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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'Switched at Birth' goes silent to make a point

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "Until hearing people walk a day in our shoes, they will never understand," says a guidance counselor at a high school for deaf students in "Switched at Birth."Such insights are a staple of the ABC Family drama, a TV rarity that puts deaf characters, played by deaf or hard-of-hearing actors, at the center of the action.But Monday's episode takes it a bold step further: Save for...

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Donald Trump returns to the 'Apprentice' boardroom

NEW YORK (AP) — There is something Donald Trump says he doesn't know.Trump has welcomed a reporter to his 26th-floor corner office in Trump Tower to talk about "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice." And here in person, this one-of-a-kind TV star, billionaire businessman, ubiquitous brand mogul and media maestro strikes a softer pose than he has typically practiced in his decades on public display.Relaxed...

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Van Cliburn, American classical pianist, dies

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Van Cliburn, the internationally celebrated pianist whose triumph at a 1958 Moscow competition helped thaw the Cold War and launched a spectacular career that made him the rare classical musician to enjoy rock-star status, died Wednesday after a fight with bone cancer. He was 78.Cliburn died at his home in Fort Worth surrounded by loved ones, said his publicist and longtime...

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Dorothy Hamill and Andy Dick among 'Dancing' stars

NEW YORK (AP) — A gold-medal figure skater, a country music legend and a kooky comedian are stepping their way onto "Dancing With the Stars."ABC says Dorothy Hamill, Wynona Judd and Andy Dick are among 11 contenders for the mirrored ball on the new season of the celebrity dance competition.Other famous faces in the show's 16th edition include standup comic and actor D.L. Hughley, Baltimore Ravens...

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Oscars have clear favorites, wild-card MacFarlane

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Some firsts and other rarities are possible at Sunday night's Academy Awards. But if the Oscars could be just a little less predictable, the show might really be one for the record books.Ben Affleck's "Argo" looks like it will uniquely claim best picture without a directing nomination, while "Lincoln" filmmaker Steven Spielberg and star Daniel Day-Lewis are favored to join exclusive...

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Oscars expand social media outreach for 85th show

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is encouraging celebrities to tweet during the Oscars.The film organization has expanded its digital outreach for the 85th Academy Awards with a new feature that lets stars to snap photos of themselves backstage during Sunday's ceremony and instantly post them online.What Twitter calls a "Magic Mirror" will take photo-booth-style pictures...

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Diane Lane signed divorce doc on Valentine's Day

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Court records show Diane Lane signed her filing to divorce Josh Brolin on Valentine's Day.Lane's petition to end the actors' marriage after eight and a half years was filed on Feb. 15.Her filing released Friday lists irreconcilable differences for the couple's breakup and lists Feb. 13 as their separation date. It does not indicate they have a prenuptial agreement.The actors have...

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Ben Foster replaces Shia LaBeouf on Broadway

NEW YORK (AP) — Shia LaBeouf is out. Ben Foster is in.A day after LaBeouf stepped away from the play that would have marked his Broadway debut, he was replaced by Foster.Foster, whose film roles include "3:10 to Yuma" and "The Messenger" and who was on TV in "The Laramie Project" and "Six Feet Under," had auditioned for the revival of Lyle Kessler's play "Orphans" but had lost the role to the star...

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'Twilight' author Meyer plots another trilogy

MIAMI (AP) — Stephenie Meyer's "The Host" doesn't have much in common with her Twilight series, except maybe the potential for a franchise.Meyer is working on a sequel to the 2008 novel she began writing as an escape from the editing of "Eclipse," the third book in the Twilight vampire saga. And now that it too has reached the big screen, she's got more books in mind."Once you've created characters...

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Clive Davis reveals in memoir that he's bisexual

NEW YORK (AP) — Record executive Clive Davis says he's bisexual.In his new memoir, out Tuesday, the 80-year-old, who is twice divorced, reveals that he had sex with a man in the 1970s. Davis writes in "The Soundtrack of My Life" that he hadn't been repressed or confused during his marriages and that sex with a man "provided welcome relief."He also writes that he started dating a man from 1990 to 2004,...

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McCready's ex: Anyone close could see it coming

HEBER SPRINGS, Ark. (AP) — Mindy McCready's ex-boyfriend says she threatened to kill herself earlier this month after she lost custody of her sons, but was somehow released from rehab days before apparently following through on her threat.Billy McKnight, a former longtime boyfriend who shares a son with the country singer, says the mother of two stayed in court-ordered substance-abuse rehabilitation...

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Willis' new 'Die Hard' scores with $25M debut

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bruce Willis remains a die-hard at the box office.Willis' action sequel "A Good Day to Die Hard" debuted as the weekend's top draw with a $25 million debut from Friday to Sunday. The 20th Century Fox release raised its domestic total to $33.2 million since opening Thursday for Valentine's Day to get a jump on the long President's Day weekend.The movie comes 25 years after the original...

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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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Charlie Sheen pays for injured teen's therapy dog

MILWAUKEE (AP) — MILWAUKEE (AP) — There's a 15-year-old Florida girl who didn't really know much about Charlie Sheen before this week — but does now.The actor wired $10,000 to Teagan Marti and her family on Thursday for a therapy dog to help in her rehabilitation from injuries sustained when she plummeted 100 feet from a Wisconsin amusement park ride in 2010."I think he's a very kind person for helping...

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Designer admits molesting wannabe model in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) — A fashion designer convicted in California of molesting would-be models pleaded guilty Thursday in New York to a similar charge in a deal prosecutors said was brokered to spare victims from testifying multiple times.Anand Jon Alexander admitted to one count of criminal sexual act and was sentenced to five years for sexually assaulting a woman he baited with the promise of modeling...

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Actress considers deal in NY Baldwin stalking case

NEW YORK (AP) — A Canadian actress accused of stalking Alec Baldwin is considering a plea deal.Genevieve Sabourin (JEHN'-uh-veev SAB'-oo-rihn) appeared Wednesday in a Manhattan court. The case was adjourned until Thursday as she and prosecutors try to hammer out a deal.Sabourin lives in Quebec and has acted in television and film.She and Baldwin met on the set of the 2002 sci-fi comedy "The Adventures...

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Penelope Cruz having 2nd baby with Javier Bardem

MADRID (AP) — Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem are expecting their second child.Cruz publicist Javier Giner told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Spanish actress is pregnant.He declined to provide any further details, including when the baby is due.The 38-year-old Cruz and 43-year-old Bardem had their first child, a boy called Leo, in January 2011.The couple became romantically involved after...

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Grammy audience down, still 2nd highest since 1993

NEW YORK (AP) — While the Grammy Awards couldn't come close to the freakishly high ratings generated in 2012 because of Whitney Houston's death and Adele's smashing success, this year's show had the second-largest audience for the program since 1993.The Nielsen company said Monday that music's annual awards show was seen by 28.4 million people Sunday night on CBS.The Grammys this year were packed...

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All eyes on Frank Ocean as Grammy Awards approach

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Everybody's thinkin' about Frank Ocean.Ocean is a cause celebre and the man with the momentum as Sunday's Grammy Awards approach. One of six top nominees with six nominations apiece, the 25-year-old R&B singer turned cultural talking point will have the music world's attention.It remains to be seen if it will be the "Thinkin Bout You" singer's night, but there's no question...

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