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

DATE: SATURDAY, February 19, 1994                   TAG: 9402190113
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PEOPLE

In explaining why she thinks her proposed TV series about a Southern gospel singer got the cold shoulder from the studio types, she had said: "People [in Hollywood] are Jewish. And it's a frightening thing for them to promote Christianity."

Parton now says, "I believe everyone's religion is sacred to them, and I would never intentionally give any other impression. If I have ever said anything that can be taken the wrong way, I'm truly sorry."

Actress Elizabeth Taylor will undergo hip replacement surgery in March, her publicist, Chen Sam, said Thursday.

John Moreland, an orthopedic surgeon, said Taylor has osteoarthritis in her left hip, a condition in which cartilage has worn out, "causing painful bone-on-bone contact." The exact date and location of the operation weren't disclosed. Complete recovery may take up to two years, Moreland said.

Garth Brooks has the jitters about his first European tour.

"Their concept of country music is outdated," he said. "I'm worried how they'll accept me, if they accept me at all."

Brooks kicks off the tour March 30 in Dublin and winds up in Spain in late April. In the meantime, he's playing places like Providence.

The superstar known for a raucous brand of country told reporters Thursday before a show that he refuses to charge more than $17 or $18 a seat for a concert.

"It means a crowd with a good attitude," Brooks said. "People get mad when they have to pay 30, 40 bucks, and that makes it harder to reach them."

Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary has been married a few times - three, maybe four - says Washingtonian magazine, but she doesn't like to talk about any of them but her last husband, the late John O'Leary.

When O'Leary was questioned by People magazine about three marriages, and rumors of a fourth, she refused to acknowledge that she had once been married to TV news anchor Max Robinson, who died in 1988 of complications from AIDS.

Robinson's brother, Randall Robinson, told Washingtonian that he suspects O'Leary's "convenient memory lapse" has to do with the cause of Robinson's death. "They lived together on 16th Street," he said, "and they both represented themselves to our family as being married."

Confronted with the comments of her former brother-in-law, O'Leary confirmed that she had been married for a short while to Max Robinson and the marriage was annulled.