Imagine plans Lovelace pic

GOOD MORNING: From deep space to "Deep Throat"--"Apollo 13's" Imagine team of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are prepping a pic about Linda Lovelace, whose ups and downs in showbiz date back to the '70s, both onscreen and in niteries. After "Throat," her name was so well known, her film titles included "Linda Lovelace Meets Miss Jones" (also starring Harry Reems) and "Linda Lovelace for President." Grazer told me his Lovelace project is being scripted by Ken Hixon, who wrote "Inventing the Abbotts" for Imagine, now shooting at 20th Century Fox in turnaround from Universal. That movie features upcoming stars including Liv Tyler, Billy Crudup, Joaquin Phoenix and Michael Sutton (late of "General Hospital") and is directed by Pat O'Connor. He reined Savoy's "Circle of Friends," also a movie about young people (three Irish girls). "The Abbotts" is about three girls and their two brothers. "It's in the spirit of 'The Last Picture Show,' 'Splendor in the Grass,' " said Grazer, "about young romance, sexuality, integrity." And it's budgeted at $15 million. This week, Grazer's in N.Y. on the "Ransom" location with Ron Howard and Mel Gibson, hopefully strong enough for the final action scenes ... The last work of Audrey Hepburn starts airing April 28 on the Home & Garden TV Net: her "Japanese Gardens" and "Tropical Gardens" shows of the "Gardens of the World" series. Rob Wolders, with Audrey on every shoot, said she completed her on-camera work in 1990, but funding ran out for these final two. "I was eager to see them aired -- it was criminal for Audrey's last work to lie in a can in a vault." Home & Gardens came to the rescue. Wolders thanked 'em in a speech at the National Cable TV Assn. HQ in D.C. last week. Stu Crowner produced the series, Janis Blackschleger was executive producer. Wolders said he didn't want any credits (although it's doubtful it could have been made without his care for Audrey). He is now with -- or as he puts it, "I have joined forces with"-- Shirlee Fonda. "We've known each other 30 years and she was a good friend of Audrey's -- and Merle's (Oberon). Audrey would have approved this relationship. Audrey gave Shirlee her first Yorkshire. And Shirlee is the only person I could spend the rest of my life with." Marriage? "I'm not the marrying kind," Wolders readily admits.

"CARROLL O'CONNOR WANTS me to join forces with him," Mort Sahl told me on the eve of Sunday's funeral services for his son, Mort Sahl Jr., another young victim of drug addiction. Sahl told me his son had been in rehab (again) and was suspended "when he took a hike in the hills," Mort said sadly. "And he had been clean for five weeks and told me, 'This time I'm going to kick it.' " He was multitalented, a musician and sharp-witted like his dad. Tragically, Mort Jr. joins a list of the famous' sad second generation ... After 16 years at William Morris (where he represented Angela Lansbury, among others), preceded by 20 years at the Ziegler-Ross agency, Hal Ross has decided to go into feature production and has teamed with Bob Chartoff, whom he once repped at Z-R. Ross will continue to "consult" Lansbury's Corymore Prods. He is also very active in civic duties -- chairs the L.A. County Beach Assn. and is president of the L.A. Convention Center and Authority Commission ... ABC's radio host par excellence, Michael Jackson, signed with William Morris' Jerry Katzman ..."Seinfeld" exec producer Larry David and wife Laurie welcomed daughter Romy, March 2 at Cedars-Sinai ... Although Oliver Stone missed the Oscars -- I reported here March 18 he chose to visit with Zapatista guerrilla Marcos in Chiapas -- he's expected at the Tuesday bow of Monique Van Vooren at the Cinegrill. Monique's closest friend was Stone's mom, Jacqueline, and as a favor to her, Monique appeared in Stone's first film, "Sugar Cookies," which he made when still in NYU film school.

THE COLOSSAL CAROUSEL OF HOPE party, Marvin and Barbara Davis' annual fundraiser for childhood diabetes (they've raised $ 30 million), is set for Oct. 25 at the BevHilton, with Jay Leno as m.c. and Rod Stewart set as the first performer ... Michael Eisner and Sharon Stone chair the BAFTA Britannia Award to Bob and Harvey Weinstein June 26 at the BevWilshire ... For those with no second night Passover Seder April 4, CBS' Bruce Charet and Disney's Joan Harrison have organized an open house Seder at the Sportsmen's Lodge ... Residents of Atlanta were surprised when Don Mischer, without warning, tested the Centennial Olympics opening and closing shows' pyrotechnics --"for drift and height"-- last week. New designs are promised. No star power is planned for the launching show -- only "spectacular pageantry," Mischer says. There'll be over 12,000 on the field with every nation participating.