Paramount had wanted to cast the “Dancing With the Stars” hoofer, who’s also topped the country charts with her hit, “My Hallelujah Song,” in its remake of “Footloose.” But her audition “was so bad, the producers sent her off to take acting classes,” our insider said. “She’s scheduled for another screen test Aug. 1. They definitely like her, but the producers know they need a real actress for the movie to work — she’s a pretty girl who can sing and dance, but so was Mariah Carey, and we all know how ‘Glitter’ turned out.” Reps for Hough and Paramount didn’t return detailed calls.

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Phil Spector is hoping to get a few comforts of home in his new prison cell, and a television, iPod and computer access are at the top of his list.

The music producer was transferred this week to the largest state prison in California where he will serve his sentence of 19 years to life for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson.

As a medium-security inmate, Spector can make some requests for items he wants in his cell, and his wife acknowledges her husband is already creating a list.

“He wants a TV and an iPod or something like that for listening to music,” Rachelle Spector said Tuesday. “And he would like to be able to receive e-mail.”

Phil Spector, 69, is at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison at Corcoran, where more than 6,900 other inmates are housed.

Prison officials said Phil Spector may even be allowed a musical instrument, noting that some state inmates have made similar requests and play together in groups. However, Rachelle Spector said her husband doesn’t plan to make much music behind bars.

“He has not requested an instrument, and I doubt if he will,” she said.

Rachelle Spector said she was relieved her husband was out of North Kern State Prison, where he has been undergoing evaluation since his conviction in April. She said he wrote a letter detailing alleged abuse at the prison such as being forced to sleep naked on the floor for two nights and eating out of a bowl with his hands “like a dog.”

The prison does not mistreat inmates and the actions described by the Spectors “would be a violation of policies and laws,” said Terry Thornton, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections. Thornton said any report of misconduct would be investigated.

Phil Spector was placed in the “sensitive-needs facility” of his new prison and was given a single cell, Thornton said.

Spector’s notoriety probably got him into that housing area, Lt. Stephen Smith said. The typical inmate in the section is a former gang member who has dropped out of a gang and needs protection, Smith said.

Spector is not the first celebrity to be sent to the facility. Robert Downey Jr. served time there in 1999 for a probation violation in a drug conviction. He wound up counseling other inmates before he was released.

Spector was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2003 death of Clarkson at his home in Alhambra.

In his heyday in the early and mid-1960s, Spector produced dozens of hits, including The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” The Crystals’ “Da Doo Ron Ron” and The Righteous Brothers’ classic, “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’.” Spector also worked on the Beatles album “Let It Be” and John Lennon’s album, “Imagine.”

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Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo have split!

A source close to the couple tells ys: “It was an amicable break-up. They walk away from it still friends.”

Adds another source, “They still care about each other very much. This is what’s best for both of them.”

The couple hooked up in 2006 — the year after Lachey split from wife Jessica Simpson.

In 2007, Minnillo told Us she wanted to have kids with Lachey: “I always say I want three boys and a girl, but at the end of the day, I just want healthy kids.”

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Snoop Dogg steps into the ring with EA SPORTS “Fight Night Round 4” on Xbox 360 at the House of Blues in Los Angeles Monday night. The event benefitted Snoop Dogg’s Youth Football League.

Snoop Dogg and Mike Tyson battled it out on EA SPORTS “Fight Night Round 4” on Xbox 360 last night in Hollywood. After Tyson lost the game to Snoop Dogg in a four-round head-to-head match, he presented Snoop Dogg’s Youth Football League with a $5,000 check.

Tyson attended the event with his youngest daughter and new wife, and Snoop’s son was also in attendance. Onlookers for the virtual match-up also included Jerry Ferrara from “Entourage” Larenz Tate from “Rescue Me” and Wood Harris from “The Wire.” Attendees also had a chance to experience “Fight Night Round 4,” which players can enjoy at home or with friends on Xbox LIVE. The game launches June 25.

Iron Mike Tyson takes a virtual punch on EA SPORTS “Fight Night Round 4” on Xbox 360 at the House of Blues in Los Angeles Monday night. The game launches June 25.

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Ed McMahon, the loyal “Tonight” show sidekick who bolstered boss Johnny Carson with guffaws and a resounding “H-e-e-e-e-e-ere’s Johnny!” for 30 years, died early Tuesday. He was 86. McMahon died shortly after midnight at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center surrounded by his wife, Pam, and other family members, said his publicist, Howard Bragman.

Bragman didn’t give a cause of death, saying only that McMahon had a “multitude of health problems the last few months.”

McMahon broke his neck in a fall in March 2007, and battled a series of financial problems as his injuries prevented him from working.

