Country singer, survivalist Craig Morgan heads to Arctic

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - American country singer Craig Morgan calls himself a survivalist, and he is in for a frigid challenge at an upcoming sled dog expedition in the Scandinavian arctic.

Morgan, a Tennessee native who is best known for hits "That's What I Love About Sunday" and "Redneck Yacht Club," said he could not pass up an invitation to test his survival skills in the annual Fjaellraeven Polar sled dog expedition.

"I've jumped out of airplanes, been on scuba trips, and I was just in the Bahamas in a cage with sharks," Morgan, 48, told Reuters. "Still, this is pretty extreme in my book."

The harrowing 205-mile dog-led adventure from the frozen mountains of Norway to Sweden takes place April 9-13 and promises to teach ordinary people how to last through sub-zero temperatures and lashing Arctic winds.

Morgan, who will learn how to handle sled dogs along with 20 other participants, will also bring along the camera crew from his reality show "Craig Morgan: All Access Outdoors" on the Outdoors Channel to chronicle the expedition.

"I had not heard about this event before I was asked to participate," said Morgan, who will bring along his son, Kyle.

"Once they asked me I said, 'Absolutely,'" he added. "I'm a survivalist; anytime I get the opportunity to test my survival skills I jump at it."

On his TV show, Morgan tests his survival instincts in situations such as skydiving and aerial bow fishing.

Morgan, a U.S. Army veteran whose only prior sub-zero experiences include stays in Korea and blustery Iowa, said he looks forward to learning how to work with the sled dogs.

"I love dogs, have dogs of my own, but these dogs are completely different," he said.

"They sleep outside in the snow ... the language that you give the commands is different. I'll have to get into their world and work the way they are used to."

Morgan is also the host of the Outdoor Channel's "Field & Stream Total Outdoorsman Challenge." He has released six studio albums over his 13-year career, most recently "This Ole Boy" in 2012.

(Reporting by Vernell Hackett; Editing by Eric Kelsey and Jackie Frank)

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U.S. singer Anastacia diagnosed with breast cancer again

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. singer Anastacia has been diagnosed with breast cancer having successfully battled the disease in 2003, she said in a statement posted on her Facebook page.

The 44-year-old, who had major success outside the United States with hits like the 2000 dance favorite "I'm Outta Love", has been forced to cancel plans to tour Europe starting in London on April 6.

"I feel so awful to be letting down all my amazing fans who were looking forward to 'It's A Man's World Tour'," she said in a statement. "It just breaks my heart to disappoint them," she said.

She added that she will continue writing and recording her new album and hopes to schedule a new tour as soon as possible.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Spielberg to lead Cannes film festival jury

PARIS (Reuters) - Director Steven Spielberg will preside over the 2013 Cannes film festival jury in May, organizers said on Thursday, an A-list casting that adds Hollywood firepower to the high-brow international festival.

Spielberg, whose presidential drama "Lincoln" took home two Oscars at Sunday's Academy Awards, will succeed Italian director and actor Nanni Moretti, who helmed the jury for Cannes' 65th anniversary last year.

The 12-day festival, which takes place on the Cote d'Azur in the south of France, is a major showplace for new movies from around the world that attracts top and emerging screen writers, deal-makers and hundreds of film critics.

Spielberg's blockbuster film E.T. screened as a world premiere at Cannes in 1982, and festival President Gilles Jacob called the respected director a "regular" at the prestigious film festival.

"Since then I've often asked Steven to be Jury President but he's always been shooting a film," Jacob said. "So this year, when I was told 'E.T. phone home,' I understood and immediately replied 'At last!'"

Spielberg called the festival a "platform for extraordinary films to be discovered and introduced to the world."

The 66-year-old director's four-decade career has included such varied films as "Jaws," "Schindler's List," "The Color Purple" and "Jurassic Park."

Spielberg was passed over at Sunday's Oscars for Best Director for "Lincoln," the story of the president battling to abolish slavery and end the civil war, but the film provided actor Daniel Day-Lewis with his third Best Actor award.

"Lincoln," distributed by Disney, also won for production design.

The Cannes film festival runs from May 15 to 26.

(Reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Dale Robertson, actor in U.S. westerns, dies at 89

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Dale Robertson, the star of scores of Hollywood Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, has died at the age of 89 in Southern California, Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla said on Thursday.

Robertson, who was best known for his role of special agent Jim Hardie in the NBC television series "Tales of Wells Fargo" from 1957-1962, died on Tuesday, the hospital said.

The "Sitting Bull" star had been in poor health for about two years and had a cancer diagnosis last week, his niece, Nancy Love Robertson, told The Oklahoman newspaper.

