Acad honors Oscar-winning women
Those women on hand--out of 158 invited--included actresses Anne Bancroft, Geena Davis, Kathy Bates, Anjelica Huston, Whoopi Goldberg, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway, Sally Field, Celeste Holm, Shirley MacLaine, Marlee Matlin, Martha Raye , Ginger Rogers, Peggy Lee, Estelle Parsons and Liza Minnelli.
Others attending were costume designers Bhanu Athaiya ("Gandhi"), Emi Wada ("Ran") and Yvonne Blake ("Nicholas and Alexandra"); lyricists Marilyn Bergman and Carole Bayer Sager; film editors Anne Coates ("Lawrence of Arabia"), Gabriella Cristiani ("The Last Emperor") and Marcia Lucas ("Star Wars"); and producer Lili Fini Zanuck.
The photograph of the assembled Oscar-winning women was taken by Theo Westenberger, whose picture of First Lady Hilary Clinton recently appeared on the cover of Newsweek.
According to Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences president Robert Rehme , the idea for the group photograph was hatched by the Academy Awards show coordinating committee.
"It's never been done before," said Rehme, pointing out that the record for most nominations and Oscars is held by a woman: Costume designer Edith Head received 35 noms and won eight Oscars.
"It just seemed like the right thing to do, especially in light of the fact that we're highlighting women and the movies at this year's show," Rehme said.
