Vondie Curtis Hall

Vondie Curtis Hall has a lot to be happy about these days. On the personal front, the Detroit native recently married writer-actress Kasi Lemmons. Professionally, his career is on the fast track. Last season, he received an Emmy nomination for his guest appearance on "ER" as a suicidal transsexual. Not only does he have two feature films in the can, he's preparing to direct a feature that he wrote.

Actress and Playboy model Bridget Marquardt has become a first-time home buyer with the purchase of a contemporary Mediterranean in Sherman Oaks for $1,725,000. She had been traveling for her "Bridget's Sexiest Beaches" Travel Channel show while intermittently house hunting for about a year. "I had a big list of all the things I wanted," she said, and "I wasn't ready to settle." Her patience paid off. The new 5,922-square-foot home "literally had everything plus," she said.

It's the same whenever you're watching a movie featuring an actor who has died between his performance and the film's release. Feelings of dread or sadness hang over each of his scenes, your mind does a double-read of dialogue that is now darkly ironic, and you have to consciously push out the post-production news to stay with the story. "Lately, I've been feeling that my luck's running out," says the late rap star Tupac Shakur's Spoon, early in the black comedy "Gridlock'd."

You've seen his face all over TV for years, now won't you please go see the man's house? Actor Vondie Curtis-Hall and his wife, Kasi Lemmons, just dropped the price on their Hollywood Hills home by 21% -- from $2,899,000 to $2,295,000. Previously, they listed it at $3,595,000 in 2007 -- they're asking 36% less now. The house has been on and off the market since 2005. The one-story Spanish-style house has 360-degree views of the city, ocean and valley.

You'd think that by now Vondie Curtis Hall has seen the inside of enough emergency rooms to last a lifetime. On CBS' "Chicago Hope," the experienced character actor plays the sometimes brooding, always driven Dr. Dennis Hancock, an important member of a staff that's prepared to deal with a host of medical emergencies at a moment's notice. Last year, Curtis Hall earned an Emmy nomination on NBC's "ER" for his portrayal of a suicidal transsexual.

You've seen his face all over TV for years, now won't you please go see the man's house? Actor Vondie Curtis-Hall and his wife, Kasi Lemmons, just dropped the price on their Hollywood Hills home by 21% -- from $2,899,000 to $2,295,000. Previously, they listed it at $3,595,000 in 2007 -- they're asking 36% less now. The house has been on and off the market since 2005. The one-story Spanish-style house has 360-degree views of the city, ocean and valley.

Actress and Playboy model Bridget Marquardt has become a first-time home buyer with the purchase of a contemporary Mediterranean in Sherman Oaks for $1,725,000. She had been traveling for her "Bridget's Sexiest Beaches" Travel Channel show while intermittently house hunting for about a year. "I had a big list of all the things I wanted," she said, and "I wasn't ready to settle." Her patience paid off. The new 5,922-square-foot home "literally had everything plus," she said.

Pain, along with the other six, is a prominent subject of this 1992 John Sayles' film. It's about paraplegic white ex-TV soap star May-Alice (Mary McDonnell) and her black nurse Chantelle, a recovering drug addict (Alfre Woodard, right, with Vondie Curtis-Hall), and though that may sound like soap-opera material, Sayles doesn't sink into any traps of bathos (Bravo Sunday at 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.).

Actor Samuel L. Jackson will host a benefit premiere of his new Trimark Pictures movie, "Eve's Bayou," on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Mann's Chinese Theatre, 6925 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. A party and mini-concert will follow at the House of Blues (8430 Sunset Blvd.), featuring a performance by Erykah Badu, who contributed a new song to the movie's soundtrack.

A very pregnant Erykah Badu is scheduled to perform a mini-concert tonight at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, as part of the post-premiere benefit for "Eve's Bayou," a film starring Samuel L. Jackson (who's also producing), Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, Diahann Carroll, Vondie Curtis Hall and Branford Marsalis. These cast members are expected to turn out for the benefit (proceeds are scheduled to go to the International House of Blues Foundation).

It's the same whenever you're watching a movie featuring an actor who has died between his performance and the film's release. Feelings of dread or sadness hang over each of his scenes, your mind does a double-read of dialogue that is now darkly ironic, and you have to consciously push out the post-production news to stay with the story. "Lately, I've been feeling that my luck's running out," says the late rap star Tupac Shakur's Spoon, early in the black comedy "Gridlock'd."

You'd think that by now Vondie Curtis Hall has seen the inside of enough emergency rooms to last a lifetime. On CBS' "Chicago Hope," the experienced character actor plays the sometimes brooding, always driven Dr. Dennis Hancock, an important member of a staff that's prepared to deal with a host of medical emergencies at a moment's notice. Last year, Curtis Hall earned an Emmy nomination on NBC's "ER" for his portrayal of a suicidal transsexual.

Vondie Curtis Hall has a lot to be happy about these days. On the personal front, the Detroit native recently married writer-actress Kasi Lemmons. Professionally, his career is on the fast track. Last season, he received an Emmy nomination for his guest appearance on "ER" as a suicidal transsexual. Not only does he have two feature films in the can, he's preparing to direct a feature that he wrote.

Debuting writer-director Robert Adetuyi's "Turn It Up" casts a harsh light on the dark side of the hip-hop scene. In this somber but vital drama, Pras (Prakazrel Michel, a founding member of the Fugees) plays Diamond, a Brooklynite with a craving for rap stardom so strong that he and his lifelong pal Gage (Ja Rule) have for some time been working as couriers for a Manhattan drug lord, Mr. B (Jason Statham), who also operates a luxe and trendy nightclub.

Re "Reviews are less than charitable for nonprofit film bash," Feb. 24 The portrayal of Film Independent and the attempt to depict us as somehow undeserving of tax-exempt status displays a shocking ignorance of who we are and what we do. We are a service-oriented arts organization. In addition to the more than 275 year-round programs and screenings we produce, our major programs -- the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival -- are expressions of this. To criticize these self-supporting events for costing too much completely misses their point.