Dancing With the Stars Season 11 Partners

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Dancing with the Stars Season 11 Partners

The contestants for season 11 of "Dancing With the Stars" were announced August 31, and now everyone wants to know who's partnering with whom.

Veteran stage and screen actress Florence Henderson, probably best known for her work on "The Brady Bunch," but who also starred in "South Pacific" at Lincoln Center, will be on the top show.

Also appearing will be Jennifer Grey, who starred in "Dirty Dancing" and probably knows how to handle herself on the dance floor, and Brandy, who played the title role on "Moesha."

The other female contestants are comedienne Margaret Cho, reality star and Carl's Jr. spokeswoman Audrina Partridge, and gubernatorial daughter Bristol Palin.

The men are represented by actor David Hasselhoff, the former star of "Knight Rider," and Kyle Massey, star of Disney Channel series "That's So Raven" and "Cory in the House."

Also competing for the men are singer Michael Bolton, retired football player Kurt Warner, retired basketball player Rick Fox, and reality star Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino of "Jersey Shore."

The partners are expected to be announced on Wednesday morning on "Good Morning America."

Putting together the cast and their partners has been "like putting together the most bizarre and yet entertaining kind of dinner party,” explained senior producer and head of casting Deena Katz.

It has been rumored that Partridge would be partnered with Tony Dovolani because of his height, but she pointed out that Maksim Chmerkovskiy is also tall.

Bristol Palin has confirmed that her dancing partner was Mark Ballas, while professional dancer Edyta Sliwinska confirmed that she would not return to the show this season.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Debi Mazar No Longer "Dancing"

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Debi Mazar No Longer "Dancing"

Debi Mazar, star of "Entourage," has been eliminated from the hit show "Dancing With the Stars."

The actress was originally considered a front-runner, as she had been a hip-hop dancer and had danced in Madonna videos, but wound up being in the lowest-scoring couple on the show.

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Marlee Matlin Gives Keynote Speech

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Marlee Matlin Gives Keynote Speech

Academy Award winner Marlee Matlin gave the keynote address at the Council for Exceptional Children Convention and Expo in Seattle Wednesday night.

The deaf actress told the audience of educators that she got where she was because "people like you listened to me."

She said that growing up, her parents taught her to do what she loved, and be accepted doing it.

She told about her start in acting, playing Dorothy in a community theater production of "The Wizard of Oz" at age 13.

Henry Winkler, near the height of his popularity, came to see the show. Matlin insisted on meeting him so she could tell him she wanted to act as well.

Her mother took Winkler aside. She wanted him to speak carefully. She didn't want Marlee to go to Hollywood and be disappointed.

Instead, he told her "Marlee, sweetheart, you can be whatever you want to be." Winkler himself had struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia as a child.

Years later, she has found success, appearing on "Dancing with the Stars," "The West Wing," and of course, winning the Oscar for "Children of a Lesser God."

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Cloris Leachman Loves a Parade

Gina Wilhelm Actress

Today marked the 120th Tournament of Roses parade. Its Grand Marshall was Cloris Leachman.

The 82-year-old actress made a new name for herself in her performance on the most recent season of "Dancing with the Stars."

The theme of this year's parade was Hats Off to Entertainment. The president of the Tournament of Roses thought she personified the theme perfectly.

Leachman has been having a big year. In addition to her turn on "Dancing," she also appeared in the remake of "The Women" with Jada Pinkett Smith, Carrie Fisher, Candice Bergen, Debra Messing, and Bette Midler.

She also taped an upcoming episode of "The Office," which will air after the Super Bowl.

She just wrapped filming a Quentin Tarantino film, "Inglourious Basterds," with Brad Pitt.

She has also worked on projects with Lou Diamond Phillips, Val Kilmer, and Natalie Portman.

Gina Wilhelm Actress wishes to point out that when she performed in the Rose Parade, her Grand Marshall was Chi Chi Rodriguez. I sorta wish it had been Cloris.

Gina Wilhelm Actress