(1/12/00)
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- They stole Ben Stein's money.
The Comedy Central game show host was confronted Jan. 5 by two men, one armed with a handgun, after he parked his car in the garage of his North Crescent Drive home, police Lt. Edward Kreins said Wednesday.
The star of ``Win Ben Stein's Money'' was confronted about 8:38 p.m. by the men who demanded money, jewelry and his briefcase, the lieutenant said. The actor handed over his wallet with about $1,000 cash, credit cards and his pay check.
``He did what he was told,'' Kreins said. ``He said, 'Here's everything. Do you want the car? Here are my keys. Take it. Do you want my clothes? Take them.'''
The men said they didn't want the clothes and they fled on foot.
Stein told officers he didn't know if he had been followed home.
``The probability is that he was followed home,'' Kreins said.
There were no arrests, except for a northern California man who was arrested for jaywalking in an unrelated incident.
Calls placed Wednesday to Stein at the KTLA Studios where ``Win Ben Stein's Money'' is taped weren't immediately returned.
Stein, 55, who was in the 1986 comedy hit ``Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' and portrayed the monotone science teacher in TV's ``The Wonder Years,'' is also a lawyer, a writer, and a boring intellectual.
In ``Win Ben Stein's Money,'' the host becomes a contestant in the final rounds, and he risks his own money. Actually, the production company, a Walt Disney subsidiary, puts up the $5,000 for each show, but Stein's motivation is that the less his competitors win the more of that pot he gets to keep.