Jennifer Coolidge Named Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year

Actress Jennifer Coolidge will be the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 73rd Woman of the Year, the organization announced on Tuesday.

Coolidge’s acting career spans three decades and includes roles as Stifler’s mom in “American Pie” and indispensable stylist and best friend Paulette Bonafonté Parcelle in “Legally Blonde,” which is set at Harvard Law School.

Most recently, Coolidge acted as unraveling millionaire Tanya on the television drama “The White Lotus,” winning the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, as well as two Critics’ Choice Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.

Coolidge also played the role of Fiona Montgomery in “A Cinderella Story,” which garnered her a Teen Choice Award.

Previous recipients of the Woman of the Year award include actresses Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Scarlett Johansson, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, Viola Davis, and last year’s Woman of the Year, Jennifer Garner.

In the Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ press release, Hasty Pudding Man and Woman of the Year coordinator Maya M. Dubin ’23 said Coolidge’s “glittering personality and comedic presence are so Pudding.”

“We are so excited to welcome Jennifer Coolidge back to her hometown and to Harvard, the iconic setting of Legally Blonde,” Dubin said.

Hasty Pudding Theatricals producer Sarah L. Mann ’23 said in the release that it is an “absolute dream” to honor Coolidge with the award.

“We know our Pudding Pot will look phenomenal alongside her new Golden Globe, and we swear we won’t whisk her away to a palazzo in Palermo!” said Mann, in reference to the Sicilian setting of the second season of “The White Lotus.”

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals was founded in 1844, and it is the third-oldest theatrical group in the world. The group annually stages a musical production which is entirely written and performed by students.

The organization’s tradition of naming and celebrating a Woman of the Year began in 1951, and its first recipient was English actress Gertrude Lawrence.

The ceremony itself — which is set for Feb. 4 — consists of a parade through Harvard Square led by Coolidge, a celebratory roast of the actress, and the presentation of a “Pudding Pot” award. Similar festivities on Feb. 2 will honor actor Bob Odenkirk, the Hasty Pudding’s 2023 Man of the Year.

“We know she’ll fit right into the Pudding’s musical spectacular, though she’ll still have to earn her Pudding Pot on stage,” said Dubin.

—Staff writer Ella L. Jones can be reached at ella.jones@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @ejones8100.