Clapton to publish memoirs

New York – The memoirs of Eric Clapton, a tell-all story that has been one of the most sought manuscripts in publishing, will be released by Doubleday in 2007.

Clapton, 60, has had one of the most dramatic lives and careers in rock history, from the quick-fingered playing that inspired the graffiti “Clapton Is God,” to his heroin addiction to his tortured romance with Patti Harrison, wife of Clapton’s best friend, Beatle George Harrison.

His affair with Harrison, whom he later married and divorced, inspired the classic “Layla.”

His other songs include “Wonderful Tonight,” “Lay Down Sally” and “Tears in Heaven,” the Grammy-winning ballad inspired by the death in 1991 of his young son, Conor, who fell from the window of a New York skyscraper.

According to Doubleday, Clapton “will write frankly about every aspect of his personal and musical odyssey, addressing everything that is known about his life as well as much that is not.”

The book, currently untitled, will be timed to a North American concert tour and to the release of a boxed set retrospective of Clapton’s music.

Humanitarian award

New York – Angelina Jolie has accepted an award for her humanitarian work as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency.

At a dinner attended by 700 diplomats and VIP guests Tuesday, Jolie received the Global Humanitarian Award from the United Nations Association of the U.S.A.

The 30-year-old actress said her humanitarian work has been “the greatest thing in my life,” aside from her two children.

Jolie has a 4-year-old son, Maddox, who was adopted from Cambodia, and an infant daughter, Zahara, adopted this summer from Ethiopia.

Miller, Law have split

New York – Sienna Miller and Jude Law have ended their engagement, months after he apologized for an affair with his children’s nanny, according to a published report.

A London-based representative for Miller, who became engaged to her “Alfie” co-star last Christmas, refused comment Wednesday on the story, which was posted on People magazine’s Web site. The magazine did not name any sources.

Public Eye, the London firm that represents Miller, said it would not comment on her personal life.

Law’s publicist, Simon Halls, also said Wednesday he wouldn’t talk about the report.

British media reported this week that Miller, 23, had been seeing Law’s friend Daniel Craig while Law was fighting to win her back. Miller and Craig appeared together in the 2004 film “Layer Cake.”

Craig’s credits include the 2005 thriller “The Jacket,” starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley. The blond, blue-eyed British-born actor has been mentioned as the new James Bond.

Wedding photos released

New York – Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, who had refused to confirm their Sept. 24 wedding, have opened up their photo album.

Photos published Wednesday by OK! magazine, which paid an undisclosed sum for the pictures, show the couple tying the knot in a Kabbalah ceremony at their Beverly Hills, Calif., home.

Kutcher, 27, is wearing a cream Brooks Brothers suit and a fedora. Moore, 42, is wearing a white Lanvin gown.

Moore’s ex-husband, Bruce Willis, and their three daughters, Rumer, 17, Scout, 14, and Tallulah, 11, attended the ceremony. Other guests included actor Wilmer Valderrama, Kutcher’s “That ’70s Show” co-star.

Channing pleads no contest to drunken driving charge

Los Angeles – Stockard Channing has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge stemming from an incident last year on the Hollywood Freeway.

Channing, who won an Emmy for her role as the first lady on NBC’s “The West Wing,” was ordered to pay a $390 fine and take part in an alcohol education program after pleading no contest last Thursday, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office.

She also was placed on 36 months of probation, Mateljan said Tuesday.

The 61-year-old actress was arrested Dec. 14 after allegedly trying to drive around a roadblock set up so a tow truck could removed a disabled tractor-trailer.

American Wookiee

Dallas – A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a Wookiee named Chewbacca growled his way through “Star Wars” movies. On Monday, the actor who played him will take the oath to become an American citizen.

British-born Peter Mayhew will be among 441 people from 77 countries who will become naturalized Americans in a ceremony in Arlington, a suburb of Dallas. Mayhew, 60, played the fur-covered warrior Chewbacca in the original “Star Wars” trilogy of the 1970s and 1980s, and the latest movie, “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.”

When he takes his oath to become an American, Mayhew said he’ll recite what he can remember and “it will be a Chewie growl for the other parts.”

Mayhew has been married to a woman from Texas for six years.

“I am feeling very happy about it,” he said. “Whatever people say about America, it is still one of the most wonderful countries in the world, despite the politics, religion and everything else that goes on.”