Pop star Lady Gaga is getting married – to an actor she met while making a music video in which she wore her mother's wedding dress. The 28-year-old singer announced the engagement on February 16 by posting a photo of the simple, heart-shaped ring that Taylor Kinney gave her. "He gave me his heart on Valentine's Day, and I said YES!" Gaga wrote in a caption to the photo she shared with her 5.5 million followers on Instagram. Gaga met Kinney in 2011 while filming the video for You & I in the fields of Nebraska. Kinney popped the question to Gaga, an Italian-American whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, during a Valentine's Day dinner at the New York restaurant Joanne Trattoria that is owned by her parents, according to the celebrity magazine US Weekly. Kinney, 33, is best known for starring in the TV dramas Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D., and had a role in the film Zero Dark Thirty, about the operation that resulted in the killing of Osama bin Laden. – AFP
Four-book Happy deal for Williams
The award-winning singer and producer Pharrell Williams has signed a deal for a series of four children's picture books, one of which will be based on his hit song, Happy. Putnam Books for Young Readers said that the first book, also called Happy, will be published on September 22 and will feature photographs of children from around the world "celebrating what it means to be happy". A first printing of 250,000 copies is planned. Williams has won 10 Grammys, including two for Happy. The song was featured on the soundtrack of the film Despicable Me 2 and was an Oscar nominee last year for Best Song. – AP
Movie on Salman Khan hunting case
Days before a verdict is due in a high-profile case in which the Bollywood star Salman Khan is accused of hunting and killing an endangered deer species, the black buck, in Rajasthan, India, in 1998, a film about the incident has gone into production in Mumbai. Quaidi No 210 is said to be about Khan's "ordeal" – in 2006, he was sentenced to a year in prison but released on bail after three days. Judging by comments made by the director Prakash Jha, the film appears to be sympathetic towards the 47-year-old actor. "Sometimes, being human is a crime if you are a celebrity," said Jha, referencing the Being Human charity founded by Khan. "Anything you do touches headlines. We are touching upon that Salman who believes in being human." The verdict is expected on February 25. – The National staff
Kapoor sisters to launch fashion line, Rheson
The Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor is about to launch a fashion line with her younger sister Rhea, who is also her stylist. The actress wrote on Twitter: “My beautiful sister and I are starting a high street fashion brand called #rheson.” She added that the launch would be the realisation of a long-time ambition: “#rheson is a dream @rheakapoor and I’ve had for many years. We’ve worked very hard.” The sisters’ delighted dad, the actor Anil Kapoor, responded on Twitter: “Another Rheson to make me proud.” – The National staff
Revival of Miss Saigon scoops nine awards
Miss Saigon and Shakespeare were the big winners at Britain's WhatsOnStage awards, as theatregoers rewarded seasoned shows, spectacle and star power. Miss Saigon lifted nine trophies at the ceremony held on February 15, the winners at which were decided by public vote. It was named Best Musical and Best West End Show, took lead acting honours for stars Eva Noblezada and Jon Jon Briones, and landed prizes for supporting actor and actress, direction, choreography and design. The producer Cameron Mackintosh said the prizes vindicated his decision to bring the show back to London 25 years after its premiere. The tragic Vietnam War love story ran for a decade in London from 1989. On Broadway, it ran for 4,063 performances until 2000. A Donmar Warehouse production of Shakespeare's tragedy Coriolanus, starring Thor and The Avengers screen baddie Tom Hiddleston took three prizes, including Best Revival of a Play. The Doctor Who and Broadchurch star David Tennant was named Best Actor in a Play for the Royal Shakespeare Company's Richard II. The awards are sponsored by the website Whatsonstage.com. – AP
Sean Penn gets into action-hero mode
The Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn is following in the footsteps of Liam Neeson and Colin Firth as he becomes an unlikely later-in-life action hero in The Gunman, which debuted in London on February 16. Starring alongside the Spanish actor Javier Bardem and the British star Idris Elba, Penn plays a former assassin whose last job – killing a politician from the Democratic Republic of Congo – comes back to haunt him. The film is based on a novel by the French author Jean-Patrick Manchette. The director Pierre Morel, who made Taken, said he was drawn to movies that weren't just "action for action's sake. If it's a movie which is driven by action, then I'm interested. A smart story with action in it, then I'm all for it." He also praised Penn, Bardem and Elba. "These guys are so talented, they work so hard, that you know that they are going to deliver," Morel said. – AFP
It’s My Party singer Lesley Gore dies at 68
The singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 at age 16 with her epic song of teenage angst, It's My Party, and followed it up with the hits Judy's Turn to Cry, and the feminist anthem You Don't Own Me, died on February 16 after a battle with lung cancer. She was 68. Brooklyn-born and New Jersey-raised, Gore was discovered by Quincy Jones as a teenager and signed to Mercury Records. Her other hits include She's A Fool, Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, That's the Way Boys Are and Maybe I Know. She co-wrote, with her brother Michael, the Academy Award-nominated song Out Here On My Own from the film Fame. She sang at the 1964 T.A.M.I. Show in Santa Monica, California, alongside future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers such as James Brown and the Rolling Stones. Gore also played Catwoman's sidekick in the cult 1960s TV show Batman. The singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka wrote on Facebook: "She was a great person and a phenomenal talent, who had opened for me on many occasions. She recorded a few of my songs (Magic Colors and Summer Symphony) and was a great songwriter in her own right. I'm glad I had the chance of knowing her." In the 1990s, Gore appeared in Smokey Joe's Cafe on Broadway. She was working on a stage version of her life with the playwright Mark Hampton when she died. In 2005, she released Ever Since, her first album in 30 years, and in the last few years she performed in New York and, along with Ronnie Spector and LaLa Brooks, headlined the She's Got the Power concert outdoors at Lincoln Center in 2012. – AP
