Throat

Michael Douglas has a tumor in his throat and will undergo eight weeks of radiation and chemotherapy, his rep tells People. Doctors recently discovered the mass in the film star's throat, his representative said. A full recovery is expected. "I am very optimistic," Douglas said in a statement. It's been a tumultuous year for the actor, whose son Cameron was sentenced in May to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of heroin and distribution of crystal meth.

Josh Hamilton said he was assured by doctors this week that the allergies that lead to occasional sinus and throat discomfort and dizziness were not caused or exacerbated by his heavy cocaine use from 2002-2005. "You have a hallway up the middle of your nose and sinus cavities on each side," said Hamilton, whose addiction to drugs and alcohol led to a ban from baseball from 2003-2005. "When you breathe air, it goes up and down the hallway. "Same thing when you do drugs, it goes up the hallway, not into the sinus cavities.

If you'd like to see some men getting naked to defend the Constitution, “The Deep Throat Sex Scandal,” now at the Zephyr Theatre, is just the ticket. Equal parts parody, courtroom drama and R-rated pep rally, David Bertolino's '70s docu-romp ends up playing as less than the sum of its parts. Which, just to be clear, are full frontal. The story of how a $25,000 porn film became a multimillion-dollar box office hit and a culture watershed has been repeatedly told in recent years: There's the terrific documentary “Inside Deep Throat,” the underappreciated “Lovelace: The Rock Opera” by the Go-Go's Charlotte Caffey and the upcoming Linda Lovelace biopic with Amanda Seyfried.

Josh Hamilton said he has changed sinus medication and is scheduled to be tested for allergies, but he wanted to make one thing about his weakened condition perfectly clear. "This has absolutely nothing to do with my .200 batting average," he said. The Angels limited Hamilton to designated hitter Tuesday, one day after the right fielder came out of a game with what Manager Mike Scioscia called dizziness. Hamilton said he has had sinus and throat discomfort for about 10 days and said he hoped a change in medication would help.

A woman who last month shared in a $700,000 California Lotto win was found dead in her home with her throat slashed, San Diego County authorities said today. Ann Marie Jenkins, 30, was found by her husband when he returned home from work about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. "No suspects have been identified and no motive is known," Lt. Bill Baxter said. Jenkins and her husband, Gary, won about $700,000 last month in the state Lotto game.

Enjoyed Lawrence Chua's review of "The Queen's Throat." Not the leanest prose I've read, though. I once heard Arthur Ferrante and Louis Teicher do Debussy's "Clair de Lune" on two nine-foot grands: two men chasing a butterfly with sledge hammers. FRED SCIFERS DOWNEY

A man trying to bench-press 295 pounds died after dropping the barbell on his throat, authorities said Monday. Richard Craig English, a 28-year-old house painter from Vancouver, died Friday at a hospital in this British Columbian city. He was working out alone at a health club and had previously refused offers to use "spotters" to monitor his lifting, Sgt. Doug Bond said. When a club staff member discovered English, "the barbell was across his throat and he was blue," Bond said Monday.

A 25-year-old man was killed Tuesday when he was stabbed in the throat in an alley in the 3400 block of West Canoga Place, near Del Monte Drive, authorities said. The Anaheim man, whose name has not been released, was treated at the scene by paramedics and taken to Anaheim Humana West Hospital just after 3 p.m., where he died. Police at the scene doubted the killing was gang-related, Sgt. Steve Rodig said.

We had a house guest last week, a feisty 83-year-old who drives about the country every year visiting old friends and dispensing wisdom. The wisdom is usually couched in anecdotes full of heroes, villains and unsoftened opinion. He has decided--and he's probably right--that if you achieve 83, it is no longer necessary to carefully balance opinion in the interest of evenhandedness. He knows what he knows, and he believes what he believes.

Sometimes, late at night, her faith run ragged from trying to raise a voice from the dead, Kim Mallory sneaks away to listen to her dream. She clicks her son's old laptop to YouTube. She clicks to an old video of her son giving an interview. He is Stafon Johnson, a USC running back, speaking to a television reporter after scoring the first two touchdowns of his career. "He's stuttering, he's searching for the right words," she says. "He sounds just beautiful."

