CELEBRITY WATCH
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February 21, 2000
Web posted at: 4:41 p.m. EST (2141 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

Today's buzz stories:

• 'Magnolia' captures Berlin's Golden Bear
• Santana tries to put brakes on post-Grammy party
• 'Science Guy' says Disney owes him
• Chapman: I'm a happier person
• 'Lone Ranger' announcer dead at 86

"Magnolia"

'Magnolia' captures Berlin's Golden Bear

BERLIN (Reuters) -- "Magnolia," already a contender in the United States for a couple of Oscars, on Sunday won the Berlin Film Festival's top award, the Golden Bear.

The film, a contemporary morality play that follows the lives of dysfunctional families in California's San Fernando Valley, stars an ensemble cast including Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore. It bested German director Wim Wenders' "Million Dollar Hotel," which earned the Silver Bear for directing.

"I think my movie is a hopeful one," says "Magnolia" director Paul Thomas Anderson, who helmed "Boogie Nights" in 1997. "To get that, you have to show the darkness."

Santana

Santana tries to put brakes on post-Grammy party

WEST HOLLYWOOD, California -- A Sunset Strip bar and AIDS charity don't have the right to use Carlos Santana's name without his permission, lawyers for the guitarist say.

Santana's attorneys and his record label, Arista Records, on Friday issued cease-and-desist letters to the Mondrian hotel's Skybar and the Pedro Zamora Foundation, which have been hyping a post-Grammy Awards fund-raiser.

The event, "Santana -- Grammy Party Honoring Carlos Santana -- Skybar at Mondrian," is scheduled for February 23, the night of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

Santana has 10 Grammy nominations, including best song for "Smooth," and album of the year for "Supernatural."

Bill Nye, the "Science Guy"

'Science Guy' says Disney owes him

SEATTLE -- Bill Nye, the "Science Guy," is suing Disney, alleging the company owes him more than $500,000 for using his likeness on attractions at EPCOT Center.

Nye says Disney agreed to pay him $50,000 a year starting in 1994, according to a complaint filed last week in U.S. District Court. He says the company paid him $100,000 for hosting the opening of some exhibits at the Florida theme park but failed to make the royalty payments.

A Disney spokesman declined comment.

Chapman

Chapman: I'm a happier person

NEW YORK -- Tracy Chapman says her life these days is getting better. The proof is in "Telling Stories," her latest release.

"You have to pay attention to the moment and make it the best it can be for you," Chapman tells Time magazine, a sister company to CNN Interactive. "I've been trying to do that. It's really made a major difference for me. I'm a happier person."

That's a far cry from her self-titled first release, whose single, "Fast Car," depicted a life of deprivation and desperation. Chapman, 35, grew up poor in Cleveland, raised by a single mother.

"Sometimes there was no electricity, or the gas would be shut off," she tells the magazine. "I remember standing with my mother in the line to get food stamps."

'Lone Ranger' announcer dead at 86

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida -- The voice that summoned millions of children to the radio to hear the exploits of "The Lone Ranger" has fallen silent.

Bob Hite Sr. died Friday, two days after slipping into a coma. He was 86.

Hite began his announcing career in the 1930s at a Detroit radio station, where he alerted youngsters that "The Lone Ranger," "The Green Hornet" and other shows were about to begin. He also introduced a young Frank Sinatra when the singer debuted with the Tommy Dorsey band.

When those children grew up, says veteran news anchor Walter Cronkite, who often sailed with Hite, they never forgot that voice. When other boaters would pass, Cronkite says, they would yell out, "Give us the ranger, give us the ranger!"

Hite's response, delivered in a booming baritone? "From out of the past came the thundering hoof beats of the great horse Silver!"

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.