Pop-Fly Spy

CASTING George Clooney will likely produce and star in ''The Catcher Was a Spy,'' playing real-life baseball player/international spy Morris ''Moe'' Berg. Berg, a player for the Brooklyn Dodgers and Washington Senators in the 1920s and '30s, was recruited by the government to spy on Japan while playing overseas.... Selma Blair (''Cruel Intentions'') seems to have made the teen-casting A-list: She will join Freddie Prinze Jr. and Julia Stiles in Miramax's ''Down to You.'' And if you thought ''Intentions'' was risque, here Blair plays a grad student turned porn star.... Jeff Daniels will portray George Washington in the A&E TV movie ''The Crossing,'' which depicts the first president's historic crossing of the Delaware in the Revolutionary War.

FINALLY HERE ''The Silence of the Lambs'' author Thomas Harris has finally turned in a sequel documenting the further adventures of FBI agent Clarice Starling and her cannibal pal Hannibal Lecter, a project that took him 10 years to write. ''When you read it, you know why he took so long,'' said his agent, Mort Janklow. ''It's filled with literary references, there's complicated plotting and a satisfactory resolution.'' The tale may end up on the screen: The stars of the Oscar-winning 1990 film, Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster, and its director, Jonathan Demme, have all said that they would probably reunite when a follow-up story was ready.

CANCELED Kiss has declared a temporary moratorium on their ''rock-and-roll-all-night'' credo, canceling three concerts that were to have been held in Russia this week. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow recommended the band pull out due to the America/Russian tensions from the Kosovo situation.

SPURNED Marlon Brando refused when asked to present the honorary Oscar to Elia Kazan at the Academy Awards, Karl Malden told Army Archerd. Malden was the one who nominated Kazan, but even before presenting the controversial director's name to the Academy board of governors, he approached his ''On the Waterfront'' costar with the offer, thinking Brando's presence would entice the committee. ''Brando told me he just couldn't do it -- to give it to a man who named names,'' said Malden. ''I was and am disappointed in Marlon's decision. But I'd do everything to reteam with him today.''

PAYING TRIBUTE The cast and crew of ''Suddenly Susan'' will tape one last episode this season to honor cast member David Strickland, who committed suicide last week. The last episodes were originally supposed to have been canceled in the wake of his death, but everyone decided to return for this show, which will likely feature many clips of Strickland.

SPLIT Tom Arnold, 40, is divorcing his second wife, Julie Lynn Champnella, 25, after three years and eight months, citing irreconcilable differences. The actor married Champnella (whom he met when she was a college student) a year after his acrimonious split from Roseanne.

OBITUARY Jazz legend Joe Williams died Monday of acute lung disease at the age of 80. The booming baritone first rose to fame singing with the Count Basie band from 1954 to 1961, then left to play with a string of other jazz legends like Cannonball Adderly. He won a Grammy in 1985. Williams also dabbled in acting, including a regular guest-starring role as Bill Cosby's father in ''The Cosby Show.''

You Might Also Like

• Movie News George Clooney starring in 'Tourist'
• Movie News George Clooney set to ''Stare at Goats''
• Hit List Scott Brown's Hit List | Scott Brown
• Television News Another writer's strike? | Vanessa Juarez