On Tuesday, February 6th, 2024, Annette Bening was honored as Hasty Pudding’s 74th Woman of the Year (WOY). The Woman of the Year award is the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ (HPT) oldest honor, bestowed annually on “performers who have made lasting and impressive contributions to the world of entertainment.” The festivities began with a parade through Harvard Yard, which included the Blue Man Group. The Blue Man Group was a hit, silently waving colorful streamers, taking selfies with fans, and spreading paint on people’s faces and hands. They kissed video camera lenses and took Polaroid photos of parade-watchers that they sealed with marks from their blue lips.
Bening, the star of the show, arrived in style atop a convertible Bentley while surrounded by a mix of make-shift security guards (football players and male Hasty Pudding business staff members dressed like Men in Black characters) and the cast of Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 175th production, Heist, Heist, Baby. Behind her rode the producers of HPT, Madison Pankey ’24 and Hannah Frazer ’25, who sat on either side of Chelsea Vuong, Miss Massachusetts 2023.
After the parade, Bening was roasted by Hasty Pudding President Joshua Hillers ’24 and Cast Vice President Nikita Nair ’24, where she was presented with the traditional Golden Pudding Pot, along with a feathered hat and a slice of cold pizza. “We’re absolutely thrilled to honor Annette Bening in this milestone 175th anniversary year for the Hasty Pudding,” said Hillers. “Hot off her Oscars nomination for Best Actress, we’re excited to present her with the most prestigious award in the entertainment industry.”
During the roast, Bening joked that she was neither excited nor particularly inspired to be receiving the Pudding Pot, classifying it as her least important award. But despite her offhand wisecracks, she admitted during the press conference that she was very happy to find out that she would be receiving the award, as her husband Warren Beatty won the Man of the Year award in 1975 and her sister-in-law Shirley MacLaine won Woman of the Year in 1963.
Indeed, Bening is no stranger to awards, having played a multitude of complex, multidimensional female characters throughout her career. Most recently, she was Oscar-nominated for her portrayal in Nyad of Diana Nyad, a 64 year-old marathon swimmer who attempts to become the first person ever to swim from Cuba to Florida. According to an interview with IndieWire, Bening trained for over a year to prepare for the role. During filming, she spent 30 days in the tank and swam up to eight hours each day. In addition to the physical exertion, Diana Nyad was an emotionally complex role. When asked about her portrayal of strong women at the WOY press conference, Bening explained that she believes the best approach is to understand that a “strong woman is also a flawed woman… [She’s] a real woman.”
During the roast, she was asked to act like a seagull, a reference to her 2018 performance in The Seagull. In the moment, she jokingly credited her outstanding improv performance to Michael Chekhov, a critically acclaimed Russian actor best known for developing the ‘psychological gesture.’ At the press conference, Bening was asked to elaborate on her acting training and how her philosophy has changed throughout her career.
“I was really lucky, I went to an amazing school called the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. I really needed that. I had gone to community college at San Francisco State, but I had never met an actor when I wanted to be an actor. But I knew I loved the theater and I knew, as an audience member, that I was dazzled and [so I] started doing plays when I could. And I just wanted to follow that.” She continued to express appreciation for her acting teachers and concluded by saying that “one of the most important things in modern acting that’s stressed is listening. So much of acting is really just receiving, and taking in what’s happening, rather than feeling responsible to do something.”
Minutes later, Bening did just that as she sat down to watch Heist, Heist, Baby. Throughout the show, she seemed enraptured by the student-written dialogue, the live orchestra, and the cast’s talent. Yet it was not the first time in the day that Bening had been kissed by talent, so to speak. During the parade and twice at the press conference, Bening posed with HPT members as they kissed her on the cheek, a tradition carried throughout all of the Woman of the Year and Man of the Year festivities. At the photo portion of the conference, Maureen Clare ’24, a member of HPT tech, and Crystal Manyloun ’26, the show’s assistant choreographer, posed on either side of Bening as she held up her monogrammed Pudding Pot. Final shots of Bening show her with blue lipstick on her cheek.
Yet while Bening was left with a smudge on her face, reminiscent of the Blue Man Group’s prior messy activities, the audience was left with excitement and appreciation for the gracious guest. As Bening exited the theater for the final time, she was celebrated by an admiring standing ovation.
Mia Tavares ’27 (miatavares@college.harvard.edu)’s mom is a hardcore Annette Bening fan.