Archerd, a New Yorker, brought new vitality to entertainment reporting and penned, for decades, the "Daily Variety" column for Variety and received kudos for breaking earth-shattering stories, perhaps most notably the fact that Rock Hudson died of AIDS. He was so trusted and well-respected, in fact, that Warren Beatty called Archerd to spread the word that he had married Annette Benning. That's no small potatoes.

Later, when television networks were angling for a piece of the action, rather than resisting, Archerd joined onto Entertainment Tonight for a spell. He also founded the People's Choice Awards, so we're all indebted to his egalitarian approach to entertainment. As a testimony to his place in the Hollywood media's upper echelons, Archerd played himself on the small and big screen.

Archerd left the scene back in 2005, when he retired to live out his days with his actress wife, Selma. He died this evening. He was 87-years old. Aspiring journalists of all ilks should be in awe.

A more formal strike authorization will be sought from SAG's 120,000 members in the weeks ahead, but as Sharon Waxman hinted late Monday, when Hollywood royalty gathers secretly to help drop-kick the industry into another winter of chaos, what's really left to vote on?

They met in the private room of an Italian restaurant, like in a scene from one of the Godfather movies: Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep, Nick Nolte, Annette Bening — about 20 of Hollywood’s great stars from the past 30 years. ... These top stars were called together last month by Screen Actors Guild president Alan Rosenberg to give the thumbs up – or thumbs down – on a strike, according to one person who was present, speaking on condition of anonymity.

They were given slips of paper to write down their views as to how or why a strike should or should not occur. Their verdict, according to my source: the guild should move toward a strike.

A spokeswoman for SAG said that the guild has had frequent meetings with high-profile actors to discuss a possible strike. "We have met with high profile actors on sets and elsewhere to discuss various issues throughout our negotiations," said Pam Greenwalt. "We do not publicize the meetings nor do we release details."

We've seen them choose sides before and imagine their allegiances/practices haven't shifted much since then. Still, secret meetings? Italian restaurants? Slips of paper? This easily calls for a whole new set of SAG Strike Apocalypse MadLibs™.

UPDATE, 11/26: Nikki Finke soundly triumphed in her industry-gossip rematch with Waxman, following up with a report exposing the meeting as a fabrication. Waxman has retracted her story. Anyone up for a Watchmen tussle for these two after the holidays?

• FAMOUS STARS GIVE THUMBS UP TO STRIKE IN SECRET MEETING [WaxWord]

Just an idea of the awesome '70s graphic design. Elton is psyched to talk about sex!

Warren Beatty discusses what turns him on. A definable waist is a must.

Al Pacino's fantasy involves boredom and a seven foot woman. Anyone care to deconstruct?

Jack Nicholson wants you to help him vomit. Any volunteers?

Two or three dozen naked women, Telly? Seriously?

Tina Turner is awesome. That is all.

Elton John's theme song is Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me."

Dear Pam Grier, Did you hear the one about Truman Capote being gay?

In today's installment: Francis Ford Coppola and Pauly Shore (duh!), Tom Hanks, Bob Newhart, Warren Beatty, Woody Allen, Katherine Heigl, The Jonas Brothers, Forrest Whitaker, David Spade, Michael Cera, Johnny Knoxville, Rita Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Rose McGowan, Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz, Bobby Trendy, Joshua Kelley, Kevin Farley, Tila Tequila, Robin Antin, Charlyne Yi and more.

MONDAY, JULY 28
· Very few people impress and awe me as I have lived here most of my life and work at a place where I see amazing people every day. However, Monday while I was trekking up Westwood Blvd to hit Un-whole Foods for lunch when my jaw dropped. Coming out of Rite Aid was none other than BOB NEWHART. It was such a total shock. He is a national treasure. He should be escorted around in a popemobile or something that fits his stature, not hobnobbing with mere mortals. Then, the next days, I was having an apres earthquake lunch with a friend at The Stand and, what do you think, she tells me that she just saw Bob at the CVS south of Wilshire! He seems to be making the rounds. Gotta love him!

