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MOVIES FOR
GROWNUPS
LIGHTS UP
HOLLYWOOD
ON FEBRUARY 16—a night
when Hollywood acted its
age—Robert De Niro waxed
sentimental, Sean Penn
smiled, and Jeff Bridges
growled, “I’m digging be-
ing an old guy!” Wearing
their experience proudly, the biggest
names in show biz gathered for the
Ninth-Annual Movies for Grownups®
Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
A radiant Maggie Gyllenhaal present-
ed Bridges with his Best Actor trophy,
and Morgan Freeman celebrated the
Best Movie win for Invictus. De Niro—
honored by Penn—noted that his tro-
phy for Lifetime Achievement at 66
might be premature. “What are they
going to give me 40 years from now?”
he joked. “The ‘He Lived Too Long
Award’?” We think he’s right. See you
next year with our brand-new Midlife
Achievement Award. —Bill Newcott
Fromleft:Best Actor Jeff Bridges, AARP THE MAGAZINE editor Nancy Perry Graham,
Lifetime awardee Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, and Entourage star Jeremy Piven
Frances Fisher
Juliette Lewis
Invictusstar Morgan Freeman
Maggie Gyllenhaal and her Crazy
Heartcostar Jeff Bridges
Movies for Grownups® creator and
entertainment editor Bill Newcott
Fromleft: Cohost Michael Nouri, AARP
senior vice president Catherine Ventura-Merkel, and cohost Susan Blakely
Robert De Niro and Sean Penn
A Happy Ending
A major legal victory, won by
AARP Foundation attorneys
and television writers, may affect age-discrimination cases
for years to come. For nearly a
decade, a group of 165 writers
ages 50 and up—with the support of the AARP Foundation’s
litigation department—has argued in court that TV studios
conspired to shut out older
writers via a so-called “
gray-list.” Now, in a landmark settlement, the studios have agreed
to pay $70 million in damages
to thousands of writers.
“The network told me I didn’t
know how to write for young
people,” says Tracy Keenan
Wynn, 65, who won an Emmy
for 1974’s The Autobiography
of Miss Jane Pittman. “ Shakespeare wasn’t 15 when he
wrote Romeo and Juliet. Writers get better with age.” —B.N.
