‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Sarah Michelle Gellar’s long-estranged father was found dead in his Manhattan apartment Tuesday morning.
Arthur Gellar, 60, was discovered in the bed of his residence at 30 Waterside Plaza, according to police, who were called by a friend who hadn’t heard from Arthur in several days.
Authorities are investigating whether he may have died of a drug overdose since medication was found at the scene. Gellar, who had been battling cancer, was “suffering from depression,” said a family friend. The medical examiner’s office is scheduled to do an autopsy today.
(The father of Sarah’s fiance, Freddy Prinze Jr., died in 1976 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.)
Gellar’s famous daughter had no comment yesterday on his death. In the past, she’s made no secret of her disdain for the man, who was divorced from her mother, Rosellen, when Sarah was 8.
“He is not a person who exists in my life,” Sarah told TV Guide, not giving the reason for the rift. “Just because you donate sperm does not make you a father. I don’t have a father. I would never give him the credit to acknowledge him as my father.
”
As of December, Arthur, who worked in the garment center, was still hoping they might reconcile. He told the Scottish Daily Record: “There isn’t a night that goes by that I don’t think of her.
”
PROBATION FOR PAULA
The verdict is in for Paula Poundstone. Yesterday Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins sentenced her to five years probation, 180 days in an alcohol treatment program and 200 hours of community service for endangering her children with her drinking. She pleaded no contest and will avoid a six-month jail term if she completes rehab. Poundstone has 55 days left as part of her live-in rehab at the Promises center in Malibu.
She is barred from taking in any more foster children. Poundstone has adopted two children and had three foster children. Kamins also ordered the comedian to see a psychiatrist every week for the next year and to take a course about child abuse.
“My drinking helped to create a dangerous situation for the children. For this I am very sorry,” she said.
WOODS WON’T GO
Hollywood hell-raiser James Woods isn’t taking any chances nowadays.
“I won’t go into a stadium, and I won’t attend a big public event,” he says.
The actor is even refusing to come here for the premiere of his movie “Riding in Cars With Boys,” despite a personal invite from Mayor Giuliani.
“I think too few people have grasped the reality [that] we’re totally and irrevocably at war,” Woods tells the Calgary Sun.
Woods won’t get into the matter of the four Middle Eastern-looking men he saw a few months back aboard a flight from Boston to L.
A.
“I’ve spent a great deal of time lately talking to the FBI and have learned some startling things,” he says.
SCRATCHES FOR MAX
George Clooney is hugging his beloved potbellied pig, Max, a little more tightly. The actor came close to losing the porker recently when his buddy Tommy Hinkley ran into Max with his car.
A spokesman for Max tells us the porcine pet “received only slight skin scratches and no stitches were necessary. Max is doing just fine, and he’s resumed his normal day-to-day activities.
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IT’S FIENNES BY HER
Meanwhile, Clooney’s former “ER” co-star Alex Kingston is finally letting ex-husband Ralph Fiennes have it.
“If you’re the one who’s been dumped, you will feel like your life is over,” says Kingston, whose marriage crumbled in 1995 when Fiennes fell for 57-year-old stage actress Francesca Annis. “I was feeling worthless.
”
Kingston has since married German journalist Florian Haertel, father of her 8-month-old daughter, Salome. “He was so open for a man who never had therapy,” she says of Haertel. “For 12 years, I had just been with Ralph, who was so closed.
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She adds that she hasn’t spoken with Fiennes or “seen any of his films since we split, and that’s fine by me.
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FIREFIGHTER’S ‘FRIEND’
Fireman’s son Paul McCartney said yesterday he’ll give all proceeds from his new single, “From a Lover to a Friend,” to help the families of our Bravest.
And tonight, Paper Magazine will hold its “Welcome Back to Tribeca” party. “Saturday Night Live’s” Jimmy Fallon, and B-52 Fred Schneider will be there to eat comfort food like macaroni and cheese.
A few blocks away, at the Bubble Lounge, Veuve Clicquot has donated the bubbles to a benefit for the Windows of Hope Fund, which helps families of lost workers of the Windows on the World.
Finally, tomorrow night in SoHo, rap mogul Russell Simmons will help raise funds for the Twin Towers Fund at NV/289, where raffle items include David Yurman jewelry and a weekend at the Chelsea Hotel in South Beach.
ITEMIZING
EMINEM AND his former wife, Kim, are officially unhitched. Em and Kim have agreed to share custody of their 5-year-old daughter, Hailie, and he’ll pay $1,000 a week in child support. They were married in June 1999, separated in August 2000, and tried to reconcile later that year before Kim filed for divorce in March….
JACK NICHOLSON’s romance with Lara Flynn Boyle is said to have hit another rough patch, but he’s staying typically mum. “Why?
” he tells the BBC. “I like to promote interest. I like being private, it’s a luxury I’ve won for myself, and I take advantage of it.
“…
JEAN-CLAUDE Van Damme will star in a movie about a train hijacked by terrorists and set to be crashed into a city. In “Derailed,” the Belgian star plays the hero who will save the day. The $20 million project starts shooting in Europe at the end of this month….
SEVENTIES SUPERMODEL Cheryl Tiegs and her fourth husband, yoga master Rod Stryker, are splitting up. Stryker, 44, filed papers in Los Angeles yesterday to end the three-year marriage. In July 2000, the couple became the parents of twin boys, Jaden and Theo, who were born to a surrogate mother. Tiegs, 54, has a 10-year-old son, Zack, from her third marriage, to writer-producer Tony Peck. …
DREW BARRYMORE got into character for dinner at Milos on Tuesday. Mrs. Tom Green wore an Annie Hall-style ensemble – complete with hat and tie – while sitting at Woody Allen’s customary table. She and “SNL’s” Lorne Michaels, discussed this weekend’s show, on which she will appear.
