Brittany Murphy's husband in spotlight after star's death and planned autopsy

Who is Simon Monjack?

By Soraya Roberts
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, December 21st 2009, 12:07 PM

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Writer Simon Monjack is seen here with his late wife, actress Brittany Murphy.

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Brittany Murphy, seen here in one of her last photos, died after entering full cardiac arrest. The 911 call was made by husband Simon Monjack.

Brittany Murphy's shocking death of a heart attack at age 32 has suddenly thrust her lesser-known husband, Simon Monjack, into the spotlight.

The "Clueless" star's 39-year-old husband told hospital staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles not to perform an autopsy, according to a report on the gossip Web site TMZ.com, though one is reportedly already under way.

Before he married Murphy in a private Jewish ceremony in May 2007, the British-born Monjack was a bit player in the screenwriting industry. He earned a story credit for his work on the screenplay that became "Factory Girl," the 2006 Edie Sedgwick biopic starring Sienna Miller, IMBD.com reports. He also is credited as the writer/director/producer of a British indie drama called "Two Days, Nine Lives."

Before his work in Hollywood, Monjack directed commercials.

In 2007, People magazine reported that Monjack would direct and Murphy would star in "The White Hotel," a film about Sigmund Freud's relationship with one of his patients, an opera singer.

Murphy and Monjack became engaged in 2006, just months after she ended her engagement to "Little Black Book" production assistant Joe Macaluso. She had previously been engaged, in 2004, to Jeff Kwatinetz, CEO of a Hollywood talent agency. Murphy also was romantically linked to Ashton Kutcher, whom she met on the set of "Just Married" in 2002.

According to People Magazine, soon after Murphy's marriage to Monjack, reports circulated that the couple expedited their wedding so that the Brit-born groom would not be deported over an expired visa. But the duo told inTouch Weekly that the rumours were "preposterous lies. Everything was just so fabricated and hurtful."

What isn't fabricated is the fact that Murphy's sizable income (she was paid $4 million for her starring role in 'Little Black Book') contrasted greatly with Monjack's reported financial woes. Mortgage and banking company Coutts and Co. sued the writer for $470,132 in 2006 and he only finished paying the company back in 2008.

Despite Monjack's later eviction from a Hancock Park residence, an ex-landlord tells E! News he was a good tenant.

"He was a delight and a pleasure to be with," said Victor Cowley. "I'm really shocked and devastated by the news. I just sent him an e-mail with my condolences."

The tabloids went wild last month when Murphy was reportedly fired from the set of "The Caller" for being difficult. Some reports claimed that Monjack wasn't helping, arguing with the crew and generally causing trouble on the set.

Murphy's rep denied both those reports.

Murphy and Monjack had a health scare soon after Murphy's reported firing.

Monjack was rushed to an L.A. hospital after appearing incoherent aboard a flight from Puerto Rico with his wife. According to the 911 call, Monjack had stopped breathing but was quickly revived by emergency medical technicians. Though TMZ says Murphy thought he had suffered an asthma attack and that it was not serious, medics insisted on taking him to the hospital anyway.

Since his wife's death, Monjack has not talked to the press, though Murphy's family released the following statement: "The sudden loss of our beloved Brittany is a terrible tragedy. She was our daughter, our wife, our love and a shining star. We ask you to respect our privacy at this time."

Here is avideo tribute to Brittany Murphy:

New Jackson single, LP to be released

Sony Music has confirmed that it plans to release a new Michael Jackson album and single.

The song 'This Is It' will be made available on October 12, two weeks prior to the release of the concert film of the same name, Entertainment Weekly reports.

WENN

The track will appear on a two-disc compilation - also titled This Is It - that will follow on October 26.

"Disc one will feature the original album masters of some of Michael's biggest hits arranged in the same sequence as they appear in the film," according to the record label.

"The disc ends with two versions of the never-released 'This Is It'. This song is featured in the film's closing sequence and includes backing vocals by Michael's brothers, the Jacksons."

The second disc will feature "previously unreleased versions" from the late King Of Pop's catalogue of hits. It will also include a spoken word poem entitled Planet Earth and a 36-page commemorative booklet with "exclusive photos of Michael from his last rehearsal".

Former Sony CEO Tommy Mottola recently said that fans can expect to enjoy new music from the popstar for "decades to come".

Source: www.digitalspy.co.uk

Pre-order now!

Poster:



T-Shirt:

'Dirty Dancing' star Patrick Swayze dies at 57

Patrick Swayze personified a particular kind of masculine grace both on and off screen, from his roles in films like "Dirty Dancing" and "Ghost" to the way he carried himself in his long fight with pancreatic cancer. Swayze died from the illness on Monday in Los Angeles, his publicist said. He was 57.

"Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," Annett Wolf said in a statement Monday evening. She declined to give details.

Fans of the actor were saddened to learn in March 2008 that Swayze was suffering from an especially deadly form of cancer. He continued working despite the diagnosis, putting together a memoir with his wife and shooting "The Beast," an A&E drama series for which he had already made the pilot.

Swayze said he chose not to use painkillers while making "The Beast" because they would have taken the edge off his performance. The show drew a respectable 1.3 million viewers when the 13 episodes ran this year, but A&E said it reluctantly decided not to renew it for a second season.

When he first went public with the illness, some reports gave him only weeks to live, but his doctor said his situation was "considerably more optimistic" than that. Swayze acknowledged that time might be running out given the grim nature of the disease.

"I'd say five years is pretty wishful thinking," Swayze told ABC's Barbara Walters in early 2009. "Two years seems likely if you're going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I'd better get a fire under it."

And that's exactly what he did. In February, Swayze wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post titled, "I'm Battling Cancer. How About Some Help, Congress?" in which he urged senators and representatives to vote for the maximum funding for the National Institutes of Health to fight cancer as part of the economic stimulus package.

He also appeared in the September 2008 live television event "Stand Up to Cancer," where he pleaded: "I keep dreaming of a future, a future with a long and healthy life, a life not lived in the shadow of cancer, but in the light. ... I dream that the word `cure' will no longer be followed by the words `is impossible.'"

Celebrities and fans inspired by Swayze's struggle poured out their condolences, including C. Thomas Howell, who costarred with Swayze in "The Outsiders," "Grandview U.S.A." and "Red Dawn."

"I have always had a special place in my heart for Patrick," he said. "While I was fortunate enough to work with him in three films, it was our passion for horses that forged a friendship between us that I treasure to this day."

Others used Twitter to express their sadness, and "Dirty Dancing" was a top trending topic Monday night, trailed by other Swayze films.

Demi Moore, who played Swayze's fiancee in "Ghost," wrote: "Patrick you are loved by so many and your light will forever shine in all of our lives." Moore's husband, Ashton Kutcher, tweeted: "RIP P Swayze" and linked to a YouTube clip of the actor poking fun at himself in a classic "Saturday Night Live" sketch, in which he played a wannabe Chippendales dancer alongside the corpulent — and frighteningly shirtless — Chris Farley.

Larry King wrote: "Patrick Swayze was a wonderful actor & a terrific guy. He put his heart in everything. He was an extraordinary fighter in his battle w Cancer." King added that he'd do a tribute to Swayze on his CNN program Tuesday night.

A three-time Golden Globe nominee, Swayze became a star with his performance as the misunderstood bad boy Johnny Castle in "Dirty Dancing." As the son of a choreographer who began his career in musical theater, he seemed a natural to play the role.

A coming-of-age romance starring Jennifer Grey as an idealistic young woman on vacation with her family and Swayze as the Catskills resort's sexy (and much older) dance instructor, the film made use of both his grace on his feet and his muscular physique.

It became an international phenomenon in the summer of 1987, spawning albums, an Oscar-winning hit song in "(I've Had) the Time of My Life," stage productions and a sequel, 2004's "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," in which he made a cameo.

Swayze performed and co-wrote a song on the soundtrack, the ballad "She's Like the Wind," inspired by his wife, Lisa Niemi. The film also gave him the chance to utter the now-classic line, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

Swayze followed up with the 1989 action flick "Road House," in which he played a bouncer at a rowdy bar. But it was his performance in 1990's "Ghost" that showed his vulnerable, sensitive side. He starred as a murdered man trying to communicate with his fiancee, with great frustration and longing, through a psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg.

"Ghost" provided yet another indelible musical moment: Swayze and Moore sensually molding pottery together to the strains of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody." It also earned a best-picture nomination and a supporting-actress Oscar for Goldberg, who said she wouldn't have won if it weren't for Swayze.

"When I won my Academy Award, the only person I really thanked was Patrick," Goldberg said in March 2008 on the ABC daytime talk show "The View."

Swayze himself earned three Golden Globe nominations, for "Dirty Dancing," "Ghost" and 1995's "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar," which allowed him to toy with his masculine image. The role called for him to play a drag queen on a cross-country road trip alongside Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo.

His heartthrob status almost kept him from being considered for the role of Vida Boheme.

