Farrah Fawcett, Angel in Waiting

By: James Hirsen

It’s not a typical celebrity passing. In American pop culture terms, Farrah Fawcett was an icon. She burst onto the Hollywood scene with her sparkling smile, sweet nature and blonde windblown tresses that set hairstyle trends for a decade. Farrah’s image adorned magazine covers galore, but more importantly her poster was tacked onto teen lockers, shop halls and office walls. All-American places. All-American dream girl. She was cheerleader, prom queen, sorority sweetheart and pageant winner all rolled into one. And she graced her way right on up to full-fledged movie star. Farrah’s career, from “Charley’s Angels” to the reality genre, was a shining example of an actress who lithely coped with a changing media landscape. Amazingly, the role that defined her fame, that of glamorous detective Jill Monroe who took assignments from the mysterious Charley, only lasted a year. The TV show was such a hit Farrah became part of that unusual celebrity club of those stars known by their first names only. If you said Farrah, folks knew exactly who you were talking about. Like Betty Grable in an earlier era, Farrah became the pin-up girl of her generation. The photo of Farrah in a red bathing suit quickly became the biggest selling poster of all time with an unprecedented 12 million copies sold. Farrah proved she was more than just a pretty face when she took a part in an Off-Broadway play called “Extremities,” and she received critical acclaim. She then tackled a difficult subject in “The Burning Bed,” a TV-movie about an abused woman. It earned her an Emmy nomination. She starred in another complex made for TV film, “Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story.” And she garnered a second Emmy nomination for a miniseries “Small Sacrifices.” More critical praise for her acting came from her portrayal of a wayward wife to Robert Duvall’s character in “The Apostle.” When she appeared as herself in the 2005 reality show, “Chasing Farrah,” the public had a glimpse of the deep love she and Ryan O’Neil shared. The tender relationship supplied a sort of tonic to the public, which offset the disappointing failure of marriages that is so widespread from Hollywood to D.C. Looks like the Angel got her wings.

Will Smith: ‘Barack Obama Stole My Idea’

As I reported a while back in a previous column, Will Smith revealed a secret ambition to someday become President of the United States.

While out promoting his upcoming film “I Am Legend,” Smith said in an interview with the U.K.’s Daily Mail, “I always wanted to be the first black president but Barack Obama stole my idea.”

The actor even expressed some policy ideas for his campaign. He said he would start with universal healthcare and shelter, indicating that he could not “see that happening under Bush. Too many bad things have happened under his presidency.”

Still, Smith distinguished himself from the Bush-hating fringe, saying, “I don’t believe he is an evil man, I just think he has an unevolved perspective. It’s a good thing he’s served his time. Now it’s time for Barack Obama.”

Smith has contributed some campaign cash and appeared in a video extolling the qualities of the Illinois senator and presidential candidate, but his support of the Obama campaign has been overshadowed by daytime TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

Evidently, Smith has no animus for Obama for attempting to take the same job that he himself had aspired to.

“That’s OK with me,” Smith explained. “Barack can go first and then I’ll take my turn.”

Jimmy Kimmel Gets the Rush Limbaugh Treatment

ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was essentially fired from his position as comedic color commentator on ESPN’s Monday Night Football.

After two editions of the show, Kimmel was let go for a quip about former QB and announcer Joe Theismann, in which he said that Theismann, who was let go last season, was “watching from his living room with steam coming from his ears.”

The next day, Monday Night Football producer Jay Rothman characterized Kimmel’s joke as “classless and disappointing,” adding that “it was cheap.”

Rothman confirmed Kimmel won’t be back.

This is reminiscent of 2003, when ESPN bowed to pressure and accepted Rush Limbaugh’s resignation after the talk show host directed commentary at the media about quarterback Donovan McNabb’s overly favorable press coverage.

Sports talk used to be the last bastion of freeform ranting.

Looks like PC-itis has really infected the announcing booth when a commentator gets let go for expressing an opinion and a comedian gets fired for telling a joke.

On another ambiguously funny note, Stephen Colbert was teasing as usual when he announced that he’s a candidate for the U.S. presidency.

But the law could create some serious trouble for the satirical talk show host.

Congress has created a load of complex election laws that Colbert may have already triggered with his latest politically charged prank.

