Celebrities
Ask Stacy: Billy Dee Williams in Snoop Dogg's New Thriller
By Stacy Jenel Smith
Feb 19, 2006

DEAR STACY: What's up with Billy Dee Williams? When can his fans expect to see him? -- Cheri S., Bronx, N.Y.
 
DEAR CHERI: Look to see Billy playing a pastor in Snoop Dogg's forthcoming "Hood of Horror" chiller, which was made last year -- no release date set as yet.

Billy Dee Williams

After that should come "Barry Munday," based on Frank Turner Hollon's novel "Life is a Strange Place," a comedy starring Luke Wilson as a womanizer who learns the error of his ways the excruciatingly hard way (an irate father attacks him where it counts with a trumpet). Williams, Jennifer Coolidge, Colin Hanks and Emily Mortimer are also in the cast of the Chris D'Arienzo flick.

Williams put in a stage hitch in the troubled stage musical of "The Mambo Kings" last year, but had to drop out of the production because of an aggravated hip condition.

DEAR STACY: Please tell me something about the actor who plays Tony DiNozzo on "NCIS." -- J.H., New York, N.Y.
 
DEAR J.H.: Funny, charming, born in New York City 37 years ago, raised in Fairfield, Conn., Michael Weatherly broke into TV as Theo Huxtable's roommate on "The Cosby Show." That was followed by a role in the indie film "Trigger Happy" opposite Rosario Dawson. He's 6'2", divorced, has a 9-year-old son, and was engaged to his former "Dark Angel" co-star, Jessica Alba, for more than a year before the pair called it off. His father, Michael Weatherly Sr., made a huge fortune as the Swiss Army Knife importer.
 
DEAR STACY: I'm a fan of "The Closer" with Kyra Sedgwick. Can you tell us when new episodes will come on? -- Bret D., Cleveland
 
DEAR BRET: According to TNT, season two of its top-rated show, with Sedgwick as a brilliant and ruthless police interrogator, will premiere this summer. It's already in production.
 
DEAR STACY: I loved the movie "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants," and I have read the follow-up books. Will there be a sequel? -- Jamie B., Torrance, Calif.
 
DEAR JAMIE: Sorry, but a sequel doesn't appear likely. Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, America Ferrera and Blake Lively "are all very game to do a sequel," director Ken Kwapis noted last summer. "If our box office can creep up high enough for Alcon (Productions) and Warner Brothers to feel justified in doing a sequel, I'd love to return to these characters." However, here's the harsh reality: "Pants" only brought in $39 million domestically and was very weak overseas, racking up not quite $3 million in foreign markets.
 
DEAR STACY: Whatever happened to Bert Parks? -- Roger, Frederick, Md.
 
DEAR ROGER: The longtime host of the Miss America Pageant died of lung cancer in 1992.
 
DEAR STACY: We watched the DVD of the movie "Clue" last night. The actor who played The Chief was very familiar, but we looked and looked at the credits, and he wasn't there. Who dunnit? Why didn't he get credit? -- Sue S., Staten Island, N.Y.
 
DEAR SUE: That was a disguised Howard Hesseman in a cameo, as the Chief who enters the mansion at the end of the 1985 comedy that was based on the classic board game. Sometimes stars who do cameos opt not to be billed at all rather than have their names appear in a less-than-optimal position. Such billing issues are also weighed against other aspects of a deal, including compensation. In some cases, like this one, they also enjoy keeping the audience guessing.
 
DEAR STACY: Whatever became of Veronica Hamel, who was so great in "Hill Street Blues"? -- Jeff S., New York
 
DEAR JEFF: Since playing a judge on the short-lived "Philly" series of 2001-2002, the 62-year-old Hamel's TV involvement has been in guest parts on "Third Watch" and "Lost," the latter in the role of Jack's (Matthew Fox) mother.
 
SEND YOUR QUESTIONS to Stacy Jenel Smith at Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. Due to the large volume of mail, personal replies cannot be given.