Auction offers Brando items that bidders couldn’t refuse

New York – Marlon Brando’s annotated script from 1972’s “The Godfather” brought more than $300,000 in an auction of the star’s memorabilia that netted a total of $2.3 million.

The script fetched more than 20 times its estimated auction price of $10,000 to $15,000. It was the largest amount paid for any single item at Thursday night’s auction, and the highest amount ever paid for a film script, according to Christie’s New York.

“Godfather” mementos were the night’s stars. Another top item related to the movie was a letter from the book’s author, Mario Puzo, asking Brando to take the role of Don Vito Corleone. It brought $132,000.

“I feel humbled by collectors and fans who have spent so freely to own a piece of my father’s heritage and history,” Miko Brando, one of the star’s children, said in a statement.

Organizers say McCartney a no-show at benefit

Laguna Beach, Calif. – Was Paul McCartney supposed to play at a concert benefiting victims of the Bluebird Canyon landslide?

An event organizer claims the former Beatle promised to perform over the weekend, but the entertainer’s publicist, Paul Freundlich, said Wednesday that McCartney never planned to appear.

The confusion started when organizer Andy Alison said he delivered a flower basket and an invitation to McCartney at his music label, Capitol Records, on June 23.

The real estate agent heard that McCartney and his wife had stayed at the Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach and were familiar with the area. Also, McCartney’s post-Beatles band, Wings, had a song called “Bluebird.”

City officials said they were under the impression McCartney wished to help the victims when a city employee received a call from a man who said he worked for Capitol Records. The man never called back, City Manager Ken Frank said.

About 2,500 people flocked to Saturday’s concert at an elementary school.

The June 1 landslide sent homes tumbling down a hill and left others on unstable ground.

Shields play war of the words with Cruise over use of pills

New York – Brooke Shields took aim at Tom Cruise’s “Today” show diatribe against antidepressants, saying the drugs helped her survive feelings of hopelessness after the birth of her first child.

“I’m going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression,” she wrote in an op-ed piece published Friday in The New York Times.

Cruise had criticized the actress for taking the drugs, and became particularly passionate about the issue in an interview on “Today” last week.

“You don’t know the history of psychiatry. I do,” Cruise told Matt Lauer.

He went on to say there was no such thing as chemical imbalances that need to be corrected with drugs, and that depression could be treated with exercise and vitamins. Shields called those remarks “a disservice to mothers everywhere.”

Shields said she considered swallowing a bottle of pills or jumping out the window at the lowest point of her depression following the birth of her daughter, Rowan Francis, in 2003. A doctor later attributed her feelings to a plunge in her estrogen and progesterone levels and prescribed the antidepressant Paxil.

Birthdays

Former White House chief of staff John H. Sununu is 66. Writer-director-comedian Larry David is 58. Actress-model Jerry Hall is 49. Singer Michelle Branch is 22. Actress Lindsay Lohan is 19.