Rice Issues Denial, Goes Into Seclusion

MIAMI â€”  Donna Rice, the 29-year-old aspiring actress, model and Phi Beta Kappa college graduate who reportedly spent much of last weekend with Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart, went into seclusion as the furor surrounding her relationship with Hart continued to grow Tuesday.

While Hart echoed Rice’s denials of any impropriety in an address to the American Newspaper Publishers Assn. in New York, the young woman, who has described herself as a “typical Southern girl,� abruptly called off a press conference she had scheduled here.

Instead, Thomas McAliley, a Miami lawyer and supporter of Hart’s, distributed the 98-page transcript of an interview Rice gave to a small group of reporters Monday night.

‘Innocent Visit’

In the transcript, Rice, a salesperson for a major pharmaceutical company, portrayed her weekend with Hart and another couple in Washington as “a purely innocent visit,� made in part to explore the possibility of a position with the candidate’s campaign.

She denied a report in the Miami Herald that she spent Friday night and much of Saturday at Hart’s Capitol Hill town house. She insisted she left Hart’s house Friday night and spent the night with her woman companion at a Hart associate’s house. She said Hart never made any sexual advances.

“The four of us were just kind of like pals, you know,� Rice said in the transcript.

Rice’s denials of any improper conduct by the candidate came as details emerged about their acquaintance.

Dynamic, Ambitious

Friends described the former South Carolina beauty queen as a dynamic and ambitious woman who enjoyed meeting celebrities, and who met the candidate at a party in Aspen, Colo., earlier this year.

In the interview, Rice told of an overnight trip with Hart to the Bahamas aboard a yacht (called the Monkey Business) in March. They were accompanied by her friend, Lynn Armandt, a Miami boutique owner, and Louisiana lawyer William Broadhurst, an adviser to the Hart presidential campaign. They were also the other two people present during the Washington visit last weekend.

One friend of Rice’s, actor David Logan of Los Angeles, said that in 1981, Rice, who traveled frequently, called to say she had gone out with Prince Albert of Monaco. The budding relationship between Rice and the prince was later the subject of an article in the National Enquirer.

Party in Aspen

In her session with reporters in Miami on Monday, Rice said she had been a hostess at a party in Aspen given by Don Henley, a former member of the Eagles rock band. It was at that New Year’s Day gathering that Hart first met Rice. Hart was attending with his wife, Lee, and Orion Pictures Corp. executive Michael Medavoy and his wife, Patricia.

“Lee and Gary accompanied us to Don Henley’s party for about an hour,� Patricia Medavoy, a longtime friend of the Harts, said in an interview. “There was absolutely nothing in our being there that could be construed in any way, shape or form as improper or inappropriate. It was a quiet, family-oriented affair.�

“She’s a Southern girl, and she helped serve,� said Henley, adding that Rice was one of several friends who pitched in to help at the party. “If that makes her a hostess, sure she was,� he said.

Appeared on TV

In pursuing her part-time acting career, Rice appeared as a bridesmaid on “Dallas� and had parts of less than five lines in ABC’s “One Life to Live� and “Texas,� a canceled daytime soap opera on NBC.

“She has been known to hang out with famous people,� said Brian King, a Miami photographer who five years ago took a one-breast-exposed picture of Rice for a poster promoting his now-defunct saloon. Rice, in the interview, said she was “livid� when she saw the picture King took of her partially draped in a Confederate flag.

At the Act I Talent Agency in Miami, which represents her for television casting, Rice was described Tuesday as “a very talented professional� who came by at least once a week to check for auditions. She has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild since 1982.

“I’m just a typical Southern girl, really,� Rice said in her Monday interview.

A 1980 magna cum laude graduate of the University of South Carolina, Rice majored in biology and was elected both to Phi Beta Kappa and the school’s 24-member Mortar Board. Majoring jointly in biology and business, Rice became head of the school’s cheerleading squad.

As a college student, and for a time after graduation, Rice was a model with the Millie Lewis Agency in Columbia. Sheila Dixon, the manager at that firm, called Rice “a very, very intelligent young lady, and of course a very beautiful person inside and out.� Dixon termed Rice a “well-rounded model, one that’s very versatile.�

William D. Montalbano reported from Miami and Elizabeth Mehren from Washington. Contributing to this story were staff writers Robert Gillette, Penny Pagano and Betty Cuniberti in Washington and Deborah Caulfield and Michael Cieply in Los Angeles.