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© St. Petersburg Times, published February 7, 2002
ULTIMATE STAR POWER: The most bankable star in Hollywood? There isn't one.
There are three.
Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts (in alphabetical order) tied for the title in a survey by the Hollywood Reporter.
The show biz trade paper polled 114 movie studio executives, financiers and industry players around the world to determine the global bankability of more than 1,000 actors.
Among the things the poll measured was a star's box-office drawing power and his or her ability to get films funded and widely distributed around the world based on the strength of a name.
The top score was 100. Hanks, Cruise and Roberts scored the max.
Next came Mel Gibson with 98.68, Jim Carrey (98.46), George Clooney (95.18) and Russell Crowe (94.74).
STAR POWER NOTES: Roberts became the first woman at No. 1, and she is the only woman in the top 10. In 1999, the last time the Hollywood Reporter put out a similar list, Roberts was No. 8.
Hanks finished first in the last survey. Cruise was No. 1 two surveys ago.
The highest-finishing woman behind Roberts was Sandra Bullock.
Among black actors, Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Eddie Murphy finished in the top 20. In the previous survey, only Smith did. Whoopi Goldberg was the top-scoring black woman.
Jennifer Lopez was among the 12 women who finished in the top 50.
Jackie Chan was the top-scoring Asian actor, Michelle Yeoh the top Asian woman.
WHEN STAR POWER IS ON THE FRITZ: Let's say you have star power. So much that you win an Oscar. After a year or so of sitting around your house, the statue has collected some dust and other muck, so you need to get it cleaned, by a more sophisticated method than a paper towel and a can of furniture polish.
So you send it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which will send it to the manufacturer for cleaning and replating.
Goldberg did that recently with her best supporting actress (Ghost) Academy Award. When the box that was supposed to contain it arrived at its destination, it was empty.
The statue was stolen from a UPS shipping container, the academy said.
Someone apparently opened the package, removed the Oscar, then resealed the box, Goldberg spokesman Brad Cafarelli told the Associated Press. UPS officials told him a security guard at the Ontario, Calif., airport found the Oscar in a trash bin.
UPS spokeswoman Robin Roberts said only that the statue was recovered. UPS returned it to the academy, which will send it back to Goldberg, who from now on will opt for the paper towel and furniture polish.
"Oscar will never leave my house again," she said.