Tony Bill

"When I was growing up, the biggest, most exciting dreams I had were to go where no one had gone before: to some island or the interior of some continent or to the moon," said Tony Bill. "It's this kind of excitement I find in going with talent that hasn't been discovered."

For anyone who has ever wandered onto a movie set -- or those who are just baffled by such terms as "gabo," "hair in the gate," "four-banger" or a "Mickey Rooney," let alone more standard lingo like "grips," "gaffers" and "best boy" -- Tony Bill has come to the rescue.

Maple Drive, 345 N . Maple Drive, Beverly Hills. (213) 274-9800. Open Monday-Friday for breakfast and lunch; nightly for dinner; for Sunday brunch. Full bar. Valet parking at night; validated parking in the daytime. All major credit cards accepted. Dinner for 2, food only, $40-$90. Maybe restaurant owners don't read reviews. Maybe they don't care. But if they have opinions about what critics write, they rarely bother to express them.

FOR all its globalization and overexposure, Hollywood is still a place that runs on serendipity. Consider the case of David Ellison. Twenty-two, with the rangy, hands-shoved-in-his-pockets good looks of a Ralph Lauren model, Ellison is the son of Oracle CEO and founder Larry Ellison, a man known for his take-no-prisoners business approach as much as for his lavish lifestyle. Two years ago, David Ellison thought of Hollywood as the rocks above which the sirens sang.

Dear Mr. Grant, You may not remember me, but then again, I think you probably would. We spent part of an evening together in the spring of 1974, just a few days after I attended my first Academy Awards. I was only 33, and my filmmaking career was barely 5 years old. A friend had called to ask a favor. She was in charge of the world premiere of "The Great Gatsby," a charity event. Would I loan a few cars for the evening?

On a sweltering May afternoon, a film crew sprays fake snow on the sidewalk in front of Jim's Coffee Shop and Bakery. Christmas decorations are strung overhead, and an old-fashioned Santa-drinking-Coke billboard looms on the next block. Cast and crew of "The Baboon Heart" have become regulars at the diner, the principal locale for this tragicomic love story starring Christian Slater, Marisa Tomei and Rosie Perez and directed and produced by Tony Bill. Jim's looks like the real thing, all right.

This 1993 release would be unimaginable without Kathy Bates, (top right) who brings a tart presence to what would otherwise be a predictable and sentimental saga about a single L.A. mother, circa 1962, packing her six kids into a beat-up Plymouth and landing in a tiny Idaho town. Bates is so absolutely natural and captivating an actress that the film, written by Patrick Duncan and directed by Tony Bill, becomes a touching, involving experience.

Movie producer Tony Bill saw something he liked last week when Dukakis spoke in Los Angeles. Dukakis looked businesslike and passionate addressing a big rally at the Scottish Rite Temple, but, as they say in the movie and TV business, if the cameras aren't rolling it didn't happen. Fortunately for Dukakis, Bill happened to have his cameras on, and snippets from the speech will show up, starting today, in ads airing only in California.

Everybody in Hollywood likes to boast about making a great deal. But one of the enduring unsolved mysteries of Jim Thompson's Hollywood years is how in 1970 Tony Bill managed to buy the rights to Thompson's novel, "South of Heaven," for the astonishing sum of $10. The book, originally published in 1967, is now being made into a major motion picture, with producer Mark Lipson and the "Rain Man" production team of Barry Levinson and Mark Johnson at the helm.

They came from Los Angeles with Hollywood money and haute cuisine. But four months later, the celebrity proprietors of a glitzy Aspen, Colo., restaurant left in a rush, stiffing workers on their paychecks and leaving suppliers with thousands of dollars in unpaid bills, police say. "They have left owing money," confirmed Aspen police Sgt.

Thank you, Tony Bill, for sharing your wonderful story about Cary Grant ("Dear Cary Grant," March 26). It made for a lovely moment in my day. Florence Stasch Newport Beach

Dear Mr. Grant, You may not remember me, but then again, I think you probably would. We spent part of an evening together in the spring of 1974, just a few days after I attended my first Academy Awards. I was only 33, and my filmmaking career was barely 5 years old. A friend had called to ask a favor. She was in charge of the world premiere of "The Great Gatsby," a charity event. Would I loan a few cars for the evening?

Tony Blair, the man odds-makers reckon almost sure to be Britain's prime minister by the time midnight strikes next May 1, is often compared to Bill Clinton, indeed fosters the parallel himself. You can tot up the similarities, starting with ambitious political professionals, many of them with a foot in journalism, mustered round Blair.

This 1993 release would be unimaginable without Kathy Bates, (top right) who brings a tart presence to what would otherwise be a predictable and sentimental saga about a single L.A. mother, circa 1962, packing her six kids into a beat-up Plymouth and landing in a tiny Idaho town. Bates is so absolutely natural and captivating an actress that the film, written by Patrick Duncan and directed by Tony Bill, becomes a touching, involving experience.

On a sweltering May afternoon, a film crew sprays fake snow on the sidewalk in front of Jim's Coffee Shop and Bakery. Christmas decorations are strung overhead, and an old-fashioned Santa-drinking-Coke billboard looms on the next block. Cast and crew of "The Baboon Heart" have become regulars at the diner, the principal locale for this tragicomic love story starring Christian Slater, Marisa Tomei and Rosie Perez and directed and produced by Tony Bill. Jim's looks like the real thing, all right.

They came from Los Angeles with Hollywood money and haute cuisine. But four months later, the celebrity proprietors of a glitzy Aspen, Colo., restaurant left in a rush, stiffing workers on their paychecks and leaving suppliers with thousands of dollars in unpaid bills, police say. "They have left owing money," confirmed Aspen police Sgt.

FOR all its globalization and overexposure, Hollywood is still a place that runs on serendipity. Consider the case of David Ellison. Twenty-two, with the rangy, hands-shoved-in-his-pockets good looks of a Ralph Lauren model, Ellison is the son of Oracle CEO and founder Larry Ellison, a man known for his take-no-prisoners business approach as much as for his lavish lifestyle. Two years ago, David Ellison thought of Hollywood as the rocks above which the sirens sang.

Thank you, Tony Bill, for sharing your wonderful story about Cary Grant ("Dear Cary Grant," March 26). It made for a lovely moment in my day. Florence Stasch Newport Beach

Everybody in Hollywood likes to boast about making a great deal. But one of the enduring unsolved mysteries of Jim Thompson's Hollywood years is how in 1970 Tony Bill managed to buy the rights to Thompson's novel, "South of Heaven," for the astonishing sum of $10. The book, originally published in 1967, is now being made into a major motion picture, with producer Mark Lipson and the "Rain Man" production team of Barry Levinson and Mark Johnson at the helm.

With some wine lists, one glance tells you, "Hey, there's a wine lover around here somewhere." The list at Maple Drive is such a list. To say it is eclectic is an understatement. It is clearly the work of Rafael Nazario, who put together the list at the affiliated 72 Market St. in Venice. His selections (about 85 wines) are not at all typical of an ordinary wine list that's been assembled from one or two wholesalers. This list is culled from here, there and places I never thought to look.