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"It's a mixture of Cleopatra, Lawrence of Arabia and Dick and Jane," says Jennifer O'Neill about the movie version of James Michener's Caravans. Jennifer, 29, won acclaim for her role as a grieving but indulgent young war widow in Summer of '42. This time she plays an adventurous American woman who follows a desert caravan and wins the grudging respect of a nomad chieftain (Anthony Quinn). Caravan is being filmed in Iran, and Jennifer sometimes longs for the comforts of home. "It's terribly hot," she says. "Your eyes get red, the winds whip sand all over you—and there is no dry cleaner near by."
At 81, Comedian George Burns is still throwing punch lines like a heavyweight. He has just finished work on a November TV special titled The George Burns One-Man Show and is preparing for a starring part in the movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. A new comedy film, Oh, God!, featuring Burns in the title role, has just opened. Last week the active octogenarian paused long enough to drop into the Beverly Hilton hotel and accept the first annual Jack Benny Memorial Award from the March of Dimes. While Ann-Margret, Bob Hope and some 700 others at the $125-a-plate fund raiser looked on, Frank Sinatra presented Burns with his newest trophy: a large but empty humidor. "The award will keep Jack's memory alive," promised George. "And it'll keep me alive. I can put enough cigars in the humidor to last me another 30 to 40 years."
As Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, Actor Mark Hamill scooted over Tatooine in a weathered aircar. In his next picture, he settles for more down-to-earth transportation. Stingray stars Hamill as a high school hot-rod builder and Annie Potts as a hippie hooker who jumps into his passenger seat. Hamill got a few bruises from his Stingray stunts and a brief scare from a California cop. Says Hamill: "We were horsing around on Van Nuys Boulevard, and a cop came over and told us to get out of the Stingray. When he saw the camera and realized we were making a movie, he turned as red as the car and walked away." Apparently even when Skywalker has his wheels on the ground, the Force is with him.