July 6, 2000

Couples: Russell Crowe turned up at Tuesday's London premiere of Mission: Impossible 2, helped Tom Cruise face screaming fans, and dined with the Mission star. But Meg Ryan wasn't at the screening.

While publicists have said no third party is involved in Ryan's startling separation from husband Dennis Quaid, stories abound about closeness between Ryan and Crowe on locations of the movie they're now making, Proof of Life.

The pair was very affectionate June 19 on the Concorde heading for the London shoot, People reports in its July 17 issue. A businessman who saw them said the Gladiator star was "kissing her on the neck and stroking her hair -- and it went on that way the whole flight."

Previously, in Ecuador, they also were cozy in a hotel bar and lobby, says People. In London, the two dined (with her son, Jack, 8), danced close at an Aussie-themed tavern, and went to a David Bowie concert the day before the split was announced. (Another source has the two kissing while with friends as recently as Monday night in a Japanese restaurant in London.)

Quaid's ex-wife, P.J. Soles, still a friend since their five-year marriage ended in 1983, tells People when she spoke to Quaid the day after: "I've never heard him sound so sad. He's just devastated by the thought of any separation -- mostly because they have a son." He asked her about a child psychologist.