LEGAL FILEBaldwin Charged in Paparazzo Attack: Actor...

LEGAL FILE

Baldwin Charged in Paparazzo Attack: Actor Alec Baldwin was charged Wednesday with battery for an alleged attack on a freelance photographer who was filming Baldwin and wife, Kim Basinger, when they brought their infant daughter home from the hospital on Oct. 26. The photographer, Alan Zanger, suffered a broken nose in the scuffle, according to a civil lawsuit he has filed. Baldwin, 37, said at the time that he had repeatedly asked Zanger to stop taking photos of the homecoming. The misdemeanor battery charge filed by the city attorney’s office carries a sentence of up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. Baldwin faces arraignment Jan. 9 in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

TELEVISION

Schwarzkopf Joins NBC News: It’s official. Gulf War veteran and retired Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf has joined NBC News as a national contributor and military analyst. Schwarzkopf signed with NBC News Tuesday, then immediately made his way to the “NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw” newsroom, where he commented on the U.S. troops’ mission to Bosnia. In addition to analyzing military operations around the world, Schwarzkopf will serve as a special correspondent to “Nightly News,” where he will “report on the people, places and things that make America work.”

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Simpson Ready for Interview?: O.J. Simpson has promised to give his first televised interview to CNN legal analyst Greta Van Susteren, and he is “adamant” that there be no ground rules for the meeting, Van Susteren said on the cable network Wednesday morning. Van Susteren, interviewed by CNN anchor Donna Kelly, said she expected the interview to be “in the next few months,” but gave no specific timeline. “He wants to have an interview that has a level of credibility,” Van Susteren said, noting she spent four hours with Simpson discussing the interview last weekend.

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Honoring Latino Portrayals: Positive portrayals of Latinos in film, television and music will be honored at the inaugural NCLR Bravo Awards, airing Dec. 28 on Fox and organized by the Washington-based National Council of La Raza (NCLR) in conjunction with the Hollywood group Nosotros. Actors Jimmy Smits and Jennifer Lopez (“Money Train”) will host the event, which will be taped Saturday at the Los Angeles Theatre and include performances by Gloria Estefan, Paula Abdul, Kenny Loggins and the Barrio Boyzz. Among the awards, actor Ricardo Montalban will be honored for lifetime achievement.

OPERA

Pavarotti’s Defense: Super tenor Luciano Pavarotti on Tuesday dismissed talk that his voice was fading after he suffered vocal problems in New York and said he had recently delivered “brilliant” performances. Pavarotti canceled one performance, withdrew halfway through another and missed high notes when he sang in Donizetti’s “Daughter of the Regiment” at New York’s Metropolitan Opera last month. But at a news conference in Vancouver, the 60-year-old super tenor called his last two performances in New York “brilliant,” saying they matched his first “La Fille du Regiment” performance in 1966. Asked when he might retire, Pavarotti said he has no plans to stop.

POP/ROCK

Beatles Still No. 1: Beatlemania subsided a bit last week, but “The Beatles Anthology 1” two-disc album still sold 453,000 copies, making it the nation’s top-selling album for the second week in a row, according to SoundScan figures released Wednesday. The remainder of the Top 5 also remained unchanged: Garth Brooks’ “Fresh Horses” (366,000 copies sold), Mariah Carey’s “Daydream” (285,000), Mannheim Steamroller’s “Christmas in the Aire” (201,000) and the “Waiting to Exhale” soundtrack (200,000). Bruce Springsteen’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” which debuted at No. 11 last week, fell to No. 26, selling 57,000 copies.

QUICK TAKES

Blockbuster Video, which previously had turned thumbs down on the NC-17 and unrated versions of MGM/UA Home Video’s release of “Showgirls,” will carry the new R-rated version in its stores. The video comes out Jan. 2. . . . Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme will receive the Ella Fitzgerald Lifetime Achievement Award at the Beverly Hilton tonight in an all-star tribute mounted by the Society of Singers. . . . ABC’s “20/20” will air Friday what is being billed as the first American TV interview with Yolanda Saldivar, the woman convicted two months ago of murdering tejano singing star Selena. . . . In the latest update on the Kim Basinger/Main Line Pictures “Boxing Helena” case, both parties have until Dec. 14 to appeal a reported $3.8-million settlement ruling handed down by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. . . . Independent Feature Project/West and the Friends for Daniel are holding a benefit screening at Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex tonight of the 1993 film “Dazed and Confused,” starring Jason London and Parker Posey. Proceeds from the 7:30 p.m. screening will go toward medical care and rehabilitation costs for the film’s cinematographer, Lee Daniel, who was seriously injured in a car accident this summer. Tickets are $12.