Showbiz Gossip

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), July 22, 2003

Tom Cruise has upset members of the dyslexic community by claiming in an interview that Scientology had cured his dyslexia.

Cruise, a founder of the Scientology-based Hollywood Education and Literacy Project, said after he read The Basic Study Manual, by L Ron Hubbard, his dyslexia disappeared.

"There is not a lot of science to support the claims that the teachings of Scientology founder L RON HUBBARD are appropriate to overcoming dyslexia," said J THOMAS VIALL, executive director of the International Dyslexia Association.

"When an individual of the prominence of Tom Cruise makes statements that are difficult to replicate in terms of what science tells us, the issue becomes what other individuals who are dyslexic do in response to such a success story."

THE Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is hoping that whoever buys ORSON WELLES'S Oscar at auction on Friday will return it to the Academy.

The statuette, awarded for Welles's 1941 Best Screenplay for Citizen Kane is expected to fetch more than pounds 250,000 at Christie's, but the Academy claims Welles' daughter, Beatrice, does not have the right to sell it.

"This is one of the most important Oscars there is," Academy spokeswoman MARGARET BECKETT said. "It was the sole award Kane won and aside from an honorary one in 1971, the only Oscar Welles ever got."

Academy officials hope STEVEN SPIELBERG may be their saviour because he bought CLARK GABLE'S Best Actor Oscar for It Happened One Night for pounds 400,000 in 1996 and BETTE DAVIS' Jezebel Best Actress Oscar for pounds 375,000 in 2001 and returned both awards to the Academy.

COMIC book guru, STAN LEE, has teamed with Playboy to develop a cartoon TV series starring HUGH HEFNER as the leader of an elite crimefighting team of Playmates of the Month. Called Hef's Superbunnies, the series will be set inside the Playboy Mansion, where Hefner leads troops of Superbunnies to fight injustice.

"As a fan who bought and cherished the very first copy of Playboy in 1953, it is an enormous thrill for me to be partnering a man who has done so much to shape the culture of the times we live in," said Lee, who created Spider-Man among other superheroes and came up with the concept for Hef's Superbunnies.

ANGELINA JOLIE had her Billy Bob tattoo removed from her left arm by laser when she and husband, BILLY BOB THORNTON, separated, and now another tattoo is going.

The Lara Croft star is planning to cover up a window tattoo on her lower back.

"I had it done a long time ago because wherever I was, I always wanted to be somewhere else.

READING CLAIM Tom Cruise