Born Dayle Lymoine Robertson in Harrah, Oklahoma, in 1923, the actor attracted the attention of Hollywood agents after a Los Angeles photographer posted his photo in a display window.

Robertson, who served in Europe and Africa during World War Two, starred in 60 films and television shows over his five-decades acting career, starting out with roles in 1950s Westerns such as "Devil's Canyon" and "Dakota Incident."

The actor was inducted in 1983 into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's Western Performers Gallery in Oklahoma City, alongside some of Hollywood's most famous on-screen cowboys including John Wayne and Roy Rogers.

Robertson is survived by his wife, Susan, and two daughters.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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Actress Jennifer Lawrence's "Silver Linings" clothes fetch $12,000

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Clothing worn by Jennifer Lawrence in her Oscar-winning role as an outspoken young widow in "Silver Linings Playbook" beat expectations by taking in about $12,000 at auction.

The wool, full-length winter coat worn by Lawrence in the Oscar-nominated comedy topped all items, selling for $4,652 in the three-day online auction, Los Angeles auction house Nate D. Sanders said on Friday.

The memorabilia dealer had expected the items to fetch between $500 and $1,500 each following the 22-year-old's Best Actress win at the Academy Awards on Sunday.

Lawrence also won awards from the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild in January for her "Silver Linings Playbook" performance.

The custom-tailored white pants Lawrence wore during the film's climactic ballroom dance scene with co-star Bradley Cooper went for $3,493, and a package of a teal sports bra and blue long-sleeved shirt sold for $3,175.

A black tank top from Lawrence's wardrobe, but not worn in the film, fetched $624.

Movie studios often hand off costumes to auction houses, where even small outfits can bring in high prices from fans and collectors.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Xavier Briand)

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Richard Burton immortalized in Hollywood next to Taylor

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British actor Richard Burton finally received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame next to that of his two-time wife, Elizabeth Taylor, on Friday, nearly 30 years after his death.

Welsh-born Burton, who died in 1984, received the career honor as part of the 50th anniversary of ancient Egypt movie drama "Cleopatra," in which he and co-star Taylor began their storied and tumultuous love affair.

The couple's adopted daughter, Maria Burton, accepted the honor of the iconic terrazzo and brass star along Hollywood Boulevard in the historical heart of the U.S. film industry.

Burton was nominated for an Oscar seven times between 1953 and 1978 but never won the prize.

Actor and fellow Welshman Michael Sheen spoke at the unveiling and recalled the awe he felt when Burton and Taylor, one of Hollywood's most famous couples, visited the village where Sheen grew up.

"The same beach that I built my boyhood sand castles (on) and learned to failingly swim - it was that same beach, that one legendary day, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor descended from the heavens, like gods from Olympus, in a helicopter ... and landed on those sands," Sheen said.

"They stepped out swathed in luxurious fur coats - it was the '70s - and walked among us for too short a time," he added.

Burton, whose star is the 2,941th installed, starred in 11 films with Taylor, including "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in 1966 and "The Taming of the Shrew" in 1967.

The couple's scandalous love affair during 1964's "Cleopatra" was made into a U.S. television movie "Liz & Dick," starring Lindsay Lohan, last year.

Burton and Taylor wed for the first time in 1964 and divorced in 1974. They remarried the following year, but that marriage lasted just nine months.

Burton, who was born Richard Jenkins, was married five times and died in 1984 from a cerebral hemorrhage at age 58. Taylor, who married eight times, died in 2011 at age 79.

(Reporting by Alan Devall; Writing by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Sandra Maler)

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Schwarzenegger flexes muscles again in bodybuilding world

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger is going back to his bodybuilding roots.

The action movie star turned politician will become group executive editor for the magazines Flex, and Muscle & Fitness, writing monthly columns in the publications and their online websites, American Media said on Friday.

The "Terminator" star, who began his Hollywood career as a bodybuilder and went on to win five Mr. Universe titles, held the same position at the magazines before he was elected California governor in 2003.

"Bodybuilding has always been part of my life, and I know Muscle & Fitness and Flex will continue to motivate others - as it did me - to lift weights and lead a healthy lifestyle (and) promote the sport of bodybuilding," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Schwarzenegger's relationship with the two magazines goes back to 1968, when he was just 21, and he has appeared on their covers more than 60 times.

Schwarzenegger, 65, has taken a diverse path since stepping down as California governor in January 2011, returning to movies in films like "The Last Stand" and "The Expendables 2," writing an autobiography, and launching an eponymous global policy think tank at the University of Southern California's Los Angeles campus.

Muscle & Fitness and Flex are part of American Media Inc, whose other titles include the National Enquirer tabloid, and celebrity magazine OK!

