Mindy Trotta
The 50 and over set was very well-represented at last night’s Golden Globes Awards…there was Bryan CranstonĀ pickingĀ up his well-deserved prize forĀ Breaking Bad, and both Michael Douglas and Jon Voight were winners asĀ well.Ā Even the ultimate in hip and cool, U2’s over-50Ā Bono, was there to pick up an award and show the world that we BA50s can still rock and roll…and rule.
A fair share of the distaff side of the as-close-as-you-can-get-to-being-treated-like-royalty-in-the-US Ā group of thespians was there too. Meryl, ah Queen Meryl was there..her demeanor exuding the ultimate in coolness, calmness, and collectedness. Ā (She’s been to so many award shows at this point, she couldn’t be more comfortable if she were sitting at home watching from her sofa.) Ā Julia Louis-Dreyfus (in her skin-tight red sheath) put the voom back in va-va-voom, representing our demographic with sex appeal and style. June Squibb, the 84-year-old actress and “overnight sensation” who finally was enjoying her recent brush with fame and discovery after plugging away at a career for 60 years was also sitting amongst her peers. And Emma Thompson, so wonderful in Saving Mr. Banks, had her moment in the lights as well. They were all there, but alas, none of them went home with an award.
The one BA50 who did reach the pinnacle last night was none other than actress Jacqueline Bisset, who won Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or TV movie for her role in Dancing on the Edge. As the always lovely Ms. Bisset stumbled made the long way to the stage, she looked as dumbfounded as we all felt watching her. The five-time nominee and first-time winner literally could not find the words with which to thank everyone (or anyone, in fact), and she continued to bumble and fumble her way through. It was perhaps the most awkward moment of the entire evening, rivaled only by Jodi Foster’s (also a BA50 I hesitate to admit) speech at last year’s show. What is it with our over-50 Hollywood ladies? Are we hidden away so well that the first chance (and very possibly the last chance) we get to be heard, we feel the need to REALLY BE HEARD? Perhaps…but perhaps it was all the bubbly that’s served at the Golden Globes tables too.
For the viewers, the “hook,” or rather, the ever-so-subtle “leave the stage, you’re overstaying your welcome” music could not have come for Jacqueline a moment too soon. So much for the BA50s being represented by someone with class and panache! I have to admit that I have not seen the performance for which Ms. Bisset won the award, but I bet she did deserve it…so Congratulations to her! But I do have to say that as she stood on stage, making what was even by Hollywood standards, a spectacle of herself, I thought to myself, “Meryl, we hardly saw ya…and that was a shame.”