Many thanks to Elmira for submitting a scan of Total Film’s May issue, featuring a brief article on “The Iron Lady”.

Yesterday, Meryl has attended Good Housekeeping’s Annual Shine on Awards, as earlier reported. Pictures from the event have been added to the image library.

Here comes a very rare and fantastic new find courtety the exceptional Bobbie Wygant Archives. In late 1982, she interviewed Meryl for the theatrical release of “Sophie’s Choice”. The full eight minutes interview video can be watched in the video archive – captures can be found in the Image Library. Enjoy and be sure to pay Miss Wygant’s website a visit.

On Tuesday, April 12, Good Housekeeping salutes nine extraordinary women whose combination of intelligence, imagination and nerve is changing women’s lives forever at “Shine On,” a special one-night-only theatrical event at Radio City Music Hall with special appearances by two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, three-time Grammy Award winner Trisha Yearwood in her first New York City performance in five years and Academy Award winner Goldie Hawn. Highlights of the evening will include a special tribute to Elizabeth Taylor by business partner and friend Kathy Ireland and an opening performance by Grammy Award-winner Eve, who wrote an original song for the occasion. The star-studded event benefits the National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C., which is dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and celebrating the diverse historic contributions of women. Tickets for the one-night-only show are available at www.goodhousekeeping.com/shine-on.

I’m sure this will make your Sunday. On her first cover for 2011, you’ll have a hard time figuring out that it’s indeed Meryl Streep. For the Alumnae/i Quarterly magazine, Meryl transformed, with the help and stunning photography by Brigitte Lacombe, into Vassar founder Matthew Vassar. She helps to recreate the painting “Matthew Vassar, 1861“, commissioned by Vassar’s nascent Board of Trustees and executed by the distinguished artist Charles Loring Elliott, upon the founding of the college.

Many thanks to Simona for providing these two fantastic interviews for the video archive. In 2009, while Meryl Streep was visiting the Rome International Film Festival to promote “Julie & Julia”, two interview specials were produced by the festival for Italian television – Incontro and Viaggio Nel Cinema Americano – both very insightful and funny. The two specials can be now watched in great quality in the video archive. Thanks Simona! Enjoy watching.

Actress Kate Winslet will author a book of celebrity self-portrait photos by Ben Stiller, Jude Law, Meryl Streep and others to support autism that will be released later this year. Winslet organized the collection of self-portrait photos for the book titled “The Golden Hat” after becoming inspired by an HBO documentary she narrated called, “A Mother’s Courage: Talking Back To Autism”. The film shows Keli Ericsdottir, an Icelandic boy who suffered from severe non-verbal autism, eventually being able to communicate. He now composes poems, including one describing a magical hat that enables an autistic boy to communicate. The book derives its name from Ericsdottir’s poem. Winslet asked more than two dozen celebrities to take a self-portrait photo wearing one special hat that was passed along. Other well-known figures in the book include comedian Ricky Gervais, tennis player Maria Sharapova, singer Christina Aguilera and actresses Naomi Watts and Julianne Moore. Proceeds from the book’s profits will benefit Winslet’s autism charity “The Golden Hat Foundation.” (source: Reuters).

According to the Lincoln Center website, Meryl Streep leads some of America’s foremost artists, scholars, and public figures in this extraordinary evening celebrating the role of contemporary poetry in American culture. Wednesday, April 27, 2011 6:30 PM. Alice Tully Hall, Starr Theater.

Deadline has, once again, the exclusive scoop on “Great Hope Springs”: “I’m told that Tommy Lee Jones has surfaced as the front-runner to play Meryl Streep’s husband in the David Frankel-directed Great Hope Springs. Mandate Pictures recently set Streep as one half of the troubled couple and Steve Carell to play the marriage therapist who tries to help rekindle their loveless relationship after 31 years of marriage. It’s their last shot before divorce. Vanessa Taylor wrote the script. Escape Artists’ Todd Black and Film 360’s Guymon Casady are producing. Shooting starts in August.” Personally, while I am still not sure if this film is going to happen this soon – I consider Mr. Jones the best actor of his time, so he would be a perfect match for Meryl Streep.

Here is another rare find for the archives. In 1996, CBS aired a Siskel and Ebert special, featuring interviews with some of the greatest filmmakers of their time, inluding Meryl Streep. She and Gene Siskel first visited Yale for a discussion with students, and then sat down at Frank Pepe’s Pizzeria (seriously) for an interview about Meryl’s time at Yale and her successful film career. This interview is insightful and at times downright hilarious, which makes it a must-see. Enjoy! Additionally, screencaptures have been added as well.