| | |  | Brad Pitt News & Gossip
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One of the drawbacks to vintage vehicles is a lack of reliability, and Brad Pitt found that out first-hand while riding his classic Ducati motorcycle to work in Los Angeles yesterday (September 13).
The ?Fight Club? stud broke down in a populated area of the city and had to rely on his in-tow bodyguard to get him up and running again.
Brad was on his way to the Culver City set of his new film ?Moneyball,? also starring Jonah Hill. The movie is about legendary baseball manager Billy Beane who overhauled the Oakland A?s during the 2002 season.
Last October, Brad also had a motorcycle mishap when he dropped one of his bikes while riding it around town. Thankfully he wasn?t seriously injured.
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| | Brad Pitt Lends Voice to NFL Documentary | | Added 14 years ago | Source: Celebrity Gossip |
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Having spent the past weekend in New Orleans for the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Brad Pitt continues to do his best to help the rebuilding efforts in Louisiana.
The "Meet Joe Black" actor took time to tour the eco-housing project set up by the Make It Right Foundation, which he set up in 2007 to assist people who lost their homes in the Katrina devastation.
During his days in New Orleans, breaking reports from the AP tell that Pitt narrated an NFL documentary titled "America's Game: 2009 New Orleans Saints" - which covers the Saints win last year over the Indianapolis Colts.
Airing on the NFL Network on September 8 at 9PM EDT, the showing comes just one night prior to the Saints' season opener.
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| | Brad Pitt interviewed by Brian Williams for NBC Nightly News in NOLA | | Added 14 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Last night, Brian ?My Dong Is Large? Williams interviewed Brad Pitt for the NBC Nightly News, all for the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I hadn?t heard about this - I knew Sandra Bullock was doing a Matt Lauer interview, but I didn?t know Brad was getting all up in the Nightly News. Can I just say something about how handsome he is for a second? Brad looks lovely here. This is the prettiest he?s looked in, like, two years. And goddamn he can wear some denim.
Anyway, the interview:
Some quotes:
On NOLA, immediately post-Katrina: “Complete devastation. It was unfathomable. I mean, just– you had no idea that there were families and here. It was just wiped clean. Except for the occasional pile up of homes and– on top of homes.”
Why Make It Right? “I mean, people’s– people build their lives here. And– and– I mean, New Orleans is a unique place to begin with. And I say– a cultural treasure trove for– for America to begin with. But the thing that struck me was that these people were trying to– you know, these people were trying to get home. And– and were having a very difficult time doing so. And as I got into and started studying it, I found out that levy walls were built improperly.”
Et cetera. Brian calls NOLA Brad?s ?empire? and says he?s ?not so nave now? because Brad repeats his claim that he started all of this out of naivet, which he also said in his Douglas Brinkley interview. I think it was a good interview, and I like Brad brings the conversation back to the people of New Orleans and the progress that?s being made.
By the way, Angelina Jolie was also in New Orleans, channeling her inner goth chick:
Angelina and Brad in New Orleans on August 27, 2010 courtesy of Fame.
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| | Brad Pitt gives a great, extensive interview about Make It Right NOLA | | Added 14 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Oooh, a new Brad Pitt interview! He?s promoting Make It Right NOLA, and he?s likely doing press for it because the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina is upon us. Brad spoke to Douglas Brinkley, noted historian and author of one of the seminal works on Katrina, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This was all for The Times-Picayune, but the NOLA site has the full piece. Thanks to Ecorazzi for the heads up! Here?s how Brinkley introduces Pitt (the full interview is here):
Whenever actor Brad Pitt is in New Orleans, he gets on his old thrift-store bicycle and tools around the city enjoying the architecture and ambiance. It?s his way of staying in shape. His favorite destination is pedaling across the retractable North Claiborne Avenue Bridge to the Lower 9th Ward to inspect his Make It Right Foundation houses.
The entire Make It Right saga is a ?Hail Mary? pass that worked.
