Gwinnett Daily Post

Winfrey to get Illinois honor

CHICAGO -- Oprah Winfrey is now a member of the Illinois Broadcasters Association's Hall of Fame.

Film critic Roger Ebert was among those who honored the talk show queen Tuesday at a downtown Chicago hotel. Association president and CEO Dennis Lyle calls Winfrey ''the epitome of broadcasting excellence.'' Ebert already is a member, along with late partner Gene Siskel.

Winfrey came to Chicago in 1984 when she started hosting ''A.M. Chicago'' on WLS-TV. That show eventually became ''The Oprah Winfrey Show,'' which will end this month after 25 years.

Ferrell shaves O'Brien beard

NEW YORK -- Will Ferrell finally triumphed over his arch enemy: Conan O'Brien's beard.

Ferrell culminated a weeks-long lead-up to Monday's episode of ''Conan'' by shaving the late-night host's beard. A giddy and determined Ferrell guest-starred on the program, promoted as the ''Beardpocalypse.''

While guzzling Barbicide, Ferrell trimmed O'Brien with clippers, which he named ''Excalibeard.'' He had promised O'Brien that the razor ''sleeps for no one.''

Ferrell did a haphazard job of it, but the shave was finished off-camera. It was the first time O'Brien gave up the beard he grew after NBC jettisoned him from the ''Tonight Show.''

Seeing O'Brien's fresh-faced mug again, Ferrell turned remorseful, saying he had made a ''terrible mistake.''

Ex-Playmate found dead

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles County coroners are trying to confirm that a body found last week in the home of former Playboy Playmate and B-movie actress Yvette Vickers is hers.

Police said a neighbor discovered the badly decomposed body. It had gone undiscovered for an unknown period of time -- anywhere from several months to a year.

The 82-year-old Vickers had appeared in cult movies such as "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman." The voluptuous blonde was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in July 1959.

Neighbor Susan Savage told the newspaper she saw letters and cobwebs in Vickers' mailbox before going into her neglected home to discover what she believed to be the actress's remains.