NASHVILLE, Tenn.- The widow of billiards legend Minnesota Fats said Tuesday her husband always denied that he was the father of singer Etta James.

James died last week in Riverside, Calif., at age 73 and coverage of her death included that she never knew her father but believed it was Minnesota Fats, whose real name was Rudolf Wondrone.

James, best known for her classic “At Last,” said her mother was a scam artist, substance abuser and a fleeting presence during her youth. The singer said that when she and Wondrone met, he neither confirmed nor denied paternity, saying he didn’t remember everything in his life.

Wondrone’s widow, T Belle, said James and the pool player met about 20 years ago and he told the singer he was not her father.

“He said he had no reason to lie about it,” Belle recalled. “He hated it that she thought he was her father.”

Minnesota Fats died in 1996, five years after marrying Belle, and spent his last years in Nashville, where he is buried.

Belle said he had prostate trouble all his life and was incapable of conceiving a child.

“He told me he didn’t have any children, that he couldn’t have any,” she said.

By most accounts, Wondrone would have been around 25 when James was born, in Los Angeles.

“He never talked about her,” Belle said. “I never heard him mention her name.”

Wondrone became famous after the 1961 movie “The Hustler,” starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason, about a young pool player challenging Minnesota Fats.

New film role gives actor distance from Potter

LONDON – Daniel Radcliffe attended the premiere of “The Woman in Black,” his first movie since the final Harry Potter film last year.

Radcliffe, known to most movie-goers as the boy wizard Potter, says it felt “very natural” to move away from that character and start the next phase of his career.

The 22-year-old plays a widowed father and lawyer in the film adaptation of Susan Hill’s gothic ghost story, one of the longest-running plays in London’s West End.

Nonetheless, many of Radcliffe’s fans lining the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall on Tuesday greeted him with Potter books and other memorabilia to be signed.

Radcliffe attended the premiere with his co-star, British actress Liz White, who plays the title role.

Lohan faces suit by pedestrian

LOS ANGELES – Lindsay Lohan’s bad luck with cars continues after a woman who claims she was struck by the actress’ sports car sued over her injuries Wednesday.

Nubia Del Carmen Preza claims she was struck by Lohan’s Maserati while walking through a West Hollywood intersection in September 2010.

Preza’s lawsuit states she has suffered “disabling and serious personal injuries, pain, suffering and anguish” and that she is seeking damages for all her medical expenses and lost time at work.

‘View’ dust-up now forgotten?

NEW YORK – Apparently enough water has flowed under the bridge for Barbara Walters and Star Jones to reunite for a day.

“The View” announced on Wednesday that Jones will appear on the daytime talk show on Feb. 22 to promote an awareness campaign about heart disease among women.

Walters and Jones had a falling out in 2006 when Jones, one of the five original co-hosts of the daytime chat show, exited “The View.” ABC decided not to renew her contract and Jones took Walters by surprise by announcing on June 27 that she would be leaving the show.

That exit came more quickly than expected. Walters wouldn’t allow her back the next day.