BERRY BEATS OTHERS TO SOUGHT-AFTER ROLE OF DANDRIDGE.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Halle Berry goes before the cameras in September in an HBO biopic of the late Dorothy Dandridge - becoming the first in a contest, which has included Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson, to star in a film story of the star-crossed singer.

Martha Coolidge is set to direct the drama being produced by Robert Katz and Moctesuma Esparza. Based on ``Dorothy Dandridge,'' the biography by her manager Earl Mills, it will feature a screenplay by Shanda Rhymes and Scott Adams.

Katz notes that Berry ``has been studying everything about Dorothy Dandridge. She's a walking encyclopedia.'' And he reports she's going into extensive preparations, getting ready to handle choreography, singing and more.

Still to be cast, says Katz, are the people who were key figures in Dandridge's life.

Comments Katz, who's also co-producing ``Selma, Lord, Selma'' for ABC and ``The Wonderful World of Disney,'' said, ``We have to cast all the people Dorothy played against - Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier. And she was very close with Ava Gardner and Marilyn Monroe. They were buds, starlets at the same time. She even lived with Marilyn for a while, and that will be in the movie. This is going to be about the glamour of Hollywood.'' As well as its downside.

The beautiful Dandridge flirted with stardom throughout the '50s, but the lack of films for African-American actresses never allowed her to reach her real potential (though she was Oscar-nominated for ``Porgy and Bess'' in 1959). She declared bankruptcy in 1962 and died at age 42 of an overdose of alcohol and antidepressants.

A rash breaks out

Like it or not, Jerry Springer is popping up everywhere. Practically. They're looking for an 8- to 12-year-old boy to portray Jerry as a youngster for his August HBO special. Also, casting is under way for the Jerry Springer feature film in which the talk show schlockmeister will play himself. Don't expect the movie, ``Springers,'' to illuminate any of the dark corners of Springer's life that he likes to keep hidden. It's an account of one of the sleazy groups that winds up on his show. They're looking for actors to play characters that include a woman who works at a gas station and lives in a trailer park. She discovers that her perpetually unemployed husband is sleeping with her slutty 19-year-old daughter. (And, do you think the trashy teen is in a family way? Go ahead and guess. And do you think she'll try to seduce Jerry Springer?) Mom and daughter, meanwhile, have also been competing for the attention of a handsome guy whose girlfriend - named Starletta - is on the warpath. With all that going on, the gas station lady gets the idea of everybody heading to Chicago and getting famous on Springer's show!

Actors portraying Jerry Springer guests? Somehow it seems redundant.

Young as he feels

Ernest Borgnine reports that he has been working nonstop since he appeared in ``Hoover'' last November ``It's like someone saw the movie and said, `Hey, there's Borgnine, he's still alive. Let's hire him.' '' In the last eight months he has, he says, been featured in a segment of ``Jag'' and the movies ``Small Soldiers'' and the upcoming ``BASEketball,'' ``Abilene'' and ``The Last Great Ride.'' Next month, he starts the big-screen ``Mel'' in Idaho, and after that he expects to do a film in Italy for an Italian moviemaker. Borgnine is 81 and has no desire to slow down.

Switching hats

John Ratzenberger, who will forever live in the minds of ``Cheers'' fans (and in reruns) as Cliff the mailman, turns feature director with ``Faded Blue.'' The movie, which rolls in September with Ratzenberger also executive producing, tells the tale of four men whose weekend mountain getaway is disrupted by a pair of escaped convicts holding a woman hostage. But the criminals are in for a surprise, too. The foursome, ranging in age from 30 to 80, are all former Marines and motorcycle cops.

The videoland view

When ABC's ``Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place,'' starts its fall season, Berg, the character played by Ryan Reynolds, will be less insensitive and cavalier than he's been. ``He was a little too caught up in his own ways,'' relates Reynolds. ``We're going to see him change into something more dimensional. He'll be a little more vulnerable - and not such a skirt chaser.'' Reynolds also reveals that David Ogden Stiers' character, Mr. Bauer, will not be returning. ``But I think we're going to see some interesting oddball characters showing up.''

With reports by Stephanie DuBois.

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3 Photos

Photo: (1) Halle Berry

She's the winner

(2) Ernest Borgnine

Not slowing down

(3) John Ratzenberger

Directing ``Faded Blue''