Like an official with a starter’s pistol, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences kicked off the awards season in earnest last night by holding the Academy’s 3^rd Annual Governor’s Award Dinner in the Grand Ballroom at the Hollywood & Highland Center.  Admittedly it's a rather slow start as the event is generally for *ahem* "old school" Hollywood and those hoping to make an impression with Oscar voters. Potential nominees Glenn Close, Woody Harrelson, Gary Oldman, Tilda Swinton, Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were all there. Academy President Tom Sherak took the podium in a Darth Vader costume (in tribute to Jones) and opened with “How was your week?” 

And the first Oscar goes to…James Earl Jones.

Jones received an honorary Oscar from Sir Ben Kingsley for his long career in film. He accepted his Oscar via satellite because he’s in London starring in “Driving Miss Daisy” opposite Vanessa Redgrave at London’s Wyndham Theatre. Sir Ben Kingsley presented him the award for which Jones said he was “deeply honored” and “mighty grateful”.

In LA Oprah Winfrey and famed makeup man Dick Smith were given awards at the dinner; Smith for his long career spanning sixty five films including Little Big Man, The Godfather & The Godfather II, The Exorcist and Amadeus. Oprah was given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. (Despite the fact that she earned three standing 'O's to close the night, I'm pretty sure she'll still make a speech during February's three plus hour long telecast). Apparently there were a lot of heartfelt speeches for all of the recipients, attendees calling this year's gala the most emotional yet.

Part two of the event will be held tonight in London as Meryl Streep, Ralph Fiennes and James Earl Jones are scheduled to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tribute to Jones’ costar Vanessa Redgrave’s 50-year career. (I hope they don’t think this is in place of giving her a nomination for Fiennes’ Coriolanus! She’s been nominated six times, but has only won once: Best Supporting Actress for Julia in 1978) 

Enjoy the pics of the arrivals at last night’s event! (Is it me or did John Travolta look more vampire-y than Edward?) They're just starting to roll in so I may be back with more goodies!!

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Photo: WENN

Oprah Winfrey Chairman of 'OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network'

Oprah was in New York City at the 8 p.m. performance of The Book of Mormon over the weekend and on her way out, a huge fan got  a wish come true!

Oprah Goes Out With a BANG! Pulls Out HUGE Stage For Final Show – LOOK

 ”On the way out of the theater, a pregnant woman asked Oprah if she would touch her belly for good luck,” an eyewitness tells Life & Style. “Oprah beamed and responded with ‘of course!’ She asked when the woman was due and wished her congratulations.”

Oprah was there with her BFF, Gayle King, and a bunch of friends.  But no, there was no Stedman Graham around.

  “It was definitely a girls’ night out!” the eyewitness tells Life & Style. “They were with a bunch of female friends and Oprah’s longtime beau Stedman Graham was nowhere in sight.”

Do you think he’s really her boyfriend or just a cover?

Photo: WENN/Linda Matlow/PIXINTL

Lady GaGa has managed to knock Oprah Winfrey off the top spot in the most current Forbes Celebrity 100 Power Listing . The list ranks the most powerful celebrities based on: an algorithm that includes earnings, press clippings, magazine covers and TV/Radio mentions.

Being that social media is HUGE, the algorithim also includes Twitter and Facebook influence to the mix.

Despite the fact that Winfrey earned $200 million more than GaGa, who only earned (imagine only earning) $90 million, GaGa ranks number one in both web and social rank which boosts her to the number one position on the list.

Justin Bieber is number three on the list followed by Irish rock legends (in my mind at least) U2 with Elton John taking the 5th spot.

You can head over to Forbes for the entire list of 100.

Michael Vick, 30 was set to have a sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey but has cancelled:

After careful consideration, I will need to postpone the taping of the Oprah Winfrey interview scheduled for February 22,”

“I admire and respect Oprah and hope to be able to participate in an interview in the future.”

Allow me to translate: I completely forgot that Oprah was a major animal lover (particularly dogs) and it occurred to me she will kick my very dumb ass. Once I untuck my man-sack from my nether-regions, uncoil from my thumb-sucking fetal position, I will give the interview. Or not. Notice I said ‘hope to be able to participate’.

Vick, a Philadelphia Eagles quarterback did a stint in jail after being convicted of dog fighting and this would have been his first interview since being released.

I can forgive a lot of things, but using dogs in dog-fighting? I don’t think so, especially when the first thing out of his mouth was he didn’t know it was going on.

He has however claimed to be disgusted by his cruelty to animals and found God when he was in jail. That’s fine and dandy, but would you let him pet-sit your dog?

Oprah has been teasing us with trailers for today’s show telling us she has a BIG family secret she will be revealing. And that big news is that she has a half-sister! Having the best sister in the world (and the best soul sista in the world) she has no idea how great her life is going to get. And to think Oprah probably has the best life on the planet!

Her sister, Patricia was put up for adoption and went from foster home to foster home until she was adopted at the age of 7. Can you imagine HER shock when she learned Oprah was her sister! Life just changed dramatically for her.

You can watch the videos on the two sisters on TMZ here.

Don’t worry Gayle, Oprah will still be your BFF. I have to be honest, I expected her to reveal she had a child we didn’t know about or something. But to have a sister you never knew you had has got to be one of the best surprises for her.

What did you think Oprah’s secret was?

Photo: Nikki Nelson/WENN

Hugh Jackman is in his homeland of Australia visiting The Oprah Winfrey show (in case you have been in a coma or something she treated her audience members to an amazing vacation) where a stunt went wrong and he injured himself.

Hugh came in on a zip-line and apparently applied the breaks too late crashing into some lights causing an injury to his right eye. The show stopped so he could be taken care of and then it resumed because Hugh is a trooper like that.  But not to worry, Oprah took care of him and then they had wine.

TMZ has the video of the crash:

For the first time since ex-husband’s Michael Jackson’s death, Lisa Marie Presley broke her silence by sitting down exclusively with Oprah Winfrey to discuss having kids, shielding them from the glare of Hollywood and of course Michael Jackson.

She discusses how the day he died, before she found out about his death that she was sobbing all day long:

“It was the strangest day of my life; I was crying all day… I don’t normally do that… I was literally cutting my food, eating my dinner crying and I wanted to go upstairs and just go to bed and watch something mindless on TV and stop crying.

“I looked at my husband (Michael Lockwood) and said, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me – I just can’t stop!’

“And then, an hour later the knock came and I heard… It was a friend of mine… and actually I started getting texts: ‘Are you OK? Are you OK? John Travolta was one of the first texts I got: ‘Are you alright?’ I said, ‘Is this actually happening…?’

Her first reaction to his death:

“I was floored, honestly floored.”

The last year and a half has brought great clarity to her:

“This whole last year and a half has been spent trying to gain the clarity, because, at some point, I pushed it away and I just had to move on with my life and then that happened. It was like a tidal wave.”

And she’s glad she took time to pick her words carefully: “I understand him (Jackson) now more than I ever did so when I speak about him, I can speak about him with understanding. It’s all good now.

“I was so angry (with him) because we were so united and at some point he pushed me out… There was a very profound point in the marriage when he had to make a decision: Was it the drugs and the vampires or me and he pushed me away.”

To see her smile she looks exactly like her father, it’s really incredible. The interview is in six parts.  Some of it overlaps slightly but it’s really quite fascinating to see and hear her talk about Michael and her father Elvis Presley and the similarities between the two icons.

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