RONALD REAGAN, the B-movie star who became the 40th President of the United States, was the only professional actor to have reached the White House.

AS FORMER US President Bill Clinton rushes to finish his memoirs, he faces the more pressing task of writing a book deemed worthy of all the attention, an accomplishment no president has pulled off since Ulysses S Grant.

The odds are that Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Martin Scorsese and the producers of Chicago will be smiling deliriously come March 23. That is if the bookies’ Oscar predictions all come true.

Former President Ronald Reagan's daughter Maureen is in hospital undergoing treatment for cancer that has spread since she was diagnosed with melanoma four years ago.