• January 17, 2000
• Vol. 53
• No. 2

Insider

By Tom Cunneff

To prepare for his role as boxer Rubin Carter in The Hurricane, Denzel Washington worked out for a year with L.A. boxing trainer Terry Claybon. At one point, Washington was doing 1,000 sit-ups and running three to five miles a day. "He trained like he was preparing for a professional fight," Claybon reports. "He said, 'Teach me to fight like a pro. Don't be light on me.' We sparred, went to fights. I spent weeks drilling him on defense, just throwing punches at him. He wasn't crazy about it, but he learned to like it." Although at 190 pounds Washington is about 15 pounds over his "fighting" weight, he still goes to the Hollywood Boxing Gym a couple of days a week. Says an impressed Claybon: "He could have been a pro. He's got a great right uppercut."

Bond girls, unite! Tanya Roberts, who appeared in 1985's A View to a Kill and is now on That '70s Show, just shot a scene for a February sweeps episode in which she renews her wedding vows. Her three bridesmaids turned out to be three former Bond girls: Maud Adams, who was in both The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974 and 1983's Octopussy; Kristina Wayborn, who also appeared in Octopussy; and Barbara Carrera, from 1983's Never Say Never Again.

I can't say for sure if everybody loves Raymond, but I can tell you that things at home are running smoothly for the TV star. This year, Ray Romano and his wife, Anna, agreed to focus on Christmas presents for their four children and not to exchange gifts themselves. Ray broke their promise, but Anna wasn't too upset: He bought her a silver Mercedes-Benz. And what did Ray get? "Her blessing to let me go on a golf trip with a bunch of my buddies," he reports.

Kevin Costner, who has a home near Aspen, turned up at the Aspen Art Museum benefit on Dec. 27 for a $l,750-per-couple dinner held at the Baldwin Gallery, owned by Harley Baldwin, the event's cochair (and owner of the exclusive Caribou Club in Aspen). "Kevin, Michael [Douglas] and Goldie [Hawn] are always available for good causes," says Baldwin. Costner's dinner partner for the event, which was expected to raise a half million dollars for the museum, was the reigning Miss Universe, Mpule Kwelagobe, 20, of Botswana.

Fast takes:

Harrison Ford and Wesley Snipes share similar tastes in music. Both paid a visit recently to the Beverly Hills restaurant Crustacean to listen to the house jazz band, the Family Jewels. Snipes had an entourage of some 15 people and stayed for three hours, while the more low-key Ford came in with about half a dozen friends and stayed an hour but turned down VIP seating or any other star treatment....

Britney Spears has been working hard in Orlando and L.A. creating a music-and-dance routine combining three of her hits, "... Baby One More Time," "(You Drive Me) Crazy" and "Sometimes," which she'll perform on the American Music Awards on ABC on Jan. 17....

When I asked Bob Hope recently what he considered to be the most significant event or invention during his lifetime, the 96-year-old entertainer replied, "You mean besides the laugh track?"

• Contributors:
• Hugh McCarten.

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