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Cameron Douglas, son of Michael Douglas has been ordered to stand trial on cocaine possession charges.
 At a pretrial hearing Thursday, Superior Court Judge Joseph Lodge upheld charges of felony possession of a controlled substance and misdemeanor possession of a hypodermic needle filed against Cameron Morrell Douglas, 28, and a companion, Christopher Lane, 30.
Two deputies came across the two men near a hotel with a syringe containing liquid cocaine. Lane said the syringe was his, but both were still arrested.
Source: “Douglas’ Grown Son Faces Drug Charges” [AP] Photo: TMZ
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Who will you miss the most and why?
Dana Reeve, (right)
Actress, Activist for Disabled
1961 – 2006
James Brown
Singer
1933 – 2006
Steve Irwin
Conservationist, TV Star
1962 – 2006
Robert Altman
Director
1925 – 2006
Bruno Kirby
Actor
1949 – 2006
Ed Bradley
Journalist
1941 – 2006
Peter Boyle
Actor
1935 – 2006
Shelley Winters
Actress
1920 – 2006
Syd Barrett
Rock Musician
1946 – 2006
Don Knotts
Actor
1924 – 2006
Aaron Spelling
Producer
1923 – 2006
Paul Gleason
Actor
1939 – 2006
Jack Palance
Actor
1919 – 2006
Mike Douglas
Talk Show Host
1925 – 2006
source
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Mike Douglas, longtime host of an eponymous talk-variety program, died today on his 81st birthday.
 Mike Douglas, who drew on his affable personality and singing talent during 21 years as a talk show host, died Friday on his 81st birthday, his wife said. He died at 5:30 a.m. in a Palm Beach Gardens hospital, said his wife, Genevieve Douglas. She wasn’t sure of the cause, but said he had been admitted Thursday. Douglas became dehydrated on the golf course a few weeks ago and had been treated on and off since. “He was coming along fine, we thought. It was really a shock,” she said. “We never anticipated this to happen.”
Douglas’ afternoon show, which aired from 1961 to 1982, featured his ballad and big-band singing style, other musicians, comedians, sports figures and political personalities, including seven former, sitting or future presidents. “People still believe ‘The Mike Douglas Show’ was a talk show, and I never correct them, but I don’t think so,” Douglas said in his 1999 memoir, “I’ll Be Right Back: Memories of TV’s Greatest Talk Show.” “It was really a music show, with a whole lot of talk and laughter in between numbers.”
[...]
Douglas was among the “early settlers” in daytime talk shows, said Robert Thompson, a professor and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. “Mike Douglas was an old-fashioned traditionalist, holding down the fort while the culture was changing,” Thompson said. “He was always the very friendly talk show host, nice to everybody. He would lean toward his guest as if he really cared. He owned that territory.”
Hosts Phil Donahue, Dinah Shore and Merv Griffin also found success about the same time. Douglas said in his book that people often confused him with Griffin, another singer of Irish heritage. (Douglas was born Michael Delaney Dowd Jr. in Chicago, Illinois.)
Douglas fondly recalled when Tiger Woods, who as a preschooler was already drawing attention, appeared on the same 1978 show as Bob Hope, an avid golfer. “I don’t know what kind of drugs they’ve got this kid on,” Hope quipped, “but I want some.”
Douglas was genial most of the time — he was nicknamed “the Cary Grant of the coffee break,” according to Allmusic.com — but confided in his memoir that his composure was sorely tested one week in 1972 when former Beatle John Lennon and wife, Yoko Ono, were his unlikely guest hosts. One of the guest celebrities they selected was well-known anti-war activist Jerry Rubin. “He just got on my nerves. It sounded like this guy hated the president, the Congress, everyone in business, the military, all police and just about everything America stands for,” Douglas said. He recalled becoming confrontational with Rubin. But Lennon “picked up the mantle of Kind and Gentle Host, and he did it quite well, reinterpreting Jerry’s comments to take some of the sting out and adding a little humor to keep things cool,” Douglas said.
Douglas also had a number of hit singles, first with Kay Kyser’s big band — he was a featured performer on the radio and eventual television program, “Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge” — and later on his own. “The Men in My Little Girl’s Life” hit the top 10 in 1966.
I recall the show during its final years, when I was a young teenager. I remember an episode where hard rocker Ted Nugent was the guest and how well he and Douglas got along. Looking back, that’s rather remarkable considering the divergence of their musical styles. But I think they had mutual respect for each other’s work ethic and the tribulations of the lifestyle.
OTB News
Popularity: 17% [?]
Tiger Woods’ dad, Earl Woods has died of complications from prostate cancer. He was 74.
Earl Woods, who was more determined to raise a good son than a great golfer and became the role model, architect and driving force behind Tiger Woods’ phenomenal career, died Wednesday morning at his home. He was 74.
“My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply,” Tiger Woods said on his website. “I’m overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him, and I’m honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring.”
Woods was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998 and was treated with radiation, but the cancer returned in 2004 and spread throughout his body. Last month, he was too frail to travel to the Masters for the first time. His son finished tied for third. The last tournament Woods attended was the Target World Challenge in December 2004, when his son rallied to win and then donated $1.25 million to the Tiger Woods Foundation that his father helped him establish.
Earl Woods was more than a golf dad, more than a zealous father who lived vicariously through his son’s achievements. He had played catcher for Kansas State, the first black to play baseball in the Big Eight Conference, and he had been a Green Beret for two tours in Vietnam. But he felt his true purpose was to train Tiger, and he watched his son evolve into the dominant player of his time — the youngest player to win the career Grand Slam — and one of the most celebrated athletes in the world. “I knew Tiger was special the day he was born,” Woods said in a May 2000 interview with The Associated Press.
Woods introduced Tiger to golf by swinging a club as his son watched in a high chair. Tiger appeared on the “Mike Douglas Show” at age 2, played exhibitions with Sam Snead and Jack Nicklaus, and his television appeal was solely responsible for quantum gains in PGA Tour prize money.
Even so, Woods said he never intended to create a champion golfer. “I make it very, very clear that my purpose in raising Tiger was not to raise a golfer. I wanted to raise a good person,” Woods told Golf Digest magazine about his book, Training a Tiger: A Father’s Guide to Raising a Winner in Both Golf and Life. Woods gave his son freedom to develop a love for golf on his own, not letting him play unless his homework was done, making him call his father at work to ask if they could practice. Along with the games they played, Woods taught him to be mentally strong by jingling change in his pockets and warning him of water hazards when his son was in the middle of his swing.
Sad news, indeed.
Crossposts: OTB, OTB News, OTB Sports
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Earl Woods Dies at 74 linked with OTB News
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Earl Woods Dies at 74 linked with OTB Sports
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