AFI Mounts A Night For Unabashed Beatty Fetishism [Awards]

Calcifying Hollywood icon Warren Beatty, the legendary playboy auteur famous for having created some of the most lauded and influential films of all time (as well as having slept with approximately 48,000 aspiring actresses between the years of 1967 and 1979), received a lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute at a gala reception held at the Kodak Theatre last night. Here's a round-up of the goings on:
· Jane Fonda, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Keaton, Quentin Tarantino, and Steven Spielberg were among those in attendance. Jack Nicholson showed up a little late, looking crestfallen behind his sungalasses as he congratulated Beatty on winning "eight times as many awards as he's made pictures." [ABC/AP]
· Beatty was upstaged by another "aging ladies man and charismatic charmer," Bill Clinton, who surprised the crowd midway through the tribute with a recollection of the time at the 1972 DNC, when he shyly asked Beatty to walk "100 yards on the beach" with a woman to win her vote. Not only did Beatty comply, he brought her all the 100 yards back first thing next morning. [USA Today]

· Robert Downey Jr. enjoyed himself immensely, delighting the crowd with his take on the famous goosestepping sequence from Shampoo. [ONTD]
· Jane Fonda recalled her first impressions after having screen tested with Beatty in the '50s, "I thought he was gay. He was so cute, and all his men friends were gay, and brilliant. He had a way of collecting really brilliant gay men friends. And he liked to play piano in a piano bar – I mean, what were the odds he was straight? Shows you how dumb I was." [People]

Published 6/13/08 by

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