Doc Severinsen, “Tonight” bandleader during most of the Carson era, said McMahon was a man “full of life and joy and celebration.”

“He will be sorely missed. He was one of the greats in show business, but most of all he was a gentleman. I miss my friend,” Severinsen said in a statement.

Don Rickles, a frequent “Tonight” guest, said McMahon was “a friend from the day I first walked” onto the show’s stage.

“That kind of fun will never be repeated. Ed was the best at what he did and will never be replaced. Another giant is gone,” the comedian said.

“I will miss that laugh, and I will miss him,” said Bob Newhart, another “Tonight” regular.

David Letterman paid tribute to McMahon as a “true broadcaster” and key part of Carson’s show.

“Ed McMahon’s voice at 11:30 was a signal that something great was about to happen. Ed’s introduction of Johnny was a classic broadcasting ritual - reassuring and exciting,” Letterman said, adding, “We will miss him.”

Letterman’s bandleader, Paul Shaffer, said McMahon “defined professionalism in broadcasting.”

David Brenner, who often filled in as a guest host for Carson, called McMahon “the best sidekick TV has ever known.”

“He was a human GPS navigational system, guiding you in all the right directions, keeping you from going off course, rerouting you when you did and making all of it great fun,” Brenner said.

Jerry Digney, who was McMahon’s longtime publicist, said McMahon was the most “courtly, good-natured person you could ever meet” and that he brought “elegance, humor and a new sense of importance” to the role of second banana.

McMahon and Carson had worked together for nearly five years on the game show “Who Do You Trust?” when Carson took over NBC’s late-night show from Jack Paar in October 1962. McMahon played second banana on “Tonight” until Carson retired in 1992.

“You can’t imagine hooking up with a guy like Carson,” McMahon said in an interview with The Associated Press in 1993. “There’s the old phrase, hook your wagon to a star. I hitched my wagon to a great star.”

McMahon, who never failed to laugh at his Carson’s quips, kept his supporting role in perspective.

“It’s like a pitcher who has a favorite catcher,” he said. “The pitcher gets a little help from the catcher, but the pitcher’s got to throw the ball. Well, Johnny Carson had to throw the ball, but I could give him a little help.”

“And now h-e-e-e-e-e-ere’s Johnny!” was McMahon’s trademark opener for each “Tonight” show, followed by a small, respectful bow toward the star. McMahon’s style was honed during his youthful days as a carnival hawker.

The highlight for McMahon came just after the monologue, when he and Carson would chat before the guests took the stage.

“We would just have a free-for-all,” he said in the AP interview. “Now to sit there, with one of the brightest, most well-read men I’ve ever met, the funniest, and just to hold your own in that conversation. … I loved that.”

When Carson died in 2005, McMahon said he was “like a brother to me,” and recalled bantering with him on the phone a few months earlier.

“We could have gone on (television) that night and done a ‘Carnac’ skit. We were that crisp and hot.”

McMahon’s medical and financial problems kept him in the headlines in his last years. It was reported in June 2008 that he was facing possible foreclosure on his Beverly Hills home. By year’s end, a deal was worked out allowing him to stay in his home, but legal action involving other alleged debts continued.

Among those who had stepped up with offers of help was Donald Trump.

“When I was at the Wharton School of Business I’d watch him every night,” Trump told the Los Angeles Times in August. “How could this happen?”

McMahon even spoofed his own problems with a spot that aired during the 2009 Super Bowl promoting a cash-for-gold business. Pairing up with rap artist MC Hammer, he explained how easy it is to turn gold items into cash, jokingly saying “Goodbye, old friend” to a gold toilet and rolling out a convincing “H-e-e-e-e-e-ere’s money!”

Born Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. on March 6, 1923, in Detroit, McMahon grew up in Lowell, Mass. He got his start on television playing a circus clown on the 1950-51 variety series “Big Top.” But the World War II Marine veteran interrupted his career to serve as a fighter pilot in Korea.

He joined “Who Do You Trust?” in 1958, its second year, the start of his long association with Carson. It was a partnership that outlasted their multiple marriages, which provided regular on-air fodder for jokes.

While Carson built his career around “Tonight” and withdrew from the limelight after his retirement, McMahon took a different path. He was host of several shows over the years, including “The Kraft Music Hall” (1968) and the amateur talent contest “Star Search,” whose competitors included over the years Justin Timberlake, Usher, LeAnn Rimes, Adam Sandler and Rosie O’Donnell.

He was a longtime co-host of the Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Association Telethon, a Labor Day weekend institution, and was co-host with Dick Clark of “TV’s Bloopers and Practical Jokes.”

“On the telethon, he was my right-hand man,” Lewis said. “It’s hard to imagine doing the show without him.”

