Through the fog, there’s still some beams of light
James M. Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery (“Beam me up, Scotty”) Scott on the ‘60s “Star Trek” TV series, has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. His agent said Doohan, 84, is in the beginning stages of the disease.
Doohan, who lives in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, also has suffered for some time with Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and fibrosis, the latter due to chemical exposure during World War II when he was a soldier in the Canadian military.
One of Doohan’s sons, Chris Doohan of Thousand Oaks, Calif., said the Alzheimer’s diagnosis stemmed from his father’s increasing loss of short-term memory.
“His long-term memory seems to be intact,” Chris Doohan said. “If you ask him how he got his role on Star Trek or (about) D-Day, he can talk for an hour about that. But if you ask him what he had for breakfast,” he can’t say.
The elder Doohan still plans to attend a three-day “Star Trek” farewell convention Aug. 28-30 in Hollywood.
They’ve already milked it for all it’s worth
Out of “sensitivity to their current situation,” the “got milk?” magazine ads featuring twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have been retracted.
Mary-Kate recently entered a treatment program for what’s reportedly an eating disorder. The magazine ads featuring the 18-year-old twins, each with the trademark milk mustache, began running May 7 and were to continue to the end of July.
By now, he knows when to hold ‘em
Singer Kenny Rogers and his wife, Wanda, are the parents of identical twin boys born Tuesday.
Justin Charles weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces, and his twin brother, Jordan Edward, weighed 5 pounds, 8 ounces.
Wanda Rogers is an identical twin, and twins also run in Kenny Rogers’ family, a spokesman said. The 65-year-old singer has three children from previous marriages.
It’s been a hard 14,600 days and nights
Former Beatle Paul McCartney celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Fab Four’s film “A Hard Day’s Night” at a private screening Tuesday in London along with surviving cast and crew members.
The film was re-released this week on DVD with additional rare footage.
“(Wife) Heather (Mills) has never seen it full-length,” McCartney said at the screening. “We’ve just seen bits and pieces.”
After all, you only live … twice?
He said he’d never do it, but former James Bond movie star Sean Connery has signed a deal with HarperCollins to write his autobiography, due in late 2006.
“Having always vowed never to write my autobiography, here I am standing on the runway awaiting my journey into a new space,” the 72-year-old Connery said in a statement. “It’s rather scary, but utterly exhilarating, and I’m looking forward to it.”
From a letter to a number?
Meanwhile, the British public has chosen the man they want to see play the new 007: Hugh Jackman.
The “X-Men” star received 24 percent of the vote in the poll for skymovies.com, to 21 percent for Orlando Bloom, 16 percent for Colin Farrell and 11 percent for Clive Owen, currently starring in the new “King Arthur.”
The birthday bunch
Singer Jerry Vale is 72. Singer Steve Lawrence is 69. Actor Jeffrey Tambor is 60. Children’s singer Raffi is 56. Actress Anjelica Huston is 53. Actor Kevin Bacon is 46. Country singer Toby Keith is 43. Singer Joan Osborne is 42. Actor Billy Crudup is 36. Singer Beck is 34. Actor Milo Ventimiglia (“Gilmore Girls”) is 27.