VAX FOR BIG STARS
Hoping these celebs and others get inoculated so they can again bring joy
With COVID-19 vaccinations underway, the first doses obviously need to go to front line workers, educators, the elderly and those most vulnerable. This is a national health crisis and no one should get to cut the line.
But it’s also essential to eventually get a shot into the arms of those who make us laugh, sing and give us hope. Let’s start with these stars of stage and screen so they can get back to doing what they do best.
BILL MURRAY
No one wants to see this Cinderella story end. National treasure Bill Murray turns 71 in September and America wants to see the “Groundhog Day” star rise and shine and rise and shine and rise and shine. We’ll see Murray in“Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which finally hits theaters this summer, following more than one date change.
PAUL MCCARTNEY
Former Beatle Paul McCartney surprised fans with a new album a week before Christmas. Since it was recorded during the pandemic, live audiences haven’t been able to hear the new tunes. It’s time to immunize Sir Paul and get him back to touring soon. The 78-year-old star is going to need a little help from his drummer friend, so that means we’ll need a shot for Ringo Starr, too. He celebrated his 80th birthday during the lockdown in July. A party is overdue.
BETTY WHITE
Living legend Betty White turns 99 on Sunday and there would be no better way to celebrate than with a couple of shots. The “Golden Girls” star’s career has spanned 80 years and there’s no reason to think she doesn’t have a little more gas in the tank. White celebrated her birthday last year by tweeting her excitement over the release of “Betty White: First Lady of Television” on Netflix.
DIONNE WARWICK
“That’s What Friends are For” singer Dionne Warwick turned 80 last month, which was the perfect ending to the year that also saw her emerge as an unlikely social media superstar. Warwick shook up the music world by sending unexpected tweets to young musicians including Chance the Rapper, Taylor Swift and The Weeknd.
She was at it again over the weekend, confessing she had only now heard of singer Cardi B, but she seemed intrigued. Warwick also wondered where the “Bodak Yellow” singer’s husband got his stage name. “I do have one question,” she asked. “What does Offset mean?”
Warwick wondered, “Is there also an Onset walking around somewhere?”
HARRY BELAFONTE
Day-O! It would be bananas not to get Harry Belafonte — 93 — vaccinated ASAP. The crossover star’s musical accomplishments are eclipsed only by his humanitarian initiatives, including civil rights advocacy. He brought song and activism together in 1983, helping to put together the “We Are the World” project to battle poverty in Africa. Belafonte beat prostate cancer in 1996. COVID can’t have him now.
DOLLY PARTON
If anyone gets the COVID vaccine, it ought to be Dolly Parton. The 74-year-old “9 to 5 singer donated $1 million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville to support coronavirus vaccine research in April. When Moderna announced its vaccine was 94% effective in trials, researchers also revealed that Parton was largely to thank. It’s possible Moderna could produce 1 billion doses of the vaccine by the year’s end.
RITA MORENO
Rita Moreno turned 89 last month and has an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony Award to her credit, putting her in the elite EGOT club. What she hasn’t got is a COVID shot and she’s earned one. Though based on her Twitter feed, she’s not afraid to die, regardless how that works out.
“When I take my final journey and reach my destination I will confront all with, ’You call THIS hell?!?’” the feisty grandma wrote last week. “AHHHHHHAHAHA.”
CICELY TYSON
Save at least one dose for local kid Cicely Tyson, who just turned 96 and has a brand new memoir called “Just I Am” to promote. The Harlem native, who is a longtime vegetarian, has won Emmy Awards, a Tony a Primetime Emmy an honorary Academy Award and a Peabody Award and she’s just getting started by the sound of it.
MEL BROOKS
The world needs laughter, and Mel Brooks provides it. The 94-year-old Brooklyn native has been careful to avoid COVID. In October, he recorded a video — his first ever campaign ad — in which he is sitting in his home while his son and grandson stand behind him waving through a glass door.
“When you’re dead, you can’t do much,” Brooks reasoned in that endorsement of Joe Biden.
Brooks isn’t going to live to be
“The 2,000 Year Old Man,” but a vaccine may get him just a little closer.
CLINT EASTWOOD
Go ahead, make his day. Clint Eastwood writes, he directs, he governs, argues with chairs and he’s 90 years old. Shoot ’em up! The “Dirty Harry” star has always been a hard one to peg, but no one can say he’s not interesting. Plus, he’s still making movies. The iconic actor, who has portrayed a cop, a cowboy, a trucker and everything in between is Americana personified. It’s time to protect the man who frequently protects those who can’t defend themselves on the big screen.
BARBRA STREISAND
What kind of fool would say no to Barbra Streisand? The Brooklyn native, 78, did her “Farewell” tour in 2000 and then toured again. Who knows what the EGOT winner has ahead of her? The only way to find out is to inoculate Babs ASAP and see if a shot in the arm gets her on stage, in the studio or anywhere else she feels like entertaining America.
BOB DYLAN
Bob Dylan just sold his entire song catalog for a reported $300 million. Let’s inoculate the 79-yearold songwriter now to see what he does with all that dough. If we’re lucky, the poet laureate will kick out another catalog before he’s done. It’s not dark yet.
CHITA RIVERA
Broadway star Chita Rivera was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama, was the first Hispanic American recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors and won a couple of Tonys including a lifetime achievement award. Surely the 87-year-old Broadway legend, who starred in “West Side Story,” has earned a VIP vaccine or two. Maybe she’ll even return to the Cafe Caryle for a livestream performance?
JANE FONDA
Jane Fonda has always been a picture of health. Even if the 83-year-old got COVID she’d probably kick its viral butt. But why take the chance? The actress, model and writer is still living a life of activism and could still reunite with Parton and Lily Tomlin for a “9 to 5” movie sequel. That means Tomlin, 81, gets vaxxed, too.
TONY BENNETT
As long as there are new musicians, timeless crooner Tony Bennett should be around to sing with them. Plus he left his heart in San Francisco and people with preexisting conditions are especially at risk. The 94-yearold from Astoria needs to keep those pipes COVID-clear.
YOKO ONO
John Lennon and Yoko One will inevitably be together again someday, but not yet. The 87-year-old artist who kept her head high even while being accused of breaking up the Beatles still has more love to share and other creative types to inspire. Her next double fantasy should come in the form of a vaccine.
CHUCK NORRIS
No rush on this vaccination — COVID-19 needs to wear a mask and stay six feet away from 80-year-old Chuck Norris. He’s that tough.