Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

POP/ROCK

Follow His Path: Bob Dylan, who receives the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor in Washington on Dec. 7, has been selected as the fourth recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, set up by the late actress Lillian Gish “to give recipients of the prize the recognition they deserve, to bring attention to their contributions to society and to encourage others to follow in their path.” The cash prize, valued at about $200,000, will be presented to Dylan in New York on Oct. 16 by photographer Richard Avedon. Previous winners, honored for making “an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life,” are architect Frank Gehry, director Ingmar Bergman and artist-designer-director Robert Wilson.

MOVIES

The March ‘Lebowski’: Gramercy Pictures has moved the release date of the Coen brothers’ dark comedy, “The Big Lebowski,” to March 1998. The eagerly awaited follow-up to last year’s “Fargo,” for which the brothers won the Academy Award for best original screenplay, had originally been scheduled for a Christmas release. The film stars Jeff Bridges as a man threatened by gangsters in a case of mistaken identity, and co-stars John Goodman and Steve Buscemi. Russell Schwartz, president of Gramercy Pictures, said the film’s release date was moved “simply because the film is not ready. [The Coens] still want to add some fun stuff, and it’s just not going to be ready [by Christmas].” Such a move is unusual because studios generally release their prestigious films during the holidays to qualify for critics’ awards and the Academy Awards. But the brothers’ 1996 film, “Fargo,” which was also released in March, defied that logic. The film became a sleeper hit and in addition to the screenplay Oscar also produced an Oscar for actress Frances McDormand.

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‘Bent’ Rated NC-17: MGM has said it will not fight the Motion Picture Assn. of America’s decision to give the restrictive NC-17 rating to “Bent,” a movie about a gay man in a concentration camp that includes an orgy scene. Gerry Rich, MGM’s president of worldwide marketing, called the film’s “early scenes of explicit sexuality . . . absolutely necessary to the story.” Despite the studio’s willingness to accept the MPAA’s rating, some in the gay community are charging that the ratings board looks more harshly on gay and lesbian sex, since many films with similarly graphic heterosexual sex scenes have received the less restrictive R rating. “There is clearly a double standard,” Chastity Bono, entertainment media director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, told the trade paper Daily Variety. “We’ve come a long way, but the next step for gays and lesbians in media is to be able to be physical with each other, and to show the same type of intimacy on screen that is completely accepted between people of the opposite sex.” “Bent,” directed by Sean Mathias and adapted from Martin Sherman’s award-winning Broadway play, is to open Nov. 26.

TELEVISION

Eye Strain: The premiere of “Public Eye With Bryant Gumbel” and the season opener of “Murphy Brown” received a cool reception on CBS Wednesday, as more TV viewers seeking an alternative to NBC’s baseball coverage turned to ABC. Gumbel’s news program attracted just 9.2 million viewers at 9 p.m., compared to a record 20.6 million for ABC’s “The Drew Carey Show” at 9 p.m. and 17.3 million watching “Ellen” at 9:30 p.m. Kicking off its 10th season with a series of episodes about breast cancer, “Murphy Brown” was similarly upstaged by ABC’s “Dharma & Greg,” which lost just 13% of its audience from the previous week and surpassed “Murphy” by more than 2 million viewers. CBS’ best medicine came at 10 p.m., when “Chicago Hope” attracted 14.5 million viewers. But ABC won that hour as well, as nearly 18 million people tuned in for a “PrimeTime Live” interview with Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson. . . . In late-night, meanwhile, NBC’s “Tonight Show” scored its largest premiere week audience in six years, with host Jay Leno attracting an average of 6.5 million viewers each night last week.

QUICK TAKES

Elton John’s Princess Diana tribute “Candle in the Wind 1997,” which sold a record 3.4 million copies in the United States last week, has now shipped more than 26 million units worldwide, including more than 5 million copies in Britain. . . . Universal Television has signed comedian and MTV host Bill Bellamy to star in and produce a new comedy series. The program is being developed by producer Ralph Farquhar (“Moesha”); no network is attached yet. Bellamy will continue his duties on MTV. . . . “Touched by an Angel” star Della Reese is reportedly upset over CBS’ decision to give series star Roma Downey a hefty pay hike while denying Reese the same raise. CBS said Reese had already been granted work concessions, such as permission to leave the Utah set each weekend in time to make it back for church services in Los Angeles, where Reese is a minister. . . . Legendary superhero “Batman” will chat with kids today at 5 p.m. via America Online (keyword: KIDSWB). The chat comes before the premiere of new animated “Batman” episodes airing Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. on KTLA-TV Channel 5. . . . Bluegrass music pioneer Jimmy Martin, 70, was in satisfactory condition Thursday after undergoing a quadruple heart bypass in Nashville Monday.