On September 13, Lifetime Channel is channeling legendary French fashion guru Coco Chanel through the sensibilities of Shirley MacLaine, who, at 74, has long been a legend in her own right. The made-for-TV biopic portrays the quirky couturiere who, as far back as the 1910s, revolutionized the standards for modern female dress by discarding the stiff and starchy apparel of earlier periods in which women were less active and more subservient—and replacing them, over the years, with the “little black dress,” bell bottoms, and her signature cardigan-style suit. What better actress to portray the ultimate maverick than one who is a maverick, herself?    

The sister of deceased Beatle George Harrison has long been in the planning stages of opening a Beatles Museum in the small but music-oriented town of Branson, Mississippi. With an impressive memorabilia collection of her own that she is willing to put on loan to the museum, Branson may be in for a stunning facelift on its hometown image.

You know you are getting older when Meryl Streep is playing the aging mom of a young woman about to get married and start a family. The good news is that she pulls it off in Mama Mia! well enough, in fact, that she has helped make it the biggest grossing musical film of all time, according to industry tabulations. What is particularly inspiring for Baby Boomers and Beyond is that her character in the story enjoys as delightful a romance as her engaged daughter, complete with a happy ending. Meryl Mia!

Seventy-one year old Oscar winner Morgan Freeman flipped his car off a Mississippi highway on August 3, underwent 4-1/2 hours of surgery to repair nerve damage to his left arm and hand, and has been recuperating nicely ever since. Some are calling this accident the latest evidence of a curse on this summer’s box-office bonanza, Dark Knight. No need to be concerned at this point that the accident would jeopardize Freeman’s ability to play Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood’s upcoming biopic.

Bernie Brillstein died on August 2, 2008 of pulmonary disease at the age of 76. As Hollywood agent, Brillstein was the force behind the talents of such stars as John Belushi, Lorne Michaels, and Gilda Radner of Saturday Night Live. Later, having formed The Brillstein Company, he helped to launch The Muppet Show and SNL. Still later, in partnership with Brad Grey, he formed Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, producing a host of successful shows, including the groundbreaking, The Sopranos. Applying his own brand of humor to his tombstone, he suggested it read: “Bernie Brillstein: From Hee-Haw to Dangerous Liaisons.” And then some.  

Barbra Streisand recently endowed the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with $5 million for a women’s heart education and research program, according to representatives of the hospital. The gift is intended to permanently fund the Barbra Streisand Women’s Cardiovascular Research and Education at Cedars-Sinai. Sixty-five year old Streisand was quoted as saying in a written statement, “Women need to be educated about female cardiovascular disease and the medical community must be propelled toward change.” 

Blessed with a long, lean body screen star Marsha Hunt of the 1940’s was a costume designer’s dream. Now, she’s written a book on the subject, which she appropriately titles, The Way We Wore. Hunt made a recent personal appearance to tout her new book at the annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the UCLA campus.

Seventy-three year old sex kitten of the Sixties and animal activist extraordinaire, Brigitte Bardot is in trouble with the courts for alleged “hate remarks” she made against the immigrant Muslim population of her native France. The French government is protective of the needs of this soaring (six million strong and growing) segment of their population and her accusatory language was considered inflammatory. This is not the first time Bardot has appeared before a French judge.

Perennially beautiful Sophia Loren, still sexy at 73, joined a group of VIPs, including Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and British royals Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, aboard the MSC Peosia on April 5^th for its maiden voyage from Dover, England to Venice, Italy.

Known for its racy ads featuring scantily clad models, American Apparel used Woody Allen’s image on May 2007 billboards in New York and Hollywood and on the Internet. His lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan asks for $10 million in damages. Allen was quoted as saying the billboards and website displays were “especially egregious and damaging” since he makes it a practice never to endorse commercial products or services in the United States.

In her eighties now, still sultry and sensational Lauren Bacall continues to be in demand in Hollywood, onscreen and off. At a recent dinner given in her honor by Women in Hollywood, she expressed herself in that characteristic acerbic wit for which she is famous. “I’m glad to be here tonight, because it proves I’m still breathing. A lot of people think I’m dead.” Rob Reiner reminisced with the crowd about the time he went shopping with Bacall and tried to catch a glimpse of her in the dressing room. He explained, “I wanted to see what Bogey saw.” Apparently, he never got a chance.

After a long bout with lung cancer, TV/movie star Suzanne Pleshette died at the age of 70. Bob Newhard, her longtime (1972-78) TV co-star on “The Newhart Show” delivered the eulogy, but in accordance with her wishes, her pallbearers were her six closest friends, all women—including Tina Sinatra. Several years ago, after surviving the death of her longtime husband Tommy Gallagher, Pleshette fell in love all over again with the love of her youth, actor Tom Poston, whom she subsequently married. They enjoyed an idyllic relationship until he passed away in 2007 at the age of 85. Pleshette had no children.

Seventy-something veteran actor, William Shatner, eternally known to “Trekkies” as Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, has finally written his memoirs—Star Trek: The Academy: Collision Course. It’s not as though he has to look to the past for his glories, however. Shatner’s priceless TV commercials for www.priceline.com and his compelling portrayal of quirky lawyer Denny Crane in ABC’s “Boston Legal” demonstrate without question that his septuagenarian is still at the top of his game.