Starting in 2006, Pitt?s foundation commissioned 13 architecture firms to design affordable, eco-friendly houses. Pitt decided to build these houses — nearly 50 at last count — on the exact spot where the Industrial Canal levee breached on Aug. 29, 2005.
Pitt is in New Orleans this week to attend Katrina anniversary events. A true Hollywood workhorse, seldom getting a day off, Pitt spoke to me following a brutal 50-hour-a-week production schedule on a Hollywood set.
[From NOLA.com]
Since this piece is so lengthy, I?m really going to try to edit it down to the bare essentials. Hint: I?m taking out all of the crap about sports, because I just don?t care. But Brad did have nice stuff to say about the Saints and Reggie Bush. Whatever. Here you go:
Tell me about your love affair with New Orleans. You?ve become perhaps the city?s most effective booster. How did that happen?
I came to New Orleans back in 1994 doing the ?Interview with the Vampire? movie, based on the Anne Rice novel, and fell in love with the city. It got under my skin. Everything was sexy and sultry. I?d ride my bike all over the place, amazed by the architecture. I?d return to New Orleans every chance I could. What can I say; it?s got the best people, the best everything. It?s the most interesting city in America.
Where were you when Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005?
In Calgary, up in Canada, making the movie ?The Assassination of Jesse James.? I couldn?t get my eyes off the TV. It was frustrating seeing all those people on rooftops screaming for help. It was abhorrent. I was gutted. I remember thinking we can do better in America. Everybody seemed to make mistakes at a federal, local and state level. I used to ride my bike around the Lower 9th ? usually going to the Holy Cross area to look around. My instinct said that we have to find a way for those people to find a road home. New homes were clearly going to be needed.
When did the idea of Make It Right houses come into focus?
I got involved with Global Green and various Bill Clinton initiatives. I met a lot of smart people. But nobody was doing what I thought needed to be done. Look, I?m an architecture junkie. And the holy grail of architecture is finding ways to design sustainable urban communities. The Lower 9th had become a clean slate. Everything had been washed away. So quite naively ? and I know I?m naive ? I said let?s start at ground zero, the very historic neighborhood that got devastated by Katrina. We brought architect William McDonough into the picture and things took off. We started building prototypes. The Lower 9th is the iconic spot of Katrina. It?s where the levees breached. It represents a marginalized people stuck in a man-made disaster. I met Katrina victims who had been given FEMA trailers and had nothing to hook them up to. Others had formaldehyde problems. What was the message? We were telling people to come home and yet when they got back to New Orleans they were treated in a substandard way. I just thought it was atrocious.
How do you feel seeing those Lower 9th families living today, on the fifth anniversary of the storm, in beautiful Make It Right houses?
Great! I was in the Lower 9th for Memorial Day. Families were barbecuing and swimming in the little, you know, pop-up swimming pools. And families were coming together and saying hi. You know, the simple acts of kindness. A lot of residents no longer have only a cynical view of Katrina, they have a brighter perspective about life. And when I say kindness I mean Make It Right was built on the donations of people. Americans donated. That has a deep effect on the people living in these homes. We have solar panels providing the energy, and it works and fellow Americans paid for it. Not the government.
When you came down from Calgary to see the Lower 9th in person back in 2005, were you shocked?
Yeah. It was, like I said, a blank canvas. It was obliterationville. It was a blank, blank, blank canvas. A house sitting on top of a house on top of a house sitting on top of a station wagon with a boat jammed through it. It was, you know, shocking devastation. The place looked like a giant eraser had come in and just erased away those homes. You know, these weren?t just houses. These were people?s lives shattered. Families in pain, memories washed away, just obliterated.
A lot of people saw the devastation in the Lower 9th. But only you acted on rebuilding it?
