People

By Sora Song Sunday, Jan. 18, 2004
    • Is That You, Natalie?
    It's tricky, the transition from child star to full-on femme. But NATALIE PORTMAN seems to be managing. Forget the 9-year-old assassin-in-training from The Professional and the teen Queen Amidala in The Phantom Menace. The new Natalie, 22, is playing a full-fledged adult in the epic Cold Mountain and in the upcoming film Closer, which is about relationships and sex. She's acting like an adult in real life too, with a brand-new Harvard degree, a deed on a house and the cover of next month's Vogue. Then again, Natalie sports a flapper-girl bob that's just like her girlish one, and when she donned a sheer gown for a recent event, her makeup artist had to point out that her nipples were showing. "We tried to put, like, Band-Aids on," Portman said, but she gave up and wore the dress anyway. So, O.K., she's not yet a woman.

    Out Of The Picture
    Poor Dave. He just had a kid — at 56--so you know he's not the No. 1 guy at home anymore. Now DAVID LETTERMAN is getting overlooked at work too. The fractious relationship between the cantankerous Late Show host and his employer, CBS, endured another flare-up last week after the network began promoting its People's Choice Awards online. Pictured on the website was the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond, perennial CBS faves — and Jay Leno, whose rival show airs on NBC. Letterman, also tapped for an award this year, beseeched his audience, "I'm Dave Letterman! I work here at CBS!" On air, he demanded a call from a "big-deal person" at the network: "Apologize, beg for my forgiveness and pretend that you fired the person responsible." Minutes later, CBS prez Les Moonves complied, quipping that the network's website had been demolished completely. Oprah won again anyway.

    Pretrial Motions
    Remember when being charged with child molestation was a bad thing? In a spectacle that even hardened TV-news commentators described as a freak show, pop star MICHAEL JACKSON appeared in a Santa Maria, Calif., court to plead not guilty to seven counts of lewd acts with a child and two counts of giving intoxicants to a child. Outside, hundreds of fans — some of whom arrived on buses chartered by Jacko's camp — screamed their support while Jackson's bodyguards handed out invitations to the star's Neverland Ranch for postarraignment festivities. Later, Jackson climbed onto the roof of his black SUV, clapped his hands and danced a few steps. He must be saving the moonwalk for the preliminary hearing.

    Role of a Lifetime
    NBC's Frasier is calling it quits. Headphones off to KELSEY GRAMMER who played the snobbish Dr. Frasier Crane for 20 years, beginning on Cheers. But he ain't so special ...

    For 20 years, JAMES ARNESS was Marshal Matt Dillon on the top-rated Gunsmoke. Arness reportedly still watches his reruns

    From 1951 to 1986 LUCILLE BALL played Lucy in one form or another on five shows over 21 seasons. In her final sitcom, she was a grandma

    Sesame Street debuted in 1969, and the ageless BIG BIRD has been yukking it up since. One guy, Caroll Spinney, has played him for 35 years