Former ‘ER’ actress gives birth to second child

Los Angeles – Ming-Na has given birth to her second child, an 8-pound, 9-ounce boy named Cooper Dominic Zee.

“Mother and baby are doing great,” her husband, actor-producer-playwright Eric Zee, told The Associated Press late Monday.

Ming-Na, 41, played Dr. Deb Chen on “ER.” This season, she appeared on the NBC drama “Inconceivable,” about a fertility clinic, which has since been pulled from the network’s schedule.

Cooper was born at 2:23 p.m. Wednesday at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica. He joins his 4-year-old sister, Michaela.

Producer: Bruce Lee’s death simple case of wrong medicine

Hong Kong – Bruce Lee’s former producer, Raymond Chow, says the kung fu star’s sudden death at age 32 is a straightforward case of taking the wrong medicine.

Lee died of an edema, or swelling of the brain, in the home of Hong Kong actress Betty Ting Pei in 1973. The coroner described his passing as “death by misadventure.”

The circumstances of Lee’s death fueled speculation that drugs were involved and Lee was having an affair with Ting.

Chow said Lee died because he took headache medication that he was “hypersensitive” to at someone else’s home, refraining from referring to Ting directly.

He said Lee was sensitive to one of the three ingredients in the medication, equigesic.

“The bottom line is it was an accident,” Chow told The Associated Press during a recent interview.

Director aims to please a younger audience

Bangkok, Thailand – One of the reasons Roman Polanski chose to interpret Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist” for the screen was simple: He wanted to make a movie for children.

“I’m happy that my children and their friends to whom I showed this film gave me good reviews this time,” he said in Bangkok on Saturday to some laughter from reporters.

Polanski’s “Oliver Twist” – an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic – was the opening film at the Third World Film Festival, which kicked off Friday night in Bangkok.

About 40 Thai orphans saw the film.

“It’s a real pleasure to see a room full of children watching this film because it is so different from what children are offered on the cinema screen nowadays,” he said.

Polanski, whose screen credits include “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown,” won an Oscar in 2002 for his Holocaust drama, “The Pianist.” He left the United States in 1978 rather than face sentencing on child-sex charges, and lives in Paris with his wife, actress Emmanuelle Seigner, and their two children.

NYC mayor’s daughter wins $16,000 in equestrian event

Las Vegas – A daughter of New York City’s billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg won $16,000 in a horse jumping event.

Georgina Bloomberg, 22, defeated Michael Whitaker of Great Britain on Friday to win the knock-out event in the Las Vegas World Invitational show jumping contest.

“I’ve had the mare since she was 6 years old,” Bloomberg said of Nadia, a 10-year-old Dutch warmblood mare. “She’s a great speed horse.”

Mayor Bloomberg, a Republican, has a $5 billion personal fortune, which he’s using to help bankroll his re-election campaign against Democrat Fernando Ferrer.

Perot offers parenting advice

Bozeman, Mont. – Two-time presidential candidate and Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot is offering some parenting advice:

Keep your kids away from the TV. Give them some boxes to make forts. And let them have imaginary friends, Perot said.

Such activities stimulate the brain’s synapses and boost creativity, which will do wonders later in life in the work place, he said.

Perot, a pioneer of the data processing industry, spoke at a ceremony where he received a technology development award. The American Computer Museum of Bozeman presents the annual award.

Creative skills start at an early age, he said, so parents should encourage their kids to be imaginative.

“And just think, if you are not creative, you cannot do what these people did,” Perot said, motioning to his fellow award winners. “They’re wired.”

Tom Petty to receive Century award for creativity

New York – Tom Petty will receive the Century Award, Billboard’s highest honor for creative achievement, at this year’s Billboard Music Awards.

The show will air live on the Fox network from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 6.

“This award comes at a particularly nice time as the Heartbreakers and I go into the 30th year of our career,” the 54-year-old rocker said in a statement Thursday. “I’m very honored that Billboard has acknowledged me.”

Petty’s hits include “Free Fallin’,” “Don’t Do Me Like That” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” a Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ duet with Stevie Nicks.

Reality show goes to the dogs

New York – Al Roker is going to the dogs for inspiration.

The production company of the NBC “Today” show weatherman is making what it calls the first-ever dog reality television show.

Roker is teamed with Tamar Geller, who’s built a living training celebrities’ dogs. Each show will have hidden cameras that catch dogs acting like, well, animals. Geller then swoops in with obedience training.

He hasn’t sold the show to a network yet.