Entertainment briefs

CNN chief Jim Walton quitting after 10 years
CNN chief Jim Walton is quitting, saying the beleaguered news network needs a different leader with a new perspective and plans.

Walton built CNN into a profitable international news organization in his 10 years as boss. But the U.S. flagship network has suffered through some historically poor ratings in the past few months and is entrenched in third place behind rivals Fox News Channel and MSNBC in prime time. He announced his decision in an email to staff on Friday.

CNN historically suffers in the ratings during slow news periods, a fate Fox and MSNBC have minimized for themselves with partisan shows in prime time. Walton has resisted this approach, believing CNN’s strength lies in being a nonpartisan news source.

He’s 54 and has worked at CNN since 1981.

Composer dedicates song for Aurora victims
“The Dark Knight Rises” composer Hans Zimmer has composed a song dedicated to the Aurora, Colo., shooting victims.

Zimmer posted the track “Aurora” on his Facebook page Friday. Zimmer said he recorded the song in London in the days after the theater shooting last week. All proceeds are being donated to a fund for victims of the shooting in which 12 people died.

The 8½-minute song is being sold for donations from 10 cents to $2,500.

Zimmer has scored all three films in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

‘Selena’ star dies of liver cancer at 69
Veteran actress Lupe Ontiveros, who appeared in scores of TV shows and movies including “Desperate Housewives,” “Selena” and “As Good As It Gets,” has died. She was 69.

Ontiveros died Thursday at a hospital in Whittier, Calif., a suburb southeast of Los Angeles, after a brief battle with liver cancer, according to longtime friend and family spokesman Jerry Velasco.

She was perhaps best known for her role in “Selena,” the 1997 biopic based on the life story of the Tejano pop star. Ontiveros played Yolanda Saldivar, who in real-life was convicted of killing Selena Quintanilla.

Wire reports