MOVIES - July 14, 1988

Peter O’Toole and former live-in girlfriend Karen Somerville O’Toole continued their battle over custody of their 5-year-old son Wednesday in a closed courtroom in Freehold, N.J. O’Toole was on the witness stand delivering “fairly emotional” testimony, said Karen O’Toole’s lawyer, Gary Newman. Although Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer agreed to close the courtroom to the media, the judge refused Peter O’Toole’s lawyer’s request for a complete gag order. A previous joint custody arrangement “has not been satisfactory,” Newman said, and in April Peter O’Toole failed to return Lorcan O’Toole to his mother.