FameCrawler : barbra streisand

Worst Dressed List's Richard Blackwell Dies

Karl Erikson — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:19:00 GMT

Richard Blackwell, famed for his annual Worst Dressed List, has died at the age of 86 due to complications from an intestinal infection. His Worst Dressed List has been infamous for nearly 5 decades, providing fantastically mean laughs every year.

Last year, Blackwell took pot shots at Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, pronouncing them "two peas in an over-exposed pod...style-free and fashion deprived." He's also loved to hate Anna Nicole Smith ("Don't bother with a new designer, Anna, just hire a structural engineer") and Barbra Streisand ("She looks like a masculine Bride of Frankenstein").

Others he made fun of over the years:

Madonna: "The Bare-Bottomed Bore of Babylon."

Christina Aguilera: "A dazzling singer who puts good taste through the wardrobe wringer."

Meryl Streep: "She looks like a gypsy abandoned by a caravan."

Sharon Stone: "An over-the-hill Cruella DeVille."

Lindsay Lohan: "From adorable to deplorable."

Patti Davis: "Packs all the glamour of an old, worn-out sneaker."

Ann Margret: "A Hells Angel escapee who invaded the Ziegfeld Follies on a rainy night."

Camilla Parker-Bowles: "The Duchess of Dowdy."

Bjork: "She dances in the dark — and dresses there, too."

Spears: "Her bra-topped collection of Madonna rejects are pure fashion overkill."

Blackwell started out as poor Richard Sylan Selzer in Brooklyn back in 1922. He only finished 5th grade as far as education goes. He got typecast in Hollywood as one of the Dead End Kids, then started as a screen hero at RKO Studios in 1944. His film career never took off, so Blackwell went into personal management.

By 1957, though, the clothes he designed for his clients got far more notice than his clients' acting abilities. So he started his own label and the rest is history. He started the Worst-Dressed List as an alternative to the then-popular International Best Dressed List by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert.

Blackwell said of his list: "The year the list came out everybody was mad as hell. They said, 'Who the hell does Blackwell think he is?' They made me a name." He joked that when it came time for his funeral some day, "Everyone will show up to see if I am really gone."

I know I'll miss Mr. Blackwell's annual list. He's one of the originators of snark, if you ask me. And there's not enough of that in the world. Hope there's lots of fashion debacles in Heaven to make fun of, Richard.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Photo

Diane Lane Happy With Blended Family

Karl Erikson — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:05:00 GMT

Single mom Diane Lane, 43, divorced her first husband Christopher Lambert when daughter Eleanor was a toddler. "It's better to be friends and be functional than a married couple and dysfunctional," Diane says.

Christoper "Highlander" Lambert is still involved in Eleanor's life...she's now 15, believe it or not. Diane equates her early single motherhood with "having a croquet mallet in one hand, a tennis racket in the other, a baseball bat in the other, and some fins on my feet." Wait, how many hands does Diane have?

Now she married to actor Josh Brolin, who is playing President Bush in the upcoming Oliver Stone movie "W." And it's a mixed family - Josh has children with his ex-wife Alice Adair. There's Trevor, 20, and Eden, 15, so it's a pretty busy life for Diane, but she's very happy.

Eleanor loves the blended family, too. Diane says that her daughter loves visiting her stepgrandparents, James Brolin and Barbra Streisand. Nanny Barbra makes gourmet meals for the holidays, and even comes to the kids' plays.

Diane's latest movie, "Nights in Rodanthe," is already in theaters. I couldn't care less about the nights. I'm much more interested in what happens in Rodanthe during the day.

Source | Photo

Who Are the Most Generous Stars?

Karl Erikson — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:42:00 GMT

Who is the #1 most generous star? Think you know?

Parade Magazine just released its annual Most Generous Stars listing, via the Giving Back Network. There are 30 stars listed, some of whom are our favorite celebrity parents. Here are the top 10.

1. Oprah Winfrey - $50,200,000: The Oprah Winfrey Foundation and Oprah's Angel Network - education, health care, and advocacy for women and children worldwide.

2. Herb Alpert - $13,000,000: The Herb Alpert Foundation - music education, including the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

3. Barbra Streisand - $11,000,000: The Streisand Foundation - the environment, women's issues, civil rights, AIDS research and advocacy.

4. Paul Newman - $10,005,000: Scholarship for Kenyon College, his alma mater, in Gambier, Ohio.

5. Mel Gibson - $9,899,654: Holy Family Church in Malibu, Calif. Mel and wife Robin have 7 kids: Hannah, 28, twins Edward and Christian, 26, William, 23, Louis, 20, Milo, 18, and Thomas, 9.

6. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt - $8,400,000: The Jolie-Pitt Foundation - New Orleans reconstruction, refugee aid, cross-cultural understanding. Brad and Angelina have 137 children, including brand new twins Knox and Vivienne.

7. (tie) Lance Armstrong - $5,000,000: The Lance Armstrong Foundation - cancer research, education and advocacy. Lance has 3 children with ex-wife Kristin Richard: Luke, 9, and twins Isabelle and Grace, 7.

7. (tie) Michael Jordan - $5,000,000: Hales Franciscan High School, a historically black all-boys school in Chicago. Jordan has 3 kids with his ex-wife.

7. (tie) Eric Lindros - $5,000,000: London Health Sciences Centre, a Canadian hospital where the former hockey player was treated.

10. Rush Limbaugh - $4,200,000: Financial assistance to the children of Marines and law-enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

Source | Full List | Photos: People, Vanity Fair, The Smoking Gun

Dads Gone Wild: Jeffrey Wright, Josh Brolin Arrested

sweatpantsmom — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:26:00 GMT

MSNBC is reporting that actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright were arrested during a bar fight Saturday morning. Shreveport, La, police say the two were arrested along with five members of a crew filming an Oliver Stone movie just after 2 a.m. at a club called the Stray Cat bar.

Brolin and Wright reportedly interfered with police when who arrived to deal with a rowdy patron.

According to The Times of Shreveport, Brolin was booked and posted $334 cash bond to be released. Police are not confirming whether he or the others had been released. The paper said they are part of the crew on the Oliver Stone film, "W," about President Bush.

Wright lives in Brooklyn with his wife and young son. Brolin, who is married to actress Diane Lane, has two children from a previous marriage.

Andre Agassi, Steffi Graff and the Good (Luck) Life

BadKitty — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:20:00 GMT

The US Open is underway in NYC, and tennis stories are popping up. Parade Magazine, the original "respectable" gossip rag, featured retired tennis star Andre Agassi this week. Andre used to be considered a real bad boy. Long hair, crazy clothes, he dated Barbra Streisand and was married to Brooke Shields. Definitely a burn the candle at both ends kind of guy. At one point it seemed like he had gone too far and was in danger of flaring out. To the surprise of many people he regrouped and created a classic second act for himself, including a second marriage to fellow tennis star Steffi Graf.

In the Parade article Andre is very gracious and admits he's been lucky. He is also quick to acknowledge Steffi and her influence. But the thing that comes across most strongly is how hard this man works at everything he does. I wish some of the sloppy, lazy, self-entitled stars today would take a few notes from Andre.

Andre and Steffi have two beautiful children, son Jaden, 5 and daughter Jaz who is 3. They seem like a thoughtful, hardworking and industrious couple, and very involved parents. They are enjoying a lot of success, and for once it's easy to be happy for a famous couple. They deserve everything the have.

Bonus picture of Steffi and Jaz. How cute are the ponytails?

Source: Parade