Marci’s Hollywood Hotline                 

     George Clooney Tilda Swinton and Alec Baldwin were among the guests at the American Film Institute’s Annual Celebration, at the Four Seasons Hotel.  The AFI Awards are the only recognition that honors film and television creative ensembles as a whole – both in front of, and behind the camera.

     Some of the official selections for movie of the year, included No Country For Old Men, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Michael Clayton – and among the selections for TV programs of the year were Dexter, Longford and Mad Men. 

     Some of the principal cast members enjoying the luncheon, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, included Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild), Swoosie Kurtz (Pushing Daises) and Allison Janney & Jason Bateman (Juno)

     There may have been a slew of stars present, but they couldn’t beat the more than 150 leading ladies & gentlemen who attended “Starfair” at the Palm Springs Convention Center.  Thirty classic movies were screened during the four-day event, and four legendary Hollywood Stars received their Golden Palm Stars, including Tab Hunter, who still looks like the original Golden Boy.  Hunter’s new tome, “Confidential:  The Making of a Movie Star” is a national bestseller, and reveals what it was like to be a  1950’s era star.  One of his former co-stars was the late Natalie Wood; and her sister, Lana Wood, was on hand to accept the star on her behalf.  Wood who appeared as a James Bond girl, In Diamonds Are Forever, also penned a book memorializing her legendary sister

     Receiving the most accolades was Tony Curtis, who jetted in from Las Vegas.  Curtis is recovering from serious surgery, but nothing can keep this octogenarian down.  He was graciously signing autographs, and hawking his ordinal oil paintings, which run into the thousands of dollars.  Kudos to Bob Alexander, Dr. Susan Stafford and their hard working committee from the myriad of fans who love and respect these talented thespians

     Did you know that there are hundreds of bag ladies in Beverly Hills? Well at least there were the other day, when Lupus LA Luncheon raised $500,000 by selling designer bags.  Marla Paxson and her daughter Nicole , who suffers from Lupus, received their Woman of Achievement Award;  and Marla Maples acted as Mistress of Ceremonies for the afternoon.

     The handbag auction featured 400 bags donated by such celebs as Mischa Barton, Jennifer Aniston, Scarlett Johansson and Kathy Hilton- as well as designers including Fendi, Prada and Armani

   Sharon Stone is very involved in this charity, as her sister Kelly was diagnosed with Lupus a few years ago. Also rummaging through the handsome handbags was Vanna White (Wheel of Fortune. Coincidently, Starfair was ably co-chaired by her predecessor,  Dr. Susan Stafford (original hostess of the award winning game show).  Now tell me, doesn’t it prove there are only a few degrees of separation on the Hollywood Hotline      .