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In the news
By Times staff writer Patrick Wilson is "It'Broadway actor and St. Petersburg native Patrick Wilson has been declared one of the 100 most creative people in entertainment by Entertainment Weekly magazine. In the current issue, Wilson gets an entire page, above, most of which is devoted to a photo of him wearing a white T-shirt, worn jeans and black boots. How did he get on the "It List"? "Straight from his Tony-nominated performance in 2000's stage hit The Full Monty, this fresh-faced Florida native earned a second consecutive nod playing Curly in the current revival of Oklahoma!" the brief writeup says. Wilson, 28, is the son of WTVT-Ch. 13 anchor John Wilson and singer Mary Kay Wilson. He is working on an HBO version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America, directed by Mike Nichols and starring Al Pacino and Meryl Streep. Bassett loves 'character'Speaking of St. Petersburg natives, Angela Bassett says she turned down the female lead in Monster's Ball because she believed that an affair the character had was demeaning and stereotypical. "It's about character, darling," she told Newsweek for the July 1 issue. "I wasn't going to be a prostitute on film. I couldn't do that because it's such a stereotype about black women and sexuality." Bassett made it clear she didn't mean to criticize Halle Berry, who got the role of a troubled waitress who has an affair with her husband's executioner. Berry won an Oscar for her performance. "It's about putting something out there you can be proud of 10 years later," Bassett, 43, said. "I mean, Meryl Streep won Oscars without all that." O'Donnell becomes 'controversial'Rosie O'Donnell said she has begun to feel the sting of leading the fight to allow gays and lesbians to adopt children in Florida. She said a medical association recently rescinded an invitation to speak at its convention. "They said they were afraid of protesters," O'Donnell told 200 women Sunday at the two-day Wise Women Weekend retreat in Miami Beach. "I'm not used to being considered controversial." O'Donnell also responded to criticism that her crusade is a gay issue. "I have no homosexual agenda," she said. "I have a child agenda." The 40-year-old former talk show host and comedian, who has a home in Miami Beach and has adopted three children outside Florida, said she learned about the ban when she applied to adopt a Florida foster child in her care. "It stunned me to know that Florida, the state where I live, is the only one that does not allow gay adoptions," said O'Donnell, who came out in March. Florida passed the gay adoption ban in 1977 at the time Anita Bryant went on a crusade against a Dade County ordinance protecting homosexuals from discrimination. Last August, a federal judge in Miami upheld the law in a case brought by two gay men who wanted to adopt foster children. USF music director leavesChris Doane, director of the School of Music at the University of South Florida since 1995, is leaving to become dean of the School of Music at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. USF music faculty member John Richmond has been named interim director while a search is conducted for Doane's replacement.
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From the wire |
