Women We Love: Jean Smart

This is the second in a four-part salute to the Designing Women We Love, the first season of which finally makes its DVD debutMay 26:

Object of our affection: Jean Smart, actress.

- Following guest stints on such series as The Facts of Life, Alice and Remington Steele, she hit it big as the big-hearted "donkey girl scout" Charlene Frazier on Designing Women. The series brought her not only a loyal fan base, but also a husband: she is married to Richard Gilliland, who played J.D. Shackelford, the boyfriend of Annie Potts' Mary Jo Shively.

- After leaving Sugarbaker's following its fifth season, she went on to star in several TV movies (most memorably as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story) and the short-lived Ab Fab-esque sitcom High Society.

- On the big screen, she has had small but memorable roles in The Brady Bunch Movie and Garden State, and received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Guinevere. Her other films include The Odd Couple II, Sweet Home Alabama and Bringing Down the House.

- She made her Broadway debut portraying Marlene Dietrich in Piaf and was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in The Man Who Came to Dinner; both plays were filmed for television.

- Her award success finally came when she returned to television, first with two Emmy wins in a row for her recurring role on Frasier, then two more Emmy nominations for her dramatic turn as the First Lady of the United States on 24. A third Emmy came her way just last year for her hilarious performance as Christina Applegate's mom in Samantha Who?

Dom DeLuise: 1933-2009

Dom DeLuise, popular funnyman of film and television, passed away Monday at the age of 75.

DeLuise is best known for his string of big screen comedies in the 1970's and 80's, most notably his collaborations with Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World: Part I, Spaceballs) and Burt Reynolds (The End, Smokey and the Bandit II, The Cannonball Run, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas). In addition to a memorable cameo in The Muppet Movie, he also provided the voices for several animated movies, including The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, Oliver & Company and All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Awards Watch: Tony Award Nominations

Billy Elliot triumphed once again, landing 15 Tony Award nominations today, including Best Musical, Best Director for Stephen Daldry, Best Score for Elton John and Lee Hall and a rare joint Best Actor nomination for the trio of boys who play the title role. Another screen-to-stage fave, Shrek, is also up for the top tuner trophy (plus seven other nominations), while 9 to 5 and White Christmas had to settle for just four and two nods each, respectively.

Other acting nods went to Billy's David Bologna, Haydn Gwynne, Gregory Jbara and Carole Shelley, Shrek's Brian d’Arcy James, Sutton Foster and Christopher Sieber and 9 to 5's Allison Janney and Marc Kudisch.

The 63rd Annual Tony Awards will be presented live from Radio City Music Hall June 7 on CBS.

UPDATE: Neil Patrick Harris has been announced as this year's host for the Tony Awards.

Awards Watch: MTV Movie Award Nominations

It is a case of extremes as far as the nominations for the 18th Annual MTV Movie Awards (announced earlier today) are concerned. On one hand, we have Twilight (which was totally ignored when it came to all other 2008 film awards), scoring a field best seven nods; on the other, we have Slumdog Millionaire (which won every prize in sight, including Oscar's Best Picture), coming in a close second with six nominations. Both films are vying for the top popcorn trophy for Best Movie, alongside The Dark Knight, High School Musical 3: Senior Year and Iron Man.

Among the other notable nominees in MTV's many wacky categories (including the new "Best WTF Moment") are Heath Ledger's Joker up for Best Villain (gee, do you think he'll win?), a rematch of the Academy's Best Actress line-up (Kate Winslet, Angelina Jolie and Anne Hathaway, albeit for totally different films for the latter two) and two man-on-man lip locks (Milk's James Franco and Sean Penn and I Love You, Man's Thomas Lennon and Paul Rudd) in the Best Kiss race.

As with the nominations, anyone can vote for the final awards, which will be presented live on MTV May 31 (hosted by Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg). For a quick look at all the nominees, see the comments section below.