Clint Eastwood makes choking victim’s day
Clint Eastwood added another starring role at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: life saver.
Eastwood was attending a volunteer party on the eve of the PGA Tour event when he noticed tournament director Steve John choking on a piece of cheese. The 83-year-old actor quickly performed the Heimlich maneuver Wednesday night at the Monterey Conference Center.
“I was drinking water and eating these little appetizers, threw down a piece of cheese and it just didn’t work,” John said Friday. “I was looking at him and couldn’t breathe. He recognized it immediately and saved my life.”
Eastwood is a prominent figure at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, formerly as an amateur contestant and now as chairman of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. It has raised more than $100 million for charity as the host of the PGA Tour event.
The Hollywood star wasn’t expecting an additional duty this week.
“I looked in his eyes and saw that look of panic people have when they see their life passing before their eyes,” Eastwood told the Carmel Pine Cone. “It looked bad.”
Bach talking about near-fatal crash
The author of the inspirational novella “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” is opening up about the plane crash that nearly killed him.
Richard Bach has a deal with Amazon.com Publishing for “Illusions II,” a sequel to the 1977 best-seller “Illusions” that will tell of his 2012 accident. The new work is being sold exclusively through Amazon’s Kindle Single e-book program.
The 77-year-old Bach suffered brain, chest and spine injuries when he crashed his plane while trying to land on San Juan Island.
Cowell’s ‘X Factor’ fails U.S. audition
“The X Factor” is ending after three seasons. Fox and the show’s production companies announced Friday that the U.S. edition of the singing competition won’t be coming back this fall.
“X Factor” head judge and creator-executive producer Simon Cowell, who served as a judge on Fox’s “American Idol” for nine seasons, will instead return to the U.K. version of “X Factor” later this year.
The acerbic judge initially predicted that “X Factor” would be a major hit before its 2011 debut, but the show never garnered stellar ratings, which continued to dip in last year’s third season. “X Factor” also failed to produce a winner as successful as past “Idol” champions.
The birthday bunch
Actor Jack Larson (TV: “Adventures of Superman”) is 86. Composer-conductor John Williams is 82. Actor Nick Nolte is 73. Comedian Robert Klein is 72. Actress Brooke Adams is 65. Actress Mary Steenburgen is 61. Rock singer Vince Neil (Motley Crue) is 53. Rock singer-musician Sammy Llanas (The BoDeans) is 53. Actress Mary McCormack is 45. Dance musician Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (Daft Punk) is 40. Actor Seth Green is 40.