Star News

Photographs of Marilyn Monroe appearing relaxed and lounging around a New York apartment nine months before she died were unveiled yesterday after being held in a private archive for more than 45 years.

Photographer Len Steckler shot the black-and-white images of Monroe when she unexpectedly arrived at his apartment in December 1961, to visit his friend, Pulitzer-prize winning poet Carl Sandburg.

Steckler is offering them for a sale.

"It was serendipitous with these two icons in their moment and me there with my camera," the photographer told Reuters yesterday.

He said he was "like a fly on the wall" while he shot Monroe, then 35, and Sandburg, 83, as they chatted and held hands.

On the afternoon Monroe visited, Sandburg had mentioned in a casual manner that they would soon have "a visitor."

"Hours later I went to open the door and there I was face to face with Marilyn Monroe, and she looked more ravishing than on the screen," he said. "She said 'I am sorry I am late. I was at the hairdressers, matching my hair to Carl's."

China's well-known animation artist Te Wei Thursday died of respiratory failure in Shanghai. He was 95.

Te Wei, whose former name was Sheng Song, was born in 1915 in Shanghai. He had been working on China's animation industry for several decades. He was best known for the 1956 short animated film "The Conceited General", and other famous works included "Where is Mama"and "The Cowboy's Flute."

Te was the founder of Chinese animation film, and the only artist in China that has been given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA).

Michael Jackson's personal physician is prepared to surrender if authorities file charges against him over the death of the pop star, a newspaper report said on Wednesday.

Dr. Conrad Murray has arrived in Los Angeles and his arrival set off a new round of speculation that authorities were about to file charges against him, the Los Angeles Times said.

Authorities have been mulling a manslaughter case against the doctor since last summer.

"I don't have any specific information that leads me to believe he is going to be charged this week," Murray's lawyer Ed Chernoff said in remarks published by the paper. "but if he is, we've made it clear he's available to turn himself in."

But a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney' s office declined to say whether prosecutors planned to file a case against Murray, the paper said.

Chernoff told the newspaper that Murray was visiting Los Angeles on personal matters and that he planned to discuss strategy with his attorneys, two of whom are based in Southern California.

Murray acknowledged administering the anesthetic propofol to Jackson shortly before his death June 25, according to police affidavits, but he has denied doing anything wrong.

The Los Angeles County's coroner's office has blamed Jackson's death on "acute propofol intoxication."

Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson' personal physician, is expected to surrender to authorities in Los Angeles if charges are filed against him in the pop singer's death, according to his lead attorney Ed Chernoff, media reported Thursday.

"Dr. Murray is more than ready to surrender and answer to any charges," said Ed Chernoff. "I don't have any specific information that leads me to believe he is going to be charged this week," said lawyer Ed Chernoff, "But if he is, we've made it clear he's available to turn himself in."

He added that prosecutors have not announced any charges, and Murray has not been told how or where he should surrender.

Chernoff said Murray was visiting L.A. on personal matters. The arrival of Murray and Chernoff from Houston set off a new round of speculation that authorities, who have been mulling a manslaughter case against the doctor since last summer, were about to file charges.

Murray was with Jackson the morning he died and admitted to investigators that he gave the 50-year-old pop singer sedatives and the powerful anesthetic drug propofol, which medical experts say should only be given in a hospital by trained personnel.

An autopsy classified Jackson's death as a homicide and said the cause was "acute propofol intoxication" in combination with the use of sedatives.

The Michael Jackson Gallery opened its doors to the public on Monday at Macao's Ponte 16 casino hotel, showcasing over 40 iconic items of MJ's career, including his famous rhinestone glove.

The opening ceremony of the Gallery, the first of its kind in Asia, was held Monday evening, which was attended by pop stars and local officials.

MJ's iconic items such as the rhinestone glove, a pair of crystal socks worn by him during his Victory Tour in 1984, MJ- signed Motown 25 Special Billie Jean Photo, his "Victory" Tour black fedora, and other items are displayed in the gallery's main exhibition hall.

Dubbed by fans as the "holy Grail of Michael Jackson memorabilia" and seen as the main attraction of the Gallery, the sparkling white glove is famed for being worn by Michael Jackson in 1983 at Motown's 25th anniversary TV special, where he performed Billie Jean and showcased the legendary Moonwalk for the very first time.

The Ponte 16 casino resort, which is half-owned by local gaming tycoon Stanley Ho's company SJM, paid about 350,000 U.S. dollars for the item at auctions held last year in New York.

Aside from the exhibition hall, the gallery also consists of a "time tunnel" that showed the most important moments of MJ's music life through pictures and videos, a music video showroom that plays his famous "Billie Jean" MV, and a gift shop.

Ambrose So, chairman of Ponte 16, said at the opening ceremony that they have spent a fortune on the collector items displayed at the gallery, and hoped that the gallery will become a tourist attraction at his hotel.

The Beijing Higher People's Court on Friday upheld the six-year jail term for pop singer Zang Tianshuo over a gang fight that caused one death and three injuries.

The court rejected Zang's appeal against the sentence, which was handed down at the Beijing Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in November, a court statement said.

Zang, 45, was detained in September 2008. He had been in a business dispute with Sun Baohe over a disco bar in which they were partners in Langfang city, neighboring Beijing.

At Zang's instruction, bar manager Lu Changchun organized a 100-strong gang armed with clubs, iron pipes and blades.

