Actors

It was billed as a "shocking tell-all" and a "world exclusive," but the National Enquirer's March 26 cover story landed with a thud. TMZ, Page Six and other major players in celebrity gossip ignored the article in which a masseur claimed John Travolta offered money for sex. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article used the term "masseuse"; it should have said "masseur. " Five weeks after the issue left the checkout aisle, a DUI attorney from Pasadena put the anonymous masseur's tawdry tale in a lawsuit and it became an overnight pop culture sensation, topping Google News, trending on Twitter and meriting a segment on "Good Morning America.

Joining the ranks of teenage homeowners is "Hunger Games" star Josh Hutcherson, who has bought a place in the Hollywood Hills West area for $2.5 million. Called the Tree House, the 2,000-square-foot-plus house has been home at different times to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and the late actor Heath Ledger. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom house, built in 1951, sits behind gates on nearly a half-acre filled with sycamores. Features include glass walls, polished concrete floors, an office, beamed ceilings and video security.

Hard-core Harry Potter fans who devoured the books, camped out for the movies and trekked through the theme park now have a new way to relive the boy wizard's adventures. PHOTOS: Making of Harry Potter studio tour Debuting Saturday, the Making of Harry Potter behind-the-scenes tour at theWarner Bros.studios in England will let wizards, mudbloods and muggles pull back the curtain on the movie-making secrets of the most successful film series of all time. Located 20 miles outside of London, the three-hour self-guided tour will take visitors past sets, props, costumes, models and special effects exhibits from the eight "Harry Potter" movies.

Known for the great variety of the roles he plays, Leonardo DiCaprio now is trying his hand at Malibu beach house landlord. He has listed this Cape Cod-inspired home for $75,000 a month for a long-term tenant or $150,000 a month for leases of less than six months. His Malibu Colony compound was recently remodeled and features a four-bedroom main house on the ocean side, a two-bedroom guest house and a detached loft with gym. There is a beach-front deck, a fire pit, gardens and lawn on the less-than-half-acre lot. DiCaprio, 37, whose blockbuster hits include "Titanic" (1997)

There's so much to praise in the blissful Broadway revival of "Follies," which opened Wednesday at the Ahmanson Theatre on the heels of its numerous Tony nominations, but let's pay homage first to the sheer sophistication of the show itself. After experiencing "Follies" again - an adult entertainment if ever there was one - I flat-out refuse to accept any more jukebox substitutes. One doesn't often talk about architecture when writing about musicals, but the most impressive thing about "Follies," beyond Stephen Sondheim's bejeweled score, is the ingenious way it is constructed.

Madeleine Stowe drops the L-word frequently — L as in "love. " She is a woman who loves love. Not that you'd know it from her stark, unsentimental appearance: She is swathed in black, from her raven mane to her ankle boots. And her on-screen persona as the icy, detached Victoria Grayson on ABC's "Revenge" only adds to her image as a woman without an obvious soft spot. But the pensive tone in Stowe's voice turns ever so lively when romance enters the conversation — which is often.

In his private journal, Jason Michael Handy once described himself as a "pedophile, full blown. " Handy snapped more than 1,000 photos of girls at the elementary school across the street from his house, using a camera with a telephoto lens, according to court documents. He volunteered at a Malibu church, where he worked with 6-year-olds. And his job as a production assistant at one of the nation's most prominent producers of children's television programs, Nickelodeon, gave him access to child actors on and off the set, and allowed him to exchange email addresses and phone numbers with them.

HE IS, IN THE simplest terms, not a New Yorker. Reared in the shadow of Al Capone and schooled in Chicago-style realism, Joseph Anthony Mantegna is a counterpoint to the American tradition of celluloid heavies. Among the Brandos, Pacinos and De Niros, Mantegna is an actor's alternative to that brawling, Lower East Side Italian tough guy: a Pinteresque con man with a sharkskin suit and the soul of an ice pick.

Like its creator and star Sacha Baron Cohen, the comedy of "The Dictator" is mercurial to the extreme and as crude as the massive oil reserves of Wadiya, the fictional North African nation where his latest movie prank begins. By turns hysterical, heretical, guilty, innocent, silly, sophisticated, teasing and tedious, the film follows the power-mad leader Admiral General Haffaz Aladeen as he loses his bearings, his beard and his heart in New York City. "The Dictator" underscores both Baron Cohen's genius and his folly, and delivers the actor's signature blend of scatological outrage, sagacity and at least one full-frontal assault with a flaccid unmentionable.

Darren James saw the news flash on his TV screen last week: A porn actress had tested positive for HIV. James, 45, felt a moment of shock, then sadness. "I feel really bad for this girl," he said. "One thing I can say, I just wish her well. It's the worst thing to get that call." It's the call James got in 2004 when the well-liked porn star known for his courteous nature on set found himself at the center of an HIV outbreak in the San Fernando Valley's multibillion-dollar porn industry.

