At awards, Streep sings Davis’ praises

They may have been Oscar rivals earlier this year, but there’s nothing but love between Meryl Streep and Viola Davis.

Streep, who ended Davis’ awards run for “The Help” by winning the lead actress Oscar for “The Iron Lady,” lauded her friend and colleague Tuesday at Women in Film’s annual Crystal + Lucy Awards. She called Davis “a lion-hearted woman” and a gifted and determined actress who studied at Juilliard and captivated Hollywood with her eight-minute performance in “Doubt.”

“She was a newcomer at 45,” Streep joked.

Davis returned the love as she accepted the award.

“I have a confession,” she said, sharing how touched she was when Streep sent her a card after the film wrapped.

“OK, Meryl, I framed the card,” Davis said. “So you can never come over to the house.”

Sheen same under new ‘Management’

Just over a year ago, Charlie Sheen had been fired from his hit sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” had become a regular on national news programs ranting about tiger blood, smoking crack and, of course, winning.

Now he’s doing publicity for his comeback show “Anger Management,” which debuts on FX later this month, and it seems like he’s the same old Charlie.

Sheen is gracing the cover of Rolling Stone and is also the subject of a lengthy profile in the New York Times. In both articles he shows little remorse for his bad-boy ways, which include an arrest for assaulting his now-ex-wife and numerous other run-ins with the law.

Usually advertisers steer clear of these folks because they don’t want them hurting their brand. In the case of Sheen, though, two – satellite broadcaster DirecTV and Fiat – capitalized on his bad reputation in ads hawking their companies.

The birthday bunch

Actress Marla Gibbs is 81. Actor Jack Bannon is 72. Rock singer Rod Argent is 67. Donald Trump is 66. Rock musician Barry Melton is 65. Rock musician Alan White is 63. Actor Will Patton is 58. Singer Boy George is 51. Rock musician Chris DeGarmo is 49. Actress Yasmine Bleeth is 44. Tennis player Steffi Graf is 43. Screenwriter Diablo Cody is 34. Actor J.R. Martinez is 29. Actor-singer Kevin McHale is 24.