Picasso’s mistress auctions off his sketches

Paris – A sketch by Pablo Picasso of his mistress reclining nude sold for $575,357 – about three times the estimated price – at a Paris auction Monday where the woman sold 20 of the artist’s works.

Describing the pencil on paper sketch in the sale catalogue, Genevieve Laporte recalled how she had fallen asleep just as Picasso was preparing to draw: “He waited patiently until I opened my eyes to continue his sketch!”

The Picasso Museum in Paris bought the sensual image, titled “Odalisque,” for about three times the estimated price, Artcurial auction house said. Altogether, the sale of Laporte’s collection reaped a total of $1.87 million.

A similar sketch, titled “Le Songe,” was sold to an unidentified British collector for $507,239, more than twice the estimated price, said Francis Briest, the auctioneer, who is shown above with one of the works.

“I am so happy, because it has been over 50 years that I have had them,” said Laporte, who had a two-year secret affair with Picasso in the 1950s, when she was in her 20s.

Singer Ralph Stanley has heart surgery

Nashville, Tenn.– Bluegrass pioneer Ralph Stanley underwent successful heart bypass surgery Monday.

“It went as planned, and everything seems to be going well,” publicist Norma Morris said after talking with members of Stanley’s family following the triple bypass operation.

He is expected to make a full recovery, she said.

Doctors recommended the operation after the 78-year-old singer went for a regular checkup last week. The Grammy winner became a cast member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2000.

Stanley and his brother, Carter, formed one of the premier groups of early bluegrass music, the Stanley Brothers. The Virginia brothers and their band, the Clinch Mountain Boys, recorded during the 1950s and ’60s and were known for their signature haunting sound.

Ralph Stanley’s successful solo career has influenced contemporary artists such as Patty Loveless and Ricky Skaggs.

The Bobby Brown show

New York – TV viewers have peeked into the lives of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. Now another celebrity couple will take the reality show plunge.

“Being Bobby Brown,” which features Brown and his wife, pop singer Whitney Houston, premieres on Bravo at 9 p.m. CDT Thursday.

In an interview on “Dateline NBC,” Brown said he decided to allow cameras to follow him for six months because “it’s easy for people to just have the freedom to be able to say things about me, and me not say anything. That’s the easy part.

“But the hard part is to show them me, because I’m scared of being myself, sometimes.”

Brown, a former member of New Edition, married Houston in 1992. He took off with singles such as “Don’t Be Cruel,” but progressively became known more for his drug and alcohol arrests.

Everett penning memoirs

New York – Rupert Everett, the British actor whose co-stars have included Madonna and Julia Roberts, is writing his memoirs. Not yet titled, the book is scheduled for publication by Warner Books in the fall of 2006.

“I seem to have been everywhere in the last 30 years, maybe not in the epicenter but flying around the periphery of extraordinary events and equally extraordinary people,” Everett said in a statement from his publisher Monday.

Besides starring in “My Best Friend’s Wedding” with Roberts and “The Next Best Thing” with Madonna, the 46-year-old Everett was in Berlin when the wall came down and was just a few blocks from the World Trade Center on 9-11.

Later this year, he will be heard as the voice of Fox in “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” based on C.S. Lewis’ fantasy classic of children whisked to an oppressed land.

A word on Abe

Chicago – Sen. Barack Obama sees parallels between Abraham Lincoln’s life and his own, but he says the nation’s 16th president might not have envisioned a black man occupying the seat he now holds.

Obama, who occupies the U.S. Senate seat from Illinois that Lincoln lost to Stephen Douglas in 1858, wrote about how Lincoln shaped his life in a special issue of Time magazine, on newsstands Monday.

“In Lincoln’s rise from poverty, his ultimate mastery of language and law, his capacity to overcome personal loss and remain determined in the face of repeated defeat – in all this, he reminded me not just of my own struggles. He also reminded me of a larger, fundamental element of American life – the enduring belief that we can constantly remake ourselves to fit our larger dreams,” Obama wrote.

Obama, who is just the fifth black senator in U.S. history, also raised questions about Lincoln’s role in ending slavery.

“I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator,” Obama said. “As a law professor and civil rights lawyer and as an African-American, I am fully aware of his limited views on race. Anyone who actually reads the Emancipation Proclamation knows it was more a military document than a clarion call for justice.”

She’s got the look

New York – You want Jessica Simpson’s hair, don’t you?

According to a poll conducted by In Touch magazine, the 24-year-old singer-actress – and co-star of the upcoming movie “The Dukes of Hazzard” – has the hairstyle most women want.

Simpson won out over former “Friends” star Jennifer Aniston, Jessica Alba of “Sin City” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” actress Angelina Jolie, who placed second, third and fourth, respectively.

The rest of the top 10 vote-getters were, in order: Eva Longoria, Marcia Cross, Nicole Richie, Mischa Barton, Oprah Winfrey and Gwyneth Paltrow.