Tattle: Winslet, DiCaprio help last Titanic survivor
MILLVINA DEAN may sound like the name of a character in a Dickens novel and with good reason. She's been alive almost that long.
M
ILLVINA DEAN
may sound like the name of a character in a
Dickens
novel and with good reason. She's been alive almost that long.
Millvina, you see, was 9 weeks old when the Titanic sank in 1912. And she was on the ship.
More importantly, when the Titanic sunk, Malvinna didn't.
She's now the last survivor of that fateful cruise and she may be in danger again - this time she may not lose her cabin but her room in a nursing home in Southhampton, England.
Millvina's room, the BBC reports, costs about $4,500 per month and Millvina is running out of money - it's hard to budget to live to 97.
Fortunately, a fund has been started by Irish author Don Mullan to help Millvina out, and "Titanic" stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, along with director James Cameron, are believed to have donated $30,000.
"I laid down the challenge to the 'Titanic' actors and directors to support the Millvina Fund," Mullan said, "and I was delighted with the generosity they have shown in meeting that challenge."
The Millvina Fund was launched yesterday in Belfast, where the Titanic was built.
The cheesesteak diet?
The Hollywood Reporter says ABC is teaming with British chef Jamie Oliver and Ryan Seacrest Productions for a series that gives healthy makeovers to an entire city.
For the time being, let's call it: "Extreme Caloric Makeover: Couch Potato Edition."
Oliver will travel to the unhealthiest places in America - so please be friendly when he shows up - and find ways to use nearby resources to improve local eating habits.
The series is loosely inspired by his British school lunch project, where he set about to improve kids' nutrition.
That's right, kids, you can't have fish & chips and a pint of Guinness every day.
The resultant series, "Jamie's School Dinners," shamed educators into banning certain junk foods.
"I couldn't do what I do in terms of my schedule if I didn't eat right and exercise right," Seacrest said. (Boy, it irks us when millionaires tell us how they eat and exercise so right.) "As a kid I was chubby, and I'm a firm believer that the fuel we put into our body results in a healthy lifestyle.
"Jamie's going to come over here," Seacrest continued, "roll up his sleeves and use the resources of each town to help condition living habits to make it a better and healthier place."
The target city hasn't yet been named, but it's expected to be a place that has been cited on various "fattest cities" lists.
All Tattle can say is "Welcome."
Tattbits
* Oprah Winfrey's go-
ing to have to find a new doctor, but her health plan can probably handle it.
Dr. Mehmet Oz will bid farewell on today's episode of her talk show. His own program, "The Dr. Oz Show," is to debut Sept. 14.
But it's not really goodbye. Oprah's Harpo Productions will produce Dr. Oz's show.
* Danny Glover, son of union
members, joined labor, political and civil-rights leaders yesterday on one of the first stops of a four-day, 11-state tour supporting U.S. manufacturing workers.
The "Lethal Weapon" star told a crowd of mainly union workers in the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck the "deindustrialization of the nation" began in Michigan, and its workers can be "the architects of their own rescue."
We hope the advice got a little more practical after that.
* Michael Jackson's comeback
concerts in London may not happen. And if that's the case, blame the lawyers.
TMZ.com reports that AllGood Entertainment - the promoters trying to put together a series of Jackson family concerts - has fired off a cease-and-desist letter to the organizers of Michael's London solo concerts, demanding that the show not go on.
TMZ says in late 2008, Michael's manager, Frank Dileo, signed a deal promising that Michael would tour with the other Jacksons. Part of that deal was exclusivity - Michael couldn't make another deal for 18 months.
Michael's defense is that he never signed the deal to tour with his family, only Dileo did.
* Barbra Strei-
sand's receptionist, Tina Fortenberry, was arrested last week for allegedly possessing cocaine and methamphetamines. TMZ.com reports that Tina also had a sap (which is considered a dangerous weapon) and was driving on a suspended license, which probably meant her car was an even more dangerous weapon. Expired tags got her caught.
* Officials of the Miss California
USA pageant strongly criticized some of the actions (not the opinions) of titleholder Carrie Prejean yesterday, but said it's not their decision whether she should be stripped of her crown.
That decision belongs to Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump. He plans to hold a news conference at 11 a.m. today in NYC, where Tattle expects he will name a new Miss California: Joan Rivers. *
Daily News wire services contributed to this report.
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