That Thing She Does
Rita Wilson Classic Car Tunes
Best known as an actress
CLOCKWISE, FROM TOP LEFT: STEVEN SEBRING; STEVE GRANITZ /
GETTY IMAGES; COMPOSITE ART BY ERIKA SIMMONS
( The Good Wife) and producer (My Big Fat Greek
Wedding)—not to mention
as the wife of Tom Hanks—
Rita Wilson finally recognized a childhood fantasy
in May with the release
of her first CD, AM/FM.
Wilson, 55, interprets classic ’60s and ’70s hits, from
“Come See About Me” to
“Please Come to Boston”:
tunes she remembers hearing on the car radio with
her immigrant parents and
later, as a teen, steering her
own set of wheels.
Q: How did you choose
the songs? They had to
resonate with me, have
been iconic when I was
growing up, and tell a story.
The music of the ’60s—
the AM section—was more
innocent and idealized.
The FM section is from the
’70s, when songs had to do
with the singer’s personal
experience, and love was
more about heartbreak.
Q: There’s something
magical about listening
to music on a car radio.
Totally! My parents had a
Plymouth Belvedere con-
vertible with big fins and
a push-button radio. We’d
ride along and my mother
would say, “Zat song going
to be a hit!” I’d laugh, but
she was always right.
Q: Your husband directed
That Thing You Do!, about
a ’60s band. What does
he think of the album?
He’s always known how
important this has been
to me, so he was really
thrilled. He loves the music
and has his favorites, but I’m
not going to tell you which
they are! —Alanna Nash
THE Media
METER
In Seoul
during a
recent
publicity tour,
Brad Pitt told
journalists:
“Personally,
I like
aging. With
age comes
wisdom.…
I’ll take
wisdom over
youth
any day.”
BRAD PITT
AGEIST
Tennis legend Billie Jean King won 20 Wimbledon champion-
ships during her storied career, but the title she’s celebrating
this year was a victory for women on and off the court. “Title IX
was one of the most important pieces of legislation of the
20th century,” says King, 68, of the 1972 law that prohibits
gender-based discrimination in federally funded educational
programs or activities. To mark the statute’s 40th anniversary,
King is raising awareness of its impact—the number of women in
college athletics jumped from 32,000 to more than 166,000 from
1972 through 2007—which she equates with the 19th Amendment’s
granting women the right to vote. “I ask young people about Title IX
and get a lot of ‘ What’s that?’” she says. “I tell them, ‘How are you go-
ing to shape the future if you don’t know the past?’” —Fannie Weinstein
Game Changer
Billie Jean King
A Grand Slam for Women
