New Zealand Woman’s Weekly 1726

She’s never been conventional, and that’s what has made Diane Keaton (71) the remarkably multi-talented and legendary star she is today. The Annie Hall and Godfather actress was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Film Institute Awards in Los Angeles for her decades as an actress, director and writer. Throughout the hilarious evening, many famous friends honoured the star, including Meryl Streep (67), the elusive Woody Allen (81), Lisa Kudrow (53), Candice Bergen (71), Steve Martin (71) and Martin Short (67). During a slapstick routine, Steve Martin noted, “When you work with Diane, you fall madly in love with her.” Martin Short agreed, adding, “Ms Keaton, in the world of all my high-fallutin’ friends, your name has always been the hippest and the coolest to drop.” #…

Taking a look ar ound the Weeklyoffices, you’d think you were observing a gr oup of caring, well-temper ed women (and a few token males!). And for the most part, that’s certainly the case. Except for Tuesday nights. It’s been a long time between visits, but the team reinstated our tradition of entering the local pub quiz. But even before the quizmaster had managed to start the evening, I was reminded that this event is capable of turning even the most mild-manner ed team member into a highly competitive quiz monster . Our confidence waver ed slightly when the room filled with some intimidating looking teams, but only minutes into the first round, we hit our stride. We nearly lost an early point when we were asked to name the…

From the outside, TVNZ weather presenter Renee Wright’s Auckland home is the picture of suburban bliss. But the minute you step inside the renovated villa she and husband Charlie have painstakingly renovated over the last three years, it’s a different story. Drills and saws whir as a team of builders puts the finishing touches on the deck in the pouring rain, while inside, Renee’s youngest daughter Arabella squeals with delight as she toddles around the lounge, alternately opening cupboards and pulling out all of their contents, and knocking things off tables and benches. In the middle of it all is the seemingly unflappable Renee (36), who’s not batting an eyelid, despite the fact her beautiful home will soon resemble a bomb site. Over the last few years, Renee tells with…

There’s a good reason why Bette Midler is known as the Divine Miss M. Her performance as the title character in the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly! has been so outstanding, it won her a Tony Award for lead actress in a musical last week – and the speech she gave accepting the award was legendary. The veteran star choose colourful language to describe all the acclaim she’d been getting – “I can’t remember when I’ve had so much smoke blown up my a***!” she told the audience – and she also quipped, “I’d like to thank all the Tony voters, many of whom I’ve dated.” Bette went on to thank so many people that the orchestra started playing to get her to wind up her speech, but she was having…

Several former stars of Coronation Street paid their respects to Roy Barraclough when the actor, who played Alec Gilroy, was farewelled at his funeral last week. Leading the mourners was Julie Goodyear (75), who played Roy’s on-screen wife Bet Lynch in the soap for 20 years. In a nod to her brassy character, Julie accented her black outfit with a cheetah-print silk scarf. She was joined at the service by several current stars of the show, including Helen Worth (66), Beverley Callard (60) and Jennie McAlpine (33). Also there were former cast members Sherrie Hewson (66) and Ken Morley (74). Not in attendance, unsurprisingly, was Liz Dawn (77), who played gossip Vera Duckworth. Liz has been so unwell lately that not only could she not make the funeral, but she…

Holy sadly departed superhero! Adam West, who found fame playing the Caped Crusader in the 1960s TV series Batman, died of leukaemia last week aged 88. The show gained cult status and Adam once said he played Batman for laughs “but in order to do that, one had to never think it was funny. You had to pull on that cowl and believe that no-one would recognise you.” When the show was cancelled in 1968, he struggled to find work, although he allegedly was offered the role as James Bond in the 1970 film Diamonds are Forever but turned it down. The dad-of-six finally got a regular gig from 2000, when he was cast in the animated series Family Guy. Ben Affleck, who played Batman in last year’s Batman v…