The Comedy Central notable executed the necessary documents to have his name added to both the Democratic and Republican primary ballots in South Carolina. In addition, he set up a Web site for his budding campaign while at the same time declaring that he was crossing out the part of an oath stating that he would not “knowingly violate any election law.”

Colbert appears to be mildly serious. He indicated that he has sought the advice of an election law firm, Wiley Rein. The caricaturist switched to his campaign site a petition seeking signatures from the show’s Web site, based on his lawyers’ recommendations.

If Colbert actually follows through as he has promised and pays the fees ($2,500) and collects enough signatures (3000), campaign finance laws will expose his show and network to violations that could even involve criminal penalties.

To the extent that Colbert’s cable show promotes his candidacy, it could arguably be viewed as an illegal “in-kind” contribution from Comedy Central.

The whole problem might be mitigated if Colbert would do something he almost never does—admit it was just a joke.

Nicole Kidman’s Faith Shifts ‘Golden Compass’’s Needle

“The Golden Compass,” a film adaptation of the first book in a trilogy by author Phillip Pullman, is stirring unrest in some Christian souls.

Pullman is a militant atheist, and he’s made it known that he detests religion.

Just as J.K. Rowlings’ “Harry Potter” series grew progressively darker as she churned the books out, Pullman has things in his trilogy growing progressively more anti-religious.

The heroes of the story are engaged in a rebellion to kill God. In the third and final book, they succeed in their efforts.

Nicole Kidman, who stars in “The Golden Compass,” spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the film. She told the magazine that she was raised Catholic and that the Catholic Church is part of her “essence.” She added that she wouldn’t be able to do the film if she “thought it were at all anti-Catholic.”

The sweet result is that the religious message put forth in the film version of the book “has been watered down a little,” according to Kidman.

Based on the footage that I have seen, Christians are not likely to be offended by the movie. Still, the Catholic League intends to conduct a nationwide two-month protest of the film.

Christian groups are right to be concerned. The movie could lead children to read the books, which contain potentially faith-damaging material. Additionally, Pullman is an excellent writer and uses cliffhangers to induce readers to continue on to subsequent books in the trilogy.

But, in my assessment, a boycott is an ill-advised approach in this instance. Controversy has been a key element in film promotion over the past few years, with PR firms seeking to generate loads of it in the hopes of boosting ticket sales.

“Compass” is not as well known as “Potter,” but controversy will provide it with the publicity it needs to rise to a higher tier within the fantasy realm. This plays right into the hands of the studio.

Boycott or not, Christian organizations should focus on educating the public on the difference between the film and the Pullman books and encouraging parents in particular to monitor and guide their children in the selection of literature and media.

Faith and film have come together in a big way for another Tinseltown figure. Have you heard of Christian director Tyler Perry? Hollywood sure has.

With a production budget of only $6 million, Perry’s “Madea’s Family Reunion” grossed over $63 million. And similarly, with a production budget of a mere $5.5 million, his “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” took in $50 mill.

Most recently, the Lionsgate film “Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?” clobbered George Clooney’s legal Oscar dreamer “Michael Clayton,” Cate Blanchett’s regal sequel “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” and Mark Wahlberg’s criminal thriller “We Own the Night.”

“Married”’s cast includes Janet Jackson.

The positive themed flick brought in $21.5 million as opposed to Clooney’s “Clayton,” which pulled in $11 million as did “We Own the Night.” Blanchett’s “Golden Age” took in $6.2 million.

It turns out that box-office cash has slipped for the fourth straight weekend. The best dozen films of the past weekend brought in $85.5 million, off 14 percent from the same weekend last year.

If there’s one thing that can make Hollywood find religion it’s the Almighty Dollar.

L.A. Mayor Turns to Hillary for Extra-Marital Advice

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s trysts with a local reporter have caused him a world of trouble.

The once skyrocketing star of the Democrat Party recently admitted to having an extra-marital affair with Telemundo anchor Mirthala Salinas, who had been assigned to cover his mayoral-related activities.

Interestingly, Villaraigosa is seeking the sage advice of another Dem who presumably has some familiarity in how to deal with the infidelity issue.

During a recent episode of Michael Eisner’s CNBC talk show, the former Disney exec referred to the mayor as the “Hispanic Clinton.” Villaraigosa disclosed that he and Hillary Clinton had had the opportunity to discuss the affair that brought an end to the mayor’s marriage.

Eisner asked, “She’s [Hillary] never — because you were very close to her before it came out that you were having martial problems, let’s say. She’s not annoyed at you like she was annoyed at her husband?”

