CELEBRITY WATCH
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From staff and wire reports

Today's buzz stories:

• Dennis Miller ready to take the field for 'MNF' debut
• Celebrities to help honor firefighters killed in 1999 Worcester blaze
• Prince Edward to receive entertainment award
• Christian singer pleads guilty to prescription drug counts
• Second man indicted in Oscar heist

Dennis Miller ready to take the field for 'MNF' debut

LOS ANGELES -- Dennis Miller knows he's got a tough line to walk as he gears up for his regular-season debut on ABC's "Monday Night Football."

"People take their football seriously, and you have to straddle treating it with some humor but not taking advantage of it," said the sardonic, ex-"Saturday Night Live" star, who joins Al Michaels and Dan Fouts in the broadcast booth.

"People like their football. That's my focus," he told CNN's Showbiz Today. "I have to find this middle ground where I can poke fun at it and kind of revel at it too."

Miller has gotten mixed reviews so far, but fellow comedians are standing by him as he prepares for Monday's Rams-Broncos matchup.

"I know he's caught some flak and that he's over the people's heads," comedian Bill Engvall said. "Then you know what my answers to that is: Get educated."

Celebrities to help honor firefighters killed in 1999 Worcester blaze

WORCESTER, Massachusetts -- Actors Denis Leary, Michael J. Fox and Tim Robbins are among the celebrities taking part in a benefit next month to honor six firefighters killed in a warehouse blaze last December.

It will include a hockey game, a dinner and a golf tournament, and proceeds will benefit the Worcester Fire Department.

"I think many of us -- myself included -- took firefighters for granted before this terrible, terrible tragedy," said Leary, whose cousin, Jeremiah Lucey, was among those who died.

Prince Edward to receive entertainment award

BOSTON -- He's being honored not as a prince, but as a producer.

Prince Edward is scheduled to receive the Bette Davis Special Achievement Award for his work as a TV producer. The award, which will be presented September 18 at Boston University, honors excellence in the entertainment industry.

The 36-year-old son of Queen Elizabeth II is executive producer for much of the programming of Ardent Productions Ltd., which he founded. It has produced TV series about Edward VII, who abdicated the throne, and the British House of Commons.

Christian singer pleads guilty to prescription drug counts

NASHVILLE, Tennessee -- Contemporary Christian singer Michael English awaits sentencing after pleading guilty Thursday to illegally obtaining prescription drugs.

English became addicted to the painkiller hydrocodone after a back operation. He faces as much as 48 years in prison and a fine of up to $120,000 for the 12 counts.

Second man indicted in Oscar heist

LOS ANGELES -- A dock worker initially let go for lack of evidence has been indicted in the theft of those Oscar statuettes last March.

Anthony Hart, 38, of La Puente is charged with one count of grand theft, having pleaded innocent at an August arraignment.

A second employee of Roadway Express, truck driver Lawrence Ledent, leaded no contest in June to grand theft, and was sentenced to six months in jail.

The 55 Academy Awards statuettes disappeared at the warehouse where the men worked. Most were found in a trash bin a week before the March 26 ceremony.