LAWSUIT Fake diamonds aren't a material girl's best friend. Hobe Cie. Ltd., maker of a line of high-end costume jewelry called Madonna, has filed suit against Madonna in Palm Beach, Fla., claiming her competing brand of trinkets constitutes trademark infringement. ''Hobe has had the Madonna trademark on jewelry since before Ms. Ciccone was in grade school,'' says Robert Hobe, the retired head of the company. ''She's violating our rights,'' he says, adding that the company expects to take the issue to trial in February. A lawyer representing Madonna in the suit didn't return calls.
SPLITS Screen legend and perfume hawker Elizabeth Taylor, 63, and her seventh husband, ex-construction worker Larry Fortensky, 43, have separated after nearly four years of marriage. ''We both need our own space for a while, so we have agreed to a trial separation,'' said a joint statement issued on Aug. 31. ''We both hope this is only temporary.'' Taylor — whose newest scent, Black Pearls, was put on hold the same week, when upscale department stores balked at its mass-market launch — is living in the couple's Bel Air mansion; Fortensky reportedly is staying with friends ... After 13 years of marriage, Home Improvement star Patricia Richardson, 44, filed for divorce from actor Ray Baker (Under Suspicion), 47, on Aug. 29 in Los Angeles. They have three children.
WEDDINGS In July, Charlie Sheen admitted paying Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss $53,000 for services rendered. On Sept. 3, after a six-week courtship, the 30-year-old actor married model Donna Peele, 25, in Malibu, Calif.
DEATHS Velvet Underground guitarist Sterling Morrison, 53, of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on Aug. 30 at his home in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Morrison was a founding member of the convention-flouting '60s group, a forerunner of '70s new wave and punk rock. ''He had one of the most exciting minds of anyone I ever met,'' fellow Underground founder Lou Reed said in a statement ... Emmy award-winning writer and producer Danny Arnold, 70, of heart failure on Aug. 19 in L.A. Arnold contributed as a writer, producer, or director to such '60s, '70s, and '80s TV series as Bewitched, Barney Miller, and That Girl ... Independent filmmaker Frank Perry, 65, of prostate cancer on Aug. 29 in New York. Perry was best known as the director of 1962's David and Lisa and 1981's Mommie Dearest.
— Casey Davidson and Jessica Shaw
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