August 15, 2000

What's in a mane? Blond women in
the news

By ROGER ANDERSON Scripps Howard News Service

BLOND WOMEN IN THE NEWS 1: First up, we hear that Cheryl Ladd - she used to be one of "Charlie's Angels" - is going to replace Bernadette Peters in Ethel Merman's old Annie Oakley role in "Annie Get Your Gun" on Broadway.

BLOND WOMEN IN THE NEWS 2: Then we've got Bo Derek telling our favorite New York Post columnist, Cindy Adams, about her new line of doggy cosmetics.

It seems Bo, having noticed that her own canine companions tend to get a bit rank after she's been romping with them, decided to do something proactive about it.

"So I came up with shampoos, conditioners, fragrances, air fresheners, silk pomades - $10 a bottle," Bo explains. "I'm doing it all myself. My own money. And I don't have all that much of it. I'm the vendor, the manufacturer. It's been four years in the making and I'm also starting a doggy dental line...."

BLOND WOMEN IN THE NEWS 3: No one could be much blonder than Melanie Griffith, who comes by it genetically - her mom is Tippi Hedren, who did that blond ice-princess thing for Alfred Hitchcock in "The Birds" and "Marnie."

In fact, here's Melanie talking about being blond in the pages of Paper.

"I don't care if people think I'm a dumb blonde," she says, "or stupid or an overage actress or over the hill. I'm going to have a very successful Internet company and I'm going to have $100 million in the bank and I don't really give a (darn) what anybody thinks." Maybe she can front Bo some operating capital.

BLOND WOMEN IN THE NEWS 4: When we weren't looking, Meg Ryan went and spilt up with her husband, Dennis Quaid, and got romantically involved with Russell Crowe. That's fine, but now here's the New York Post retailing online rumors to the effect that "moles in Crowe's camp" are saying Meg’s "days are numbered" and, indeed, that Russ is "already starting to look elsewhere." What we find impossible to fathom is that both Meg's and Russ's "reps" decline to comment! (What do they have to hide?)

BLOND WOMEN IN THE NEWS 5: Gossip dowager Liz Smith recently had a tete-a-tete with actress Morgan Fairchild, who, generally speaking, is as blond as the law allows.

"I've seen a lot," Morgan tells Liz, "I've dated many fascinating men, I've experienced the best and worst this business can shovel out. But I do think it should be a business of camaraderie and good manners. To tell my story (in a tell-all book), I'd have to hurt people. Why do that? What's the point?"

The point would be to make money and become more famous, but if we have to explain that it's hopeless.

MODERN ROMANCE: Kate Hudson, Goldie Hawn's movie-starlet daughter - is she blond? We don't know; all we know is that she's currently sporting a diamond ring given to her by her boyfriend, Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes.

What does the ring signify? Kate explains to a reporter that it "means that one day he will be my husband, I'm sure."

So they're engaged, is that the gist of it?

"We don't really believe in that," Kate sniffs. "It's kind of like it already is." Now she's lost us.

CELEBRITY JOURNALISM: We're interested to note that Graydon Carter, who used to be an editor at Spy mag and more recently is the top ink-stained banana at Vanity Fair, reportedly is breaking up with his wife of 18 years, whose name is Cynthia. This in and of itself, of course, is of no interest to you, but when we add that Graydon has been spotted in the company of Kate Driver, whose claim to fame is that she is Minnie Driver's sister, it's a horse of a different color, now, isn't it?

TRUE, FALSE, WHAT EVER: One of the two following statements is true, the other isn't. Guess which is which.

- Robert Downey Jr. has been signed to appear in a recurring role as a "mysterious stranger" on the Fox dramedy, "Ally McBeal."

- Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones has been signed to appear in a recurring role as Richard Belzer's father on the NBC policier, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

Answer: The Downey item is the real deal. Keith, on the other hand, doesn't need the money.

Roger Anderson is arts and entertainment editor at Scripps Howard News Service.

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