Copyright 1995 The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
The Houston Chronicle
May 6, 1995, Saturday, 2 STAR Edition
SECTION: A; Newsmakers; Pg. 2
LENGTH: 772 words
HEADLINE: Newsmakers
BODY:
Busey may have OD'd
Gary Busey was in serious condition Friday from an apparent cocaine overdose after being found unconscious at home with a small amount of the drug in his shirt pocket, authorities said.
Investigators also found small amounts of other illegal drugs in Busey's home, but he was not arrested due to his medical condition, a police official said. ""His condition is currently serious but improving,'' a hospital spokesman said. ""His prognosis for recovery is good. '' Busey, 50, received an Academy Award nomination in 1978 for The Buddy Holly Story.
"Friends' actress to wed
Kudrow, Phoebe on Friends and Ursula on Mad About You, will marry French ad exec Michel Stern. They've been engaged for about a year and have shacked up for two months. Kudrow, 31, not as thick as her Friends character, holds a biology degree from Vassar.
A league of his own
George Will has got a league of his own. The syndicated columnist was named commissioner of the Texas-Louisiana Professional Baseball League on Thursday. ""He's a baseball purist,'' said Jack Lazorko, director of operations for the independent AA league, which had its first season last year. Will is a diehard ball fan and author of Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball. The league has teams in Lubbock, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Tyler, Harlingen, Abilene, Laredo, Pueblo, Colo., Mobile, Ala., and Alexandria, La.
U.S. composer honored
American composer John Adams, 48, has won the annual $ 150,000 Grawemeyer Award for his 33-minute Violin Concerto. Adams, best known for his opera, Nixon in China, had the work premiered last year by the Minnesota Orchestra.
Downhill writer
Kurt Vonnegut: the Alberto Tomba of words? The 72-year-old author of the time-travel masterpiece Slaughterhouse Five said he writes ""intuitively, reflexively, as if skiing down a steep mountain slope with no time to think. And as I look back on the marks my skis have left on the slope, I see that what I wrote again and again are stories of ordinary people who tried to behave decently in an indecent society,'' Vonnegut said this week in a talk sponsored by Rochester (N.Y.) Arts & Lectures.
Allen can't visit Dylan
For now, Woody Allen will have to remain out of the picture.
A state appeals court has rejected Allen's request to be allowed regular visits with ex-lover Mia Farrow's adopted daughter Dylan.
Farrow's claim that Allen sexually abused the 9-year-old has never been proved. Two psychotherapists agree that ""Dylan remains deeply resistant to visitation with (Allen) and that it would not be in the child's best interest to force her to see him,'' the state Supreme Court's Appellate Division said this week. Allen's lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz, said the filmmaker would not appeal the ruling.
""At the appropriate time, we will renew our application,'' Abramowitz said. The judges said Allen's appeal ignored a subject that one therapist thought would harm Dylan if contact were resumed -- Allen's ongoing sexual relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, 23, Dylan's adoptive sister.
Mom 1: In her honor
Bill Gates, the nation's richest man, has donated $ 10 million to the University of Washington in Seattle in honor of his late mother, the university said Friday. It's the second major donation the Harvard dropout and founder of Microsoft Corp. has made to the university. He donated $ 12 million in October 1991 to establish a department of molecular biotechnology. Forbes magazine ranked him as the richest American in 1994 with holdings worth $ 9.35 billion, mostly in Microsoft stock. The latest gift will establish the Mary Gates Endowment for Students, to support outstanding undergraduates. Mrs. Gates, who died in June 1994, was a 1950 graduate of the university and served on its board of regents from 1975 to 1993.
Mom 2: Need to talk
Newt Gingrich, Prince Charles, Lisa-Marie Presley Jackson, Drew Barrymore and Kato Kaelin are the top candidates for a good heart-to-heart with mom, says a new poll. The survey of 1,000 people, in honor of Mother's Day, comes courtesy of MCI.
Unabom call reported
Bob Guccione thinks he might have received a call from the elusive Unabomber, and federal investigators want to talk to the Penthouse publisher about it. Guccione has offered to print a lengthy manifesto from the Unabomber, who demanded national publication of the article in exchange for ending his 17-year terrorism campaign. The federal Unabom Task Force, based in San Francisco, hasn't heard a word from Guccione, FBI spokesman Rick Smith said Friday.
GRAPHIC: Mugs: 1. Gary Busey; 2. Lisa Kudrow; 3. Kurt Vonnegut