NAMES & FACES

Paul Newman may swap auto racing for "horsing around" with Joanne Woodward. (Tina Fineberg -- AP)

Paul Newman, Shifting Gears

So the good news is that there could be a Paul Newman-Robert Redford movie reunion in the mix. The bad news is that it also could be the end of Newman's movie career. (Obviously by choice.)

The 80-year-old legend, who's also an avid race car driver, told the Associated Press: "I think both are winding down." He said he'll "probably race for another year" and make one more movie "for good luck."

So what's he planning to do with his free time? Hang out with his wife of 47 years, Joanne Woodward. "Joanne is the artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse [a theater near the couple's Connecticut home] and her duties will stop this year," Newman said. "If my racing stops, the two of us will be together, spend some time just horsing around."

Meg & Christiane, Party Girls

Who knew that Meg Ryan views CNN's famed Christiane Amanpour as one of her heroes?

Ryan graces the cover of April's Glamour mag, in which she took pics of her heroes, including former Texas governor Ann Richards, QueenNoor and Amanpour. Then, at the mag's party in Manhattan on Wednesday evening, the movie queen was overheard gushing about the photo shoots to Editor in Chief Cindi Leive. Ryan and Amanpour went gambling in London afterward and had a ball, she said. And she was shocked to find out Amanpour can party with the best of 'em.

Leive told us through a spokesperson: "I loved that. The image of these two women, the hugely famous movie star and world-famous political correspondent, partying the night away together is priceless!" Well, a picture's worth a thousand words.

For Schieffer, a Polished Hazing

NBC News anchor Brian Williams welcomed CBS's Bob Schieffer to the evening newscast club Thursday (Schieffer's first day as Dan Rather's temporary replacement) by dashing off a little note, according to the New York Daily News. Jabbing at the intense ratings wars between NBC, CBS and ABC's evening news programs, Williams ribbed: "Take the viewers from Peter. He never liked you. At least that's what he told me."

ABC's Peter Jennings responded with a quip to the Daily News: "Tell that young Williams to watch his mouth. We older guys stick together."

A Paddy's Day Toast to McGrory

What better day than St. Patrick's Day for a tip o' the hat to Mary McGrory? A plaque honoring the late and legendary Washington Post columnist will be dedicated Thursday in the Senate Press Gallery. It reads: "Mary McGrory 1918-2004. A friend who inspired us over the years with her elegant prose, her shrewd insights and her shoe leather." The plaque will be dedicated by the Standing Committee of Correspondents (reporters elected to keep the House and Senate press galleries humming) along with the Washington Press Club Foundation. There will be beer and, with luck, McGrory's favorite, Irish whiskey.

Noted . . .

Well, Colin Powell has definitely been busted back down to civilian now. Spies tell us our former secretary of state happily went through the lovely and mandatory airport security, and was wanded, shoeless and all, at Reagan National Airport Thursday morning, just like the rest of us common folk . . . We hear that Smooth Jazz 105.9 (WJZW-FM) has a new morning host: DC'er Marcus Johnson, also dubbed a 2002 Man of Substance & Style in Washington Life. He will join current host Jacqui Allen March 21.

. . . and Quoted

"When I get home, I watch TV with my wife. That's a hard word to say: wife."

-- newlywed Donald Trump, writing in April's FHM magazine.

-- Compiled by Anne Schroeder

from staff and wire reports