TUESDAY, JULY 29
· FORREST WHITAKER indulging some fans outside ONE Sunset. Not as big as I thought he'd be.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30
· I spotted JASON SCHWARTZMAN in the Staples on Sunset. He wasn’t holding any office supplies, but he did look like a man on a mission. Very handsome, although much smaller than I would have expected.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 1
· I was celebrating another lamb to slaughter (aka bachelorette) party on Friday night at the busted "club" Tao in Vegas that's in the Venetian/shopping mall. Our table and both area ended up being a thoroughfare for ho's who wanted to hop on a near-by platform type area that faced the DJ booth blaring out a medley of top 40 thru the years. FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA was sitting on the other side of our booth —just sitting— fat, old and alone and no one seemed to pay him much mind. I was still contemplating the surreal aspect of his presence and wondering why the fuck he would be wasting his time in such a lame place when I almost got knocked over by PAULY SHORE. I assumed he was in a crazed rush to get to FFC, imagining this as his moment to get on cinematic top due to a magical chance meeting with a great director at a club in a mall. I positioned myself to get a full view of their sure to be awkward exchange. It took PS about 10 minutes to get up the nerve to bumrush FFC and it was over quick. It soon became clear that the real story of the night was PS's apparent need to commute to Vegas for club pussy. He sat on the platform for hours grabbing and pawing at any tallish, blonde-ish Forever 21 dress model that danced within his grasp. I saw only one of them give him the hands-off, the rest all reacted quite favorably. It was truly incredible. I can only assume that Paulyy takes the LV tourism ads to heart. Perhaps rejected and dejected outside an LA club one night- a light went on..." Not only will I probably be able to get into clubs there -If everything that happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas..then surely some drunk, vacationing skanks will hit it with me!"
· Seinfeld's LARRY "THE SOUP NAZI" THOMAS having breakfast at Aroma Cafe in Studio City.
· WARREN BEATTY with two young girls (daughters?) and a blond
woman at Humprey Yogart in Sherman Oaks.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2
· Saw RITA WILSON and TOM HANKS at the Century City Mall with, I think, their youngest son, walking by the Apple store. I recognized Rita first and wouldn't have known it was Tom until I heard him laugh. They looked like a nice, happy family. One of the more normal spottings I've had in this damn city.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 3
· As I was sauntering down the alley behind Fiesta Cantina on my way to one of the WeHo bars that looks like a W hotel, I came upon BOBBY TRENDY with two (real) girls giving advice to some 'roided out queen in a Mercedes convertible. They were assuring said queen that his outfit looked good. Note to 'roided out queen: do not take sartorial advice from fucking Bobby Trendy. He basically agreed you looked good in bleached, capris lengthed overalls (!) with a thin black belt and white espadrilles.
· I spotted the Skanksis of Evil: Piggez Hilton, ROBIN ANTIN of Pussycat Dolls 'fame' and gay rights pioneer, TILA TEQUILA at 11. Piggez was basking in the lamelight of the other two and wouldn't be surprised if he called the paps himself. Not all the cheap beer prices in the 'Ho could destroy those images. And don't you think i didn't try.
· Had multiple celeb sightings at the Dolly Parton concert at the Greek theatre Sunday night. First, saw KATHERINE HEIGL with hubby JOSHUA (who is surprisingly hot in person). JUSTIN CHAMBERS was with them as well. Katherine was wearing glasses, sun dress, looked nice. Waited in line for the bathroom like a normal person. Right after I saw them, a strikingly pale and plasticky looking chick walked by in a yellow dress...turns out it was ROSE MCGOWAN. She was with some dude who wasn't Robert Rodriguez...guess they really broke up, or he's not a Dolly fan. Finally, walking out I nearly bumped into JOHNNY KNOXVILLE, tall and haggard looking, which I guess is the result of beating the crap out of yourself for a living.
· Went to the amazing Dolly Parton show on August 3rd. Spotted a grey-haired JOHNNY KNOXVILLE (with daughter in tow?) and MR. AND MRS. KATHERINE HEIGL Hate to break it to you, but when a fan or two approached her, she seemed smiley and rather gracious. Or maybe I had too much wine.

