People talk 12/9/02

Singer's separation ends in renewed vows

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Singer Marc Anthony and former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres renewed their wedding vows, five months after announcing their separation.

The couple emerged Saturday from the grand Cathedral of San Juan holding hands and kissing as bridesmaids in scarlet gowns showered them with white rose petals.

The lavish ceremony was attended by other well-known artists, politicians and sports figures.

Although they announced a split in July, the couple never legally filed for separation. Torres has described the church wedding as "a new beginning."

Anthony, a Grammy-winning singer born in New York to Puerto Rican parents, married Torres in a Las Vegas civil ceremony on May 10, 2000.

Former first cat enjoys role as grand marshal

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Socks has put on a few pounds since his days as the first pet, but he's no less adventurous.

The mischievous cat seemed more interested in climbing a tree than riding in former President Clinton's 1967 Mustang in his first trip back to Little Rock since 1992.

Socks, who now belongs to Clinton's former personal secretary Betty Currie, returned to Little Rock on Saturday as the grand marshal of the 2002 Little Rock Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade.

"It's been wonderful for both of us, but he seems to be enjoying it immensely," said Currie.

Before taking a ride in Clinton's Mustang, Currie let the thick black and white cat take a walk on his leash and he headed straight for a tree on the side of the road.

Nicholson slowing his walk on the wild side

NEW YORK -- Jack Nicholson has a reputation as one of Hollywood's most notorious rakes. But his friends think he's just the opposite -- a fool for love.

"This is the one thing my close friends never come to me for advice about. They think I'm too goofy about women. In love with love. Too easily injured. Idealistic. They think I'm not really as sharp there as I am in other areas," Nicholson told Newsweek in its Dec. 16 issues.

"I do not agree with them, incidentally."

Still, even Nicholson admitted that at age 65, he's slowing down a bit.

"I can't work on a movie for 12, 14 hours a day, then go out and burn the streets down to the ground all night and get wild and, you know, tear through other peoples' lives. I don't have the energy for it," he said.

Nicholson plays the quintessential everyman, a retired actuary who goes on a journey of self-discovery, in his latest movie, "About Schmidt."

Coppola pays 'shocking' price for Napa vineyard

NAPA, Calif. -- Film director Francis Ford Coppola has agreed to pay $31.5 million -- a wine industry record -- for the Cohn Vineyard in Napa Valley.

The deal brings an end to a bidding war between Coppola and Robert Mondavi. The maker of "Apocalypse Now" and "The Godfather" series will pay an estimated $350,000 per acre for the prized vineyard, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Coppola is a veteran vintner with more than 30 years of experience in Napa Valley.

The Cohn Vineyard is renowned as one of the best locations to grow cabernet in Napa Valley, if not the world, said Mike Fisher, a vineyard expert with the St. Helena consulting firm of Motto Kryla & Fisher.

"You can make very nice wines and sell them for very high prices," he said. "It's the place everyone wants to be."

Properties like Cohn Vineyard come on the market every 10 to 15 years, but industry lawyer Jeff Seff called the price Coppola paid "shocking."

He said it seemed particularly high since the deal comes just after the sale of the Suscol Bench Vineyard for $60,000 an acre. It is located five miles away.

-- From wire reports