Magazine honors women in showbiz

Beverly Hills, Calif. —- In the year of Sarah Palin and “Sex and the City,” perhaps it’s no surprise that an event honoring women drew some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

Nicole Kidman, Jane Fonda, Jennifer Lopez, Diane Keaton and Halle Berry joined dozens of other stars in a ballroom at the Four Seasons Hotel on Monday for Elle magazine’s 15th annual Women in Hollywood tribute, honoring seven noteworthy women in entertainment.

Fonda served as an informal entertainment ambassador before the program, chatting up actress Kat Dennings and introducing Amber Tamblyn to Shirley MacLaine. Meanwhile, the evening’s host, Chelsea Handler, shared laughs with Jenny McCarthy and Cheryl Hines. Other guests included Kate Beckinsale, Courteney Cox, Eva Mendes, Angie Harmon and Cheryl Tiegs.

Most guests didn’t care to publicly discuss Palin, but Handler cracked a few jokes at the Republican vice presidential candidate’s expense.

“We are more than just a great set of legs, ladies,” Handler said. “Except for Sarah Palin. That’s where she peaked.”

Elle’s annual dinner pays tribute to women “who are telling our stories” in Hollywood, said editor Roberta Myers. This year’s honorees included Berry, Fonda, Kidman, Anne Hathaway, Sigourney Weaver, Isla Fisher and director Catherine Hardwicke —- all of whom are featured in the magazine’s November issue.

“Someday hopefully it won’t be necessary to allocate a special evening to celebrate where we are and how far we’ve come,” Weaver said. “Someday women writers, producers and crew members will be so commonplace, and roles and salaries for actresses will outstrip those for men, and pigs will fly.”

Though things have improved for women, “we do have a long way to go,” she said.

Hathaway said in today’s Hollywood “women are about so much more than how they look.”

“I think it’s pretty remarkable that, at 25, I’m able to say that my role as a woman in Hollywood is purely as an artist, not a cause,” Hathaway said. “I’m free to play my characters as I imagine them, far beyond what size jeans they wear.”

Fisher thanked “my baby daddy SBC” (Sacha Baron Cohen) and paid homage to Kidman, “who paved the way for all us Aussies.”

MacLaine continued the praise.

“Nicole Kidman has been a revelation to me, and it’s not easy for me to be revelated,” she said, calling Kidman “my star child.”

Kidman thanked all the directors who “molded” her, particularly Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack.

“They were men in Hollywood who loved women,” she said.

Fonda thanked all the women in the house —- and Hollywood itself.

“Aren’t we glad we’re not bankers,” she said. “We are in the most fantastic business.”