Lugner and ‘Eskimo Limon’ star to attend Graz ball

Veteran playboy Richard Lugner will attend this year’s Graz Opera ball with cult actor Zachi Noy, it has emerged.The 78-year-old businessman, whose girlfriend Anastasia Sokol is 57 years his junior, said today (Tues) he will be accompanied by Noy who rose to fame by starring in bizarre 1978 soft porn comedy movie “Eskimo Limon”.The Israeli, who has failed to get signed for major movie productions in the past years, was booed off the stage when he competed in German broadcaster RTL’s “Das Supertalent” show wearing lederhosen before he could start singing his song. Noy, 57, introduced himself in the primetime TV hit as “the fat bloke from ‘Eskimo Limon’”.Now it emerged that the actor will accompany Lugner, who runs Viennese shopping mall Lugner City, at the Graz Opera Ball on 29 January. The businessman rubbished claims that this announcement means he will pull out from going to the Vienna State Opera ball for the first time in years. Lugner hit the headlines for paying tens of thousands of Euros to celebrities like Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale and Carmen Electra to attend the society get-together with him since 1992.Lugner was accompanied to last year’s Vienna Opera Ball by Dieter Bohlen. The German was flown into Vienna on the day of the event after troubled Hollywood starlet Lindsay Lohan was barred from being his guest after she arrived two hours late for her flight from Los Angeles.Bohlen is one of the most controversial German TV personalities. The foulmouthed casting show juror has caused a stir by offending pop music hopefuls with statements such as “You must have been doing sit-ups when God was handing out the brains to people.”Lugner denied Bohlen was difficult to get along with. “He’s definitely easier to handle than Lohan. And I don’t have to trust my weak English with him,” he said about the former “Modern Talking” singer.Lugner, whose private ups and downs have been portrayed by ATV’s real life series “Die Lugners”, said today he will reveal the name of his personal guest for this year’s Vienna Opera Ball on 1 February.The names of invited stars have been leaked to the press in previous years, but the entrepreneur is convinced this will not happen this time around. Asked whether he has already reached an agreement with a celebrity over attending this year’s edition of the Viennese event, Lugner said: “Yes, but you won’t hear any names before 1 February. All I will tell you at this point is that the person is a big American star.”