QUICKIE

Daily Variety called it “one of the shortest executive tenures in Hollywood history” and the hyperbole was justified. Less than three weeks after Dino De Laurentiis announced ex-Columbia V.P. Robert Lawrence’s appointment as president of Embassy Pictures, a spokesman confirmed Lawrence’s departure in the wake of “corporate restructuring.”

But sources tell Outtakes that Lawrence actually was lured away by other corporate restructuring at United Artists, where Jerry Weintraub is assembling his team. Ex-ABC Broadcast Group chief Tony Thomopolous already has been named president of the UA motion picture and TV groups, but Lawrence apparently is about to be named (as of press time) as a high-ranking player beneath him.

Lawrence wasn’t reachable at Embassy--but an operator at Lawrence’s old haunts (Columbia) said that only a forwarding number had been left. At that number, the voice answered: “United Artists.”