Doctor Steven M. Hoefflin isn't shy about the limelight. The silver-haired plastic surgeon often appears on TV shows, but as a policy he refuses to comment about his celebrity patients. It has been widely reported that Dr. Hoefflin is the original "Doc Hollywood," the cosmetic surgeon to the stars.

If a celebrity is looking for a face lift, breast enhancement, nose job, liposuction or other cosmetic work,chances are good that he or she will turn up at the private rear entrance to the Hoefflin building, a block-long, red brick medical complex in sunny Santa Monica.

According to news reports, Dr. Hoefflin's famous patients have included Michael Jackson, his sister Janet Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Johnson, Nancy Sinatra, Joan Rivers, Phyllis Diller, Sly Stallone, Donald Trump and his former wife Ivana, Tony Curtis, and in his early days, quite a few Playboy Playmates.

Dr. Hoefflin has also had his name come up in the news in two other recent stories. In late 1997, he was credited with rescuing a homeless man who attempted to commit suicide by jumping off the Santa Monica Pier. Hoefflin, who was out to dinner with friends, jumped into the ocean and pulled the man to safety.

A few months later, though, his name was in newspapers again when there were public allegations made that Dr. Hoefflin had exposed, fondled and ridiculed some of his famous patients while they were on the operating table, charges which the doctor vehemently denied, and which he said was the work of a disgruntled, jealous former business partner. In July of 1998, he filed a lawsuit charging fraud and defamation against those four ex-employees accusing him. The accusations were not made by any of the doctor's celebrity patients, some of whom immediately rallied to his defense. A subsequent investigation by the California Medical Board cleared him of the charges.

Getting there: Dr. Hoefflin's offices are located on the south side of Arizona Avenue, about a mile inland from the Santa Monica beach.