"I couldn't get seen on it because everyone viewed me as terminally heterosexually masculine-macho," he told The Associated Press then. But he transformed himself so completely that when his screen test was sent to Steven Spielberg, whose Amblin pictures produced "To Wong Foo," the director didn't recognize him.

Among his earlier films, Swayze was part of the star-studded lineup in Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 adaptation of S.E. Hinton's novel "The Outsiders," alongside Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez and Diane Lane. Other '80s films included "Red Dawn," "Grandview U.S.A." and "Youngblood," once more with Lowe, as Canadian hockey teammates.

In the '90s, he made such eclectic films as "Point Break" (1991) in which he played the leader of a band of bank-robbing surfers, and the family Western "Tall Tale" (1995) in which he starred as Pecos Bill. He appeared on the cover of People magazine as its "Sexiest Man Alive" in 1991, but his career tapered off toward the end of the 1990s, when he went to rehab for alcohol abuse. In 2001, he appeared in the cult favorite "Donnie Darko," and in 2003 he returned to the New York stage with "Chicago"; 2006 found him in the musical "Guys and Dolls" in London.

Swayze was born in 1952 in Houston, the son of Jesse Swayze and choreographer Patsy Swayze, whose films include "Urban Cowboy."

He played football but also was drawn to dance and theater, performing with the Feld, Joffrey and Harkness Ballets and appearing on Broadway as Danny Zuko in "Grease." He turned to acting in 1978 after a series of injuries.

Within a couple years of moving to Los Angeles, he made his debut in the roller-disco movie "Skatetown, U.S.A." The eclectic cast included Scott Baio, Flip Wilson, Maureen McCormack and Billy Barty.

Off-screen, he was an avid conservationist who was moved by his time in Africa to shine a light on "man's greed and absolute unwillingness to operate according to Mother Nature's laws," he told the AP in 2004.

Swayze was married since 1975 to Niemi, a fellow dancer who took lessons with his mother; they met when he was 19 and she was 15. A licensed pilot, Niemi would fly her husband from Los Angeles to Northern California for treatment at Stanford University Medical Center.

Source: news.yahoo.com




Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey


Dirt Dancing (Karaoke CDG) Karaoke




Patrick Swayze: One Last Dance

Folk singer Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary dead at 72

Mary Travers, the female partner in the famed folk trio, Peter, Paul and Mary, with her singing cohorts Peter Yarrow (l.) and Noel Paul Stookey.

Travers not only sung, but was an advocate of civil rights.

Mary Travers, a striking figure of power and glamour in the early-1960s folk music movement, died Wednesday at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut after suffering from leukemia for several years. She was 72.

She was best known as the blond with the bangs who commanded the middle microphone with Peter, Paul and Mary, a trio that brought folk music from coffeehouses to top-40 radio.

They also gave much of America its first taste of the young Bob Dylan by helping to turn his "Blowin' in the Wind" into a national anthem.

The group reunited several years ago to begin touring, and Travers performed with them until a few months ago, even when she needed assistance on stage.

Travers, like Paul Stookey and Peter Yarrow, saw folk music both as an art and as an instrument for change. They sang a number of sociopolitical songs, which Travers later defended.

"I'm not sure I want to be singing 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' when I'm 75," she said in one interview. "But I know I'll still be singing 'Blowin' in the Wind.' "

She was born in Louisville, Ky., but grew up in Greenwich Village and came up through the New York coffeehouse circuit, singing on her own before she was put together with Stookey and Yarrow by famed manager Albert Grossman, who also managed Dylan.

The trio took considerable criticism from fellow folk singers for developing a sound that some considered too "commercial" and not "authentic" enough.

Travers always strongly defended the trio's sound, saying that they were in the folk tradition by making music accessible to everyone, not just academic collectors.

Peter, Paul and Mary were inducted into the Sammy Cahn Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006. Travers is survived by two daughters.

Source: www.nydailynews.com

Carry It On Box Set (w/ Bonus DVD)




Peter, Paul & Mary Album, The






Peter, Paul & Mary Deluxe Anthology Sheet Music

Michael Jackson Funeral Date Set

The Michael Jackson funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Sources said AEG Live, which owns the arena and the adjacent Nokia Theatre, will use both facilities and the surrounding plaza.




Meanwhile, things keep getting curiouser and curiouser in and around the Jackson "case." Even before a proper burial the death is morphing from a personal tragedy into a series of titillating tell-alls or testy tussles.

And the inevitable psychics, shysters and various supporting players are coming out of the woodwork to stake their claim to a piece of the Jackson legacy, to tattle about - or explain away - the pop icon's loopy lifestyle or just to bask in his reflected glory.

