| Thursday 26 February 2009 |
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Oscar parties on: Dani Janssen wins
|  | | Dani Janssen | While Vanity Fair, the Governor's Ball, and Elton John cornered the market for specialized Oscar parties, what about Dani Janssen? In case you don't know, Dani and her late husband actor David Janssen - yes, the Fugitive! - started the whole Oscar party business years ago. Eventually it became the Swifty Lazar party at the old Spago. But when Swifty died, Vanity Fair took over the big gala. David Janssen died suddenly of a heart attack, and Dani - everyone's favorite person in the Hollywood community - downsized to the most exclusive gathering in town on Oscar night.
And so it was on Sunday - and a great relief to her guests, I'm told, who felt cheated last year when Dani took a break because of the Writers Guild strike. Janssen herself remains as secretive as Dick Cheney when it comes to her guest list or menu, but my sources say that Jack Nicholson, Michael Douglas, Penny Marshall, Quincy Jones, Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, comedian Don Rickles, Berry Gordy, Al Pacino, Whoopi Goldberg - who parked her motor home in Dani's courtyard, and Shirley Maclaine all dined on Janssen's homemade fried chicken and signature "monkey bread". Someone said Sophia Loren popped in, but I have no confirmation.
Who was missing? Dani's bestest and oldest BFF, Clint Eastwood, who traveled to Paris to get the Palm D'or from the Cannes Film Festival, and then went on to South Africa. He's directing Morgan Freeman there as Nelson Mandela. Clint's "Gran Torino", the biggest money maker of the holiday season, was curiously snubbed by the Academy. But with "Mandela", he and Freeman should be back eating the monkey bread next year! (Fox 411)
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