By E. Graydon Carter

Join us now for another episode of One Life to Liz. As you will recall, Liz, played by Actress Elizabeth Taylor, 49, toiled briefly as a plump Washington matron, shed 40 lbs. and then made her triumphant Broadway debut in Little Foxes. As we resume our story, Liz tells the producers of ABC's General Hospital that she would like to play a cameo role. And so she does, in five appearances beginning this week, playing Helena Cassadine (widow of former GH Villain Mikkos Cassadine). Alas, it should be recorded that her effort is not pluperfect. It seems that Liz, in a repeat of last year's Tony Award speech--when she referred to Producer James Nederlander as James Needleheimer--trips over the pronunciation of her own character's last name. Several takes later, she finally masters Cass-uh-dine. Whew. Says Liz afterward: "And I thought I could act."

Maureen Reagan, 40, surprised almost no one last week by announcing her candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 1982 California Senate race. Like the incumbent, Senator S.I. Hayakawa, 75, the former talk-show host is pro-choice on abortion. Maureen also has an instinct for the political jugular. As she once declared during her father's presidential drive: "We will certainly be able to sling the mud, to kick below the belt, to trip, to scratch if we have to."

"It sounded like the San Diego Chicken in heat," said Johnny Carson of the first TV appearance of the Big Blue Wrecking Crew. Four members of the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers made up the group: Outfielders Jay Johnstone, 35, and Rick Monday, 35, Pitcher Jerry Reuss, 31, and Catcher Steve Yeager, 32. On the Crew's new single--to be released this week--side one's rendition of We Are Champions is bested in sheer painful execution only by the flipside, New York, New York. Admits Yeager: "It took us six hours to record and about 15 hours to straighten the sound out."

The honeymoon over, it was time for Prince Charles, 32, and Diana, Princess of Wales, 20, to get down to business. There was, for instance, last week's opening of Parliament. In her first state appearance, Diana graced a chair to the right of the throne, with, as the Times of London put it, "the Prince of Wales at her side." Then came more momentous news, just three months after the royal nuptials. "It is announced from Buckingham Palace," read the statement, "that the Princess of Wales is expecting a baby in June." The royal offspring will become second in line to the throne behind Charles, who may attend the birth himself.

He seems resigned to his new role as supporting player, although at one point during the opening of Parliament, the Prince turned to his Princess--splendid in a white satin and chiffon gown and diamond tiara--and, according to one observer, was thought to have remarked, "Diana, stop stealing the show."

The Memphis blues are over for Dr. George Nichopoulos, 54. As Elvis Presley's physician during the final eleven years of the singer's life, Nichopoulos had been charged with eleven counts of dispensing vast quantities of narcotics, sedatives and amphetamines to Presley and ten other patients. During the 16 days of testimony in Memphis, the prosecution said the physician had prescribed more than 12,000 doses of various drugs to Presley in the last 20 months of his life. But defense witnesses painted a picture of a doctor who took in patients other doctors had spurned, a "good Samaritan" who tried to curb Presley's habit. Last week the jury returned its verdict: not guilty on all counts.

--By E. Graydon Carter

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.