Gilbert Wins SAG, Runners Win Race

By Stephen M. Silverman

11/05/2001 at 12:05 PM EST

WON: "Little House on the Prairie" star Melissa Gilbert, 37, was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in a hotly contested race against "Rhoda" star Valerie Harper, 61, though the results could be challenged because of a flaw on thousands of ballots. (Sound familiar?) Gilbert received 45.3% of the vote to Harper's 39.4%, according to Friday's count. "M*A*S*H" movie star Elliott Gould was elected SAG secretary, and "M*A*S*H" TV star Mike Farrell was elected first vice president. In another sort of race, Tesfaye Jifar, 25, took Sunday's 32nd annual New York City Marathon in 2:07:43 to set a record and become the first Ethiopian to win the event. Margaret Okayo, 25, of Kenya, also set a record of 2:24:21 as the women's winner . . . RELEASED: Johnny Cash, 69, left Baptist Hospital on Thursday afternoon after his second stay for bronchitis since October, said a hospital spokeswoman. Cash suffers from autonomic neuropathy, a disease of the nervous system that makes him susceptible to pneumonia . . . FIXED UP: Country music star Merle Haggard, 64, is recovering at home in California from a strained muscle and a virus after interrupting a record release tour last week. Haggard was filming a video in Texas when he experienced pain, said publicist Billy Deaton . . . CANCELED: Former "Baywatch" babe Carmen Electra, 29, who was to have headlined in Vegas, apparently is no longer wanted by the financially struggling Aladdin hotel-casino. The bankrupt $1.2 billion resort has filed a request with a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reject a 30-year lease held by Showclubs of America, which was to have built a theater and presented Electra. "Carmen Electra is saying to us, 'What's the deal? Where is the show going to be? When could it open?' " producer David Tumaroff told the Las Vegas Sun newspaper. "With what the Aladdin is saying (in court documents), what can I say to her?"