Playing the Field
Rock of Ages
Lay the Favorite
EDIT: The film “Lay the Favourite” will premiere Jan. 21 in Park City, Utah at the Sundance Film Festival.
HOLLYWOOD actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and her husband Michael Douglas have hosted a glittering birthday party for a show business friend in New York.
The guests at the 80th birthday party for theatre and film producer Marty Richards included screen legend Robert De Niro and his wife Grace.
Douglas, 67, is a cousin of Richards’ late wife, Marylea Johnson.
Douglas and Swansea-born Catherine, 42, were the “honorary chairs” of the party and welcomed guests to the venue, the Rubin Art Museum in New York’s plush Chelsea district.
As well as DeNiro and wife, other guests included Chicago director Rob Marshall (Marty Richards being the producer of the stage musical and the movie in which Zeta Jones won an Oscar), actor and comedian Steve Guttenberg, plus Broadway star Lilias White and a host of other actors, actresses and well known personalities.
A telegram of congratulations was also read out at the bash from New York mayor Mike Bloomberg.
Marty Richards has been a longtime supporter of the Mary Lea Johnson Richards Transplant Centre in New York in memory of his late wife. The unit opened in 1990, a year after MaryLea’s death, and has been a leader in liver and kidney transplant work.
Proceeds from the party will go towards the unit’s work and research.
Catherine Zeta-Jones wore a stunning black dress and red heels for the party, while Douglas wore a navy tuxedo, white shirt and red tie.
Friends commented on how relaxed and happy Douglas and Zeta-Jones looked after rocky times.
In August 2010 Douglas announced he had throat cancer and last year Zeta-Jones revealed she was being treated for a mild form of bipolar disorder.
Her publicist Cece Yorke said she had sought treatment at a “mental health facility” after the stress of Michael’s illness triggered the disorder.
She said: “After dealing with the stress of the past year, Catherine made the decision to check in to a mental health facility for a brief stay to treat her Bipolar II disorder”.
Also last year Douglas’s son Cameron was jailed for drugs offences.
But after Douglas announced his recovery from cancer this time last year both got back to work.
He is currently promoting his latest movie Haywire, which will be released on January 20.
The action film has an all-star cast which includes Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas and Michael Fassbender.
Zeta-Jones has been involved in a number of movies recently including her latest project Lay the Favorite co-starring Bruce Willis.
She plays Bruce Willis’s wife in the comedy drama, about a group of middle-aged men who find a way to work the sportsbook system in Las Vegas for their financial gain.
She has also completed filming on comedy Playing The Field, in which she appears alongside an all-star cast of Gerard Butler, Uma Thurman, Dennis Quaid and Jessica Biel.
She also stars in the eagerly-awaited movie musical Rock of Ages.
Catherine plays Patricia Whitmore in the big-screen adaptation, whose plans to transform the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles is opposed by rock enthusiasts played by Russell Brand, Julianne Hough and Alec Baldwin.
Tom Cruise also stars as past-it rock god Stacee Jaxx.
Catherine is currently filming crime thriller Broken City with Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe in New York.
Douglas and Zeta Jones have just returned from a New Year holiday in the sun in Panama with their children Dylan, 11 and Carys, eight.
Source: walesonline.co.uk
