Candice Bergen | 02/22/2009 10:35 am

Candice Bergen Live Blogs Oscar Night

Blackberry in hand, a real Hollywood icon tells it as she sees it during the Academy Awards

Then the guys. The lions. The testosterone. The cojones. The talent.

Robert DeNiro. Anthony Hopkins. Michael Douglas. Ben Kingsley. Adrian Brody, who presented to Sean Penn, who graciously acknowledged Mickey Rourke as a brother. And spoke eloquently about equal rights. Everyone acquitted themselves wonderfully well.

And I thought, maybe it’s too soon to retire. This is a great job. A great job with great lunacy and insane self-indulgence but still, the older I get, the more miraculous it all seems. Arriving routinely at 6:00 am and going home at 10:00 at night. The cozy camaraderie of the hair and makeup trailer. The crafts table. The doughnuts. The actors who just seem to get smarter and more interesting and more accomplished every year. It always takes me by surprise. How much they enjoy the work. How much they care about the job. How grateful they are to be in such a business.

Maybe it's too soon to retire. This is a great job ... the older I get, the more miraculous it all seems.

Well, it’s way after midnight and I seem to have lost my mind. But it was a good show. Better than most. Different. Well-staged. Lovely references to the past. Personal. Intimate. Touching.

And a successful distraction for people in difficult times.

Candice

43 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

thank you so much for your insights. i imagine that nowadays the run-up to the oscars is a crazier time for those who allow themselves to get caught in the frenzy.

By alluh rey on 02/23/2009 7:14 am

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It was the best show in years.

By Elizabeth L on 02/23/2009 3:31 pm

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Candice, please don’t retire! I love to see you in all roles you’ve been in. I want to see you on the screen again! Puuuullllleeeeeaassseee DONT’ RETIRE!

By Murphy Mac on 02/23/2009 7:59 am

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Candice your mother sounds just like mine! My daughter is an actress and we’ve made a deal… if she ever gets nominated for an Oscar, I get to be her date!

By DeBúrca obj on 02/23/2009 8:01 am

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Candice, thank you for writing this. I have to tell you that I am no longer THAT interested in the Oscars. I am the same vintage year as Liz Taylor ( a good year it was) there are so many young, all gorgeous, all in great shape, all about the same sizes, actresses that I can hardly tell one from the other anymore.

In my day you always remember who Ava Gardner was, Rita Hayworth, Lana Turner and on and on. Now I can hardly keep up with the new crops we call "stars".

So I decided I would watch till 9 and got to my well deserved night of rest. It did not happen. For the first time in years I was glued to the set till the last glimmer of all the crystals left my screen.

Like you I liked Whoopie when she did it but tonight was totally different.

It was "intime" , loved to see the "older" winners of both sexes , giants they are in my "older eyes" , loved the music and the dances.

I did not even yawn, looked at the clock and it was pumpkin time, the sparkling coach has turned into a black screen and I got to get some beauty sleep. (Some, she says, she means lots of beauty sleep)

Thank you Candice, loved your report, it was a nice evening.

By Jeannot Kensinger on 02/23/2009 8:36 am

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Wow Candice,

That was great. I only watched part of the show, so it is great to read your take on what I missed. Thanks so much…and please, don’t EVER retire.

By Lee Harrison on 02/23/2009 9:27 am

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Good to have an actress and Hollywood native, report on the telecast

and her colleagues with a perspective seasoned by wit and experience.

By Shaun Considine on 02/23/2009 9:28 am

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Candace - The other Best Actress Winner on stage was Nicole

By Karen Brown on 02/23/2009 10:14 am

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Candice Bergen, you are brilliant and stunning and talented and funny and a good writer, and I owe my life to you. Seriously. I’m the single parent by choice of two wonderful kids, which I very likely would not have had the guts to tackle if it hadn’t been for Murphy Brown’s much publicized argument with Dan Quayle. Thank you.

By Sharyn Essman on 02/23/2009 10:20 am

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OMG, I have NEVER forgotten that performance in "Starting Over." When you sang Better Than Ever… well, it simply set the gold standard for total commitment. Burt Reynolds’ reaction was priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAEm-ZnDuzk

By Buh- Bye on 02/23/2009 11:20 am

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I was just wondering. All those children who were flown in from the slums in Mumbai was it? What happens to them, now that the Oscars are done?

By Harley Gramma on 02/23/2009 11:37 am

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They go back to their families…why? what did you think?

By Victoria J on 02/23/2009 11:44 am

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Worry, why should we worry? We can’t help ourselves, let alone others. The earth doesn’t run randomely, so we’ll just have to leave it to whoever is running it now.

By albert miller on 02/23/2009 4:10 pm