Fred

Which Fred Willard do you know? There's his inanely clueless dog show announcer Buck Laughlin in "Best in Show," Christopher Guest's 2000 mockumentary on the dog show world. It was Buck who famously said in bit of color commentary: "And to think that in some countries these dogs are eaten. " Some still remember Willard best as the dimwitted second banana Jerry Hubbard to Martin Mull's smarmy talk show host Barth Gimble on the 1977-78 TV show parodies "Fernwood 2Night" and later "America 2-Night.

Defending champion Fred Couples birdied the final three holes for a seven-under 63 and the second-round lead in the Senior Players Championship in Pittsburgh. Couples, the winner last year at Westchester Country Club in Harrison, N.Y., had an 11-under 129 total on the Fox Chapel course. Joe Daley was a stroke back after a 64. Tom Lehman was third at seven under after a 66. Olin Browne had a tournament-record 62 to reach five under. He opened with a 73. :: Veronica Felibert shot a career-best six-under 65 to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour's NW Arkansas Championship at Rogers, Ark. China's Shanshan Feng , the LPGA Championship winner this month, was a stroke back.

Fred Karger, the openly gay Republican who ran for president without ever expecting to win, ended his quixotic campaign Friday. "It's been one hell of a ride, and I want to thank the thousands of people across this country who volunteered, contributed, opened their homes, came to our events and cheered me on. Special thanks to the thousands more who shared their stories with me in person, via email, facebook, twitter, etc. Every one of you kept...

HOUSTON -- The Rev. Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, was elected Tuesday as the first African American president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination. Luter's candidacy at the convention's annual meeting in New Orleans on Tuesday was unchallenged.  Before the vote, the Rev. David Crosby of First Baptist Church in New Orleans, who became an ally of Luter after Hurricane Katrina , took the podium.

The Olympic Games offer competitors the chance to bathe in national glory and international acclaim. The victors - indeed, all the athletes who aspire to victory - are celebrated in the Olympic motto of "Citius, Altius, Fortius. " Faster, higher, stronger. Yet celebration and aspiration sometimes share the Olympic spotlight with controversy, with scandal and with athletes who train and compete outside the bounds of Citius, Altius and Fortius. One ranking of the 10 least pure moments in the history of the Summer Games: No. 10 (1912)

  The Rev. Fred Luter Jr. well remembers the first time he ventured from his native New Orleans to preach in Crowley, a rice-growing town in the heart of Louisiana's Cajun country. The pastor there had invited Luter to speak, but worried how the congregation would react. "I told him, 'Just don't put my picture up,' " Luter recalled. "Just tell them I'm a leading Southern Baptist. " Now Luter is poised to become the first black president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the country's largest Protestant denomination.

Worldwide rights to the Fred Segal name, a moniker that over the last five decades has become a sort of shorthand for the Los Angeles fashion-shopping experience, have been purchased by a New York City firm for an undisclosed sum. Sandow Media, which announced the acquisition, said the deal will allow it to put the iconic red, white and blue Fred Segal logo on merchandise as well as build Fred Segal stores around the world. Not included in the deal are the two brick-and-mortar Fred Segal retail centers — one on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles and one in Santa Monica.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - First paragraphs of stories about Freddie Couples should always include the words "like fine wine. " He is the Opus One of the pro golf tour. With a golf club in his hands, Couples is 52 going on 30. He shot a five-under 67 at the Masters on Friday and shares the 36-hole lead at five-under 139 with Jason Dufner. In senior citizen centers all over the country, they were high-fiving each other with walking sticks and demanding extra warm milk. The problem here is that there are 36 more holes to play.

Fred Astaire's 1943 musical comedy-drama "The Sky's the Limit" received mixed reactions from critics, as did Gene Kelly's first film after serving in World War II, 1947's "Living in a Big Way. " But time can change perceptions. Both films, which were just released by Warner Archive on DVD, deserve a second chance. "The Sky's the Limit" finds Astaire as a Flying Tiger pilot on leave. The best moment is when a drunken Astaire introduces the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer standard "One for My Baby (and "One More for the Road")

A life of 'Resistance' Fred Zinnemann directed 21 features. Here's a look at three that are in the Getty Research Institute retrospective: 'High Noon' Gary Cooper's lagging career was resurrected with this 1952 western-as-political-allegory for which he won the lead actor Oscar. 'The Search' Montgomery Clift was Oscar-nominated for his performance in this harrowing 1948 drama about refugee children in Europe after the war. 'Julia' Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave play lifelong friends who become involved in the anti-fascist movement in Germany in this 1977 drama.