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Oscar idol gets her own dream day
Since being booted from American Idol, Jennifer Hudson has won a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild prize and an Academy Award for best supporting actress. On Tuesday, the 25-year-old star of Dreamgirls added one more award to the collection she got her own day in her hometown.
Mayor Richard Daley proclaimed on Tuesday "Jennifer Hudson Day" to honor the budding star, whose Cinderella story took her from Chicago's South Side to the Hollywood A-list.
"She's an inspiration to everyone who has a dream," Daley told hundreds of screaming fans. "People told her 'You can't.' And she said 'I can.'"
Hudson, who appeared on stage in a black wool coat and Burberry scarf, hoisted her gold Oscar statuette in the air and thanked those who had gathered outside the Chicago Theater for the ceremony.
"Not only can I do it, but you can do it, too," she said before singing a brief song from the hit movie.
In Dreamgirls, Hudson portrays a vocalist cast out from a 1960s girl group. The role came barely two years after American Idol judge Simon Cowell told Hudson she was "out of her league" and she was voted off the TV show.
Ono you don't: Lennon film blocked
The world premiere of Three Days in the Life, a documentary about John Lennon, was cancelled after lawyers for the slain Beatle's widow, Yoko Ono, warned that she had not authorized any public viewing of the film.
The documentary was to have been screened on Tuesday night at the Berwick Academy, a private school in southern Maine.
Ray Thomas, the documentary's executive producer, culled raw footage that was shot inside Lennon's apartment down to a two-hour film covering a pivotal time in Lennon's career. The footage was shot by Ono's former husband, Tony Cox, over a three-day period in February 1970, two months before the breakup of the Beatles.
Rock star's passport denied? They've got Gaul
Veteran French rocker Johnny Hallyday will have to wait another six months to find out whether he will be granted a Belgian passport, which critics say he covets for tax purposes.
"There are elements, notably financial, which have been reported in the press and which we wish to verify," Belgian MP Guy Hove, the head of the Belgian parliament's naturalisation committee, said on Tuesday, adding the MPs wanted to be sure of "his sincerity".
Hallyday, 63, is one of a string of famous French nationals who have moved in order to avoid the country's high taxes.
In December he admitted that he was effectively an economic migrant.
The Elvis-influenced singer, who has sold 100 million records over the past 40 years, already lives part of the year at his Swiss chalet in the ski resort of Gstaad.
Agencies
(China Daily 03/08/2007 page18)
