People in the News for Aug. 5, 1996

Tuesday, Aug. 6, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

With the Olympics over so soon, our attention can at last turn from John Tesh's impressive ability to pronounce the names of Ukrainian gymnasts to the much less important matter of Macaulay Culkin giving up acting. It seems the 15-year-old former child star say's he'll give up the big screen until his parents resolve their snarling custody battle over him and his siblings. This will undoubtedly have millions of moviegoers slapping their faces and screaming, You mean Mac didn't retire after "North"? The "Richie Rich" star also reportedly wants to open his wallet to bail out his parents, both of whom have been driven to the brink of bankruptcy by the ferocity of their dispute. He's said to be worth about $17 million. The judge in the case is considering the plan.

Briefly

*Mira Sorvino -- you've won the Academy Award; what are you going to do now? Why, the answer is obvious: star in a deadly cockroach movie! Sorvino is negotiating to star in "Mimic," about two scientists trying to wipe out diseased, rampaging cockroaches. It's nice to see her choosing roles with Macaulay Culkin-like pickiness.

*The skillet and the damage done: Mary Jenkins, Elvis' cook for 14 years, tells the latest TV Guide about "the only thing he loved: eating": "For breakfast, he'd have homemade biscuits fried in butter, sausage patties, four scrambled eggs and sometimes fried bacon. I'd bring the tray up to his room, he'd say, 'This is good, Mary.' He'd have butter running down his arms." She probably should have been charged as an accessory to Presley's death. "I went to the casket and looked," she recalls, "I betcha, 50 times." Admiring her handiwork, no doubt.

What about Bob?

Forget endorsements by the AFL-CIO, NOW and an alphabet soup of other would-be kingmakers -- Bill Clinton has received the Bob Hope seal of approval. "I go for Clinton," says Hope, 93. Republican country clubbers all over Palm Springs must be ready to abandon all Hope, wondering if he's a few putts shy of par. Hope has been pals with many presidents and has guested many a night in the White House. "I like him," Hope says of Clinton. "I think he's gonna have a second term." Then again, wait until he wanders into the kitchen late at night during his next White House sleepover and sees Bill frying up some homemade biscuits, butter running down his arms ...

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets