Gracie Allen: Celebs Rumors

Ashley Hume Ava Duvernay, Melanie Lynskey and Tamron Hall were among the honorees at The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation’s 47th Annual Gracie Awards on Tuesday night.Holly Robinson Peete hosted the event, which was held in-person for the first time in two years at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles. Named after the late vaudeville performer Gracie Allen, the Gracie Awards honor talented women in television, radio and digital media.The atmosphere inside this year’s gala was subdued, as facts were still emerging just hours after a mass elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 children and two teachers dead.Lynskey, who accepted the award for best actress in a leading role — drama, began her speech by thanking the Alliance for recognizing her work in the Showtime series “Yellowjackets.” “It’s amazing to be 45 and a size 12, according to this dress, and playing the sexiest, most interesting, most fun character of my career,” Lynskey said.Lynskey went on to express her sorrow over the shooting in Texas as well as the mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., which had occurred 10 days earlier.

McKinley Franklin editor The Alliance for Women in Media will award Marlo Thomas with the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s 48th Anniversary Gracies Awards, Variety can exclusively reveal. On May 23, Thomas will be presented with the award at the Four Seasons Hotel in L.A., an honor bestowed upon women in media who embody the essence of the late Gracie Allen for whom the awards ceremony is named. Additionally, Sofia Carson and Diane Warren will be performing at the event.  Thomas is an Emmy, Peabody, Golden Globe and Grammy award-winning actress, author and activist. She is a Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductee, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama in 2014. She rose to acclaim after leading the sitcom “That Girl” and has gone on to star in numerous films and TV shows including “It Happened One Christmas,” “Ocean’s 8,” “Nobody’s Child” and “Friends.”

Meghan Markle is receiving a high honor for her work amplifying women's voices. On Thursday, the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation announced the Duchess of Sussex as one of more than 100 winners of a 2023 Gracie Award. Markle -- who is being recognized for her headline-making podcast,  -- is in esteemed company, winning along with fellow stars like Christina Applegate, Ava DuVernay, Faith Hill, Amanda Seyfried and many more content creators spanning radio, television and digital. «This year's theme, 'Storytelling,' highlights and celebrates the narratives shared by the winners, which not only inform, inspire, and captivate audiences, but also enrich our collective comprehension of the world,» a press release stated.

Sophia Scorziello editor The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation has announced the winners of its 48th Annual Gracie Awards, an event that recognizes women-centered achievements and programming in media and entertainment. A gala honoring Gracie winners will be held on May 23 at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles. Local and student winners will be recognized on June 20 at a luncheon in New York City.  Winners of this year’s Gracie Awards include Christina Applegate, Meghan Markle, Ava DuVernay, Faith Hill, Amanda Seyfried, Danielle Monaro, Shelley Wade, “Abbott Elementary,” “Today,” “The Drew Barrymore Show” and “48 Hours.” Showtime’s “The First Lady” will be honored with this year’s Grand Award, an accolade that recognizes immense levels of effort and achievement in production. Rachel Lindsay of “Extra” and “The Bachelor” will return as AWMF’s social media ambassador.  

Jerry Zeitman, a onetime agent who represented George Burns & Gracie Allen, Shirley MacLaine, Fred Astaire and Frank Sinatra, died Thursday of natural causes in Los Angeles, his daughter Debbie Zeitman said. He was 90.

For more than four decades, the Alliance of Women in Media has hosted the Gracie Awards. Named after comedian Gracie Allen (a.k.a. hilarious wife of George Burns), the awards honour programming by, for and about women.