Names in the news

A pregnant Julia Roberts has been hospitalized in Los Angeles after experiencing a series of… A pregnant Julia Roberts has been hospitalized in Los Angeles after experiencing a series of early contractions, People magazine reports.

America’s favorite actress, who is expecting boy-and-girl twins in January, arrived at the undisclosed hospital Saturday night with husband Danny Moder at her side. She was admitted and hooked up to a fetal monitor. Though her contractions eventually stopped, she remains under observation. The usual knowledgeable sources tell People the star’s condition is not serious.

WELL, HOW DID YOU GET YOUR JOB?

Foul-mouthed radio jock Howard Stern, who is moving to satellite radio to avoid government decency rules, called in to a live interview Tuesday and traded on-air jabs with Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell.

Stern phoned San Francisco’s KGO-AM 810 radio to tell Powell that he had gotten his appointment only because of his famous father, Secretary of State Colin Powell.

“It is apparent to most of us in broadcasting that your father got you your job, and you kind of sit there and you’re the judge, you’re the arbiter, you’re the one who tells us what we can and can’t say on the air,” Stern said. “And yet I really don’t even think you’re qualified to be the head of the commission.”

Powell, a Republican, was appointed to the commission by President Bill Clinton in 1997 and became chairman under President Bush in 2001. In response to Stern’s tirade, Powell listed his qualifications, saying he is a lawyer and former chief of staff of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.

“I think it’s a cheap shot to say just because my father is famous, I don’t belong in my position,” Powell responded.

So there.

CREEPY

Just in time for Halloween, horror maestro Stephen King has compiled his list of his personal pet peeves. Among them: pop-tart Britney Spears, real estate mogul and “The Apprentice” star Donald Trump, and those ads they show in theaters before the movie starts.

“For every pretty, talented Elisha Cuthbert there is a Paris Hilton (and her little dog, too),” King writes in his Entertainment Weekly column.

HUGH GRANT SECRETLY ENGAGED!

Or at least Star magazine says so.

According to the slick mag, Grant has finally decided to marry his socialite girlfriend, Jemima Khan, with nuptials scheduled for early next year. Star says the push for a proposal came from Hugh’s friend – and gorgeous ex – Elizabeth Hurley, who informed the affable Englishman that “it was time for him to grow up.”

TWO FOR THE ROAD

With only days remaining before the presidential election, Bruce Springsteen is going to show a little faith for John Kerry, appearing at end-of-the-trail rallies in Wisconsin and Ohio.

The Boss will speak and perform a song or two Thursday in Madison, Wis., where organizers expect 60,000 to turn out for one of the state’s biggest-ever political rallies. On Monday Springsteen will join Kerry at an election-eve rally in Cleveland.

In other Boss news comes word that the fifth annual Light of Day Concerts to benefit the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation and Muscular Dystrophy Association will be held Nov. 5, 6 and 7 at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, N.J.

Tickets for all three shows are on sale at Ticketmaster outlets, priced at $50 to $150. During previous years’ concerts, the Boss hasn’t failed to show. Among E Street Band charity items up for bid this year is a saxophone used onstage by Clarence Clemons during Springsteen’s 1999-2000 tour, a guitar signed by Nils Lofgren and a drumhead used and signed by Max Weinberg.

STILLS A DADDY

Musician Stephen Stills of the legendary Crosby, Stills ‘ Nash is a proud papa for the second time.

His wife, Kristen, gave birth to Oliver Ragland Stills on Monday in Los Angeles, according to Stills’ rep. Stills, 59, and his wife, 38, already have one son.

Oliver Ragland is named in honor of Stills’ frequent bandmate Neil Young, who was tagged with this mouthful at birth: Neil Percival Kenneth Ragland Young.

A STAR AT LAST

Despite having produced “Gone With the Wind” and other mega-movies of that era, David O. Selznick was never recognized with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

That oversight was corrected Tuesday when the late producer’s star was unveiled a half-block from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, where many of his films played.

“David Selznick should have been among the first 1,500 names when the Walk of Fame was started in 1960,” says Walk impresario Johnny Grant, adding that the ceremony “remedied that unbelievable omission.”

Among those who gathered in front of the Roosevelt Hotel were two “Gone With the Wind” performers: Ann Rutherford, who played Scarlett’s sister Carreen O’Hara, and Cammie King, who played Bonnie Blue Butler, the ill-fated daughter of Scarlett and Rhett.

(Inquirer wire services contributed to this column.)

(c) 2004, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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