Weintraubs voice support for Bush

GOOD MORNING: Hollywood is ready and willing to praise George Bush despite the bad raps given Glamorville last week. Hollywood help is coming in the person of Jerry Weintraub--and wife Jane. "Anything he wants," said Weintraub, fresh from Houston. The Weintraubs were dining at Wolfgang Puck's Malibu eatery, Granita. At a nearby table was Carole Bayer Sager with WB's Bob Daly, plus Wendy and Leonard Goldberg. Jerry told wife Jane, "You should tell Carole you sang 'That's What Friends Are For' at Barbara's (Bush) luncheon." Meanwhile, Daly complimented Jerry on his "Pure Country," starring George Strait--which gets a Bakersfield sneak tonight. Weintraub has Strait signed for four movies. Jerry also has two series and several telepix in the works at WB. ... Goldberg was toasting the completion of Eddie Murphy's "Distinguished Gentleman"--a day under sked, and Leonard is now readying "Class of '96" series for Fox and "Love Letters" with Martin Starger for Col. ... Will George Bush appear in Lifetime TV's "Capitol Games: Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill and the Story of a Supreme Court Nomination"? "Everything pertinent will be in it," producer Judy Polone told me as she set reporters Peter Osterlund and Amy Brooke Baker to script the Tim Phelps book (Hyperion). The scripters covered the case from start to finish. "I want to tell the truth behind the Hill-Thomas hearings," Polone told me. "It's not a documentary, it's like 'All the President's Men'--the behind-the-scenes story that goes up to the hearing." Polone doesn't plan to talk to Thomas--or Hill. Real footage will be used in the TV'er, which is "not a platform to preach but to entertain." Diane Keaton, who directed "Wildflower" for Polone, will team with her again to direct Lifetime's "Ridin' the Greyhound." The theme of this one--abortion.

ALTHOUGH MARSHA & ROBIN WILLIAMS signed a two-year pact with TriStar for their Blue Wolf Prods., the first film under their banner--"Madame Doubtfire"--is at 20th Fox. The domestic comedy, about a failing marriage, is screenplayed by Randi Mayem Singer and based on the novel by Anne Fine. But first, Williams heads to WB's "Being Human," in which he plays five characters from the beginning of time for director Bill Forsythe and producer David Putnam. Production starts next month in Scotland, then England, Kenya, etc. Battle of Gettysburg "Killer Angels" producers Bob Katz and Moctesuma Esparza and director Ron Maxwell move up in U.S. history next with "Rough Riders." Katz assures me they have an OK to shoot (film, that is) in Cuba. Tom Berenger will again be one of the principals for 'em. Katz, from the Gettysburg location, said Ted Turner "had the time of his life" dying in his role of Lt. Col. W.T. Patton in his four-hour TNT mini. Natch--he was a Confederate officer. Before "dying," Turner told Katz "Angels" will definitely go out theatrically overseas. "And we'll cut a special version." There'll of course be a vidcassette--the mini's cast of "re-enactors" are good for 100,000 copies for starters. ... Richard Anderson, a Civil War buff, is pleased to be cast as Gen. George Gordon Meade in the mini. He's also happy to be picked up for a ninth year as host of the "Kiplinger Letter." ... Deidre Hall and husband Steve Sohmer were ecstatic when we spoke to the new parents yesterday. They had brought home son David Atticus Sohmer from the hospital Sunday night, a few hours after his surrogate mother had delivered him--with both Deidre and Steve assisting (he cut the cord). "We're very grateful," said Hall, "for her (surrogate Robin's) humanity and generosity." As noted here, Hall just completed an NBC telepic, "Woman on the Ledge," about a woman unable to conceive. She's now awaiting word from NBC on a spinoff series of her character in "Days of Our Lives." ... Patty Duke, who won a Tony, an Oscar and an Emmy for "The Miracle Worker," is now readying the Helen Harris biopic--she's the founder of the Retinitis Pigmentosa Foundation.

MALCOLM JAMAL-WARNER was in Bill Cosby's former dressing room at the Astoria Studios after taping his first NBC "Here & Now" seg when exec producer Cosby came in to offer congrats. He told him, "Do this for eight years, and then you can host 'You Bet Your Life.' " Cos' show debuts in L.A. on KCBS Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Dizzy Gillespie, who underwent major surgery in March, makes his first public appearance (no trumpeting, yet) at the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow when the big United Nations band honors him with "To Diz With Love." ... Sorry to report that Mac St. Johns died Sunday at the Motion Picture & TV Hospital. He was due for heart surgery yesterday. A tough newsman, Mac was just as tough in fighting for the publicists, where he was their guild's business manager. We knew him as a warm friend, and he will be sorely missed. ... Jeffrey Kruger is in town from London to set sites for his feature "Swan Lake." And to talk a U.K. tour with Julie Andrews. ... Carol Connors starts a column for Beverly Hills 213 tomorrow. ... Ricardo Montalban presented the Golda Meir Fellowship Award from the Women's Committee of the Scopus Hebrew U. to Caroline Ahmanson yesterday at the Regent Beverly Wilshire, where Adolfo showed his fall collection. ... Prosperity note? Yves St. Laurent is coming back to Rodeo Drive in space vacated by Pierre Deux. ... Wolfgang Puck opens eateries in Minneapolis and Vegas this fall.