DARYL HANNAH Wins Libel Suit

LONDON (AP) _ Daryl Hannah won a libel suit Tuesday against a tabloid newspaper that reported she skipped rehearsals for a play because it was her dog's birthday. <br><br>In fact, she was attending

Tuesday, May 22nd 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

LONDON (AP) _ Daryl Hannah won a libel suit Tuesday against a tabloid newspaper that reported she skipped rehearsals for a play because it was her dog's birthday.

In fact, she was attending the Toronto Film Festival, said Hannah's lawyer, Simon Smith.

The Mirror newspaper claimed in October that Hannah, 40, had abandoned rehearsals for ``The Seven Year Itch'' and flown to Los Angeles days before the play was to open in London's West End.

``It was reported that she then returned to the theater in London four days later and, when further questioned about the `urgent business' she had attended to in Los Angeles, claimed that she had been obliged to return home because it was her dog's birthday,'' said Smith.

Smith said the allegations were ``false and very embarrassing'' to Hannah, who found fame as a mermaid in the 1984 comedy ``Splash.''

The Mirror ``entirely accepts that the allegations are false,'' Anna Coppola, lawyer for the newspaper's publisher, said Tuesday.

``Through me the defendant offers its sincere apologies to the claimant for the distress and embarrassment caused by this article,'' she said.

Hannah received an undisclosed sum in damages.