Coolidge leads parade before roast
Actor Jennifer Coolidge was roasted Saturday before being honored as the 2023 Woman of the Year by Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals.
Since 1951, Hasty Pudding Theatricals has bestowed this award annually on women “who have made lasting and impressive contributions to the world of entertainment.”
Coolidge, known for her Emmy-winning turn in the HBO series “The White Lotus,” headlined a parade through the streets of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dressed in a leopard print coat and donning a fluffy pink hat, she waved to the crowd that had come out despite unusually frigid temperatures.
Coolidge, who also played Stifler’s mom in the “American Pie” franchise and manicurist Paulette in the “Legally Blonde” movies, grew up in the Boston area. “It’s been very fun. I’m really having a blast,” said Coolidge before she was presented with her Pudding Pot award. “I got to meet all these young students who are so much smarter than me.”
Producers roasted Coolidge with several zingers about her career and poked fun at her lack of serious roles.
Coolidge then judged a contest of four people doing impressions of her, choosing a man dressed in a pink dress who uttered some of her lines from “Legally Blonde.”
After noting how Coolidge recently said her dream role was to play a dolphin, producers dressed her in a dolphin outfit and asked her to sing in the style of a dolphin. She made a series of dolphin-like squeaks before shooting a water pistol at two people dressed as menacing sting rays.
Actor Kimbrough dies:
Charles Kimbrough, a Tony- and Emmy-nominated actor, died Jan. 11 in California. He was 86. The talent agency that represented Kimbrough said the actor died of natural causes in a hospital.
Kimbrough played newsman Jim Dial across the 10 seasons of CBS hit sitcom “Murphy Brown” between 1988 and 1998, earning an Emmy nomination in 1990 for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series. He reprised the role in the 2018 reboot.
Andrews, daughter to release new book:
On Monday, Abrams Children’s Books announced that the latest picture book collaboration between Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, “The Enchanted Symphony,” will be published Sept. 12.
The two thought of the book during the pandemic, when they learned of “Concert for the Biocene,” in which a string quartet played in front of plants in each seat at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu.
“The Enchanted Symphony” is a “hopeful fairy tale,” according to Abrams. It’s set in a village “beset by a mysterious fog,” but revived by a “boy’s simple melody.”
“While the fog in our book evokes our pandemic experience, it also symbolizes something larger: the creeping and countless distractions that prevent us from appreciating what truly matters most in life,” the mother and daughter said in a statement.
Feb. 7 birthdays:
Comedian Robert Smigel is 63. Actor James Spader is 63. Singer Garth Brooks is 61. Keyboardist David Bryan is 61. Comedian Chris Rock is 58. Actor Essence Atkins is 51. Guitarist Wes Borland is 48. Bassist Tom Blankenship is 45. Actor Ashton Kutcher is 45. Actor Tina Majorino is 38. Actor Deborah Ann Woll is 38.