McMahon also did behind-the-scenes work for the association, Lewis said, adding: “Of the thousands of celebrities who’ve helped ‘my kids’ during the last 50-plus years, none has given more, and given more gladly, than Ed McMahon.”

Clark said: “We were together for years. Ed was a big man, had big talent and a really big heart. We’ll all miss him.”

McMahon and Clark also teamed up as pitchmen for American Family Publishers’ sweepstakes, with their faces a familiar sight on contest entry forms and in TV commercials. McMahon was known for his ongoing commercials for Budweiser as well.

He had supporting roles in several movies, including “Fun With Dick and Jane” (1977) and “Just Write” (1997). He took on his first regular TV series job in the 1997 WB sitcom “The Tom Show” with Tom Arnold.

McMahon released his autobiography, “For Laughing Out Loud: My Life and Good Times,” in 1998. In it, he recounts the birth of “Tonight.”

“Let’s just go down there and entertain the hell out of them,” Carson told him before the first show. Wrote McMahon: “That was the only advice I ever got from him.”

In 1993, he recalled his first meeting with Carson after they left “Tonight.”

“The first thing he said was, ‘I really miss you. You know, it was fun, wasn’t it?’” McMahon recalled. “I said, ‘It was great.’ And it was. It was just great.”

Besides his wife, Pam, McMahon is survived by children Claudia, Katherine, Linda, Jeffrey and Lex.

Bragman said no funeral arrangements have been made.

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Perez Hilton isn’t apologizing for using a gay slur, and says he’s never claimed to be a spokesperson for the gay community.

The celebrity blogger said in a statement Tuesday that he will continue to say things upsetting to gay and straight people alike. The comments came after the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation called for Hilton to apologize for unleashing the word during an altercation with Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am.

Hilton said he felt physically threatened and sought the most hurtful thing he could say during the confrontation at a Toronto nightclub early Monday. Police charged the band’s tour manager with assault for allegedly punching Hilton.

Hilton said he did what he thought best to stand up for himself.

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In the past three years she has gone from curvaceous rock star to Hollywood’s idea of slender perfection.

But one look at Courtney Love this week shows she has now gone too far. The 44-year-old singer looked shockingly frail when she was spotted in New York.

Her sleeveless top and clingy grey leggings exposed just how thin she has become. Her face appeared pale and gaunt.

‘Courtney looked worryingly thin, like skin and bones,’ one onlooker said. ‘Her figure is so tiny that it made her head look too big for her body.’

Her visit is thought to be connected to the lawsuit American Express has filed against her over allegedly unpaid credit.

Miss Love, who was married to the late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, has made no secret of her battle with her weight.

She began dieting in 2006 to lose the 45lb she piled on after managing to quit her long-standing drug habit. She eventually lost 52lb with the help of a diet of protein shakes, fish and vegetables.

There were whispers that she’d had the help of gastric band surgery and liposuction as well.

But Miss Love denied having surgery to control her weight and liked to joke about her new shape.

Sipping on a protein shake during a concert in New York in 2007, she told the audience: ‘[I] had to take care of my eating disorder’ before insisting she was joking.

In January this year she confessed she had wanted to get a gastric band fitted but was told by doctors she was not fat enough.

‘If I could get a gastric band I would,’ she told Elle magazine.

‘I’ve heard it’s a lot of vomiting and a pain in the ass, but it’s still easier than a diet.’

Miss Love lives in Los Angeles with her 16-year-old daughter Frances Bean. She lost custody of her in 2003 after overdosing on painkillers in front of her. They were reunited in 2005.

Miss Love is said to have been in New York visiting a bank in connection with a lawsuit American Express has filed against her over alleged unpaid credit.

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A Falmouth woman isn’t taking a kind view toward “The View” star Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s book on her recently diagnosed ailment.

Susan Hassett, a self-published author, is claiming in a federal lawsuit filed in Boston that the celebrity infringed on Hassett’s copyrights by publishing a book on celiac disease, titled “The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide,” last month.

In her suit, Hassett claims she sent Hasselbeck a copy of her own book, “Living With Celiac Disease,” in April 2008, along with a homemade cooking video, a personal note, a newspaper article and a business card.

Hasselbeck recently discovered she’s long suffered from celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder linked to gluten proteins found in wheat, barley and rye. The disease can cause, among other things, chronic diarrhea and fatigue.

Hasselbeck has said she discovered she had the ailment after returning from a “Survivor” show taping in Australia, where she felt fine and hadn’t eaten the same types of foods as she normally does in the United States.

A publicist for ABC, the network on which “The View” is aired, and for Hachette Book Group, publisher of Hasselbeck’s book, couldn’t be reached for comment.

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