Hollywood

Army Archerd, a prolific reporter who chronicled the personal and professional lives of Hollywood stars and moguls for more than half a century from his columnist's perch at Daily Variety, and rocked the entertainment world when he announced in 1985 that actor Rock Hudson was suffering from AIDS, has died. He was 87. According to Variety's website, Archer died Tuesday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical of a rare form of mesothelioma, "a cancer thought to be the result of his exposure to asbestos in the Navy during WWII."

With frosty mugs of Butterbeer raised in a toast, Universal Studios Hollywood officials announced plans Tuesday to bring the wildly popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter to the California theme park. Details were limited but officials did say the California park would see a Hogwarts Castle and visitors would ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, the marquee attraction at the Florida park. Wizarding World will be built within the existing California theme park, but it was unclear if the new land might be located at least partially on the studio's back lot. > Photos: Top 10 Wizarding World of Harry Potter rides and attractions Wizarding World proved an instant hit when it opened in June 2010 at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure theme park.

While all eyes will be on Disney California Adventure in 2012, plenty of other theme parks in California will be adding new rides and attractions in time for the summer crowds. Our Top 10 for 2012 is dominated by new rides coming to DCA's 12-acre Cars Land expansion , the grand finale in the $1 billion extreme makeover the Anaheim theme park has undertaken during the past five years. DCA's transformation is so massive that even Disneyland is taking the year off as far as new attractions go, letting the spotlight shine on its younger neighbor.

Before there was Roman Polanski, there was Errol Flynn. Before David Letterman, Charlie Chaplin. Celebrity sex scandals have been around for as long as there have been celebrities -- yes, even before TMZ and Perez Hilton -- so the recent arrest of Polanski relating to his having sex with a 13-year-old girl and Letterman's confession of having sex with female members of his staff are just the latest in a long and sometimes sordid history. "This is nothing new for the media and the public to become obsessed with this and report this in juicy, lurid, titillating detail," says film historian and critic Stephen Farber, who notes that there is "this very moralistic side to this country that sort of plays on that.

"Sexy Rexy" was the nickname of what Oscar- and Tony Award-winning British actor? Rex Harrison

Re “ Leave Hollywood to liberals ,” Opinion, Feb. 19 For once, I agree with Jonah Goldberg: In the name of freedom, let Hollywood continue to produce whatever politically tinged films it wants. Whether it's shoot-em-up violence, drama, comedy or liberal high-mindedness, the viewers will decide what they want to watch without any coercion. And yes, as Goldberg notes, Archie Bunker of “All in the Family” did have a bigger impact on Americans' values than his “meathead” son-in-law, but probably not for the reason he thinks.