Smithsonian visitors line up for Colbert

Washington – The line outside the bathroom at the National Portrait Gallery has been out the door since museum officials decided to hang a portrait of late-night host Stephen Colbert in between the men’s and women’s restrooms.

“The lines have been extraordinary,” museum director Marc Pachter said Monday as he prepared to end his 33-year tenure with the Smithsonian Institution. “A friend e-mailed that it was good I was leaving with my dignity.”

Colbert, who plays an egotistical conservative host on his Comedy Central show, “The Colbert Report,” has made a running joke of his campaign to get his portrait into the Smithsonian.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History turned him down. But the National Portrait Gallery, famous for its portraits of the presidents but also home to unique portrayals of athletes, hip-hop artists and Hollywood stars, welcomed the idea. The comic offered “a digital image on canvas” that shows a portrait of Colbert within a portrait within another portrait of himself. Museum officials agreed to a six-week run, electing to place the comedian just outside the museum’s Hall of the Presidents.

Pachter values the exhibit in part because it is introducing new viewers, most in their 20s, to the gallery, even if only to pose with the Colbert portrait for their Facebook entries.

Oscar loves drama (and the ladies)

Hollywood, Calif. – When it comes to the Academy Awards, it pays to be a drama queen.

At least, that’s the conclusion of a new study by researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard University, who found that the odds of being nominated for an Oscar increase for actresses who appear in dramatic films.

“Because there are fewer female than male performers in films, and both are eligible for the same number of awards, actresses stand a better chance of being nominated than actors,” said Nicole Esparza of Harvard, the study’s lead author. “It’s a simple matter of arithmetic, but as far as I know, nobody has ever raised the point.”

But the biggest factor in being nominated is appearing in a drama. The researchers found that actors – male or female – were nine times more likely to receive an Academy Award nomination in a drama than for a nondrama.

“In the entertainment industry, there’s long been a sense that the nomination process prefers dramas, but I don’t think anybody is aware of the magnitude of the effect,” noted co-author Gabriel Rossman of UCLA.

Academy Award nominations are to be announced today. The ceremony is scheduled for Feb. 24.

‘Norbit’ gets razzed

Hollywood, Calif. – One year after being nominated for an Academy Award in “Dream Girls,” Eddie Murphy finds himself on the downturn of the Hollywood roller coaster: He’s nominated for five Golden Raspberry Awards, the annual prizes better known as the Razzies that poke fun at the worst films and performances of the year.

Still, you have to give Murphy credit for versatility: He earned nominations as worst actor, worst supporting actor, worst supporting actress and worst screen couple, all for his work in the comedy “Norbit.” To add insult to insult, he also picked up a nomination for his contribution to the screenplay.

Lindsay Lohan similarly netted multiple citations in the 28th annual Razzie nominations released Monday, pulling down two nominations as worst actress and another as worst couple in the thriller “I Know Who Killed Me,” in which she played two characters with very different personalities.

Naturally, both “Norbit” and “I Know Who Killed Me” made the list of nominees for worst film of 2007, along with “Bratz,” “Daddy Day Camp” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.”

The tongue-in-cheek Razzies are handed out by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation, with nominations and winners chosen by hundreds of film professionals, journalists and fans. Winners will be announced Feb. 23 at Magicopolis in Santa Monica, a day before the Academy Awards are scheduled.

Razzie founder John Wilson said the show would go on regardless of whether the Oscars are affected by the writers strike.

Kiefer Sutherland released from jail

Los Angeles – Kiefer Sutherland was released from jail early Monday after serving 48 days on a drunken driving charge, police said.

The actor was ushered out a back door and into a waiting car at 12:05 a.m. to avoid the media near the Glendale jail’s main entrance, Officer John Balian said.

“It was a joint decision between him and our police department personnel that it would be better if he exited through the back,” Balian said.

Sutherland spent most of his jail sentence by himself, interacting with fellow prisoners only when he was on the way to the laundry room where he worked cleaning sheets, pillowcases and blankets, Balian said.

The star of Fox television’s “24” also had a cell to himself and ate alone, he said.

Sutherland pleaded no contest in October to driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of 0.08 percent. He was sentenced to 30 days, as well as 18 days for violating probation stemming from a 2004 drunken-driving arrest.

Chris Noth’s girlfriend gives birth to a boy

Los Angeles – It’s a little boy for Mr. Big.

“Sex and the City” and “Law & Order” star Chris Noth and longtime girlfriend Tara Wilson have welcomed a son, People magazine reported on its web site Sunday.

Orion Christopher Noth was born in Los Angeles on Friday, and weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces, a representative for the actor told the magazine.

Mother and baby are reportedly doing well.

Noth, 53, starred as Mr. Big in the HBO hit for four years and is currently filming the “Sex and the City” movie. Most recently he has been seen as Det. Mike Logan in “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.”