Christina Applegate Mourns Former Beau’s Death
Some very sad news for Christina Applegate.
E! News has confirmed that an investigation is under way into the circumstances surrounding the death of 26-year-old Lee Grivas, an aspiring photographer who had been dating the Samantha Who? star off and on for more than two years.
“I am profoundly saddened,” Applegate said in a statement to News.
“Lee was an incredible human being who was an extremely important and beautiful part of my life. He is missed beyond words. He touched so many and I feel much sadness for his mother, brother and all of his family and friends.”
The Los Angeles Police Department said that a report was filed July 1 but would not divulge any further details, pending the results of an autopsy and toxicology tests.
“All I confirm is that a death report investigation for Lee Grivas has been taken,” Officer Julie Sohn said.
Authorities have also said, however, that Grivas had a history of drug abuse and that an officer found a syringe at the scene.
TMZ.com reported that a neighbor discoverd Grivas’ body on the living room floor of his Hollywood apartment on Tuesday. He was pronounced dead at 5:25 p.m.
According to published reports, Applegate started seeing Grivas in January 2006, a year after husband Jonathan Schaech filed for divorce. At the time, she was starring in a Broadway revival of Sweet Charity.
They reportedly split later that year but had been seeing each other again over the last few months.
“We’re very happy with each other,” Grivas, told People in 2006. “I like making her smile and she likes making me smile. It’s really innocent and fun.”
Appreciation: The Ditziest Greaser
Dody Goodman specialized in comedy. As anyone who saw her muck up Principal McGee’s class schedules in Grease probably surmised.
Goodman’s career dated back to Broadway in the 1940s. For all her creditsnotably, she was an Emmy-nominated performer on Jack Paar’s Tonight Show, and a Fernwood, Ohio, elder in the 1970s cult sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary HartmanGoodman was arguably best known for one word: Grease.
Goodman played Blanche, the scattered front-office assistant, to Eve Arden’s iron-willed Rydell High ruler in the popular 1978 movie musical. The mismatched pair returned for the less-popular 1982 sequel, Grease 2. Arden died in 1990. Goodman kept on, even taking a whirl in the Broadway revival of Grease! in the 1990s.
She was 93 when she died last Sunday at a hospital in New Jersey. Fortunately, Blanche’s smudges are indelible.
Other recently noted passings:
- Kermit Love, 91, was the costume designer from the world of ballet who made Big Bird a big, yellow bird, literally. He also helped create the Sesame Street costumes for Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster.
- Howard Brandy, 79, was a “strong-jawed” publicist, as Variety put it, who was known to cartoon fans, even if they didn’t know it, as the model for the strong-jawed Dudley Do-Right.
- William Vince, 44, produced Capote, and per Canada.com, was the first person thanked in star Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar-night acceptance speech. Recently, Vince worked on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the star-crossed Terry Gilliam fantasy that will go down as Heath Ledger’s final film.
Tony Noms Reach Heights, Head South
The Great White Way is gonna paint the town red tonight.
In the Heights, a musical chronicling a group of immigrant dreamers in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood, as backed by a salsa and hip-hop score, received a leading 13 nominations today for the 2008 Tony Awards.
Following close on its Capezio'd heels is Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific, the much-heralded first ever Broadway revival of the iconic musical, which earned 11 nods.
But Mel Brooks' latest foray, the hugely hyped yet hugely disappointing musical take on Young Frankenstein, failed to register in any of the major categories, aside from featured-acting nods for supporting players Andrea Martin and Christopher Fitzgerald.
A few big names also made the cut: Laurence Fishburne, Patrick Stewart, Rufus Sewell, Laurie Metcalf, Martha Plimpton, Mary McCormack, S. Epatha Merkerson, Tom S. Epatha Merkerson, Tom "Luke Duke" Wopat and Bobby Cannavale were all singled out with individual acting nominations for their work on the boards.
Rounding out the top musical nominees was Stephen Sondheim's equally iconic Sunday in the Park With George, which follows the life of impressionist painter Georges Seurat during the creation of his famous painting, which earned nine nominations.
The top nominated play, meanwhile, was the Pulitzer Prize-sanctioned August: Osage County, a snapshot of a Midwestern family returning home to care for their manipulative and afflicted mother.
The Tonys, currently in its 62nd year, will air live from Radio City Music Hall on CBS June 15. Whoopi Goldberg will host.
