Nineteen-year-old R&B sensation Usher Raymond, whose sophomore album, My Way, has gone multiplatinum, received an education in pop stardom this summer by opening for Janet Jackson on her U.S. tour. "To be her age [32] and still do the things that she does...well, she's not old, but she's older than me," says Usher, who grew up idolizing both Janet and Michael Jackson. "I can only learn from the secrets of the Jacksons. I'll never be a Jackson, but maybe one day I can be as good as." The teen heartthrob has already had to resort to Jacksonian extremes to thwart his rabid female fans. "People have to dress up as me and be decoys," Usher says of the security measures he has taken overseas. "But don't get me wrong. I don't hate that I have a lot of young women out there trying to get with me. I'm a single guy right now."
Hero worship
Having played Harry S. Truman and George Wallace on TV, Gary Sinise is hoping to put some more action in his acting credits. "I'd like to kiss the girl and save the world," says Sinise, 43. "And without any makeup on either. Both as Truman and Wallace, I had to wear tons of makeup. They were great roles, but I would like to play something romantic or physical before I'm 60." Sinise takes a step in that direction playing a military officer in the thriller Snake Eyes. But getting into character was something of a crapshoot. "I came into this movie pretty late," he says, "so I basically just put on a uniform and stood up straight."
Man trouble
Nastassja Kinski, who costars in the relationship drama Your Friends & Neighbors, says that the opposite sex just doesn't get it. "Men don't realize what's important to women," says Kinski, 37. "Sometimes [a woman saying] 'Hold me' means so much. Men don't see how such a simple thing is so deep." Her worst dating disaster? "I once went out with this extremely handsome guy," recalls Kinski. "Then he opened his mouth. Not good. Then he tried to paw me over dinner. I ran out of there."
Reign of terror
Veteran actress Janet Leigh, who previously appeared opposite daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in 1980's The Fog, joined her daughter again for the horror sequel Halloween: H20. So can Leigh, best known for her shower scene in the 1960 Hitchcock classic Psycho, still let those lungs rip? "I tested them at the [H20] premiere, and they're in good shape," says Leigh, 71, who has a cameo as Curtis's secretary. "I was yelling, 'Don't go in there! Don't do it!' " Asked about director Gus Van Sant's upcoming Psycho remake, Leigh offers a well-modulated response. "It was almost inevitable," she says. "But I hope they make a picture with its own identity. Then [both films] can stand alone."
Fudd fact
So how did Latin pop star Chayanne, 30, who salsas with Vanessa L. Williams in the new musical romance Dance with Me, get that unusual name? Simple: "At the time I was born, my mother was watching the TV series Cheyenne," says Chayanne. "But she only liked that as a middle name." Aha! So what's his real/ first name? "Elmer," he admits, but quickly points out that that name had nothing to do with TV: "My parents never watched cartoons, so I was not named after that Fudd boy."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
