Archerd: Rising Democrat is a friend of Hollywood
Mon Nov 11,10:40 PM ET
By Army Archerd, Daily Variety Senior Columnist
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Hollywood -- and the creative community -- will have a friend leading the Democratic caucus in Congress when, on Thursday, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) becomes the first woman to head the minority reps.
She is taking over after Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) announced he would not seek re-election as minority leader. (He will probably, however, seek the Dems' nomination to run for president.)
I met up with Pelosi at the Kodak Theatre Sept. 29 at Barbra Streisand (news)'s National Democratic Gala concert -- honoring Gephardt. At that time, the national election was a month away and the atmosphere was alive with enthusiasm. At the reception following the program, the AFI's Jean Firstenberg and Roz Wyman invited us to sit at their table and meet Pelosi and her husband, successful businessman Paul. The Pelosis had attended the AFI's Life Achievement Award dinner honoring Barbra Streisand in 2001. And Paul is a singer -- appearing in musicals in the San Francisco area.
Roz Wyman's association with Pelosi dates back to the Demo Convention in SanFran in 1984. "She (Pelosi) has many friends in the industry," Wyman told me. They include the Kirk Douglases, Warren Beatty (news) and Annette Bening (news) and Sherry Lansing, who co-hosted one of the Hollywood welcoming parties for Pelosi earlier this year.
And, of course, Jack Valenti has known Pelosi throughout her career and reminds, "She makes sure that our highest priority is protection of copyrights."
Hollywood's closest friends to Nancy Pelosi and her family must surely be Sid Ganis and his wife, Nancy Hult G. You recall, they optioned feature rights to daughter Alexandra Pelosi's documentary on George W. Bush, "Journeys With George." The highly praised documentary was created by the then-29-year-old NBC News producer on the campaign trail with contender Bush. It aired Election Night on HBO and repeats Wednesday, plus two more times.
Sid Ganis watched the election returns with the Pelosis in SanFran while wife Nancy was in Maine still stomping to the bitter end for Demo Chellie Pingree for the Senate. (P.S.: She lost in the GOP sweep.)
The Ganises are in confabs with Alexandra, who tells them, "All that the press wants to know now is -- 'Who is going to play me in your (the Ganises') movie'
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