Names and faces

Thursday, January 9, 2014

After more than four decades together, LilyTomlin’s longtime partner and collaborator is now her wife. Tomlin’s publicist Jennifer Allen told People magazine and other media outlets Tuesday that the 74-year-old actress and comedian married 78-year-old Jane Wagner in a private New Year’s Eve ceremony in Los Angeles. Tomlin gained fame through the 1960s sketch show Laugh-In, went on to star in movies like 9 to 5 and All of Me and was a regular on the TV shows Murphy Brown and The West Wing. Wagner was writer of Tomlin’s Tony-winning one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, and wrote the screenplay for her movie The Incredible Shrinking Woman. Chicago Tribune columnist Liz Smith, a friend of both women, first reported the marriage.

Hollywood’s award season, never known for civility, is roiling from a heckling incident between 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen and film critic Armond White. At the New York Film Critics Circle Awards on Monday night, White allegedly jeered McQueen as “an embarrassing doorman and garbage man” while he was presented the best director award by Harry Belafonte. McQueen dismissed the outburst, apparently not bothered by it. In an email Tuesday to 12 Years a Slave distributor Fox Searchlight, New York Film Critics Circle chairman Joshua Rothkopf apologized to Fox Searchlight and McQueen for “the crass bit of heckling.” In the letter, first posted online by Deadline Hollywood, Rothkopf said he was “mortified” that it came from one of the group’s own members and pledged “disciplinary action.” White, an editor for CityArts, is known for his contrarian film reviews. He panned 12 Years a Slave as “torture porn.” In response to questions by email, White disputed reports about his awards-night behavior but declined to explain what he said of McQueen. “The barrage of lies, misreporting, unsubstantiated sources and made-up quotes is dismaying,” White said. “The awards themselves, and the highlights of the evening, such as James Toback and Peter Bogdanovich’s praise for best-picture winner American Hustle, have been forgotten in the melee.” Founded in 1935, the New York Film Critics Circle is one of the most prestigious critics groups in the country, made up of 38 New York-area critics. White has previously served as chairman.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 01/09/2014