Clint Eastwood's ex-lover and their young daughter both cheated death after escaping from a house blaze on Christmas Day. Clint rushed to Vancouver, Canada, to comfort Frances Fisher, 49, and Francesca Eastwood, 8, after the dramatic incident on Christmas Day. After fire broke out at the home during the early hours of the morning, youngster Francesca leapt to safety from a bedroom window into the arms of her mother and neighbors - escaping serious injury. However, her mother suffered severe burns to her hands while fleeing the flames which had engulfed the property. Mother and daughter were staying in the house while Frances shot a TV show in Vancouver. After hearing of the near tragedy, Clint Eastwood immediately left his Californian home to visit them in the hospital.

American producer Steve Bing is suing British tabloid The Mirror for printing his phone number and urging readers to call him over his disputation that he fathered Elizabeth Hurley's child. The movie-maker is currently embroiled in a war of words with the British actress, who is expecting her first child in April. A suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming libel, invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress after the newspaper printed his business phone number and pressed readers to phone the "sleazeball" and tell him "exactly what you think of him" earlier this month. Bing is asking for $10 million damages and has named the publisher of the Mirror, four reporters and an editor as defendants. Bing's lawyer Marty Singer says, "They basically gave his telephone number out and told readers to call up and tell him how they feel. He got death threats. It was a very reckless thing to do." While Hurley maintains the couple had an exclusive relationship during an 18-month period, Bing says he is not sure the child is his, but if it is proved to be, he will be a "responsible parent."

Kirk Douglas gave his family the scare of their lives when he was rushed to the hospital over the Christmas period with a blood infection. The legendary actor was in the middle of a game of golf when he collapsed. He says, "I think lots of people thought, 'This is it.'" Douglas is now recovering at his home before shooting a movie with son Michael and grandson Cameron next year.

Eco-friendly Brad Pitt is urging President George W. Bush to use the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the subsequent war in the Middle East to push through new environmental breakthroughs. Brad is appalled that no politician is promoting oil alternatives - so America no longer has to rely on imports from the Middle East. Pitt says, "We keep going back into the history of these extremists, these fundamentalists, and understanding the Islamic culture, and understanding foreign policy. We're embracing religion, which is a beautiful thing to see, but the thing no one is talking about is oil. Why don't we set ourselves free? We have the technology for electric cars, and we have other power sources. Yes, it would be expensive to make the switch over, but we could, and we would have complete autonomy from our need for oil. We would not have to rape Alaska, and we wouldn't have to be dependent on those guys over there. In the long term, if we could free ourselves from the dependency of oil, we'd be alright."

Gary Busey has been caught on camera apparently roughing up his former co-star Yancy Butler in a Malibu car park. It comes just two weeks after Busey was accused of beating up his ex wife Tiani. A source who spotted the incident earlier this month between Busey and Butler says, "They were having a very heated conversation. Gary lunged at her and grabbed her face. He was very rough with her. It was very shocking to watch. She seemed completely caught off guard by his aggressive behavior." However Busey insists the incident with his Drop Zone friend was just fun and games. He says, "We were re-enacting our fight scenes from Drop Zone. Yancy and I are old friends and we hadn't seen each other for a while."

Super spy James Bond will be catching the "tube" to work in the next 007 film - in a spectacular surfing sequence. The opening action scenes of the 20th Bond film will reportedly see Pierce Brosnan get wet and wild at a famous Hawaiian surfing spot called Jaws. Cast and crew will film the spectacular stunts - involving speed boats and jetskis - from January 2 to 7. It has also been revealed that The Fast And The Furious actor Rick Yune has been added to the film's cast. Yune will play a North Korean general called Zao, who is pursued by dashing secret agent Bond. The as-yet-untitled movie is scheduled to be released in 2002.

Lord Of The Rings star Viggo Mortensen spent a terrifying night lost in a New Zealand rainforest while making the trilogy and tried to find his way back to camp using his camera flash. The avid photographer rarely goes anywhere without his camera, and has produced a portfolio of pictures from the set - which will be exhibited next year. And one "moonless night" he had special reason to call on his love of photography. He explains, "My friend and I tried in vain to find our way home through the forest. We made it back after the sun came up." Examples of the random photographs taken as Mortensen tried to get out of the forest, all entitled Lost, will be among the photographs taken of cast and crew on display.

Movie star Nicolas Cage has bought an acre of real estate in Bel Air from designer Mossimo Giannulli for $6 million. The one-acre site the actor has bought was known for years as the estate of late actress Merle Oberon. The estate was sold for $9.25 million in the late 1990s and the buildings were knocked down.

Full Monty star Robert Carlyle has a controversial new hobby after becoming an expert with a gun. The sexy Scot has played some tough characters on screen but admits that the best fight scenes were in his role as a James Bond baddie. "The gun I had in The World Is Not Enough was brilliant. It shot off about 80 bullets in 10 seconds. I was there to do a job, but my childish side really enjoyed it." He also thinks that the Brits have a different attitude to gun- etiquette then the Americans. "I don't understand when people do that weird slanting-on-the- side thing when they're holding a gun. That's just for Americans" And Carlyle has also discovered his favorite weapon. "My gun of choice has become a Beretta. It fits comfortably into the back of your trousers."

Movie hunk Benjamin Bratt's worried mum is giving the actor a hard time about his skinny frame. Ben slimmed down to play Miguel Pinero in an acclaimed new biopic about the emaciated and drug-addled street poet. But a year after losing the weight, he is still struggling to put it back on - and his mom fears her son went too far in trying to look like Pinero. He says, "I just can't get those last seven pounds back on. I'm really trying. "It's easy enough to lose the weight - I simply continued to run, but stopped going to the gym altogether. For whatever reason I'm predisposed to losing weight. If I don't lift weights and keep physical to keep mass on, I become the physical person I was at high school when I was known as The Scarecrow. My mom keeps calling and says, 'I saw you on TV dear and you look thin.' I keep saying, 'I'm trying ma'"