People – Winokur Begged to Go ‘Dancing With the Stars’
Marissa Jaret Winokur didn’t have to be swayed into being on “Dancing with the Stars.”
“I keep hearing these stories how people turned it down a few times,” Winokur said at the William S. Paley Television Festival in Los Angeles on Friday. “I banged on their doors. ‘Please let me do this show. Please! Please! Please!’ It’s lived up to all my expectations.”
The 35-year-old actress, who won a Tony Award in 2003 for playing Tracy Turnblad in Broadway’s “Hairspray,” strained to speak during the panel because she said she’s beginning to lose her voice. “I just talk too much,” joked Winokur, who’s partnered with professional dancer Tony Dovolani on the show.
Winokur and husband Judah Miller are expecting their first child. Winokur, who had cervical cancer seven years ago, said the baby is being carried by a surrogate mother and is due in four months.
King buys hometown juke joint
B.B. King is the new owner of a juke joint in his Mississippi Delta hometown.
Mary Shepard has owned Club Ebony in Indianola for the past three decades.
A Mississippi Delta Blues Trail Marker outside Club Ebony says Count Basie , Ray Charles , James Brown and Ike Turner are among the musicians who have played there since 1945.
Shepard says she sold the club because she wants to relax and spend time with her family.
Indianola is about halfway between Jackson and Memphis, home to B.B. King’s Blues Club on Beale Street.
Honorary degree for Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones will receive an honorary doctorate at the University of Washington commencement, where the musician-composer-producer- arranger will speak on June 14.
The university’s regents voted to award the degree at their meeting last week.
The 75-year-old Jones moved to Bremerton, Wash., with his family at age 10 and began playing the trumpet in junior high school.
He has toured with Lionel Hampton ‘s band, and has arranged for other musicians including Duke Ellington , Ray Charles and Count Basie .
He’s best known, though, as the producer of two of the biggest selling records of all time: Michael Jackson ‘s 1982 album “Thriller” and the single “We Are the World.”
– From Our Press Services
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Today’s birthdays
Comedian Louie Anderson , 55; actor Robert Carradine , 54; actress Kelly LeBrock , 48; TV personality Star Jones , 46; actress Annabella Sciorra , 44; actress Lara Flynn Boyle , 38; rapper Maceo of De La Soul, 38; actress Alyson Hannigan , 34; actress Keisha Castle-Hughes , 18.
Weekend Box Office
1. “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who,” $25.1 million.
2. “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns,” $20 million.
3. “Shutter,” $10.7 million.
4. “Drillbit Taylor,” $10.2 million.
5. “10,000 B.C.,” $8.7 million.
6. “Never Back Down,” $4.9 million.
7. “College Road Trip,” $4.6 million.
8. “The Bank Job,” $4.1 million.
9. “Vantage Point,” $3.8 million.
10. “Under the Same Moon,” $2.6 million.
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Originally published by From Our Press Services .
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