Who's Your Daddy?
Sunday, February 18, 2007; Page D03
Poor Anna Nicole Smith. Now that the Playmate/model/reality TV star can't defend her good name, a crowd of might-be fathers is claiming credit for her paternity of 5-month-old child, Dannielynn Hope, who may or may not end up with multi-millions. A look at the contenders:
HOWARD K. STERN
Lawyer, gofer
Arguments for: Spent years slavishly at Smith's side; exchanged vows in "commitment" ceremony; his name is on Dannielynn's birth certificate.
Arguments against: She treated him like her lap dog and referred to him as a "big brother"; he refuses to submit DNA sample for paternity.
Odds: 2-1
LARRY BIRKHEAD
Photojournalist
Arguments for: Boyfriend (2004-2006); reportedly told Smith he would fight for custody if she didn't get off drugs, prompting her flight to the Bahamas; filed paternity suit way back in October; has April 2006 speeding ticket with notes from traffic cop claiming Birkhead was racing to be with his "pregnant wife."
Arguments against: Celebrity hanger-on, released recorded telephone conversations with Smith to "Entertainment Tonight."
Odds: 2-1
PRINCE FREDERIC VON ANHALT
Eighth husband of actress Zsa Zsa Gabor
Arguments for: Claims 10-year-affair with Smith, including January '06 tryst; says he tried to adopt Anna Nicole, but Gabor wouldn't sign the papers.
Arguments against: Royal title suspect; known for outlandish claims; admits he didn't love Smith or miss her much.
Odds: 100-1
ALEXANDER DENK
Bodyguard, chef
Arguments for: Daily contact for years; claims they carried on two-year affair; avers she was "a very good kisser, I must say."
Arguments against: Hired help.
Odds: 10-1
J. HOWARD MARSHALL II
Late billionaire
Arguments for: Rumor that Smith saved late husband's frozen sperm; his child would have bolstered her claim to a $88 million fortune.
Arguments against: Unlikely she was that organized.
Odds: 100-1
MARK HATTEN
Inmate
Arguments for: Dated Smith in 2000, says he gave a sperm sample to Smith, which she saved for future use.
Arguments against: Convicted of stalking and making threats against Smith; currently serving a seven-year prison term.
Odds: 1 million-1
The 'Breach' Quiz: Fact or Movie Fiction?
Six years ago, Eric O'Neill was a young FBI officer assigned to snoop on suspected in-house mole Robert Hanssen, the man who turned out to be the most damaging traitor in bureau history. Now he's a 33-year-old D.C. lawyer watching Ryan Phillippe portray him in the movie "Breach," which opened Friday. Of course, filmmakers always take a few tiny liberties with those flicks "based on a true story." See if you can guess which parts of the film are "True Life" and which are "Pure Hollywood."
1. O'Neill is married to a hot East German chick.
2. O'Neill went to church with Hanssen.
3. Hanssen and his wife dropped in on O'Neill's wife unannounced.
4. Hanssen held O'Neill at gunpoint and fired shots at him.
5. O'Neill steamed open Hanssen's mail.
6. The unbearably tense scene in which O'Neill is alomost caught by Hanssen snooping through his briefcaseand Palm Pilot.
Answers
1. True Life. "Juliana is absolutely beautiful, and [actress] Caroline Dhavernas does her justice," said O'Neill.
2. True Life, and key to breaking the case. "He saw that I really was Catholic, that I knew the prayers. That's where his respect and trust in me really began."
3. Pure Hollywood. "They did not surprise us at our house. Juliana would have freaked."
4. Pure Hollywood . . . but not completely off target. "He never fired a weapon at me, let's put it that way: There were plenty of times he left a gun out on the desk pointing in my direction, though." Creepy!
5. Pure Hollywood.
6. True Life. "I almost got caught" I almost put the Palm Pilot back in the wrong pocket." O'Neill can barely stand to watch the scene because "I'm reliving it. It really is one of those Hollywood movies where what you see is what happened."
READERS TELL US
Hold that tiger! Our item last Sunday revealing the sexy nickname President Woodrow Wilson used in signing his 1915 letters to gal pal Edith Galt brought out the animal in amateur historians and Ivy alums alike.
We asserted that his saucy sign-off "Tiger" could have meant only one thing, considering the big cat didn't become Princeton's mascot until well after he graduated. Well, sort of: Seems that while his 1879 classmates gave the school a pair of lion statues upon their graduation, they were also among the first to take up the tiger roar in later years -- and in 1911, Wilson's class replaced the lion statues with a pair of tigers. Eric Vettel, executive director of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton, Va., notes that one of Wilson's cousins called him "Tiger" as well. Still, Vettel acknowledged, "to Edith, it probably means something else." Grrr-ROWR!
Case in point: Another letter in 1915 to his future first lady, which Wilson penned the morning after an electrifying speech in response to the sinking of the Lusitania. "I don't know what I said [in the speech] . . . because my heart was in such a whirl." Later that day, in another letter: "If I said what was worth saying to that great audience last night it must have been because love had complete possession of me." Whoa.
Send your tips, comments, complaints and declarations of undying love to reliablesource@washpost.com.
