Comings and goings at 'Downton Abbey' next season

NEW YORK (AP) — Shirley MacLaine will be returning to "Downton Abbey" next season, and opera star Kiri Te Kanawa is joining the cast.MacLaine will reprise her role as Martha Levinson, Lord Robert Crawley's freewheeling American mother-in-law, Carnival Films and "Masterpiece" on PBS said Saturday. MacLaine appeared in episodes early last season.New Zealand-born soprano Te Kanawa will play a house guest....

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Glamorous Diana dresses up for auction

LONDON (AP) — If dresses could talk, this dark navy, figure-hugging velvet number would have the best stories to tell.Princess Diana wore it on state visits, at royal banquets and most memorably to a gala dinner at the White House in 1985, when she took to the dance floor with Hollywood star John Travolta.The Victor Edelstein gown will go under the hammer at a vintage fashion auction in London in...

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Greek man charged in NY Dali theft pleads guilty

NEW YORK (AP) — A Greek man has admitted to stealing a Salvador Dali painting from a New York City gallery, only to return it in the mail.Phivos Istavrioglou pleaded guilty on Tuesday following his arrest in the theft of a work titled "Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio."Prosecutors say the fashion industry publicist walked into the Manhattan gallery in June, put the painting valued at about $150,000 in a...

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Singer Morrissey says no to Kimmel, 'Duck Dynasty'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The TV series "Duck Dynasty" is coming between Morrissey and Jimmy Kimmel.The singer and animal rights activist says he canceled his appearance Tuesday on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" because "Duck Dynasty" cast members will be on the talk show.Morrissey says he can't perform on a show with what he called people who "amount to animal serial killers."A&E's "Duck Dynasty" reality...

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'Argo' wins best picture on scattered Oscar night

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Just as Oscar host Seth MacFarlane set his sights on a variety of targets with a mixture of hits and misses, the motion picture academy spread the gold around to a varied slate of films. "Argo" won best picture as expected, along with two other prizes. But "Life of Pi" won the most awards with four, including a surprise win for director Ang Lee."Les Miserables" also won three Academy...

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Dozens of stars spend Saturday at Oscar rehearsals

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some dressed down in jeans and hoodies. Others looked camera-ready in suits or chic dresses and spiky stilettos.But all of the stars who rehearsed Saturday for the 85th Academy Awards seemed excited about being a part of the big show.They paraded through the Dolby Theatre in 15-minute increments: Meryl Streep. Ben Affleck. Reese Witherspoon. Richard Gere. Jennifer Aniston. John...

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Adele, 'Les Miserables' cast sing on Oscar stage

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was an extra starry, musical day at the Dolby Theatre.Adele took the stage first Friday, followed by the cast of "Les Miserables," singing together of the first time.Oscar nominees Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, along with co-stars Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham-Carter, Sasha Baron-Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, Aaron Tveit and Samantha Barks rehearsed their performances...

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Oscar animators ready to be taken seriously

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — In the animated feature film category at this year's Oscars, there's a film set in medieval Scotland, another that features old-school video game characters, one that relies heavily on dry British humor, while the other two take inspiration from the supernatural.It's not exactly kid stuff — and that's how the directors like it."I think this year with these films — and...

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Robin Roberts returns to 'Good Morning America'

NEW YORK (AP) — Five months after undergoing a bone marrow transplant, Robin Roberts is back on television in the morning.Roberts said Wednesday she'd been waiting 174 days "to say this, good morning America."The morning-show host is recovering from MDS, a blood and bone marrow disease. She looked thin with close-cropped hair but was smiling broadly, back at work on "Good Morning America" at ABC's...

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TV special shows glory, trauma of military dogs

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's been almost seven months since a bomb exploded on a strip of dirt in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Leonard Anderson can only remember a reassuring voice.He has seen the ambush and its aftermath on film, though: The man behind the voice putting a tourniquet on Anderson's leg as a medic tended to the other, listening to his own cries for help and his dog's...

