Daniel Radcliffe signs on for last 2 ‘Harry Potter’ films

Los Angeles – Daniel Radcliffe has signed on to star in the final two “Harry Potter” films, Warner Bros. said Monday.

Radcliffe, who plays the bespectacled schoolboy wizard in the Hollywood adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s novels, will reprise the role in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

Warner Bros. will release the fifth installment – “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” – on July 13, a week before the book “The Deathly Hallows” is released. The show dates for the last two movies haven’t been announced.

Radcliffe, 17, is in the London stage production of “Equus,” in which he plays a troubled stableboy who mutilates horses. The racy role is quite the departure for the teen known best as Harry Potter. In the play, Radcliffe swears, smokes and appears nude.

Jerry Springer named new host of ‘America’s Got Talent’

Los Angeles – Jerry Springer is taking on another TV show.

“The Jerry Springer Show” host and “Dancing with the Stars” alum will be the new frontman of “America’s Got Talent,” NBC’s Craig Plestis announced Monday.

Springer is “the perfect ringmaster” for the TV talent competition, Plestis said in a statement. “To say the least, he is known for presiding over an unpredictable show where the unexpected is the typical order of each day.”

Springer has hosted “The Jerry Springer Show” for 16 years.

“I’ve been around some of America’s most talented individuals on my talk show,” he said, “so I’ll feel right at home hosting ‘America’s Got Talent.'”

The 63-year-old is set to join the show when it returns for its second season this summer.

Regis Philbin hosted the show during its premiere season last year. The New York-based star of “Live with Regis and Kelly” opted not to return to “America’s Got Talent” because of the “heavy travel schedule” involved with the show’s tapings in Los Angeles.

Guitarist Les Paul donates $50,000 to his Wis. hometown

Waukesha, Wis. – Les Paul, who is credited with inventing the solid-body electric guitar, has donated $50,000 to his Wisconsin hometown.

Paul has contributed $25,000 to a local museum that is planning an exhibit honoring the 91-year-old Grammy winner. The other $25,000 was given to a hospital that served his family over the years, officials announced last week.

“It says something special about someone of Mr. Paul’s stature who never forgets his roots,” said Ed Olson, president of Waukesha Memorial Hospital.

The Waukesha County Historical Society & Museum, which is raising money for the Les Paul exhibit, announced the combined $50,000 in donations. The museum had raised about $1 million by last summer toward its goal of $4 million.

Paul, who was born in Waukesha, now lives in New Jersey. He has donated many artifacts and memorabilia for the planned exhibit.

He developed the solid-body electric guitar in the 1940s.

Diddy do it? Lawsuit filed against Sean Combs

Los Angeles – A lawsuit has been filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs, alleging the music mogul punched and pushed a man and his girlfriend at a Hollywood nightclub.

Gerard Rechnitzer is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit, which was filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

An attorney for Combs called the suit “completely baseless.” Police are investigating the alleged incident.

Rechnitzer, 27, claims he and his girlfriend ran into Combs at the club, Teddy’s, inside the Roosevelt Hotel in the early morning hours of Feb. 25. According to the lawsuit, Combs was talking to Rechnitzer’s girlfriend when Rechnitzer approached. Combs, 37, then yelled at Rechnitzer “in a threatening and ominous matter,” the suit claims.