People: Jun. 23, 2003

PROFESSOR DEEDS

Comedian ADAM SANDLER was a surprise guest speaker at the graduation ceremony of his old high school in Manchester, N.H. Sandler, whose nephew was a class valedictorian, filled in for Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who canceled because the date changed--or as Sandler put it, because he came down with "a wicked bad case of a fake tummy ache." Sandler himself was never a valedictorian. "I came very close," he said, "but was narrowly beaten by 622 other students."

...BUT WILL IT LAST?

Actress KATE WINSLET (Titanic, Iris) and director SAM MENDES (Road to Perdition) were married at a private ceremony in the West Indies.

PRO: --Mendes' notoriously dark world view will create low marital expectations. --She's already had her show-biz starter-marriage, to director James Threapleton. --Judging by her movies, Winslet likes acting out roles when naked.

CON: --American Beauty, Mendes' first film, was not exactly an advertisement for matrimony. --Mendes' ex-girlfriend Calista Flockhart would make anybody feel fat. --Judging by her movies, Winslet likes acting out roles when naked.

PREDICTION: At the very least, they'll make better movies than Guy Ritchie and Madonna.

Q & A WITH WILLIE NELSON

At 70, WILLIE NELSON has just cut two albums--Live and Kickin' and Run That by Me One More Time--with fellow legend Ray Price.

You've been playing with Ray Price a pretty long time.

I used to work for Ray--used to play bass in his band back in 1961.

Wait. You played bass?

He called me up and asked me if I could play bass, and I said, "Well, sure, cain't everybody?" I'd never played bass before in my life.

Is it ever tough to get up for a gig these days?

Well, some days you feel better than you do others. Sometimes the tour is long, and you're out for 30 days, and you got another 30 to go, and you're looking at the itinerary, and you're going all over the world. If you think about that too much, you could get to feeling bad. But I try to take it one day at a time.

On Live and Kickin', Elvis Costello and Diana Krall do this amazing version of Crazy...

They really did it good! They just called up for tickets to come to the show, and we said, "No, no, you gotta sing."

Your duet with Toby Keith is a big hit.

Toby said, "Hey, do you wanna do this song with me," and I said, "What's the title?" He said, "Whiskey for My Men, Beer for My Horses," and I said, "Yeah!" We could just record the title, over and over again.

Are you going to do it all again when you're 80?

That's a thought. If any of us can get up and go anywhere at 80. We might have to do a conference-call concert.

HE KICKS HECKBOY'S BUTT