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

PEOPLE WATCH

Sydney Woman Sinatra’s Daughter?: A Sydney, Australia, woman says she is the unrecognized daughter of the late Frank Sinatra and Hungarian actress Eva Bartok. Deana Moore, who lives in the Sydney beach suburb of Avalon, was quoted in Monday’s Sydney Daily Telegraph as saying that she still hoped for a few words of recognition in Sinatra’s will--even if she saw none of his fortune. Sinatra, the world’s greatest singing star of the past half-century, died in Los Angeles of a heart attack last Thursday. He was 82. The Telegraph said Moore was born 40 years ago after an affair between Bartok and Sinatra, who was then breaking up from second wife Ava Gardner. Moore was not answering the telephone to reporters on Monday, but the daily tabloid quoted her as saying that Sinatra had not kept in touch with her mother. His only acknowledgment of her existence came when he replied to a telegram from her mother after her birth with the words: “Thank you.” “I am so deeply saddened,” the newspaper quoted Moore as saying. “How could it have hurt him at the end to be a gentleman? It is theoretically possible that he will acknowledge my existence in his will. I really don’t want money--just the words that I am his daughter. His cowardice makes me feel endlessly angry.”

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Depardieu Injured in Fall From Motorcycle: French actor Gerard Depardieu suffered scratches on his face Monday in a fall from his motorcycle outside Paris and was admitted to a hospital, a rescue service spokesman said. Depardieu, 49, slid while taking a curve in the village of Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines, west of the French capital. He was being kept in a hospital for observation, the spokesman said. Depardieu’s movies include “Green Card” and “The Return of Martin Guerre.” He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in “Cyrano de Bergerac” in 1990.

THE ARTS

Rauschenberg’s Posteriority Complex: On Monday in Washington, Rep. Ernest J. Istook (R.-Okla.)., a staunch member of the religious right, became the first recipient of People for the American Way’s Equine Posterior Achievement Award, created to honor “that leader whose abilities to misrepresent an issue, manipulate his or her followers and pander to our basic instincts reach such ridiculous levels we don’t know whether to laugh or cry.” Istook didn’t show up to be the, er, butt of the joke, so the constitutional and civil rights organization has arranged to donate the award, designed by artist Robert Rauschenberg and cast in bronze by FDR Memorial sculptor Robert Graham, to the Oklahoma City Art Museum. Celebrity participants included Norman Lear, Alec Baldwin and Molly Ivins.

TELEVISION

This Duff’s for You: Homer Simpson’s favorite beer, Duff, has become a real-life collector’s item and is being offered for sale in Australia for up to $6,300 a case. Banned from sale in 1996 after the makers of “The Simpsons” complained the name was stolen from their cartoon series, a beer called Duff has reappeared for sale in Australia in classified advertisements. The same 24 cans of the beer that cost about $15 in 1995 have greatly multiplied in value. According to ads in the latest edition of a national classified advertisements newspaper, a six-pack of Duff will set buyers back $750. In the three Duff ads, the cheapest price for a case was $2,800. In 1996, a federal court judge ruled that the South Australian Brewing Co. had illegally tried to “exploit a strong association” with “The Simpsons” by making and selling Duff Beer.

MUSIC

A Scare for Mehta: In a dramatic ending to a 33-year tenure, Mehli Mehta, music director of the American Youth Symphony, suffered heart pains just after completing Ravel’s “La Valse” at Royce Hall on Saturday night. The 89-year-old conductor, who underwent a quintuple bypass operation two years ago, hobbled off the stage, where he was met by his doctor, his wife and son Zubin, who had flown in from Florence for the farewell concert. His pulse rate was 200--a result of arrhythmia, or irregular beating of the heart--but after a 30-minute rest he completed the concert. “As I was taking a bow in front of 2,000 people, I got two shocks in my heart,” Mehta said Monday. “It was like a horse had kicked me in the chest. Zubin said, ‘Daddy, you can’t go back on stage to do the Saint-Saens [symphony],’ but the orchestra was ready, the audience was waiting and I wasn’t going to let them down. . . . The doctor said that, were it not for the defibrillator regulating my heartbeat, I would have been dead on the spot.”

QUICK TAKES

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards took a tumble in his Connecticut home over the weekend, injuring his ribs and chest and forcing the band to postpone at least four concerts in Europe. . . . The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra has commissioned Lorin Maazel, music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony, to compose a symphonic work. The orchestra will perform Maazel’s symphonic debut in the Austrian capital late next year. . . . Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Busta Rhymes, Gang Starr and Wyclef Jean and the Refugee All-Stars have signed on for the third Smokin’ Grooves tour, which kicks off July 22 in Buffalo or Rochester, N.Y., and includes Aug. 13-14 shows at the Universal Amphitheatre. Tickets for the local dates go on sale June 13.