Actress Angela Bassett says she is on Cloud 9 now that she has signed up to join the cast of NBC’s hit medical drama “ER.”
It’s a historic moment for Bassett as this is the first time the Oscar-nominated star has committed to a full-time TV part. According to show producers, Bassett will play a troubled doctor who returns to Chicago after years in Indonesia helping the country’s medics deal with the aftermath of 2004’s tsunami.
The addition of the “What’s Love Got To Do With” It star means the Emmy award-winning series’ 15th and final season will be the most celeb-packed it has ever been. A couple of months ago producers revealed that original cast member Noah Wyle will also return to his role as Dr John Carter for four episodes. Wyle left the long-running drama in 2005 at the end of season 11.
Actor Harrison Ford is also flying high these days. Expectations for the 65-year-old’s return to the big screen in this summer’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” are sky high and the actor’s relationship with gal pal Calista Flockhart is reportedly going very well.
However, what most fans don’t know about the movie legend is that he is a private pilot who demands that his risky hobby is accounted for in all of his movies.
The “Indy” star recently told reporters that he considers earning his pilot’s license as one of his life’s greatest achievements. In fact, Ford is reportedly such a big fan of flying that he makes sure it’s part of his contracts. Reports say during his shoots in Hawaii for the latest “Indiana Jones” flick Ford shocked cast and crew by flying a helicopter during takes.
Ford recently told Maxim magazine, “It’s understood that I’m going to keep flying. And just to make sure, I make sure it’s written into all of my contracts.”
Hmm… I’m not sure I would want to be the production company having to foot the bill for Ford’s helicopter and airplane rentals (though I’m sure the cost pales in comparison to the money his star power generates), then again it beats the strange requests other stars demand–like having their dressing rooms filled with bowls of just blue M&Ms and having fresh wheatgrass on hand ala the Backstreet Boys.