Cosby, Selleck, Mandrell, Hope Are the People’s Choice

--Actor Bill Cosby was the big winner at the 11th annual People’s Choice Awards, collecting three awards for his work in the new TV comedy series, “The Cosby Show.” Actor Tom Selleck and country singer Barbara Mandrell each won two awards in the CBS telecast. The People’s Choice statuettes are given on the basis of a nationwide Gallup Poll asking persons their favorite entertainers in 20 categories. Veteran comedian Bob Hope won the ceremony’s most prestigious award--favorite all-time entertainer--edging out crooner Frank Sinatra and tough-guy actor Clint Eastwood. Cosby and his NBC series won awards for favorite TV comedy, favorite new TV comedy and favorite male performer in a new television program. Mandrell took honors as favorite all-around female entertainer and favorite musical performer. Selleck was chosen favorite male television performer.

--The former wife of Baron Heini von Thyssen, one of the world’s richest men, lost a court action seeking to require her ex-husband to disclose exactly how much he is worth. Baroness Denise Thyssen, 44, who divorced the 63-year-old multimillionaire last November, had sought a court order for full details of his fortune to justify a planned court claim for a divorce settlement. But London’s Appeal Court ruled that there would be ample money for a settlement whether his fortune amounted to $430 million, a figure conceded by the baron himself, or $1.3 billion, a sum named in other estimates. A judge told the Brazilian-born baroness at the end of a two-day hearing that the money involved would still enable her to lead a life style “beyond the imagination of most ordinary mortals.”

--Coke Is It, 54, of Guilford, Vt., will get to keep his name. It, the father of Olympic skier Bill Koch, changed his name from Frederick Koch last November because he was frustrated by the fact that people pronounced it “cotch” instead of “coke.” Despite its informative and phonetically correct qualities, Coca-Cola officials objected to his taking their advertising slogan but now have agreed to let him keep the name as long as he doesn’t try to use it commercially. “I can say that his name is still Coke Is It and he will be able to use it,” John Burgess, an It attorney, said. The wealthy It has a reputation for eccentricity and doing such widely varied things as bailing strangers out of jail and teaching children how to make maple syrup.