BEVERLY HILLS PROP: Comedian and film fan Eddie Murphy wanted to meet Charlton Heston, so a mutual friend arranged a get-together at Heston's Beverly Hills estate. Upon arriving Murphy was treated to a tour of the house by his imposing host. As they entered the den, Murphy's eyes fixed on the staff Heston used to part the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments. Suddenly Murphy grabbed the prop, dashed out to Heston's swimming pool and began banging the staff on the edge of the pool in a futile attempt to part the waters. "Sorry, Eddie," said Heston, who has gotten more comedy mileage from playing Moses than Jack Benny got from his violin. "It only works when I use it."
TAKES HIMSELF FOR GRANTED: At a Los Angeles medical benefit, Cary Grant was asked if there's anyone in films today who reminds him of himself. "No," replied the dapper legend, "only myself on television at four in the morning."
IS THAT A DA OR NYET? Defying their lack of diplomatic relations—severed between their countries after the Six-Day War in 1967—the Soviet Union's Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and Israel's Prime Minister Shimon Peres chattered briefly during the festivities for the United Nation's 40th birthday. Recalls Peres: "Shevardnadze asked me where I was born, and I told him I was born in Belorussia, between the two world wars when it was part of Poland. Shevardnadze inquired what language we spoke at home when I was a child, and I said, 'Hebrew and Russian.' So Shevardnadze asked, 'Do you understand Russian?' And I said, 'Well, I used to listen to Nikita Khrushchev's speeches, and I understood 50 percent. Shevardnadze smiled and cracked, 'That was quite enough, because he only spoke 50 percent in words. The rest he spoke by knocking his shoe on the table.' "
NOT A PERFECT PICTURE: So there was Robert Redford telling London's Mail on Sunday Magazine that being perfect isn't all it's cracked up to be. "I've had a problem with my looks right from the start," he said. "There's a thing about being lightweight, of floating through life. It's easy for people to write you off as being no more than your looks....One of the reasons I moved into directing was a desire to move away from the role of a glamour figure. I've felt tremendously reduced by that."
JUST DON'T SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT VANNA: The long-running game show Jeopardy! has begun its first-ever Tournament of Champions, pitting 15 winners from last season against each other in competition for a $100,000 grand prize. But despite the hype the tournament is generating, host Alex Trebek doesn't think Jeopardy! will ever knock Wheel of Fortune off its No Nielsen perch in the game show ratings. "But I don't mind," says Trebek. "Wheel has a broader audience, because all you have to do is know the alphabet. On Jeopardy! you have to actually know something, and that intimidates a lot of people."
UNGENTLE RIBBING: John Reilly, who plays bad guy Sean Donely on General Hospital, broke a rib while performing his own stunts on the soap. This is the second broken rib in less than a month for the actor. Three weeks ago co-star Tristan Rogers hit Reilly too hard in a fight scene and broke another of his ribs. Says Reilly—who'll use a stunt double from now on—"Adam gave one to Eve. I gave two to General Hospital."
FEMINIST RING: Mario Thomas was in Norfolk, Va. beating the drums for the women's movement. Addressing a Women in Business Seminar, she explained the difference between the sexes. "A man has to be Joe McCarthy to be called ruthless," she said. "All a woman has to do is put you on hold."
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