Jill Clayburgh (1944-2010)

ENGAGED
Singer Nick Lachey, 37, and True Beauty host Vanessa Minnillo, 30, are engaged. This will be Lachey’s second marriage; he was previously married to Jessica Simpson….Dancing With the Stars‘ Karina Smirnoff, 32, is engaged to Major League Baseball pitcher Brad Penny, 32.

SPLIT
Actress Rachel Weisz, 39, and Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky, 41, have broken up after nine years. Although they never married, they have a son, 4-year-old Henry Chance. In a joint statement, the couple said they ”remain close friends and are committed to raising their son together in New York City.”

HIRED
Former Access Hollywood host Nancy O’Dell, 44, has officially been named coanchor of Entertainment Tonight, beginning in January 2011. O’Dell will fill the shoes of current host Mary Hart, 60, when she retires after 30 years at the end of this season.

RECOVERING
Lily Allen, 25, was rushed to a hospital in England on Nov. 5 with the potentially fatal blood-poisoning condition septicemia. The emergency happened just days after the singer announced that she had suffered a miscarriage — her second in three years. According to her rep, she is responding well to treatment and her condition continues to improve.

COURTS
On Nov. 4, R&B singer and ex-Dancing With the Stars contestant Mario Barrett, 24, was cleared of assault charges filed against him in October for allegedly attacking his mother. The charges were dropped in Baltimore after the singer’s mother, Shawntia Hardaway, testified in court that she was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when she falsely accused her son.

ARRESTED
Former teen idol David Cassidy (The Partridge Family), 60, was arrested Nov. 3 in Florida and charged with driving under the influence. He was released on $350 bail.

DEATHS
The body of Julien Hug, 35, who wooed Jillian Harris during season 5 of The Bachelorette, was found Nov. 3 near Sun City, Calif. Hug died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound….Storm Chasers meteorologist Matt Hughes, 30, died on May 26 of complications from an attempted suicide in his home. — WIth additional reporting by Stewart Allen

BIRTHDAYS
Anne Hathaway, 28
Ryan Gosling, 30
Neil Young, 65
Nov. 12

Gerard Butler, 41
Jimmy Kimmel, 43
Whoopi Goldberg, 55
Nov. 13

Maggie Gyllenhaal, 33
Nov. 16

Rachel McAdams, 32
Danny DeVito, 66
Martin Scorsese, 68
Nov. 17

Owen Wilson, 42
Nov. 18

Jill Clayburgh (1944-2010)
Beautiful, brilliant, and brassy, Jill Clayburgh was nominated for two Oscars during a decade she would come to define. In the ’70s, as divorce rates spiked and a generation of newly liberated women grappled with their identities, Clayburgh reflected their lives back to them, playing smart, sexual, and slightly daffy leading ladies in 1978’s An Unmarried Woman and 1979’s Starting Over. Whether on Broadway or on screen, the actress could be take-charge and vulnerable, heroic and helpless, come-hither and get-lost. Clayburgh passed away Nov. 5 at the age of 66 from chronic leukemia, a disease she’d lived with for more than two decades. Fans didn’t get to see enough of her in recent years, but the impact of her career is undeniable. EW takes a look back at her most memorable roles. — Chris Nashawaty

5 Essential Roles
Silver Streak (1976)
Clayburgh got her first taste of box office stardom thanks to Arthur Hiller’s raucous runaway-train comedy. Going toe-to-toe with manic odd couple Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder couldn’t have been easy, but she certainly made it look that way.

An Unmarried Woman (1978)
Paul Mazursky’s poignant divorce drama hit just as couples were splitting up in record numbers. Clayburgh, in an understated performance, embodied a new breed of woman, feeling both betrayed and liberated after being dumped by her husband.

Starting Over (1979)
The actress got her second nod from the Academy for what’s essentially the flip side of An Unmarried Woman, playing a neurotic teacher trying to reawaken a divorced sad sack (Burt Reynolds). An unjustly overlooked time capsule of the Me Generation.

Ally McBeal (1999-2001)
When meaty film roles dried up — Clayburgh fell victim to being another talented actress of a certain age — she segued to the small screen, earning an Emmy nom on Nip/Tuck and soaring as Calista Flockhart’s always welcome mother, Jeannie.

Running With Scissors (2006)
Ryan Murphy’s adaptation of Augusten Burroughs’ dysfunctional-family memoir is a menagerie of loopy characters, with Clayburgh ladling on her own touching brand of craziness as the meek wife of Brian Cox’s demented psychiatrist.

This Week’s Deal Report
· Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton are finally set to begin production on the big-screen adaptation of the 1960s vampire soap Dark Shadows. Depp will play the role of Barnabas Collins. Production is slated to start in April.
· The Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for a new three-year deal that, among other things, strengthens the SAG and AFTRA retirement and pension plans.
· Al Pacino will star opposite Susan Sarandon and Eva Green in the financial thriller Arbitrage. Writer-director Nicholas Jarecki will begin shooting next spring in New York. The script follows a hedge-fund entrepreneur trying to sell his company to a major bank before his fraudulent practices are uncovered.