Zellweger Crowned Woman of the Year

Despite being surrounded by Harvard students dressed in drag, Renee Zellweger could not escape one of her most celebrated movie roles as she rode down Mass. Ave. in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ Woman of the Year parade yesterday afternoon.

Halfway through the parade route, a man held up a cardboard sign reading, “You complete me,” a nod to the classic phase from Zellweger’s movie “Jerry Maguire.”

Zellweger, also known for her appearances in “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Chicago,” and “Cold Mountain,” laughed with her Hasty Pudding escorts and lamented forgetting her gloves as she rode down the street in a silver Bentley convertible.

The Oscar winner also talked to members of the crowd and struck comical poses with Hasty Pudding President David J. Andersson ’09 and Vice President of the Cast Thomas R. Compton ’09.

“You were robbed in ‘Chicago!’” one woman yelled to Zellweger as she passed.

“I got to do it!” a confused Zellweger replied.

“But you didn’t get the Oscar,” the woman replied.

“Well, don’t tell everybody!” Zellweger said.

As the procession passed the Porcellian Club, a stuffed pig was tossed into the actress’s car. Zellweger kissed the pig and put a red rose she had been clutching into its mouth.

Throngs of bundled-up students and locals lined Mass. Ave., anxiously awaiting the parade’s scheduled 2:30 p.m. start time. But it was not until 3:00 p.m. that members of the Harvard Juggling Club first bounced down Mass. Ave. on stilts.

The procession ended at the New College Theatre, where Zellweger was led inside to be roasted by Andersson and Compton.

Zellweger, who punctuated the roast with bouts of hysterical laughter, was repeatedly confronted by iconic roles from her past, as she met “Bridget Jones’s body double" and a jealous “Catherine Zeta-Jones,” with whom she was forced to do the Charleston.

Throughout the festivities, the Texas native made it clear that she was less than thrilled by the frigid Cambridge weather.

“Where was this an hour ago when it was ten degrees outside?” she said when asked to wear a fat suit during the roast.

Before they presented her with the traditional golden Pudding Pot, Andersson and Compton required Zellweger to complete tasks including seducing a “proper British gentleman” by answering questions testing her knowledge of “British idiosyncratic slang” and providing the voices for a shark and a bee.

In addition to the Pudding Pot, Zellweger was given a more practical gift—a pair of adult diapers, to mock her for being in the bathroom when her name was announced during the 2000 Golden Globe Awards. Andersson and Compton presented the gift, which she modeled for the audience.

Zellweger said that before coming to Harvard, she was always impressed at the quality of students Harvard produces.

“I’m really going to have to rethink all that,” she said.

After Zellweger received her award, members of the Hasty Pudding cast previewed their upcoming show “Acropolis Now.”

At the end of the roast, Zellweger made it clear she was not yet finished celebrating her award.

“I love my Pudding Pot, and I will love it more tonight when I bring it to the party and fill it with vodka,” she said.

—Staff writer Lauren D. Kiel can be reached at lkiel@fas.harvard.edu.