After appearing in such beloved TV sitcoms as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls, Betty White says her fans are on a first-name basis with her. "I've been invited into their homes for so many years, they feel like they know me," says White, 77, who costars with Alfred Molina, Sharon Lawrence and Dixie Carter in the new CBS sitcom Ladies Man. 'They greet me like an old friend by saying, 'Hey, Betty, how are you? My back is killing me.' " Although Mary Tyler Moore ended in 1977, White says she still enjoys catching reruns. "I love to watch the show," she says. "The only problem is when I run into the very last [episode]. By the time Lou Grant says, 'I treasure you people,' I'm under water. That's how hard I'm crying. And I've seen this episode a million times."
James at 59
"People think I'm getting old, but I'm not a grandfather yet," says James Caan, 59, who is currently onscreen in the Mob comedy Mickey Blue Eyes. In fact, Caan, who has one child from each of his three previous marriages, has had two more children in recent years, with his fourth wife, Linda Stokes. "Little Jimmy is 3½," he says. "And I've got a 1-year-old. His name is Viagra." The proud papa, whose youngest son is actually named Jacob, says that he's better equipped for fatherhood this time around. "I'm maturing," claims the former carouser. "You know, I've actually had two children with the same woman. That's certainly a sign of maturity, don't you think?"
Gorgeous George
For Mark Wahlberg, costarring with George Clooney in the action flick Three Kings, opening Oct. 1, could be the start of a beautiful friendship. "I'm his sidekick. It's kind of like he's Eddie Murphy and I'm Judge Reinhold," says Wahlberg, 28, referring to the Beverly Hills Cop trilogy. (Okay, so Casablanca it's not.) "Seriously, he really campaigned to get me into The Perfect Storm, the movie that we're doing now. He also hired me to star in another movie that his company is producing—a comedy called Metal God." So what makes Wahlberg-Clooney work? "I think George has got a thing for me," Wahlberg quips. "I definitely have a thing for him. He's so good-looking."
Called Girl
Illeana Douglas (Stir of Echoes) says she didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted when producer-writer Chris Thompson offered her the female lead, Wendy Ward, in FOX's new showbiz satire Action. "He said, 'I want to write this girl who is a former child star turned hooker, and I think you'd be perfect for it, " says Douglas, 34, who costars with Jay Mohr and Buddy Hackett. "I laughed and said, 'Let me read it.' It was one of the most amazing characters for a woman that I've read in a long time." Douglas says that, believe it or not, Wendy is true to Hollywood life. "They are trying to be very honest with the character," she says. "There's going to be a hundred women going, 'That's my story!' "
Law Abider
Oscar-nominated actress Kathleen Quinlan (Apollo 13) jumps to the small screen in her first-ever TV series, the new CBS legal drama Family Law. "I got tired of relocating my whole family and dragging my son around the world [for films]," says Quinlan, 44, who plays attorney Lynn Holt. "I like coming to work at the same place every day and working with the same actors and the same people. My son [Tyler, 8] loves to come and hang out with me after school. So it's kind of like having a normal job. How about that?" As for the viewers' ruling on Family Law, Quinlan expects they will reach a quick verdict. "We'll either have everyone talking and keep everyone's interest," she says, "or they'll throw us off the air—one of the two."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
