TV/ PORTIA TAKES ELLEN'S LAST NAME: Actress Portia de Rossi has officially taken the last name of her wife, Ellen DeGeneres. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge granted the former "Ally McBeal" star's request to change her name to that DeGeneres. The 37 year old will now legally be known as Portia Lee James DeGeneres. The couple, who began dating in 2004, married in August 2008 during a 5 month window in which gay marriage was legal in California. "I am thrilled to legally adopt my wife's name. I will continue to use Portia de Rossi for professional purposes," the new Mrs DeGeneres said in a statement. The Australian-born actress asked for the name change last month. Neither woman attended the court hearing. Yesterday, Ellen DeGeneres joked on Twitter: "The court granted Portia's name change. She's now officially Portia Winfrey."
FILM/ "DRAGON" STAR CAST IN "MI:4": Michael Nyqvist, who played journalist Mikael Blomkvist in the Swedish thriller "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and its sequels, will play one of the lead villains in Paramount's "Mission: Impossible 4." The movie, being directed by Brad Bird, has slowly been pulling together its cast, with new stars Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton and Vladimir Mashkov joining Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg in the action movie. J.J. Abrams, who is producing with Cruise and Paula Wagner, worked on the story with writes Andre Nemec and Josh Appelbaum, who have written the screenplay. The production is scouting locations in Vancouver, Prague and Dubai for a December 2011 release.
MUSIC/ EDDIE FISHER DIES AT 82: Pop singer Eddie Fisher gained fame crooning love songs like "I'm Yours" and "Thinking of You" to teenage girls in the early 1950s. But his life was overshadowed by drug use, gambling and failed marriages to actresses Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor. Fisher passed away Wednesday evening at his home in Berkeley of complications from hip surgery. He was 82. In the early 50s, Fisher sold millions of records with 32 hit songs including "Any Time," ''Oh, My Pa-pa," ''Wish You Were Here," ''Lady of Spain" and "Count Your Blessings." His fame was enhanced by his 1955 marriage to movie darling Debbie Reynolds, they were touted as "America's favorite couple," and the birth of 2 children. Their daughter Carrie Fisher became a film star herself in the 1st 3 "Star Wars" films as Princess Leia, and later as a best-selling author of "Postcards From the Edge" and other books. When Eddie Fisher's best friend, producer Mike Todd, was killed in a 1958 plane crash, Fisher comforted the widow, Elizabeth Taylor. Amid sensationalist headlines, Fisher divorced Reynolds and married Taylor in 1959. (The trio is pictured above). The Fisher-Taylor marriage lasted only 5 years. She fell in love with co-star Richard Burton during the Rome filming of "Cleopatra," divorced Fisher and married Burton in one of the great entertainment world scandals of the 20th century. Fisher's career never recovered from the notoriety. He married actress Connie Stevens, and they had 2 daughters. Another divorce followed. He married twice more. He is survived by his family.
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