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Dennis Quaid and wife having twins by surrogate

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly, are expecting twins later this year by a surrogate mother.

The 53-year-old actor and his wife are the biological parents, Quaid publicist Lisa Kasteler said Monday. The couple married in July 2004.

Quaid has a teenage son, Jack Henry Quaid, from his marriage to Meg Ryan.

His screen credits include "The Right Stuff," "The Rookie" and "Far From Heaven."

Quaid is now filming "The Express," Kasteler said.

Orlando Bloom, post-'Pirates'

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Actor Orlando Bloom plans to hang up his sword after spending nearly a decade making the blockbuster trilogies "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Lord of the Rings" to tread the boards of a London theater this summer.

Bloom, 30, begins rehearsals in June for "Celebration" by British playwright David Storey. The play will open in July. "I just need to do this," Bloom said in an interview last week. "I wanted to feel like going back to basics in a sense and having just a completely different experience."

Bloom had intended to go onto the stage after graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in Britain, but instead ended up on the big screen in a series of blockbuster sword-and-sandal films, starting with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which began production in 1999.

He also appeared in "Troy," "Kingdom of Heaven" and the three "Pirates" films, the latest of which hits theaters Friday.

"I think everything takes its toll," he said, when asked whether the nearly decade-long glare of fame had been a strain. "It just felt like I wanted to get back into the driver's seat of my career and my life, and part of that is coming back to what I have known in the past ... really solidifying the foundation of my working career."

Working with acclaimed stage actors Bill Nighy and Geoffrey Rush in "Pirates" also whetted his desire to return to stage acting, he said.

"They all keep their hand in because it's working on the craft ... it's really having that immediate interaction with the audience, having great text and letting the dialogue fall and see how it lands," Bloom said.

Bloom would not close the door on making a fourth "Pirates" film after his theater hiatus.

"It's been an incredible ride for everyone involved. Nobody thought we were going to make three movies out of the one successful starter," he said. "Who knows what the future holds."

Chris Noth praises cable

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Chris Noth of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" is looking on the bright side of an unusual deal that next season puts the drama on the USA cable channel ahead of its NBC airing.

"Cable is probably the future. They're paying a lot more attention to it (the show) than NBC did, frankly," Noth told The Associated Press. The network had scheduled it against tough competitors "Dancing with the Stars" and "House," he said.

The move could also put "Criminal Intent," part of NBC's "Law & Order" franchise, in a different and more favorable light, Noth said.

"This may give us a chance to be taken out of that general franchise description and seen more for what we are," he said, a show with innovative stories that are outside the traditional "Law & Order" box.

"We're happy to set ourselves apart," Noth said.

He pointed to the season finale (which was to air Monday 10 p.m. EDT and repeat 9 p.m. Tuesday on NBC) as an example. It includes a personal story for his character, New York police Detective Logan, a hint of romance that's counter to the standard "Law & Order" focus on the case at hand.

The episode separates itself from the brand "without being untrue. It still has roots in the format the show is known for," said Noth.

The series cast also includes Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Theresa Randle, Julianne Nicholson and Eric Bogosian.

In announcing its schedule for next season, NBC essentially concluded it had room for just two of three "Law & Order" series, keeping the highest-rated, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and the original show.

USA, an NBC corporate cousin within NBC Universal, has been airing reruns of "Criminal Intent" that rank among the channel's most popular shows. The cable channel will premiere a full season's worth of 22 first-run episodes next season.

It's unclear when "Criminal Intent" episodes will air on NBC, but they likely will be used to fill in when a new fall drama fails.