Notorious? Sign on the Dotted Line : Ruth Webb’s Talent Agency Reps ‘Stars’ Known for Scandal

Joey Buttafuoco starring in comedies a la John Belushi? Tonya Harding wowing them in an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical? John Wayne Bobbitt--well, doing anything on camera except looking vaguely stunned?

Watch out, Mike Ovitz. When it comes to never-say-never talent management, no one outstrips the Hollywood-based Ruth Webb Entertainment, Inc. “At first people thought I was kidding,” cheerfully admits agent Sherri Spillane, who began Webb’s new “scandal” division in June. The ranks have since swelled to include Buttafuoco, Harding, Bobbitt, Norma Jean (Cop-Turned-Call-Girl) Almodovar, Tammy Faye Bakker and Mayflower Madam Sydney Biddle Barrows. Kato Kaelin was recently, albeit briefly, also a client.

A tough crew, it seems at first, for genteel ladies such as Spillane and Webb. Not your typical Hollywood talent agents, they don’t wear headsheets. They don’t do lunch (“Cocktails, yes”). Offices are in Webb’s Nichols Canyon home, where a parrot, raccoon and occasional peacock frolic before a clutter of chandeliers, Broadway posters and white shag carpet.

“We know how it is to be the targets of media frenzy,” Spillane says. History bears her out. Spillane danced on Broadway in the ‘60s, caused a ruckus dating Sammy Davis Jr., and posed nude on the cover of a book by her detective-story writer ex-husband, Mickey. Webb, whose first association with Spillane was as her theatrical agent, is no shrinking violet either.

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“I was no-TOR-ious!” sings out 70-something former cabaret crooner Webb, in a dramatic style Spillane describes as “a combination Auntie Mame and Zsa-Zsa Gabor.” “Both Sherri and I made headlines around the world! I was married to a guy named Albert Benajam--’In a Jam’ Benajam. We were known in the press as ‘The Battling Benajams.’ The Mafia put out a contract on me. . . .”

Never mind that the New York Daily Mirror headlines wielded are circa 1955, a time when an exceptionally bad apple might “spend the night in the pokey.” Never mind that the talent listed on last year’s promo sheet looks a bit creaky: Dorothy Lamour, Elke Sommer, Imogene Coca.

The point is, scandal is always scandal. Show business is always show business. They’ve done it all and can do it again. Spillane describes how she got the idea to combine the two:

“I was watching the whole Olympic scandal with Tonya and thinking to myself, ‘My God--they are going after this girl like she was a Manson killer!’ Totally blowing it out of proportion! Then one day we heard that a Lloyd Webber production--’Starlight Express’--was going to Las Vegas.” Her voice becomes irresistibly upbeat. “And I thought, ‘We could turn Tonya’s career around by putting her in a major skating show! We can give her a second chance!’ ”

Harding could well be the leading lady Andrew Lloyd Webber has come to deserve, but her image makeover into America’s newest sweetheart is not in the bag yet. Her new boyfriend nixed a softball “Entertainment Tonight” interview on the set of “Breakaway,” a low-budget film in which she had a small part. (Neither Harding nor her agents will say how much she was paid.) Her fan club just disbanded, citing Harding’s repeated demands for money. Spillane admits those recent graphic Penthouse shots too were a setback, although she protests, “Tonya had nothing to do with them.”

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Others in the “notorious” talent roster are also coming along a little more slowly than the Ruth Webb Agency would like.

“We tried to do something with Kato Kaelin,” Webb declares flatly. “Got him two auditions and he can’t act. He flunked out.”

“He just went on one,” says Spillane, struggling to her ex-client’s defense. “It was for a lead guest role on an episodic. They said that he . . . wasn’t that strong an actor. I personally thought he was wonderful on ‘Talk Soup’--but that’s a comedic thing. He wants to be a serious dramatic actor.”

Bobbitt has received two offers: “The first was a music video with Weird Al Yankovich. It was something he really wanted to do. But when I checked the dates, his manager said John was probably going to be in jail that day. Then he went off and did that porno thing. . . .”

Spillane’s shoulders slump; for a split second she concedes defeat. “Once he went the porno route, it limited what we can do. We don’t get into X-rated projects. We only go so far.” But then another idea hits her. “Didn’t . . . Sylvester Stallone make a porno film when he was young?”

“So did Joan Crawford!” Webb roars in encouragement.

“You have to look at the history of these things,” Spillane is back in sell mode. “Charles Dutton was in jail (for manslaughter). Stacy Keach was in jail for drugs . . . and still got his series back. Tim Allen was in jail for drugs. So this is not such a terrible thing we’re doing--it’s a chance for people to turn their lives around.”

Besides, they say, compared to some of the nightmare stories about so-called “regular” clients (don’t get them started on the subject of child actors), Joey Buttafuoco is “an angel.”

“Joey booked his very first audition--it’s a small role in an independent,” Spillane says. “He plays a cabbie in ‘Cul-de-Sac.’ His wrap party’s tonight. They’re also interested in him for an Off-Broadway show. And there was a producer interested in him for a film with Frank Gorshin. . . .”

“Obviously any Italian picture would be great for him,” Webb is thinking out loud.

“He’s also comedy.”

“He’s fun.”

“I can see him doing some of the Belushi things. He could star in his own films. He’s a talented man. Who knows how far we’ll go?” Spillane says. “We’re just getting started with Joey, just getting started.”