Goodman

What is one to make of the blatantly homophobic remarks of Goodman concerning Rep. Frank, that true champion of justice and equality? I have always thought of Goodman as a Contra in the war against the Reagan Revolution. How sad that Goodman has now put down her arms, given up the fight and joined the forces of reaction. DAVID STEEN Beverly Hills

- Within 30 seconds in her airy, orchid-filled office three floors above Central Park, Betty Halbreich had zeroed in on one of my chief torments as a professional woman. "I know why you have a problem with pants," Halbreich said dryly, patting my hip. Halbreich, an 85-year-old personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman in New York, has dressed Joan Rivers, Meryl Streep and Candice Bergen, and helped costume designer Patricia Field adorn the women of "Sex and the City. " She's one of the supporting characters in "Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's," a new documentary, which opens May 3 in New York and Los Angeles, about the aspirational fashion emporium, and she is writing a memoir that HBO recently optioned for Lena Dunham to adapt.

Just who or what is Goodman that she is not happy with the fate of Nixon, and refuses to admit him into her circle of elder statesmen? I am not one of those die-hard Nixon fans, but here are some thoughts on him: This man was the leader, and most powerful member, of the most powerful nation on earth, the only planet we've got. He left in disgrace, hounded even by those who had tried to remain loyal. For more time than 42 million Americans have been alive he has been regarded as a national embarrassment, a virtual pariah.

UCLA lost three senior starters from the defensive secondary, and it was not a unit that overly distinguished itself in 2012. Help is on the way. Defensive backs Tahaan Goodman and Johnny Johnson have signed letter of intents to play for the Bruins. GRAPHIC: UCLA recruits Goodman, a safety from Rancho Cucamonga High School, is ranked seventh at his position by Scout.com and ninth by Rivals.com. Johnson, a cornerback from Fresno Central High School, is ranked eighth at his position by Scout.com.

John Goodman isn't the kind of actor who revels in the media spotlight. His default conversation is self-deprecating, his words tumbling forth in a low grumble that makes him all at once difficult to hear and curmudgeonly charming. But mention one of his most beloved topics and his voice booms with clarity. "For so many reasons, it has just never been an overachiever," he says. He's speaking of New Orleans, the adopted city he's called home for more than a decade. "Or even an achiever," he adds.

Soldiers in Afghanistan: A caption with a photo in Wednesday's Section A with an article about Afghan President Hamid Karzai identified one of the soldiers as Army Lt. Thomas Goodwin. His name is Goodman.

Were the Ramirez headline and article really necessary? Or do they represent sensationalism and an attempt to sell a few extra papers? I expected better of The Times. Shame on you! M. DAVID GOODMAN Los Angeles

I laughed till tears rolled down my cheeks as I read Ellen Goodman's "Crunched by Our Things and Time" (Op-Ed Page, Jan. 9). Before me in front of the TV was the VCR I've had without mastering for six months. Mea culpa ! I am grateful to the Los Angeles Times for running Goodman's articles. But, alas, they appear only too seldom. FLORENCE LERRIGO Claremont

It's been a roller coaster of an awards season for the cast and crew of the political thriller "Argo. " In the weeks since director and star Ben Affleck was passed over for an Oscar nomination for best director, the film has won big at the Golden Globes, the Producers Guild Awards and now the SAG Awards. Just a few hours before stepping on stage with Affleck and fellow cast members to accept the SAG Award for best ensemble in a motion picture, "Argo's" John Goodman spoke with Times reporter Amy Kaufman on the red carpet about how Affleck has been handling the twists and turns.

Lois "Lolo" Goodman was reinstated last week as a professional tennis umpire in the wake of a decision by prosecutors to drop charges that she fatally bludgeoned her husband, her attorney said. Goodman, a fixture on the U.S. Tennis Assn. circuit for a couple of decades, had been sidelined since October after her arrest in New York on suspicion of killing her husband, Alan Goodman, 80. Last month, prosecutors decided to drop a murder charge against Goodman without revealing their reasons.

From the beginning, the death of professional tennis umpire Lois Goodman's husband was beset by contradictions. When Alan Goodman, 80, was found dead in April at the couple's Woodland Hills condominium, paramedics noticed a suspicious cut to the side of his head. But Los Angeles police initially agreed with Lois Goodman's account that her ailing husband had fallen down a flight of stairs. Days later, a coroner's investigator found that the injuries were consistent with being struck by a sharp object.

Retired movie makeup artist Robert Sidell got chills when he met actor John Goodman at the party following the Beverly Hills premiere earlier this month of Ben Affleck's acclaimed new film "Argo. " It was like seeing an old friend again. Goodman plays real-life Oscar-winning movie makeup artist John Chambers, who created the makeup for the 1968 classic "Planet of the Apes," as well as Spock's ears for the original "Star Trek" series. Chambers was one of the key players who helped CIA operative Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck)

Tennis umpire Lois Goodman, charged with bludgeoning and stabbing to death her 80-year-old husband in April with a coffee mug, has passed a lie-detector test administered by a former FBI examiner in which she denied killing her husband, her attorneys said Tuesday. The attorneys said they would give the results to prosecutors in hopes the charges against the 70-year-old Woodland Hills resident would be dropped. She has pleaded not guilty. The examination, in which Goodman denied killing her husband, Alan, or having any involvement in his death, was conducted by former FBI polygraph examiner Jack Trimarco during the first week of October, Robert Sheahen, one of her attorneys, said.

Attorneys for a renowned tennis umpire charged with killing her husband with a broken coffee cup failed Wednesday to stop police from collecting a sample of her DNA. Lawyers for 70-year-old Lois Goodman suggested that the DNA would be meaningless since prosecutors already knew she gathered up the shards of the broken coffee cup and offered them to police, who initially dismissed them as meaningful evidence because they believed the death was an...

Two decidedly different portraits emerged Wednesday of the U.S. Open tennis umpire accused of killing her 80-year-old husband and then trying to pass it off as an accident. Prosecutors said Lois Goodman, 70, bludgeoned her husband, then callously left him to die as she went to "tennis and to get her nails done. " Deputy Dist. Atty. Sharon Ransom accused Lois Goodman of meticulously planning the killing in advance, but did not lay out any evidence to support that claim. She said the umpire used a broken coffee mug like an "improvised knife," stabbing her husband 10 times.

Summoned to a couple's Woodland Hills condominium last spring, police officers heard a sad but familiar tale. The wife, an active 70-year-old, said she had come home from a tennis match to find her husband of five decades dead in his bed. He was 80, diabetic and suffered from high blood pressure, she told them. Officers consoled the woman and arranged for the body to be sent to a funeral home. But three days later, on the eve of his cremation, a perfunctory check at the mortuary triggered a series of stunning revelations: The man had been beaten to death, the murder weapon was a coffee cup from the kitchen, and the prime suspect was his widow.