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Actress Bonnie Franklin of TV's "One Day at a Time" dead at 69

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actress Bonnie Franklin, best known for her starring role as a single, working mother on the hit CBS comedy "One Day at a Time," in an era when U.S. television was redefining families in pop culture, died on Friday at age 69.

She died at her Los Angeles home of complications from pancreatic cancer, surrounded by relatives and friends, according to a statement issued by the CBS network on behalf of her family.

Franklin, a petite redhead, had acted on Broadway before being cast as the harried divorcee Ann Romano in "One Day at a Time," which debuted in December 1975 and ran for nine seasons on CBS. It co-starred Valerie Bertinelli and Mackenzie Phillips as her two head-strong daughters.

"My heart is breaking," Bertinelli, who played the younger daughter, Barbara, said in a statement. "Bonnie has always been one of the most important women in my life and was a second mother to me."

"She taught me how to navigate this business and life itself with grace and humor, and to always be true to myself. I will miss her terribly," Bertinelli added.

Franklin's performance on the series garnered her an Emmy nomination in 1982. She previously earned a Theatre World Award and a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut work in the 1970 musical "Applause," in which she sang the title song.

During a career spanning six decades, she starred in more than 30 television series and made-for-TV movies while continuing her work in live theater. But she was best remembered for her work on the Norman Lear-produced sitcom "One Day at a Time."

The show was an instant ratings success and became a cultural landmark for its portrait of a family that departed from the idealized sitcom households of earlier decades, like those on "Leave It to Beaver" (1957-1963) and "Father Knows Best" (1954-1960).

By the time "One Day at a Time" premiered at the end of 1975, even the happy blended family of "The Brady Bunch" (1969-1974) had become obsolete.

PORTRAYED SINGLE, WORKING MOTHER

Franklin played a divorced mother - a rarity on U.S. TV at the time - who was struggling to raise her daughters in an Indianapolis apartment with little help from their father, while striving for a fulfilling personal life of her own.

"Ms. Franklin helped define and illuminate the role of single, working mothers within the cultural landscape," CBS said in its statement.

The show delved into drama as it followed their day-to-day lives, dealing with teen sex, suicide, runaways, sexual harassment and other contemporary topics that never would have come up at the Cleavers' dinner table on "Leave It to Beaver."

Adding comic relief was the meddlesome building superintendent, Dwayne Schneider - his first name was almost never mentioned - played by Pat Harrington Jr., who becomes virtually part of the family.

Unlike the character she played, Franklin had no children of her own. Born in Santa Monica, she was the fourth of five children of immigrant parents - a Romanian mother and Italian father - and made her television debut at age 9 on "The Colgate Comedy Hour," an NBC variety show in the 1950s.

"To my mother, getting married and having kids were synonymous with security," Franklin said in a 1977 interview with Family Weekly. "I used to tell her that was not always so, but I couldn't convince her. Then I got married, divorced, the series came along, it was a hit, and something remarkable happened: She came around to my point of view."

"She said to me, 'It's wonderful. You can have a personal life and earn money for your old age,'" Franklin recalled.

Franklin helped hold the "One Day at a Time" cast together amid off-camera tensions. Phillips, who played older daughter Julie, battled serious drug problems during the show's run and was fired after getting arrested on cocaine charges, showing up late and incoherent, and undergoing drug rehab.

Franklin directed some episodes of the show and also later directed an episode of the sitcom "Charles in Charge."

She appeared last year on the daytime drama "The Young and the Restless" and in 2011 made a guest appearance on the TV Land cable channel's sitcom "Hot in Cleveland," co-starring Bertinelli.

Her family disclosed last September that Franklin was being treated for pancreatic cancer.

Franklin's first marriage ended in divorce. She married producer Marvin Minoff in 1980, and they remained together until his death in 2009.

(Reporting by Will Dunham and Steve Gorman; Editing by Bill Trott, Cynthia Johnston, Martin Golan and Lisa Shumaker)

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Ex-NBA star Rodman says North Korea's Kim wants Obama to call

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dennis Rodman, the former NBA star known more for his body piercings and tattoos than international diplomacy skills, said on Sunday he returned from North Korea with a message from its leader Kim Jong-un for President Barack Obama - "call me."

Rodman appeared on ABC's "This Week" program a few days after an unlikely meeting with Kim in the North Korea capital Pyongyang, where Rodman was working on a documentary about basketball.

With the international community concerned about North Korea's nuclear weapons program and continued belligerence, Rodman had extremely rare access to Kim. They attended a basketball game, where they were seen laughing and talking at courtside, and also had dinner together.

