Houston autopsy results
LOS ANGELES - Whitney Houston died from drowning in a hotel bathtub, but coroner's officials said Thursday that heart disease and chronic cocaine use were contributing factors to the singer's death.
The release of autopsy findings Thursday ends weeks of speculation about what killed the Grammy-winning singer on Feb. 11 on the eve of the Grammy Awards.
Houston was found submerged in the bathtub of her room at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and her death has been ruled as accidental. Several bottles of prescription medications were found in her hotel room, but coroner's officials said they weren't in excessive quantities.
Beverly Hills police said in a statement there was no evidence of wrongdoing in connection with Houston's death.
Coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey says cocaine and its byproducts were found in Houston's system, and it was listed as a contributing factor in her death. He says the results indicated Houston was a chronic cocaine user. Coroner's officials said they also found traces of marijuana, Xanax and benadryl in her system.
R. Kelly brings back 'Trapped'
NEW YORK - Get ready for more drama from Sylvester, Twan and Pimp Lucius - R. Kelly is delivering more chapters of "Trapped in the Closet."
The outrageous musical series started off as five videos for the R&B singer's dramatic cliffhanger songs in 2007. It quickly became a cult classic, and he added more chapters, put the accompanying videos on a DVD and also teamed up with IFC to premiere it.
For the next chapters, Kelly is teaming up with IFC again. He said in a statement: "The Alien is back and It has brought friends along."
Kelly has a new album due soon as well as a memoir due out in June.
Ebert's film fest
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The lineup for Roger Ebert's Film Festival will include one of Tom Hanks' earliest movies and a classic from Orson Welles.
This year's Ebertfest in Champaign will be April 25 to 29. Ebert announced the lineup on his blog.
The festival will screen Hanks' "Joe Versus the Volcano" on April 25. Welles' "Citizen Kane" will be featured on April 29.
Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt will appear at this year's festival. Oswalt will host a screening of "Kind Hearts and Coronets" on April 24.Tickets for Ebert's annual festival go on sale April 2.
Octavia Spencer honored
MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer promised Alabama fans Wednesday that she would do everything possible to make sure some of her future movies are made in her home state.
Spencer, who won this year's best supporting actress Oscar for her performance as the maid Minnie in "The Help," told the crowd in Montgomery that her home would always be in Alabama.
Wearing a purple dress, she rode up to the Statehouse in a pink limousine for the ceremony.
Multiple speakers, including Gov. Robert Bentley and leaders of the House and Senate, greeted Spencer at a joint session of the Legislature. Bentley proclaimed Wednesday as "Octavia Spencer Day in Alabama.
Grant and 'Pirates'
LONDON - Hugh Grant is stepping away from his usual romantic fare - to walk the plank.
The British actor is starring in "The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists," his first animated film role. He plays a pirate captain on a quest to win the Pirate of the Year Award.
The actor doesn't see many similarities between himself and his pirate persona.
"I looked at it and I thought "well I'm nothing like that, this is terrible casting." So I actually had to adapt myself, and I had to do a bit of acting for once," he joked. The movie opens in the U.S. on April 27 with the title "The Pirates! Band of Misfits."
Gallagher out of hospital
LEWISVILLE, Texas - The comedian Gallagher has been released from a Texas hospital, a week after suffering a heart attack before a performance at a suburban Dallas bar.
His promotional manager, Christine Scherrer, says the Los Angeles-based comedian was released Wednesday but will stay in the Dallas area for a while to recuperate.
Scherrer says Gallagher is with his family and is "moving around on his own."
Gallagher, known for smashing watermelons with a sledgehammer, had two stents replaced after collapsing March 14 at a Lewisville bar. He came out of a medically induced coma Sunday.
The comedian, whose full name is Leo Anthony Gallagher, had a minor heart attack last March after collapsing while performing in Minnesota.
Sherrer says March shows have been moved, but Gallagher's April schedule is intact so far.
McCartney's Olympic designs
LONDON - How many ways can you stretch Britain's red, white and blue Union Jack over finely toned Olympic athletes?
Ask Stella McCartney.
The famed designer unveiled her ideas for Britain's Olympians on Thursday with uniforms that made imaginative use of the familiar flag. The designs, a closely guarded secret for months, were shown at the Tower of London in a gala event that combined fashion's razzle-dazzle with the star quality of top Olympic competitors.
McCartney, who is serving as adidas' creative director for the Summer Games, said she hoped both competitors and the British public like the uniforms and are proud of the athletes who will wear them at the Olympics and the Paralympics.
Press wire reports
"The basic message is to unify the team," McCartney told The Associated Press backstage after the show. "The athletes all want to feel like one team. The other big starting point for me was the Union flag, an iconic flag, I think every Briton is so proud of it, but I wanted to look at it in a different way."
