Web posted on: Monday, April 05, 1999 4:14:20 PM EDT

• Cameron Diaz: $12 million to be an 'Angel'
• Doug Liman is no swinger
• Music stars remember Louisiana Hayride
• Joe Namath: Back to bachelorhood
• Stunt legend Gil Perkins dead at 91

Diaz

NEW YORK (CNN) -- According to Variety, Cameron Diaz is signing on to star in the feature movie version of "Charlie's Angels," joining Drew Barrymore in what is shaping up to be a an all-star cast. Diaz will reportedly earn a career-high $12 million for her role. The project is set up at Columbia Pictures, which will likely hire a director before picking the third angel and beginning production this fall, Variety says.

Angelina Jolie is the candidate most often mentioned, but Liv Tyler, Jada Pinkett Smith and singer Lauryn Hill have also been rumored. "We're including Drew and Cameron in the conversations about who should be the third woman, because what's most important is that these three women look like friends, and hopefully be friends," said producer Leonard Goldberg, who created the TV series. In its heyday in the 1970s, "Charlie's Angels" was a popular police show featuring three beautiful cops played at first by Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- He directed one of the hip movies of the 1990s, but Doug Liman is anything but your average cool guy. "I'm incredibly shy, and I can go on 15 dates with someone before I even reach for her hand," he said in Sunday's editions of The New York Times. "I love guys who can be pure guy. I'm way too cerebral and neurotic."

Actors who have worked with him agree. "Doug's almost like 'Rain Man.' You don't think he's really getting things at first, and then you get to know him and you realize he's so bright, he's getting things more than anyone," said Vince Vaughn, a star of "Swingers," the 1996 indie hit that launched the 32-year-old director. "Go," Liman's new movie, opens Friday.

Willie Nelson

SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (CNN) -- Fifty years after the legendary weekly music show Louisiana Hayride first took to the stage, hundreds of the original regulars returned Saturday night for some hillbilly, western swing, blues, gospel, jazz, Cajun and pop music. Willie Nelson led the celebrations of the show that ran Saturday nights from 1948 to 1960.

Johnny Cash, Slim Whitman and Johnny Horton got their starts there. Country Music Hall of Famer Jim Reeves worked as an announcer until a singer didn't show up one night and he was asked to fill in. "It was a wonderful place," said Hunter Huff, who appeared in 1954 with his four-man dance band. "That crowd set you on fire and made your heart throb."

Namath

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- Joe Namath is getting a divorce. The Hall of Fame quarterback who was a brazen bachelor during his playing days, but settled down in marriage for the last 15 years, filed for divorce from wife Tatiana in March. Namath, 56, and Tatiana live in Jupiter with their children Olivia and Jessica. Namath, best known for leading the New York Jets to a an upset Super Bowl victory in 1969, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 after a 13-year career, the first 12 with the Jets, the last one with the Los Angeles Rams.

HOLLYWOOD (CNN) -- You probably saw him in the movies and didn't even know it. Legendary stuntman Gil Perkins left behind a legacy in more than 200 features films, before passing away of natural causes at a hospital in Woodland Hills on March 28. He was 91. Perkins, who was born in Australia in 1907, began his five-decade career in 1929 when he doubled for Rod La Rocque in "Delightful Rogue." He subsequently performed stunts for many Hollywood stars, including Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Randolph Scott, Van Johnson, Red Skelton, Kirk Douglas, Danny Kaye and Gene Hackman.

Perkins also served as a stunt coordinator on dozens of films, beginning with "Whistling in the Dark" (1941). A sampling of films in which Perkins played bits included: "King Kong" (1933), "Captains Courageous" (1937), "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938), "Mrs. Miniver" (1942), "Father of the Bride" (1950) and "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967). He also performed stunts in dozens of features, including "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1941) and "Walking Tall" (1973).