ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

FILM

Depardieu Hospitalized: Prolific French film star Gerard Depardieu (“The Return of Martin Guerre,” “Cyrano de Bergerac,”) underwent successful coronary bypass surgery and is recovering in a Paris hospital, his film agency said Tuesday. ArtMedia said the 51-year-old actor had surgery Monday at the Foch hospital in Suresnes, outside Paris, and was expected to recover fully. Doctor Gilles Dreyfus, who conducted the six-hour operation, said the actor was admitted last week after suffering chest pains. “There was no alternative treatment,” Dreyfus said, adding that the patient was doing very well but would have to stay in the hospital another eight or nine days. Depardieu will next appear in Disney’s “102 Dalmatians,” scheduled for a November release, and will play Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables,” a new four-hour television miniseries scheduled to premiere on the Fox Family Channel in January.

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Universal Gift to USC: Following DreamWorks, Fox, Sony and Warner Bros., among other donors, Universal Studios has become the latest studio to support USC’s new $15-million high-tech Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. With Universal’s gift, USC will add a Motion Control and Performance Capture Laboratory to its growing list of state-of-the-art digital production and post-production facilities housed within the center, which is expected to open in the spring of 2001.

TELEVISION

Sony’s Perez Joins Si TV: The English-language cable network with Latino-themed programming that is set to launch next year has plucked a Sony executive to be its chief operating officer. In a deal that will take effect on Aug. 1, Leo Perez will begin working as COO of Si TV. Perez is the former vice president of International Networks Latin America for Columbia Tri-Star International Television. Si TV was co-founded by Jeff Valdez and Bruce Barshop.

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Fifteen Minutes and 30 Seconds: Rick Rockwell--the erstwhile groom from “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?”--is grabbing another 30 seconds of fame. While Darva Conger poses in the August edition of Playboy, Rockwell is seen this week in commercials for Pax TV, which bills itself as a “family friendly” network. In the on-air ad, Rockwell touts Pax as a network where “people even get to know each other before they get married.”

THE ARTS

Hirshhorn Appointment: Kerry Brougher, a curator at Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art from 1982 to 1997 and director of the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford, England, for the past three years, has been appointed chief curator of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. Beginning in October, Brougher will succeed Neal Benezra, who has become deputy director of the Art Institute of Chicago.

STAGE

‘Bells’ Aren’t Ringing in Pasadena: Citing financial constraints, the Pasadena Playhouse has canceled the fall pre-Broadway production of “Bells Are Ringing,” which was to be staged by experimental director Tina Landau. Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit,” starring Shirley Knight and Kaitlin Hopkins, will replace the musical, running Nov. 3-Dec. 17. Knight and daughter Hopkins appeared together in last year’s “The Importance of Being Earnest,” also at the Playhouse.

QUICK TAKES

Three years after its opening, the Getty Center has dropped its parking reservation policy on Thursday and Friday nights from 4 to 9 p.m. Visitors can drop by unannounced beginning Thursday. . . . An “Animal Planet Live” attraction is scheduled to open at the Universal Studios theme parks in Hollywood and Orlando, Fla., in the spring. The attraction will include animal demonstrations, live sketches, video clips and visits from stars of series on the Animal Planet network such as “The Crocodile Hunter” and “Emergency Vets.” . . . American composer Stephen Sondheim, British architect Richard Rogers, American painter Ellsworth Kelly, French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle and German composer Hans Werner Henze were honored Tuesday with what is billed as the world’s largest art award. The artists were honored for lifetime achievement by the Japan Art Assn. at the 12th annual Premium Imperiale ceremony, which was staged this year at London’s popular new Tate Modern Museum. Each recipient received $140,000. . . . Geraldo Rivera’s early prime-time show for CNBC, “Upfront Tonight,” was canceled Monday, a casualty of low ratings. Starting July 31, “Business Center” will expand on weeknights by 30 minutes, except for Fridays, when “Market Week With Maria Bartiromo” airs in the time slot. . . . Actress Nicole Kidman has pledged $90,000 to the Sydney theater group that launched her career. “I want to give something back to the Australian Theater for Young People, who gave me an enormous amount when I was a teenager,” the actress said.