After the Awards, Time to Bask in the Golden Glow

At the Columbia TriStar party, the press tables were turned on actress Fernanda Montenegro, who enthusiastically dialed up Brazilian journalists at 4 a.m.--their time--to share the good news here--at 10 p.m. in Beverly Hills.

Standing alone (except for a security guard nearby), Montenegro, star of the best foreign language film, “Central Station,” braved the drizzly weather behind the elegantly tented Hilton rooftop as she spoke with reporters via cell phone.

Inside, the shindig was in full swing with the likes of Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Alfre Woodard, Peter Fonda, Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffith, who were schmoozing and air-kissing and asking about the whereabouts of Montenegro.

But duty to country and compatriots--in this case four South American newspapers--came first.

“I am floating on air, and everyone in Brazil wants to know about the prize,” Montenegro said. “This is a very, very, very beautiful result.”

With that, Montenegro, dressed in a black, ostrich-feather-adorned Valentino pantsuit, entered the tent and joined cast mate Vinicius de Oliveira--a youngster who shined shoes before being discovered and cast in the film.

Others at the bash included Columbia Pictures President Amy Pascal, Stephen Fry, Ving Rhames, Ben Stiller, Lara Flynn Boyle, David Spade and Laura San Giacomo.

Peter Fonda was especially excited over Cate Blanchett’s win for “Elizabeth.”

“I hadn’t seen anything she had done before. In my mind, I didn’t know that she existed as an actress. Now I know. This is a major actress. She really knows her stuff,” said Fonda, a three-time Golden Globe nominee.

But Fonda beamed like a schoolboy when he talked about his good friend Jack Nicholson receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award from his other good buddy, Warren Beatty. Then he confessed that he and his pals have nicknames for each other.

“Jack and I call Warren ‘The Pro.’ Warren and I call Jack ‘Johnny Hot.’ ”

And what do they call Fonda?

“Well, they call me ‘The Patrician.’ These nicknames have been going on since 1968. I can count on these two guys to be friends for life.”

“This is a great way to arrive in a town I don’t know,” said “Still Crazy” star Bill Nighy, who calls London home. “It’s my first taste of Hollywood, and it tastes very, very rich--not money rich--but rich like exotic rich, glamorous and marvelous. There is nothing at home that comes close.”

Indeed. Minutes later, in swept Hugh Hefner and a bevy of beautiful blonds--all walking single file before taking up residence on a sofa: Hef in the center, three women on either side, with bodyguards at their flanks.

Their appearance was met like the parting of the Red Sea with partyers stopping in their designer duds on either side of the tent. The party soon shifted to the back of the tent, where Hefner obliged all with photos and handshakes--and when Hef and his hoofers hit the dance floor (to Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy”) the party shifted again.

“Now this is a party,” said a nearby security guard. “The swingers have arrived.”