By Belinda Luscombe

Even Wilder

"It was almost like an out-of-body experience," says former Virginia Governor DOUGLAS WILDER of an attack on him by a guard at an airport in North Carolina last week. The guard grabbed Wilder by the neck and pushed him against the wall after the ex-Governor tried to read his name tag. Wilder wanted his name because of the rough treatment he got when his suspenders set off the metal detector. Other guards pulled their colleague away. Wilder then left for Virginia; the guard left for a new job.

The Anatomy Lesson

ELIZABETH HURLEY, known chiefly for standing near Briton du jour Hugh Grant in photogenic outfits, is the new face of Estee Lauder. Now she might be able to deflect attention from another part of her anatomy. Hurley wasn't overjoyed when Grant publicly described her breasts as "magnificent, the best pair in London." While she believes in a free press, Hurley says, "I'd often like to censor Hugh Grant."

SEEN & HEARD

Just 19 years after Barbra Streisand's remake of A Star Is Born opened to unkind reviews, fans of the 1954 original (or, indeed, the 1937 original original) have another reason for dismay. ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER (Sunset Boulevard) intends to stage his version of the old classic. To the relief of many, however, he will use Harold Arlen's songs from 1954.

There was a time when ROBERT REDFORD was known more for his face than his grace. Reminiscing at New York City's New School last week, Redford told of an early-'60s TV show in which he had to slap Charles Laughton. In rehearsal, Laughton told Redford to keep his hands off, but when the camera rolled, said Redford, "I just hit him as hard as I could."

Something for Everyone

It took only a few dozen crates of lingerie and dresses, the attentions of a stylist and the gifts of photographer Annie Leibovitz to make 10 young actresses look this good for Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue. But the two men accompanying them on the billboard above Sunset Boulevard aren't quite the babes they once were. Thirty-six years after Some Like It Hot, TONY CURTIS and JACK LEMMON slipped into something less comfortable again for the shoot. "I don't do drag," said Curtis, 69. "I told them I wanted to look like a femme fatale." Luckily, the actor didn't care if he wasn't as fatale as UMA THURMAN. Said he: "I just wanted to look better than Jack."