California Rumor

The Academy Awards sent US television ratings soaring to their highest level in five years, Nielsen figures show.

The media research tracker reports an average of 41.3 million viewers watched Sunday's Oscars show, hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin - up 14 per cent from last year's telecast that was viewed by 36.3 million.

The audience rating was the highest for an Oscars show since the 2005 awards, which averaged

42.1 million viewers, Nielsen reports.

Analysts laid the surge to Avatar, which has broken records as the highest-grossing movie of all time. Oscar viewership had hit a record low in 2008, when 32.01 million watched the show.

Also tagged was the expansion of the best picture category to 10, which was designed to include more populist movies. 2008's show featured a lot of dark, independent-oriented movies, ninemsn reports.

Source: Splash News

Ryan O'Neal expressed dismay Farrah Fawcett was not included in the In Memoriam tribute at Sunday night's Oscars.

Fawcett, whose death at the age of 62 on June 25 last year was eclipsed by that of Michael Jackson, was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a star of such flicks as Sunburn, Saturn 3, and Dr T And The Women - not to mention her long-running role on television's Charlie's Angels.

The Herald Sun reports O'Neal said: "It was a terrible decision and very hurtful - Farrah was a member of the Academy for over 40 years and we could not believe she did not get a mention."

Leslie Unger, an Academy spokesperson said: "I would not say that it was an oversight. No matter how carefully and how conscientiously people address who is included, there are people who just simply can't be. In any given year there will always be some people that other people think should have been included and that there's more justification for one person versus another. It is impossible to include everybody. Every year it's an unfortunate reality that we can't include everybody."

O'Neal, meanwhile, said he and his daughter Tatum will address the issue. "Quite frankly, we were stunned at the decision not to include her in the tribute and I feel that the Academy should be scolded for that, everyone was shocked. Both Tatum and I were very upset and we intend to write a letter to the Academy to try and get an explanation for this oversight on their behalf."

Source: Splash News

Dog Whisperer Cesar Milan plans to build a temple in memory of his beloved pitbull Daddy.

The TV star is still mourning the loss of the 16-year-old pooch, who died last Friday.

“I know that God needed him so he could help somebody over there,” he tearfully told People.com. “He really embodied what it is to be there for somebody.”

Milan, 40, said he had lit 500 candles in his dog's honour - a Mexican tradition - as well as keeping the animal's ashes. He added that he was going to build a temple celebrating Daddy on the highest point of his California ranch.

And although the Dog Whisperer said there “will never be another Daddy”, he plans to rescue another dog when the time is right. “We are going to bring another member to the pack,” he said. “A dog that needs our help, a dog that would be euthanized because nobody understands him.”

Source: Splash News

Natalie Wood's sister has called for the case in the beauty's death to be reopened nearly 30 years since the actress drowned, saying she wants the "truth to come out".

The 43-year-old was found floating off the coast of Catalina Island, California, after going missing from the yacht she was sailing on with husband Robert Wagner and actor Christopher Walken.

The actress - who had a well-known fear of drowning - disappeared from the boat in November 1981 after allegedly fighting with the Hart-to-Hart star.

But although the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office ruled Wood's death an accident - and insists the case is closed - her sister Lana Wood believes it was never really solved.

Lana says: "I just want the truth to come out, the real story."

The couple were sailing with Walken who had been filming Brainstorm with the mum-of-two and it is alleged that Wagner was jealous of his wife's co-star.

It has been claimed that Natalie and Wagner argued the night she went missing. One version of events is that she stormed off in a temper and got into a dinghy, dressed only in a nightgown and socks.

But Lana Wood says: "My sister was not a swimmer and did not know how to swim and she would never go to another boat or to shore dressed in a nightgown and socks."

Source: Splash News

Precious star Gabourey Sidibe compared her dress to porn on the red carpet.

The 26-year-old star raved about her own outfit as she attended the Academy Awards for the first time.

She said: "Let me tell you something about this dress. Now, if fashion was porn, then this dress is the money shot. You know it."

