By Claudia Wallis

People

Egypt's ancient Valley of the Kings may sound like a glamorous film location, but according to Actress Lesley-Anne Down, "It was like being in a sweatshop." Daily temperatures of 100DEG to 120DEG F, says Down, made Sphinx "my most physically exhausting movie." Things did not improve when the cast moved to breezy Budapest. There, in a cavernous studio, Down portrayed an Egyptologist who finds the lost tomb of Seti I. To evoke the proper sepulchral ambience, 130 bats were set loose on the set. "It was horrible. They rained down on me," she shudders. "Even now, I go funny at the knees just thinking about those ghastly creatures."

They met on a cold, damp Venetian morning, the wild ducks flying overhead. The hunter was 49, married, famous. The girl was 18, a dark Leonardesque virgin. "I love you more than the moon and the sky," he would later write her. "Daughter, how complicated can life be?" Very, she would answer: "I tried to remain on the razor's edge, because had I asked, you would have thrown yourself from a wall for me." Ernest Hemingway did not go quite that far to prove his love for young Adriana Ivancich, but he did write her some 2,000 letters between 1949 and 1955, and he immortalized her as Renata in Across the River and into the Trees (1950). Years later, stung by inferences in a Hemingway biography, Ivancich, now Countess Von Rex, 50, says that she "felt it was time to tell how it really was." How it was, she says, in the as yet untranslated La Torre Bianco (The White Tower), was chaste. Their love was consummated only in fiction, both in Across the River and, more figuratively, in The Old Man and the Sea (1952), where Ivancich recognizes herself as the elusive fish, chased and hooked by the masterful old fisherman.

This was no White House punch-and-go reception, no pneumatic-chicken campaign dinner. To honor Betty and Gerald Ford on their 32nd anniversary, some friends in Palm Springs sprang for something palmier. There was a formal dinner for 320, dancing and additional entertainment from a few talented guests: Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Phyllis Diller, Pearl Bailey and Tony Orlando (who tied yet another ribbon round that old oaken tune). "This is an exceptional night, a tremendous evening in the lives of Jerry and Betty Ford," said the former President and incumbent romantic. "We are more in love today than on the day we were married."

Just 18 hours after winning the Miss World title, West Germany's Gabriella Brum, 18, abdicated her throne--and $50, 000 in prize money and public appearance fees--and caught the first flight home. "I realized that I had no intention of being part of all that show biz," she explained. "My career as a costume designer is more important to me." Maybe so, but according to Pageant Organizer Julia Morley, Brum was forced to yield her crown by a possessive boyfriend, Hollywood Film Producer Benno Bellenbaum, 52. Adding spice to the drama were nude pictures of 5-ft. 11-in Gaby, taken by Bellenbaum and somehow leaked to the London press. Morley says she may sue the producer for "enticing Gabriella to break her contract." Meanwhile, Brum's crown has been awarded to First Runner-Up Kim Santos, 19, of Guam, who vows: "I wouldn't pose for nude photos if I were offered a million dollars.'' --By Claudia Wallis

On the Record

Itzhak Perlman, violinist, explaining his decision to appear this week on TV's Sesame Street: "One of my goals in life was to make music with Oscar the Grouch."

Sybil Carter, wife of Billy, explaining how she has lost 40 Ibs. since July: "That's what a Senate investigation will do to you. Anybody want to lose weight? Go to Libya."

Bill Rafferty, co-host of television's Real People, on how Californians stay in shape: "Jogging and helping recently divorced friends move."

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