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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Burials Always Provide Best Photo Opportunities

Compiled By Staff Writer Dan Web

Don’t blame us, but Anna Nicole Smith and her erstwhile stepson Pierce Marshall just won’t go away.

Bosomy “Guess” model Smith, you’ll recall, is the 27-year-old bride of multi-millionaire J. Howard Marshall who died a week ago at age 90. Marshall, the late oil tycoon’s son, is battling Smith on a number of fronts.

Most notably, the two are struggling for control of Marshall’s $550 million estate.

But a side issue is how the dead man should be interred. Smith wants to bury her late husband; Marshall, the son, favors cremation.

“Anna Nicole Smith is Catholic and she’s very much against cremating the body,” her lawyer said.

Marshall, who mainlined his father’s fortune into a trust two weeks after their marriage, continues to call Smith a “greedy golddigger.”

Loose talk

The Hollywood attitude of Muppet Miss Piggy, as voiced by a spokeswoman for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop (in USA Today): “Miss Piggy doesn’t acknowledge she’s a pig. She’s upset she’s not getting parts that go to Michelle Pfeiffer.”

He’s still hanging out on the far side of fame

Gary Larson turns 45 today.

But he loves the land of the free and the brave, eh?

When Scott Thompson joined “The Larry Sanders Show,” he was under direction from show creator Garry Shandling. “Garry didn’t care how my character acted,” Thompson says, “but he wanted me to be gay and from Canada.” That was an easy task for the former “Kids in the Hall” cast member, reports TV Guide, since he is both gay and Canadian. “That was fine, as long as I didn’t have to be American. I don’t mind playing offensive stereotypes, but I WON’T play American.”

OK, Chris, walk down the runway and deliver this BLT

Supermodel Christy Turlington has a realistic view of her investment in a cafe. As she told the New York Times, “OK, I admit it, a tacky theme restaurant for tourists is not the type of job I’m typically associated with. But then I said to myself, ‘Wait a minute. How is it possible for a model to sell out?’ It’s just another job.”

And now those hearts burn for each other

The divorce battle between New York socialites Frank and Nancy Richardson rages on, but it appears that federal judge Kimba Wood is no home-wrecker. Richardson, who has known Wood for 29 years, claims that, “My marriage was totally over, and it was just two hearts talking.”

He could stretch himself and portray a team player

Dennis Rodman, the eccentric basketball player, plays a hoopster in the forthcoming Whoopi Goldberg movie “Eddie,” but he isn’t happy. “I like to play the bad guy,” he said. “You know, then all of a sudden, later in my acting career, start to play the good guy, and people love you.”

And some will even offer to help pull it over your head

Actor Gabriel Byrne knows how to meet women: “Go to the vegetable market, stand there with one of those plastic bags and make (like) you can’t open it. Women will rush over and show you how to do it.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster