The Gazette from Montreal, Quebec, Canada • 16

LA. Law may lose regulars NBG. won't confirm it, but don't look for Jimmy Smita (he plays fiery Victor Sifuentes) to return as a regular next season on L.A. Law. And Harry Hamlin (not-so-fiery Michael Kuzak) may be out completely.

Smits and Hamlin, both original characters on the i ui show, are in contract negotiations, says an NBC official, "and we hope they'll be back." But executive producer David E. Kelley says both actors probably are leaving. Smits may pop up in a few guest shots. Another regular, Susan Dey (Joyce Van Owen) announced months ago that she wouldn't be returning next season. All the other regulars have re-signed.

A I.nw Thurrdnvr m- 111 li Uimmm Iftw'S. Security for Oscars to be tight LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS Jimmy Smits wptz-5. Actress Sanford out of hospital LOS ANGELES Isabel Sanford, who won an Emmy for her role as Louise Jefferson on the long-running sitcom The Jeffersons, is out of the hospital after having quadruple-bypass heart surgery Jan. 31. Sanford, 73, was released from Cedars-Sinai Medical, Centre on Thursday, manager Brad Lemack said.

She first appeared as Louise Jefferson on All in the Family before the Jefferson family was spun off into its own show in 1975. Zsa Zsa, policeman settle suit JL0S: ANGELES Zsa Zsa Gabor, who was sentenced" last year to three days in jail for slapping po-ffieman Paul Kramer, has reached an out-of-court Settlement in a $10-million lawsuit filed by Kramer, lis lawyer said Friday. Richard Thomas would not reveal whether any CDqney.was involved but he said, "My client is very Satisfied with the settlement." SjGabor was convicted of slapping Kramer, a motor-iycle policeman who stopped her while she was driving iii Beverly Hills in June 1989 because her Rolls (Ipyce had an out-of-date licence. Stuart Fratkin, Patrick Labyorteaux and Dean Cameron are among slope-headed morons in B.C-made Ski School. There's bad, then there's too bad After two ski flicks, splatter takeoff almost seemed fun triple Grammy-winner Cleveland tQS ANGELES Rev.

James Cleveland, revered King of Gospel and the man who taught 9-yar-old Aretha Franklin to sing gospel, died Saturday. He was 59. three-time Grammy winner was taken to hospi-tThursday with respiratory problems and died of Reart failure, said his manager, Annette Thomas. ft A pianist, singer, composer, arranger and producer, Cleveland also was founding pastor of the Cornerstone Institutional Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The baritone, who often described his voice as a fog horn, has been credited with writing and arranging more than 400 gospel songs.

Sixteen of his albums went gold, and Cleveland is the first LOS ANGELES The Persian Gulf war is taking its toll on Oscar. The 63rd annual Academy Awards will be conducted amid unprecedented security, and the content of the March 25 ceremony doubtless will reflect the state of world events, admits producer GilCates. However, unlike the Golden GfoBe awards show televised three days after the war started, which dispensed with an opening production number as a result, the Oscar telecast will feature a fairly traditional entertainment lineup, including song and dance. "I think that's what the American public would like; I think that's what our service people would like," Cates told a news conference. "The point is not to be frivolous and not to be trivial, to present the awards in an appropriate manner, to present the production numbers in an appropriate manner.

'All very concerned' "No one knows exactly what's going to be going on March 25 or, more appropriately, the 23rd or the 24th, the couple of days before, so we're all very concerned about it." Asked whether Billy Crystal, who is hosting the show for a second straight year, will be barred from making Saddam Hussein jokes, Cates replied, "The host of these shows, whether it's Bob Hope or Johnny Carson or Billy Crystal, does enjoy a certain independence. "It is a live show, and Billy is a very, very tasteful guy, and I have no doubts that he's going to be tasteful on this show." Questioned about the possibility of the Oscars being targeted for a war-related terrorist attack, Cates said, "I can promise you that security will be absolutely complete. It will be a tough act to get into." He quoted Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Karl Maiden as saying security "will certainly be as thorough as (at) the Super Bowl." Academy executive director Bruce Davis said that in addition to the private companies and the Los Angeles Police Department officials who have worked on security in the past, the FBI has been consulted for the first time. Metal detectors, guard dogs All those entering the Shrine Auditorium will have to pass through metal detectors, and electronic equipment such as cameras and laptop computers used by reporters will be carefully examined. There will be guard-dog sweeps, and "parking will be handled differently this year to avoid the possibility of car bombs," Davis said.

