LOS ANGELES - Breaking down in tears, Celine Dion acknowledged her "No. 1 fan" at a Tuesday ceremony honouring her with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"My dad was my No. 1 fan and he still is," Dion told approximately 1,000 fans gathered for the ceremony. Adhemar Dion died in early December after a lengthy illness. He was 80.

Late night talk show host Jay Leno introduced the Canadian singer and Dion thanked him for giving her a big break on American television when he invited her to sing on The Tonight Show 13 years ago. She also extended thanks to her husband and manager Rene Angelil, for helping her launch her career, and to her fans, whom she rewarded by signing autographs after the ceremony.

Dion was originally scheduled to receive her star last March, but the ceremony was postponed because of the war in Iraq. Best known for the song "My Heart Will Go On" from the movie soundtrack of Titanic , Dion received the 2,244th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located in front of the Kodak Theatre.

NASHVILLE - Some of country and bluegrass music's biggest stars gathered Tuesday to honour banjo great Earl Scruggs with a surprise birthday performance.

Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs and Alison Krauss were just a few of the musicians who attended Scruggs's 80th birthday celebration at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, where an all-star cast performed "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and presented Scruggs with a banjo-shaped cake.

Scruggs is widely credited with giving bluegrass its distinctive sound with his three-fingered approach to playing the banjo.

"Everybody I know who heard it was stopped in their tracks and said, 'What is that? I have to find that, I have to learn that,'" recalled singer Vince Gill. He added that Scruggs's open-minded approach to bluegrass made it more appealing to younger audiences in the 1960s and 1970s. Scruggs has recorded with Sting, Elton John, Don Henley, Johnny Cash and many others.

Scruggs, who worked as a textile worker in the 1940s before becoming a professional musician, thanked the crowd. "I enjoyed every bit of it," he said.

Scruggs started out with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, where he met Lester Flatt with whom he would eventually form the Foggy Mountain Boys and the hugely successful Flatt & Scruggs.

NEW YORK - Once a movie, now a hit Broadway musical, Mel Brooks's The Producers is set to become a movie again.

Brooks has signed a deal with Universal Studios to remake his Oscar and Tony Award-winning story. On the heels of Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick's highly successful return to the Broadway production Dec. 30, the duo have also signed on to star in the new film, which is expected as early as Christmas 2005.

Brooks won a screenwriting Oscar for the 1968 film, which he also directed. For the 2001 Broadway musical adaptation, which won a record 12 Tony Awards, Brooks wrote the music, lyrics and accompanying book, in addition to serving as producer.

For the new movie musical, he will again write the screenplay, but has handed over directing duties to the Broadway production's director and choreographer, Susan Stroman.

NEW YORK - George Harrison's doctor forced the weakened ex-Beatle to sign autographs just two weeks before his death, Harrison's estate alleged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The suit claims that Harrison tried to resist signing a guitar for Dr. Gilbert Lederman's teenage son, but the doctor held the musician's hand as he signed the autograph "with great effort and much obvious discomfort."

The event allegedly took place as Harrison, who died on Nov. 29, 2001 from lung cancer and a brain tumour, was being treated by Lederman, an expert in treating large tumours with high doses of radiation.

The estate seeks possession of the guitar and two cards it says Harrison signed. A National Enquirer story about Harrison' s death featured Lederman's son holding the instrument. The musician's widow and son believe the article was arranged to raise the guitar's value, a lawyer for the estate said Tuesday.

Lederman's lawyer responded that the family has no intention of selling the guitar.

The estate is also accusing Lederman of violating the late musician's privacy by orchestrating invasive media coverage in an effort to promote his own medical practice. The suit charges that the doctor conducted interviews with several media outlets about Harrison within hours of the ex-Beatle's death.

There was also an investigation of Lederman's treatment of Harrison, after which the state Health Department reprimanded the doctor for talking to the press and fined him $5,000 US.