Indebted Lisa Marie Presley, manager file lawsuits
LOS ANGELES — Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of Elvis Presley, says she is facing financial ruin and has filed a $100-million lawsuit accusing her former business manager of negligence and mismanaging her finances. Her ex-manager has filed his own lawsuit, accusing Presley, 50, of squandering her famous father’s inheritance because of her lavish lifestyle. The lawsuit seeks $800,000 in unpaid bills. The dueling lawsuits, filed earlier this week in Los Angeles Superior Court, follow the collapse in 2016 of Presley’s fourth marriage and her announcement that she was $16 million in debt. Presley was just nine years old when Elvis died in 1977, leaving her his sole heir. Her affairs have been managed by Barry Siegel since 1993, when she came into her inheritance through a trust. Her lawsuit said Presley’s “11-year odyssey to financial ruin” began in 2005 and alleged that as result of Siegel’s actions, “Lisa has been damaged in an amount that has not yet been fully ascertained, but is believed to be in excess of $100 million.” The 2005 deal she was referring to involved income from Elvis’ former home Graceland and his intellectual property rights. The lawsuit said that by 2016, the trust was left with $14,000 in cash and over $500,000 in credit card debt. Siegel’s lawsuit said Lisa Marie has “twice squandered” her inheritance and she had been repeatedly told to curb “her spendthrift ways.” Siegel’s attorney, Leon Gladstone, said in a statement on Friday that the 2005 deal Presley was complaining about “cleared up over $20 million in debts Lisa had incurred and netted her over $40-million cash and a multimillion-dollar income stream, most of which she managed to squander in the ensuing years.” “It’s clear Lisa Marie is going through a difficult time in her life and looking to blame others instead of taking responsibility for her actions,” Gladstone said. Presley launched her own career as a singer in 2003 and has released three albums to mixed success. She is better known for her two-year marriage to singer Michael Jackson and her 108-day marriage to actor Nicholas Cage. —
Nanette Fabray, winner of Emmy and Tony awards, 97
HOLLYWOOD — Nanette Fabray, a child performer in the 1920s who went on to star in Broadway musicals, dance with Fred Astaire on the big screen and win three Emmy Awards working with Sid Caesar during television’s Golden Age, has died at the age of 97, media reports said. Fabray, who also had her own short-lived TV show in the 1960s as well as a recurring role on the sitcom in the 1970s and 1980s, died on Thursday of natural causes, her son, Jamie MacDougall, told the
Born on Oct. 27, 1920, Fabray was a child singer in vaudeville, billed as “Baby Nanette,” and performed with silent movie comedian Ben Turpin. She debuted as an adult actress in a secondary role in director Michael Curtiz’s lavish film
(1939) starring Bette Davis and Errol Flynn. Fabray’s singing and comedy talents were put to good use in the 1940s in Broadway musicals such as the hit opposite comedian Phil Silvers. She won a Tony Award in 1949 for and was nominated in 1963 for In the 1950s, Fabray starred with Caesar, one of the shining stars of television’s Golden Age of the 1950s, in his sketch comedy program. Having taken the place of comedian Imogene Coca opposite Caesar, she won two Emmy Awards in 1956 and another one in 1957. Fabray’s best role on film was with Astaire, one of the great Hollywood dancers, in director Vincente Minnelli’s 1953 musical which earned three Oscar nominations. Fabray appeared in a handful of episodes in the 1990s in the sitcom alongside her niece, Shelley Fabares, who had a starring role. Fabray was married twice and MacDougall was her only child. Fabray, who was hearing impaired, also was known for her advocacy on issues involving people with hearing impairments. —
Bollywood legend Sridevi dies at 54 of cardiac arrest
NEW DELHI — Indian actress Sridevi, arguably Bollywood’s first female superstar, died in Dubai after cardiac arrest, media reported on Sunday. She was 54. Sridevi is survived by her husband — producer Boney Kapoor — and daughters Jhanvi and Khushi. She was in Dubai to attend a family wedding and died late on Saturday. In a career spanning five decades, Sridevi acted in 300 films and was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honor in 2013. Born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, she started acting at the age of four, appearing in several Tamil-language films in the 1960s and 1970s, and eventually dropping out of school for a career in the movies. She acted in Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu films, performing alongside leading men such as Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth. Sridevi made her Bollywood debut in 1979 with Solva Sawan (16th spring), but it was in 1983, with Balu Mahendra’s that she made her mark in the Hindi film industry. The year, she also acted with Jeetendra in K. Raghavendra Rao’s blockbuster cementing her place as one of Bollywood’s top actresses. —
Actor Stephen Fry reveals battle with prostate cancer
LONDON — British actor Stephen Fry said on Friday he has had surgery to remove his prostate after battling cancer for two months, adding in a video posted on Friday that the operation appears to have been successful. The 60-year-old actor was part of the comic double act Fry and Laurie with actor Hugh Laurie, whom he knew from university, and has appeared in films such as
and Fry said he had gone to his doctor just before Christmas to get a flu shot when signs of the cancer were first noticed. He added that his whole prostate had been removed in an operation in early January, and that the cancer did not seem to have spread. “As far as we know, it’s all been got... I generally felt that my life was saved by this early intervention,” Fry said in the video on his website. “For the moment, I‘m fit and well and happy.” Last month, Fry stepped down as host of Britain’s BAFTA film awards, having presented the ceremony 12 times. He is also known for presenting the BBC2 TV comedy quiz show He has spoken frankly about his health previously, and his struggles with anxiety and depression. In 1995, he fled a London theater production just days after its opening in what he later called “emotional turmoil.” He won an Emmy in 2007 for his documentary
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again slays North American box office