OK, I was naive, totally naive. I credit naivete with our success. I was also an opportunist. I saw this land, it was available, and I thought we could make a difference. Starting from scratch has its benefits. Too often we give disaster victims cheap building products, slipshod materials, and then put on top of them the burden of energy bills and medical bills. You know it?s the badly built levees that destroyed these people?s lives. We needed, as a country, to do something right for them. A new paradigm was needed. The technology was available. So I thought, ?Let?s build houses that answer all the problems.? We needed to make amends for over 1,500 deaths. We had to fix the grave injustice the best we could. Let?s face the facts: Shoddy Army Corps levee work was the culprit behind the 2005 flooding of New Orleans. People in pre-Katrina had been sold cement slabs in the Lower 9th next to the levee. These folks were told it?s all right to build homes, for example, on Tennessee Avenue. They were set up. I mean not necessarily intentionally, but through the negligence of levee maintenance. But, lo and behold, the Lower 9th is now the greenest ? I don?t even like the word green ? it?s the most high-performing clean neighborhood in the world, according to the Green Building council.
Are you hoping this can be a pilot project or prototype community to develop elsewhere? Do you have a global vision?
That was the plan. That was the plan all along. This thing could become a template for other communities to follow. And we?ve trained New Orleans contractors on how to build these homes.
When did you decide to be a New Orleans homeowner?
I?ve always wanted to have something there. I had looked into some properties in the late ’90s and almost bought a home. But my personal life didn?t make it possible then. After Katrina, in 2006, it just became a need. I needed to be down in the Lower 9th and I wanted to make films in New Orleans because I love being in the city so much.
Can you still get around New Orleans on your bike? Do you put a sweatshirt hood over your head? Or does your facial hair serve as a disguise?
In New Orleans, the people are great. They leave Angie and me alone. Unfortunately, we drag paparazzi with us from other places in the world. They become a bit of a hindrance. We try to go out and all the locals are so great, and then these paparazzi ruin it. But otherwise, man, we can just live and breathe and ride bikes. We can take our kids on bike rides, and local people just give us a shout out?and let us move on. It?s very free for us in New Orleans, very nice for us. It?s like Venice or Rome; an essential world city. So we feel honored to be involved with the community. Everybody treats us like neighbors.
How do you feel about the grass-roots movement of Brad Pitt for U.S. senator or mayor of New Orleans?
Yeah, with my past? (Laughs). It isn?t going to happen. Oh, my, the skeletons that would come out of my closet. That?s a losing venture.
Did something in your Missouri upbringing connect you emotionally to New Orleans?
Yeah, there is a strain of that. New Orleans holds a southern mentality but also an East Coast mentality regarding the importance of art and culture in life. Somehow Springfield, Mo. ? in the southern part of the state ? seemed more connected down the interstate to New Orleans than St. Louis or Kansas City. It?s a Southern thing in me.
When you?re working in L.A. or Europe, do you listen to New Orleans music?
Truthfully, my favorite sound in the entire world is opening up the balcony doors in the French Quarter and hearing four different sounds playing at once from the apartments across the way or down the street. Or, you know, behind our house. And it?s a balmy night, twilight, and I?m drinking a beer and this feeling just falls over me, of contentment. It gives me goose bumps to talk about it.
If you had a magic wand, what would you want to see happen in New Orleans during the fifth anniversary commemorations?
I?d like to see more people still be able to get back. More specifically, for our Make It Right project, I would like to expand our template to St. Bernard Parish. You know, out of all the Lower 9th homes we built, all are producing more energy than they are spending, than they are consuming. They?re all pollution-free. This is an amazing story to me. Many of our homeowners don?t owe anything for energy use. We can prove that low-income and high-performance houses work. No more antiquated building practices are needed in New Orleans; let?s put that one behind us. We?re on track to build more homes in the Lower 9th and perhaps in St. Bernard Parish. We are getting the prices down. All our safety measures are intact. I hope house experts will come look. I can back up what I?m saying. Our homes are affordable, high-performance, and safe. And there is an aesthetic to them all. Now I want to drive the price down. OK, that is fair to say, the price needs to come down. But any other criticism you hear doesn?t hold up.
