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People - Winfrey Receives Founders Award

Posted on: Saturday, 26 November 2005, 12:00 CST

Oprah Winfrey has received the Founders Award for her international broadcast career and philanthropic initiatives from the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., presented the award to Winfrey, host of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," during this week's International Emmy Awards gala in New York.

"Her accomplishments have established her as one of the most respected and admired public figures today," the Academy said of the talk show host in a statement on its Web site.

The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences was founded in 1969 to recognize excellence in television programming produced outside the United States. It has 500 members from nearly 70 countries and over 350 companies.

Walker's on the case

There's been a change at the top of CBS' No. 2 show, "Without a Trace," with writer-producer Greg Walker taking over as show-runner from series creator Hank Steinberg .

Walker, a veteran of "Smallville" and "The X-Files" who's been with "Without a Trace" since its first season, has signed a new three-year deal with Paramount Network TV that raises him to executive producer and show-runner of the series, the showbiz trades report. Steinberg is moving on to develop new projects for Warner Bros. TV, which produces "Trace" with CBS Productions and Jerry Bruckheimer TV.

Now in its fourth season, "Trace" is the third most-watched series on TV this fall, drawing close to 21 million viewers each week. The show, which stars Anthony LaPaglia , Poppy Montgomery and Marianne Jean-Baptiste , follows a team of FBI agents who work on missing-persons cases.

"Without a Trace" airs at 9 p.m. Thursdays on WREG-TV Channel 3.

Guest star on "ER"

James Woods is going to check into NBC's "ER."

He will guest star as Dr. Nate Lennox, a patient suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. His character is a former professor of Dr. Abby Lockhart, played by Maura Tierney .

The episode featuring Woods will air Feb. 2, the network said.

"ER" airs at 9 p.m. Thursdays on WMC-TV Channel 5.

Huey on Broadway

Huey Lewis is headed to Broadway. The front man for Huey Lewis and the News, whose 1980s hits included "I Want a New Drug" and "The Heart of Rock & Roll," will play slimeball lawyer Billy Flynn in "Chicago: The Musical."

So psyched is Lewis, he told the AP, "I pinch myself daily. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd end up on Broadway." Others who played the role include Jerry Orbach , Ben Vereen , George Hamilton , Wayne Brady , Patrick Swayze , Richard Gere , Alan Thicke and Taye Diggs .

No short jokes here

Contrary to singer Randy Newman's dictum that "short people got no reason to live," they have made quite the mark in the world, Maxim magazine says.

In a list dubbed the "25 greatest short dudes of all time," Angus Young , who plays lead guitar for AC/DC and stands 5-feet-2, is No. 1. Others include Napoleon ; basketballer Spud Webb , director Martin Scorsese , comedian Jon Stewart , musicians Prince and Kurt Cobain and two Hobbits from "The Lord of the Rings" films - Elijah Wood and Sean Astin .

- From Our Press Services

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Today's birthdays

Actor Ricardo Montalban , 85; singer Percy Sledge , 65; actor- game show host Ben Stein , 61; actor John Larroquette , 58; singer Amy Grant , 45; singer Mark Lanegan of Queens of the Stone Age (and Screaming Trees), 41; singer Stacy Lattisaw , 39; guitarist Rodney Sheppard of Sugar Ray, 39; rapper-producer Erick Sermon , 37; actress Jill Hennessy , 36; actress Christina Applegate , 34.

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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