NATIONAL
October 2, 2009 | Nicholas Riccardi
For the first time since her 2002 abduction by a self-proclaimed religious prophet captured worldwide attention, Elizabeth Smart spoke publicly about her ordeal today, testifying in federal court that Brian David Mitchell repeatedly invoked religion to justify sexually abusing her for months. Testifying in a hearing to determine whether Mitchell is mentally competent to face federal kidnapping charges, Smart, now 21, calmly detailed nine months of being shackled and repeatedly raped.
ENTERTAINMENT
July 28, 2009 | Irene Lacher
For the young Jessica Biel, taking voice lessons was like trying on her mother's high heels. One day Jessica's mother needed to go to a voice lesson, but couldn't get a baby-sitter. So she took 8-year-old Jessica along. Jessica wanted a crack at it too, so her mother gave her the appointment. And so Biel's love of singing was born.
ENTERTAINMENT
August 6, 2007 | Charlotte Stoudt, Special to The Times
It's as though these songs have always existed: "Some Enchanted Evening," "Younger Than Springtime," "There Is Nothing Like a Dame." As much a part of the postwar psyche as an open highway or a backyard barbecue, the music of "South Pacific" lives a hum away in most of us. Rodgers and Hammerstein's tuneful paeans to cockeyed American optimism sailed into the night air at the Hollywood Bowl this weekend in a buoyant concert production starring Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell.
SPORTS
September 22, 2003 | Houston Mitchell, Times Staff Writer
Most football fans -- even a lot of non-fans -- have heard of Jerry Rice, but how many have heard of New York Giant kick returner and running back Brian Mitchell? On Sunday, Mitchell moved ahead of Rice -- at least for a day -- as the NFL's all-time leader in combined yards. Mitchell had 95 combined yards -- 10 receiving and 85 on kickoff returns -- in the Giants' 24-21 overtime victory Sunday over the Washington Redskins. That gives him 22,379 total yards, passing Rice's 22,331.
ENTERTAINMENT
June 15, 2002 | DON SHIRLEY, TIMES STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON -- Brian Stokes Mitchell became famous among Los Angeles musical theater audiences for playing a character who is so distraught over the loss of the woman he loved that he takes drastic action against those forces in society that he believes were responsible for her death. We're talking about his mesmerizing Coalhouse Walker in "Ragtime." Coalhouse, move over. Mitchell is now playing another man who fits the above description: the title character in "Sweeney Todd."
SPORTS
November 5, 2000 | ROB MAADI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Brian Mitchell never considered returning kicks until it became his only chance to play in the NFL. Mitchell, a quarterback from middle school through college, scored a touchdown on the first kick he returned, and hasn't stopped producing since. Now the Philadelphia Eagles' return specialist is on the verge of owning all the records. "They drafted me as an athlete.