Ollie Johnston, the last surviving member of Walt Disney's "nine old men" who created such classic animated films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty, and Alice in Wonderland, died in Sequim, Washington Tuesday at age 95. In a statement, Roy Disney, Walt's nephew and the third-largest shareholder in the company (after Steve Jobs and Michael Eisner), said, "Ollie was part of an amazing generation of artists, one of the real pioneers of our art, one of the major participants in the blossoming of animation into the art form we know today." Disney Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter said that Johnson "taught me to always be aware of what a character is thinking, and we continue to make sure that every character we create at Pixar and Disney has a thought process and emotion that makes them come alive."

The Walt Disney company believes in fairies. Tinker Bell, who was represented as merely a beam of light in the original J.M. Barrie play Peter Pan and later became a full-fledged character (whose life is saved when the audience shouts "I believe in fairies") is about to star in four direct-to-DVD movies. The studio on Tuesday announced plans to issue a Tinker Bell movie each year through 2011, beginning with Tinker Bell in October of this year, followed by Tinker Bell: North of Never Land in 2009; Tinker Bell: A Midsummer Storm in 2010; and Tinker Bell: A Winter Story in 2011. Disney said in a statement that the movies will be released in Blu-ray and DVD but gave few other details.

In the latest exhibition of taboo busting, Jason Segel, the star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, will be seen totally naked in one scene in which his character is rejected by his girlfriend, played by Kristen Bell. Reporting on the scene, today's (Wednesday) Los Angeles Times commented that the amount of full-frontal male nudity in the scene is "unprecedented" and that when the movie was screened at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX last month, "every time Segel was shown au naturel, the totality of his package nearly brought the house down with laughter." The movie is due to open on Friday.

Investors apparently don't believe that Blockbuster's deal to buy Circuit City is going to materialize. Not only are Blockbuster's shares down to a 52-week low but Circuit City's shares fell on Tuesday as well, closing at $4.86 -- well of the $6.00 that Blockbuster said it would offer. Several analysts suggested that the real winner out of the brouhaha over the big blue store's pursuit of Circuit City will be Netflix, the online video renter. In a note to clients, Doug Anmuth of Lehman brothers wrote, "Netflix remains largely a by-mail DVD delivery service that is making the slow but ultimately critical transition toward digital delivery. The potential BBI-Circuit City deal emphasizes Blockbuster's focus on traditional retail and could move Blockbuster further away from the DVD-by-mail business." Barton Crockett of J.P. Morgan commented that Blockbuster would have to reduce Circuit City's costs $430 million a year to break even on the deal and that it would also have to contend with "merger distractions, tough competition and a possible recession."

Online retailers will soon be able to sell copies of movies to customers not only on DVD and Blu-ray but also via downloading as the result of a partnership announced Tuesday between CinemaNow and Technicolor. Until now, the only way a consumer could download any of the thousands of titles offered by CinemaNow was to visit its website. Now Technicolor will install a system, dubbed Prisma, on any retailer's website that will allow the site to sell the same titles. Technicolor said it will not charge retailers an upfront fee for using the Prisma system. Instead, it will receive a fee for each film that is downloaded. In an interview with Video Business magazine, Scott Dougall, general manager of Technicolor Electronic Delivery Services, said the goal of the partnership, "is to build a nice, subtle transition from DVDs to digital delivery. ... We're one of the largest DVD replicators in the world, but ultimately, that business is going to sunset. We want to be in a position to provide the next generation of supply chains when that happens."

All three editions of American Idol -- the performance show, the results show and the "Gives Back" show -- wound up in Nielsen's top ten ratings for last week; however, the total number of viewers who tuned in to watch them was significantly lower than last year's count during the comparable week. But then, the total TV audience was down significantly as well, as the aftereffects of the recent writers' strike continued to linger. Idol's Tuesday-night show topped the list with a 14.2 rating and a 22 share, followed by the Monday-night edition of ABC's Dancing With the Stars, which posted a 12.8/20. A new episode of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation followed in third place. For the week, CBS retained the ratings crown with an average 6.6 rating and an 11 share. Fox followed in second place with an average 6.1/10. ABC placed third with a 5.3/9, while NBC trailed with a 4.3/7.

