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AN STYLE='font-size: 100%; color: #990000; font-weight: bold; '>Q&A Alan Alda
Alan Alda plays a Senator on NBC's The West Wing starting Dec. 8 and in The Aviator, a movie about industrialist and film mogul Howard Hughes, in theaters Dec. 17.

Should I call you Senator?

No, I just play one on TV. And in the movies.

The Senator you play in The Aviator, Owen Brewster — how would you characterize him?

Ruthless. He has no ruth whatsoever.

How does that compare with your character on The West Wing, Senator Vinick?

He's completely different. He's a guy of principle. And he's trying to be President. This guy's first name, by the way, is Arnold, so I think he has a good chance.

Have you ever considered running for office yourself?

No, no, no. I'd rather do good in the world.

You're fabulous in Manhattan Murder Mystery. Do you and Woody Allen hang out?

No. I don't think he hangs out with anybody. He's a quiet guy. That's O.K. Whenever he slips something out under the door, it's very interesting.I had lunch with him once. He ate soup.

What kind?

Don't know. His head was bent down so far I couldn't see into the bowl.

So, what's the weirdest place you've been identified as Hawkeye Pierce?

The White House. I was moving down a reception line and [the Prime Minister of] Singapore grabbed my hand and looked down the line about 30 feet to his wife and yelled, "Hey, honey, look, it's the M*A*S*H guy!" It's a damn good thing I wasn't chewing gum.

In the Slow Lane
Are we working our famous people too hard? Just as his latest album was hitting store shelves, American Idol RUBEN STUDDARD checked into a hospital for exhaustion, following in the steps of a spate of other recently petered-out celebs including teen queen Lindsay Lohan, Law & Order: Criminal Intent detective Vincent D'Onofrio and comedian Bernie Mac. Studdard, who has been on a new diet to trim his 400-lb.-plus physique, canceled album promos and two concerts last week. There's not much we can do for Rube, but it might make his label feel better if you actually bought his CD.

A Style That Doesn't Translate
In what must be a comfort to her mother, there are people who want SARAH JESSICA PARKER to wear more clothing. Some Israelis got upset when images of the Sex and the City star sporting a slinky dress that exposed arms, back — and even a little thigh — started appearing on billboards around their country. Unilever quickly cleaned up its Lux soap ads by pasting a more modest dress on top and joked that Parker was bundling up for winter. Just, please, for mercy's sake, say they didn't touch her Manolo Blahniks.

Putting the "Act" in Activism
Don't try to keep HELEN MIRREN off the world stage. The Oscar-nominated actress, brave enough to go stark naked in Calendar Girls, was all set to visit Sudan's Darfur region this week to use her celebrity status to call attention to the genocide there. A surge in violence prompted Oxfam, the sponsor, to cancel the trip, but Mirren refused to make her exit. After a minor script adjustment, she is now headed to northern Uganda, another African hot spot, where 18 years of war have driven more than 1.6 million people from their homes, including some 20,000 children abducted and forced to become soldiers or sex slaves. "Very often these sorts of conflicts become old news," says Mirren. "My purpose is to remind people it's not over."