Teri Hatcher joins Bill Maher for his Amazon Fishbowl show in Hollywood. (photo: Jesse Grant/WireImage.com)

On Being a Lady

Dame Mirren Deigned to Decline

"I considered [not accepting] it but not for very long," says Dame Helen Mirren on the title she received from Queen Elizabeth in 2003. "My father was very Left-wing, so you end up believing what your parents believe to some extent, but those edges soften as you get older..." In the end, the 'Elizabeth I' actress found her induction into damehood very moving. "You meet extraordinary people who've done a lot for tourism...or run a centre for battered women, and I felt deeply honoured to be there." (photo: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com)

[World Entertainment News Network]

Ray Dying for HBO?

Romano in talks to play billionaire

Talks are under way for the man everybody loves, Ray Romano, to star in a single-camera comedy for HBO. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Romano would play a 40-something billionaire with a ticking clock -- he's been given six months to live. Dennis Klein, the man behind The Larry Sanders Show, is the chief writer on the project, and '24' creators Joel Surnow and Bob Cochran are also on board to produce. Romano made his TV debut doing stand-up specials for HBO, and HBO Independent Productions was a co-producer on 'Everybody Loves Raymond,' which earned Romano an Emmy for lead actor two for Best Comedy. (photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage.com)

[E!Online]

Napoleon's Major Morbot

Tina Majorino has fun playing dork

She became an icon as dorky Deb, the girl with the side ponytail in Napoleon Dynamite. And now that the cult classic's DVD is out, Big Love's Tina Majorino talks about the film that launched the Pedro for President movement. "I think it's really great that Jared [Hess] made the decision to make a film that was about the dorky kid in school, because I think a lot of the dorky kids in school grow up to be pretty successful in life."

While Majorino admits she went through her own awkward phase in high school, there were no hot pink fanny packs or side-yanked hair. "Little nuances like that made Deb extra fun to play." (photo: Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage.com)

[MovieWeb]

Virginia Madsen ('A Praire Home Companion') and Bullseye (Target) at the Spirit of Independence Award Ceremony Honoring Charlize Theron. (photo: Gregg DeGuire/WireImage.com)

Happy Ending

Lauren Ambrose has her evenings and weekends free again. The critically-acclaimed Broadway production of 'Awake and Sing' closed this week, having already extended its run. The production, in honor of playwright Clifford Odets' centenary, received the Tony for Best Revival, as well as kudos for its ensemble cast, which included Ambrose, Pablo Schreiber (from 'The Wire'), Mark Ruffalo, Ben Gazzara and Zoe Wanamaker. The actress' time is likely already filled with three indie films in the pipeline. (photo: Jim Spellman/WireImage.com)

[Playbill.com]

Boffo Q-Rating for Clooney

In an interview with 'BOFFO!' producer/director Bill Couturie and co-writer Peter Bart, Couturie credits George Clooney with being the interview that convinced him they had a boffo doc. "I was ready to not like him because I was so jealous. I mean, he's gorgeous, he's rich, he's talented, he's about to win an Oscar, he's about to fly off to his villa on Lake Como. And you know, it's hard to feel a lot of empathy for a guy like that. But he must be the most charming human being on the planet." In the doc, Hollywood insiders ponder why some movies flop and others become blockbusters. (photo: Tomos Brangwyn/WireImage.com)

[HBO.com]

'Extras' Maggie an Ugly Betty?

Ashley Jensen, who plays Ricky Gervais' suffering sidekick Maggie, has finally angled her way out of deep background...though she might find herself stuffed in a fatsuit or two. The actress is set to star in the UK version of global phenom 'Ugly Betty,' based on the hit Colombian telenovela that has been adapted in countries from India to Russia. The story is about "a downtrodden but secretly brilliant secretary who works in a fashion house surrounded by snobbish, airhead models," according to the Times London. In most adaptations of the show, the lead is played by a "naturally beautiful actress who finds scary ways to express what her fellow countrymen find uniquely off-putting in a modern woman." The paper speculates that bad teeth will likely be required for the UK role. (photo: Tomos Brangwyn/WireImage.com)

[The Independent]
[Times London]

Jamie-Lynn Sigler at a June party for Delta at Henri Bendel. (photo: Carley Margolis/FilmMagic.com)