The top ten shows of the week according to Nielsen Research: 1. American Idol (Tuesday), Fox, 14.2/22; 2. Dancing With the Stars, ABC, 12.8/20; 3. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CBS, 12.5/19; 4. NCAA Basketball Championships (Kansas vs. Memphis), CBS, 12.1/20; 5. American Idol (Thursday), Fox, 12.0/19; 6. Dancing With the Stars (Tuesday), ABC, 11.1/17; 7. Idol Gives Back (Wednesday), Fox, 10.4/16; 8. Desperate Housewives, ABC, 10.3/15; 9. Without a Trace, CBS, 9.7/16; 10. NCIS, CBS, 8.8/14.

A member of the cast of The Bold and the Beautiful has released a letter through the Screen Actors Guild maintaining that no fellow member of the cast has been asked to leave AFTRA and join SAG instead. Release of the letter from actress Susan Flannery follows AFTRA's accusation that SAG was attempting to muscle in on its jurisdiction of daytime dramas. In the past, SAG has usually represented actors on shows that are shot on film; AFTRA, those that are shot on tape. Soap operas are generally shot on tape. In the letter, Flannery said that the idea to explore the possibility of switching unions originated with her, not SAG, and that she and co-star John McCook then met with SAG leaders Doug Allen and Alan Rosenberg "to ask what our options were." She said that they advised her to take her complaints directly to AFTRA. In the latter Flannery also maintained that what is really preventing a change of representation is an AFL-CIO rule requiring a two-year waiting period for such a switch to occur. Calling it an "anti-union clause," the actress said that it "withholds from union members the protection of a union shop and collective bargaining agent of their choice, in this case, SAG." The letter, which was posted on Nikki Finke's Dateline Hollywood Daily blog, touched off mixed reactions. One writer commented that if the clause did not exist, "every show would continuously be up for grabs and all union energies would be spent fighting turf wars between the unions and there would be no time left to protect workers against their employers." Another wrote, "AFTRA needs to allow itself to be swallowed up by SAG or just die and go away."

Contract negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers opened Tuesday with neither side commenting on what matters were discussed. In a joint statement issued at the end of the day, the two sides merely said that they had submitted proposals and would meet again on Wednesday. However, in an interview with the New York Times, SAG President Alan Rosenberg said, "Aside from my family, I have two great loves in my life: acting and the fight for social justice." He added, "Oh yes, we are very serious."

Dan Rather said Tuesday that the expected departure of Katie Couric as anchor of the CBS Evening News would give "the program a chance for a semi-fresh start." Speaking to the Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar, Rather said that the program's "big need" is a shoring up of CBS News's infrastructure, the "staff who care -- who really care -- about quality journalism. Their numbers have been reduced, and there's been a systematic winnowing back and cutting out of that infrastructure." As for who might replace Couric, Rather said that it should be someone "from the inside." His own favorite -- 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, a fellow Texan. Rather indicated that after it was announced that Couric would be succeeding him he tried to "reach out" to her. "I thought I cold help her because frankly, I didn't think she had any idea ... what she was stepping into." He acknowledged that she became "peeved at me after my criticism of the broadcast -- not of her, of the broadcast. They tried to put on the Today show in the evening and that didn't work." As for his current lawsuit against CBS, Rather insisted that the court's decision to throw out some of his claims did not affect the key issues. Most important, he indicated, he will have the opportunity during the discovery process to see what really led to his removal as anchor of the CBS Evening News. "Everything that was open to us before the judge rendered his decision is still open to us," he said.

Both conservative and liberal websites were trying to figure out what possessed MSNBC to turn down an ad urging passage of a law that would plug a current loophole that allows convicted felons to purchase firearms at gun shows. The cable news network's decision was reported by the Washington-based Politico, which quoted MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines as saying, "We don't accept controversial issue advertising." However, as numerous commentators have pointed out, the law does not appear to have any opposition. The ad was produced by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and includes comments in support of the law by all three major presidential candidates and several U.S. mayors affiliated with both major parties. Both Fox News and CNN are airing it.

Even winners of British TV talent contests can become stars in the U.S., it seems. Leona Lewis, winner of Simon Cowell's The X Factor show in the U.K., will become the first British female singer to debut at No. 1 on Billboard magazine's U.S. album chart this week, the publication said Tuesday. Her single "Bleeding Love" hit No. 1 on the singles chart last month. Billboard said that the album Spirit sold 205,000 copies during the week ended April 13.