Gwen Stefani was so thrilled when Julie Andrews gave her her blessing to recreate her singing nun from The Sound Of Music in her new video, she stunned the actress with a floral gift. The singer was inspired by Andrews' Maria in the movie musical when she conjured up her yodelling sound and wimple look for new single Wind It Up - and felt she should make sure the actress was OK with her homage.

Pop beauty Gwen Stefani is so obsessed with The Sound Of Music movie, she has sampled Julie Andrews' yodelling in her new song. The frontwoman is returning to the charts with her single "Wind It Up," which comes five months after she gave birth to her first child Kingston with husband Gavin Rossdale.

British newspaper The Independent has issued an apology to musical giant Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, after it claimed his reality TV show How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? was fixed. The paper claimed the outcome of the talent contest to find Maria for the West End production of The Sound Of Music had been decided by Lloyd Webber long before the show began, and that the impresario had shown favouritism towards eventual winner Connie Fisher.

Happy Birthday to My Chemical Romance bassist Mikey Way (1980), actor Ryan Phillippe (1974), "Donnie Darko" actor James Duval (1972), actor Jonathon Schaech (1969), British film director Guy Ritchie (1968), rapper Big Daddy Kane (1968), Yankees pitcher Randy Johnson (1963), "Shakespeare in Love" actor Colin Firth (1960), film director Chris Columbus (1958), "Simpsons" voice actor Dan Castellaneta (1958), Bananarama singer Siobhan Fahey (1957), actress Amy Irving (1953), Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry (1950), TV journalist Bill O'Reilly (1949), "To Sir, With Love" actress Judy Geeson (1948), Puerto Rican singer Jose Feliciano (1945), Three Dog Night singer Danny Hutton (1942), home run legend Roger Maris (1934), "Boogie Nights" actor Philip Baker Hall (1931), golf legend Arnold Palmer (1929), actor Edmond O'Brien (1915; d. 1985), "The Sound of Music" director Robert Wise (1914; d. 2005), American actress Bessie Love (1898; d. 1986), and English composer Henry Purcell (1659; d. 1695).

Singin' In The Rain has topped the American Film Institute's (AFI) list of the 25 Greatest Movie Musicals. The feel-good 1952 Gene Kelly classic beat off competition from Natalie Wood weepie West Side Story and Judy Garland favorite The Wizard Of Oz.

Scarlett Johansson has dismissed claims she lost out on a part in the London stage revival of The Sound Of Music because of outrageous Hollywood demands. Theatre impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber claims he handpicked Johansson for the part of Maria Von Trapp, but axed her when she made ridiculous requests of his West End team.

* Actress Kim Raver likes TV shows with numbers - after finding fame as a star on firefighter drama Third Watch, the actress became a regular on 24 and now she's set to star in another tense drama series, "The Nine."

"AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Cheers: America's Most Inspiring Movies," a new entertainment special saluting the most inspiring films, will be broadcast Wednesday, June 14, (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on CBS. During the broadcast, the confidential list of 100 inspiring films will be revealed by some of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Veteran actress Julie Andrews has lifted the lid on how "angry" she became shooting the legendary scene in The Sound of Music in which her character runs through the mountains singing. In the classic 1965 musical, Andrews' character Maria sings the uplifting theme song with a big smile on her face. However, filming the sequence became an almost intolerable exercise for the British actress, now 70.

Cameron Diaz is Julie Andrews' top choice to play nun Maria in a remake of classic musical The Sound Of Music. Andrews, who played Maria in the popular movie, says the blonde beauty would be perfect as the singing nun tasked with caring for the seven Von Trapp children.