MONDAY, AUGUST 4
· MICHAEL CERA and CHARLYNE YI having a late lunch at Mustardseed, just now. They were with two other guys I couldn't identify by the backs of their heads. I recognized Charlyne Yi first and then noticed the beloved George Michael whose hair was cropped super short, rendering him naturally incognito.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 5
· Saw those cute Menudo boys [Ed. Note - I'm assuming she means THE JONAS BROTHERS, because surely the members of Menudo can no longer be considered "cute", right?] being rushed to their Delta flight yesterday morn. Security had to grab them as so many little teen girls were hounding them. Gotta luv those boy bands!
· ASHLEE SIMPSON and PETE WENTZ at the Hush Sound show at El Rey Theatre. They chilled in the band's private booth upstairs with all Pete's friends.
· I spotted WOODY ALLEN outside the Los Angeles Shakespeare Theater offices downtown talking to comedian BRENTLY HEILBRON. Is it for this?

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6
· DAVID SPADE (in mesh baseball cap & jacket... in August?) with KEVIN FARLEY at the Steve Miller show Wednesday at the Nokia. Not in the "pit", but close and either playing air guitar or making fun of the folks around them ... which was weird because they were there and clearly fans. (I got free tickets and figured what the hell, but I have to say Steve Miller is rock solid and clearly loved by his fans.)

· Robert Downey Jr. enjoyed himself immensely, delighting the crowd with his take on the famous goosestepping sequence from Shampoo. [ONTD]
· Jane Fonda recalled her first impressions after having screen tested with Beatty in the '50s, "I thought he was gay. He was so cute, and all his men friends were gay, and brilliant. He had a way of collecting really brilliant gay men friends. And he liked to play piano in a piano bar – I mean, what were the odds he was straight? Shows you how dumb I was." [People]

In today's episode: Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson; Warren Beatty; Nancy O'Dell; Samuel L. Jackson and Tyler Mane; Bill Paxton; Adam Levine, Bob Newhart, and Frankie Muniz; Nicole Richie; Vincent Gallo; Tara Reid; Jamie Kennedy; Jay Chandrasekhar; Matt Long; James Murphy. In Montreal: Dennis Quaid.

· 6/14/2007 - 3:45pm Just saw Ashton Kutcher & Danny Masterson at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Sunset/Argyle. Both were sporting the typically disheveled look, wearing jeans and white shirts. Danny with a fedora and sunglasses & Ashton with a Union Jack on his ass pockets. Both could use a trip to Super Cuts. They rolled out in a black on black Range Rover.

As a side note, Ashton is immensely more tall in person than you would think and looms over the average male in his own stratosphere.

· Sorry, sightings several weeks old: Cedars-Sinai doctor's office - it's crowded in the waiting room and it's a long wait to see the doctor .. but not if you're on some crappy tv show! The door opens and pregnant Nancy O'Dell arrogantly waltzes in like she owns the place. She doesn't even stop to check in, but opens the door and goes right back to her appointment. She looks worried like she's going to be deluged with autograph requests or something. Pretty pathetic. God forbid 3rd rate tv personalities have to wait like everyone else with busy important lives, and pressing medical needs.

Sunset Medical Tower - got on to elevator with another woman, and an old guy. The old guy blocked the panel of buttons so we couldn't press our floor numbers. He didn't offer to press our floors for us, so we had to work around him to press the buttons. He looked vaguely familiar, and as he got off on the 6th floor, I realized it was Warren Beatty. After he got off, the other woman rolled her eyes at his rudeness. I told her it was Warren Beatty. She said it's hard to recognize people when they've gotten so old.

