Features

Olmos files for divorce 

LOS ANGELES — Actor Edward James Olmos has filed for divorce from “The Sopranos” co-star Lorraine Bracco. 

The couple married in 1994 and have been separated since 1997, according to forms filed in court Friday and made public Tuesday. They have no minor children, according to the documents. 

The marriage, the second for both, was marred by a custody battle between Bracco and ex-husband Harvey Keitel over their daughter in which bitter allegations were traded. 

Olmos, who gained fame playing a dour police lieutenant in the TV series “Miami Vice,” is starring in the PBS drama “American Family.” His films include “Stand and Deliver” and “Selena.” 

Bracco, who plays a mobster’s psychiatrist in HBO’s “The Sopranos,” has appeared in films including “Riding in Cars with Boys” and “GoodFellas.” 

Bob Hope gives $1m to Academy 

LOS ANGELES — Bob Hope donated $1 million to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to help build an archive of comedy performances. 

The check was presented Tuesday by Linda Hope, the comedian’s daughter, in the name of her father and her mother, Dolores Hope. 

Bob Hope will turn 99 on May 29 and has been in poor health in recent years. 

The money is earmarked for the Academy’s Archive Comedy Collection, which includes comedy performances and interviews with Steve Allen, Bea Arthur, Phyllis Diller, Bob Newhart, Barbara Eden and others. 

Academy officials hope to someday make the entire collection available over the Internet. 

Thomas W. Sarnoff, president of the Academy’s foundation arm, said the Hope donation will help immortalize the comedian’s work by sustaining efforts to preserve aging comedy footage. 

“It is a most fitting way for the academy to perpetuate the public’s awareness of Bob Hope, his role in the entertainment industry and his contribution to both the archive and to the history of television,” Sarnoff said. 

Roseanne divorces again 

LOS ANGELES — Roseanne has filed for divorce from her third husband, Ben Thomas, citing irreconcilable differences, court records show. 

Roseanne and Thomas, her former bodyguard, have been married since Valentine’s Day 1995. The 49-year-old comedian-actress has asked for full custody of their 6-year-old son, Buck, with visitation rights for the 35-year-old Thomas, court papers showed Monday. 

It was the second time Roseanne filed for divorce from Thomas. She filed papers after a New Year’s Day 1998 event in which Thomas allegedly broke a lamp and window at the couple’s Bel-Air home. The city attorney’s domestic violence unit decided not to file charges. 

The couple had a prenuptial agreement. A message left for Roseanne’s attorney Robert Kaufman was not returned. 

Roseanne’s first marriage to Bill Pentland ended in divorce after 14 years and three children. She and her second husband, actor-comedian Tom Arnold, divorced in November 1994 after nearly four years of marriage. 

Lucy’s home is for sale 

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Lucille Ball’s childhood home is for sale on the Internet. 

The two-story house at 59 W. Lucy Lane in the Chautauqua County village of Celoron was Ball’s home from the time she was 8 years old until she was midway through high school. 

Real estate broker Bruce Turner listed it for a second time on the auction Web site eBay after it sat on the market for nearly a year. The asking price is $98,500. 

Turner first listed the 112-year-old house, about 60 miles south of Buffalo, as an auction. A few bids were over $100,000, he said, but the buyers didn’t come through. 

Now the house is listed in the regular real estate section, meaning there is no auction and any offer, not just the highest, will be considered. 

Turner said interest has been widespread, and estimates 5,000 people have taken a cyber look at the house in the month or so it has been listed. 

He said the house has aluminum siding, natural original woodwork and an upstairs bathroom that has changed little since the house was built. The kitchen has been updated some. 

“It’s just a nice older home,” he said.