NAMES & FACES

Monday, February 27, 2006

Anna Nicole & the Supremes

Roberts and Alito , meet Anna Nicole Smith . The former Playboy Playmate's 11-year court battle over the estate of her late husband, Texas oilman J. Howard Marshall II, is scheduled to roll into the Supreme Court tomorrow.

Smith, 38, says she's due half of his estate, which has been estimated at as much as $1.6 billion. Marshall's youngest son, 67-year-old Pierce Marshall , has fought Smith's claim to the fortune, arguing that various wills and trusts his father had prepared over the years named him sole heir. At issue in the case is federal jurisdiction over state probate cases. The Bush administration has filed briefs supporting federal jurisdiction.

Should Smith lose out on her alleged half of the loot, the owner of the Houston strip club where she used to work tells the Associated Press that the buxom blonde can have her old job back anytime.

George Michael's Latest Slump

Pop singer George Michael was arrested yesterday in London on suspicion of drug possession after he was found slumped in a car, British police sources say.

Michael, 42, who has sold more than 80 million records worldwide during a 25-year career, was arrested in Hyde Park early yesterday. London police issued a statement that, while not mentioning the singer by name, said a 42-year-old man was being held on suspicion of possessing Class-C drugs, which includes cannabis, tranquilizers and some painkillers.

"We were called by a member of the public to a man seen slumped over the steering wheel of a car," the statement said.

He was released later yesterday, Reuters reports, but must return next month to answer formal charges, pending a police investigation. Michael's manager and publicist could not be reached for comment.

In 1998, the singer pleaded no contest to committing a lewd act in a public restroom at a Beverly Hills, Calif., park. The singer had a string of hits in the 1980s with the band Wham! before starting a successful solo career.

The Sex Pistols Won't Go

Don't look for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees the Sex Pistols at this year's ceremony.

In a crudely handwritten message posted on its Web site Friday, the group officially declined to attend the March 13 ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel: "Next to the SEX-PISTOLS rock and roll and that hall of fame is a [urine] stain. Your museum. Urine in wine. Were not coming."

The English punk rock group is the only act to get voted into the Cleveland-based institution on the basis of one album ("Nevermind the Bullocks"), according to trade paper Variety.

Susan Evans, executive director of the Hall of Fame foundation, said of the band's announcement: "They're being the outrageous punksters that they are, and that's rock-and-roll." Other inductees this year include Black Sabbath, Blondie, Miles Davis, Lynyrd Skynyrd and industry executives Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss .

'Crash' Tops Image Awards

At Saturday's 37th annual NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles, the racially charged "Crash" received the best picture award and Terrence Howard won best supporting actor for his role as a pimp-turned-rapper in "Hustle & Flow."

The awards show, hosted by actor Cuba Gooding Jr. , honors the achievement of African Americans in film, television and music.

"Crash" bested nominees that included "Hustle & Flow" and "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," while Mariah Carey's "Emancipation of Mimi" took the prize for best album.

"To me, the dream is that [black entertainers] can be paid to be mediocre, just like white people," said comedian Chris Rock . The awards will air March 3 on Fox.

Quoted

"Their homework is so hard these days. It's totally done differently to what I was teached when I was at school, and you know I was like, 'Oh my God, I can't do this.' "

-- Soccer superstar David Beckham to the London Daily Mail on trying to help his 6-year-old son with math.

-- Compiled by Christian Hettinger from wire reports

Quoted

"Their homework is so hard these days. It's totally done differently to what I was teached when I was at school, and you know I was like, 'Oh my God, I can't do this.' "

-- Soccer superstar David Beckham to the London Daily Mail on trying to help his 6-year-old son with math.

-- Compiled by Christian Hettinger from wire reports