May 29

Source: People magazine

May 29, 2001

Threatening Crowe

With the post-Golden Globes party in full swing at Trader Vic's in Beverly Hills on the night of January 21, FOX television producer Bill Cipolla slipped away to use the men's room. "I was stopped in the hallway by an army of guys in tuxedos, and I thought they were simply waiting in line to use the bathroom," he says. "So, we're standing making small talk and waiting and waiting and waiting, until finally Russell Crowe emerges from the bathroom and all these guys fall in around him." In all, Cipolla recalls, six, perhaps eight, tuxedoed escorts attended the Aussie superstar. At the time, says Cipolla, who has covered his share of Hollywood award events, "I thought, 'That's a long way to go for a star to use the bathroom.' "

Now it all makes sense. On March 6 the FBI confirmed reports that the Oscar-nominated Gladiator star was the target of an abduction threat. The feds subsequently declined to comment on a British press report of "gangsters" bent on extorting millions of dollars in ransom. Instead FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley said simply, "We have to investigate until we reach a conclusion. I couldn't tell you what the outcome will be, but it's continuing." As for those undercover guys outside the men's room, an FBI source says, "It's common knowledge that the FBI was at the Golden Globe Awards."

With no evidence yet made public of either a threat or a plot, skeptics are having a field day. After all, Crowe, 36, is the same star whose highly publicized affair with Meg Ryan , 39, costar of his latest film, Proof of Life, ended last December, around the same time the film tanked in the U.S. Now, just when Proof is hitting screens in Europe and Australia, comes word of the mysterious threat -- a plot twist seemingly straight out of Proof, in which Crowe plays a hostage negotiator working in South America. "Call me a cynic, but the timing is extraordinary," says a top British security source.

Usually tight-lipped, the FBI is taking pains to put out the word that the Crowe threat was no prank. "This is not a publicity stunt," says Bosley. "We wouldn't expend the resources unless we believed there was a credible threat."

Source: The Shropshire Star

May 29, 2011

Crowe to visit UK drama students

Oscar-winning Hollywood star Russell Crowe will be talking drama with students in the north-east of England next week.

The Gladiator and Robin Hood star posted a message on his Twitter account on Saturday saying will be chatting to young actors at Durham University on Friday June 3. And the New Zealand-born Aussie said he will also be showing members of the Durham Student Theatre (DST) a home movie.

Crowe tweeted: "On June 3rd I'll be at Durham University chatting with young actors in the morning and screening a home movie in the evening for DTS (sic) members." The appointment is not a complete surprise as the actor is a friend of the university's chancellor, US author Bill Bryson.

Bryson is nearing the end of his tenure as chancellor and Crowe has said recently he had agreed to go to Durham to teach drama before his friend left. The university has not widely publicised the star's visit but there is reference on its website to "An Evening With Russell Crowe" hosted by Bill Bryson at the Assembly Rooms Theatre.

The notice warns that the event is only open to members of DST who joined before last Wednesday and says that, although the tickets are free, they will be allocated by a random draw.