Monday, June 9, 2003 | 10:45 a.m.
It is difficult to feel sorry for a woman such as Tori Spelling until you see what the former"Beverly Hills 90210" star sometimes has to go through as the daughter of one of the richest men in Hollywood, TV producer Aaron Spelling .
Spelling was one of a stupefying number of celebrities who turned out for the Lili Claire Foundation's first Benefit Dinner & Auction at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, on Saturday night.
The rail-thin Spelling wanted to place a silent auction bid on a Ritz-Carlton vacation package in Kapalua, Hawaii. But she was apparently reluctant to put her name and number on the bid card because someone could take the card from the table and auction it on eBay.
So her friend, former "Beverly Hills 90210" castmate Lindsay Price proffered a bid.
It was promptly topped by Danny Bonaduce.
The former "Partridge Family" brat hasn't changed all that much. He spent considerable time tailing his Los Angeles radio station buddy (and "American Idol" host) Ryan Seacrest and calling him Dunkleman -- a reference to Seacrest's former "Idol" co-host Brian Dunkleman, who has since fallen off the pop-culture radar.
But Bonaduce's attention shifted focus when stunning "NYPD Blue" star Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon walked past.
She was wearing a necklace with four carats of diamonds and three carats of pink-and-yellow stones she and jeweler Michael E. Minden created just for the evening's auction. Minden later said he is opening a store in the Forum Shops at Caesars this summer.
Other auction items were donated by a wide range of personalities, including Calvin Klein (who gave an elaborate gift basket), Celine Dion ("A New Day..." tickets and a backstage hello), Roger Waters (a signed Pink Floyd set list) and Rosie O'Donnell (a signed jacket from her old talk show).
On the red carpet, "King of Queens" star Leah Remini told VegasBeat she had wanted to get married earlier in the day, but that her fiance, Angelo Pagan, would have none of it.
"He wants one of those traditional things, where you tell your family beforehand," Remini said.
Also posing for the television cameras: Sean Patrick Thomas, a star of the hit CBS drama, "The District," Shari Belafonte, Aisha Tyler, James Michael Tyler (Gunther on "Friends"), young "Less Than Perfect" star Sara Rue, Billy Hinsche of the '60s trio Dino, Desi & Billy, "Six Feet Under" star Matthew St. Patrick, "General Hospital's" Sam Behrens and actress Sheila Kelly.
The evening's entertainers were Jo Dee Messina (who flew in from Nashville's Fan Fest just to deliver an a cappella version of "America the Beautiful"); Vonda Shepard, who sang her famous theme from "Ally McBeal;" and Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart, who headlined the dinner.
The evening was a fund-raiser to support the construction of the Danny Gans Building at the Lili Claire-UNLV Life Skills Center. Gans started the ball rolling with a $100,000 donation, which he presented at a public ceremony.
The foundation's mission is to help make for a fully integrated life for individuals living with Williams Syndrome and other neurogenetic birth defects. Founders Keith Resnick and his wife, Leslie Litt-Resnick, a casting director for "Friends," lost their infant daughter, Lili Claire, in 1998. The Lili Claire Family Resource Center at UCLA opened in 2001.
Lucky number
Indiana Pacers forward Jalen Rose was wearing a throwback New Orleans Jazz Pete Maravich No. 7 jersey while playing craps at the Palms Saturday night.
But it was a six, not a seven, that was a winning toss, our spy reports. Sadly, though, our spy is not a math whiz -- just a sports writer -- and was unable to tally up how many chips Rose raked in.
As usual, everywhere you turned at the Palms over the weekend, there was a famous face. Shaquille O'Neal and "Saturday Night Live" star Ellen Cleghorne were among the masses at Rain in the Desert.
Upstairs at ghostbar it was musicians from bands Korn and incubus, rapper Warren G. and Sacramento Kings guard Bobby Jackson.
VegasBits
Legacy: Martin Luther King III, the son of the slain civil rights leader, was in Las Vegas over the weekend. He came to participate in a panel discussion moderated by National Public Radio host Tavis Smiley at the 100 Black Men of America conference at MGM Grand ...
Who's that girl? Some Mandalay Bay croupiers were asking each other who the casually dressed "hottie" was at a craps table Friday night. It was Michelle Pfeiffer, accompanied by her producer husband, David E. Kelley. Saturday the couple and some friends were spotted browsing at the Forum Shops ...
Diners: Actor and former Cameron Diaz boyfriend Jared Leto was at Simon Kitchen and Bar at the Hard Rock Hotel. Priscilla Presley had dinner with her daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, at Craftsteak (MGM Grand) ...
Reading: "Law & Order: SVU" star B.D. Wong was at the Clark County Library on East Flamingo Road on Saturday night, reading from "Following Foo (the electronic adventures of the chestnut man)," his memoir about fatherhood ...
Pals: Sitting next to Palms owner George Maloof in his front-row seats at the Ultimate Fighting Championships at the Thomas & Mack Center on Friday night was Vanilla Ice...
Authority: Once again, the Sunday New York Times is featuring the Las Vegas Sun. Editorial cartoonist Mike Smith had a cartoon in the paper this week, and an article about adult-themed Vegas entertainment extensively quoted this column by name ...
Day-o: Vegas regular Jackie Mason turns 69 today. Coincidentally, so does Donald Duck, having first appeared in a Disney cartoon, "The Little Wise Hen," on this day in 1934.
From Sun wires
One of the things British soccer star David Beckham admires about the United States is its support for the sport's female players.
"You'd never get 100,000 fans turning up for a women's football game in England," he told the Los Angeles Times in an article published today.
"It's just amazing that that can happen in America. It doesn't happen anywhere else in the world," said Beckham, who is traveling in the United States with his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria Adams, and their two sons.
The 28-year-old Beckham is captain of England's national soccer team, and his famously curling kicks inspired the hit film "Bend It Like Beckham" -- about a Sikh girl in Britain with soccer dreams.
Idol worship: Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini, the winner and first runner-up of last year's "American Idol", said making their first film "From Justin to Kelly" was easy compared to the long hours and hard work they put into performing in the Fox talent competition that made them famous.
"From Justin to Kelly," a 20th Century Fox movie musical about two students who fall in love on spring break in Miami, is set to open nationwide on June 20. The movie went from conception to completion in record time - about 2 1/2 months.
Asked how the "American Idol" competition prepared them for making the film, Clarkson said, "By the time we got to the movie, it was a piece of cake."
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