall and had another accident.
Guess he’s out of the woods
James Woods, nominated for Oscars for his roles in “Salvador” and “Ghosts of Mississippi,” has been given a clean bill of health after having an angiogram because of chest pain.
No blockages were found and Woods, 59, returned to his Southern California home.
Ten-to-life imitates art
Continuing a string of off-screen incidents, two more actors from “The Sopranos” have been charged in criminal cases.
John Ventimiglia, who plays temperamental chef Artie Bucco on the HBO hit series, was arraigned Monday on drunken driving, drug possession and other charges after officers spotted him weaving in and out of traffic.
And Louis Gross, who plays bodyguard Perry Annunziata, was charged with criminal mischief after a woman claimed that he broke into her home last month.
Previously, Lillo Brancato Jr., who played an aspiring mobster, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the slaying of an off-duty police officer; Vincent Pastore, cast as Sal “Big Pussy” Bompensiero before getting whacked, pleaded guilty to attempted assault on his girlfriend; and Robert Iler, who plays Tony Soprano’s rebellious son, pleaded guilty to mugging two other youths and stealing $40.
Oh, that golden age
Singer Gary Glitter, jailed in Vietnam on child molestation charges involving two girls aged 10 and 11, says he hopes to win his appeal and restore some dignity to his name.
“It was only till recently that I found out that underage is 18 in this country … but I don’t believe that I slept with anybody under 18 in this country,” said Glitter, 61.
The birthday bunch
Folk singer Pete Seeger is 87. Singer James Brown is 73. Singer Frankie Valli is 71. Sports announcer Greg Gumbel is 60. Singer Christopher Cross is 55. Actor Dule’ Hill (“The West Wing”) is 31.