He’s Not Getting Older, He’s Just Getting Hipper
Tony Bennett on MTV was just one of the opening shots in a pop cultural revolution.
Buzz magazine hails “old guy chic,” declaring: “The craggier, the more seen-it-all the face, the more it seems we want to see it.”
The aging idols include Don Rickles (“more star power these days than most actors a third his age”), Rodney Dangerfield (“one of the coolest sites on the World Wide Web”), Johnny Cash (“performs at the Viper Room and reduces the fatally hip crowd to awestruck silence”), Clint Eastwood, Peter Falk, Walter Matthau, Paul Newman and Jack Palance.
Charlton Heston and Anthony Quinn try too hard, while Robert Mitchum “would be chic, except for the eye lift.”
Richard Dreyfuss and Nathan Lane, on the other hand, enjoy the dubious distinction of being “old guys before their time.”
Loose talk
Gene Hackman, on being a character actor (in Cable Guide magazine): “The joy is being unrecognizable from role to role. When I was driving with John Travolta for a scene in ‘Get Shorty,’ I heard someone yell out, ‘Hey, that’s John Travolta and his driver!”’
Which means Cher must be only, what, 25?
Bono turns 36 today.
You mean they’re mining that old shaft?
Former football player Fred “The Hammer” Williamson, 58, says his new movie with ‘70s stars Jim Brown, Pam Grier and Richard Roundtree, “Original Gangstas,” should appeal to his generation. Said Williamson: “If I can get these couch potatoes out of the house by putting something on the screen they can identify with … then we can make more movies.”
He’d have a hard time stopping after one
Former “Saturday Night Live” player Chris Farley worked out regularly for his new film, “Beverly Hills Ninja.” Trainer Eric Chen told Entertainment Weekly that Farley “didn’t lose any weight that I’ve seen … he eats a lot.” But he’s agile, Chen adds: “He can do a split that is very close to a complete straddle, and he can do multiple cartwheels.”
But he has agreed to help her find a sitter
Action star Steven Seagal, 45, is going to be a father for the sixth time, thanks to 22-year-old Arissa Wolf, who used to babysit for his other children. A spokeswoman told USA Today there are no marriage plans.
And he’s never seen so many ‘Twins’ fans
Arnold Schwarzenegger is enjoying a warm welcome in Minnesota while filming “Jingle All The Way,” his new comedy. “People who own bakeries have sent cookies out to the cast and crew,” he said. “People who own coffee shops have sent us coffee. People who own toy stores have sent toys to my children. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
Another battle between the babes ‘n arms
Meanwhile, construction has begun on a London branch of Fashion Cafe, the theme restaurant owned by models Elle Macpherson, Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Christy Turlington - right across the street from a Planet Hollywood, owned by Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Bruce Willis.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color Photos
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Rick Bonino