• December 13, 1993
• Vol. 40
• No. 24

Chatter

By Kim Cunningham

THE LOVE BUG [BR] "Love is an extremely volatile element," says actor Sam Neill. "The explosion can blind and cripple you, or it can be an absolutely marvelous injury". There ain't nothing like it." Neill, New Zealand's leading man, is talking about his onscreen relationship with Holly Hunter in the critically acclaimed movie The Piano, but he also speaks from personal experience. "When I fell in love, I had the usual symptoms," says Neill, 46, who in 1989 married Noriko Watanabe, a Japanese makeup artist he met on the set of the movie Dead Calm. "Insomnia, light fever, loss of appetite. It was like the flu, except the symptoms intensified in the presence of the intended." [P] GLASSY-EYED [BR] "I think glasses enhance the way I look," says Gabrielle Carteris, 32, who plays issues-minded Andrea on Beverly Hills, 90210. As honorary chairwoman of Give the Gift of Sight, she is focused on getting people to donate used glasses for distribution to Third World countries (call 1-800-522-JLENS). "Ever since Elton John, glasses have been worn as accessories," says Carteris. She even persuaded her husband, stockbroker Charles Isaacs, to forgo contact lenses. "I love him in glasses," she explains. "He looks sophisticated and sexy." Carteris, who has worn glasses since age 9, lakes a farsighted view of the couple's first child, due in May. "Our baby will probably need glasses right out of the womb," she says, adding that while both Luke Perry and Shannen Doherty recently married, "this is the first 90210 baby—as far as I know." [P] SIBLING REVELRY [BR] The brothers Baldwin—Alec, Daniel, Billy and Stephen—certainly look and sound alike, but their movie-marquee values aren't even close to being identical. Recently, though, Daniel, 34, who has had minor roles in films such as Hero and Born on the Fourth of July, saw a chance to finally make a bigger name for himself. "I called my agents and said I wanted to read for the part [LB]of Daryl Hannah's husband in Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman [HBO. Dec. 11[RB]," Daniel says. "They said, 'We hear they're going to offer it to someone bigger than you.' I decided to call [LB]the casting agent[RB] myself—and got the part." And, two months later, new agents. [P] THE LOOK OF (LEGAL) EAGLES [BR] Richard Dysart isn't a lawyer, but since he plays one on TV, people occasionally seek his counsel. "One lime an angry neighbor in Santa Monica was having a rent-control problem," says Dysart, 64, who plays Leland McKenzie, the head of the prestigious partnership on NBC's L.A. Law. "She owned the building and wanted to get rid of a tenant. She told me the story and said, 'Now, what should I do about this?' I said, 'I can't give you advice because I'm not a lawyer.' To which she replied, 'I know you're not, but you're around them.' " She's not the only one who gels confused: Even attorneys can forget that Dysart is an actor. "Whenever I find myself talking with a group of lawyers," he says, "they include me in the discussion as if I know what they're talking about." [P]