Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Names and faces
■ Actor Joe Manganiello stopped by a Pittsburgh children’s hospital to lead patients in a game of Dungeons and Dragons. The 42-yearold True Blood actor, who is married to Sofia Vergara, stopped by UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh with his brother, Nick Manganiello, to lead a session of the role-playing game. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports the actor assumed the role of “Dungeon Master,” leading the story of the game. The tabletop game allows players to create their own unique characters and have them embark on adventures led by a storyteller and referee called the Dungeon Master. Manganiello says he regularly plays and hosts sessions of Dungeons and Dragons. He and his brother say they hope Tuesday’s game will inspire others to learn the game.
■ Australian actor Craig McLachlan has been charged with eight counts of indecent assault and one count of common assault after being accused of sexual misconduct by three women who worked with him in a stage musical. Police in Victoria state on Friday said a 53-year-old man, identified by news media as McLachlan, has been summoned to appear in court over the nine charges, and another charge of attempted indecent assault. A spokesman for the former star of long-running Australian TV series Neighbours and Home and Away said in a brief statement that McLachlan denied all of the charges, which arose after a production of The Rocky Horror Show in 2014. “Craig is innocent of these charges which will be vigorously defended,” the statement said. McLachlan is due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court Feb. 8. After the allegations against McLachlan first emerged last year, the actor filed a defamation suit against two Australian news organizations — Fairfax Media and the Australian Broadcasting Corp. — and against former Rocky Horror co-star Christie Whelan Browne. He is seeking damages in the Supreme Court of New South Wales state over reports he bullied and indecently assaulted Whelan Browne and two other female cast members during the stage production. Last May, his legal team said that, since the allegations, McLachlan has become reclusive and his acting career has been effectively destroyed.