Producer admits attempting extortion

New York — A former television producer pressured by debt and driven by jealousy admitted Tuesday he tried to extract vengeance and money by shaking down David Letterman in a case that bared the late-night icon’s affairs with staffers.

Robert “Joe” Halderman pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny, acknowledging he tried to chisel $2 million from the TV show host. He threatened to destroy Letterman’s reputation by airing his workplace dalliances — using information authorities have said he mined from a former girlfriend’s diary.

The plea deal by Halderman, a producer for CBS’ “48 Hours Mystery” at the time, spares him a potential 15 years in prison had he been convicted. The 52-year-old is due instead to get a six-month jail sentence and 1,000 hours of community service.

Leibovitz makes debt deal to keep portfolio

New York — Annie Leibovitz, the photographer who mismanaged her fortune so badly that she faced losing legal rights to some of pop culture’s most enduring images, has reached a long-term agreement with a private investment firm to help manage her debt and market her vast portfolio, both sides said Tuesday.

Leibovitz, 60, will retain total control of her multimillion-dollar portfolio under the deal she signed with Colony Capital LLC of Santa Monica, Calif., on Monday, said Richard Nanula, a principal with the firm.

Under the agreement, Colony will become the photographer’s sole creditor and help market her archive of such provocative images as a nude John Lennon cuddling with a clothed Yoko Ono hours before his death.

Fawcett omission from Oscars no accident

Los Angeles — The executive director of the film academy said Tuesday that Farrah Fawcett wasn’t included in the Academy Awards’ In Memoriam segment because the actress was better known as a TV star.

It was a difficult decision for the committee that assembles the segment to omit Fawcett, said Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences executive director Bruce Davis, who added that he’s not surprised some fans and family members are upset.

Davis said the academy committee debated about including Fawcett and Gene Barry, a longtime TV actor who died in December at age 90, in the memorial segment but ultimately omitted both.

Davis and his colleagues thought the two actors were better known for their “remarkable television work” and would be more appropriately honored by the television academy at the Emmy Awards.