After a protracted and ugly divorce process, and no signed pre-nup to even the playing field, Paul McCartney was ordered in a British court to pay Heather Mills the equivalent of $50 million to keep her and their daughter in the style to which she had so quickly become accustomed. This was disappointing news for Mills, who had been hoping for about twice that. Before leaving the courtroom, she took out her frustration by dumping a pail of water on McCartney’s attorney’s head.

Sex appeal has nothing to do with youth and everything to do with attitude, so it’s appropriate that AARP created a Sexy Hall of Fame for seasoned celebrities over 55 who are destined to remain sexy for the rest of their lives. And no one can argue with their choices, including: Lauren Bacall, Warren Beatty, Jacqueline Bisset, Candice Bergen, Joan Collins, Sean Connery, Catherine Deneuve, Richard Gere, Lena Horne, Sophia Loren, Ann-Margret, Ricardo Montalban, Rita Moreno, Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, and Rachel Welch. But let’s not stop there. The list of celebrities oozing sex appeal is long and inspiring. Here are a few more, to prove the point: Clint Eastwood, Joanne Woodward, Diane Keaton, Steve Martin, Bill Cosby, Goldie Hawn, Barbra Streisand, Paul Newman, Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Diane Sawyer, Faye Dunaway, Suzanne Somers, Cheryl Tiegs, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Wagner, Jill St. John, Shirley Jones…. And that’s only the beginning.

Still sizzling at 66, actress Faye Dunaway is taking on male-dominated Hollywood for its refusal to cast older female stars in romantic leads while such aging actors as Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood—even Woody Allen—are given a pass. To illustrate how difficult things continue to be for actresses over 40 in Hollywood, some are resorting to “cosmetic enhancement” when they’re barely left their teens.

Talk about the ultimate birthday gift! In honor of his 60^th birthday actor/comedian Billy Crystal was given the birthday gift of his lifetime. On March 13^th, with his pal Robin Williams looking on from the sidelines, the lifelong New York Yankees fan was handed a bat at an exhibition game and took a turn as Designated Hitter. With a count of 3 and 1, Crystal went down, but not before making a solid connection with a ball that, unfortunately, chose to go foul. From the time Crystal was a kid in school, it had been his ambition to play major league baseball. Half a century later, he got his turn at bat, no doubt making baseball history. 

Sex appeal has nothing to do with youth and everything to do with attitude, so it’s appropriate that AARP created a Sexy Hall of Fame for seasoned celebrities over 55 who are destined to remain sexy for the rest of their lives. And no one can argue with their choices, including: Lauren Bacall, Warren Beatty, Jacqueline Bisset, Candice Bergen, Joan Collins, Sean Connery, Catherine Deneuve, Richard Gere, Lena Horne, Sophia Loren, Ann-Margret, Ricardo Montalban, Rita Moreno, Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, and Raquel Welch. But let’s not stop there. The list of seasoned celebrities oozing sex appeal is long and inspiring: Clint Eastwood, Joanne Woodward, Diane Keaton, Steve Martin, Bill Cosby, Goldie Hawn, Barbra Streisand, Paul Newman, Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Diane Sawyer, Faye Dunaway, Suzanne Somers, Cheryl Tiegs, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Wagner, Jill St. John…and that’s only the beginning. 

Julie Christie
This “Darling” of the Sixties is now living a private life in England far from media scrutiny. But Christie’s compelling performance in “Away from Her” won her the coveted Screen Actors Award for 2007, and she made the trip to Hollywood to accept her award. For those who missed her brilliant portrayal of an Alzheimer victim, you can rest assured that this 60+ icon has lost none of her beauty or sex appeal.  

Diane Keaton uses the other four-letter word.

Keaton is on a countrywide tour promoting her new feature film, “Mad Money.” When she appeared on “Good Morning America” recently on behalf of the film, in the process of complimenting host Diane Sawyer on the plumpness of her lips, she referred to her own less generous mouth and how she was left to develop her “f***ing” personality instead. 

Jane Fonda utters the ultimate verboten word on the Today Show.

Just when we thought we had heard the last of Jane Fonda’s irreverent outbursts, she managed to catch Today Show host Meredith Veriera and its coast-to-coast audience off-guard last week with her nonchalant use of the “C” word in the course of a discussion over Eve Ensler’s award-winning theatrical play, “The Vagina Chronicles.” NBC officially apologized for Fonda’s use of the word, but it came as too-little-too-late to stop the gossip-mongers from targeting foul-mouthed Fonda over the following few days.

Paul McCartney and Heather Mills
As of this moment, and the news is likely to change at any second, McCartney and his soon-to-be former wife are still fighting over the “cute” Beatle’s $1.6 billion fortune. For her year-and-a-half marriage that produced daughter, Beatrice, Mills wants over $100 million share of the pie. Mills contends she expects to be kept in the style to which she had become so quickly accustomed. In response to her detractors who label her greedy, she insists she is not materialistic. If not greedy, then, what?

Tony Orlando
Remember Tony Orlando and Dawn from the 1970s? Along with his backup group of pretty women singers, Orlando was the darling of the music scene, and enjoyed several seasons of success on TV. Over these past few decades, Orlando lost his Dawn but he gained over 100 pounds in the process. Recently, after tying up professionally with highly touted weight loss system, NutriSystem, he has lost the excess poundage and has slimmed down to a 34 pants size. Now all he has to do is bring back the Dawn.