Ruth Handler, who created Barbie, the planet's most popular — and controversial — doll, died Saturday in Los Angeles of complications from colon surgery. She was 85. "My whole philosophy of Barbie was that through the doll, the little girl could be anything she wanted to be," Handler wrote in a 1994 autobiography. "Barbie always represented the fact that a woman has choices." More than 1 billion Barbie dolls have been sold since being introduced in 1959.
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Oprah Winfrey and former personal trainer Bob Greene have a new place to go jogging. The duo have purchased seven shoreline lots in Hawaii.
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Is MTV hoping to build a franchise around its surprise hit The Osbournes? The network is in discussions to create a reality series starring Sean "Puffy" Combs. However, Combs tells Access Hollywood that the show will not be based on his family life, but on "how I conduct business, how I make recording artists. There's only one Ozzy." Sounds like there'll only be one hit too.
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HBO has renewed Six Feet Under for a third season. Fox, meanwhile, has renewed Boston Public for a third season as well... Actor Donovan Patton replaces Steve Burns as host of Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues on tonight's show (7 pm/ET).
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Stephen Dorff throws a few punches in Deuces Wild — opening Friday — a gritty rumblefest about teen gang violence in the late 1950s. But the sexy Blade star reserves the rough stuff for the big screen. In real life, he's much more of a peacemaker. "I'm a lover, not a fighter," Dorff says with a dry laugh.
Recalling the one time he's resorted to fisticuffs — after kissing another boy's girlfriend when he was 16 — Dorff says he prefers to discuss a disagreement. "I'm usually good at talking my way out of things," he shares. "Fighting to me seems kind of macho, and that's not really who I am."
Though Dorff prefers verbal sparring, he understands why his character, Leon — a gang leader who's out to drive drug dealers off his block
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Will & Grace Emmy winner Sean Hayes will play Jerry Lewis in the upcoming CBS biopic Martin & Lewis, about the 10-year partnership between Lewis and Dean Martin, Variety reports. Producers are still searching for someone to portray Martin.
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Sarah Jessica Parker's pregnancy is forcing HBO to deprive viewers of Sex and the City. The network announced that the show's fifth season — premiering in mid-July — will feature only eight episodes instead of the usual 13. Meanwhile, Parker's character, Carrie Bradshaw, won't be with child on the show.
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Dan Rather is close to signing a new deal with CBS that will keep him at the network through 2006. However, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the pact does not guarantee that he will anchor the CBS Evening News until then.
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