What will Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, Salma Hayek lug home Monday night?

After the 15th annual Women in Hollywood Awards next Monday night, honorees Nicole Kidman, Salma Hayek, Jane Fonda, Isla Fisher, Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway and Sigourney Weaver will be getting some well-deserved awards.

But that's not all. These actresses and 200 other guests will also leave the Four Seasons dinner with a gift bag containing a hefty new coffee table book, "The Allure of Beauty: Women in Hollywood," created by International jeweler Roberto Coin and Elle magazine.

I just got an advance copy of the book and am blown away by the array of past and present actresses and unusual photos.

Included in the book are photos of a languidly prone Julianne Moore, a sexily disheveled Charlize Theron (at left), a beaming Cameron Diaz, a gamine Keira Knightley, a sultry Penelope Cruz, and a playfully intimate shot of Jennifer Aniston.

There are also shots of Hollywood’s earlier beauties such as Joan Crawford, Ann- Margret, Candice Bergen, Rita Hayworth, Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Faye Dunaway, Jacqueline Bisset, Shirley MacLaine, Greta Garbo, Natalie Wood, Sharon Tate, Elizabeth Taylor,  Ingrid Bergman, Jean Harlow, Kim Novak, Veronica Lake, Audrey Hepburn and Julie Christie.

I particularly love the way some of the photos are arranged to show the striking parallels  between actresses from different eras: Julia Roberts and Ann Sheridan, Gwyneth Paltrow and Grace Kelly, a shot of a white-haired Meryl Streep from “The Devil Wears Prada” next to a similar shot of Lana Turner, her white-blond hair framed by  black fur.

Great quotes from a breathy Marilyn Monroe, seen in a shot from “Something’s Got to Give:" “I don’t want to make money. I just want to be wonderful.”  And a brazen Bette Davis: "From the moment I was 6, I felt sexy. And let me tell you it was hell, sheer hell, waiting to do something about it."

WHAT? I just turned the page and saw Lindsay Lohan, a shot from 2005. Hey, how’d she get in there? Surely not for "I Know Who Killed Me!"

Elle will continue it's homage to Hollywood’s women in the November issue with more photos of Monday's award-winning actresses, taken by Elle’s creative director, Gilles Bensimon.

And I'll be on hand Monday night to give you a blow-by-blow of the mega-glam event.

Photo: Cover courtesy of Assouline Publishing

Comments

[JT]

please please pile it on. the more the left goes after gov. palin, the more the people see how deranged the democrats has become.
that's right, she said there were 57 states, she said she met the "folks" recently at a restaurant, except the place closed in 1990, she implored a paralyzed man to jump out of his chair, and of course, gov. palin was too weak and frightened to ask hillary to run by her side.
a dose of barbra streisand puts john and sarah at 1600 PA. avenue.
more hate please more hate !

[Jamie]

Why are these women being honored?

[gerry johns]

Hollywood is all about glitz and awards are part of that scene. These women are being honored for their addition to the Hollywood mystique...without them, most people would stay home and watch TV. And Hollywood would be a ghost town. Hollywood is about making movies, these women do just that.