Judge sends Bloom burglar to rehab for 1 year

LOS ANGELES — A judge is sending a reality TV starlet convicted of burglarizing Orlando Bloom’s house to a year in residential rehab to treat what he called long-term heroin addiction.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Peter Espinoza told Alexis Neiers it would be her last opportunity for treatment.

The 19-year-old was arrested Dec. 1 at her home and admitted possessing the drug Thursday, and Espinoza warned her that she would have a lifelong addiction and that treatment was her best option.

Prosecutors had been seeking a two-year prison term for the star of the E! Entertainment Television show “Pretty Wild.” They said Neiers had failed to report to probation officials or pay restitution to Bloom.

Van Dyke steps back in time for new stage show

MIKE CIDONI

LOS ANGELES — While some of his friends are golfing, 84-year-old stage and screen veteran Dick Van Dyke is mounting a new stage show.

“It is incredible,” says the Tony- and Emmy-winning Van Dyke about what led up to “Dick Van Dyke — Step in Time! — A Musical Memoir.” ‘’I started out singing with these three young guys who approached me in a Starbucks one morning — these three 30-year olds who said, ‘We understand you like to harmonize.’ I said, ‘Love, to.’”

Dubbing themselves “the Vantastix,” the quartet started singing Tuesday nights at Van Dyke’s house in Malibu. Then came benefit performances, including one at Westwood’s Geffen Playhouse, which approached Van Dyke about doing a one-man show.

“I said, ‘I’m not going up there on my own. No way,’” Van Dyke recalled in a recent interview, adding that he would consider the offer if he could do it with the three singers.

The four will step back in time to review Van Dyke’s half-century career, which took off with his Tony-winning lead in the original Broadway cast of “Bye Bye Birdie.” That lead him to the Emmy-winning “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” as well as the film version of “Birdie” and Walt Disney’s “Mary Poppins,” the latter perhaps his most enduring work.

“I have my third generation of kids coming up to me saying, ‘You’re (his “Mary Poppins” character) Bert! You’re Bert!’” Van Dyke said. “I’ve got to tell the story that I was in a market and a woman pointed me out to her daughter. ‘Honey, that’s the man who played Bert.’ And she ran over to her little brother and said, ‘I just met Bert’s grandpa,’” he continued, laughing.

Following “Poppins,” there were the big-screen “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” an Emmy-winning 1970s variety series, and the ‘90s TV series, “Diagnosis Murder.”

“All I ever did was look for work,” said the ever-fit-looking Van Dyke, who turns 85 on Monday. “And the things that happen to me prove that luck has so much to do, to be in the right place at the right time. I don’t know how it happened, because I never had a career plan. I had kids. And I had to work. And everything just worked out so I not only had a comfortable living, I enjoyed every minute of it — and still am. This is my retirement.”

Survivor of Connecticut killings talks to Winfrey

CARYN ROUSSEAU

CHICAGO — A Connecticut doctor whose wife and two daughters were killed in a gruesome 2007 home invasion said on Thursday’s episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” that while he has had suicidal thoughts he chose not to kill himself because he hopes to be with his family in the afterlife.

In court earlier this month, before a man convicted in the killings was sentenced to death, Dr. William Petit said he had struggled with suicidal thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks. Winfrey asked Petit why he decided not to kill himself after all.

“Religious reasons,” Petit answered. “I thought in the afterlife, if I was going to meet up with my family, if I did that (commit suicide) then maybe I would never meet up with them again. I wasn’t willing to take that chance. I thought that they would not approve and they would want me to go forward.”

Petit was the sole survivor of the home invasion. His wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old Michaela, were killed. The mother and youngest daughter were sexually assaulted. Authorities say their attackers tied the girls to their beds, poured gasoline on or around them and set the house on fire.

Steven Hayes of Connecticut was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling Jennifer Hawke-Petit and killing her daughters. He was sentenced to death. Another defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, is to go to trial next year.

Petit told Winfrey he thinks his wife would want him to continue his medical career. He also told Winfrey that he is not considering forgiveness right now.

“I don’t think you can forgive ultimate evil,” he said. “I think forgiving the essence of evil is not appropriate.”

Cousin: Aretha Franklin set for hospital release

DETROIT — Aretha Franklin’s cousin says the ailing legendary singer is “doing better than doctors expected” and expects to be released from the hospital this weekend.

Brenda Corbett tells the Detroit Free Press for a Thursday story that Franklin “has a long life in front of her and will be back in concert, on stage, late spring or early summer.”

Franklin announced last week that she had undergone a surgical procedure. Neither she nor her publicist have said what is ailing the 68-year-old Queen of Soul.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he visited Franklin four or five times and her spirits “are high and her faith is strong.”

Franklin last month canceled all concert dates and personal appearances through May on doctors’ orders.

‘Time Stands Still’ to close Jan. 30 on Broadway

NEW YORK — Time will soon indeed stand still for the drama “Time Stands Still” on Broadway.

Producers say the show will end its run when stars Laura Linney, Brian d’Arcy James, Eric Bogosian and Christina Ricci leave as scheduled on Jan. 30. It will have played 16 preview performances and 126 regular performances.

The play, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Donald Margulies and directed by Tony Award-winner Daniel Sullivan, has enjoyed runs at two Broadway theaters. It is produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club.

In the Tony-nominated play, Linney and James portray a photojournalist and a foreign correspondent who return from Iraq broken and in need of finding their footing as a couple. The cast has mostly stayed intact, with the exception of Ricci stepping in for Alicia Silverstone.