• April 13, 1992
• Vol. 37
• No. 14

Passages

By Toby Kahn

Multitalented beauty Anita Colby, 77, the nation's first supermodel, died March 27 of lung disease at her home in Oyster Bay, N.Y. Colby, the first model to make $100 an hour, appeared on the cover of TIME and 14 other magazines in one month in 1945. A year later, she gave Hollywood a try but failed to score in movies. (She did, however, get marriage proposals, and had the singular distinction of turning down both Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart.) In later years, Colby's multiple careers included stints as a movie executive, public relations firm head, syndicated newspaper columnist and Today show cohost in 1961. She wed for the first and only time in 1970, to business executive Palen Flagler, who died in 1980....

Bridge enthusiast Easley Blackwood, 89, who in 1933 invented the famous bridge convention that bears his name, died in his sleep on March 27 at his home in Indianapolis.

Ex—heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, 25, was sentenced in Marion County (Ind.) Superior Court to six years in prison and a $30,000 fine for the rape last July of Desiree Washington, 18, at the Miss Black America pageant in Indianapolis. Tyson, who is appealing his conviction, will be eligible for parole in three years....

Oprah Winfrey, 38, and steady beau Stedman Graham, 41, have filed a $300 million defamation and invasion of privacy lawsuit against the publisher of News Extra, a Canadian tabloid. The reason: a story in Extra's March 24 issue headlined: NEW OPRAH SHOCKER! FIANCÉ STEDMAN HAD CAY SEX WITH COUSIN. Winfrey's attorney says, "This one stepped over the line so far, she and Stedman just couldn't let it go."...

Neil Bush, 36, son of president George Bush, paid $50,000 to settle a negligence lawsuit stemming from his role as a board member in the downfall of a now defunct Denver savings and loan.

Beasty Boy: Robby I Benson, 36, the voice of the Beast in Beauty and the Beast, and his wife, singer Karla DeVito, 38, had their second child, a boy named Zephyr, in Santa Monica on March 23....

Actor Perry (Riptide) King, 44, and his wife, American Woman Motorsports magazine editor Jamison Elvidge, 26, had their first baby, a daughter named Hannah Perrin, on Feb. 26 in L.A.

Michael Knight, 32, best known for playing Tad Martin on the ABC soap All My Children, will wed actress Catherine Hickland, 36, sometime this fall. Hickland was previously married to David Hassel-hoff, whose character on TV's Knight Rider was named, yes, Michael Knight....

Brooke (Lace) Adams, 43, plans to marry actor Tony (Barton Fink) Shalhoub, 38, at the end of this month. It's the first marriage for both. Adams has a daughter, Josie Lynn, 3, whom she adopted as a single mom....

Like, omigod!: Shannen Doherty, 20, of Fox's Beverly Hills, 90210, has postponed her originally-set-for-March marriage to Chicago real estate developer Chris Foufas, 25, until late May to accommodate the shooting schedule of her movie Obsession.