He Calls Himself Bean, But He Gets Paid Money

Quick: who is the richest British actor?

No, no, no and no.

Would you believe Mr. Bean? Yes, we mean Rowan Atkinson. Seems the “Black Adder” and “Bean” comic, the malaprop-prone minister of “Four Weddings and a Funeral,” earned more than $18 million last year.

Our source is the Sunday London Times, which compiled a list of Britain’s highest-paid actors and actresses. It’s a distinguished list.

Actor-director Richard Attenborough, for example, was No. 2 with $15.5 million. Actors Alec Guinness ($7.3 million) and Anthony Hopkins ($6 million) followed.

Relative newcomer Kate Winslet (“Titanic”), “Full Monty” star Robert Carlyle and Rupert Everett of “My Best Friend’s Wedding” fame all earned in the range of $3 million.

Loose talk

Daryl Hannah (“The Gingerbread Man”) on playing different roles (in the Los Angeles Daily News): “I’m an actress. I mean, that’s what I do. Just because I’ve played ethereal doesn’t mean I AM ethereal, and just because I played a lawyer doesn’t mean I am a lawyer either.”

Under fire, she’s having a hard time being graceful

Brett Butler turns 40 today.

She should have played the Idaho Powerball

Virginia Lockwood, aka Lady Spencer, is suing her former lawyers. Spencer is the ex-wife of Earl Spencer, brother of the late Princess Diana, whom she wanted to divorce privately. Instead, the case got splashed all over the media. Spencer also claims that had the suit been settled in London, instead of South Africa where the two principals live, she would have received much more than her $3.3 million lump sum.

Her ambition is to be the next Paul Lynde

Whoopi Goldberg’s next brilliant career move: “Hollywood Squares.” No kidding. Goldberg signed a multiyear deal to co-produce and appear in the game show, which will premiere Sept. 14. “We want to make it a big party that is slightly politically incorrect,” she said. “Nobody has sort of grooved with it on television.”

He’ll be murmuring a lot of Hail Marys for this one

In his fourth film, “Dogma” director Kevin Smith is tackling religion. “It’s a very reverent flick, actually,” the 20-something director says. It’s very funny, but it’s about something very serious.” In the film, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon play angels who try to return to heaven after they are banished. Emma Thompson will play God.

Quick, gimme a couple of Dianas and a pack of Dodis

A new batch of the drug Ecstasy is being marketed in England bearing likenesses of the late Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed. Assumptions are that the images will help wales of the illegal substance. Some pills feature the Mercedes emblem, the car in which Di and Dodi died.

Now we know what fuel that glass plane ran on

Lynda Carter (“Wonder Woman”) has checked herself into a Maryland rehab center for a drinking problem. The actress, 46, has been attending AA meetings, where she’s obliges autograph-seekers.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos

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