
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 26, 1993                   TAG: 9304260001
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PEOPLE

Michael Oliver, the 11-year-old star of "The Problem Child" movies, testified in court about gifts Universal Pictures sent him before suing him.

"If I do remember correctly, I got a bicycle, a skateboard and a telescope," he said Friday.

The telescope came with a note: "To Michael, with hopes that our star may see others."

The boy's attorney, Robert DeMarco, wanted to show how much the studio valued him before he made the first movie.

Oliver was paid $40,000 for the first movie and guaranteed $80,000 for the sequel. But Universal said Oliver and his mother, Dianne Ponce, extorted a $500,000 contract on the eve of filming the sequel when the boy threatened to walk out.

Universal now wants $190,000 back. Oliver says in a countersuit he is owed $350,000.

Closing arguments are expected today.

:wq! o

by CNB