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

DATE: MONDAY, December 6, 1993                   TAG: 9312060009
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PEOPLE

Johnny Carson was a guest of honor at the White House on Sunday as President Clinton paid tribute to the TV talk-show host and four other winners of the Kennedy Center Honors, which celebrate contributions to America's cultural life.

Receiving the awards with Carson were gospel singer Marion Williams, conductor Georg Solti, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim and the founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Arthur Mitchell.

Carson chuckles at the talk-show battles that filled the vacuum left behind when he quit. "I find it funny ever since I left as to what's happened to things," he said. "The `late-night wars,' and Arsenio [Hall], and Chevy [Chase] and Jay [Leno] and [David] Letterman and Conan [O'Brien]. Yeah, I get a kick out of it."

The "Tonight Show" host, who left his desk in 1992 after nearly 30 years, says he's not very curious about nightly talk-show events nowadays. "I watched Dave a couple of times," he said. "I don't usually stay up that late, to tell you the truth."

Author Anne Rice is still spewing forth her displeasure at Tom Cruise for hijacking the role of the vampire Lestat in the film adaptation of her novel "Interview with the Vampire." She says: "Tom Cruise is a case of ludicrous miscasting. They've taken a blond, feline, androgynous, 6-foot-tall hero, and they've cast a short, dark, all-American kid.

"The fans feel betrayed. They're furious, and I don't blame them. Tom Cruise is a good actor. I really believe that this time he received bad advice. But they're very cocky in Hollywood. . . . And now we're going to hear that Tom is hurt [about the backlash]. Well, you can't just take everything you want."

Prince Edward left the ranks of the unemployed to go to work this week - the first child of the British monarch to do so. The 29-year-old scion of Queen Elizabeth II began work as a TV producer for Ardent Productions, a company he founded.

Gennifer Flowers, the woman who charged during the presidential campaign that she had an affair with Bill Clinton, says she's proposing a tell-all book called "An Affair of the Heart: The Bill Clinton I Know."

She also wants to package the book with a 65-minute cassette of her private phone conversations with Clinton.

She plans to write the book with Robert Pack, who co-wrote "Speaking Out," with former White House spokesman Larry Speakes.

by CNB