Mr. Murphy goes to Washington

GOOD MORNING: Disney's Hollywood Pictures will have an R-rated trailer in theaters for "Distinguished Gentleman." Eddie Murphy shoots it this week on the Capitol steps. "It will be very unique," promises producer Leonard Goldberg, in Washington. "He has something to say--in his unique style." Murphy plays a Congressman in the movie directed by Jonathan Lynn. "The timing is very fortuitous," says Goldberg, as the movie will be out in late October just before the election. They'll be shooting right through July. The company has been in D.C. four weeks and has received cooperation to shoot almost everywhere--but not in front of the White House. They shot weekends to take advantage of some of the government sites, so they took off Tuesdays instead. Goldberg says they also gave Eddie Monday off--so he could shoot the new ending for Par's "Boomerang"-- which meant, said Goldberg, "that Eddie worked 12 days in a row." The producer said he was unfamiliar with problems on Eddie's Par pic, but, as for his "Gentleman," he said Murphy and director Lynn are a happy duo "and we're right on schedule." The company moves here next week for interiors of a large hearing room and the climax of the movie. "It's a positive ending," added Goldberg, "the kind we can use nowadays with the way the government works." ... I had spoken to Lana Turner before she had the May 13 exploratory surgery of her throat that revealed a "small cancer." She sounded fine and upbeat and her daughter Cheryl (Crane) now assures me she still sounds fine. "She had a sore throat for a few days. She never had a problem to do with her larynx. I've been with her every day and her sense of humor is even better than ever. She's a very strong woman." Lana says, "The prognosis for full recovery is excellent." Glenn Ford, sad to report, is in the intensive care unit of St. John's Hospital. His nurse and longtime friend Pauline Kiernan confirms he has been in the hospital two weeks, having been admitted for irregular and rapid heartbeat.

I WANTED TO SHOW WHAT IT MEANS to go from the 16th century to the 21st," said Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who screened her project, "Surviving Salvation," last night at the DGA. The film, directed by Malcolm Clark, is a one-hour docu about the incredible migration of the primitive Ethiopian Jews to modern Israel. "They were willing to leave everything behind," Westheimer told me; "my family could have (safely) left Germany if they left everything behind." She lost her parents when she was 19. She will screen the docu, which is headed for PBS, at Gracie Mansion July l. And she said Sony has given 1,000 cassettes to family counseling centers. ... Michael Viner winged in from the Yugoslavia location of Dove's "Sidney Sheldon's 'Sands of Time' " mini in which James Brolin, Tony LoBianco and Martin Balsam have joined the cast. Viner attended the ABA meet here, got word "The Club Rules" by Paul Rosenfield and "Next to Hughes" by Bob Maheu with Richard Hack have both gone into their third printings. And Viner got word HarperCollinswill have a 100,000 first printing order on his "Final Exit for Your Cat." ... Rip Torn, toiling on Garry Shandling's new series "The Larry Sanders Show," revealed he and longtime companion Amy Wright welcomed a daughter, Claire Marie Torn, Feb. 6, Rip's birthday. ... I bumped into Sara Gilbert and her mom Barbara at Fred Hayman's where the youngstar (17) of "Roseanne" and "Poison Ivy" was buying her prom (Buckley) gown. She's been accepted to Yale--but will hold off entering for a year--when her contract with "Roseanne' winds.

FRANCIS COPPOLA PRESENTS MARTHA COOLIDGE with her Crystal Award at the June 12 Women in Film fete June 12 at the BevHilton. Barbra Streisand confers special certificates on six directors who made 1991 a banner year for femme helmers. ... Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner have signed with Nicole David at Triad. ... "Stardust," the musical getting rave reviews at the Wilshire, is headed for B'way in October, producers told us after Friday's happy opening night. A San Diego stand is also in the works for the current cast headed by the talented Toni Tenille, Hinton Battle and Sean Young directed by Henry LeTang. Eyes of the showbiz audience were of course on debuting Young--who delighted with her terping, singing--and non-stop effervescence Frank Gilroy's "Give the Bishop My Faint Regards," directed by Daniel Selznick, starring Ron Leibman and Joe Bologna, bows tonight in the Off-Off B'way Ensemble Studio Theater. It's about a screenwriting team--and although Gilroy worked for Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, he assures the play's not about them. "It could be about any important team that's spent 20 years in the industry" Casanova Ace, who inked with Norby Walters and Michael Bass, delighted patrons at Matteo's--Joe Pesci, Annabelle and David Begelamn, Cyd Charisse and Tony Martin, Helen and Bill Rosen--with his ad lib, on the spot , personalized rap. ... Mike Mindlin's "Memories of an Unknown Celebrity," opening at the Coast Playhouse June 2, "is all about the life I've spent all over the world in almost every aspect of showbusiness," sezze. ... Richard Brodsky and Juliette Jones wed June 20 in San Rafael; the groom, son of Dorothy and Jack Brodsky, is assistant director on "Made in Heaven" and the bride's a Winterland Prods. Exec. ... Ruth S. Harris, of the National Awareness Foundation's "Hugs Not Drugs" campaign , and producer/entrepreneur Edward S. Shaw will wed July 5 at the Maui Marriott.