• August 31, 1998
• Vol. 50
• No. 7

Insider

By Nancy Perry Graham

NBC News correspondent Maria Shriver is in discussions with at least one major publishing house about writing a book based on the college commencement speech she gave at Massachusetts' Holy Cross in May. The topic? Ten things Shriver wishes she had been told at her graduation from Georgetown University. For instance: "First and foremost, pinpoint your passion"; "No job is beneath you"; and "Super-woman is dead and Superman may be taking Viagra." Added Shriver coyly: "Not all of them of course. My husband [Arnold Schwarzenegger] wanted me to be very clear that he is a Superman and there is no Viagra within a 50-mile radius of our house." Shriver now tells me she is still deciding whether she can expand her speech enough to justify a book. Meanwhile, her book for children What's Heaven? is due from Golden Books next March.

I hear that newlyweds Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, whose daughter Maya Ray is nearly 2 months old, are selling the Victorian-style house in the tony Sneden's Landing section of Palisades, N.Y., that they purchased earlier this year. Apparently the high-profile couple prefer their Manhattan digs to the not-so-sleepy enclave that has long been a haven for such celebs as Al Pacino, Bill Murray, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Diane Sawyer and Mike Nichols. The Thurman-Hawke house—which was listed last February for $1.3 million—was once owned by Margot Kidder, Superman's Lois Lane.

When the shark bites: Diners at Hollywood's Lucky Seven supper club were recently treated to an impromptu serenade from Jim Carrey, who joined actor Jeff Goldblum's Monday night jazz band for a rendition of "Mack the Knife." According to one ear-witness on the scene, Carrey forgot the words, "but still managed to whip the crowd into a frenzy and looked like he had a blast." Not to be outdone, fellow audience member Jon Lovitz, who replaces the late Phil Hart-man on NewsRadio this fall, took the mike to sing "Fly Me to the Moon."

How Stella Got Her Groove Back star Taye Diggs, 27, who plays Winston Shakespeare, the 20-year-old hunk who romances 40-year-old Stella (Angela Bassett), has never dated an older woman, explaining, "I don't have the courage Winston has." But ghe does admit to going gaga over his senior costars Bassett and Whoopi Goldberg. Recalls director Kevin Rodney Sullivan: "The night Whoopi came, we were shooting a scene at a disco. I look over at Taye and he's just standing there behind Angela watching them. He's in the scene, but he stopped acting and just stood there staring at them. I yelled to him, 'Get in the scene!' For those moments he was not Winston; he was just Taye, and he was working with movie stars."

• Contributors:
• Hugh McCarten.