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

MOVIES

Iranian Film Director Put Behind Bars

Tahmineh Milani, a prominent Iranian film director known for her liberal and feminist views, has been arrested on the order of the Tehran Revolutionary Court. Her latest film, “The Hidden Half,” tells of the injustice faced by a woman after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“There has been no official announcement on the charges, but it is widely said that her arrest was related to her latest film and her interviews with newspapers in recent weeks,” said film director Bahram Beizaei.

In New York last month, Milani criticized Iran’s clerical establishment for imposing restrictions on women. In another interview in a Tehran newspaper, she said that feminism was a means of “fighting [Iran’s] male-dominated system.”

Milani’s arrest Sunday came during a boom period for Iranian cinema, after the 1997 election of President Mohammad Khatami. Filmmakers have been given greater freedom to document topics that were long considered taboo by hard-liners opposing reforms.

PEOPLE

Hospital Is Beneficiary of King’s Ordeal

Stephen King’s insurance company settled a lawsuit with the writer by donating $750,000 to the Maine hospital that cared for him after a car hit him two years ago. The settlement, which was executed on July 27, was reported in the Portland Press Herald on Thursday.

King sued OneBeacon Insurance for $10 million in February, claiming it failed to provide full coverage for injuries he suffered in 1999 when a van struck him as he walked along a road. The 53-year-old writer, who suffered a broken leg and hip, a punctured lung and broken ribs, has undergone five surgeries since the accident.

Iler Pleads Not Guilty to Robbery Charge

Sixteen-year-old Robert Iler, who plays the pot-smoking son of Tony Soprano on HBO’s “The Sopranos,” has pleaded not guilty to charges that he and two other teens robbed $40 from two boys in Manhattan on July 4. If convicted of second-degree robbery, they each face up to 15 years in prison. Iler told authorities that a companion confronted the victims.

Meanwhile, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Richard A. Siebel has deferred until next month a decision on a lawsuit against “The Sopranos” by the American Italian Defense Assn. against Time Warner Entertainment Co. The group claims that HBO’s mob drama offends Italian Americans by depicting them as mobsters and is suing under the “individual dignity” clause of the Illinois Constitution.

TELEVISION

Bergen Back in Fold at NBC’s ‘Today’ Show

Candice Bergen is becoming an “occasional contributor” to NBC’s “Today” show after a 25-year absence. Her first piece, running Tuesday, deals with pet therapy as a treatment for critically ill patients at UCLA Medical Center.

“We don’t know how many pieces she’ll be doing--but we’ll continue to look for topics that are of interest to her and to us,” “Today” spokesman Allison Gollust said Thursday.

Bergen, who has been hosting a talk show on the Oxygen cable network, was talking to “Today” producer Jonathan Wald about doing segments and mentioned the pet story, which she’d read about in Time magazine. Wald told her that they’d been thinking of tackling the same subject--and she threw her hat in the ring.

During her 1970s stint on the morning program, she interviewed then-bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, female coal miners and a blind man selling pencils on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.

The “Murphy Brown” star told USA Today that she has no interest in tackling the rigors of another TV sitcom. And no matter how convincing she was as a TV anchor, she added, “Today” host Katie Couric is safe: “I’m much too aware to ever trespass where I don’t belong.”

THE ARTS

An Afterlife for Shubert in Los Angeles?

Now that the Shubert Theatre in Century City has been slated for demolition, could the shuttered 2,700-seat Warner Pacific Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard (between Wilcox and Cahuenga) be renovated and converted into a new venue? The idea is being floated by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce executive director Leron Gubler.

Shubert Organization executive vice president Robert Wankel said that the idea was one of a number of inquiries submitted regarding Shubert’s future in L.A. “We’ll talk, but so far there has been no conversation of any significance,” he said.

Master Chorale Finishes Season in the Black

The Los Angeles Master Chorale posted a $111,000 surplus for the 2000-01 season--one of the largest in its 37-year history. Among the reasons for the company’s success, said president Mark Foster, was the public’s interest in maestro Paul Salamunovich, who capped his decade-long reign as the group’s music director.

“Ticket sales were a good 10%--and foundation grants 15%--higher than expected,” said Terry Knowles, the group’s executive director. The total operating budget for last season was $2.1 million

Grant Gershon, who is succeeding Salamunovich, begins his inaugural season Sept. 29.