The actor who played Gandalf in the hit trilogy was a guest on the when host Whoopi asked: “Are you coming back in Harry Potter?”

Sir Ian, 70, closed his eyes, paused, and said: “I don’t play Dumbledore – I play ‘Lord of the Rings.’”

Whoopi apologized immediately.

Whoopi is facing a fierce backlash after saying that the critically-acclaimed director didn’t commit “rape-rape” when he had unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

“I know it wasn’t rape-rape. I think it was something else, but I don’t believe it was rape-rape,” she said on The View Monday. “He pled guilty to having sex with a minor and he went to jail, and when they let him out he said ‘You know what, this guy’s going to give me 100 years in jail. I’m not staying’. And that’s why he left.”

Whoopi went on damage control in a follow-up statement issued Wednesday: “Some people got the idea that I was condoning what he did. I’m going to be very clear: I was trying to make sure we had our facts straight because that’s my job – particularly about what he was arrested for and what he was charged with, which was unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, not rape, which was my point.”

In 1977, Samantha Gailey, then 13, told a grand jury that the director supplied her with champagne and drugs, took nude pictures of her in a hot tub, and then had sex with her, despite her repeated requests to be taken home.

Speaking of his arrest on The View Monday, the Oscar-winning actress insisted she believes the incident wasn’t rape in the strict meaning of the term.

“It was something, but I don’t believe it was rape-rape,” she said. “He went to jail and when they let him out he was like, ‘This guy’s gonna give me 100 years. I’m not staying.’ We’re a different kind of society, we see things differently. Would I want my 14 year old having sex? Not necessarily, no.”

The Dirty Dancing star died last week after a nearly two year battle with the disease. Shortly after, Somers came under fire for comments she made about Swayze in an interview with Toronto’s National Post.


“They took this beautiful man and they basically put poison in him,” Somers told National Post columnist Shinan Govani. “Why couldn’t they have built him up nutritionally and gotten rid of the toxins in his body?”

Somers – who used holistic methods to treat her breast cancer in 2001 – responded to incident on her website Monday.

“In a casual conversation at a private party (with someone who never identified himself as a reporter) at the Toronto Film Festival last week, I was asked about this beloved actor. It was never my intention to make an official statement about his passing,” Suzanne wrote. “I was not informed or aware I was being interviewed. I would never have been so insensitive as to offer a public statement so close to his untimely passing. I sincerely apologize if my comment has caused any additional pain to his family during this difficult time. I send my deepest condolences for their loss.”

The public rebuttal hasn’t stopped Whoopi from taking Suzanne to task over her remarks.

“In case she doesn’t know, Patrick did everything and went everywhere to try and stay healthy as long as he could,” The View co-host said of her Ghost co-star on Wednesday. “That he’s been gone a week and this statement came out is bad timing and bad taste and Suzanne, you know better,” Whoopi continued. “And I’m not sure that’s not what you meant to do, but you should have thought about it”

“Patrick was a really good man, a funny man and one to whom I owe much that I can’t ever repay,” Whoopi’s statement reads. “I believe in ‘Ghost’s’ message, so he’ll always be near.”

Goldberg and Swayze, along with Demi Moore, starred in the 1990 blockbuster Ghost. Goldberg won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her as sharp-tongued medium Oda Mae Brown.

In February, Swayze wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post titled, “I’m Battling Cancer. How About Some Help, Congress?” in which he urged senators and representatives to vote for the maximum funding for the National Institutes of Health to fight cancer as part of the economic stimulus package.In an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters in early 2009, Swayze acknowledged that his time might be running out.

“I’d say five years is pretty wishful thinking. Two years seems likely if you’re going to believe statistics. I want to last until they find a cure, which means I’d better get a fire under it.”

Beyonce wants to star in a motion picture remake of Whoopi Goldberg’s 1992 comedy Sister Act.

Sister Act is currently lighting up Britain’s West End in the form of popular stage musical playing at the London Palladium. The show opens on Broadway in October 2010.

The “I Am….Sasha Fierce” star has been asked to step into the role of sexy lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier, on the run from gangsters and forced to disguise herself as a nun, Britain’s Daily Mail learned Thursday evening.

The Mother Superior part (Maggie Smith in the movie, Sheila Hancock in the musical) could go to Meryl Streep, who has form playing nuns, and can sing, the tabloid wrote this week.

Beyonce’s Sister Act could debut by 2011.

Whoopi Goldberg lit into The Hills’ Heidi and Spencer Pratt on The View Monday after the couple revealed they had not read their contract prior to joining the NBC reality show I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!. Mama Whoopi warned the newlyweds that stupid moves like that could cost them much more than public ridicule in the years to come.

“As much business as you guys have done, you with the hairspray and the cleaning stuff and everything that you’re doing, you better get yourself together or you’re gonna be in the street,” Whoopi said. “You’re gonna have to take responsibility. You’re too old now. See, last year was cute. Now, you’re adults.”

In response, Spencer said from now on he and the wife will read all of their contracts.

“We do have a lot of things that we’re planning,” Heidi chimed in. “We do have a future.”

The usually levelheaded Whoopi Goldberg unleashed her inner Native New Yorker on conservative commentator Glen Beck on The View Wednesday.

The Oscar-winning star coined a new catchphrase on today’ show, calling Beck a “lying sack of dog mess” after the host of The Glen Beck Program publicly lied about his chance meeting with Whoopi and View creator Barbara Walters on an Amtrak train last week.

Here’s the clip!

As Sister Act: The Musical prepares to take the West End stage this summer, Whoopi Goldberg will have to hit the friendly skies en route London–and that means she’ll have to conquer her fear of flying.

So on The View Wednesday, Whoopi underwent a special course, courtesy of Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson, to help the funnywoman overcome her fear.

Do you think it worked? Check out these videos from today’s show.

The actress hasn’t flown for a decade, but an upcoming business commitment in London means she has to step on a plane once again.

Whoopi is dreading the experience.

The Oscar-winning Ghost star will undergo a special course on The View, courtesy of Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson, on Wednesday.

The therapy will include putting her in a flight simulator to help conquer her fears.

“I am sweating a lot. My mind is doing bad stuff to me….I am not a good flyer. I don’t like it. I don’t wanna do it.”