Lisa Marie Presley | James Gandolfini, Jackie Bissett | Golden Globes, Golden Suit | Joan Collins | Ruth Warrick
Another Lisa Marie Presley Album?
Lisa Marie Presley is serious about her recording career, like it or not.
The daughter of the world's most famous singer is about to release her second album, "Now What?", on April 5. The CD follows her debut release, "Lights Out," from two years ago.
Presley told me about the album at the Miramax Golden Globes afterparty on Sunday night at the Beverly Hilton, which she attended with ex-husband Danny Keogh.
I know you're wondering what had she had to say about former husband Michael Jackson, so I'll tell you: Nothing.
"I've been away from him for almost 10 years. I'm not following the case at all," she said.
Presley, one of her associates told me, "is in a great head-space right now about the album."
Presley did say she's excited about turning over management of her father's estate to Robert Sillerman, the founder of SFX.
She got $85 million up front, kept Graceland and the surrounding real estate and will make money from future merchandising of Elvis memorabilia.
Presley, who does not have a business degree, seems like she made a great deal.
Tony Soprano, Meet Jackie Bissett
Of all the many dozens of famous people who crowded into HBO's pre-Globes party on Saturday night at the Château Marmont, the best combo had to have been James Gandolfini and Jacqueline Bissett.
When the two set eyes on each other, it was as if they were old friends. Everyone had to scramble for a pen and pieces of paper so that numbers could be exchanged.
Bissett is a big fan of "The Sopranos"; Gandolfini is a big fan of the beauteous, classy Bissett — and who isn't?
Maybe we'll see Jackie on the last season of the show. You never know.
There were so many other big A-list types at the third annual bash, thrown by Chris Albrecht and Colin Callender, that folks almost missed the late entry of Leonardo DiCaprio with buddy Lukas Haas.
Former child star Haas was sporting a disguise of beard and mustache, similar to the one seen on Tobey Maguire the next night. It must be a trend.
Among the guests who were stuffed cheek-by-jowl into the Château Marmont lobby and out onto the patio were: Geoffrey Rush with his terrific wife Jane, John Cusack and Gina Gershon, Rose McGowan, Don Cheadle, Clint Eastwood, Djimon Honsou, Scarlett Johansson, director Brett Ratner, Dani Janssen, Julian Sands, David Chase, Molly Simms, Mekhi Phifer, Seymour Cassell, basketball star Rick Fox (Vanessa Williams' ex), Miranda Richardson, Natasha Richardson (no relation) and Natasha's husband Liam Neeson.
Of course, the hotel's owner, New Yorker Andre Balazs, presided, but there was no sign of his girlfriend, nominee Uma Thurman.
There were more names, but the whole thing got to be too exhausting to monitor properly. Let's just say HBO knows how to pack a room.
And let's just also say that Rush — who subsequently won a Globe and will win an Emmy in September for his portrayal of Peter Sellers in the HBO film — and his wife Jane have risen to new heights with this visit to Los Angeles.
Rush's performance in "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" would have gotten him an Oscar nomination had the film been released theatrically in this country. It's that good.
Jane Rush is a real person, one of those rare treasures whom you meet along the way whilst some other stars and their spouses are busy wrecking egotistical havoc everywhere. What a pleasure to know them, even as stars shoot through the night.
It wasn't just the stars who looked great in designer duds at Sunday night's Golden Globes. Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Lorenzo Soria, who was introduced by Jim Carrey, also got the star treatment.
Soria was wearing a $3,000 suit that he got as a gift from famed Italian designer Gianluca Isaia. I actually touched it for a moment at one of the afterparties — it was like buttah.
My sources tell me that Soria's fashion stylist, the renowned Kendrick Osoria, arranged for the gift.
Last Thursday, Osoria brought Soria to the very plush men's store on Rodeo Drive, Stefano Ricci, for a free fitting of the suit. Observers at the store claim that Soria reciprocated for the fitting, and for a free tie worth $350, by handing out tickets to the Golden Globes ceremony.
Staffers at the store deny that they got the tickets, but confirmed that Soria had been in. Osoria could not be reached for comment.
Soria, meanwhile, is at the end of his term running the HFPA, and will be succeeded by Lawrie Masterson.
Meanwhile, Stefano Ricci —whose clothes can only be afforded by CEOs, masters of the universe and members of the Fortune 500 — also managed to get a plug on Paramount's syndicated show "The Insider."
The designer made sure host Pat O'Brien's neck was adorned with one of his delicious crêpe ties while he was on the air. An insider told me the credit and plug were worth about $150,000 in advertising.
I am happy to report that either "Sideways" or Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" has rubbed off on Joan Collins.
The famed British diva/actress/novelist, who's kind of a sweetheart in real life, recently did a two-day road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas with hubby Percy Gibson.
At Los Angeles Confidential magazine's Saturday-night cocktail party, which was hosted by Star Jones and attended by Paula Abdul and returning pop star Taylor Dayne (real name Leslie Wonderman), Collins and Gibson told me the story of their jaunt.
"We drove our Rolls-Royce. It took four hours each way," Joan said. "And it was much easier and more comfortable than taking a plane."
The couple stayed at a suite at the Aladdin, took in some shows and gambled. Joan also shopped. The couple was always predicted to break up because of their age difference, but the Collins-Gibsons seem like they're in good shape.
Next for Joan Collins: a new novel that took her two years to write.
"Fortune's Daughters" will be published in March. What's it about? The fabulously rich, of course.
"Think Niarchos," Joan said.
"Or Onassis," said Percy.
And don't believe those stories of a rift between Joan and her writer sister Jackie Collins. They're as close as, uh, sisters, Joan told me.
"We're just fine," she said.
There were a lot of passings in the show-biz world yesterday.
The great Virginia Mayo, a big star in her day, died at age 84. Howard Feuer, a popular casting agent, was 56 and died too soon.
But yesterday also marked the passing of the really indomitable, full-of-fun Ruth Warrick.
She was 88 and known to audiences from this generation as Phoebe Tyler Wallingford, the matriarch of the ABC soap "All My Children" since its debut in 1970. She recently appeared, looking quite frail, on the show's 35th-anniversary episode.
As recently as a couple of years ago, Ruth was a presence on the New York social scene. She regularly attended Broadway openings and was never less than charming, friendly and buoyant. She was also always magnificently turned out.
She was happy to receive fans — and there were always tons of those — who also remembered her as the wife of Orson Welles in perhaps the best-made film ever in cinema history, "Citizen Kane."
There were few people I had really come to enjoy spotting at premieres and parties as much as Ruth Warrick over the last decade. My pal Denis Ferrara, who helps out Liz Smith, always joked about how much we liked to write items about Ruth.
She was not "au courant" like the stars of "today." But she was so lovely and witty, so gracious and elegant, that all the columns loved to give her a plug.
What a life, what a career!
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