TOP HONORS: For the first time in the 74-year history of the Academy Awards, African-Americans won for both top acting honors. "Oh, my God," said a stunned and tearful Halle Berry, 35, who won for her role in "Monster's Ball." "I'm sorry. This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll . . . it's for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened." Denzel Washington, 47, accepting his Oscar for "Training Day," acknowledged his debt to the first black actor to win the top award, Sidney Poitier (for 1963's "Lilies of the Field"). Poitier, 75, received a special Oscar Sunday night for Lifetime Achievement.
SOLO SPEARS: In London to promote her film "Crossroads," Britney Spears, 20, reported at a news conference that she was "not in an intense relationship with anyone at the moment," prompting further speculation that her fairy-tale love story with 'N Sync singer Justin Timberlake, 21, is over, reported the Associated Press. Despite recent denials from her press agent, tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic have reported this month that the relationship had cooled. Spears and Timberlake, who have known each other since 1993 when they costarred together on the Disney Channel's "Mickey Mouse Club," have been the reigning king and queen of pop since their relationship became public a little more than two years ago.
CAMPBELL COURTED: In a landmark ruling, a British court upheld supermodel Naomi Campbell's accusations that the London tabloid The Mirror invaded her privacy in a 2001 article. She was awarded damages of nearly $5,000, reported Reuters. Campbell, 31, sought damages against the newspaper for breach of confidence and unlawful invasion of privacy over a story last year that she was attending meetings of Narcotics Anonymous. Campbell, who spent a day testifying in February, admitted she was recovering from drug addiction, but said the article and accompanying photograph of her leaving a Narcotics Anonymous meeting had made her feel "shocked, angry, betrayed and violated."
LUCKY LIZA: Liza Minnelli, 56, and her new husband, David Gest, 48, were startled last week when a thief tried to grab the singer's diamond crucifix necklace through an open limousine window as they were driving through the posh Holland Park district of west London, reported the Associated Press. "They had stopped at traffic lights and Miss Minnelli's window was down," said the star's British spokesperson David Freed. "Someone put their hand into the car and Liza, who is incredibly gracious to her fans, thought it was an autograph hunter. But the driver, who saw there were others with this person, immediately rolled up the window. They tried the car door but he managed to speed away."
SAD GOODBYES: Proving the old show-biz adage that celebrities expire in threes, Oscar-winning filmmaker Billy Wilder, 95, whose sardonic screen classics include "Sunset Boulevard," "Stalag 17," "The Seven-Year Itch," "The Apartment" and "Some Like It Hot," died of pneumonia in his Los Angeles home Wednesday, reported the Associated Press. His death follows this week's loss of Dudley Moore, 66, who suffered from a degenerative brain disease, and Milton Berle, 93, who had been battling colon cancer. Moore, best known as the star of 1979's "10" and 1981's "Arthur," was also an accomplished musician, while Berle, or "Uncle Miltie," as he was affectionately known (he was also called "The Thief of Bad Gags"), helped popularize a once-fledgling medium called television. Giants, all.
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