Shirley

Shirley MacLaine and Hector Elizondo are discussing ways of coping with the loss of a loved one -- the four-legged kind. Elizondo still gets choked up when he talks about his late cats, especially Ninja, a pure black Burmese he and his wife once owned. "There was a long period of tangible loss," he tells MacLaine. "I wouldn't for days vacuum her fur. . . . I couldn't let her go that way." The Oscar-winning MacLaine ("Terms of Endearment") is besotted with Terry, her rat terrier who was the subject of her book "Out on a Leash" and is featured prominently on her website.

Writer-director P.J. Hogan may have based "Mental" on an actual incident from his childhood, but the crazy quilt of a movie that resulted feels anything but real. This strained, shrill effort, set in small-town Australia, revolves around the über-quirky Moochmore clan: "Sound of Music"-obsessed mother Shirley (Rebecca Gibney), absentee dad - and local mayor - Barry (Anthony LaPaglia) and their five off-kilter daughters. When Shirley has a colorful nervous breakdown, Barry sticks her in a mental hospital, then randomly hires screwy, knife-wielding hitchhiker Shaz (Hogan's "Muriel's Wedding" star Toni Collette)

Writer-director P.J. Hogan may have based "Mental" on an actual incident from his childhood, but the crazy quilt of a movie that resulted feels anything but real. This strained, shrill effort, set in small-town Australia, revolves around the über-quirky Moochmore clan: "Sound of Music"-obsessed mother Shirley (Rebecca Gibney), absentee dad - and local mayor - Barry (Anthony LaPaglia) and their five off-kilter daughters. When Shirley has a colorful nervous breakdown, Barry sticks her in a mental hospital, then randomly hires screwy, knife-wielding hitchhiker Shaz (Hogan's "Muriel's Wedding" star Toni Collette)

If British spy James Bond can't be called upon to save the mishandling of pop music by the 2013 Oscars, producers did at least book the next best thing: Shirley Bassey. The vocalist, now in her 70s, has defined what has now become a genre, Bond music. A Bond song must feel royal in its presentation, but also have a hint that something is amiss. Sometimes the booming orchestra can act as a moody foil for its vocalist, and other times the singer can become the antithesis of the Bond-girl seductress.

THESE men from the Kuna tribe on the San Blas Islands of Panama entertained passengers from the small Pacific Explorer cruise ship, including Shirley and Robert Gapper, of West Covina. Shirley took this shot with her Canon G2. "I liked it because of the brilliant color of those yellow shirts," said the retired music teacher, adding that the performance was "so synchronized, it was almost unreal."

The play "Kvetch" is about people who become so obsessed with life's minor annoyances that they cannot cope with larger realities. The same can be said of Shirley's review. In a review that was eight paragraphs long, Shirley chose to write about his seat location for five of those paragraphs. Five. As "Donna," I am grateful for the compliment of being described as "wonderfully tortured" in the review. But I feel a bit more space could have been devoted to a critique of a production that has been running for 15 months, rather than Shirley's own personal crabbiness concerning his seat.

Graveside services are pending for longtime Santa Paula schoolteacher David Bryce Kellogg, 57, of Ventura. Kellogg was diagnosed with cancer in 1989 and died of the disease at home Saturday, said his wife, Shirley. In the course of his 20-year career with the Santa Paula Elementary School District, Kellogg taught more than 500 students. He had been a teacher since 1970 and was a member of the California Teacher's Assn. Besides his wife, Kellogg is survived by two children.

According to Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News, Dennis Rodman's mother, Shirley, never worried that Madonna would end up as her daughter-in-law. In their only conversation about Madonna, Shirley asked: "Dennis, why would you go out with that woman?" Replied Rodman: "She has $250 million, Mama." * Trivia time: Which American Basketball Assn. franchise folded in 1975-76 after playing only 11 games?

“Downton Abbey" is going to look quite different when it returns for a fourth season. On Friday Siobhan Finneran -- better known to fans as O'Brien, Lady Grantham's constantly scheming, severely coiffed maid -- confirmed that she is leaving the beloved costume drama. Finneran follows co-stars Dan Stevens and Jessica Brown Findlay out the door, though it seems likely her character will do so under less tragic circumstances than theirs: In the Season 3 finale, O'Brien was jockeying hard for a new job that would allow her to see more of the world.

Mortgage lenders call it "dual tracking," but for homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure, it might go by another name: the double-cross. Dual tracking refers to a common bank tactic. When a borrower in default seeks a loan modification, the institution often continues to pursue foreclosure at the same time. Lenders contend that dual tracking simply protects their investment if the homeowner is unable to qualify for new loan terms. Mortgage servicers can lose money if they don't foreclose in a timely manner, and repossessions often are complicated and lengthy.

