Actresses

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.

Her 40-pound weight loss isn't -- insists Nia Vardalos -- some diabolical plan to land herself in the pages of People magazine, amid Valerie Bertinelli, Melissa Joan Hart and myriad new celebrity mothers proving their moral and genetic superiority by dropping their baby weight within days of giving birth. "I find it strange being mentioned as some sort of accomplishment or triumph," says Vardalos, the unlikely writer-star of the unlikely box-office smash of 2002, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

"The word 'actress' has always seemed less a job description to me than a title," Gene Tierney once observed. If she were still among us, the star of stage and screen might be surprised to find tarnished whatever cachet, in the glamour-gilded 1940s and '50s, was attached to the word. If "actress" is indeed a title, in many quarters it is no longer considered one of distinction.

When it comes to the Academy Awards, it pays to be a drama queen. At least, that's the conclusion of a new study by researchers from UCLA and Harvard University, who found that the odds of being nominated for an Oscar increase for actresses who appear in dramatic films.

Throughout the awards season, relative newcomer Marion Cotillard had been seen as the only performer who might stand in the way of veteran Julie Christie's lead actress Oscar for her performance in the drama "Away From Her." But she still seemed genuinely surprised to hear Forest Whitaker call her name as the winner in the category for her unforgettable portrayal of iconic French singer Edith Piaf in "La Vie En Rose."

The VERY last scene of last year's hit film "Juno" pointed toward one small path in music's future: star Ellen Page sitting on a stoop, singing a song by obscure boy-girl folk duo the Moldy Peaches. Her leading man, Michael Cera, sang along, but he was really just her backup. Movie and television stars have always made music -- whether as a legitimate career stream (Rick Springfield), a relaxing side project (Kevin Bacon) or a presumably self-aware joke (William Shatner).

Audiences at the time thought of them simply as bad girls, but the UCLA Film & Television Archive is determined to salvage their reputations. The archive's exceptionally interesting 12-film repertory series "Cool Drinks of Water: Columbia's Noir Girls of the '40s and '50s" shows that making their acquaintance is a pleasure for lots of reasons.

Time was when it was no big deal to see old American black-and-white films on a big screen -- it still isn't in Paris, of all places -- but in this country it has become a rare event worthy of celebration. Which is what should be done about the intriguing UCLA series "Cool Drinks of Water: Columbia's Noir Girls of the '40s and '50s," which starts Friday night at the UCLA Film & Television Archive's Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum in Westwood.

Most days, everyone in Hollywood assumes that the world revolves around them. But as the nominations for the Academy Awards proved, show business is now revolving around the world. In saluting movies that were often made outside the nation's borders and that grappled with disquieting international issues such as terrorism, global warming and the personal costs of war and violence, Oscar voters Tuesday honored a collection of movies that were decidedly not Hollywood-centric.

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty clinched a public vote to win "Celebrity Big Brother" after her treatment on the British television show sparked an international row over alleged racist bullying. The Indian actress, 31, beat 13 other contestants, including those she accused of tormenting her during the 26 days they were cooped up in a special house under 24-hour surveillance.