Tony Bennett and Meryl Streep on Wednesday launched a national TV campaign to bring aid to war-torn Darfur. “Don’t be distracted. Don’t turn away. Don’t be overwhelmed. Don’t be too busy. Don’t delay. Darfur can’t wait. Go to www.unrefugees.org,” Streep says in new public service ads. Streep and Bennett are appealing to Americans to donate to USA for U.N. Refugee Agency’s relief effort, which provides food and shelter for the millions of people who have fled their homes since fighting broke out in the Sudanese region in 2003. The complete article can be read on People.com, please also visit UNrefugees.org for more information.

Meryl Streep will present a public lecture about her career and the theater at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, in McCosh 50 when she comes to Princeton University as the Belknap Visitor in the Humanities. Streep was selected to deliver this year’s Belknap lecture because of the range of her experience. The free public lecture is being presented by the Humanities Council. Tickets for Princeton students, faculty and staff with valid PUIDs will be distributed from noon to 6 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 27-28, at the Frist Campus Center ticket office. There is a limit of two tickets per person bearing a PUID. A limited number of tickets also will be available to the public from noon to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, at the Richardson Auditorium ticket office in Alexander Hall, with a limit of two tickets per person. On Nov. 30, doors will open at 4:30 p.m. for ticket holders, and at 4:50 p.m. there will be general admission from a “wait line” for any available seats. Read the full article here.

Nathan Lane, Harvey Fierstein, Donny Osmond, Meryl Streep and stars of The Times They Are A-Changin’, The Jersey Boys, Tarzan and more will take part in “A Magical Evening” benefit for the Christopher Reeve Foundation Nov. 6. The event, which will celebrate the strength and courage of the late Christopher and Dana Reeve, will be held at the Marriott Marquis. Current Beauty and the Beast star Donny Osmond, The Times They Are A Changin’ lead Lisa Brescia, Tarzan duo Josh Strickland and Jenn Gambatese as well as stars of Jersey Boys are slated to perform. Meryl Streep, Barbara Walters, Joan Collins, Olivia Wilde, Miss USA Tara Conner as well as Matthew, Alexandra and Will Reeve will be in attendance. Read the full article here.

Meryl Streep will receive the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment breakfast, to be held Dec. 5 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The Lansing award is designed to recognize women who have been pioneers or leaders in their field in the entertainment industry. The Women in Entertainment breakfast, sponsored by Lifetime Television, will be held in conjunction with the publication of The Reporter’s 15th annual “Women in Entertainment Power 100” special issue. “We are thrilled to honor Meryl Streep as this year’s recipient of the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. Ms. Streep is one of the most respected and most acclaimed actresses of all time,” said John Kilcullen, publisher of The Hollywood Reporter and president of the Film & Performing Arts Group. “Ms. Streep embodies all of the qualities of excellence and achievement that the award is designed to represent. Her work on and off the screen inspires many.” Read the full article here.

The cast of “A Prairie Home Companion” has been nominated for a Gotham Award in the “Best Ensemble Cast” category, alongside the casts of “Babel”, “For Your Consideration”, “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Shortbus”. The Gothams, which will be presented on Nov. 29 at New York’s Pier Sixty at the Chelsea Piers, also will recognize both Kate Winslet and Edward Norton with 2006 Gotham Tributes. Meryl Streep won the Gotham Tribute Award in 1999.

According to Variety, Tom Cruise May be ready to get back to work. Cruise is looking at three pics: two from majors (Warner Bros. and Fox), and one that’s being mobilized independently. The indie appears to be the favorite: “Lions for Lambs,” a political drama revolving around a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Scripted by Matthew Carnahan (“State of Play”), the project is shaping up with Robert Redford likely to direct as well as play a role. This is of course not official – as the article states at the end: There are no guarantees on any pic. In February, Cruise looked seriously at a trio of films, none of which he took.The full article can be read here.

In an interview with the French press to promote “The Devil Wears Prada” last week, Meryl Streep talked about her upcoming role in “Evening”: “I’m making a very small film. I just decided to do it last week and I’m doing it next weekend. I play a very old woman, a friend of Vanessa Redgrave in a movie called “Evening”. My best friend is dying… it’s about an older woman, Vanessa, looking back at her life and it’s a wonderful cast, including… my daughter who is playing me – younger. She has the big part – I have a litte part”.

Uniting a stellar cast, Evening begins filming in Rhode Island this week for Focus Features. The Hart Sharp Entertainment production, adapted by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Cunningham from Susan Minot’s best-selling novel of the same name, is directed by Lajos Koltai. The cast of Evening includes Claire Danes, Toni Collette, Vanessa Redgrave, Patrick Wilson, Hugh Dancy, Natasha Richardson, Dame Eileen Atkins, Mamie Gummer, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Glenn Close, and two-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. The drama explores the romantic past and emotional present of Ann Grant (played by Redgrave) and her daughters, Constance (Richardson, who is also the real-life daughter of Redgrave) and Nina (Collette). As Ann lays dying, she remembers, and is moved to convey to her daughters, the defining moments in her life 50 years prior, when she was a young woman (played by Danes). Gummer and Streep, who are mother and daughter in real life, are portraying Ann’s college friend Lila as a younger and older woman, respectively. Click here to read the complete article.

Meryl and the cast of “The Devil Wears Prada”, as well as its director David Frankel are attending the 2006 Venice Film Festival to promote the European premiere of their film, which will be shown at the festival on September 10. “The Devil Wears Prada” is running out of competition.

According to USA Today, Meryl Streep won’t be stealing any scenes in her next gig. The Oscar-winning actress narrates Hurricane on the Bayou, shot before and after Hurricane Katrina, MacGillivray Freeman Films announced Wednesday. The documentary will open in New Orleans on Aug. 29 to mark the anniversary of Katrina’s surge through the Gulf Coast, the company said. It will be released in Los Angeles on Sept. 8 and in IMAX theaters worldwide on Dec. 22. “Meryl Streep’s ability to connect with audiences and the depth she brings to everything she does makes her the ideal narrator for this film, which has so many moods,” director-producer Greg MacGillivray said in a statement. MacGillivray said Hurricane on the Bayou is a call to restore Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, which help protect New Orleans against deadly storms, as well as a “profound musical celebration of a city that has been called the soul of America.” The film stars music producer-songwriter Allen Toussaint, blues singer-guitarist Tab Benoit, 14-year-old fiddler Amanda Shaw and zydeco accordion player Chubby Carrier.