BC-NAMES:PH – national, world, people (940 words)

Names in the news

(EDITORS: Archive photos for many of the celebrities mentioned in the NAMES column are available on KRT Direct.)

By K. Heller

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

Quelle tristesse! Even while being hot, sexy and 33 years dead, Jim Morrison continues to cause problems. “We’d like to kick him out,” the manager of Paris’ Pere Lachaise Cemetery tells the Guardian of London, “because we don’t want him, he causes too many problems.”

Christian Charlet says mourners take pictures of the Doors front man’s resting place, leave notes, flowers, cigarette butts and smoke marijuana, requiring a guard. It’s the tomb of the unwanted rock star.

The cemetery, celebrating its 200th anniversary this month, is the final resting stop of the ultimate dinner party, Frederic Chopin, Edith Piaf, Moliere, Georges Bizet, Marcel Proust and Honore de Balzac, to say nothing of Oscar Wilde and Isadora Duncan, no strangers to scandal.

Is this The End? No, “mes amis,” it is not. The grave is permanently leased, so the situation for Morrison doesn’t look so grave.

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MORE ABOUT JFK

His Brown classmate Robert T. Littell once blasted John F. Kennedy Jr. intimate Richard Blow for publishing “American Son.” Now, Littell’s weighing in with “The Men We Became” next month. It’s supposed to be an affectionate memoir but sounds like gossip, such as …

Kennedy’s fling with Madonna wasn’t consummated: “John and Madonna were in a hotel room in Chicago, unable to figure out how to get some contraception into the room without getting (caught),” Littell writes. “While they managed to entertain themselves, they never achieved what would have been the definitive celebrity coupling.”

In 1988, Kennedy was leaving an airport terminal when he heard someone call his name. Out of a limo popped then-girlfriend “Sarah Jessica Parker, in a mink coat and nothing else. Not a bad greeting.”

Carolyn Bessette’s mother, Ann Freeman, delivered a frosty toast at the couple’s wedding rehearsal dinner. “She implied that she was worried for her daughter, unsure if the union was in her best interest,” recalls Littell. “I was surprised for her bluntness and felt bad for John, who was visibly stung by the remarks.”

Kennedy toyed with pursuing politics and was upset when Hillary Rodham Clinton announced she was running for the U.S. Senate from his home state of New York. “What, am I supposed to move to Arkansas?” Kennedy said, according to Littell.

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BRITNEY’S NOCTURNAL PROWLING

Ah, yes, another night, another report of inappropriate behavior by one Britney Spears, who, if memory serves us, is also a singer. Apparently the woman is so smitten with dancer Kevin Federline, she flew him to London so they could keep cozy during her European tour. “She really doesn’t want to be on the tour right now,” an insider tells the New York Post’s Page Six. “But if she has to, she wants some comfort and wants to spend as much time with Kevin as she can.”

Faithful readers of this space know that Federline’s other significant other, former “Moesha” actress Shar Jackson, is seven months with his child and the mother of his daughter. Spears and Federline met up Sunday at a friend’s rented house and were so excited to see each other, they slipped into the bathroom for some quality “alone” time, which was heard by all. We get it, already. She’s not that innocent.

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MODELING MOTHER

Just in time for Mother’s Day, German model citizen Heidi Klum has qualified, delivering a girl named Leni Tuesday. The father is Renault Formula One chief and serial model-dater Flavio Briatore who, as things happen in this world, is no longer her main man. He’s dating British model and volcanic temper temptress, Naomi Campbell.

Though one is supposed to refrain from smoking, drinking and eating raw fish during pregnancy, physicians haven’t said anything about dating, so Klum has been sharing time during these precious months with rock star Seal.

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LOVE IS ALL AROUND

Now, the latest from the seven-car crack-up that is Courtney Love. “I’d like to thank the Academy of Hell and the Devil for (messing) up my life,” Love told a crowd at Atlanta’s Music Midtown festival. Love undressed on stage, pulled out her breasts, then could barely get her bra back on. Crying, Love said “Give me back my kid and my money,” according to patrons. The 39-year-old singer faces drug charges in Los Angeles and recently lost custody of her daughter, 11, whom she had with the late Kurt Cobain, who died at age 27, the same age as Jim Morrison.

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THE MOUSE AND MEL

The latest Disney rumor is that a consortium of European investors is courting Mel Gibson to helm the troubled magic kingdom, especially after making “The Passion of the Christ” for $25 million and grossing $579 million internationally.

“Gibson has the sensibilities Hollywood needs,” a source close to the star tells the New York Post. “He has the right insight to lead a studio. Look at those numbers! Now, that is how to make movies – none of this $120 million nonsense.”

The backers want Gibson to kick in a few hundred million of his own money and want him to run Disney if the takeover succeeds. So far, Gibson has declined comment.

In other Disney matters, the Egyptian love triangle “Aida” will close Sept. 5 on Broadway after more than four years. The musical, with a score by Elton John and Tim Rice, will tour internationally next year.

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(This column contains information from wire services.)

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(c) 2004, The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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AP-NY-05-05-04 1816EDT