NEWS LITE : CRITIC TRIES HAND AT MOVIE ACTING.

Movie critic Gene Siskel has made a living by critiquing actors. Now, he's giving them a shot at him.

He did short dramatic scenes with the three Academy Award-winning stars of ``Twilight'' in videotaped segments for broadcast this week on CBS' ``This Morning.''

``The most mysterious craft in filmmaking is acting and I have realized that most critics don't write well about the craft of acting because they, like the general public, simply don't understand how it's done,'' Siskel said.

In the first segment, Siskel plays a guy trying to pick up Susan Sarandon at a bar. The actress's tip: fill your hands.

``If you find a good prop, don't lose it,'' Sarandon said. ``The more obstacles you make for yourself in a scene, I think, the better it is.

In the next scene, Gene Hackman advises the critic to drop his tone to ``start building a character.''

In the third segment, Paul Newman gave Siskel some guidelines.

``The thing that I look for is whether you can see the machinery going on,'' Newman said. ``If you can see machinery that has nothing to do with what the guy is doing, it doesn't work for me.''

Collins, Downs win UNICEF's top honor

Folk singer Judy Collins and broadcaster Hugh Downs are the latest UNICEF award winners.

Collins, 58, was chosen to receive the distinguished service Award at UNICEF's annual ball on Saturday. Downs, 77, of ABC's ``20/20'' newsmagazine was picked to get the Children's Champion Award.

Collins' work with the United Nations Children's Fund has taken her to Croatia, Bosnia and Vietnam, where she has promoted bettering the lives of children through improved health care, medicine, clean water and sanitation.

Downs has worked for UNICEF for two decades as the chairman of the board of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF.

Musician serves up edibles with tunes

Mannheim Steamroller creator Chip Davis sells CDs and tapes in more than music stores.

An amateur cook, Davis cross-promotes his laid-back music with his own line of food products.

When it comes to selling music, it doesn't matter whether the sale takes place ``in a grocery store, a meat store, a flower shop or a music store,'' Davis said at Hastings College in Hastings, Neb., on Thursday.

Competition in the music industry comes down to who can capture the most shelf space, Davis said. ``It's how you think and how you do it.''

Davis also is marketing the synthesizer sounds of Mannheim Steamroller over the Internet.

Public to be able to purchase Diana's will, her lawyer says

Princess Diana's will bequeathing her multimillion-dollar estate is to be made public, and the curious will be able to buy a copy.

``It's not going to be a private document, as it could have been,'' said lawyer Martyn Gowar, whose firm, Lawrence Graham, is handling the will and expects it to be published next week.

While royal wills can be sealed, Diana's lawyers did not request it.

Wills for most other people are open to public view and anyone can go to the record office and get a copy for a minimal charge.

Diana's family, recognizing the depth of public feeling about her Aug. 31 death in a Paris car crash, has been very responsive to people's desire for information.

Diana's estate has been estimated at $34 million, most of which is the reported $27 million divorce settlement from Prince Charles.

Newspapers published what they said were details of the will Friday, indicating that three-quarters of Diana's fortune would go to her two sons and that she had divided it evenly between them.

British media previously had speculated that the will would favor younger son Prince Harry, 13, because 15-year-old Prince William eventually will have an independent income as Prince of Wales.

-- News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports.

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3 Photos

PHOTO (1) SISKEL

(2) DAVIS

(3) Pressing the flesh, paws too

Actor Zachary Ty Bryan and his boxer Ozzie press their prints in concrete with help from animal behaviorist Char Rebiak at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Rick Rowell/Associated Press