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Palance again proves brawn

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - At age 84, Jack Palance still likes to show he can do a set of push-ups.

In town to be honored at the Festival of the West, Palance dropped to the ground before a small group in a hotel lobby, recalling the one-armed push-ups he did at age 71 during his 1991 Oscar acceptance speech for City Slickers.

Palance, whose trademark grimace and gravelly voice helped earn him roles in such Westerns as Shane and City Slickers, was being honored Saturday with the Cowboy Spirit Award.

Palance was also showing off a softer side, offering autographs for copies of his new book of poetry and prose, The Forest of Love.

Reflecting on his career, Palance said he was always focused on getting his next job. He even played down winning the Oscar for his role as Curly in City Slickers, saying he never had the trophy engraved and doesn't know exactly where it is now.

"It was nice to win, but what the hell, what is it really?" he said. "It's the next job, that's what it is."

LOS ANGELES - Ethan Hawke says he was uncomfortable with the seamy plot in his movie Taking Lives.

Hawke plays Angelina Jolie's love interest in the thriller. He is an art dealer who gets involved in the search for a serial killer and becomes a target.

"The movie certainly deals with some kind of sexuality-with-violence that I've never dealt with in movies," Hawke told the Daily News of Los Angeles. "It's something that I find pretty uncomfortable and that I don't particularly enjoy."

But Hawke, 33, said it was precisely because it would be a new experience that he took the role. "If you want to have a long career in the movies, you've got to try to work in different genres," he said.

MOBILE, Ala. - Rock band 3 Doors Down hopes to raise at least $125,000 for charities at its Friday concert.

The money raised in Mobile will be shared among 16 nonprofit organizations, including the Mulherin Custodial Home, Ronald McDonald House, Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence and Habitat for Humanity.

Band members are donating the money they would make from the show, although this doesn't include production costs such as payroll for the crew.

Comedy Central made certain Thursday that it would have its signature star, Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, for at least another four-year election cycle, completing a deal that will extend his contract through 2008.

Stewart, 41, has become one of the stars of late-night television in the last year, winning two Emmy Awards and landing on national magazine covers for his acerbic presentation of a mock nightly newscast. He recommitted despite rumblings that he would be highly sought after by the broadcast networks for a late-night talk show.

Stewart declined to comment and the cable channel's executives did not disclose the terms of the deal.

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