Shirley, you must know that it’s the same old story
AT AGE 72, Shirley MacLaine is showing no signs of slowing down.
MacLaine is marking a half-century in Hollywood with appearances in three films: “Bewitched” with Nicole Kidman, “Rumor Has It” with Jennifer Aniston, and “In Her Shoes,” playing Cameron Diaz‘s grandma.
But in Tinseltown, “The older you get, the more invisible you become,” she tells AARP’s The Magazine.
“When walk into parties, I would go first, and everyone would say, ‘Great to see you.’ … Then Nicole would come in, and I might as well have been the woodwork.
“No matter what you do, unless maybe you’re Madeleine Albright or one of the great authors or Mother Teresa, it’s such a youth-revering culture,” MacLaine adds.
“In the ancient cultures, elders were the ones who were revered because of their wisdom. Now I’m at the point where, in grocery stores, at gas stations, people think that because I’m a senior citizen they don’t need to pay any respect. But in about 10 minutes they do, because I demand it.”
Another new kid in the picture
Robert Evans, the 75-year-old former Paramount production chief, has married for the seventh time.
Evans wed Lady Victoria White in Mexico last weekend, his spokesman said. It was the third marriage for the 42-year-old White, who has three children.
Evans divorced his sixth wife, former Versace model Leslie Ann Woodward, last July after seven months of marriage. His ex-wives also include “Love Story” star Ali MacGraw, former Miss America Phyllis George and “Dynasty” co-star Catherine Oxenberg.
Evans’ life story was the subject of the 2002 documentary “The Kid Stays in the Picture.”
All aboard for Evan’s explorer troop
Evan Rachel Wood thinks teenagers should be free to explore their sexuality so they can “find how to use it in the right way and be responsible about it.”
In “Pretty Persuasion,” which opens today, the 17-year-old actress plays a scheming schoolgirl who uses her sexuality to achieve her goals.
Wood said trying to ignore sexuality “just sends wrong messages and makes kids more crazy about it. If the media and adults would just deal with it, kids would realize it could be a beautiful thing.”
He left in the nick of time
Speaking of exploring sexuality, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson‘s co-star in “The Dukes of Hazzard,” was kind enough to help her choose just the right pair of Daisy Duke short-shorts to wear.
“She kept coming in trying them on,” Scott says. “I’m like, ‘Too baggy. You gotta hike ‘em up a little bit.’
“Then it just got weird, I was like, ‘I gotta go. This is just wrong.’ “
How can Mel passion it up?
“Passion of the Christ” director Mel Gibson has been asked to re-create the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the streets of Sydney, Australia, if the city is selected to host a major Catholic youth gathering in 2008.
“He might well be attracted,” said George Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney. “I think his devotion to Christ is very real.”
The site will be announced by the Pope on Aug. 21.
The birthday bunch
Country singer Porter Wagoner is 78. Country singer Buck Owens is 76. Actor George Hamilton is 66. Actress Jennifer Warren is 64. Musician Mark Knopfler is 56. Actor Bruce Greenwood (“Thirteen Days”) is 49. Rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot is 42. Actor Peter Krause (“Six Feet Under”) is 40. Actor Michael Ian Black (“Stella”) is 34. Actress Rebecca Gayheart is 33. Actor Casey Affleck is 30.