Actor Kelsey Grammer is back at it — trying to sell his home in the Beverly Crest area — this time for $17.999 million. Priced in 2008 at $19.9 million, the mansion is described in the listing as modern Traditional in style. The two-story house, built in 1980, features a central hall, media room, a library, a wine cellar and a service entrance. There are seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms and 10,567 square feet of living space. Lawn, a swimming pool, a six-car motor court and a four-car garage complete the grounds of more than three-quarters of an acre.

"NCIS" star Michael Weatherly has sold his house in the Hollywood Hills for $1.845 million. The redone one-story house sits behind gates and has ocean and mountain views. Features include French doors opening to the swimming pool, beamed ceilings, a fireplace, an updated kitchen with stainless-steel appliances, three en-suite bedrooms and a finished two-car garage used as a music room. There are four bedrooms, 31/2 bathrooms and 2,600 square feet of living space. A covered area outdoors is set up as a gym. Weatherly, 43, has starred as special agent Anthony DiNozzo on the highly rated crime drama, originally titled "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service," since 2003 and appeared as the same character on "JAG.

Jeremy Irons stars as the ruthless Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, in Showtime's period drama"The Borgias," now in its second season. You really seem like you're having fun with this role. I'm glad about that. I've always believed that in the theater or movies, whatever, the audience's enjoyment is increased if the actors seem to be enjoying what they're doing. What's fun about the Borgia pope? The great thing about doing series television is you have time.

It was billed as a "shocking tell-all" and a "world exclusive," but the National Enquirer's March 26 cover story landed with a thud. TMZ, Page Six and other major players in celebrity gossip ignored the article in which a masseur claimed John Travolta offered money for sex. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article used the term "masseuse"; it should have said "masseur. " Five weeks after the issue left the checkout aisle, a DUI attorney from Pasadena put the anonymous masseur's tawdry tale in a lawsuit and it became an overnight pop culture sensation, topping Google News, trending on Twitter and meriting a segment on "Good Morning America.

James Franco is an actor-turned-artist-turned-author-turned-actor-playing-an-artist-named-Franco in the soap opera "General Hospital" — who has made a movie, "Francophrenia," that documents the experience. He's about as "meta" as it gets. Now Franco has brought his knack for melding pop culture and fine art in unorthodox ways to a new exhibition for Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art. "Rebel," which opens Tuesday, is a high-concept group show that is a loose, interpretive ode to the 1955 James Dean film "Rebel Without a Cause.

"Dark Shadows,"which hit theaters on Friday, not only revives long-dormant vampire Barnabas Collins, it also brings back some giggle- and cringe-inducing fashions of the early 1970s. Leisure suits. Mirrored aviator sunglasses. Bell-bottoms, chunky sweaters, macramé jewelry. These all contrast with the stand-up collars, cravats and capes worn by Johnny Depp as Collins. Costume designer Colleen Atwood was more than up to the challenge after numerous previous collaborations with director Tim Burton (her efforts for the director's"Alice in Wonderland" earned her a 2010 Academy Award)

When Tara Correa-McMullen was 14, she got the kind of big break that aspiring actors long for -- a recurring role on the TV show "Judging Amy." She played a former gang member who over the course of the season is urged by the show's main character to turn her life around. At the end of the season, however, her character is killed in prison. Last week, Tara, 16, was hanging out with friends in front of an apartment complex in Inglewood when she was fatally shot.

Dianne Bye is not a patient, but she plays one at medical school. Clad in an examination gown and calling herself Joan Brown, she tells a third-year medical student at UC Irvine she has suffered severe abdominal pain for three days, always after a meal. She lies down on the table in what looks to be a doctor's examination room, pulls up her gown and allows her belly to be poked repeatedly. "Ow!" she blurts out when the student tells her to inhale while he presses her abdomen.

Re "Stars muffle voice-over actors," May 7 I found the article on "A-listers" grabbing work away from professional voice-over actors interesting. As a veteran voice-over actor and producer, I can tell you that this is relatively old news. Maybe with the current economy, people are feeling it more, but this trend started years ago. My feeling is that agency creative directors and clients should be able to hire whomever they want. Toby Browning West Hollywood ALSO: Letters: Drone views Letters: Care facilities in Los Angeles Letters: Liberals and conservatives in U.S. history

Actor Patrick Dempsey plans to wade further into the deep end of motor racing Saturday at the 2.24-mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca track in Monterey, Calif. The "Grey's Anatomy" star is scheduled to co-drive one of his team's cars in a six-hour endurance race sanctioned by the American Le Mans Series, which features different classes of race cars. Dempsey, 46, for the first time will help drive an entry in the ALMS' P2 class of exotic, powerful prototype cars built specifically for racing.