Illness has robbed Moore of his music
The Parkinson's-like illness that has attacked Dudley Moore's ability to speak, eat and walk has robbed the 64-year-old actor and pianist of what he holds most dear: his music.In an interview with the New York Daily News, Moore described the degeneration he has suffered since contracting the brain disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP. The problems began about five years ago, when Moore started spontaneously falling backward, and the disease was diagnosed in May.
Moore, known for his "Arthur" movies, issued a brief announcement of his illness in September and described its personal toll in Monday's editions.
"It's agonizing," he said. "I just can't play the sounds that I hear in my head. It's something I've given up. I think it's fair to say I have envisioned a life without music. No music at all. It's a great emptiness."
Reluctant Barbra sings with Rosie
Barbra Streisand and Rosie O'Donnell are singing together at last, but don't expect a duets album any time soon.
Streisand, promoting her new album, "A Love Like Ours," appeared on O'Donnell's talk show Tuesday, and O'Donnell suggested they sing together. Streisand declined, but O'Donnell insisted, and the two performed "People."
Carter gets a look at his birthday quilt
Former President Jimmy Carter finally got a closer look at a quilt that more than a dozen local women gave him for his 75th birthday.
Carter viewed the gift at Plains High School, where it is on display until Dec. 3.
"This is wonderful. Thank you," he told the quilters who met him and his wife, Rosalyn, at the school over the weekend.
The outer border of the quilt is decorated with the signatures of almost 200 people including former Presidents Gerald Ford and George Bush; Carter's vice president, Walter Mondale; Jehan Sadat, widow of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat; and media mogul Ted Turner.
The quilt had been on display at the Rylander Theatre in Americus. It was moved to the school, now a museum in Plains.
Lady Bird Johnson is 'doing just fine'
Lady Bird Johnson is out of a Texas hospital after treatment for a fainting spell.
The former first lady's secretary said she was "a bit dehydrated" before fainting last week at home. "She is just doing fine. She's been much calmer than anyone else."
Johnson, now 86 and the nation's oldest living former first lady, was married to Lyndon Baines Johnson for 39 years. He died in 1973.