"He wants Obama to do one thing - call him," Rodman said. "He said, 'If you can, Dennis - I don't want (to) do war. I don't want to do war.' He said that to me."

Rodman said he told Kim, who followed his father and grandfather as leader of the isolated totalitarian nation in December 2011, that his love of basketball could serve as a foundation of a relationship with the U.S. president, who also is a basketball fan and plays regularly.

"(Kim) loves basketball. And I said the same thing. I said, 'Obama loves basketball.' Let's start there," Rodman said.

The U.S. government disavowed any connection to Rodman's trip. When asked about Kim's "call me" message, Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said on Sunday the United States already has communication channels with North Korea.

"We have urged the North Korean leadership to heed President Obama's call to choose the path of peace and come into compliance with its international obligations," Hayden said. "Instead of spending money on staging sporting events, the North Korean regime should focus on the well-being of its own people who have been starved, imprisoned and denied their human rights."

Last week, Rodman spoke warmly of Kim, 30, and described him as "an awesome kid."

On "This Week," he defended his new friendship with a man considered a violator of human rights and a threat to world peace by saying, "I'm not apologizing for him. You know, he's a good guy to me. Guess what? He's my friend. I don't condone what he does ... (but) as a person to person - he's my friend."

When pressed on North Korea's human rights record, Rodman said, "But as far as what he does, you deal with it."

Rodman, appearing in the interview wearing a jacket covered with images of U.S. dollars, a baseball cap and big sunglasses, dismissed Kim's comments about wanting to destroy the United States as rhetoric stemming from his father.

He called him a strong and "very humble" man who "loves power, he loves control."

Rodman said he intends to return to North Korea someday.

Rodman played on five NBA championship teams during his basketball career, which ran from 1986 to 2000. He played for five teams and in his peak years he was the league's top rebounder and one of its best defenders. He was chosen for the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.

Rodman's basketball skills were matched by his flamboyance - party lifestyle, multi-colored hair, blankets of tattoos, piercings in his ears, nose, lips and eyebrows and showing up in a wedding gown, complete with veil, to promote his autobiography.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Will Dunham)

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Bobby Rogers, co-founder of Motown group the Miracles, dies at 73

DETROIT (Reuters) - Singer Bobby Rogers, a founding member of the hit-making Motown group the Miracles along with Smokey Robinson, died on Sunday in suburban Detroit after a lengthy illness, family members and associates said. He was 73.

Rogers was a tenor in the original Motown lineup of the group that also included Robinson as the lead singer, bass vocalist Warren "Pete" Moore, baritone Ronnie White and the quintet's lone female vocalist, Claudette Rogers.

Claudette Rogers, who became Claudette Robinson after marrying the group's star in 1963 and left the group a year later, was Bobby Rogers' first cousin. She and Smokey Robinson later divorced.

"My cousin, Robert 'Bobby' Rogers, who was like a brother to me, lost his battle and succumbed," she said in a statement issued through the Detroit-based Motown Alumni Association.

"He had a sparkling personality that was loved by everyone," she told the Detroit Free Press newspaper. "People always commented on the tall one with the glasses."

Smokey Robinson, born hours apart from Rogers in the same Detroit hospital on February 19, 1940, saluted his former compatriot in his own statement, saying: "Another soldier in my life has fallen."

"Bobby Rogers was my brother and a really good friend," he said. "I am really going to miss him. I loved him very much."

Billy Wilson, president of the Motown Alumni Association, said Rogers died at his home in Southfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit.

The Miracles grew out of an earlier quintet of high school performers called the Five Chimes that formed in the mid-1950s and changed its name to the Matadors after several roster changes capped by Claudette Rogers' admission to the group.

Introduced to Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., the group changed its name to the Miracles and became one of the first acts signed to his Tamla Records imprint and went on to record Motown's first million-selling hit single, "Shop Around."

The group, which later changed its name again to Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, ultimately released 30 singles that charted in the Top 40, including such Motown classics as "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," "Going to a Go-Go," "I Second That Emotion," "Tears of a Clown" and "Tracks of My Tears."

One of Rogers' most notable vocal contributions with the group was his two-part harmony with Robinson on "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," which was later covered by the Beatles. Rogers' voice also is heard in the background of the Marvin Gaye track "What's Going On," uttering the phrase: "It's just a groovy party, man, I can dig it."

He shared songwriting credits with Robinson on a number of songs recorded by the Miracles, such as "Going to a Go-Go," and other groups, including the Temptations hit "The Way You Do the Things You Do" and "First I Look at the Purse" by the Contours.

Rogers was inducted with other members of the Miracles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, about 25 years after the controversial solo induction of Robinson.

Miracles vocalist Ronnie White died in 1995.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Reaney in New York; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Eric Beech)

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