SHORT TAKES

Published: December 1, 2008

BIRTHDAYS

→Actor Paul Picerni ("The Untouchables”), 86.

→Singer Billy Paul, 74.

→Actor-director Woody Allen, 73.

→Singer Dianne Lennon (Lennon Sisters), 69.

→Singer-guitarist Eric Bloom (Blue Oyster Cult), 64.

→Actress-singer Bette Midler, 63.

→Singer Gilbert O’Sullivan, 62.

→Actor Treat Williams, 57.

→Country singer Kim Richey, 52.

→Actress Charlene Tilton, 50.

→Model-actress Carol Alt, 48.

→Actor Jeremy Northam ("Happy, Texas”), 47.

→Actor Nestor Carbonell ("Suddenly Susan”), 41.

→Comedian Sarah Silverman, 38.

→Singer Bart Millard (MercyMe), 36.

→Actress Ashley Monique Clark ("The Hughleys”), 20.

→1998: Actor Michael J. Fox revealed he had Parkinson’s disease.

Boy George on trial

for false imprisonment

LONDON — A Norwegian escort told a court Nov. 24 that Boy George manacled him to a bedroom wall and beat him with a metal chain after accusing him of hacking into his computer.

The former Culture Club singer is on trial for the false imprisonment of 29-year-old Audun Carlsen.

The 47-year-old singer, standing trial under his real name, George O’Dowd, denies the charge.

Carlsen told London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court that he met the singer online and went to his London home for a naked photo shoot. He said that after the encounter, Boy George sent a series e-mails accusing Carlsen of hacking into his computer, but Carlsen agreed to a second photo session in April 2007.

Carlsen told the jury that when he arrived, Boy George and another man held him down and beat him before the singer handcuffed him to a hook in the bedroom wall.

The Associated Press

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