Will Smith

No name on the marquee was more pleasing to theater owners in 2008 than Will Smith, according to a survey of movie exhibitors. Smith, star of "Hancock" and "Seven Pounds," was voted the star who generated the most box office revenue for theaters in an annual survey by Quigley Publishing Co. Smith is only the second black actor to be chosen in the Quigley poll, which since 1932 has asked movie exhibitors to vote on the 10 stars who brought in...

In Los Angeles' rarefied world of private schools, where tuitions are high, academics are tough and educational philosophy is taken seriously, the newest member of the tribe is getting the kind of breathless attention reserved for a music or film star. That may be because the founders of New Village Academy are themselves such stars: Will Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

WHAT do British actors have that American film actors, generally speaking, don't? The question might seem to be dripping in Anglophile presumption, but it emerges directly from this year's Oscar race.

Last year, they shut down New York for a few hours so Will Smith could be alone. It came neither easy nor cheap, snarling traffic and making more than a few people very angry in the process.

In Richard Matheson's novel "I Am Legend," the apparent last man on earth is described as "born of English-German stock" with bright blue eyes. When the latest movie version of the 1954 sci-fi thriller opens Friday, Matheson's hero will be played by the notably not English-German Will Smith. It wasn't always destined to be that way. Over the course of "I Am Legend's" 13 years of development, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise and Michael Douglas were all at one point slated to star.

A Jewish group said Wednesday that it accepted Will Smith's explanation that he never praised Adolf Hitler in remarks the star says were misinterpreted. "We welcome and accept Will Smith's statement that Hitler was a 'vicious killer' and that he did not mean for his remarks about the Nazi leader to be mistaken as praise," Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement.

He never got an invitation and he certainly didn't RSVP, but that didn't stop Will Smith from crashing Atir Cohen's bar mitzvah at Jerusalem's Western Wall. Cohen, 13, was deep into his Torah reading Thursday when he heard shouting and saw girls pushing against the barrier separating men from women at the holy site to catch a glimpse of the Hollywood superstar. "At first I didn't know who it was," Cohen said.

Actors Will Smith and Cate Blanchett, who were scheduled to be presenters at the Academy Awards ceremony Sunday, dropped out Wednesday. "His reasons are personal," said Stan Rosenfield, publicist for former Oscar nominee Smith ("Ali"). "He does not feel it would be appropriate for him to be there." Blanchett, a former nominee for "Elizabeth," said she didn't want to travel from her home in London. Rachel Abramowitz

Will Smith is dancing around the boxing ring, throwing a few practice jabs before shooting a scene, when he notices a pesky newspaper columnist leaning against the ropes, taking notes. "Is there a journalist out there?" he shouts, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Because I need me a journalist to whup!"

As The Times' boxing writer, I've seen the preparation and effort required of a fighter to dance on his toes in the ring for 12 rounds. That translates to 36 minutes. On some days, during the shooting of "Ali," Will Smith would be on his feet, fighting and dancing for eight to 10 hours. While on the set of "Ali" in Los Angeles, I remarked to comedian Paul Rodriguez, who plays Dr. Ferdie Pacheco, how hard Smith was working.