This year's Academy Awards just got another touch of gold, and not from the Oscar statuettes. Dame Shirley Bassey, the voice behind the iconic theme songs for the James Bond films "Goldfinger," "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Moonraker," will make her first appearance at the awards this month, the show's producers announced on Friday. Bassey is slated to perform and will undoubtedly add some fire to the Academy's planned tribute to 007. The franchise is celebrating 50 years on the big screen and Bassey's scorching themes are among some of the most well known.

Actress-singer Shirley Jones of "The Partridge Family" and her husband, comedian Marty Ingels, have listed their Encino home for sale at $2.1 million. Described as ranch-style in the listing, the 5,400-square-foot house sits on nearly three-quarters of an acre with waterfalls, a swimming pool and gardens. Built in 1957, the home features two family rooms, an office, a game room, four bedrooms and six bathrooms. There are family room and master bedroom fireplaces. Jones, 78, made her name in musical films including "Oklahoma!"

Marty Ingels, the actor and comedian whose wife is Oscar-winning actress and "Partridge Family" mom Shirley Jones, could not believe the injustice. He went into a photo shop on Ventura Boulevard, looked out the window and saw a ticket on his car windshield. Ingels charged outside, read the ticket and was convinced there'd been a terrible mistake. The ticket was for parking in a bus zone. Ingels looked left, he looked right. No bus zone. Not long after, Ingels called a colleague of mine at The Times, who passed his story on to me. I called him to ask what he'd done about the ticket.

"Downton Abbey" doesn't return to PBS until Jan. 6, but fans have been clamoring for all the info they can get ever since it was announced that Shirley MacLaine would be joining the cast. Besides a Season 3 preview shown to TV journalists at the TCA press tour earlier this summer, not much has been seen of MacLaine in action. But now we're finally getting a peek, and of course, she's clashing (ever so politely) with Maggie Smith, the Dowager Countess herself. In the British drama's third season, MacLaine will play Martha Levinson, the wealthy and American mother of Lady Cora (Elizabeth McGovern)

Sitcom favorites Shelley Long and Cindy Williams get to strut their comedic stuff together for the first time in the Hallmark Movie Channel's new film, "Strawberry Summer," which airs at 8 p.m. Saturday. Both stars say they are surprised it took them this long. "It seems strange that we haven't worked together," said Long, who came to fame 30 years ago as waitress Diane Chambers on NBC's "Cheers. " "I feel like I know her. " "We shared a nanny," recalled Williams, who demonstrated her uncanny mastery of slapstick as Shirley Feeney from 1976 to '83 onABC's"Laverne & Shirley.

Dale Olson, an elder statesman of the Hollywood publicity corps whose assignments over a four-decade career included representing Rock Hudson during the last months of the actor's struggle with AIDS, died Thursday of complications of liver cancer. He was 78. Olson, who lived in the Hollywood Hills, died at a nursing facility in Burbank, said his spouse, Eugene Harbin. A savvy promoter of Oscar-worthy movies, Olson helped craft campaigns for stars such as Maggie Smith in "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969)

Under apartheid, homelands were created to isolate and repress blacks. Here in the crackling heat of the high bush, where jackals and antelope roam wildflower-carpeted mountains, some South Africans are dreaming of another kind of homeland: for white people. Not just any white people, but conservative white Afrikaners who feel displaced by black majority rule and say their Bible abhors the racial mixing that is a feature of the new South Africa.

It was just another tragedy in family court. A young crack mother, desperate to conceal her pregnancy, had locked herself in a tenement bathroom and given birth to a three-pound boy. As she pushed, he fell to the floor and broke his skull. The mother abandoned him, like she had two previous babies. All were born addicted to crack. "Can we do anything about this woman?" asks Judge Judith Sheindlin, her voice taut with anger.

The summer TV press tour where networks promote their upcoming programming kicked off over the weekend at the Beverly Hilton with PBS presenting first - and that meant one thing: a lot of happy discussion about its big hit,"Downton Abbey. " Still beaming Saturday with an Emmy glow - the show took up residence in the drama category, receiving 16 nominations - a few of the actors from the popular British series, including newcomer Shirley MacLaine, took the stage and reflected on the show's somewhat surprising new fame.

In her nearly 60 years in show business, Shirley MacLaine has played some unforgettable roles, met some legendary characters and had some memorable meals. And sometimes all three happened at once. Take, for example, her story about her film debut in Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 dark comedy, "The Trouble With Harry," in which she brought her quirky charm to the role of the feisty young wife of the very dead Harry. Hitchcock made her eat every meal with him. "He knew I was just out of the chorus, so I hadn't eaten for years.