This one's for Matilda

People

Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell have made sure that the late Heath Ledger's daughter, Matilda, has financial security. The three stepped in to complete Heath's last film, "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," by playing different iterations of Heath's character. They also donated their paychecks to Matilda, say London tab the Sun and USAToday.com. Director Terry Gilliam, 67, is well pleased by the boys. "That's extraordinary! And wonderful." Friends were concerned because the Aussie left an old will that didn't include the girl.

Talk isn't always cheap

Britney Spears' recently resolved custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline wasn't just messy, it was expensive. Court documents show legal bills submitted on behalf of two law firms who represented Spears total more than $466,000. That's on top of the $250,000 the 26-year-old pop singer has agreed to pay Federline's attorneys. Federline retains full custody of the children, but Spears has some overnight visits. Spears and Federline were married in 2004 and completed their divorce last July. She pays him $20,000 a month under an agreement finalized in July.

"They got everything"

Actress Christina Applegate says she has a clean bill of health after undergoing treatment for breast cancer. "I'm clear," Applegate, 36, tells ABC News' "Good Morning America" in an interview airing today. "Absolutely 100 percent clear and clean. It did not spread. They got everything out, so I'm definitely not going to die from breast cancer."

Today in History

1812: The USS Constitution defeated the British frigate Guerriere off Nova Scotia during the War of 1812.

1934: A plebiscite in Germany approved the vesting of sole executive power in Adolf Hitler.

1942: During World War II, about 6,000 Canadian and British soldiers launched a disastrous raid against the Germans at Dieppe, France, suffering more than 50 percent casualties.

1955: Severe flooding in the northeastern U.S. claimed some 200 lives.

1960: A tribunal in Moscow convicted American U2 pilot Francis Gary Powers of espionage.

1976: President Ford won the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Kansas City, Mo.

1982: Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman to be launched into space.

1991: Soviet hard-liners announced to a shocked world that President Mikhail S. Gorbachev had been removed from power. (The coup collapsed two days later.)

Today's Birthdays

Actress Debra Paget, 75. Actress Jill St. John, 68. Actor and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, 66. Former President Clinton, 62. Tipper Gore, wife of former Vice President Al Gore, 60. Actor Gerald McRaney, 60. Actor Jonathan Frakes, 56. Actor Peter Gallagher, 53. Actor Adam Arkin, 52. Actor John Stamos, 45. Actress Kyra Sedgwick, 43. Actor Kevin Dillon, 43. Country singer Lee Ann Womack, 42. TV reporter Tabitha Soren, 41. Actor Matthew Perry, 39. Rapper Fat Joe, 38. Actress Tracie Thoms, 33. Actress Erika Christensen, 26. Rapper Romeo, 19.

P.S.

Still standing

A Puerto Rican man has been granted his wish to remain standing — even in death. A funeral home used a special embalming treatment to keep the corpse of 24-year-old Angel Pantoja Medina standing upright for his three-day wake. Dressed in a Yankees baseball cap and sunglasses, he was mourned by relatives while propped upright in his mother's living room. He was found dead Friday underneath a bridge in San Juan and buried Monday.

Seattle Times news services