COLE AUTOBIOGRAPHY STALLS; HBO BIOPIC STILL ON TRACK.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

What an unusual turn of affairs for Natalie Cole. She expected to have her autobiography, ``An Angel on My Shoulder,'' in publication next spring. It was to be followed - so went the plan - in fall '97 by HBO's biopic of her life story, in which Natalie is to play herself.

That's not how things are working out.

The movie is now likely to come first, and the book ... well, Natalie confesses, ``We haven't even gotten to the first chapter. Writing about my life is just not that easy.''

Understandable. Besides growing up as the daughter of Nat ``King'' Cole and all that entailed, Natalie has had much drama in her adult life as a star in her own right. She survived drug addiction so severe that at one point her mother took over as conservator of her affairs - and came back. She got out of an abusive marriage - and came back. And she is handling a recurring estrangement with her mother.

The multi-Grammy winner, whose Elektra Records ``Stardust'' CD will be released Sept. 24, is scheduled to perform at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts Sept. 27-29. However, she says she plans to cut back on touring and will focus more on her acting career.

``When I do (a tour date) it'll be real special. ... I'll maybe do like a week at Radio City Music Hall, that kind of thing. And I want to charge a whole lot of money - I think I've arrived at that, too.''

She will do some ``international touring'' and some dates stateside in '97 for ``Stardust'' - a disc of standards that features her dueting again with her late father, this time on the classic tune, ``When I Fall in Love.''

The book biz: Marcia Clark's memoirs - for which Viking paid $4 million-plus - is finally due for publication in early '97. No title yet. Lots of conjecture in the book business as to how the text by the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson murder case will do. Even as a loser in the trial, she emerged as a high-profile heroine. But she's been pummeled in books written about the case - and many feel she's going to have to dig herself out of a real hole by the time her version of the case hits print.

Meanwhile ... Johnny Cochran's ``Journey to Justice'' tome has no publication date set - not even a tentative one, according to reps of Ballantine Books. Those reps seemed extremely cautious about discussing the text by the Simpson lead attorney. One referred to him as ``J.C.'' and explained, ``That's what we call him.''

The videoland view: Blair Underwood, who's been added to the cast of the ABC ``High Incident'' cop drama that premieres tonight, is working hard for the money. ``In the five episodes we've shot, I've done three foot chases,'' says the former ``L.A. Law'' star, who was handpicked by ``High Incident'' producer Steven Spielberg for the role of a maverick inner-city cop who's transferred to the suburbs.

He describes tonight's ``Incident'' chase: ``I'm running after this guy and yell to my partner to meet me around the corner. I'm at one end of a long alley. She's in a car coming at me. The perpetrator is on the opposite side of the fence I'm running along. My partner's driving full speed toward me. I'm running full speed toward her. The car stops at the last second. I jump on the front hood, jump on top of the car, jump over the fence and jump on the boy!'' Whew!

For the record: We told you the other day that Bonnie Timmons, a k a the inspiration behind ``Caroline in the City,'' was dismayed to have been left out of the show's Emmy win for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences. As ``Caroline'' viewers know, the series' opening titles were changed in February. It's the later sequence, which shows comparatively little of Timmons' work, that received recognition. ``It was our mission to make it appear `Caroline in the City' is a real cartoon, and do it in an interesting, jazzy way,'' noted Carol Johnsen, who won the Emmy along with Jim Castle, Bruce Bryant and Mark Dennison. ``We used comics like Peanuts and Hagar along with (Timmons' drawings) - all of which were provided by the series production company and all of which we had the rights to use.'' So, now you know.

On a musical note: Vikki Carr certainly is a survivor. Next month will see the release of her 53rd album - ``Emociones.'' The legendary lady of Latin torch songs will be visiting these parts next month, as the guest of honor at the First Hispanic March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation fund-raiser, which takes place Oct. 19 at the Long Beach Convention Center.

MEMO: The Celebrities column appears Monday through Friday.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) Natalie Cole

Writing ``just not that easy''

Photo: (2) Marcia Clark

$4 million for memoirs