CELEBRITY WATCH
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From staff and wire reports

Julia roots for Denzel

NEW YORK (AP) -- Add Julia Roberts to the list of those who want to see Denzel Washington walk away with a best actor Academy Award next month.

"He should be on his third Oscar by now, and that might not be enough," Roberts told Newsweek magazine in its February 25 edition.

"I cannot absorb living in a world where I have an Oscar for best actress and Denzel doesn't have one for best actor."

Washington, who won an Academy Award in 1989 for best supporting actor in "Glory," is nominated for his turn as a bad cop in "Training Day."

He competes against Sean Penn in "I Am Sam," Tom Wilkinson for "In the Bedroom," Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind" and Will Smith in "Ali."

In the 73 years since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences began handing out Oscars, five black actors and actresses have won for supporting roles and only one black actor has won for best actor: Sidney Poitier.

Roberts, who starred opposite Washington in "The Pelican Brief," called Washington "the best actor of this generation, hands down."

Ozzy Osbourne in reality show

RADNOR, Pennsylvania (AP) -- First, there was "Survivor." Then came "Fear Factor."

Now, reality television watchers can follow the daily activities of rock musician Ozzy Osbourne and his family on MTV in "The Osbournes."

"What you see on the show is absolutely us," Osbourne says in the February 23 issue of TV Guide. "None of it's been doctored or manufactured. It's real. It's the Ozzy Osbourne "Real World."

In one episode, his 17-year-old daughter has a birthday party and he spends the evening wagging his finger at her friends, yelling "Don't smoke!" and trying to be heard over thumping techno music.

"What is this?" Osbourne finally asks. "It's music to get a brain seizure by."

The show begins March 5.

Branford Marsalis launches label

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Saxophonist Branford Marsalis is making beautiful music on his own.

After having negotiated out of his recording contract last year with Columbia Records, his label of 20 years, Marsalis launched Marsalis Music.

"I hope to find jazz artists not quite ready for prime time," Marsalis told the Boston Globe last week.

For now, Marsalis is the only artist on the roster. His "Footsteps of Our Fathers," a tribute to John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins and the Modern Jazz Quartet, is due out later this year.

"The record industry is changing, and sooner or later we had to face the reality that there's not a lot of room at major labels for any kind of creative music -- not just jazz -- that doesn't generate large sales," said Marsalis.

George Michael robbed

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Pop star George Michael's London home has been burgled by thieves who escaped in his sports car, police sources said.

The singer lost possessions worth a reported 100,000 pounds ($144,000) in the raid last weekend on his mansion in the exclusive north London suburb of Hampstead.

"Police were called to reports of a stolen vehicle," Scotland Yard said. "Police attended an address in Hampstead that was discovered to be the scene of a burglary."

Police would not comment on newspaper reports that the thieves made off with paintings, jewelry and designer clothes.

The singer, whose hits include "Careless Whisper," "Faith" and "Outside," was in Los Angeles when the robbery took place, the News of the World tabloid newspaper reported.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.