When Comedy Was King

In person, actor Dan Castellaneta looks and sounds nothing like Homer Simpson, the rotund, yellow cartoon dad he plays on TV. In fact, Castellaneta said, Homer started out sounding a lot like the late Walter Matthau. But Homer’s “emotions change so fast,” that channeling Matthau proved impossible. Homer evolved on his own, said Castellaneta, who indulged us with a few “D’ohs!”

We caught up with Castellaneta on the red carpet at Showtime’s screening of Neil Simon’s “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” which is affectionately and loosely based on the playwright’s early days as a writer on Sid Caesar’s “Show of Shows.” In the TV movie, which aired Saturday, Castellaneta plays a fast-tawkin’ New Yawk writer for fictitious 1950s television star Max Prince, portrayed by Nathan Lane.

“Frasier’s” Peri Gilpin nails her performance as the show’s tough but tender female writer. She told us that delivering Simon’s lines was pure pleasure. “I enjoy humor. I love to laugh. It’s my favorite thing to do,” Gilpin said, slyly adding, “other than . . . you know.”

Caesar, 78, confided that the dyspeptic comic genius in the movie no longer bears any resemblance to him. “Once you retire, you say, ‘OK, the argument’s over.’ You start to smell the flowers. You enjoy life. You’re not mad at anybody, especially yourself. Once you make friends with yourself, life becomes wonderful.” The movie repeats June 7.

The Lost Generation

We were so looking forward to seeing Warren and Annette doing Scott and Zelda. And so was Paris Review editor George Plimpton, who asked his friends Warren Beatty and Annette Bening to appear in his dramatic dialogue “Zelda, Scott and Ernest,” an hourlong piece adapted from the letters and literary works of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.

Alas, Plimpton said, the power couple “had too much on their respective plates.” Instead, the sold-out reading at the Getty featured Plimpton as Fitzgerald, actor Titus Welliver, from the canceled CBS police drama “Big Apple,” as Hemingway and actor-producer Diane Baker as the emotionally fragile Zelda. It was a good reading, strong and noble and true.

Next month, writer Norman Mailer and his Alabama-born wife, Norris Church, will portray Hemingway and Zelda in Vermont to raise money for author John Irving’s childhood school.

A Long, Strange Trip

What do Nicole Kidman and Claudia Schiffer have in common besides beauty and fame? A persistent admirer named Matthew Hooker.

Hooker, a Los Angeles resident who, according to his Web site, aspires to be an actor, producer and U.S. president, is barred by court order from coming within 250 feet of Kidman and her children. He’s due back in Superior Court in Santa Monica on Wednesday to face the “Moulin Rouge” star’s allegations that he stalked her. He denies it. The way Hooker tells it, he’s an incurable romantic who wanted to cheer Kidman up after her split from actor Tom Cruise by giving her flowers, taking her to the ballet and treating her kids to ice cream.

While newsies were hanging on Hooker’s every word last week on the steps of the Santa Monica courthouse, a strange lawsuit he filed against two airlines a month ago surfaced downtown. Hooker claims in Los Angeles County Superior Court that fellow passengers drugged him on a flight to Spain, stole his driver’s license and bank card and wrecked his “Easter holiday” at Schiffer’s villa in Majorca. All of this was done, Hooker asserts, “to prevent plaintiff from seeing Ms. Schiffer and from seeing and making a good impression on her family.”

Hooker claims he suffered a double hernia schlepping his bags to Schiffer’s gate, where he was turned away. After he hung around for a couple of days, somebody called the police, who took him to the station, searched his luggage and threatened to deport him. He says he was forced to sleep on the beach and went without food or a shower for several days. And, he ran out of money and had to skip the Cannes Film Festival. He seeks unspecified damages for “lost opportunity.”

Sightings

Singer Erica Atkins, of the gospel group Mary Mary, getting married married to hot music producer Warryn Campbell at Wilshire United Methodist Church. Brandy was a bridesmaid, and guests included rapper Heavy D. The newlyweds won’t have to worry about their wedding video. The affair was filmed by a crew from the Learning Channel’s “The Wedding Story” and will air in the fall. . . . Matt Groening, Parker Posey and Weird Al Yankovic, checking out the scene at the Venice Family Clinic’s Venice Art Walk. . . . Renee Zellweger, buying cashmere tops and a throw blanket at Armand Diradourian’s shop on Melrose Place. . . . Pierce Brosnan, dining with his wife and son at Nobu in Malibu and chatting with David Duchovny, who sat at a nearby table.

Times staff writers Gina Piccalo and Louise Roug contributed to this column. City of Angles runs Tuesday through Friday. E-mail: angles@latimes.latimes.com.