Here's the complete list of nominees:
BEST PLAY
- August: Osage County
- Rock 'n' Roll
- The Seafarer
- The 39 Steps
BEST MUSICAL
- Cry-Baby
- In The Heights
- Passing Strange
- Xanadu
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL
- Cry-Baby
- In the Heights
- Passing Strange
- Xanadu
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS)
- Cry-Baby
- In the Heights
- The Little Mermaid
- Passing Strange
BEST REVIVAL OF A PLAY
- Boeing-Boeing
- The Homecoming
- Les Liaisons Dangereuses
- Macbeth
BEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
- Grease
- Gypsy
- Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
- Sunday in the Park with George
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY
- Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
- Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood
- Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
- Rufus Sewell, Rock 'n' Roll
- Patrick Stewart, Macbeth
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
- Eve Best, The Homecoming
- Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
- Kate Fleetwood, Macbeth
- S. Epatha Merkerson, Come Back, Little Sheba
- Amy Morton, August: Osage County
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
- Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park with George
- Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights
- Stew, Passing Strange
- Paulo Szot, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
- Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
- Kerry Butler, Xanadu
- Patti LuPone, Gypsy
- Kelli O'Hara, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
- Faith Prince, A Catered Affair
- Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park with George
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
- Bobby Cannavale, Mauritius
- Raúl Esparza, The Homecoming
- Conleth Hill, The Seafarer
- Jim Norton, The Seafarer
- David Pittu, Is He Dead?
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
- Sinead Cusack, Rock 'n' Roll
- Mary McCormack, Boeing-Boeing
- Laurie Metcalf, November
- Martha Plimpton, Top Girls
- Rondi Reed, August: Osage County
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
- Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
- Danny Burstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
- Robin De Jesús, In the Heights
- Christopher Fitzgerald, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
- Boyd Gaines, Gypsy
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
- De'Adre Aziza, Passing Strange
- Laura Benanti, Gypsy
- Andrea Martin, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
- Olga Merediz, In the Heights
- Loretta Ables Sayre, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY
- The 39 Steps
- Les Liaisons Dangereuses
- August: Osage County
- Macbeth
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
- Sunday in the Park with George
- In the Heights
- The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
- Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY
- Cyrano de Bergerac
- Boeing-Boeing
- Les Liaisons Dangereuses
- The 39 Steps
BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
- Sunday in the Park with George
- Gypsy
- In the Heights
- Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY
- The 39 Steps
- Macbeth
- Les Liaisons Dangereuses
- August: Osage County
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
- Sunday in the Park with George
- In the Heights
- Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
- The Little Mermaid
BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY
- Boeing-Boeing
- Macbeth
- Rock 'n' Roll
- The 39 Steps
BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL
- In the Heights
- Sunday in the Park with George
- Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
- Gypsy
BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
- Maria Aitken, The 39 Steps
- Conor McPherson, The Seafarer
- Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County
- Matthew Warchus, Boeing-Boeing
BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL
- Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George
- Thomas Kail, In the Heights
- Arthur Laurents, Gypsy
- Bartlett Sher, Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
- Cry-Baby
- In the Heights
- Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific
- Xanadu
BEST ORCHESTRATIONS
- Sunday in the Park with George
- In the Heights
- Passing Strange
- A Catered Affair
REGIONAL THEATRE TONY AWARD
- Chicago Shakespeare Theater
SPECIAL TONY AWARD
- Robert Russell Bennett
SPECIAL TONY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE THEATRE
- Stephen Sondheim
Gucci Gets the Face of a Great Danes
Claire Danes is going to help Gucci peddle the finer things in life.
The actress has signed on to be the face of the iconic Italian label's line of fine jewelry (not to be confused with its line of crummy jewelry) in a new ad campaign slated to roll out this fall.
"I am honored to be working with Gucci on their jewelry campaign," Dane said in a statement Thursday. [Creative director Frida Giannini] is a very inspiring and creative woman. Her vision is extraordinary and I am excited to be a part of it."
"She is very natural, fresh and has a carefree attitude that is reflected in the roles she has chosen," Giannini added, referring to her company's newfound muse. "Claire's sensual, confident beauty and her passionate, independent and strong character embodies today's Gucci woman."
In other model moves, Danes, 29, was seen last year grooving in a commercial for the Gap.
After taking time out from her busy big-screen career to play Eliza Doolittle in a Broadway revival of My Fair Lady, Danes is up next in the 1930s-set drama Me and Orson Welles opposite Zac Efron, Ben Chaplin and newcomer Christian McKay as the titular auteur.