Meryl Streep, Star of 'The Iron Lady', Racks Up Awards

Meryl Streep as Thatche

 Actress Meryl Streeps' new starer, The Iron Lady, premiered Tuesday, December 13, at the Ziegfeld Theater, NYC, to much praise, especially for the actress on the verge of assuming the title of the current gran dame of Hollywood actresses. Streep, wearing a big-hair red wig, remarkably resembles the former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as does Streep's voice. Oscar buzz for Meryl Streep has been growing for almost a month, and The Iron Lady, scheduled to open January 13, hasn't opened at the time of this post.

Shortly after the movie's premiere, Streep received the Kennedy Center Honor for her achievements in acting and humanitarian causes. In October, she won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for her role in The Iron Lady, while their best picture award went to the black and white move, The Artist.

Streep was recently nominated for a best actress Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award, and a Golden Globe in the same category. Now comes word she will receive an honorary life-time achievement Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, which will run February 9-19 in Berlin, Germany. The 69th annual Golden Globes will be broadcast live in HD on NBC Sunday, January 15, 2012, and the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards are scheduled for Sunday, January 29, 2012, at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.

The Berlin International Film Festival presentation ceremony for Streep is scheduled for February 14, and, of course, a screening of The Iron Lady will follow. As a further homage to Streep, the festival will also screen some of her best-known films, among them: Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie's Choice, Out of Africa and The Bridges of Madison County. Which is your favorite among these? For more on the tribute, click the title of this post.

And, there are more honors for Streep, currently 62. She is on the cover of the January issue of Vogue Magazine. The headline?  "Meryl Streep: Force of Nature," a fitting title since she is a shareholder in the Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) organization, a.k.a. Local Harvest, and has been working for safe, organic and ecologically sustainable food for more than a decade.

She is also a supporter of the campaign for a National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C.  So far, this exists as a virtual entity with a nice Web site (nwhm.org), but campaigners have been working to get an actual, physical museum “Right Here. Right Now” (as their literature puts it) on a property on, or adjacent to, the National Mall.

Since this is federal land, Congress must pass legislation to authorize the purchase, even though the museum will not cost the taxpayers anything, because it will be privately funded. Of course, Congress, especially the House, does as little as possible, so the project remains on hold.

I agree with Streep and the others. It's time the contribution of women to the U.S.A. had a "residence" on the National Mall along with the gents.

According to the IMDb, Meryl Streep has been nominated for an Academy Award 16 times. She has won only twice: Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Sophie's Choice (1982). It's time she added a third statuette to her fireplace mantel before all the Academy will present her is an honorary Oscar for her life's work. 

You go, girl!

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PST in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center, and televised live at 7 p.m. EST/4 p.m. PST by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries worldwide.