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Singer Mindy McCready dies in apparent suicide

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Perhaps there was one heartbreak too many for Mindy McCready.The former country star apparently took her own life Sunday afternoon in Heber Springs, Ark. Authorities say McCready died of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot to the head and an autopsy is planned. She was 37, the mother of two young sons.If confirmed, it was at least her fourth suicide attempt since 2005, ending...

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TV show with Pistorius' dead girlfriend airs

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Reeva Steenkamp's last wish for her family before she was shot dead at boyfriend Oscar Pistorius' home was for them to watch her in a reality TV show that went on air in South Africa on Saturday night, two days after her killing.Sharon Steenkamp, Reeva's cousin, told The Associated Press that the model and law graduate was "proud of being in the show" and reminded them in their...

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Judge sets May trial date for Kardashian divorce

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kim Kardashian has a due date for her baby and now a trial date for her divorce from NBA player Kris Humphries.A judge on Friday set a May 6 trial for the reality TV star who wants to end her marriage before July, when her child with Kanye West is due.Kardashian filed for divorce on Oct. 31, 2011, after she and Humphries had been married just 72 days. Their lavish, star-studded...

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Kim Kardashian makes another bid to end marriage

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kim Kardashian's divorce case is returning to court Friday with her attorney urging a speedy end to her marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries.Lawyers for the pregnant reality star and the Brooklyn Nets power forward disagree over a timetable for a trial to end the marriage, which Humphries wants annulled.Kardashian is asking a judge to order a trial as soon as possible. Humphries...

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Epic to pull song with offending Lil Wayne lyric

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Epic Records is going to "great efforts" to take down a new Future remix leaked over the weekend with a vulgar Lil Wayne lyric that has offended the family of Emmett Till.The New Orleans rapper made a sexual reference to the beating death of Till, a 14-year-old Chicago boy tortured and shot in Mississippi in 1955 for whistling at a white woman. Till's family objected and the...

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Beyonce hopes her documentary inspires Blue Ivy

NEW YORK (AP) — Beyonce is hoping that her ultra-revealing documentary will someday provide inspiration for Blue Ivy, the year-old daughter she and husband Jay-Z have."I hope that she will see all of the beautiful times (and) all the tough times that led up to her being here," the singer said Tuesday night at the New York premiere of her upcoming HBO documentary, "Life is But a Dream."She added: "I'm...

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Back to New Orleans: Beyonce to perform at Essence

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Beyonce is coming back to New Orleans and back to the Superdome.After entertaining a huge television audience in a packed dome during the Super Bowl halftime show, Beyonce is now scheduled to perform at the Essence Festival.Festival officials said Monday that she will return to the dome to headline one of three night concerts during the festival, which is set for the Fourth of July...

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Producers: 'Chicago' cast to join Oscar performers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Academy Awards producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have run out of rehearsal space. Dressing rooms, too.The award-winning production duo is planning the most performance-filled Oscar show ever. They promise a "wow moment" in each of its 13 acts, so the show demands a more dynamic stage and more dressing rooms and rehearsal time than previous Oscar productions."I don't think any...

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After Whitney death, Clive Davis gala presses on

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — A year after Whitney Houston's death, music executive Clive Davis remembered her in words — and video.Houston died last year just hours before the annual Clive Davis Gala was to start. On Saturday, Davis said his world continues "to be so shattered by her passing" and that Houston's death still feels "unreal."Then Davis played what he called a rare performance of Houston...

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Stars salute MusiCares honoree Bruce Springsteen

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Be it concert or charity auction, Bruce Springsteen can bring any event to a crescendo.Springsteen briefly took over auctioneering duties before being honored as MusiCares person of the year Friday night, exhorting the crowd to bid on a signed Fender electric guitar by amping up the deal. The 63-year-old rock 'n' roll star moved the bid north from $60,000 by offering a series of...

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