Sly prepares for nuclear accident

Press, 21 July 1986, Page 19

Sly prepares for nuclear accident

David Hartnells

hollywood

“I’m not one to gossip, but Sly Stallone is building a $lOO,OOO fall-out shelter next to his posh Beverly Hills home. He fears a disaster like Chernobyl could happen in the United States. Robert De Niro, who is working on a movie in Rome, took cases of food with him because of stories that Chernobyl fall-out had tainted all the food in Rome — better sure than sorry, I guess. Puppeteer Shari Lewis fell down some stairs in Japan while doing her nightclub act and is now nursing a broken nose. Last year, I had lunch with her at her home in Beverly Hills, and she is a delightful woman; in fact she does not look any older than when we saw her on our televisions back in the early 19605. Producers tried to put together a “M.A.S.H.” reunion special, but Alan Alda and Loretta Swit both had other things to do. So, without those two heavyweights, the idea was scrubbed. Both Alda and Swit thought it was a good idea, but in another 20 years. It is still too soon for any kind of meaningful reunion. The newest stars to join the cast of “Falcon Crest” are rumoured to be Kim Novak and the former

“Bewitched” star, Elizabeth Montgomery. Novak is asking $30,000 a show for just 13 episodes, and Montgomery, who is the love in real life of Robert Foxworth, will get a clear $42,000 a week for just six episodes. Producers are still thinking it over, but both Montgomery and Foxworth hope it will come off so they can then work together ... and play together.

In the United States alone more than 93 million people watch “Dallas” every week, with a floating viewing audience of another three million. Fan mail to the leading stars is around 19 million to 20 million letters a week — just think of what they are doing for the American postal service.

Beautiful Phylicia Ayers-Allen’s pregnancy has become a double blessing. She and her husband, Ahmad Rashad, are, hoping for a girl, but her television hubby, Bill Cosby, has decided to write the pregnancy into the script of his show and make the new baby a boy.

Bette Midler has filed a $lO.l million invasion of privacy suit against the Ford Motor Company. She is claiming they used a “sound-alike” singer to do her song in car advertisements. She has also asked the Federal Court to halt all the ads. By the way — the song being used is her 1972 version of “Do You Want To Dance.”

Michael Jackson is staying out of the public eye right now, but wait till 1987! He will do a solo world tour, and there is talk of the Pepsi-Cola company backing it. This is all part of a $lO million Pepsi-Cola contract, and I hear that Jackson does not even drink the product.

American Express has just sued singer Connie Francis and her guardian for more than $47,668 in unpaid bills. Francis was hospitalised at the Miami Mental Health Centre on December 31 last year — an unhappy life for the singer who gave us such songs as “Where The Boys Are,” and many more.

I hear that Joan Collins and her husband, Peter Holm, are thinking about bringing out a range of men’s and women’s shoes. These will be up-market styles and retail for big bucks. My bet is you will be seeing a lot more of Collins’ feet in “Dynasty” if the deal comes off, but my lips are sealed!