Robert Blake's former stuntman testified Monday that the actor asked him to murder his wife Bonnie Lee Bakley two months before she was shot dead on May 4, 2001. Gary McLarty, who worked as Blake's double on 70s TV drama Baretta, told the jury Blake met him in March and offered to take Bakley to a restaurant, and leave her in the car while McLarty shot her. Prosecutors insist McLarty's evidence proves Blake - who stands accused of killing his wife outside Vitello's restaurant in Studio City, California - was forced to do the job himself, after McLarty refused. But the defense believes McLarty's evidence is invalid because he admitted heavy cocaine use had triggered serious hallucinations. Under questioning by Blake's attorney Gerald Schwartzbach, McLarty said, "I believe he talked about going up a set of stairs at night, and pop her. Blake showed me a small gun, asked if I could obtain a silencer, and then offered $10,000 for the job. I turned Blake down a few days later, and he asked why. I said, 'Hey, just your notoriety alone.' And he hung up."

Former Sex And The City star Sarah Jessica Parker has signed a new deal to develop her own line of fragrances. The brand name and the exact perfume scent are still works in progress, but the stylish star says the first perfume - to be issued by Coty Inc - will be "fresh." She explains, "It'll be intentionally quiet, not a very aggressive scent. It's not a scent you'll smell before a person walks in a room. I don't want it to not have social skills! This is a part of my life I want to share with others... I really, really thought about it. I've been invited into women's lives and I take that seriously." Fragrance is something that has been important since her childhood. When she went to the hospital to give birth to her son, James, two years ago, Parker admits she brought her perfume because it's an important part of her daily routine. She adds, "Fragrance is a necessity on days you don't have time to shower." The fragrance is expected to hit stores in the autumn.

Paris Hilton is feuding with her sister Nicky Hilton over whose name should head the publicity campaign for their joint business venture. The hotel heiresses intend to open a line of upscale retail stores selling clothes and accessories they have designed, but Paris is convinced she will prove to be the major attraction to customers, not her lesser-known 21-year-old sibling. And so Paris is insisting all their products feature her name sprawled across them. A source tells gossip site The Scoop, "It's not a matter of pettiness or sibling rivalry. It's being a smart businesswoman. Her attitude is, basically, it's me who the public are interested in. She feels the products should be called Heiress Paris."

A California judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Dame Elizabeth Taylor, by a German family attempting to claim ownership of the actress' Vincent Van Gogh painting. The Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf actress bought Gogh's "View of the Asylum and Chapel at Saint-Remy" for $257,600 at London auction house Sotheby's in 1963. In October the descendants of Holocaust victim Margarete Mauthner filed suit against the movie legend in a Los Angeles court, claiming the Nazis seized Mauthner's painting after she fled Germany to South Africa in 1939. The South African and Canadian descendants of Mauthner claimed in the lawsuit, "Ms. Taylor was negligent and careless when she bought the painting. Our complaint charges that she ignored numerous conspicuous 'red flags' in 1963 that the painting had likely been confiscated from a victim of Nazi persecution." Last week US District Court Judge Gary Klausner said California state law only allows individuals to sue for up to three years after their property is taken. The painting's currently resides in Taylor's Los Angeles mansion.

Late actor Robert Pastorelli was a suspect in his girlfriend's death when he died last year, police have confirmed. Lawmen say the former Murphy Brown star knew he was being investigated in the death of Charemon Jonovich, 25, who was found shot in the head in Pastorelli's Hollywood Hills home in 1999, reports American TV show Celebrity Justice. Jonovich's death was initially ruled either an accident or suicide, but several months after her death the coroner indicated she had died as a result of "homicide". Police were investigating the matter last year when Pastorelli, then 49, died of a drug overdose in March. The couple had a young daughter together.

Actor Corey Feldman has expressed concern about his own childhood friendship with troubled pop superstar Michael Jackson. Feldman, who has been supportive of Jackson until recently, says in an upcoming interview with American TV show 20/20, that he's come to a "sickening realization" about his friendship with the 46-year-old Bad singer. The former child star, now 33, says, "I started looking at each piece of information, and with that came this sickening realization that there may have been many occurrences in my life and in my relationship to Michael that have created a question of doubt." The interview was conducted by British journalist Martin Bashir, whose television documentary on Jackson helped give rise to the current abuse case against the star. Feldman says Jackson's sex-abuse trial, in which the singer is charged with molesting a 13-year-old boy, led him to reexamine his past relationship with Jackson.

Lionel Richie's daughter Nicole Richie has announced that she and her boyfriend are engaged. The aspiring singer and her DJ beau Adam Goldstein - whose professional name is DJ AM - have been together for a year. The couple recently moved into a Hollywood Hills home together, and they are still working on merging their styles. The Simple Life star Richie tells People magazine, "My boyfriend's office has records and shoes and stuff like that, and whenever my friends come over, I'm always like, 'Okay, don't look at that side. This is my side.' We both have very different tastes." It will be the first marriage for both 23-year-old Richie and Goldstein. A wedding date has yet to be announced.

A homeless man has been charged with stalking Anna Kournikova, after allegedly swimming nude across Florida's Biscayne Bay searching for tennis star's home. William Lepeska, 40, was arrested on January 30 in Miami Beach after he allegedly swam 200 yards in a hunt for Kournikova's $5 million waterfront home. The man was arrested after he got out of the water and ended up in a neighbor's pool area three houses down. Police say Lepeska screamed, "Anna! Save me!" as he was taken away. Lepeska, who has 'Anna' tattooed on his right arm, was hostile at the police station and was subdued with pepper spray and a baton, say police. Lepeska allegedly bombarded the Russian stunner with letters and emails and "made several alarming statements" indicating he believed the tennis star was expecting him, according to police. A publicist for Kournikova says, "(The incident) had caused Anna to be very concerned and fearful for her safety." He also was charged with exposing himself in the presence of a child after the young daughter of another neighbor saw Lepeska laying in a "very lewd manner" by the pool. A Miami-Dade County Court judge issued a restraining order against Lepeska, who is currently being held in lieu of $26,000 bail. He is due back in court today.

Liza Minnelli has confessed she had been drinking when she fell out of bed at Christmas and had to be hospitalized. The 58-year-old singer was taken to a New York City hospital on 27 December after the fall left her semi-unconscious on the floor of her Big Apple home. The Cabaret star, who has battled drinking problems in the past, insists she isn't going to let the mishap ruin her life and accepts it was just a bad day that caused her to relapse: "I had a one-day slip. What to you do? You get up and you go on and you try not to do it again."

Rocker Billy Joel has been hospitalized in New York after suffering severe gastric pains. The newlywed "Piano Man" singer is currently undergoing tests as doctors try to pinpoint the problem. Joel is expected to be released from hospital later this week.