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People in the News

Eds: Contains items on Daniel Radcliffe, Jerry Garcia, Michelle Wie, John Lennon

AP Photos NY115 of Radcliffe, NY113 of Garcia, NY114 of Wie and NY112 of Lennon

NEW YORK (AP) – What’s it like growing up as the magical Harry Potter? For teen actor Daniel Radcliffe, it’s not that weird.

Radcliffe, the 16-year-old star of the upcoming “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” has spent almost a third of his life making movies. His latest film, based on J.K. Rowling’s novel, opens in two weeks.

“I’ve got quite a surreal mind anyway, so I don’t think it’s made much difference to how I see everything,” he told Time magazine. “That’s what’s weird: I don’t think of it as being that bizarre.”

Radcliffe was first cast as Potter when he was 11. Since then, a lot has changed: he’s taller and his face has become more defined, his voice has changed, he’s got complexion issues and is growing starter stubble.

For director Mike Newell, that causes problems.

“I’ve just been working on a scene which we shot in our first week, and Dan still looks like the little kid that he was in “Sorcerer’s Stone,” he told Time. “Now, 11 months later, he doesn’t look like that at all.”

Radcliffe is still waiting for one teenage milestone – a girlfriend. Have sparks flown between him and Emma Watson, who plays the nerdy Hermione Granger?

“No. But I had a big crush on her when I first met her, definitely,” he said. “But she’s more like a sister now, so it would be a bit incestuous. It’s too weird.”

Amphitheater ‘deadicated’

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Call it a “deadication.”

Jerry Garcia’s hometown has named a 600-seat amphitheater in his memory. On the bill for the grand opening Saturday were Jefferson Starship, David Gans and master of ceremonies Wavy Gravy, who like Garcia, has been honored with his own flavor of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.

The amphitheater is located in a park in the same neighborhood where Garcia grew up and started his strumming.

On Wednesday, some of The Grateful Dead guitarist’s artwork was installed at San Francisco City Hall as part of an inaugural exhibit for a new gallery. The exhibit includes drawings from Garcia’s childhood and days as a student at The California School of the Arts.

Garcia died on Aug. 9, 1995, from heart trouble brought on by sleep apnea.

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LAS VEGAS (AP) – Sixteen-year-old golfer Michelle Wie gave a $500,000 check to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, then played a round of golf with former President Bill Clinton.

Wie, who turned pro Oct. 5 in her native Hawaii, presented the check to Clinton at the Southern Highlands Golf Club on Sunday. Images of devastation moved her to donate, she said.

“I just saw clips of it and I really wanted to help out,” Wie said. “I really do hope it helps a lot of people. … Compared to all the disaster, it’s such a little amount of money.”

“I want to thank Michelle for this very generous contribution to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund,” Clinton said in a statement. “There are many people in the Gulf region who are in need and who will benefit from Michelle’s extraordinary generosity. She’s truly an inspiration on and off the course.”

Wie described herself as a “big fan” of Clinton.

“It was really awesome. It was really cool to see a former president,” she said.

Lennon suit sells for $118,000

LAS VEGAS (AP) – A white suit belonging to John Lennon that he wore on the album cover of “Abbey Road” sold for $118,000 at an auction while the Austin Princess he drove in the movie “Imagine” went for $150,000.

Anthony Pugliese of World Films in Del Ray, Fla., bought the suit, and the automobile was bought by a private Japanese investor, said Darren Julien, president of Julien’s Auctions, the firm holding Saturday’s auction in Las Vegas.

Pugliese also bought the jacket Lennon wore in “Imagine” for $32,000, Julien said.

Marilyn Monroe’s 1961 appointment book was bought for $16,000 by goldenpalace.com and Elizabeth Taylor’s headdress worn in the movie “Cleopatra” sold for $13,500, Julien said.