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

THE ARTS

Disney Hall Supporter: Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan will receive the 1998 Montblanc de la Culture Award, an honor given annually to an arts patron in each of 10 countries, on Thursday during ceremonies at the L.A. Public Library. Riordan will be honored for his efforts in helping to “change the perception of Los Angeles as a land devoid of culture.” Specifically cited by the award’s selection committee--artist Jasper Johns, designer Todd Oldham and conductor James Levine--was Riordan’s personal contribution of $5 million toward construction of the Disney Concert Hall. The honor carries with it a check for $15,000 to be given to a cultural enterprise of the winner’s choice; Riordan’s award will go to the Disney Hall fund. Previous U.S. Montblanc de la Culture award winners include Susan Sontag, Tony Randall, Jane Alexander and Agnes Gund. Riordan is the award’s first Los Angeles-area recipient.

Mona’s Room: The “Mona Lisa” will have a room of her own in the Louvre, courtesy of Japanese television network NTV, which is donating about $4.1 million for renovations to the famed Paris museum. Visitors to the Louvre must brave dense crowds and a bullet-proof glass shield to view the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, which is exhibited in an enormous gallery along with other 16th century Venetian works. The new plan will divide the gallery in two, with a large room for other Venetian paintings and a smaller room set aside solely for the “Mona Lisa,” the world’s best-known painting.

TELEVISION

Inspiring ‘X’ Man: Chris Carter has often said that the ‘70s drama “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” was one of his inspirations in creating Fox’s “The X-Files.” Now, Carter has finally been able to bring part of that inspiration into his series, with the guest appearance in this Sunday’s “X-Files” of “Kolchak” star Darren McGavin. McGavin will play an ex-FBI agent who provides Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) with information about his father’s connection to the McCarthy hearings.

MOVIES

Sorry, Girls: Heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio filed suit against Playgirl magazine Thursday to keep it from publishing nude pictures of him in its July issue. The pictures were allegedly taken on the set of an upcoming film; DiCaprio’s suit claims that the magazine has refused to show him the pictures or reveal the photographs’ source. DiCaprio is using the same lawyer who won Brad Pitt a recall order against Playgirl last year when the magazine printed pictures of Pitt in a nude beach frolic with former girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow. Playgirl’s attorney did not return calls seeking comment.

Imagen Honors: Actor Martin Sheen will receive the Imagen Foundation’s lifetime achievement award on Wednesday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. He will be honored “not only as an actor, director and producer but as a world-class humanitarian [who advocates] for the under-served and under-privileged.” The Imagen award, founded and initially funded by “All in the Family” producer Norman Lear and the National Conference of Christians and Jews, honors positive film and television portrayals of Latinos. Previous lifetime achievement honorees include Hector Elizondo, Edward James Olmos and Rita Moreno.

QUICK TAKES

“The Long Way Home,” this year’s Academy Award winner for feature-length documentary, will be released on home video in June by Bonneville Worldwide Entertainment. The film tells true stories about the post-Holocaust lives of several survivors. . . . Naomi Judd held a press conference in St. Louis on Friday to proclaim her good health. Judd no longer shows signs of the hepatitis C virus that forced her to retire from singing, Dr. Bruce R. Bacon said Friday. Judd, whose condition was diagnosed in 1990, took the drug interferon for a year, ending last May. . . . The duchess of York taped an appearance on TV’s “Friends” Friday. In the NBC series’ season finale, being shot in London, Sarah Ferguson bumps into Chandler and Joey (Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc, respectively) as they make a tourist stop at Westminster Abbey. . . . The former Billboard Live nightclub at 9039 Sunset Blvd. is now the Key Club, owners announced Friday. The name change was necessitated by the recent sale of licensing rights to the Billboard Live name. . . . “Melrose Place” star Brooke Langton, who leaves the Fox show at the end of this season, has signed to star in “The Net,” a weekly cable series for USA Network based on the Sandra Bullock movie of the same name. A summer premiere is scheduled. . . . Whoopi Goldberg will star in the Mark Twain tale “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” for ABC’s “Wonderful World of Disney.” The TV movie will premiere next season. . . . CBS Video will rush-release “The Official 1998 NCAA Championship Video” to stores by May 5, just 30 days after the final game. . . . Founding Three Dog Night member Chuck Negron has filed suit against former bandmates Daniel Hutton and Cory Wells over the use of the rock group’s name. Negron claims that the best-selling ‘70s band was known for his distinctive voice and that Hutton and Wells are “deceiving” the public by performing hits such as “Joy to the World” without him under the band’s name. . . . The Pasadena Symphony willsf meibnstitute ekca new low-cost ticket policy for children next season. Tickets for all seats will be $3 for kids 5 through 12 and $7.50 for those 13 through high school. (Regular tickets are about $17.50 to $60.)