What do you say to people who don?t think the Lower 9th is safe because the levees are still weak? How do you know the wall won?t collapse again in a Category 3 or 4 or 5 hurricane?
Sure, I have concerns. I mean it was the first question we had to ask: Are we putting people back into the danger zone? Well, there is a Road Home program. Nobody is giving them enough money to return safely. In our eyes, you?re setting people up for another catastrophe. Our houses are built high enough from the ground to endure flooding if the levees don?t hold up. As for the iconic Industrial Canal breach spot? It?s been dealt with by engineers to a large degree, dealt with better than the other walls. You know what my worry is? My worry is not the Lower 9th, it?s the upper 9th. Because that protection wall wasn?t dealt with. It?s a foot or two lower than the levee in our neighborhood. If the Army Corps would just have spent a little bit more time, put in a little more focus and a little bit more money and done it right the first time, New Orleans would be a far safer place. And it wouldn?t have cost the billions of dollars to fix what was wrong. And I find that inexcusable. So our Make It Right homes are built right. And that?s where the title came from: Make It Right. Just make it right for everybody. Make things fair to the people of New Orleans. Make it right.
[From NOLA.com]
Look, I know Brad it probably going to get bashed for this interview, just because he gets bashed for breathing at this point, but I personally think on this point, on this issue, he is 100% authentic, passionate, dedicated and awesome. We can bitch and moan about the costs or the architecture or the timing or all of it, but the truth of the matter is that Brad puts his time and money where his mouth is, and that?s always something I respect. Make It Right NOLA is one of his greatest passions, and he?s stuck with it, and I believe he?ll continue to stick with it, no matter how complicated things get. For this, I have nothing but admiration and applause for him.
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| | Brad Pitt's Harsh Words for BP Honchos | | Added 14 years ago | Source: Celebrity Gossip |
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He?s always been a huge fan of New Orleans, and now Brad Pitt is suggesting an especially harsh punishment for the BP folks responsible for the recent oil spill.
The ?Fight Club? actor appears in Spike Lee?s ?If God is Willing and Da Creek Don?t Rise,? speaking his mind about what should happen to the oil company executives.
In the film, Pitt explained, ?I was never for the death penalty before. I am willing to look at it again.?
It?s no wonder that Brad is so upset- he jumped to aid the hurricane cleanup efforts after Katrina tore up the coastal town.
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They?ve definitely weathered more than their fair share of bad press, and finally Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are getting some restitution.
The ?Mr. and Mrs. Smith? couple will reportedly receive an undisclosed sum from the UK tabloid News of the World for an erroneous story they published.
Back in January, Brangelina?s attorney Keith Schilling told London?s High Court, "We can confirm unequivocally ... that the allegations published by the News of the World are false as well as intrusive."
News of the World will be publishing a public apology, pay all legal costs, and pay a settlement to Brad and Angelina, which they will donate to the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
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| | Brad Angelina settle with News of the World, NOTW says they made split story up | | Added 14 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Back in January of this year, the British tabloid News of the World reported that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had contacted a divorce lawyer and begun to set up a settlement for their finances and custody of the kids. It was oddly specific, and it made a big splash in the international press, and even got picked up by the legit media. NOTW never retracted their story, despite denials from the Brangelina camp. So a week later, La Brangelina filed a lawsuit against NOTW. Now their suit has been settled, with NOTW making a financial settlement to Brad and Angelina, and NOTW also had to eat sh-t publicly, admitting that they made the whole thing up:
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie settled a lawsuit against News Corp.?s News of the World newspaper in the U.K. over stories that said the couple was planning to separate.
?The News of the World?s publication of these falsehoods spawned an array of false stories published all over the world,? Jolie and Pitt?s lawyer, Keith Schilling, said in court today. ?When the News of the World failed to publicly retract the allegations and apologize for them — thereby leaving their readers in the dark as to the true position — the couple felt they had no alternative than to sue.?
