The Hollywood Reporter – 28.02.2018

O

scar nights were

sacrosanct for me as

a yeshiva boy grow-

ing up on Long Island.

Nothing could pry me away from

the TV set, and my macho Israeli

father figured out that his son

was very different from the other

little boys from Far Rockaway.

I had a stake in the game for the

first time after I became Katharine

Hepburn’s assistant in 1968. I

watched from New York with the

team from her next project, a stage

musical about Coco Chanel: Ms.

Hepburn and Barbra Streisand,

my favorite performer of all time,

tied for best actress! We were

in heaven and trooped to Elaine’s

to celebrate.

My first time at the show was

seven years later: I escorted

Daphna Krim. Her father, Arthur,

head of United Artists — whose

wife, Mathilde, founded amfAR —

was being honored with the Jean

Hersholt award. Naturally, we all

sat in the first row. Howard Hawks

received an honorary award that

night. His daughter Kitty was my

pal and agent. So afterward we

all headed to Connie Wald’s home

on North Beverly Drive. Connie,

the widow of Peyton Place pro-

ducer Jerry Wald, discreetly asked

if I was going to any other parties,

and I told her I was going to John

Schlesinger and Michael Childers’.

“Would you mind very much to

bring Audrey Hepburn?” Woul d I

mind?! Smelling of jasmine and

roses, Hepburn kissed me on both

My Life in Four Decades of Oscar Parties

A Call Me by Your Name producer has squired such legends as Audrey Hepburn and Diana Ross through awards season

— from ‘stars by the yard’ soirees to intimate wee-hours dinners — and has the stories to prove it By Howard Rosenman

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1 Rosenman (right) with Dakota Johnson at

January’s Golden Globes. 2 Audrey Hepburn at the

1 975 Oscars, after which Rosenman escorted her

to a party. 3 2017 winner Viola Davis and husband

Julius Tennon. 4 Winner Mahershala Ali (left) with

Justin Timberlake in 2017. 5 From left: Joanna and

Johnny Carson with Swifty Lazar in 1981. 6 Winners

Damien Chazelle and Emma Stone at Lionsgate’s

2017 soiree. 7 Madonna, Michael Jackson peering

over her right shoulder, at Spago in 1991.

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About Town

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 51 FEBRUARY 28, 2018

People, Places, Preoccupations

HEPBURN: RON GALELLA/WIREIMAGE. ALI: KEVIN MAZUR/VF17/WIREIMAGE. ROSENMAN: COURTESY OF SUBJECT. STONE: ERIC CHARBONNEAU/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK. CARSON, MADONNA: RON GALELLA/WIREIMAGE. DAVIS: DAVE M. BENETT/VF17/WIREIMAGE.