Halle Berry Goes for Broke

Author Angela Nissel is writing the pilot for a possible new HBO series, "Mixed Up." Nissel says the story will be about a biracial woman and her two friends coping with financial and racial issues after college. "It's about living without the safety net. They're all broke together," she said. Nissel, who writes for 'Scrubs,' is the author of two novels, "The Broke Diaries" and "Mixed: My Life in Black and White." Halle Berry would produce. (photo: George Pimentel/WireImage.com)

[EURweb.com]

Cartoon Networking

From talking squirrels to pre-teen Texans, Pamela Adlon (Lucky Louie's profane wife) knows her way around the animation world. The actress, who has been working since she was 12, is now a familiar voice to the wee fans of the Cartoon Network — that of 9-year-old Andy Johnson, Rodney D. Squirrel's best friend and partner in crime. Playing a boy is old hat for Adlon; she's also the voice behind Bobby Hill from the hit series 'King of the Hill.' (photo: George Pimentel/WireImage.com)

[Animation Insider]

Piven's Pitch

"I need to work with Russell Crowe"

Jeremy Piven sent Ari Gold to pitch another "A-list" actor on his dream project. In an interview with Australia's Courier Mail, Piven spoke as Ari when he let the reporter know what he really wanted. "...lowering his voice in that distinctive, slimy, manipulative way," the reporter notes, Piven concluded the interview by adding: "I need to work with Russell Crowe. And he has to understand that." Piven also shared some insights about his Hollywood muses. "I know guys whose attention deficit disorder is way more advanced than Ari's..." (photo: Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com)

[Courier Mail]

Unsinkable Molly Parker

Deadwood may be ending, but it's not slowing down Molly Parker. The Canadian actress talks to the Globe and Mail about the pending birth of her first child with fellow Cannuck and film director Matt Bissonnette, as well as her burgeoning indie film career—which includes working with her husband. "When someone knows you so well, you don't have the luxury of lying...and yet, that is part of acting. It was tricky, but fun....He rarely gave me any direction [just saying], 'Maybe a little more Willie Nelson.' I knew what that meant..." (photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.com)

[Globe and Mail]

More Mr. Nice Guy

Jeff Garlin: he acts, directs, writes, and is the comic's comic

On the brink of a career turning point, Garlin spends time with The New York Times, showing off his new directing, writing and acting projects. He reveals to writer Alex Witchel how A.D.D. has helped his improv, and why everyone should aspire to getting fired. Jon Stewart finds him "very pleasant to hug," and the writer concludes he's that unheard of creature: a nice comedian. (photo: Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com)

[The New York Times]

It's Not Brain Surgery

Indira Varma to star in network medical drama

Indira Varma (Vorenus's striking wife in 'Rome') who recently starred in a BBC comedy, will become a doctor this fall when she stars opposite Stanley Tucci ('The Devil Wears Prada') in a new CBS medical drama, 'Three Pounds.' Tucci plays a neurosurgeon coping with his own deteriorating brain; Varma plays his colleague. (photo: Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com)

[BBC News]

Power Girls

The men of 'Entourage' meet their match

'Entourage' creator Doug Ellin talks to the LA Times about the strong female characters making their way into the show this season. Women like Perrey Reeves (Mrs. Ari) and Emmanuelle Chriqui (Eric's girlfriend Sloane, pictured left) join Debi Mazar (Shauna) as "independent-minded roost-ruling women" getting equal screen time. They're even edging out some of the bikini-clad 10s the guys gravitate to. "At the end of the day, they're all guys looking for somebody they can talk to," Ellin tells the paper. "They're not predators." (photo: Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com)

[Newsday]

(photo: Todd Williamson/ FilmMagic.com)

Viva Italia

Married to a Florentine bongo player (who's also a chef), Debi Mazar splits her time between Italy and Los Angeles. And though Mazar says she's happy to be typecast as the tough Italian, she's actually Latvian. She reveals more of her back story to New York Magazine, including being married by Sufi high priest Ellen Burstyn, and her past as a member of Madonna's entourage.

[New York Magazine]

Larry David and RFK's Enthusiasm

In a New York Times piece on Robert Kennedy, Jr., Larry David is credited with fueling RFK's new fight — the "stolen election" of 2004. Kennedy, who's worked with Laurie David, Larry's activist wife (producer of HBO's 'Too Hot Not to Handle' and Al Gore's 'An Inconvenient Truth'), paid a visit to the Davids over the winter. That's when Larry encouraged Bobby to read a book about the election scandal in Ohio. "Now it's much more fundamental than protecting the environment for Bobby," says Laurie David. "He fears that the country is being lost, that democracy is at stake."

[New York Times]