The puppeteer who performs as Elmo on "Sesame Street" is taking a leave of absence from the popular kids' show in the wake of allegations that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old boy.

Sesame Workshop said puppeteer Kevin Clash denies the charges, which were first made in June by the alleged partner, who by then was 23.

The now-faded blue gingham dress Judy Garland wore in "The Wizard of Oz" has sold for $480,000.

Auction house Julien's Auctions says the pinafore fetched the highest price of any item during a two-day auction of Hollywood memorabilia that attracted bids from around the world. The auction ended Saturday in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Anne Hathaway credits her new husband Adam Schulman for helping her get through the grueling filming of the screen adaptation of "Les Miserables."

In "Les Mis," the 30-year-old actress plays Fantine, a struggling, sickly mother forced into prostitution in 1800s Paris.

Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Cate Blanchett has received an honorary doctorate from Sydney University for her services to the arts as director of the city's flagship theater company, reports said Sunday.

Blanchett, 43, received the doctor of letters in a ceremony at the university's Great Hall on Saturday, according to media reports.

Pop superstars Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift dominated the 19th annual MTV Europe Music Awards Sunday, but South Korean Internet phenomenon Psy clinched the coveted Best Video prize.

Canadian heart-throb Bieber, fresh from breaking up with his girlfriend of two years, Selena Gomez, scooped Best Male Artist for the third year in a row, with millions of fans voting to name the winners.

The Rome Film Festival opened in the Italian capital on Friday with a line-up dedicated mainly to emerging talents, swapping red carpet stars for films by Tajik, Catalan and Mexican directors.

Ahead of a glitzy opening ceremony, artistic director Marco Muller, who previously headed up the Venice Film Festival, denied claims the lack of blockbusters had hurt ticket sales, which are down 15 percent on last year.

The Rolling Stones on Monday release a greatest hits album titled "Grrr!" featuring two new tracks recorded over the summer in Paris, as fans count down to a string of 50th-anniversary concerts.

The first new single, "Doom and Gloom" was released online last month, and is available to stream from the band's official website, www.rollingstones.com, while the second, "One More Shot", was put online on Thursday.

Steven Spielberg said it was tough to persuade British actor Daniel Day-Lewis to play Abraham Lincoln -- but the result was worth the struggle, winning rave reviews and Oscars speculation.

"Lincoln," released in the United States this weekend, is an intimate portrait of the 16th U.S. president as he struggles to change history by abolishing slavery amid the still-raging the Civil War.

Daniel Craig wanted to get out of the role of James Bond from his first appearance as the famed British spy, he said in an interview published as the latest 007 movie was released in the U.S. Friday.

The 44-year-old British actor, known for being tight-lipped with the media, also admitted that he has trouble stopping himself Googling his own name --and has no problem with performing full-frontal nude scenes.

Two fans of the "Twilight Saga" who rewrote the vampire love story as a steamy office romance have scored a two-book deal with a New York publisher in a fresh example of fanfiction going mainstream.

Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster, confirmed Thursday a report in The Hollywood Reporter that it will publish "The Office" -- no relation to the Ricky Gervais television series -- plus a sequel next year.