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

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

O’Neal Battling Cancer: Actor Ryan O’Neal, 60, has been diagnosed with a form of bone marrow cancer, but his agent called it “treatable” and “not life-threatening.” The “Love Story” star recently was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia and is undergoing treatment in Los Angeles, agent Deede Binder said Wednesday. O’Neal completed work a month ago on the Al Pacino film “People I Know.”

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Will Hopkins Eat Up N.Y. Stage? After Mike Nichols directs an all-star cast, including Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Allison Janney and Christopher Walken in “The Seagull” this summer in New York’s Central Park, he will turn his attention to William Nicholson’s “Retreat from Moscow,” a three-character drama of corrosive marital discord that the British playwright says could well mark Anthony Hopkins’ return to the stage. Sinead Cusack and Ralph Fiennes have been mentioned as likely candidates to fill out the cast for the drama, which is set to begin previews in January at off-Broadway’s Promenade Theatre. Nicholson, the “Shadowlands” author whose movie work has included a rewrite of Oscar winner “Gladiator,” said director Nichols had envisioned the project as an HBO film but eventually agreed that it should first be done in a small theater. “This is entirely about getting the best actors, doing it somewhere simple and not making a fuss,” Nicholson said. He added a caveat, however: “Whenever you start talking about stars of this magnitude, there are timetables to consider.”

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Lane, Broderick Named Tony Hosts: Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, stars of Broadway’s Mel Brooks hit “The Producers,” will host the 55th annual Tony Awards, airing June 3 on CBS, with the first hour televised on PBS. “The Producers,” meanwhile, led the pack with 14 nominations Tuesday for the annual Drama Desk Awards. Tony nominations--which are also expected to shine strongly on “The Producers”--will be announced Monday.

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‘Fair Use’ Questions: “Entertainment Tonight” got a complaint call from NBC’s legal department this week after extensive footage from the the network’s “Today” show examining the JonBenet Ramsey murder case aired unauthorized on “ET.” Executives at “ET” told NBC they thought the footage fell into a “fair use” category, said a “Today” source, who claimed the network would not have given permission to use the footage, had “ET” asked. NBC declined to comment on the spat, but an “ET” spokeswoman said the show “regularly avails itself of the fair use doctrine in reporting highly newsworthy stories. We have always had a favorable relationship with the ‘Today’ show and look forward to continued cooperation.”

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‘Double’ Settlement: John Travolta and the production companies Liteoffer Inc. and Mandalay Entertainment have settled their almost five-year legal battle over the movies “The Double” and “Donnie Brasco,” attorneys for both sides said. In 1996, the companies sued Travolta, claiming he walked off the Paris set of director Roman Polanski’s “The Double” in an attempt to “wrestle creative control of the film.” The film was never made, and the companies claimed they lost $15 million invested in the project, plus “tens of millions” in lost profits. Travolta, in a countersuit, denied he had a formal deal for the movie, and accused Mandalay of reneging on an agreement for him to co-star in another film, “Donnie Brasco,” which was later made with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp. Settlement details were not disclosed, though Travolta’s attorney noted, “everybody gave and everybody’s satisfied.”