People

MISS USSR TO USE YOGURT DIPLOMACY

Yulia Sukhanova is capitalizing on her victory in the first Miss USSR pageant by making a yogurt commercial for American television.

``She did the commercial because she wanted to dispel American attitudes that Russian women aren't beautiful,'' said Tricia Erickson, owner of the Erickson Agency.

The ad for Dreyer's and Edy's Frozen Yogurt Inspirations is being aired in Seattle, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Denver, San Francisco, San Diego and Washington, D.C.

Sukhanova, 17, was chosen Miss USSR last year.

LEE DOES RIGHT THING AND DENIES ROMANCE

Spike Lee responded instantly to a gossip column report that something might be going on between him and Kim Basinger after they were spotted breaking bread recently in New York.

``It ain't so,'' the filmmaker said in Thursday's New York Daily News. ``I don't want the wrath of . . . Afro-American women who will now think I'm another black man who has gone astray. . . . It's completely platonic.''

Lee said he met the movie star for the first time at the Academy Awards, where she expressed outrage that his ``Do the Right Thing'' was not nominated for best picture. They later arranged the Big Apple date to ``see if there was anything we might work on in the future,'' Lee said.

CELEBRITIES TRAILED THE TURTLES IN MARCH

Paula Abdul, Brent Musburger and Madonna were the most closely watched media stars in March, said a monthly poll of news consumers released Thursday. The Times Mirror News Index disclosed that Abdul was followed by 49 percent of respondents, the recently fired Musburger by 48 percent and Madonna by 44 percent.

But they're all pikers compared with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, featured in the hit monster movie. An unusually high 74 percent of Americans said they had ``heard a lot recently'' about the reptilian superhero characters.

TAYLOR HOSPITALIZED FOR SINUS INFECTION

Elizabeth Taylor was hospitalized this week with a sinus infection.

``She has a severe sinus infection. They are just trying to clear it up, that's all,'' said Chen Sam, her New York City publicist.

Taylor, 58, entered Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital on Tuesday and was expected to be released today to continue recuperation in Beverly Hills home.

Ill health has plagued the actress for years, particularly recurring back troubles stemming from the 1945 filming of the movie ``National Velvet,'' when she fell off a horse.

OPERATIC GIANTS JOIN FORCES FOR SOCCER

When Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo announced their teaming up for the benefit of World Cup Soccer, they also decided to bury a longstanding hatchet. The opera giants, who have been feuding for decades, will join fellow tenor Jose Carreras for an outdoor concert in Rome on July 7.