Hasty Pudding Names Hawn, Jackson Woman and Man of the Year

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals announced earlier this week that it has selected Academy Award nominee Samuel L. Jackson and Academy Award winner Goldie Hawn to receive its annual Man and Woman of the Year awards.

The award festivities will begin Feb. 11 at 2 p.m., when Hawn leads a parade of Pudding actors and performing arts student groups through the Square.

Hawn will receive her congratulatory "Pudding Pot" at a preview of the Pudding players' 151st show. Jackson will receive his "pot" Feb. 18 prior to the opening performance of "I Get No Kick From Campaign," a political satire chronicling the race of an underdog candidate for the American presidency.

Members of the Pudding selection committee said they chose Jackson and Hawn because of their impressive and lasting contribution to the world of entertainment.

"We look for someone with a long career, who is well liked and [who has] done a large variety of work," said Carolyn A. Cassidy '99, co-producer of the Theatricals' original musical and a member of the selection committee.

The recipients of the award also conduct a workshop for Pudding actors, and, therefore, a candidate's personality is considered in the process.

"We think of who will be fun to hang out with and who has some background in theater," Cassidy said.

Hawn started her career as a singer and dancer in New York and broke into television with the variety show, "Laugh-In." She won an Academy Award in 1969 for Best Supporting Actress in "Cactus Flower" and has most recently appeared in "The First Wives Club" and Woody Allen's "Everyone Says I Love You."

Jackson, a graduate of Morehouse University, received an Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe nomination for his role as the philosophizing assassin Jules in "Pulp Fiction," as well as Golden Globe nominations for "Jackie Brown" and "A Time to Kill."

The "Man of the Year" award was established in 1963, 12 years after the creation of its female counterpart. Past recipients of the awards include Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Paul Newman, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford.

"[Jackson] is thrilled to be honored in such a way, to be part of the esteemed company that has received the award before," said Jackson's publicist, Gayle B. Khait.

Hawn is looking forward to having a lot of laughs in Cambridge, said her publicist Heidi P. Schaeffer.

"[Hawn] has a fabulous sense of humor and loves to laugh. She is very excited about the award," she said.