OCR Text |
Show by Joey Sasso CONFIDENTIAL REPORT: A marriage jinx is haunting the original female stars of 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show.' First, there was Cloris Leachman, whose 25-year marriage to writer-producer George Englund hit the skids in 1977. They divorced a year later. Then Valerie Harper's 13-year union with writer-actor Dick Schaal ended in divorce in 1978. Now it's Mary Tyler Moore's turn. Mary and her producer-business partner husband Grant Tinker have called it quits after 17 years. They've parted before, but this time Hollywood insiders says it's for good. "It's sad, but I think Mary and Grant were together too much at work all the time and then at home in the evenings," a source close to the couple told me. "They have no children or other outside outlet. But I don't think Mary wants another outlet. All she wants is to work, work, work. She's cannibalistic. She eats everything around her. She consumes everyone with her tremendous vitality. She is and she wants to be and must be a star. That's her true interest in life." . . . Don't expect Anne Meara. who plays the cook on 'Archie's Place,' to whip you up something on short order should you pay her a visit. She says she's such a clumsy chef she usually burns herself and other people when she attempts to make supper. TV TICKER: Let Christina Crawford say what she will about her 'Mommie Dearest,' Joan Crawford. A close friend of both has quite a different tale to tell. Gloria Monty, director of the late, lamented TV soap 'Secret Storm,' which used to star Christina, says Joan once bent way over backwards to save her daughter's job with the show. Seems Christina fell seriously ill one day and 'Mommie Dearest' called the studio to convince them not to dismiss her daughter, despite the fact that her presence was essential to the script . . . Actor Jamie 'Klinger' Farr feels the 20 grand he earned for doing a recent soft drink commercial in Detroit won't keep him in designer dresses. The 'MASH' star demanded an additional $30,000 when he learned the commercial would appear outside of Michigan, but the company told him in no uncertain language what he could do with his hatpins or words to that effect ... "I played an idiot running around on my hands and knees for 10 years," said Max Baer during a discussion of his days on 'The Beverly Hillbillies.' The character became so clearly identified with Baer that he was rarely offered any other type of role after the series left CBS. That's about to change soon, however, when he begins his new job in NBC's 'Culpepper,' in which he plays a detective. TV CLOSEUP: James Garner is out of the hospital, but still faces a $1.5 million lawsuit by Universal for failing to complete filming of 'The Rockford Files,' the series just cancelled by NBC. The 52-year-old actor checked out of Cedars Sinai Hospital recently, where he had been recuperating from being kicked and beaten by a man and a woman after a minor traffic accident . . . Success in TV's most popular family show 'Eight Is Enough' is ruining the family life of teenage star Willie Aames. His heartbroken mother told me that her 19-year-old son is on an ego trip that has torn the once close family apart. "Willie has to get his feet back on the ground and his head back on straight," Jean Upton said at her home in Huntington Beach, Calif. "The breach is serious. I don't know if it can be repaired." . . . Peter Strauss was furious after parking attendants at Osko's disco in Beverly Hills lost his car keys. Peter, who played Rudy Jordache in 'Rich Man, Poor Man,' demanded that disco employees lend him a car to get home and assign someone to guard his expensive Mercedes overnight. He got both . . . Susan Anton feels comfortable and sexy wearing L'eggs pantyhose. |