People in the News for June 5, 1998

Friday, June 5, 1998 | 10:52 a.m.

That Gilligan never fooled us. We never bought his "lovable bumbler" act. We always suspected that beneath the unchanging red shirt, the white hat and the idiot-savant grin swirled a cesspool of deviancy. A howling lust for Mary Ann or, possibly, Mrs. Howell. A taste for jungle weeds. And just what was this "little buddy" business? Therefore, actor Bob Denver's arrest Thursday on marijuana charges in Princeton, W. Va., comes as no surprise to us. Frankly, we're amazed it took this long to bust him -- didn't he play a beatnik on "Dobie Gillis"? Police nabbed Denver after a package of marijuana was delivered to his home, where he lives with wife Dreama. "Little budee," indeed. West Virginia authorities were alerted to Denver's pot shenanigans by police in Pueblo, Colo., who said the package had initially been delivered there, with Denver's name on it. A Princeton officer then posed as deliverer, nabbing Denver. He was charged with possession and released on $1,000 bail. "He was very apologetic over the incident and remorseful," says a police spokesman. No wonder -- he faces up to six months in jail, pretty unpleasant for a 63-year-old, especially when TV-watching fellow inmates pepper him with the same old question day after day: "What was the Professor really like?" You know he must be sick of answering that one.

Stuff

Many and fond are the memories of the Comic Relief benefits -- the year Robin Williams grabbed his crotch 32 times. The year Whoopi Goldberg said something funny. The year Robin Williams grabbed his crotch so many times that ... sniff, sniff ... you'll have to excuse us. We're broken up because soon memories are all we'll have. At the June 14 Comic Relief, Williams, Goldberg and Billy Crystal will ask the audience to choose their successors as hosts. The big three are so big, so huge, so darn busy that there hasn't been a Comic Relief in more than two years. "They've all grown old doing this," says producer Bob Zmuda, who's been with the benefit since its 1986 inception. This year, anyone who calls or sends a donation will receive a ballot; people's choice wins. However, for the departing hosts, goodbye doesn't necessarily mean gone. "They could come back as co-hosts of Comic 11, or, from their wheelchairs, for Comic 22."

Compiled by Scott Dickensheets