Grammy-winning musician May dies

Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and composer Billy May - who worked with stars such as Glenn Miller, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra - has died aged 87.

The Pittsburgh-born musician died of heart failure at his Californian home.

He was renowned for his brass-heavy arrangements, and worked on such standards as Cherokee, Take The A Train and Serenade In Blue.

He won a Grammy in 1958 for his album Big Fat Brass, and worked on Sinatra's acclaimed album Come Fly With Me.

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Legal row over Roger Rabbit

An author is taking legal action against film company Disney in a dispute over merchandising for its 1988 film Who Killed Roger Rabbit?

Gary K Wolf, who wrote the source novel, says Disney owes him royalties from non-cash licensing arrangements made with companies to use characters.

But Disney says the royalty agreement only covered cash transactions.

A lower US court threw out Wolf's claim in 2001, but it has been reinstated by a court of appeal.

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Brand gets into sitcom habit

Comedy star Jo Brand is to play a nun in the new ITV comedy pilot Sister Frances, to be shown later this year.

The comedy, which Brand has also co-written, is set in a modern-day convent in Croydon. If the pilot is successful a series will follow.

Veteran actress Honor Blackman - who played Pussy Galore in the Bond film Goldfinger - will play the convent's Mother Superior.

Comedienne Morwenna Banks, the partner of David Baddiel, will also appear.

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Actress MacLaine stars with Diaz

Shirley MacLaine is to star opposite Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette in the new film In Her Shoes, which begins shooting next month.

MacLaine will star as the grandmother of two sisters, one a party girl (Diaz) and the other an ambitious lawyer (Collette) who move in together.

The movie is directed by Curtis Hanson, who filmed LA Confidential and 8 Mile, which starred rapper Eminem.