PASSAGES: Anne Heche Has Baby Boy

By Stephen M. Silverman

03/05/2002 at 01:00 AM EST

PRODUCED: John Q actress Anne Heche, 32, gave birth Saturday to a baby boy, Homer Heche Laffoon, according to the Associated Press. The baby weighed 7 lbs., and he and Heche are "absolutely fine," her publicist told the news service. Heche married the baby's father, cameraman Coleman Laffoon, 27, in September, a year after her highly publicized, three-year relationship with Ellen DeGeneres came to an end . . . STALLED: Veteran chef Julia Child, 89, checked into a San Francisco hospital Saturday afternoon for treatment of bronchitis and was released Sunday, her assistant, Stephanie Hersh, told the AP. The queen of the kitchen was resting in the Bay Area before the return trip to her Southern California home, Hersh said Monday. Despite the setback, Child maintained her typically busy schedule, "because that is Julia," said Hersh . . . CROWNED: Howard University student Shauntay Hinton, 23, was named Miss USA 2002 on Friday, reports PEOPLE. In a pageant that celebrated patriotism as much as beauty, Hinton, who represented the District of Columbia, charmed the judges and a cheerful, flag-waving crowd at the Genesis Convention Center in Gary, Ind. Hinton wept and her knees buckled when her victory was announced . . . DIED: Soap star Mary Stuart, 75, the grand dame of CBS's "Search for Tomorrow" throughout its 35-year run (her character was ultimately named Jo Gardner Barron Tate Vincente Tourneur) died on Thursday at her home in New York from complications from a stroke, CBS spokeswoman Renee Ickson-Young told Reuters . . . CAST: Recent birthday girl Elizabeth Taylor, 70, will play the wife of Elton John, 54, in his new video, "Original Sin," the BBC reports. And singer/ actress Mandy Moore, 17, also will appear in the video, as their daughter.