People: Jun. 16, 1997

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BEN STEIN is no Einstein, but the Nixon speechwriter, Pepperdine University law professor and eye-ointment pitchman is willing to bet his salary he knows more than most folks. Stein will star in a new TV show on Comedy Central, Win Ben Stein's Money, where contestants vie for a share of his $5,000-a-show paycheck by beating him in a general-knowledge quiz. "I've been reading the almanac over and over," says Stein. "I know a lot already, but I hope none of my family is ever a contestant." (His father Herb was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Nixon.) Stein's frequent forays into show biz and his willingness to pose for promotional photos like this one seem to indicate that although he's well versed in economic policy, it's not his first love. "To have Alex Trebek's job," he says, "would be heaven for me."

THE GOOD SON

Jennifer Lash wrote six books and bore six children. Her last novel, Blood Ties, written while she was dying of cancer, was rejected by her usual publishers and a string of others, and she died without selling it. But her children, the eldest of whom is actor RALPH FIENNES, weren't about to let it rest at that. While making The English Patient, Fiennes mentioned the book to Patient author Michael Ondaatje, who suggested the actor pitch it to his publisher, who loved it and bought it. Not content with that, half the Fiennes family (sister Sophie and brother Joseph are also in show biz) went on tour to drum up interest. Needless to say, the book got all the attention a publishing house--or a mom--could want.

COMMENCEMENT KUDOS

It's that time again: the annual rite in which allegedly wiser heads dispense advice to graduates. Here's some of it:

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT HARVARD UNIVERSITY "We will be known as the world-class ditherers who stood by while the seeds of renewed global conflict were sown, or as the generations that took strong measures to forge alliances, deter aggression and keep the peace...Ultimately, it is a matter of judgment, a question of choice."

OPRAH WINFREY WELLESLEY COLLEGE "Turn your wounds into wisdom. You will be wounded many times in your life. You'll make mistakes. Some...will call them failures, but I have learned that failure is really God's way of saying, 'Excuse me, you're moving in the wrong direction.'"

JOHN MC CAIN OHIO WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY "Your character is what you are to yourself, not what you pretend to be to yourself or others. We cannot forever hide the truth about ourselves from ourselves...I am confident you will find honor in your choices when the hard choices arrive at your door. You need not go to war to find them."

WHOOPI GOLDBERG UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT "Make sure you remember who you are, and all the stuff that made you laugh and dance and jump around. And in the dark times when, you know, stuff ain't going right, if you have something to hold on to, which is yourself, you'll survive it."

JIMMY CARTER DUKE UNIVERSITY "How many of us know a poor family well enough to go to their house and have a cup of coffee and get to know the names of their teenaged kids? Or--God forbid--invite them to our house and maybe take them to a baseball game or a movie with our children? Very few."