Actor James Coburn, 65, known for his tough-hombre roles, revealed a romantic side on Oct. 22 at the city hall in picturesque Versailles, France. There, to the strains of accordion music, he married his girlfriend of 3½ years, former TV newscaster Paula Murad, 38.

You can bet there won't be a chocolate mint waiting on her pillow when former hotel queen Leona Helmsley, 73, turns in for the nigh at the Le Marquis Hotel in Manhattan. The $54-a-night hotel rents space to a halfway house, where Helmsley has been bedding down since her Oct. 26 release from the Danbury, Conn., federal prison where she served 18 months for tax evasion. For three months, Leona will be allowed out of Le Marquis only for work, family visits and other legitimate purposes. After that will come three years of probation and 750 hours of community service.

Playwright and author James Leo Herlihy, 66, whose novels Midnight Cowboy and All Fall Down were turned into successful movies, died Oct. 20 in L.A., an apparent suicide....

Actress and author Lois Kibbee, 71, best known for her 13 years as matriarchal Geraldine Whitney Saxon on the late CBS and ABC soap The Edge of Night, died of a brain tumor on Oct. 19 in New York City. In addition to writing for Edge, Kibbee, a niece of '30s and '40s movie star Guy Kibbee, produced biographies of actress Joan Bennett and transsexual Christine Jorgensen.

Late-night king David Letterman, 46, said he would pay $125,000 to the family of a 10-year-old Florida boy, Justin Musser, to compensate for injuries the child sustained in a September 1991 traffic accident. Neither the boy's father, Raymond, nor Letterman were faulted in the incident, because they collided at an intersection at which the traffic light was inoperative. Justin suffered a broken jaw and a facial laceration. A scar may require plastic surgery.

Monaco's Princess Stephanie, 28, is due to have her second baby by former bodyguard Daniel Ducruet, 28, in May. Their son, Louis, turns 1 this month. Ducruet has a second son, also 1, by a former girlfriend. No word on marriage plans for the Princess and Ducruet....

Can the Vanna White maternity line be far off? White, 36, the letter-turner extraordinaire who now sells evening gowns, Vanna dolls and much, much more on the Home Shopping Network, is pregnant. White, who had a miscarriage last year, and her husband, Los Angeles restaurateur George Santopietro, 46, expect the new consumer to arrive in June....

Actress Gabrielle Carteris, 32, who plays bookish Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills, 90210, and her stockbroker husband, Charles Isaacs, 34, are expecting a baby in May. The scriptwriters at Fox are working out a plot line to include pregnancy for Andrea, a college freshman who recently lost her virginity to her resident dorm adviser.