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

TV & MOVIES

Tragic Turn: A Yale law school graduate who recently struck a $1.5-million deal with Imagine Entertainment and Universal Studios for a movie about his life story of battling schizophrenia was being held in New York Thursday on suspicion of murdering his girlfriend. Michael Laudor, 35, was arrested late Wednesday after the body of Caroline Costello, 37, was found in the couple’s apartment; police said she had been stabbed to death. According to earlier published reports, Ron Howard, an owner of Imagine Entertainment, was considering directing a movie version of Laudor’s autobiography, “Laws of Madness.” Brad Pitt was reportedly negotiating for the starring role. Imagine Entertainment said it had no immediate comments on Laudor’s arrest.

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Taking ‘Dutchman’ to the Screen: Julie Taymor, the crowned queen of the recent Tony Awards for her hit stage adaptation of “The Lion King,” has signed with Fox 2000 to direct and co-write the screenplay for a film version of Richard Wagner’s opera “The Flying Dutchman,” about a man forced to wander the seas until he finds a woman willing to be faithful until death. Taymor received scathing critical reviews when she directed “The Flying Dutchman” for L.A. Opera in 1995. Earlier this month, Taymor picked up two individual Tonys--for best director and costume design--for “The Lion King,” which won a total of six awards including best musical.

POP/ROCK

Rapper Woes: Rapper DMX is the latest rap star to run afoul of the law--accused of rape. DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, is accused of raping a woman he met at a strip club in New York last Friday. The 29-year-old stripper told police that Simmons, 27, invited her to an apartment party early Saturday morning. There was no party, she said. According to a criminal complaint, Simmons allegedly raped and sodomized her. Simmons was charged Wednesday with rape, sodomy, sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment. He was free on $10,000 bail. “There is just no truth to these allegations,” his attorney, Murray Richman, said Thursday. “We do not even know this person. And he was not at the club that night. He was never at that apartment.” Simmons’ album, “It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot,” on the Def Jam label, debuted atop the Billboard pop charts this week when it was released May 19. It is currently at No. 10, having sold about 550,000 copies.

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Sinatra Probate Underway: Frank Sinatra’s threat to disinherit anyone who contested his will must have made an impression, since no challengers showed up Thursday as the document was entered into probate in L.A. Superior Court. Andrew Garb, the attorney representing the estate’s co-executors, said the hearing “may be a sign” that the estate’s disposition “will proceed without any litigation.” The heirs--including his widow, first wife and three children--have four months to dispute the late singer’s wishes in distributing about $6 million in personal property. Other assets are held in trust. Garb said he believes Sinatra, who died May 14, succeeded in drawing up a will that will discourage family infighting. “Everyone knows that if they want to challenge the will they better succeed, because if they fail they will disinherit themselves completely,” he said.

ART

LACMA Purchase: The Ahmanson Foundation has funded the L.A. County Museum of Art’s purchase of “A Musical Party,” a painting by Valentin de Boulogne, a French follower of Italian Baroque master Caravaggio. Now on view in LACMA’s Ahmanson building, the work--painted around 1626 in the artist’s trademark bravura style--features five dramatically lighted figures in colorful costumes singing and playing instruments. The painting originally belonged to the Duc d’Orleans, nephew of Louis XIV. It passed through several private collections in England from 1798 to 1946, when it was purchased by London’s Wildenstein & Co. galleries, from whom LACMA bought it for an undisclosed sum.

QUICK TAKES

Film star Jennifer Jason Leigh is replacing Natasha Richardson in the Broadway revival of “Cabaret.” Richardson, 35, just won a Tony for her role as the exotic English chanteuse Sally Bowles. She leaves the show Aug. 2, the same day her husband, Liam Neeson, ends his Broadway run as Oscar Wilde in “The Judas Kiss.” Leigh, 36, will take over the role--her first in a Broadway musical--on Aug. 4. . . . Vice President Al Gore swore in William J. Ivey, a country music expert, as head of the National Endowment for the Arts Wednesday. At the ceremony, Gore and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton pledged to continue to fight Republican leaders’ annual attempts to abolish the agency.