Celebrity Mound

Sean Penn engaged in attempts to secure the release of two Americans freed by Iran this week, flying to Venezuela to ask President Hugo Chavez to intervene with Iran’s leader, a source close to the release process said on Friday.

Since Tehran freed Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer on Wednesday details have emerged about the efforts to win their freedom, which involved the United Nations, Iraq and Oman — as well as Chavez, who is a fiery critic of the United States.

Venezuela’s deputy foreign minister told Reuters on Thursday that Chavez brought up the case with his Iranian ally Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after being alerted to the Americans’ plight by friends in U.S. “intellectual circles.”

“The American ‘intellectual’ who took up the case with him was Sean Penn,” the source told Reuters.

“Penn was very committed to the case … He flew to Caracas several months ago to raise it with Chavez and he kept on it,” the source said.

Penn’s spokeswoman in the United States confirmed this account, but would give no further details.

The two Americans had been in Iranian custody since their arrest in July 2009 on the border with Iraq, where they said they were hiking. They were jailed for espionage.

Penn, known for his political and social activism, won best actor Oscars for his roles in the Clint Eastwood-directed drama “Mystic River” in 2003 and as slain gay politician Harvey Milk in the 2008 movie “Milk.”

The actor, screenwriter and film director was sharply critical of the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush, and was involved in humanitarian efforts following Haiti’s earthquake and Hurricane Katrina.

In January, Chavez joked that Washington should end a diplomatic stand-off with Caracas by appointing either Penn, Bill Clinton or director Oliver Stone as its next ambassador to Venezuela. “We have a lot of friends there,” Chavez said.

The source said the State Department had been aware of Chavez’s involvement in the attempts to free the hikers and did not try to block it. On Thursday, a State Department spokesman said only that they were happy Fattal and Bauer were safe.

Sean Penn has moved on to another beauty — he had a dinner date the other night with Garcelle Beauvais at the Sunset Tower Hotel in LA. Penn and the Haitian-American beauty sat at a front table but later moved to a more private area near the pool.

Penn has been a huge force in helping to rebuild Haiti, while Beauvais, who lost a great aunt in the earthquake, helped raise money and appeared in the film “Eyes To See” about the tragedy. Beauvais split from Mike Nilon last year when he allegedly cheated on her and she sent his CAA colleagues a scathing e-mail.

The ‘Milk’ actor – whose 14-year marriage to Robin Wright was officially ended in July 2010 – admits his life has changed in many ways since the separation and is upset he will no longer be able to raise his family, including children Dylan, 19, and Hopper, 17, in a traditional way.

He said: “A profound change in life for me personally was not being able to raise my son in a whole family through high school.

“I got practical issues, like everybody … I had just got taken for one half of everything I had in the divorce, so it’s not like I don’t have to work.”

However, the 50-year-old star will be spending his free time on the earthquake-struck Caribbean island of Haiti, where he has been undertaking charity work since the disaster in early 2010.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: “This is where I’ll be when I’m not working, for the rest of my life.”

Sean – who was married to pop star Madonna from 1985 to 1989 – had a troubled relationship with former wife Robyn.
Having initially filed for divorce in 2007, the pair reconciled in 2008 before filing for legal separation in April 2009, only to call off proceedings the next month.

The final divorce petition was entered in August 2009.