Tom Cruise Named `Sexiest Man Alive'

Tom Cruise has succeeded Sean Connery as the sexiest man alive.

People magazine, in naming Cruise, characterized the movie star as ``the boy next door as daredevil'' and got his ``Rain Man'' co-star Valeria Golino to gush about his eyes.

She said it's ``not their color'' that's so great but ``his regard - the way he looks with them. They're very alive.''

Previous ``sexiest men'' are John F. Kennedy Jr. and actors Connery, Harry Hamlin, Mark Harmon and Mel Gibson.

In other sexy news, Cruise is on Playgirl's 1990 sexiest men's list, which includes a mix of usual suspects and newcomers. They are: Gibson, Rob Lowe, William Hurt, Mel Gibson, Richard Gere, Jimmy Smits, Oliver Stone, Michael Bolton, Bo Jackson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Andy Garcia and Johnny Depp.

BOWIE STOPS SONG TO DEFEND 2 LIVE CREW

British rock star David Bowie stopped his Philadelphia concert to take up the cause of the rap group 2 Live Crew and its right to produce and perform its music.

``I've been listening to the album by 2 Live Crew,'' he said Thursday in the Spectrum after stopping in the middle of the song ``Young Americans.''

``It's not the best album that's ever been made, but when I heard they banned it, I went out and bought it,'' Bowie said.

``Freedom of thought, freedom of speech - it's one of the most important things we have.

Authorities arrested members of 2 Live Crew in Florida recently after a federal judge in Fort Lauderdale declared the group's lyrics obscene.

`CHEERS' ACTOR TOLD TO FACE DRUG TRIAL

Kelsey Grammer, Dr. Frasier Crane on TV's ``Cheers,'' was ordered Thursday to stand trial for alleged cocaine possession after a Los Angeles judge rejected his request for a second shot at attending a drug rehabilitation program.

The actor agreed to complete one last spring but failed to do so. If found guilty, Grammer, 35, who has a previous conviction for driving under the influence, could be jailed for three years.

HAIG FOLLOWS WORKOUT WITH DOUBLE MARTINI

Former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, 65, has his own ideas about keeping fit.

``I start with tennis or trampoline, whatever it is that's aerobic,'' he is quoted as saying in the current issue of M magazine. ``Then, I calm down my heartbeat with a double martini. If it's a non-perspiration workout, then I take a shower first. But if it's a tough workout, I drink a martini first. If I perspire, I need the drink first.''

NIXON LIBRARY INVITES HALDEMAN TO OPENING

H.R. Haldeman is the only Watergate figure to be invited to the opening of the $21 million Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif.

How come G. Gordon Liddy didn't get an invite? ``Beats me,'' Liddy said. ``I have the utmost respect for President Nixon.''

How about John Dean? Replied Liddy: ``Would you invite a rattlesnake to sleep in your bed?''