· 6/12: Getting coffee in Westwood, we notice a really tall familiar looking (kinda scary) guy heading toward us. I recognized Sabretooth as he got closer, turns out Tyler Mane is 6/10" (thanks imdb, aka "The Oracle"). Lots of limos heading down the street too, so we decided to head back the other way to see what was up. Turns out it was the premiere of "1408". Couldn't get that close to the theater, but we did see Sam Jackson (no screams of "motherfucking ghosts") and my BF swears that he saw Harvey Weinstein. I told him he should go hit up Harvey and see if he could help him get out of the mailroom...

· Bill Paxton sighting! Crossing Rodeo Dr. in BH on Little Santa Monica. 9:20am, Friday 6/15. Nattily dressed in a green sport-coat and jeans, Ray-Bans. Newspaper under his arm in a professorial kind of way. Hot. No wives in tow!

· June 10th: Sat by Frankie Muniz on a plane from Portland to LAX, mostly surprised by the fact that he was not only in coach, but also stuck in a middle seat, sucks to be him. Getting off the plane I saw Adam Levine, one of the few celebrities I actually expected to have some height on me, sadly, I was wrong. Lastly, waiting outside for a ride, a rude limo driver pushed me out of the way, when I turned to scoff at him I noticed he was making way for Mr. Bob Newhart himself... glad to know he's still alive.

· Yesterday afternoon (6/12) around 6:30 or a little after I was out walking with my girl and our three dogs and we see Nicole Richie driving on Orlando heading from 3rd to Beverly with the obligatory giant bug sunglasses. Seeing as how it's a two way street she couldn't be going the wrong way, BUT she was driving on the wrong side of the road. I guess when you have a big, expensive, gas guzzling SUV you can drive how ever you want, the rest of us be damned. We didn't check to see if/which way she turned on Beverly. My girlfriend was too busy on her soapbox to care, and me being the wonderful boyfriend that I am, I kept my attention on her and nodded my head in agreement with everything she said.

· 6/12/07 - Maybe this belongs in Gawker, but Vinny Black Magic Gallo was up front in 5A on a CO flight from LAX to EWR wearing Judge Smails' hat from Caddyshack. He was two rows back so I couldn't tell the midget his hat didn't match his ubiquitous Prada boots. He actually had to wait for a bag, then out and into a cab, car service for me. Suck THAT Gallo.

· 6/14 - around 6pm, saw Tara Reid at Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica, using the entry driveway to the parking lot as an exit. Noticeable because I normally don't have to worry about traffic coming out of their parking lot when I walk by. She stopped though, and didn't give me the typical it's-LA-get-a-car-loser look. White Porsche convertible and standard bugeye sunglasses; non-standard absence of cleavage or sideboob.

· Last Sunday (6/10) around 1pm, saw semi-celebrity Jamie Kennedy park in front of an obviously red curb on the corner next to Kings Road Cafe, stumble out of the car looking all hung over, trip on the sidewalk and then plop down across from his buddy to have some lunch/brunch.

· Fri 6/15 11am: Mr. Beerfest himself, Jay Chandrasekhar, at the West Hollywood Starbucks on Santa Monica Blvd. & Robertson, looking very out of place as the only straight guy there.

· Last night (6/12) I spotted former Jack & Bobby cutie Matt Long in the Burbank Best Buy checkout line. He totally busted me checking him out, but I couldn't help but stare as he asked the clerk to point him in the direction of the DVD display for his movie Ghost Rider. I left before I got a chance to see if he actually bought a copy or not. Boy, I sure hope not.

· 6/12 Just saw James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) driving up Beverly Glen at Sunset today at 1:30 in what looks like one of those Mustangs you rent at the airport when you come to LA and it is sunny. He was with two other people I didn't recognize.