Although questions about security wound up dominating the news conference, Cates called it to unveil artist-film-maker Saul Bass's Oscar poster and to announce the theme of this year's telecast, which will be a celebration of 100 years of film-making. "In 1891, Thomas Edison aske4 George Eastman if he would develop a flexible film, and in so doing, Eastman gave Edison that item, which was necessary to develop the motion-picture process," Cates explained. The show will highlight the major developments in film-making since then "the invention of color, of sound, of 3-D, of wide-screen," Cates said. Bob Hope will make his 27th appearance at an Academy Awards presentation. He holds the record for participation, having first attended in 1939.

lev. James Cleveland BILL BROWNSTEIN In the latter sport, you take a 500-metre freefall off a cliff and come within a millimetre of having your face mashed like so many potatoes by jagged rocks only a rubbery rope attached to your foot prevents this fate. (Kids, do not try this at home.) Now for the bad news: subtlety, wit, plotting, directing actors and writing dialogue that doesn't convulse audiences with laughter at the wrong time are not the Teuton's strong suits. Furthermore, while the movie is intended to showcase the most fearless members of the sporting world in some bizarre relay race on land, air and water, it is mostly one monster plug for a lot of major conglomerates who probably now regret the publicity. At the very least, one of these companies, the Bayer group, could have dispensed free Aspirins to the audience.

gospel artist to receive a star on Hollywood's Walk of fame. 'Born Dec. 5, 1931, Cleveland grew up on the South Side of Chicago. Later, he moved into the home of fjev. C.L.

Franklin, father of soul legend Aretha Franklin. He later produced her Grammy-winning gospel album, Amazing Grace. titominated again this year, Cleveland won Grammys for In the Ghetto in 1974, James Cleveland Liye at Carnegie Hall in 1977 and Lord, Let Me Be an Instrument in 1980. which makes Bogner's Fire, Ice Dynamite look like an Eisenstein classic. As with many truly abysmal movies, the makers of this brain-cell-destroying debacle came to Canada to practice their art.

Action takes place in B.C.'s wondrous Whistler Mountain, where a bunch of dimwit guys called Bart and a bunch of babes called Bridget mostly belch. They also attempt to have sex with anyone who will have them and drink beer until they drop. When time permits, the Barts take part in the most boring ski race ever committed to celluloid, while the Bridgets cheer them on, usually by baring their abundant breasts. Once again, kids, do not try these stunts on the hill you'll surely catch a bad case of frostbite. I believe my brain is becoming numb.

I'm now devouring Popcorn metaphysically speaking and I'm enjoying it in a sadistic sort of way. (Or, just maybe, it's the elation of knowing my ordeal is almost over.) Unlike the C-rated ski flicks, Popcorn is a movie that plays on being trashy and makes fun of its genre. That genre would be skin-ripping, blood-dripping splatter. Interesting concept, too. This is a horror movie set within a horror-movie festival in some small town whose population is waning fast.

Under cover of a freaky film fest, a nasty ghoul is having his way with members of the audience. Depending on the movie showing on screen, the bad guy impales, skins or fries his prey. He happens to be misunderstood, that's all. Sure, I'll buy that. Even more amusing than the movie are the horror movies within.

Director Mark Herrier went to enormous lengths creating mini-movies like Mosquito, The Amazing Electrified Man and, my favorite, The Stench in "Aroma-rama" in which the players literally stink out the joint. Bye for now. Some of us are off to the showers. Willy Bogner's Fire, Ice Dynamite is playing at the Palace. Fairview and Greenfield Park theatres.

Ski School is at the Bonaventure. Popcorn is at the Alexis Nihon and Astre theatres. In military circles, they call it a search-and-destroy mission. Come to think of it, it's called the same in movie-critic circles. In both cases, we bomb easy targets and take no prisoners.

Our targets are usually and C-grade movies that rarely linger more than a few weeks at local theatres. Essentially, a film critic chooses to sit through three bad movies in a row to learn humility and maybe catch up on lost Also and this is crucial it gives us a ready comeback when a member of the inquiring public suggests it must be grand watching movies all day. Of course, it is and it sure beats selling bottle-caps or fertilizer for an honest living. But the world of cinema is not just gems by Woody Allen or Francis Ford Coppola. It's also Snake Eater II: the Drug Buster and Eve of Destruction both of which by a great quirk of fate self-destructed and fled town before they could be dissected on these pages.

The film world is also Willy Bogner. "Willy Who?" all you film buffs ask. Glad you asked. Willy Bogner is a former German ski champ, best known for spearheading Bogner, the fashion company that gave us those nifty stretchy ski pants (usually worn by the wrong people). But man cannot live by manufacturing colorful ski togs alone.

