A flustered but beaming Anjelica Huston was tongue-tied as she worked for her pudding pot yesterday afternoon when she received Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ Woman of the Year award at Harvard University.
As Huston cruised down Massachusetts Avenue and Dunster Street during a parade in her honor, crowds of fans lined the streets and hung out of nearby windows to catch a glimpse of Huston and her flamboyant male escorts dressed in drag.
‘I’d always had this reverential view of Harvard,’ said the Academy Award-winning actress, noting that she never finished high school.
‘My opinion has been radically reversed. It’s a real eye opener,’ Huston joked as she reflected on the parade. ‘I’m also deeply moved by the performances today; especially from the demure little woman next to me in the car.’
The men frequently paused to kiss Huston on the cheek and wave at onlookers, while the crowd serenaded the actress with chants of ‘Anjelica!’
After the short parade, Huston was called on to the Hasty Pudding Theater stage by Theatricals president Stefan Atkinson and vice president Shawn Snyder to prove she was indeed the ‘renowned actress known as Anjelica Huston.’
Huston smiled but seemed at a loss for words during the on-stage improvisations.
‘It was all at once terrifying,’ Huston admitted.
Huston said the small theater was a comfort, however.
‘I’m glad about the size of the theater,’ she said. ‘It’s a good measure of the extent of my humiliation.’
Atkinson and Snyder reflected on Huston’s motherly role as Etheline Tenenbaum in The Royal Tenenbaums, as they brought a Theatricals cast member onstage, asking Huston to ‘feed him, burp him, spank him and sing him to sleep.’
The roast culminated as Huston laughed while being tied up a la S’M, as Atkinson and Snyder joked with Huston, reminiscing about her role in The Witches, and the ‘sinful and sexy Morticia Adams’ in The Adams Family, and Adams Family Values.
‘I like scaring little boys,’ Huston said before gracefully accepting her pudding pot. ‘It’s a good little witches’ brew pot.’
Appearing relieved that her part in the roast was over, Huston admitted she had little idea what was in store for her, calling her time onstage one of her ‘not-so-stellar performances.’
‘I had no idea I would have to work for my award,’ Huston said. ‘I thought I’d be happily roasted in my seat.
‘I was entirely unprepared to go onstage. I’m usually fanatical in life about being prepared.’
‘But it was in really good humor,’ she added. ‘I’m flattered.’
Huston talked about her upcoming film, Daddy Day Care, which stars her and Eddie Murphy, calling it ‘a really fun movie to do.’
‘It fit in well with my opus of witches and ghouls,’ Huston said.
Huston also discussed her work as a director and the advice bestowed from her father, John Huston, who directed her in Prizzi’s Honor.
‘I think my father’s advice to cast well has a lot of resonance with me,’ Huston said. ‘It’s a very exciting business to be in, this profession. And each thing that one does is a new journey, a new voyage.’
The Woman of the Year award is presented by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals annually. The honoree enjoys a tour of Harvard and lunch with the company before the parade. Past winners include Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn, Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Meg Ryan, Drew Barrymore and most recently Sarah Jessica Parker.
Man of the Year Martin Scorsese, will be roasted on Feb. 13, in drag, before the opening of ‘It’s a Wonderful Afterlife.’