Latest reveal: Registered nurse-nutritionist SheriLyn Lee told CNN that an insomniac, energy-depleted Jackson begged her to administer the sedative Diprivan to help him sleep. The Jackson family immediately dismissed her as an ill-informed interloper.

Nonetheless, some things are becoming clearer - and one of them was the astuteness of the deal for that Beatles catalog, even if it apparently meant a rift with Paul McCartney and even if the King of Pop eventually had to sell half his stake to Sony to keep afloat. The 750,000-song catalog includes not only music by the Beatles but also many works of Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Lady Gaga, Eminem and Jonas Brothers. That property essentially anchors the pop star's assets.
And getting at precisely what all those assets are, what they're worth and who has any legitimate claim to them will keep a phalanx of legal eagles engaged for years.

Per a detailed rundown of the singer's tangled finances upturned by the Associated Press on Wednesday, the lavish-spending but debt-ridden Jackson was worth $237 million as of March 31, 2007.

Like so much else that boggles the mind about Jackson's life, though, he had $700,000 of that amount in actual cash, a relatively paltry sum given his opulent lifestyle, prodigious borrowing and seven-figure shopping sprees.

The dollar amounts then and now are crucial because Jackson's estate soon will be the focus of legal battles between the singer's family and various creditors.

Not to mention Uncle Sam, who, once debts are stripped out of the Jackson assets, will want to exact his pound of flesh - as much as 45% of what's left of the estate once the legislated $3.5 million exemption is accounted for.

"I'm really surprised more hasn't been made of the possible federal estate tax liabilities that could be involved in all this," said Lawrence Heller, a tax and estate planner of the law firm Bryan Cave. He also added that the executors of the will have nine months to untangle the situation before interest and penalties apply.

Since 2007, Jackson's debts and his assets have grown substantially. He took on more debt in a refinancing transaction later that year, and the Sony/ATV Music Publishing joint venture spent hundreds of millions acquiring new songs.

The five-page statement of financial condition from D.C.-based accounting firm Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio & Associates says Jackson had debts of $331 million.

On the plus side of the ledger, the 2007 report put a net value on Jackson's 50% stake in the Sony/ATV catalog at $390 million.

His overall assets at the time, mostly nonliquid items including the catalog share, were pegged at about $500 million.

According to other unrelated documents, Sony Music guaranteed Jackson a cash distribution of $11 million a year from the venture through September 2011 and indicated that Sony had an option to buy an unspecified percentage of Jackson's remaining share in Sony/ATV.

The present worth of the catalog probably has gone up, though Sony's sluggish stock performance suggests the conglom might not be anxious to spend anything considerable for a buyout. The value of Neverland, the other main asset in which Jackson still had an indirect ownership interest, probably has gone down in the wake of the housing slump in California.

In another part of the forest of financial entanglements, there are a few patches of sunlight and a lot of shade.

Unlike what Jackson's family apparently was aware of, the singer did sign a will - big scrawls on each of five typed pages, in fact - and it leaves the pop star's estate to his three children. That revelation complicates a bid by Jackson's mother, Katherine, to take control of her son's finances. The will does name his mother as guardian of his children but puts his assets in a trust.

However, elements of the wacky pop up in every aspect of this unfolding saga: Jackson designated none other than the 65-year-old entertainer Diana Ross, his lifelong friend, as backup guardian for the kids were anything to prevent his mother, now 79, from fulfilling her duties. Debbie Rowe, the mother of Jackson's two older children who relinquished her parental rights 10 years ago, is not even referred to in the will.

The divvying up of Jackson's assets and the settling of his debts are likely to be hotly contested.

On Monday, just four days after their son died of cardiac arrest, Katherine and Joe Jackson won temporary custody of the kids and moved to become administrators of his estate. And on Wednesday, the judge further ruled that Katherine Jackson will retain limited control of 2,000 items from Neverland until another hearing is held Monday.

But after the will surfaced, Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff called for a speedy compromise between attorneys for Katherine Jackson and the two co-executors of Michael Jackson's will: attorney John Branca and John McClain, a music executive and family friend.

"I would like the family to sit down and try to make this work so that we don't have a difficult time in court," the judge said.

Good luck with that.

Roger Friedman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: www.billboard.com

Billy Joel and Wife Separate After Five Years of Marriage

It looks like the piano man is done playing duets.

Billy Joel and his wife Katie Lee Joel have separated after five years of marriage, according to a statement released from both of their reps.

"After nearly five years of marriage Billy Joel & Katie Lee Joel have decided to separate," the statement reads. "This decision is a result of much thoughtful consideration. Billy & Katie remain caring friends with admiration and respect for each other.”

