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

TELEVISION

Jami Gertz to Star in ‘Gilda Radner Story’

Jami Gertz, who had a recurring role on “Ally McBeal” last season, will portray former “Saturday Night Live” star Gilda Radner in a TV movie about the comedian, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989.

Production is under way in Toronto on “It’s Always Something: The Gilda Radner Story,” which ABC plans to broadcast this spring. The film is based on Radner’s autobiography.

Gertz played Kimmy Bishop on “Ally McBeal” and has appeared in the films “Twister,” “Less Than Zero” and “Sibling Rivalry.”

She’ll be joined by Tom Rooney as Gene Wilder and Ari Cohen as Lorne Michaels.

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MOVIES

London Film Critics Laud ‘Moulin Rouge’

A day after capturing eight Academy Award nominations, “Moulin Rouge” received top honors at the London Film Critics Circle Awards. It was named best film of the year, and star Nicole Kidman won as best actress.

The best actor award went to Billy Bob Thornton for “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” while Ewan McGregor’s performance in “Moulin Rouge” earned him best British actor honors.

Judi Dench, an Oscar nominee for her performance as novelist Iris Murdoch in “Iris,” was named best British actress, while her co-star, Jim Broadbent, was named best British supporting actor.

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MUSEUMS

With Tourism Down, Smithsonian Fires 45

Facing a projected $9-million shortfall caused largely by a drop-off in attendance, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington has fired 45 employees in its administrative offices and said it will not fill more than 70 vacant jobs.

The institution, which operates 16 museums and research centers, laid off 60 people late last year.

The Washington Post reported that Wednesday’s dismissals represented a “general nervousness” about how long the tourism slump will last.

Since Sept. 11, the number of visitors to the Smithsonian has been 35% to 45% less than in the same months of the preceding year.

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POP/ROCK

Judge: Robbie Williams Owes Woody Guthrie

Singer Robbie Williams and his publisher must pay $71,000 in royalties to the owners of a song whose lyrics he plagiarized, a London judge ruled Thursday.

Judge Nicholas Pumfrey rejected a request for more damages from Ludlow Music Inc., which holds the copyright to the 1961 Woody Guthrie song “I Am the Way.”

The High Court ruled in October 2000 that Williams had copied substantial portions of the song for “Jesus in a Camper Van,” a track from his 1998 album “I’ve Been Expecting You.”

Williams and his collaborators admitted using elements of a version of the song that Loudon Wainwright III had adapted in 1973 and credited him on the album. But he and publisher EMI had not agreed to Ludlow’s request for 50% of the song royalties. EMI had offered 25% instead. Ludlow fought the offer in court. Pumfrey ruled Williams should pay 25% of the royalties--about $71,000--along with some of Ludlow’s costs.

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THEATER

N.Y.’s Studio 54 Eyed as Permanent Stage

New York City’s famous Studio 54 nightclub, now being used for a revival of “Cabaret,” may become a theater permanently. The Roundabout Theatre company has received approval from the city’s industrial development agency to raise up to $32 million in tax-exempt bonds that it will sell to make the purchase.

Studio 54 would then become Roundabout’s permanent home for staging musicals.

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QUICK TAKES

Fox has set May 19 for the last original episode of “The X-Files”--a two-hour episode, natch. ... Actress and former Playboy Playmate Jenny McCarthy and director John Asher are expecting their first child in June. ... John Leguizamo is adapting his Broadway show, “Sexaholix ... A Love Story,” for a solo special on HBO, to premiere April 13. ... Vice President Dick Cheney will appear Tuesday on NBC’s “The Olympic Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” “Mamma Mia!,” the ABBA musical, is returning to Los Angeles, this time for a seven-week run at the Ahmanson Theatre downtown, beginning Sept. 17. It won’t be part of the Ahmanson season but will be offered to subscribers as a bonus. ... Robert De Niro will serve as host of “9/11,” a two-hour special about the World Trade Center attack that CBS plans for March 10. ... A&E;’s “Biography” will rerun an installment about Waylon Jennings, who died Wednesday, at 8 tonight. ... “A Class Act” and “The Waverly Gallery” have swapped slots on the Pasadena Playhouse season, with the former now playing May 12-June 16 and the latter taking the July 7-Aug. 11 slot--the result of scheduling of a “Waverly Gallery” tour that will follow the Pasadena production.

Lee Margulies