Prince William takes helm during Navy stint

London – Prince William earned high marks from commanding officers for his boat-handling skills Tuesday after he took the helm of a 40-foot craft at the beginning of his two-month stint in the Royal Navy.

William did very well in his first day on the water, said Cmdr. Paul Halton, director of training at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

Halton said the skills William is learning now will be useful when he makes a five-week trip aboard the frigate, HMS Iron Duke, to take part in counter-narcotic patrols and hurricane relief duty in the Caribbean.

Despite his impressive performance, the future king did have problems lowering the anchor the first time.

William’s deployment in the Royal Navy is part of plan to have him spend time in all the branches of the British Armed Forces. He is already a junior officer in the Army, and he has earned his wings in the Royal Air Force.

He will also spend time with the Royal Marines while in the Navy, officials said.

Both his father, Prince Charles, and his grandfather, Prince Philip, served long Navy careers.

‘Survivor’ winner takes case to Supreme Court

Providence, R.I. – “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch has appealed his tax evasion conviction to the U.S. Supreme Court, his attorney said Tuesday.

Hatch was convicted two years ago of failing to pay taxes on the $1 million prize he won on the debut season of the hit CBS reality series. The Newport man was sentenced to more than four years in prison.

Hatch’s lawyer, Michael Minns, has said his client confronted producers about cheating during taping of the show, and a producer promised his taxes would be paid if he kept quiet and went on to win the competition. CBS has said Hatch’s claims have no merit.

In a brief filed with the Supreme Court on May 23, Minns argued the judge improperly prevented Hatch from testifying about the conversation.

Minns also argued the judge unfairly limited his cross-examination of the tax accountant who prepared Hatch’s tax returns and who was a key witness for the government.

“He’s extremely optimistic about his appeal,” Minns said. “He still believes the system should work.”

The U.S. Supreme Court takes up only a small number of the appeals it receives.

Mel Ferrer, husband of Audrey Hepburn, dies

Los Angeles – Mel Ferrer, the tall, darkly handsome star of such classic films as “Lili,” “War and Peace” and “The Sun Also Rises,” as well as producer and director of movies starring his wife, Audrey Hepburn, has died at age 90.

Ferrer died Monday at his ranch near Santa Barbara, family spokesman Mike Mena said.

“It’s a sad occasion, but he did live a long and productive life,” Mena told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Ferrer’s most impressive film role came in 1953 in “Lili.” He played a crippled carnival puppeteer with whom a French orphan (played by Leslie Caron) falls in love.

He also won critical acclaim as Luis Bello in Robert Rossen’s 1951 depiction of the public and private life of a bullfighter in “The Brave Bulls,” based on a Tom Lea book, and starred opposite Hepburn in 1956’s “War and Peace.”

In later years, he turned more to directing and producing for movies and TV.

“Acting, at times, depresses Mel,” Hepburn once said. “Directing lifts him. He’s so relaxed at it that I just know it is the job he loves.”

He and Hepburn had become engaged in 1954 when they appeared together in the New York play “Ondine.” They married later that year in Burgenstock, Switzerland.

The pair divorced in 1968 and Ferrer married his fourth wife, Elizabeth Soukhotine, in 1971. She survives him.

Tatum O’Neal says drug arrest ‘saved’ her

New York – Tatum O’Neal told a newspaper columnist she is grateful to the New York City police officers who busted her for cocaine and saved her from herself.

“I’m still sober!” the 44-year-old actress told New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser in a phone call shortly after being released from custody Monday.

“Just when I was about to change that and wreck my life, the cops came and saved me! I was saved by the bell, by the guys in the Seventh Precinct.”

O’Neal is due back in court July 28 to face a misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance.

She was arrested Sunday night during a routine drug sweep in her Lower East Side neighborhood. Police said they found two bags of cocaine in her pants pocket.

O’Neal, the daughter of Ryan O’Neal and ex-wife of John McEnroe, told Peyser she had sought out drugs Sunday evening because she was sad about the death of her 16-year-old Scottish terrier – but didn’t take the drugs. She said she still hoped to celebrate a year of sobriety July 10.