Special Montreal Edition:

· Montreal - Formula 1 weekend (June 10)- On the way into Moishes steakhouse I noticed a guy sitting by himself at the maitre de station. Dude looked straight out of GQ (expensive suit of a bon vivant rather than a banker). I was dressed from the Kevin Smith collection and took a second look to check out the fancy threads when I noticed it was Dennis Quaid. Most guys look like a cake eater in a suit that fancy bit he pulled it off. I've switched from Team Meg to Team Cap Rooney.
I also saw the new Honda robot-child at the track. Both beat seeing Frankie Muniz tooling around in his souped up golf cart last year.

First sighting contributed by someone from Prince Edward Island!

• Beatty and Hyde [TMZ]

After years of hiding in his Mulholland mansion, heckling candidates from the sidelines and hedging on questions about running for public office, the has-been actor became the can-do campaigner against Arnold’s power grab in Tuesday’s uglier-than-most election. Props for being the anti-prop provocateur, Warren. I didn’t think you had it in you to move from merely gabbing about the Governator and grabbing media attention to grappling mano a mano with Schwarzenegger and gatecrashing his partisan events.

There were a lot of places I expected to find Beatty during this time (the Grill, Dr. Arnie Klein’s office, West Hollywood’s Pleasure Chest), but none surprised me more than when he showed up as part of the “Truth Squad” nurses, teachers and firefighters brigade shadowing Schwarzenegger’s shameless shilling in Anaheim, San Diego and Riverside this past weekend. That is, if you don’t count my bedroom, where Warren’s silky voice surprised the heck out of me coming from my radio for an anti-Arnold spot he recorded for the California Nurses Association, or my answering machine for a widely distributed get-out-the-vote telephone message. What was most shocking was how he stumped in full view of the merciless news cameras, the inspiration for “He’s So Vain” putting himself on physical display, even though that once-perfect face is now geriatric and jowly, his stomach can’t hide a bulging gut, and he moves stiffly on spindly legs.

With that Pleasure Chest crack, we were afraid that a Viagra joke was forthcoming, but were relieved to find that Finke's assessment of Beatty's physicality was limited to body parts we might see on camera at a rally. It's a good thing, too, because it's way too early in the day for us to handle phrases like "the tumescent sexagenarian" or "the rock-hard Bulworth star."

• Deadline Hollywood: Props to You, Warren [LA Weekly]
• Previously: Schwarzenegger Vs. Beatty: Battle Of The Reformed-Playboy- Turned-Politico Stars [Defamer]

As the couple and their supporters approached the entrance, they were intercepted by Schwarzenegger aide Darrel Ng, who blocked their path. Standing with Beatty and Bening were officials from the teachers and nurses unions, among the governor's most dogged opponents.

Ng, 27, asked if he could help. Beatty replied that they were there to hear the governor speak. Ng said he would have to check whether they were on the list of invited guests and ran off, while other aides huddled nervously nearby.

Ng returned a few minutes later and asked Beatty and Bening to spell their names. Checking a list, he told them that they were not on it. Todd Harris, another Schwarzenegger aide, came over.

"Here's the problem," Harris said. "If your people had shown a modicum of respect when you came to our events, if you hadn't come with bullhorns and been screaming, I wouldn't really have a problem with it."

Beatty promised to listen quietly, but Harris refused. "If that guarantee had been made a year ago, it would have been great," Harris said, referring broadly to the governor's opponents.[...]

"Do we need a wristband to listen to our governor?" Bening asked. "He represents all of us."

Lady MacBeatty makes a good point: it speaks volumes about our current political climate that the same plastic-and-adhesive-jewelry system associated with all-you-can-drink Sunset Junction margaritas is now the gatekeeper to our elected officials.

As for widespread rumors that this high-profile episode of Bulworth'd was an unofficial kick-off to a gubernatorial election campaign, Beatty told one AP reporter:

"I don't want to run for governor. I want to say what I think."

He speaks as if the two were mutually exclusive; the beauty of our state, however, is that the latter, in conjunction with at least one successful big screen comic book adaptation, is really all the experience you need to be qualified to do the former.

• Beatty, Bening Try to Crash the Gov.'s Party [LAT]
• Beatty Tries to Crash Schwarzenegger Rally [AP]