Brando

While I decry the obscene violence in "The Bone Collector," Angelina Jolie proves there that she is everything many of us thought she could be ("A Proverbial Adventurer," by Anne Bergman, Nov. 7). Jolie is an actress who always seems to be playing two emotions: one there on the surface, the other smoldering underneath and fighting to get out. It's the same quality that the young Marlon Brando and James Dean had, a mysterious undercurrent that made them the most intriguing players of their generation.

Paul Winfield, the award-winning actor who came to fame during the renaissance of African American cinema in the 1970s in such films as "Sounder" and "A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich," died of a heart attack Sunday night at Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. He was 62. Winfield had been an ill health, suffering from obesity most of his life and diabetes, said his agent, Michael Livingston.

Behind the wheel of his tour bus, Don Baisa prays. Please. Give me George Clooney today, he thinks as tourists scramble aboard the 12-seat, open-top van marked "City Tours!" Or Charlize Theron. Or Jennifer Aniston. Will Ferrell. He'd take Will Ferrell. Baisa, a 61-year-old veteran of the tour bus scene with a neatly groomed, salt-and-pepper mustache, knows what his passengers want during their two-hour journey through Hollywood and Beverly Hills. Spotting stars means big tips.

Bookshelves real and virtual are stocked with volumes about Los Angeles and Southern California written by people who parachute into a Westside guest house for a few weeks, hit the hot spots and high spots, then write with voice-of-God authority for audiences who wouldn't know the Grapevine from grape juice. But there is authentic writing to be found about Los Angeles. Brando Skyhorse's debut novel, "The Madonnas of Echo Park," won this year's PEN/Hemingway Award for highlighting that neighborhood on the literary map of Los Angeles.

His client was a movie director, realtor Jack Hupp said, and was adamant about living in Beverly Hills. The film maker had found a house he liked, Hupp said, but was so concerned that it have a Beverly Hills address that he made it a contingency in his offer. Hupp discovered to his alarm that the house was not within the city limits of Beverly Hills, but found with some quick checking that it was in the Beverly Hills Post Office area, which means that it has a Beverly Hills mailing address.

What actor-crooner gave Marlon Brando the nickname Mr. Mumbles? Frank Sinatra

A lawsuit filed against the estate of Marlon Brando by a woman who worked as the actor's business manager for four years has been amicably settled out of court, her attorneys said Thursday. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Jo An Corrales of Kalama, Wash., had filed the suit in L.A. Superior Court last year, accusing the Oscar-winning actor of sexual harassment and wrongful termination of employment.

Marlon Brando's longtime personal secretary sued the late actor's estate for more than $1 million Wednesday, seeking access to personal letters, journals, movie scripts and other biographical documents about the Oscar-winning star of "On the Waterfront" and "The Godfather," and monetary damages for "promises and representations" she claims Brando made to her over the years that weren't kept.

Actor Marlon Brando was cremated after a private memorial service attended by a small group of family members and friends, his attorney said Wednesday. Lawyer David Seeley declined to disclose the site of Monday's service. He said he knew of no plans for a public memorial service. "Marlon was a really private guy and didn't enjoy the media, and his family is trying to honor that in his death," Seeley said. The reclusive Brando died July 1 of lung failure at the age of 80.