Legendary director Robert Altman has died in a Los Angeles hospital. He was 81. The seven-time Oscar nominee, who picked up an honorary Academy Award earlier this year, passed away Monday night. No cause of death has yet been given. Born in Kansas City, Missouri on February 25, 1925, Altman had a successful career in television before his movie MASH became a box office phenomenon in 1970, spawning the long-running TV series of the same name. Throughout the 1970s, the prolific filmmaker delivered a string of critically acclaimed movies including McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye, California Split and Nashville. Altman's career waned in the 1980s, before re-surging in the early 1990s with the huge ensemble casts of The Player and Short Cuts, a style he pioneered with Nashville in 1975 and A Wedding three years later. The 2001 movie Gosford Park was both a critical and commercial success; his most recent film, A Prairie Home Companion, was released earlier this year. Altman made his London theatrical debut in early 2006, directing Arthur Miller's play Resurrection Blues at the Old Vic in London under artistic director Kevin Spacey. Altman once vowed he would work for the rest of his life: "Retirement? You're talking about death, right?" Twice divorced, Altman is survived by his third wife Kathryn Reed, who he married in 1959, and five children including his son Stephen Altman, who has worked as a production designer on many of his movies.

Funnyman Jerry Seinfeld turned serious on US TV Monday night when he urged The Late Show's live studio audience to "stop laughing" as members chuckled at pal Michael Richards. Richards was appearing on the show, hosted by David Letterman, to address the controversy following his racist rant onstage at a Los Angeles comedy club. The comedian, who played quirky Cosmo Kramer opposite Seinfeld in cult sitcom Seinfeld, stunned his audience at the Laugh Factory on Friday after turning on two African-American hecklers. But, as he attempted to apologize to America on TV last night via satellite from Hollywood, many studio audience members thought the whole stunt was a joke. Richards said, "I lost my temper onstage... I got heckled and I took it badly and went into a rage and said some pretty nasty things to some Afro-Americans." But Seinfeld, a guest in the studio in New York, took offence when some audience members found his comments funny and began laughing. He said, "Stop laughing. It's not funny." This prompted Richards to address the chuckling: "I'm hearing your audience laugh and I'm not even sure that this is where I should be addressing the situation... I'm really busted up over this."

Jack Black and Entourage star Jeremy Piven have patched up their relationship after a miscommunication emerged when Black appeared on the Howard Stern radio show. The Nacho Libre star appeared on Stern's show last week and claimed that Piven had held a six-year grudge against him because he won the role of a record store geek in the hit film High Fidelity. Black insisted Piven was still upset about losing out on the plum part and recently went out of his way to sabotage him while he was speaking to a director at a premiere. The King Kong star told Stern, "(I was talking to a director when Piven) stepped in and all of a sudden he was talking to the director and I was standing there facing the back of his head. I was like, 'Whoa, dude! What are you doing? You just cut me off!' He turned around and there was this strange, awkward tension." A mutual friend tells PageSix.com that the two have now put their differences behind them saying they "smoked a peace pipe at a friend's house in LA and discussed their mutual admiration for each other. Mutual admiration is in full effect."

Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan narrowly escaped injury when her Range Rover collided with a police car in London on Sunday. The Mean Girls actress, 20, was partying with notorious London socialite Calum Best - son of late soccer legend George Best - when her vehicle crashed into the police car, which had jumped a red light. The incident is Lohan's fourth car accident in 18 months. In May 2005, she suffered minor injures when photographer Gaio Ramirez drove his car into her vehicle in Los Angeles. In October 2005, Lohan plowed her Mercedes Benz into a red van and injured the driver in Beverly Hills, California. She claimed she was speeding to get away from the paparazzi. Just two weeks ago, Lohan's Mercedes was damaged when a photographer slammed into the back of the vehicle near Hollywood nightspot Hyde.