Image makeover Kevin Durant is not nice? The marketing slogan may have a sliver of truth to it after the Oklahoma City Thunder star's questionable gesture and explanation Thursday against Golden State. Durant collected the ball off a Russell Westbrook block and drove for a vicious dunk. If only he had stopped there. The player who is so polite that he routinely exchanges pleasantries with out-of-town reporters in the hallways of Chesapeake Energy Arena then pretended to slash his throat before crossing his hands in prayer.

Kevin Durant is one of the NBA's most beloved stars, but that wasn't enough to keep him from a $25,000 fine for pretending to cut his throat after a dunk against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday. Durant's score and what the NBA deemed a “menacing gesture,” came off a Russell Westbrook block on the defensive end of the floor during the second quarter of Oklahoma City's 116-97 win over Golden State. Westbrook, guarding Stephen Curry, chased down the smaller point guard and swatted away his layup, sending the ball into Durant's hands.

Harry Reems, who starred with Linda Lovelace in the 1972 pornographic film "Deep Throat" and became a cause celebre in Hollywood after he was convicted on federal obscenity charges related to the movie, has died. He was 65. Reems, who had pancreatic cancer and other ailments, died Tuesday at a Salt Lake City veterans hospital. His death was confirmed by the Veterans Affairs Salt Lake City Healthcare System. He arrived on the Miami set of "Deep Throat" as the lighting director but when the man hired to portray the doctor in the film failed to show up, director Gerard Damiano said: "Put on this coat; you're acting," Reems told The Times in 2005.

Debi Austin looked into the camera, swallowed - the hole in her throat as big as a half-dollar coin and as black as nothingness - and said she had her first cigarette when she was 13, that she had tried to quit but couldn't. And that "they" say nicotine is not addictive. Then she picked up a half-burned, still-lit cigarette from an ashtray, titled back her head and took a drag from the hole in her neck. She winced, and as the smoke wafted out of the hole she said: "How can they say that?"

If you'd like to see some men getting naked to defend the Constitution, “The Deep Throat Sex Scandal,” now at the Zephyr Theatre, is just the ticket. Equal parts parody, courtroom drama and R-rated pep rally, David Bertolino's '70s docu-romp ends up playing as less than the sum of its parts. Which, just to be clear, are full frontal. The story of how a $25,000 porn film became a multimillion-dollar box office hit and a culture watershed has been repeatedly told in recent years: There's the terrific documentary “Inside Deep Throat,” the underappreciated “Lovelace: The Rock Opera” by the Go-Go's Charlotte Caffey and the upcoming Linda Lovelace biopic with Amanda Seyfried.

Brooke Burke-Charvet displayed the scar from her thyroidectomy Tuesday on "Good Morning America," admitting that the makeup-free show-and-tell was a first for her, as she'd been "scarfing it up" - as in, covering it up - until now. "But you know what," she said, "it's fresh, it's a month old, and I think scars tell a story, and I'm so fortunate. " The "Dancing With the Stars" co-host revealed her thyroid cancer diagnosis in early November through a video posted on her blog. She underwent surgery in early December and shared the news a week later that she was cancer-free.

"Dexter": A review of "Dexter" in Thursday's Calendar section said John Lithgow's character had killed a woman by slashing her throat. The character cut her femoral artery, which runs into the thigh.

Loved "Mom Food"! I read it avidly, sometimes with a lump in my throat. The combination of affection, food, photographs was powerful. S.H. DAVIDSON, Long Beach

The theatrical telling of the back story of "Deep Throat" is on its way to Los Angeles.  Delving into the tale of the most famous adult film ever made, "The Deep Throat Sex Scandal" is set to open Jan. 31 at the Zephyr Theatre in West Hollywood, with previews beginning Jan. 24. The play, written by David Bertolino, will feature porn veterans Veronica Hart and Herschel Savage as part of the ensemble cast, and Ron Jeremy as one of the guest stars....

A new study showing an estimated 7% of American teens and adults carry the human papillomavirus in their mouths may help health experts finally understand why rates of mouth and throat cancer have been climbing for nearly 25 years. The evidence makes it clear that oral sex practices play a key role in transmission. The new data, published online Thursday by the Journal of the American Medical Assn., are the first to assess the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the U.S. population.