Danes named Woman of the Year

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals of Harvard University has named Claire Danes as recipient of its 2012 Woman of the Year award. The actress has played a wide range of critically acclaimed roles in television, film, and theater.

The Woman of the Year festivities will begin at 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 26, when Dane will lead a parade through the streets of Cambridge. Afterward, the president of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, James Fitzpatrick ’12, and the vice president of the cast, Ryan Halprin ’12, will host a celebrity roast for the actress. At 5 p.m., Danes will be presented with her Pudding Pot at the newly named Farkas Hall, the Hasty Pudding’s historic home in the heart of Harvard Square since 1889. A press conference will follow the presentation. Afterward, Hasty Pudding cast members will perform several musical numbers from the group’s 164th production, “There Will Be Flood.”

Danes has established herself as one of Hollywood’s leading actresses and currently stars on the Showtime series “Homeland,” for which she received the 2012 Golden Globe Award, her third such honor.

She also won the award for best performance by an actress last year for her role in HBO’s “Temple Grandin” biopic. That performance also earned her an Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild award.

Danes first caught critics’ and audiences’ attention when she starred in the television series “My So-Called Life,” which earned her an Emmy nomination as well as a Golden Globe. Subsequently, Danes launched a successful film career, with appearances in “Shopgirl,” “Stage Beauty,” “Igby Goes Down,” and “William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet.” She also appeared in the film version of the musical “Les Misérables.”

In 2007, Danes made her Broadway debut, starring in George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion.” Danes is also an accomplished dancer and has received critical acclaim for her performances in “Edith and Jenny” and “Christina Olson: American Model.”

The Man and Woman of the Year awards are presented annually to performers who have made lasting and impressive contributions to entertainment. Established in 1951, the Woman of the Year award has been granted to such notable and talented entertainers as Meryl Streep, Katharine Hepburn, Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Elizabeth Taylor, Anne Hathaway, and, most recently, Julianne Moore. The Man of the Year award was established in 1963. Its past recipients include Clint Eastwood, Tom Cruise, Robert de Niro, Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, Bruce Willis, Justin Timberlake, and, last year, Jay Leno.

For more information about the upcoming Woman of the Year event, contact Tyler Faux, the Hasty Pudding’s press and publicity manager. He can be reached by phone at 646.620.6173 or email at press@hastypudding.org.

The group will announce its Man of the Year next week. That presentation will take place Feb. 3. Credentialing will be available next week for both Woman and Man of the Year events. Please contact Harvard Public Affairs & Communications for information at /gazette/hasty-pudding-awards-2012/, by phone at 617.495.1585, or by fax at 617.495.0754.

To purchase tickets to the show “There Will Be Flood,” contact the box office at 617.495.5205, or order online. The show will be performed at Farkas Hall, 12 Holyoke St., until March 4. Performances are Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m., and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. The company then travels to New York to perform at Hunter College’s Kaye Playhouse on March 9 and 10. The tour continues to the Hamilton City Hall in Bermuda for performances March 14 to 16.