By Guy D. Garcia

As both Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger know, nothing could be stranger than the intricate power struggles of real-life politics, except perhaps the convolutions of the prime-time TV soap Dynasty. Ford, 70, and Kissinger, 60, will make cameo appearances next week on the program. It was filmed at an actual charity benefit for the Children's Diabetes Foundation. During the big party scene, Ford and Wife Betty meet Blake and Krystle Carrington (John Forsythe and Linda Evans), and Kissinger exchanges greetings with Krystle's nemesis, Alexis (Joan Collins). Will Blake charm Jerry into a profitable business deal? Will the scheming Alexis wrap Henry around her little finger? Or vice versa. Don't bother to tune in for the following episode. It was a one-shot deal for the former White House thespians.

The bidding at Sotheby's in London lasted only two minutes, but when it was over the 12th century illuminated German manuscript known as "The Gospels of Henry the Lion" had fetched a glittering $11.7 million, the highest auction price ever paid for a work of art. The pristinely preserved, 13 1/2-in.-by-10-in. medieval masterpiece contains more than 1,500 exquisite illustrations and 41 full-page miniatures, but its value is not merely aesthetic to its new owners, a consortium of buyers that included the West German government. The acquisition, says Banker Hermann Abs, who led the consortium, means that "future generations will know the good side of our history--its more noble moments--and not just the horrible days of the recent past."

He first danced The Nutcracker during his Manhattan debut with the New York City Ballet in 1967. "Now I'm older and wiser," says Peter Martins, 37, who is retiring as a performer to serve full time as the company's co-ballet-master-in-chief with Jerome Robbins. Last week he made his emotional final New York appearance as the cavalier in the company's 1,000th performance of the Tchaikovsky classic. An added sprinkle of confected delight was supplied for the farewell by the premiere of Robbins, 65, in the nondancing role of the toymaker Drosselmeyer. For fans of the sugary fantasy, a treat nonpareil.

Would he or wouldn't he?

Two weeks ago Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, 40, was saying that "any day now" he would marry longtime Girlfriend Jerry Hall, 27, who is seven months pregnant. Then last week the groom-to-be, or not-to-be, made that a question again. "Marriage?" Jagger asked reporters, while vacationing with his love on Barbados. "Definitely not. It gives me claustrophobia.''

The star-studded crowd of artists and politicians who gathered in Washington last week would have flattered any visiting head of state. But the guests, including the President and Nancy Reagan, were paying tribute to national leaders of the arts, not politics. The sixth annual Kennedy Center honorees for lifetime achievement--Dancer-Choreographer Katherine Dunham, 73, Director Elia Kazan, 74, Singer Frank Sinatra, 68, Actor Jimmy Stewart, 75, and Composer-Critic Virgil Thomson, 87--were presented with the rainbow-ribboned medals during a gala black-tie reception and special performance. Said Sinatra: "I'm way up in the air. This is the most coveted award you can win." And they all did it their way.

--By Guy D. Garcia This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.