Villaraigosa replied, “We actually had a very good conversation about that…I’ll just say this. In life we sometimes make mistakes. There’s no question that we have to accept responsibility for those mistakes. I have.”

Ironically, Eisner also interviewed the blood spitting KISS rocker Gene Simmons.

And it was Simmons who praised the sanctity of marriage.

Brad Pitt’s Southern Sadness Suspicions

Brad Pitt has been out promoting his latest flick with the long-winded title, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.”

In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Pitt shared some of his thoughts on being a dad. He also talked about how fatherhood has helped him overcome a sadness that he has had since he was a boy growing up in Missouri.

Pitt’s onscreen character Jesse James also grew up in the Show Me State, which evidently spurred the actor into examining his past and the region of his childhood.

Pitt spoke of something he characterized as the South’s “congenital sadness.”

“It’s something that I feel in my grandparents, in the people I’ve met, in a Southern way of life,” Pitt said.

Interestingly, he sees the Christian faith as an antidote for Southern woe.

“It’s something pervasive, an undercurrent that I think Christianity answers,” Pitt professed.

Jessica Alba’s Kissing for Dummies

She’s one of the hottest female stars and he’s one of the hottest stand-up comics.

Jessica Alba and Dane Cook appear together in the Lions Gate film “Good Luck Chuck,” which is about a guy who discovers that every girl he gets involved with marries the next man she dates.

In the movie, Alba plays the role of a woman that Cook’s character himself would like to marry.

In real life, Alba actually handed Cook some new comedy material on a silver platter when she was asked about the love scenes that she did with the comedian.

“Kissing? Well…,” Alba tells Fox News, “I don’t really remember. It was like kissing a dummy.”

Puppet puckering aside, Alba is a romantic when it comes to the way stories are told in movies.

“The films I do always have a happy ending,” she says, adding that she hopes “it reflects back to real life.”

Rosario Dawson”s Horrifying Movie Choice

Rosario Dawson (“Sin City”) was apparently shocked by the graphic cruelty displayed in her latest movie, “Descent.”

The film is another addition to the Hollywood dung heap of flicks that focus on suffering, torture and cruelty while packaged as entertainment.

“Descent” includes a brutal rape scene in which Dawson portrays a victim who eventually goes after her attacker and with the help of a friend imposes an even more vicious form of revenge.

“It was horrifying for me to watch it,” the actress tells the World Entertainment News Network and acknowledges the need to warn people of the dreadful content before they line up at the box office.

“But it’s also really amazing how much the affect is. It really humanized a lot of us who are part of this experience because it brought up a really deep conversation that most of us don’t ever want to talk about,” she adds.

Torture flicks humanizing? Next she’ll be telling us that mindless flicks boost the IQ.

Papa Gorbachev’s Got a Brand New Bag

Hollywood is not the only place former communists are drawn to.

Louis Vuitton, the French manufacturer of chichi leather goods and other high-end paraphernalia, has chosen its new celebrity rep.

If you’re thinking Jessica Biel, Scarlett Johansson or Reese Witherspoon, you’re off the mark. The latest face of Louis Vuitton is actually Mikhail Gorbachev.

Not just a former Soviet leader and environmental activist anymore, Gorbachev will be featured in a Louis Vuitton ad campaign for the designer brand.

The commie chic celeb will have some big-name co-stars in the advertisements, like legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve and supermodel Steffi Graf and her tennis champ spouse Andre Agassi.

Gorbachev will be seen riding in a car with a Louis Vuitton bag at his side, and in the background will be the oh-so-untrendy Berlin Wall.

Rod Stewart’s Profanity Peeve

There was one prominent celebrity at Al Gore’s Live Earth concerts who focused on a different kind of environmental contamination.

Veteran rocker Rod Stewart was appalled at the profane language that polluted the global festivities.

Comedian Chris Rock’s vile vernacular at the London venue necessitated U.K. TV and radio personality Jonathan Ross to issue an apology to the viewing audience.

“I listened to people effing and blinding during the Live Earth Concert last weekend and it just sounded so cheap,” Ross remarked.

The lewd, crude language prompted Stewart to promise his audience that he’ll personally pay up if he curses while performing.

“If you hear me swear on stage I’ll give you all a tenner [10 British pounds],” the legendary singer pledged.