PEOPLEReynolds-Anderson Split: Burt Reynolds petitioned for divorce...

PEOPLE

Reynolds-Anderson Split: Burt Reynolds petitioned for divorce from Loni Anderson on Thursday after five years of marriage. The petition, filed in Florida’s Martin County, said the marriage had been “irretrievably broken,” but gave no details. A spokeswoman for Burt Reynolds Productions in California said more details would be issued today. Reynolds, who stars in television’s “Evening Shade,” was on location for a TV movie of the week co-starring country singer Reba McEntire. Reynolds and Anderson’s adopted son, Quinton, will be 5 in August.

TELEVISION

Remembering Conway Twitty: Conway Twitty was a role model for fellow performers and an idol to his fans, a tearful Reba McEntire recalled Wednesday at a memorial service for the country music legend. “I loved the roar of the crowd when Conway went on stage,” McEntire said. “I’m not ready for Conway to close the show yet.” Also among the 2,000 who crowded into the service at the First Baptist Church in a suburb of Nashville: Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Barbara Mandrell, Mickey Gilley, Tammy Wynette, Naomi Judd, Little Jimmy Dickens and the Oak Ridge Boys.

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Sinead’s Poetry: Controversial Irish singer Sinead O’Connor is in the news again. After withdrawing at the last minute from a charity concert promoting peace in Northern Ireland, O’Connor issued a 106-line poem in her defense. She urged people to “Stop hurting me please, saying mean things about me.” The poem begins: “My name is Sinead O’Connor, I am learning to love myself.” Among its other lines: “If only I can love myself, if only I can . . . gather a sense of self-esteem, then I’ll be able to REALLY sing which is what I want more than everything else in the world.”

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Pay Up, Axl: The tax man is looking for Axl Rose. The Guns N’ Roses singer owes $7,095 in property taxes in southern Wisconsin, where he owns a 10-acre lot in the resort area of Geneva Lake. Records show he’s paid no taxes on the property for four years. Rose has until July 15 to pay the taxes or face foreclosure.

MOVIES

‘Sister Act’-ion: Walt Disney Pictures, Bette Midler’s production company, Whoopi Goldberg, Creative Artists Agency, producer Scott Rudin and screenwriter Paul Rudnick are among 10 defendants named in a $200-million suit over the hit comedy “Sister Act,” starring Goldberg. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in New York City by Associated Artists Entertainment, a company owned by Donna Douglas (Elly May on TV’s “Beverly Hillbillies”) and partner Curt Wilson. It claims they were excluded from a joint venture in the film. Douglas and Wilson had optioned a book titled “A Nun in the Closet,” which they had submitted to the defendants. Attorney Carl E. Person said the $200-million sought is based on the international value of “Sister Act” and its potential sequels. The movie grossed nearly $140 million in the U.S. last summer.

STAGE

Keach to Do ‘Cycle’: Stacy Keach will replace Charles Hallahan in “The Kentucky Cycle” as the Pulitzer Prize-winning epic continues its cycle from the Mark Taper Forum to Washington (Sept. 11) and Broadway (Nov. 13). Hallahan, who won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award for his performance in several roles, will instead appear in the ABC sitcom “Grace Under Fire” next fall.

ART

Swedish Theft: Thieves broke into the Stockholm apartment of Swedish art collector Bengt Ekstrom and stole 43 artworks worth millions of dollars by artists including Renoir, Rubens and van Gogh, police said Thursday. Details on the stolen artworks were not immediately available.

QUICK TAKES

CBS has set Aug. 30 as the premiere date for David Letterman’s move to that network. The CBS program will be called “Late Show With David Letterman.” . . . Opera singer June Anderson, dancer Natalia Makarova and actresses Bonnie Franklin, Marion Ross, Barbara Rush and Carol Channing received distinguished artist awards Thursday from the Music Center’s Club 100. . . . Actresses Michelle Pfeiffer, Julie Andrews and Kay Koplovitz will get Crystal awards and Catherine Deneuve will receive an International Crystal from Women in Film today. . . . Songwriter of the year honors went to Teddy Riley (“In the Closet,” “Jam,” “Remember the Time”) Wednesday night during ASCAP’s sixth annual Rhythm & Blues Music Celebration. . . . Actor Danny Glover and singer Jeffrey Osborne were in New York Thursday taking part in a five-year, $40-million literacy campaign sponsored by Coors Brewing Co. The cause is particularly important to Glover, who has a partial affliction from the learning disability dyslexia.