It's a girl for Bonham Carter

People

British actress Helena Bonham Carter has given birth to a daughter, her second child with director Tim Burton, People magazine reported Sunday. The baby was born in London on Saturday, People said, quoting the actress's publicist. The couple have a 4-year-old son, Billy. Bonham Carter, 41, got a Golden Globe nomination last week for her role as a ghoulish baker in Burton's musical adaptation "Sweeney Todd," which opens in limited release Friday. Burton, 49, was also nominated.

Au revoir

Celine Dion called it a wrap at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Saturday night, acknowledging in her final show that pregnancy and poor early reviews almost sank her titanic five-year engagement. "I had a life for the first time," the French-Canadian chanteuse said in a video before her 717th show. "I knew then that I wanted to have more success as a mother than a singer." But her husband-manager, Rene Angelil, told her that too much money and too many people were involved. Not only would the Colosseum cost $95 million to build, her initial three-year, $100 million contract broke records for a live entertainer. So she pushed on, fighting through initial bad reviews to make it five years of filling a 4,100-seat arena. After her last number, Dion, 39, invited Angelil and her son, Rene-Charles, now 7, on stage.

Joint resolution

Mary Bono, who was married to late singer-turned-politician Sonny Bono and replaced him in Congress after his death, has married U.S. Rep. Connie Mack. The couple were married Saturday in a private ceremony in Asheville, N.C. Mack, a Republican from Florida, and Bono, R-Calif., had been dating two years. Bono replaced Sonny Bono in Congress in a special election in 1998.

Passages

Diane Middlebrook, 68, a leading feminist scholar at Stanford University who wrote acclaimed biographies of poets Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, died of cancer Saturday.

Floyd Red Crow Westerman, 71, an American Indian activist, actor and folk singer who appeared in "Dances with Wolves" and performed with Willie Nelson and other musicians, died Thursday of complications from leukemia.

Today in History

1903: Wilbur and Orville Wright of Dayton, Ohio, conducted the first successful manned powered-airplane flights, near Kitty Hawk, N.C., using their experimental craft, the Wright Flyer.

1925: Col. William "Billy" Mitchell was convicted at his court-martial of insubordination for accusing senior military officials of incompetence and criminal negligence; he was suspended from active duty.

1944: The U.S. Army announced it was ending its policy of excluding Japanese-Americans from the West Coast.

1975: Lynette Fromme was sentenced to life in prison for her attempt on the life of President Ford.

Today's Birthdays

Actor George Lindsey, 72. Singer-actor Tommy Steele, 71. Rock singer-musician Art Neville, 70. Actor Bernard Hill, 63. Actor Ernie Hudson, 62. Comedian-actor Eugene Levy, 61. Actor Bill Pullman, 54. Actor Barry Livingston, 54. Producer-director-writer Peter Farrelly, 51. Actor Giovanni Ribisi, 33. Actress Milla Jovovich, 32.

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