Richard Arnold’s WEEK IN SHOWBIZ

HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD

I made a quick trip to the UK for Mother’s Day (because you only have the one, right?) to take Mum up to her beloved Scotland, and then it was back to LA to stay with TV’S Ross King for a couple of days. For Brits in LA, all roads lead to Ross’ place in the Hollywood Hills – beside his Emmy awards on proud display, it’s filled with pictures of starry pals like the late Kirk Douglas and Jackie Collins. I made a note to send him a pic of me so I could rub shoulders with them on his shelves!

LOOSE IN LOS ANGELES

A glancing blow with Denise Welch at a bash at Ross’ house, and a tale of her trip to LA so far: ‘This man came up to me and asked if I was Judi Dench,’ she told me. Dame Judi was in town for the Oscars thanks to the success of the hit film Belfast, but Denise kindly told the man he was mistaken. ‘Then shortly afterwards he came back, pointed at me and said, “You ARE Judi Dench and you are very rude!” before walking off.’ Dame Judi is a marvellous 87 years old – Denise assures me she’s a few years off that at the moment.

RAISING ARIZONA

Post Ross’s I popped out to the desert, a six-hour drive past Palm Springs and over the state line from California into the home of the Grand Canyon, Arizona. I headed straight to Scottsdale, the old celebrity haunt of the likes of Bing Crosby, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Clint Eastwood. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. Rumour has it Will Smith was spotted playing golf there after the Oscars, obviously preferring the heat of the desert to the even hotter headlines.