To that end, Bogner has also made a name for himself in Europe shooting breathtaking ski movies where some daredevil in liederhosen schusses off the Alps and lands oh his feet several thousand metres below (usually beaming and with a beer in his hands.) Bogner has also provided ski-footage for a number of James Bond flicks. But Bogner has now gone big-time. He has written, directed, produced and shot the feature Willy Bogner's Fire, Ice Dynamite the first movie on my search-and-destroy list. In fairness to Bogner, he has succeeded in luring Roger Moore, the former James Bond alter ego, to take part in his film. Other notables include such charter members of the B-acting world as Shari Belafonte, Marjoe Gortner and the unforgettable Uwe Ochsenknecht.

Bogner also succeeded in getting allegedly sane stunt people to paraglide over high mountains, fall out of airplanes without parachutes and bungee-jump. My headache has metamorphosed a migraine. Hi, we're at Ski School 'Gazette TV critic Mike Boone picks the best of tonight's programs: regular programming is subject to pre-ejnptiort by coverage of the Persian Gulf war. Entertainment Tonight (CFCF-12 at 7): Does who was on the Barbara Walters special last week, have anything to add? Travels (Vermont ETV-33 at 8): See Los Angeles asiitis rarely seen in the witty, urbane company of npvelist John Gregory Dunne. 'Big Ticket (MuchMusic at 8): Contemporary pop stars tackle Cole Porter tunes in Red, Hot Blue.

Tal-epf list includes Sinead O'Connor, U2, Neneh Cherry, Lisa Stansfield, K.D. Lang, David Byrne, the Pogues, AJmie Lennox, Fine Young Cannibals, Tom Waits, Isjgy Pop, Debbie Harry and Kirsty MacColl. i Perry Mason (WPTZ-5 at 9): Paul Anka makes his TV- drama debut in the Case of the Maligned Mobster. Deadly Intentions Again (CFCF-12 at 9): Harry Hamlin and Joanna Kerns star in the sequel to all 985 television movie about a homicidal doctor. prime-time schedule.

Page BIO LA- Tom Villard is transformed in Popcorn. Orsini says luck's behind string of Quebec TV hits PAUL DELEAN THE GAZETTE iA t- tiJ" fi I t' few actresses in Quebec who work in both languages. She's done commercials (notably for Loto-Quebec) in both French and English. She did the dubbing for her characters in the English version of Lance et Compte and of the Quebec-made feature film La Grenouille et la Baleine. In 1 989, she was the female lead in the American-produced, set-in-Montreal movie Eddie and the Cruisers II.

It stiffed at the box office, but Orsini enjoyed the introduction to U.S.-style moviemaking. English was her first language at home and school, though French has been her language of work for almost a decade. After spending two years on Les Filles de Caleb and working almost non-stop since 1986, Orsini is enjoying a brief respite. At this point, she isn't sure what she'll do next. But with her track record, the offers should be plentiful.

player in Orsini's emergence. She was one of the judges in an amateur modelling contest that Orsini, 15, entered at the urging of her mother. Orsini didn't win the contest, but Achim saw star quality in the tall brunette and offered to represent her. The result was a successful three-year modelling career. Orsini had just arrived home from a two-month shoot in Switzerland when Achim suggested something different: an audition for a TV series called Lance et Compte.

Her acting experience consisted of a couple of TV commercials, but she went anyway. "I had always wanted to direct myself toward TV or cinema, and I knew modelling wouldn't be there forever. For the audition, I said to myself, 'Just be yourself, relax, take it It went well. Of course, nobody knew then how big the series would be." Orsini landed the plum role of Suzie Lambert, sister of hockey star Pierre Lambert (Carl Marotte), and stayed with the show for its entire three-year run. Last year, she reprised the character in a 90-minute made-for-TV movie.

Many figured she'd be Suzie forever, but Les Filles de Caleb changed all that. As country schoolteacher Emilie Borde-leau, the central character in Arlette Cousture's turn-of-the-century story, Orsini has earned the best reviews of her career. People now routinely call her Emilie instead of Suzie. "What that tells me is how attached they've become to these characters. "The reason I'm in this (acting) is that I needed to externalize things.

It moved me when I was doing it, and if it also moves people when they watch it, you've achieved what you set out to do. For me, that's worth a million prizes." Fluently bilingual, Orsini is one of the Actress Marina Orsini has the Midas touch on Quebec television. Her first series, the hockey saga Lance et Compte, was a ratings smash. Her second series, L'Or et le Papier, received three Gemeaux awards in 1990, including one for Orsini as best actress. Her third series, Les Filles de Caleb, is another ratings monster, attracting record audiences of more than three million this season.

It's shown Thursdays at 8 p.m. on Radio-Canada. "I know I'm very lucky, privileged really. It doesn't happen to everyone to be part of such fantastic projects. So many great actors out there aren't working," the 24-year-old Ville Emard native said in a recent interview at the office of her agent, Ginette Achim.

From the start, Achim has been a key Marina Orsini's third series is Les Filles de Caleb..