When Casting About for the Perfect Role, Be Prepared to Throw Some Back

Mention was made here of how Burbank actor Will Rogers was notified by a casting service about a role “that fit your profile.” The part called for an “evil, conniving green-skinned dwarf.” Which prompted actress Faigy Avnon to relate the curious role that a casting service told her about (see accompanying).

“Even for a baby boomer who’s always told that she doesn’t look her age, this might be a bit of a stretch.” Not that Avnon is fazed. “I’m crossing my fingers that not too many 12- to 15-month-old babies respond,” she said. “Acting is such a competitive field that the less competition for me the better.”

Speaking of babies: Donald Trump, still miffed that CBS quit broadcasting Trump’s Miss Universe pageant, called CBS Chairman Les Moonves “the most highly overrated person in television” the other day.

Welcome to another edition of Mogul Insults, a colorful game with a long tradition in Hollywood. Some other outcries:

* Disney boss Michael Eisner on ex-underling Jeffrey Katzenberg: “I hate the little midget.”

* CNN founder Ted Turner on Fox’s Rupert Murdoch: “A schlockmeister.”

* Don Ohlmeyer, then NBC West Coast president: Super agent “Michael Ovitz is the antichrist, and you can quote me on that.” Which prompted this reaction from music executive David Geffen: “Apparently, Don Ohlmeyer thinks more highly of Mike Ovitz than I do.”

* Theater magnate Sid Graumann on a studio boss: “I saw this empty taxicab drive up, and out stepped Sam Goldwyn.”

Unclear on the concept: The Harvey family received a game called “Computer Jargon” that incorrectly spelled the top left row of letters on a conventional keyboard, thereby defeating the purpose of the question (see accompanying).

It isn’t that tough to get it right. (I’ll pause here in case you want to check your own keyboard.)

Fighting Fresno: Men’s Fitness magazine, as I said Thursday, ranked Fresno the 15th fittest major city in the nation, far ahead of L.A. (No. 25). Fresno, however, is in a sweat about another matter: Disneyland’s policy of offering discounts to Southern Californians.

Some Fresnoids sued, but the state Court of Appeal turned them down. Thus, as the court noted, “if Mickey lives in Los Angeles, he pays $8 to $10 less per ticket than his girlfriend, Minnie, assuming she lives in some far off land such as Oz or Fresno.”

Mickey doesn’t even pay for Minnie? No wonder she’s never married the bum, or even moved in with him.

miscelLAny: Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of the 6.7 Northridge quake -- a time when residents used humor to help cope with the disaster, as the snapshots by Steve Marshall and Linda Mann illustrate (see photos).

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Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATimes, Ext. 77083; by fax at (213) 237-4712; by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012; and by e-mail at [email protected].