Sidibe added that she is still starstruck at awards shows.

"This isn't normal," she said.

"I'm a normal person in a fantasy world - this is crazy."

Source: Splash News

Formula One star Lewis Hamilton is renting two pads in Hollywood to be near to girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger.

The 25-year-old ace is renting one house near Melrose Avenue and a penthouse apartment at Park La Brea so he can be near to the Pussycat Dolls star while she takes part in Dancing With The Stars.

Scherzinger, 31, was recently announced as a contestant on the upcoming show and will be partnered with dancer Derek Hough.

Lewis and Nicole got back together last month after splitting in January and he wants to be near the singer to make sure they don't drift apart again.

A source told UK newspaper The Sun: "Lewis is determined to give their relationship another go. It unravelled before because they were never together in the same place, which made seeing each other very complicated.

"Lewis likes a bit of variety so he's opted for two properties, a secluded house in Melrose and a swanky penthouse near his favourite shopping arcade The Grove."

Source: Splash News

Kim Kardashian said she "couldn't have a better job" as she gets paid to live her life.

The 29-year-old stars in the E! reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians, which follows her and her family's lives.

She told magazine FHM: "I couldn't have a better job in the entire world. I mean, it's my job to film a TV show with my family. I get paid to get up and live my normal life."

Kardashian is famous for her curvacious body and said she thinks women look better with a bit more meat on them.

She said: "I love my curves. Being super skinny just isn't attractive to me."

Source: Splash News

Justin Timberlake is once again putting his music career on hole to make a movie. May I remind you that your last album came out in 2006? Four years have gone by and all we’ve gotten are crappy movies, just like the next one you’ve signed on for. Mind you, the next movie he will be doing, ‘Bad Teacher’, also happens to be starring his ex-girlfriend Cameron Diaz. This will definitely prove to be a great comedy if sparks fly again for the singer and the actress and then the shit hits the fan for Justin and his girlfriend Jessica Biel.

It seems that Cheryl Cole’s friends want only the best for her. After the split from Ashley Cole, her friends are trying to persuade her that moving to Los Angeles would be a very good move to make… even choreographer Brian Fredman is among them. A source said the following about the advice Cheryl Cole is getting from her friends: "Brian is trying to persuade her to give it a shot in Los Angeles. He told her he's happy to be her chaperone until she settles. High-level people already love her there." So Cheryl Cole even has a place to go where she will be welcome and everyone will love her. Even this Brian Fredman fellow seems very keen on spending some time with her… away from Ashley, of course.

Hugh Hefner, 83, opened America's first Playboy Club because he wanted his own "Rick's Place".

Hefner with this recollection from Humphrey Bogart's Casablanca (1942) launched a retrospective of Humphrey Bogart movies in Hollywood at the Billy Wilder Theater to start this Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"I think I opened the first Playboy Club because of Casablanca," he said. "I wanted to have a place where people came to hang out as they did at Rick's."

The UCLA Film and Television Archive retrospective will show classic Bogart films as well as the lesser-known ones. Hefner, a movie buff, named Casablanca which starred Ingrid Bergman as his favourite film. "It has everything - not only Bogie's charismatic character, but lost love, redemption, patriotism, humour - it had a great musical score."

Hefner said he got to know the on-screen Bogart as a child in the 1930s and grew to emulate him. "At the end of the '30s and the very beginning of the '40s, Bogie created this antihero that I very much identified with."

Hefner in 1992 got a 35mm print of the classic from Warner Bros and screened the movie at the Playboy Mansion. "Before that I had been running new movies Friday and Sunday nights, and we had reached a point quite frankly where it was difficult to find more than 52 new movies a year that you really wanted to run. I ran Casablanca on Friday, and then on Saturday I ran To Have And Have Not. By then we were all hooked."

The retrospective also offers a lot of Bogart films that are rarely seen, including 1937's Marked Woman. Hefner will appear at the screening on March 25 to introduce The Maltese Falcon. He said: "I am going to read the notes that I read when we run Maltese Falcon here at the mansion."