A few notes from the South by Southwest Film Festival and its attendant events -- chiefly, for now, the Texas Film Hall of Fame induction ceremony on Friday night at the Austin Studios, where Dan Rather tore tail through the proceedings like a burning hyena running through a meth lab during a springtime twister. Normally an Oscar-length event that climaxes with a stoner has-been's 49-minute ramble-on, this year's event played like a pro-style back-pat, with local gal Patsy Ann McClenny, Mariska Hargitay (on behalf of her Dallas-bred mom, Jayne Mansfield), Debra Winger (on behalf of Urban Cowboy), one-time Richardson resident Mike Judge and, yup, ZZ Top accepting awards for .. um ... being Texans with SAG cards.
In all, a painless affair -- though, really, how Morgan Fairchild gets in before, oh, Forest Whitaker, Aaron Spelling, Stephen Tobolowsky, Spanky or, jeez, Mr. Peppermint remains a mystery. Nicest moment: Hargitay's tear-stained acceptance speech on behalf of her mom, to whom Rather referred as "the most bodacious of the bombshells," how sweet, y'all. Said the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit co-star, though choked-back tears, "I didn't know her for a very long time, but I meet her again and again through the people I meet [who remember her]." And for those on the Star Map tour, she revealed the exact location of her grandparents' former home at the intersection of Amherst and Boedeker streets. After the jump, a video of Fairchild's speech -- alas, I didn't grab the tribute clip reel, which is a shame for those who've never seen an episode of the ahead-of-its-time Paper Dolls. But ... wait, what's this? --Robert Wilonsky
And the intro to Paper Dolls, because.
Yes! She's the most famous alumni of Lake Highlands High School ever, although she might get replaced by the kids who baked pot brownies for the faculty.
Posted at: March 10, 2008 10:05 AM