THE ARTSGovernor’s Awardees: Painter Ed Ruscha will...

THE ARTS

Governor’s Awardees: Painter Ed Ruscha will be honored for visual arts, playwright Neil Simon for literary arts and musician Ray Charles for performing arts at the sixth annual Governor’s Awards in the Arts, which will be presented at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel Oct. 24 in a ceremony hosted by Gov. Pete Wilson and his wife, Gayle. Among additional honorees are TV comedy programmer Carl Reiner, his son, director Rob Reiner (“Stand by Me” and “When Harry Met Sally . . . “), and philanthropist David Packard, chairman emeritus of Hewlett-Packard Co. In addition, “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz will be named a “California Treasure.”

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Rembrandts for Sale: A private collection of Rembrandt etchings said to rival those held by the British Museum or Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum is being put up for sale through Sotheby’s auction house. The 122 etchings by the 17th-Century Dutch master will not be auctioned publicly, but will be exhibited in the Hague, London and New York in hopes of attracting buyers. The works form part of a multimillion-dollar art collection built up over 20 years by Dutch businessman Joost R. Ritman, whose disposable cutlery business De Ster went bankrupt under the weight of his fine art purchases. Sotheby’s declined to put a value on the collection, which spans Rembrandt’s career from 1620 to 1660.

MOVIES

Here Comes Mr. Magoo!: The classic cartoon character Mr. Magoo may be the next animated hero to make it to the big screen in live-action form. Walt Disney Pictures has acquired the movie rights to the bumbling character, and although no script is yet written, the live-action feature is said to be on a fast track at the studio and may be ready to begin production as early as next year. The movie’s executive producer will be Hank Saperstein, the owner of UPA Studios who sold the film rights to Disney. Pat Proft (“Police Academy,” “Naked Gun”) will write the screenplay.

POP/ROCK

Brown Unhurt in Drive-By Shooting: Pop singer Bobby Brown escaped injury but a man engaged to his sister was killed by three shots to the head in a drive-by shooting outside a Boston nightclub early Thursday, police said. Steven Siely, engaged to Brown’s sister, was getting into Brown’s car when the shots were fired from a nearby car. Siely, 31, was pronounced dead a short time later. Brown was standing outside the car with his bodyguard when the incident occurred and was uninjured, according to a spokesman.

QUICK TAKES

Sources say Stephan Cosman Connery, son of actor Sean Connery and a figure in the London art world, was the art agent who set up this week’s deal for Malibu’s J. Paul Getty Museum to buy the seminal Monet painting, “Wheatstacks (Snow Effect, Morning)” from a New York-based private collector. . . . Charles Van Doren, whose part in a 1950s game show scandal inspired the movie “Quiz Show,” was in critical but stable condition Wednesday, two days after he collapsed near his Connecticut home and was found bleeding from the nose and ears. Hartford Hospital would not reveal what caused Van Doren, 69, to collapse. . . . Former “Tonight Show” bandleader Branford Marsalis now says that his comments in Wednesday’s Indianapolis Star and News disparaging “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno were made “with a great deal of sarcasm” and that the two have “a very secure relationship.” However writer Marc Allen stands by his story in which Marsalis says he “despised” Leno.

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Quotable: “In my dreams I’d be whole--riding my horse, playing with my family. . . . We’d be making love, we’d be doing everything. And then suddenly I’d wake up and it’s 2 in the morning and I’m lying in bed and I can’t move and I’m on a ventilator. . . . Those are the worst times.”

--Actor Christopher Reeve, in tonight’s Barbara Walters interview, his first since being paralyzed in a May horseback riding accident.