Names and faces

■ Caleb Kennedy, a country music singer who was a finalist on TV’s “American Idol,” has been charged with driving under the influence resulting in death, South Carolina authorities said Wednesday. Kennedy, 17, is accused of driving his pickup onto a private driveway and striking a residential building in Spartanburg County on Tuesday, killing a man who was inside, Master Trooper Mitchell Ridgeway of the South Carolina Highway Patrol said. The resident, 54-year-old Larry Parris, was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the crash, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said. County prosecutors said Kennedy is being charged as an adult with the crime, which is a felony. Kennedy’s hometown is listed as Roebuck, S.C., which is just south of Spartanburg. Officials didn’t say whether Kennedy knew Parris and it was not immediately known whether Kennedy has an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Last year, Kennedy advanced to the Top 5 of the ABC reality show but dropped out of the singing competition after a video circulated of him sitting next to someone wearing what appeared to be a Ku Klux Klan hood. Kennedy apologized for the video, saying “it displayed actions that were not meant to be taken in that way.” Kennedy’s mother, Anita Guy, told news outlets that the video was filmed when Kennedy was 12 and had been taken out of context.

■ Morgan Freeman is starring as a small-town sheriff in a movie that began filming this week in Mississippi. Cole Hauser and Jaimie Alexander also are stars in the comedic noir thriller “The Minute You Wake Up Dead.” It’s among four movies being shot this month around the state, with two more scheduled in March, according to the Mississippi Film Office. Producer Andrew Stevens told WLBT-TV that Canton, a city of about 11,000 about 20 miles north of Jackson, was a natural fit for “The Minute You Wake Up Dead,” particularly with state subsidies. “The small town and historical beauty perfectly fit the screenplay,” he said Tuesday. He said the city’s old post office is the sheriff’s office, and its upstairs is the set for the real estate office run by Hauser’s character, Russ. Stevens’ family is from Mississippi — his mother, actress Stella Stevens, is from Yazoo City — and Freeman lives in Clarksdale, Miss. Casting director Matthew Morgan, a native of Canton who got his start in the industry as a production assistant and extra alongside Octavia Spencer in the movie “A Time to Kill,” which also was filmed in Canton, said he realized he could do “what I love back home in Mississippi” as the state’s film industry began thriving. He is still looking for extras for “The Minute You Wake Up Dead.” Filming winds up March 3.

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Kennedy