SHORT TAKES: Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008

Published: December 2, 2008

BIRTHDAYS

→Actress Julie Harris, 83.

→Actress Cathy Lee Crosby, 64.

→Country singer John Wesley Ryles, 58.

→Actor Dan Butler ("Frasier”), 54.

→News anchor Stone Phillips, 54.

→Actor Dennis Christopher ("Breaking Away,” "Chariots of Fire”), 53.

→Actor Steven Bauer, 52.

→Bassist Rick Savage (Def Leppard), 48.

→Actress Lucy Liu, 40.

→Bassist Nate Mendel (Foo Fighters), 40.

→Actress Rena Sofer ("Just Shoot Me”), 40.

→Rapper Treach (Naughty By Nature), 38.

→Singer Nelly Furtado, 30.

→Singer Britney Spears, 27.

→1988: Singer Roy Orbison died of a heart attack near Nashville, Tenn. He was 52.

Beyonce says parents’ marriage prepared her

NEW YORK — Beyonce says her parents prepared her for the hard work of marriage.

In an interview in the latest issue of Giant, the 27-year-old singer talks about getting hitched to Jay-Z. She says she doesn’t have a fantasy view of marriage. That’s because she’s seen her parents, Matthew and Tina Knowles, struggle but stick through it.

Says Beyonce: "My parents are tighter now than ever, but they’ve been through it all. There were times when they were together, times when they were apart. I learned that it’s a lot of hard work, that it’s more than a dress.”

Beyonce and Jay-Z married in a private ceremony earlier this year.

The Associated Press

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