The News of the World published a front-page story in January saying the actors had visited divorce lawyers in late 2009 and were deciding how to divide 205 million pounds ($313 million) in assets and custody of their six children, according to a statement Schilling read in a London court.
The newspaper published a second story a week later repeating the allegations and saying Pitt and Jolie were arguing over who had leaked details of their separation to the press.
The couple sued in February. A News Corp. unit in the U.K. admitted the stories were false and agreed to pay undisclosed damages to the couple?s charity, Schilling said.
[From Bloomberg]
Their attorney Keith Schilling also said: ?Today?s victory marks the end of the litigation brought by Brad and Angelina.? So I guess Brad and Angelina got what they wanted - an admission of falsity, and money to help ease the pain (they?ll probably donate it to charity). Personally, I love how easy it is for celebrities to sue the tabloids in Britain - it?s much easier over there than it is in America. It might have to be - I tend to think the British tabloids will run with some of the craziest stories out there.
So, is the story done now? Can we just acknowledge that Brad and Angelina don?t seem to be breaking up any time soon? Some people still don?t believe it, and this victory will mean nothing. Oh, well.
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| | Angelina Jolie on Brad: 'Not one of us is softer than the other' | | Added 14 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Angelina is predictably the cover girl for this week?s People Magazine - she gave the mag an interview about her family life, all to promote the opening of Salt. Incidentally, Us Weekly is running a Jolie cover story this week too, but they?re doing an old-school ?How Angelina Stole Brad From Jen? story, because Us Weekly thinks it?s 2005, apparently. Anyway, People?s online excerpts are pretty basic, so I?m including some more excerpts from Angelina?s Parade interview, courtesy of Celebrity Baby Scoop:
Yes, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt can work a red carpet like no other star couple. But at home with six kids all under the age of 9, the pair are content just to be Mom and Dad.
“Brad’s an extraordinary father,” Jolie, 35, tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “We have each other’s backs.”
The teamwork of the actress and Pitt, 46, comes in handy when it comes to settling differences between kids Maddox, 8, Pax, 6, Zahara, 5, Shiloh, 4, and 2-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne, says Jolie.
“They can’t go behind one [parent] to the other,? she says. “Not one of us is softer than the other.”
The actress, whose new political thriller Salt opens Friday, also talks about tackling her own stunts in the film. “I happen to like heights, so we found moments where I can use that,” she says.
One thing that does scare her: the idea of her kids becoming teenagers: “I break out into a sweat at just the thought.”
Whether enjoying their luxurious Los Angeles home or traveling to third world countries with their parents, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt?s children ? Maddox, 8, Pax, 6, Zahara, 5, Shiloh, 4, and fraternal twins Knox and Vivienne, 2 ? have learned to love it all.
?They like this house [in Los Angeles] because it has this pool. But they also love Cambodia because it?s got the fun places to throw rocks and cut coconuts and ride on elephants,? Jolie, 35, tells PARADE.
?They love Africa because the kids are really fun to play with and the nature is beautiful.?
Noting that she and Pitt ?try not to spoil our children,? Jolie insists the family?s jet-setting ways have taught their brood to treasure what they do have ? and sympathize with those who don?t.
?They spend time in Cambodia in a teeny hut and hang out with local children. They help me visit distressed areas. They have friends with no money. They also appreciate nice things,? the Salt actress reveals.
?We?re hoping that, organically, it will be in them to feel for people who do not have as much. They?ll be inspired to give and help people out because they?ll have close friends who don?t have as much. They won?t whine about things they want. And they won?t want more.?
And although strong friendships have been formed as a result of their travels, the proud mama raves the sibling bond ? and general unity as a family ? is what keeps them close.
?We?re a very close, very connected, very big family. The children talk to each other, and they look out for each other, and they have each other,? she says. ?Yes, they have friends, but they also are very, very closely connected to each other.?
