upon coming home from first grade), propelled Jeff and his older brother Beau into early stardom. “I’m a product of nepotism. The doors were open to me,” he readily admits.

Hollywood thought young Jeff looked like a leading man, and he rewarded the moguls” faith in him with numerous skillful and idiosyncratic performances. For example, in the 1970s alone, he was excellent as a moonshiner turned stock car racer in The Last American Hero, as Clint Eastwood’s assistant bank robber in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and as the brother of an assassinated Kennedyesque President in Richard Condon‘s intriguing follow-up to The Manchurian Candidate, Winter Kills.

Yet, the public never seemed to take Bridges to heart (in fact, it seemed unable to reliably distinguish Jeff Bridges from Jeff Daniels) … until 1999,SNEAK PEEK: Viva Las Vegas

The Democratic debate in Las Vegas tonight just may be the most-anticipated showdown the city has since the Mayweather-De La Hoya fight in May and features almost as much pre-event build-up and hype as that boxing match did.

What can we say about the Dust Up in the Desert that hasn't already been said?

It's a big night for Hillary Clinton, who needs a boffo performance to make up for her perceived stumble in Philadelphia two weeks ago and a series of stories (tipping, planting, piling on) that have opened the door for questions of her inevitability. Her rivals are likely to come out swinging but this time Clinton is prepared to fight back and throw a few jabs of her own.

It's no secret the Clinton