THERE?S MORE TO YOUR favorite celebrities than meets the eye: James Cagney, for instance, won his Oscar for portraying the great dancer-composer, George Cohan, in 1942?s ?Yankee Doodle Dandy.? He executed tap dance routines that left viewers in awe and so charmed his colleagues in Hollywood that they bestowed that year?s golden statuette on the diminutive screen toughie, who had sung and danced his way into their hearts.

More recently, the film world was enchanted when Richard Gere danced with Jennifer Lopez in ?Shall We Dance?? It turned out that the actor was also adept at the piano, drums and other musical instruments. He further proved that he was musically gifted when he was cast in ?Chicago,? with Catherine Zeta-Jones.

And, whoever imagined that Zeta-Zones could give the great Cyd Charisse a run for her tutu? For her dancing in ?Chicago,? Michael Douglas? wife brought home an Oscar.

Pint-sized Mickey Rooney didn?t just marry Ava Gardner, he could also play seven musical instruments. In ?Dreamgirls,? Eddie Murphy astounded his fans with his song-and-dance routines.

Meryl Streep, probably this century?s greatest screen actress, surprised many when she starred in ?Mamma Mia,? a Broadway musical inspired by the music of Abba, although she had already sung in ?Postcards from the Edge.? In the stage-to-screen adaptation, Meryl proved that she has reason to aim for ?Sunset Boulevard??if Hollywood wants to do it again.

However, Barbra Streisand has already signified her intention to play ?Sunset?s? lead character, Norma Desmond, by recording one of the musical?s famous songs. Between the fine actress and the great singer, I would still prefer the original Broadway star, Glenn Close, who was nothing less than superlative in the role.

Singing came naturally to Ava Gardner, so the green-eyed actress was thrilled when she was cast in ?Show Boat.? But, MGM?s bosses decided to dub her singing, although I prefer her vocal performance to the professional dubber who subbed for her. (The dubber sang soulful numbers as though they were from an operetta, but La Ava sang from her soul.)

Esther Williams declared that Fernando Lamas was her favorite leading man because the Argentine actor was a swimming champ who could swim along with the screen mermaid with the greatest of ease. They got along so well that they eventually got married.

Fencing

Cornell Wilde, who?s known for his portrayal of the great composer, Chopin, was so adept at fencing that he represented the United States in the Olympics. He trained Laurence Olivier in fencing and became a screen idol himself.

Michelle Pfeiffer took formal voice lessons to build up her confidence to sing in ?The Fabulous Baker Boys,? and acquitted herself so well that she sang again in ?Hairspray.?

John Travolta isn?t just adept at dancing, he?s also a licensed pilot. So was John Denver, who perished during a plane crash. And, Christopher Reeve was an expert equestrian before a horse-riding accident paralyzed him.