Van Cliburn to perform at Liberty Medal ceremony

August 31, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

PHILADELPHIA — Classical pianist Van Cliburn will perform next month during the 2008 Liberty Medal ceremony in Philadelphia honoring former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The Texas native, now 74, was only 23 when he won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958, at the height of the Cold War. Nikita Khruschev, who was premier at the time, gave permission to the Soviet judges to award the prize to an American.

The National Constitution Center’s 2008 Liberty Medal will be awarded to Gorbachev for his role in ending the Cold War. The ceremony will be Sept. 18 at the center.

Garth, Doherty have friendly reunion on set

NEW YORK — Jennie Garth and Shannen Doherty say they were nervous about reuniting for the new incarnation of “Beverly Hills, 90210.”

The actresses feuded on and off the set of the 1990s cultural phenomenon, and Doherty left the series in 1994 following a rocky stretch during which she clashed with the cast and producers and showed up late for work.

Garth, 36, and Doherty, 37, hadn’t spoken in years before filming their first scene together in the “90210” update, debuting Tuesday on the CW network. In this version, the drama centers on a new crop of West Beverly High School students.

“There had been so much buildup,” Garth told Entertainment Weekly magazine, which features a joint interview with the actresses in its Sept. 5 issue. “Everyone was asking me before what it was going to be like. I was like, ‘I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her in 10 or 15 years.’ I had that tension and I started to let it get to me. Is she going to be nice? Is it going to be a bad environment? But when I saw her everything was fine.”

Doherty said “there were nerves going in,” but she aimed to start fresh and move forward.

“I think when you’re 18, your personalities conflict, then you meet up 10 or 15 years later, and the playing ground is totally different and you’re fine,” she said.

Today’s birthdays

Singer Van Morrison is 63. Actor Richard Gere is 59. Singer Glenn Tilbrook of Squeeze is 51. Singer Tony DeFranco of The DeFranco Family is 49. Singer Deborah Gibson is 38. Actor Zack Ward (“A Christmas Story,” “Titus”) is 38. Actress Sara Ramirez (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 33.