[From People & Celebrity Baby Scoop]
Yeah, that?s basically it. I know some people are already sick of Angelina?s press tour for Salt (the same people who are sick of her, always), but I?m genuinely surprised by how low-key her press has been. I expected at least one other monthly magazine cover and some major television interviews beyond Nightline. Maybe she?s trying not to over-saturate. Maybe when the international September issues come out, we?ll see that she?s other interviews. We?ll see.
Also, here are some nice photos of Brad filming Moneyball yesterday:
People Magazine cover courtesy of CoverAwards. Brad on July 20, on the set of Moneyball, and with Angelina on July 19, 2010. Credit: FAME.
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Working hard on his new project, Brad Pitt was spotted on the set of ?Moneyball? in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon (July 20).
The ?Fight Club? stud looked intense as he filmed scenes, playing the part of Billy Beane, the Oakland A?s general manager.
And it looks like Brad got a little roughed up during his time on the set, as he was wearing a band-aid on his left arm.
Brad was also spotted escorting his lovely partner/babymama Angelina Jolie to the Hollywood premiere of her new film ?Salt.?
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| | Angelina Jolie Brad Pitt 'held court' at the 'salt' after-party | | Added 14 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Yes, Brangelina?s first red carpet appearance in a year?s time deserves its second post of the day. Plus, I just wanted to give some additional information on some red carpet interviews and behind-the-scenes activities from La Brange. Angelina?s dress was Emporio Armani, I see that?s been verified. And the shoes were Ferragamo. Eh - I still think she could have done better, honestly. Can a bitch get some leather up in here? According to Ted Casablanca E! News, Angelina ?spent more than 20 minutes taking pictures with fans (with both her camera and theirs) while a cleanly shaven and super doable Pitt was constantly by her side?.After skipping most of the press line, Brad ran inside while Angie tried to find ?the good outlets? to talk to.? And of course, E! News got an interview:
“I love it,” Angelina told us on the black carpet about her new flick and why she kicks butt so well (and looks good doing it). “I just love to jump around and break things.”
But really, how the hell does she always pull off badass in such style?
“I think if the actor is having a good time and the audience is, then you just have a good time together,” she smiled.
As for her children, they aren’t exactly enjoying their mom playing super spy?just yet.
“They saw a clip and were a little disturbed,” Angie dished to reporters on the carpet. “They didn’t like it.”
Without giving too much of a spoiler alert away, the opening scene is what rubbed the young Jolie-Pitt’s the wrong way.
“I mean they liked the fun part of [Salt]. They came to set and saw me do stunts, but in the clip there’s someone tying my feet up,” Angelina explained describing their hesitation.
As for Brad? Let’s just say he was a little more than turned on by Angelina’s onscreen moves.
“Oh, he likes it,” the skinny star said about her new action packed role. “He met me that way!”
[From E! News]
After the big premiere, Brangelina ?held court in a special area, flanked by a phalanx of security, in the middle of Hollywood & Highland’s Grand Ballroom.? And Jon Voight came to the after party and ?who looked thrilled as Pitt chatted affectionately with him throughout the evening and he shared a hug with his daughter.? Before Brad and Angelina left (she told E! News that they had to get the kids to camp early this morning), she and her dad hugged and ?Angelina couldn?t stop smiling.? So I guess everything is cool again between them. Until Jon calls her crazy on live television again.
Also, Liev Scheiber and Naomi Watts were there, and Live told People Magazine his affection for La Jolie: ?I think we’re both in that place with our kids where they’re really amazing, right around 3 years old, when all the language starts to come out of them. It’s a very exciting period in someone’s life, both the child’s and the parent’s, and it was fun to bond over that.”
Personally, I think Angelina was giddy because she could see Brad?s handsome face again. Doesn?t she look like, ?Damn, I forgot he was that good looking!?
Photos courtesy of Bauer-Griffin and Fame.
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