The gang was involved in a fight with 20 other people led by Sun in the square outside the Langfang Railway Station on June 21, 2003. One man from Sun's side was killed and three were slightly injured.

Lu fled the scene and was caught by police in the northeast China city of Changchun in July 2008.

Lu, 44, was sentenced to nine years in jail.

Zang, a household name in China, was one of China's first rock musicians. He has written many hit songs, such as "Friends," and a number of movie and advertising tunes. He was voted the most popular mainland singer/songwriter at the 9th Chinese Music Awards in 2003.

Chinese pop and folk singer and songwriter Han Hong will meet her fans Sunday morning at the Shenzhen Book City store in Nanshan.

The singer, of Tibetan origin, will promote her latest Mandarin album, "Listen to My Voice" and sign autographs.

The album, released in October, took seven years to complete. She invited an international crew to work on the album, including Keith Olsen, one of the most prolific and successful producers in the United States.

Chinese writer Guo Jingming wrote the lyrics for four tracks for the album. Han lauds the "sharp and dignified" work of Guo, a controversial figure who was once embroiled in a plagiarism lawsuit.

One of the most outstanding female singers in China, Han rose to fame in the late 1990s with her sonorous voice and has maintained her diva status since 2003. She also specializes in a variety of folk songs. Her signature works are "Tibetan Plateau" and "Heaven’s Road."

She was born in Shigatse, the second largest city in Tibet. Like her Tibetan mother, Han is able to shift quite easily from piercing high pitches to soft low tones.

She appeared in a Chinese television gala broadcast after the Olympic closing ceremony Aug. 24, 2008. She also performed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony Sept. 5, 2008.

Actress-turned-producer Zhang Ziyi may produce another film, but it won't be "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" as was previously reported.

Zhang has quit her roles as the upcoming film's producer and lead actress, Sohu.com cited Zhang's publicist, Ji Lingling, as saying Wednesday.

Ji says Zhang wants to concentrate on Wong Kar-Wai's martial-arts drama, "The Grand Master". The film is being shot in northeastern China.

Filming of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" was scheduled to kick off earlier this month, but had been postponed for unspecified reason.

Meanwhile, South Korean star Jeon Ji-Hyun, who was cast alongside Zhang, has also quit, said the Sohu report.

Producers are approaching other Chinese actresses, including Fan Bingbing, Li Bingbing, Shu Qi and Gao Yuanyuan, according to Sohu.

"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan", an English-language film about a lifetime friendship between two women set in 19th century China, is adapted from Lisa See's novel of the same name. The film is to be directed by Chinese-American filmmaker Wayne Wang, who also helmed "Maid in Manhattan".

"Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" was to be Zhang Ziyi's second film as a producer, following the 2009 romantic comedy "Sophie's Revenge".

Zhang's resignation has roused suspicions that it might be an aftermath of a recent confrontation between the actress and a Beijing publication. The latter carried an article fabricating Zhang as "the third woman destroying another's family." The actress filed a suit in a Beijing court accusing the newspaper of defamation. The case was accepted but no further information has been heard.

Ji, Zhang's agent, denies that Zhang's quitting has anything to do with the case, saying, "She's been very busy with Wong Kar-Wai's film... Although Ziyi won't work with director Wayne Wang this time, they will have another project together in the near future."

British actress Jean Simmons, who starred opposite Laurence Olivier in "Hamlet" during a career spanning 60 years, has died in California, Los Angeles Times reported on Saturday.


Simmons, who was 80 and had lung cancer, died at her home in Santa Monica on Friday night, it quoted her agent Judy Page as saying.

Born in London, Simmons started acting in films as a teenager and later moved to the United States to star in movies such as the 1955 musical "Guys and Dolls" with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, and Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" with Kirk Douglas in 1960.

Simmons won a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for playing Ophelia in "Hamlet" in 1948 and a best actress nomination for her role in "The Happy Ending" -- a 1969 film directed by her second husband Richard Brooks.

Her marriage to Brooks ended in divorce in 1977. She married Brooks in 1960, months after divorcing actor Stewart Granger.

"As a 14-year-old dance student she was plucked from her school to play Margaret Lockwood's precocious sister in 'Give Us the Moon' (1944)," according to a biography of the actress on IMDb.COM movies website.

By the 1980s, she mainly appeared in TV mini-series and won an Emmy for her role in "The Thorn Birds" in 1983.

The exhibition of plans to restore kungfu star Bruce Lee's residence kicked off on Saturday in Hong Kong, showcasing creative ideas from the professionals and public all around the world.

Winning entries of the Ideas Competition for Bruce Lee's residence, will be showcased on the exhibition staged in the city from January 23 to March 6.

The competition, launched on July 20, 2009, aimed to turn the former residence of the late Bruce Lee into an attraction to commemorate Lee's contribution to martial arts and the film industry.

As a step forward to take forth the restoration project, the competition received an overwhelming response of more than 140 valid entries both local and overseas.

A spokesman for the Tourism Commission said the winning entries would provide very creative ideas and concepts to restore the residence to its original appearance and to maximize the use of space for the provision of facilities, such as an exhibition hall, audio-visual room, kungfu corner, library and souvenir counter.

All the entries have showcased Lee's renowned philosophy of martial arts "as you think, so shall you become", said Rita Lau, the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government.

"We would continue to collect information on Bruce Lee and exhibits for the future facility, with a view to enabling the restored residence to capture the life story of one of the greatest legends of our time," she said.