People talk 10/29/03

Seven-time Bond visits Vietnamese school

VINH HA, Vietnam -- Roger Moore, the suave star of seven James Bond movies, visited a rural elementary school in central Vietnam in a different role -- as UNICEF's goodwill ambassador.

Moore was at the Ha Trung school Monday to see water, sanitation and safety projects funded by the U.N. children's agency.

He complimented the school on achieving 100 percent attendance for the community's 850 children. "That's much better than the inner cities in England and in Europe. If my education had been as good ... I would be able to say all of this in Vietnamese."

Wearing a white T-shirt with UNICEF's logo, Moore, 76, said he plans to continue circling the globe to promote better lives for children.

Yankees signature car fails to get bids

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- A Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow with the signatures of dozens of New York Yankees past and present failed to get any bids during a sports memorabilia auction.

"I'm embarrassed. I was hoping somebody out there would buy it and put it in his garage," Vinny Caraccio, who did the paint job himself at his body shop, told The Press of Atlantic City.

The auction was held Saturday. Among the signatures on the car were those of Don Larsen, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

Caraccio, of Freeport, N.Y., bought the Rolls-Royce 10 years ago. He had hoped the luxury car would fetch anywhere from $80,000 to $750,000 during the "Sports Immortals" auction conducted by New York auction house Guernsey's at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. The minimum bid for the car was $50,000.

Also failing to attract buyer interest was Muhammad Ali's former Deer Lake, Pa., training camp, a 5-acre spread with 18 buildings where the former heavyweight champ prepped for fights in the 1970s. The minimum bid for the camp was $1 million.

An early 1900s football jersey worn by Jim Thorpe attracted a winning bid of $210,000 from an absentee bidder.

The university also is home to the New York State Writers Institute that Kennedy founded.

Elvis remains top-earning deceased celebrity

NEW YORK -- Elvis Presley is No. 1 on Forbes.com's list of top-earning deceased celebrities for the third consecutive year, earning an estimated $40 million.

"Peanuts" cartoonist Charles Schulz is No. 2, earning $32 million, followed by writer J.R.R. Tolkien, $22 million; former Beatle John Lennon, $19 million; and former Beatle George Harrison, $16 million.

The third annual list is based on estate earnings, the Web site said Friday.

Rounding out the top 10: children's book author Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel, $16 million; race car driver Dale Earnhardt, $15 million; rapper Tupac Shakur, $12 million; reggae star Bob Marley, $9 million; and movie star Marilyn Monroe, $8 million.

-- From wire reports