Sure they perform, but they also read and watch and listen—and everyone's a critic:

Just because he's the neurotic sidekick on Seinfeld doesn't mean the guy doesn't have d-e-e-e-p thoughts. This year, Alexander took the time to read British physicist Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time. "I felt he was speaking to me at my level. You know, so many people write down to me," he says. "I wrote to him and said you didn't say things exactly as clearly as I would—but he did a very good job."

Sorry, Jason; Knots Landing's sultry seductress has her eye on Seinfeld's Kramer. "I don't love Kramer," she says, "I'm in love with Kramer!" Okay, she likes Kramer and what else? "Women Like Us [by Erica Abeel, due next month]. It's an insightful look at women who came of age in the 1950s." How much did Donna like it? "I just optioned it for a miniseries."

Stephen Hawking fans continue to show up in the oddest places—in the cast of General Hospital, for instance. "I couldn't grasp quantum mechanics, and I don't think I ever will," says Francis, GH's legendary Laura. "But I enjoyed trying." At the movies, she enjoyed Strictly Ballroom, the Australian comedy about dancing and romancing—"It's sort of a spoof on soaps"—and Like Water for Chocolate, for its "wonderful humor and symbolism."

And you thought they didn't teach history at West Beverly Hills High. Priestley found the four-hour film Gettysburg a real education. "I didn't know much about the Civil War," he admits, "and now I feel I can kind of hang in a conversation about it." On his reading list: The Diary of Jack the Ripper—"Even if it was untrue, it was fascinating."

The San Francisco 49er and the NFL's reigning MVP was moved by Arthur Ashe's Days of Grace. "Have you ever read football autobiographies? They're all about this game and that game. Ashe's book was about life." As for this year's movies, The Fugitive scored with Young. "You have to be a Harrison Ford fan, he jokes, "or you're not American."

The Hollywood novelist tunes into Sisters ("succulent soap!") but nixes any TV news show with close-ups of sobbing victims. Has she read any good books lately? Well, there's Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz ("a crazed trip with a maniac"), but topping her worst list is "any book that tells you what to do—like how to get out of bed in the morning.''

The writer-producer currently brightening Broadway in Blood Brothers considers Late Show with David Letterman "the best-produced show on television," and he adds, "I like Dave's new haircut." Cassidy's current night-table reading includes Thomas Moore's contemplative best-seller, Care of the Soul. "It's rare," says Shaun, "that we take time to check in there."

Martin Scorsese's The Age of Innocence "was lush, sensual, full of architectural and antique details that I just adore," says the talk show host, who also loved The Bridges of Madison County, Robert James Waller's midlife sex fantasy—"simple and brilliant. It made me cry." What made her yawn? The Client by John Grisham—"too predictable."

Back in Indiana, where she is practicing law and finishing her second novel, the former Second Lady found In the Line of Fire, Clint Eastwood's thriller about the Secret Service, "full of action and very true to form." As for TV, she says, "If someone would run more Twilight Zone reruns, I would watch those."

The country queen sings the praises of Vince Gill's I Still Believe in You, but her least favorite voice belongs to radio rouser Howard Stern. Says Tucker: "He gives me the heebie-jeebies."