BAFTA-LA to send condolences

GOOD MORNING: You can set your VCR for 1:30 ayem Saturday -- and get a good night's sleep tonight. ... Today, BAFTA-LA opens a book of condolence at its offices for a one-week period after which it will be forwarded to Kensington Palace. ... The Kensington Palace staff had been working with Gary Pudney on a special, a la "A Day in the Life of the Princess." He had taped Diana and Charles for "ABC Presents a Royal Gala" 12 years ago at a London Palladium benefit for the Prince's Trust. Pudney recalls Diana told him, "We don't do anything, we just show up on time!" Now, Pudney's readying a Princess Stephanie-Bronson Pinchot co-hosted "Champions of Magic" for ABC to tape Sept. 20 in Monaco. ... KABC Talk Radio, which had sent Ronn Owens to London to field queries from here this week, has now quick-shipped its award-winning host, London-born Michael Jackson, over there to conduct his coverage post-funeral. Jackson had been honored as a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth. His comments now about the Royals' treatment of "the People's Princess" should be interesting. ... Robert Halmi is readying a movie he says will be "anti-paparazzi." Producer Halmi started his career as a photographer, following in the footsteps of his father who was official photographer to the Vatican and the royal family of Austria-Hungary. Halmi, fils, after escaping the Nazis and later the communists came to the U.S. to pursue his photographic career, graduating to lead lenser for Life magazine before becoming the prolific producer. He says his anti-paparazzi movie will be partly based on his own life, "based on my experiences including assignments that didn't suit me. When you look through your camera, you become a different person -- sometimes a horrible person!"

GONE WILL BE THE TOTE BOARDS, the telephone bands, the wall-to-wall pleas for donations, separated by brief in-studio performances. That will all be changed in a new, four-hour, syndicated United Negro College Fund special replacing the (seven-hour) "Parade of Stars" which was hosted for 17 years by Lou Rawls. Louis J. Horvitz will exec produce the new show with William H. Gray III, president and CEO of the UNCF, to air Jan. 10. There will be eight celebrity hosts, including (hopefully) Rawls, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Leontyne Price, Colin Powell, etc. And performers will entertain from sites around the world. Those also hoped-for/planned include: Vanessa Williams and Luther Vandross from Detroit; Toni Braxton, Paris; Sinbad, Atlanta; CeCe Winans, the Apollo in Harlem; Sinbad in Atlanta; plus the Universal Amphitheater, Magic Mountain, House of Blues, etc. ... Phylicia Rashad is commuting between comedy antics on the Bill Cosby series in N.Y. to the heavy drama of Showtime's "Free of Eden" in Toronto. She plays the imprisoned, first wife of Sidney Poitier, having killed her second husband while defending herself from him as he attempted to murder her. Sidney's 23-year-old daughter Sydney plays a student of Sidney, comes to Rashad's aid, gaining her a re-trial. The telefilm sets a tone for many imprisoned, battered women. Rashad tells me this is the first time she's met either Poitier. And says "Working with him sparks things. He has such subtle intensity. This is a boon for me." Segueing from the series to the telefilm, Rashad says, "I marvel at the way life and career unfold for me." During last summer's hiatus she starred in the dramatic play, "Blues From an Alabama Sky," by Pearl Cleege. And next hiatus, Rashad stars in "Medea" for Kenny Leon's Alliance Theater in Atlanta.

TURNING THE TABLES: As cameras caught the action of celebs at the L.A. Opera season opener, "Fedora," vidcrews also turned their lenses to interview -- the paparazzi about the Di-Dodi tragedy. Soprano Maria Ewing, who plays the opera's title role with star Placido Domingo, said she was devastated by the death of the princess -- who was a friend. ... At the party following, Priscilla Presley was among guests at the table of Betty and Fred Hayman. ... Billy Stritch, SRO at the Cinegrill (winds Saturday), rejoins Liza Minnelli next month producing her new album. It'll be Brazilian-flavored -- as is Stritch's own CD, "Waters of March". ... Happy 50th wedding anni to the AP's Bob Thomas and wife Pat. ... Max Von Sydow and wife Catherine Brelet are honeymooning afterbeing married in Provence. He co-stars with Robin Williams in "What Dreams May Come". ... Producer Neal Stevens and wife Margie welcomed twin girls, Avery Judyth and Kendall Dorothy, Sept. 2.... Composer Cory Lerios and wife Maria welcomed their third son, Demitri William, Aug. 26. ... Celebs who helped free Greenpeace founder Paul Watson from imprisonment (for protecting whales), gather Sunday at the Malibu home of Paul and Elois DeJoria for the Entertainment Industry Foundation/Permanent Charities Fund. Lauren Shuler-Donner will be installed as ambassador for environmental issues for this town's charity arm.