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Arts & Entertainment

Golden Globes Shine Spotlight on Beverly Hills

Broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton on Sunday, the annual awards ceremony is covered by hundreds of domestic and international news outlets.

Sunday’s 68th annual Golden Globe Awards brought not only shiny statues for the winners, but also free publicity for Beverly Hills. The ceremony took place at the .

Hundreds of news outlets from across the nation and the world covered the event, which is sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Nearly all of the coverage mentioned the hotel and often the city. The tagline for many of the television anchors: “…reporting from Beverly Hills, California.”

The city will be in the spotlight again Jan. 25 when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces the 2010 Oscar nominations from the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre at the Academy’s Beverly Hills headquarters. (The 83rd annual Academy Awards ceremony will take place Feb. 27 at Los Angeles’ Kodak Theatre.)

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The free awards-related publicity is worth noting in the context of the Beverly Hills City Council’s decision last month to use to subsidize a float for the Jan. 1 Tournament of Roses parade. The entry, the city’s , cost more than $250,000, with most of the funds coming from private donations.

The Dec. 22 float vote brought out five former mayors, who urged the council not to spend the money in light of furloughs of city workers. Some opponents specifically brought up the fact that the city already gets free publicity from annual award ceremonies.

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The council majority still felt the investment was worthwhile.

“Investing $40,000 in a Rose Parade float, which will through television be exposed to almost a billion people, is good value-for-money,” Councilman John Mirisch told Patch. “The float has the opportunity to reinforce the image of class, elegance and style and it can help keep the Beverly Hills name front and center.”

The Golden Globe Awards also arguably brought an image of elegance to the city, with red-carpet coverage of stars arriving in glamorous outfits.

So who won, besides Beverly Hills? The Social Network took home four awards, winning in the drama, director, screenplay and original score categories. Colin Firth won for best actor in a lead drama role for The King’s Speech, while Natalie Portman won the best actress category for Black Swan.

The Kids Are All Right won the best comedy or musical, while its star, Annette Bening, won for best actress in a comedy or musical. Paul Giamatti won the best actor in a comedy or musical for his role in Barney’s Version.

Best supporting actor went to Christian Bale for The Fighter, while his co-star, Melissa Leo, won for best supporting actress. (Only one supporting actor/actress award was given.)

The Golden Globes—unlike the Oscars—also honor television programs and their actors and actresses. This year Glee was the big winner, taking home the trophies for best television series in the comedy or musical category, as well as the best supporting actor and actress awards for Chris Colfer and Jane Lynch.

HBO's Boardwalk Empire won awards for best television series and best dramatic actor, Steve Buscemi. For a complete list of winners, click here.

Not all of the Golden Globe publicity was positive for the city, however. Composer Diane Warren dedicated her award for best original song to her late friend , who was fatally shot in Beverly Hills in November.

This report was compiled with information from City News Service.

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