It's the third marriage for Joel, 60, who was first married to his business manager and then to model Christie Brinkley, with whom he has his only daughter, Alexa Ray. Alexa ray was the maid-of-honor at Joel's October 2, 2004 marraige to Katie Lee.

Katie Lee, 27, was the host of "Top Chef" for its 2006 season.

"This decision is the result of much thought and consideration. Billy and Katie remain caring friends, with admiration and respect for each other."

West Virginia native Katie Lee Joel is the author of the 2008 cookbook "The Comfort Table" (see below). Reports have linked her with an Israeli fashion designer.

Sources: slashfood.com & foxnews.com

David Carradine - Murder Or Suicide?

This morning we woke up with the news that the suicide fact of well known Hollywood movie actor David Carradine is disputed. People close to him say David never called a suicide hotline, did not appear to suffer from depression and never mentioned receiving treatment from depression. Thai police says Carradine was not murdered and most likely died from asphyxiation, reports WashPost.

Below we found a very good coverage from "Write Where You Are", where the author discusses David Carradine's death, calling it a sad end for a talented actor.

David Carradine was a very talented actor. He had a long career in television, on stage and in the movies. He made an impression on many by the types of roles that he took. There was always a little mystery surrounding him as a person. He came across as a person who kept much of his life private; he was a shy person, according to some of his own statements. David came from a talented family of actors, so, it is no surprise that he was skilled at what he did.

If you grew up during the 70’s like I did, you remember him from his television days. He was on "Gunsmoke". Most noteworthy to a kid growing up during that time - he was a wise man on the show. He used his martial art skills in life to teach and inspire a young trainee on the television show "Kung Fu". Kids all around the nation wanted to be like “young grasshopper” with an adult who took the time to mentor him in life lessons.

"Kung Fu" made a huge impression on a whole generation of young Americans. It opened the door to learning martial arts for many. David, and his show, made it cool to study the various forms of martial arts. The show put David in a bit of a leadership position with his fans. Today, we sadly, learned that David Carradine was found dead of a suspected suicide in Bankok, Thailand. His body was discovered nude, hanging with a hotel curtain cord around his neck.

Some people who know him say, he would not have taken his life, at this time, even though he struggled with suicidal thoughts in his past years. Those who do not believe he committed suicide say that his career was in an upswing and so was his personal life. A few years ago, his career took on a new life with the movie "Kill Bill". He had pretty much been out of the entertainment industry, until then. David had made statements to others about his suspicion that not many industry leaders were willing to give him roles as he aged. After appearing in "Kill Bill", he began working again; in fact, he was in Bankok, Thailand to film a new movie. He had only been at the hotel for a few days when he was found dead.

At this point, suicide is only suspected but David’s death appears suspicious, at least to his personal co-manager, Tiffany Smith. David was found in a sitting position in the closet with the cord wrapped around his neck and the closet rod. The authorities have said there doesn’t appear to be any assault, no forced entrance to his room, no obvious crime, so I guess that means the authorities don’t suspect that he was murdered. No news has been released about whether there was a suicide note or not. In fact, some say it had to be an accident; those who know him say he would never commit suicide.

If it’s true that he didn’t commit suicide and he wasn’t murdered, then what? an accident? That seems a bit difficult to understand. I mean, how does a curtain cord accidently get taken down and wrapped around the throat of a nude person, unless it is something called the ”choking game”. The choking game is an accident waiting to happen. It is a serious and dangerous activity, one that has become a threat around the world. It is dangerous because there is always the danger that the person could lose consciousness and die without meaning to.

In that kind of situation, I guess it could be considered an accident when someone waits too long to loosen the cord or binding around their neck. That is not to say that this is what happened to David Carradine, but there are definately a lot of questions surrounding David’s death. His family is asking for privacy at this time. They respected him, loved him and were apparently close to him. They are shocked and grieving the loss of a loved one. It is hard enough to lose a loved one, let alone to have to do it in the eye of the public and in mysterious circumstances to boot.

There is an autopsy being performed. Hopefully it will help to put some of the questions surrounding his death to rest. Whether it was suicide or if David Carradine was murdered, there is still pain and grief for his family, friends, co-stars, and fans. It is a sad end for a talented man who appeared to try to live his life with dignity. We wish to extend sympathy to all who knew him and to those who felt like they did because of the roles he performed and the impact on their lives from watching him over the years. Rest in peace David Carradine.

If you know someone who struggles with suicidal thoughts please call the suicide prevention hotline or http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/ .