Jennifer Aniston credits regular yoga sessions with helping get her mind and body back in shape after her traumatic divorce from Brad Pitt. The Rumor Has It star worked with celebrity trainer Mandy Ingber to develop a routine which would help get her back in top form. Aniston tells Self magazine she had "emotions she needed to move" before starting yoga, adding, "I was in need of being scooped up." The star also listened to music that inspired her while doing yoga including tunes by Seal, Coldplay, The Rolling Stones and Alicia Keys. She adds, "I was crying through moves. It's good to get that stuff out. You feel like you're having a therapy session."

Paris Hilton shocked revelers at a Las Vegas nightclub when she got up to perform but ended up vomiting on stage instead. Singer Joshua Radin was among the guests who went to a nightclub to hear rapper Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter perform and found himself sitting next to the socialite-turned-singer. Radin writes on his MySpace page, "Paris Hilton was sitting next to me the whole night. Seriously, next to me, like our legs were touching for a good five hours. Now don't get the wrong idea. She never once said hello, nor even looked in my direction. Five hours. And it was unreal to watch. She must have pulled a compact out of her bag every six minutes to stare at herself and pose while Jay-Z was performing eighteen inches from us." Radin writes that when Jay-Z left the stage, "Paris, who had been swilling straight vodka from (a) Grey Goose bottle for hours, gets up on stage, has the people in charge throw her 'record' on the house stereo for her to lip sync two of her songs. She gets up on the stage, pukes, leaves..." Radin adds, "I find the music business charming."

Kevin Federline has lashed out at reports he is trying to sell a sex tape he allegedly made with his estranged wife Britney Spears, insisting "there is no sex tape." Celebrity porn merchant David Hans Schmidt has already offered $100 million to a man claiming to have a digital copy of a sex tape featuring shocking footage from the couple's honeymoon. But Federline's attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan says, "There is not a sex video of Kevin and Britney in existence. It goes without saying that the stories of Kevin attempting to sell such a video are patently false and anyone who reports that they have information of such attempts is either lying or reporting the lie of someone else. It would be impossible to comment upon and correct all of the other misinformation about Kevin that appears on a daily basis and consequently no attempt has been made, or will be made, to do so. I hope that the public and media will keep this in mind before assuming accuracy of facts from Kevin's silence." A 19-second clip alleged to be taken from the videotape was recently leaked online, and featured a brunette woman performing a sex act. Spears, 24, filed for divorce from Federline, 28, on November 7, after two years of marriage. Federline is seeking spousal support and custody of the couple's two children - Sean Preston, 14 months, and Jayden James, two months.

Newly-elected Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thanked Barbra Streisand personally for her support Monday night when she attended the final night of the diva's US tour in Los Angeles. Streisand had campaigned for Californian Pelosi to become the first female speaker and saluted her onstage in San Jose, California last week by dedicating a song to the politician. And Streisand ended her latest farewell tour with a backstage meeting with her new political heroine. Pelosi wasn't the only celebrity at the sold-out Staples Center - Barry Manilow, Ben Stiller and Rob Lowe were among the 20,000 crowd, who paid up to $750 per ticket to watch Streisand live. The singer performed in 16 cities on the tour, which began on October 4 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Streisand ended her two-hour long Los Angeles concert with a performance of Democratic Party anthem "Happy Days Are Here Again."

Jessica Simpson and John Mayer are giving their relationship another chance, according to media reports in the US. Friends of the couple confirm they are spending time together and taking things slowly. A source close to Mayer tells American publication People, "They're fond of each other. There's a flirtation." A Simpson source adds they are "enjoying each other's company and seeing how things go. There's no title to their relationship." On Saturday Simpson and Mayer were spotted in Los Angeles and have become regulars at Paradise Cove Cafe in Malibu. They became friends in June when they ran into each other at a New York City nightclub.

Hollywood actor Keith Carradine has married his actress girlfriend Hayley DuMond in Torino, Italy. The 57-year-old veteran of TV shows including Deadwood and movies like Nashville and The Long Riders met DuMond, 32, on the set of the 1999 film The Hunter's Moon. The couple tied the knot on Saturday - the same day Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes wed in the European country. This is the second marriage for Carradine, brother of fellow actors David Carradine and Robert Carradine. He has three children from previous relationships.