Hollywood Digest

BILLIONS FOR SHOW BUSINESS

Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling upholding a 1998 copyright law will probably be worth billions of dollars to the entertainment industry.

The ruling, which will allow copyrights to last for 95 years before copyrighted works enter public domain, is being interpreted in Hollywood as an incentive for entertainment companies to invest in projects -- secure in the knowledge that they will be able to continue exploiting the works for a longer period of time.

Robert Schwartz, an entertainment litigator for the prestigious Los Angeles law firm O'Melveny & Myers, told Daily Variety the Supreme Court ruling was a "tremendous victory" for Hollywood and Wall Street.

"There's no reason to do a special edition of 'The Wizard of Oz' and dig up old outtakes and find anybody still living who was a part of that movie if it's going to fall into the public domain in two years," Schwartz said.

Studios with extensive film libraries are more likely now to invest in releasing older movies in special DVD packages.

Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig argued against the 1998 law before the Supreme Court, on the grounds that the constitutional approach to copyright was intended to promote progress in the arts and science -- not to help corporations maximize their profits.

ROBERT BLAKE GOES PUBLIC ANYWAY

Actor and accused wife-killer Robert Blake refused to answer questions from lawyers in the case Wednesday, but not until he got some things off his chest.

Before lawyers for Blake's late wife Bonny Lee Bakley could begin deposing him in a wrongful death suit, the Emmy-winning actor talked for more than 15 minutes -- complaining about life in jail, expressing his concern that he will die there and pleading with his own lawyers to let him tell his side of the story through the media. As Blake spoke, his attorney repeatedly advised him to stop talking -- and threatened to quit the case if Blake didn't clam up.

Blake eventually did stop talking -- when plaintiff lawyers began questioning him. He refused to answer elementary questions such as his date of birth.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Blake ignored questions from Eric Dubin, a lawyer for Bakley's survivors -- including a "point-blank" question of whether he killed Bakley or solicited others to kill her.

Blake lost his first attorney last year for ignoring the lawyer's advice and trying to set up a jailhouse interview with ABC's Diane Sawyer. A second lawyer asked to quit the case Tuesday because Blake had agreed to talk with ABC's Barbara Walters.

At Wednesday deposition, Blake's remaining lawyer, Thomas Mesereau Jr., repeatedly threatened to leave the case as Blake continued to speak his piece.

"They are only asking you questions to create a circus, to manipulate, twist the things you say and try to hurt you in the criminal trial," Mesereau said. "You're going to be acquitted in this trial, Mr. Blake, and when you are acquitted you can say all you want."

Blake insisted he needed to get his story out.

"I'm an old man," he said. "I'm pushing 70. If I'm going to die in that box, I want to talk before I go."

PRODUCTION DESIGNER MEL BOURNE DIES

Mel Bourne -- a three-time Oscar nominee for production design -- died Tuesday of heart failure in New York following a brief illness. He was 79.

Bourne worked as art director on Woody Allen's Oscar-winning 1977 comedy "Annie Hall." His movie credits as production designer included six more projects with Allen -- "Interiors" (1978); "Manhattan" (1979); "Stardust Memories" (1980); "A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy" (1982); "Zelig" (1983) and "Broadway Danny Rose" (1984).

Bourne also worked as production designer on such Hollywood hits as "The Natural" (1984); "Fatal Attraction" (1987); "Reversal of Fortune" (1990) and "The Fisher King" (1991).

He was nominated for the Oscar for "Interiors," "The Natural" and "The Fisher King."

HONORS FOR BUD YORKIN

The Producers Guild of America will honor veteran producer-director Bud Yorkin in March with its David Susskind Lifetime Achievement Award in television.

Yorkin won Emmys in 1959 and 1960 for variety specials starring Fred Astaire and Jack Benny, and partnered with Norman Lear in one of the most successful production companies in TV history -- creating such hits as "All in the Family," "Good Times" and "The Jeffersons."

Yorkin received multiple Emmy nominations for the TV comedy "Sanford and Son," and produced such movies as "Blade Runner," "Start the Revolution Without Me" and "The Night They Raided Minsky's."

He was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 2002.

HONORS FOR JOHN RICH

Emmy-winning director John Rich will receive the Directors Guild of America's Honorary Life Member Award at the 55th Annual DGA Awards on March 1.

Rich -- who won Emmys for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1963) and "All in the Family" (1972-73) -- will join a list of DGA life members that includes Frank Capra, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, David Lean, Sidney Lumet and Robert Wise.

His résumé also includes such TV series as "The Andy Griffith Show," "Barney Miller," "Gilligan's Island," "Gunsmoke," "The Jeffersons," "Murphy Brown," "Newhart" and "The Twilight Zone."

HONORS FOR SONGWRITERS

Phil Collins, Queen, Van Morrison and Little Richard will be inducted into the National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame in June.

Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman/CEO Hal David announced the selections, and said additional honorees will be announced between now and the hall's 34th annual induction awards on June 12 in New York.

The hall welcomed Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, Garth Brooks, Michael Jackson, Carole King, Barry Manilow, Randy Newman, Sting and Stevie Wonder last year.

The National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters' Hall of Fame was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond.