Elvis Presley.
January brought the sudden loss of his only child Lisa Marie Presley, 54.
Model, actress. Marriages to Nicolas Cage and Michael Jackson. Children, Riley Keough and Benjamin. Pre-lawsuit she was the sole heir to Elvis’ estate.
Initially eyed in her passing was Ozempic or possibly another weight loss drug. Manhattan bariatric surgeon Dr. Daniel Rosen, of Weight Zen, wanted to set the record straight, so, for $75, he got a copy of Lisa Marie’s autopsy report from the LA County coroner’s office. He says that initial speculation is nonsense. A surgery he believes she had is called a duodenal switch, which he claims caused her system to become herniated and strangulated.
“Blood supply to her intestine got turned off. That’s what ended up causing her death,” he claimed. On Rosie O’Donnell’s podcast he also said, “No indicators in her blood suggest Ozempic. It was all normal levels of other prescribed medications. The record needs to be set straight.”
OUR annual Alfred E. Smith white tie dinner. Formerly at the Waldorf — now as lively as Joe Biden — was at the 68th Street armory. Cocktails began 5:30. 900 people. Timothy Cardinal Dolan’s power and love helped raise $7 million. His Eminence flew in from Rome that day and then right back. Henry Kissinger, famous former ex Sec’y of State age 100, made the keynote address. The dais was longer than NYC. Tishman Speyer CEO Rob Speyer said: “People today do important work, which is why de Blasio isn’t here.” And speaking of real estate: “You never start a fight with people who sign your permits.”
ALSO a record to set straight during this strike is that actors didn’t always get the money they thought they deserved.
Yul Brynner? In 1973, $75,000 for “Westworld.” Hilary Swank? $3,000 for 1999’s “Boys Don’t Cry.” Dustin Hoffman, who graduated after, for his biggie “The Graduate” — a lousy 4 grand. Star Harrison Ford $10,000 for his first “Star Wars.” Shirtless Brad Pitt in “Thelma & Louise” — $6,000. And Mel Gibson — grabbed a whole $15K for “Mad Max.”
Back aways, like in 1916, Charlie Chaplin got best. Without speaking a word he copped $675,000 per year.
Salaries crept up. Talent, too. Egos, too. Agents and managers, too.
Matt Damon razzberry’d doing “Avatar” for a puny $250 million.
Highest-ever is today’s leaping and smacking and flying and running and jumping Tom Cruise. He pockets, give or take, $100 mil per to remake almost the same leaping and smacking and flying and running and jumping flick he’d flicked in just a couple of heroics before.
Cinema’s Tom-Tom leader has attained the “Mission: Impossible.”
DR. Patrick Bordeaux, author of “Escaping Addiction: Resetting the Brain for Success,” says, “Cannabis can’t deal with added stress: The benefits do not last. Decreases anxiety at lower doses. Increases anxiety at higher doses.” . . . AND celebrity seer John Cohan says Connie Stevens, 85, in an LA nursing home, needs prayers.
SO how to become a professor at one of our left-leaning Ivy League universities? You must teach your students how to write on toilet walls in Latin.
Only in America, kids, only in America.