With Vanity
Fair sitting out this year's celebrations, the
belle of the Oscars parties was a piano-playing Elton
John.
The 60-year-old
singer's 16th annual viewing dinner and after-party
benefiting the Elton John AIDS Foundation topped other
bashes Sunday, with 750 guests and a bevy of A-list
stars who sipped cocktails and feasted on a
four-course meal under the Pacific Design Center's
red-draped tent in West Hollywood.
Vanity Fair's lavish, celebrity-drenched annual
affair, typically the top Oscar-night party, was canceled
weeks earlier, before the end of the writers strike.
After greeting
each table, John pounded out the first of 11 songs, the
first time in several years that he has played a full set
with an entire band at his own party.
John, who wore an
ornate Yohji Yamamoto black suit, silver tie, and
black-framed eyeglasses, pointed at the crowd and banged on
his piano. The crowd howled and clapped when he broke
out hits such as "Rocket Man" and "Tiny Dancer."
Patricia Clarkson
waved her arms in the air. Calista Flockhart swayed
next to beau Harrison Ford. Petra Nemcova jumped on a few
chairs and shimmied. Faye Dunaway bopped her head.
Mary J. Blige
sang a duet with John, as did Scissor Sisters front man
Jake Shears -- clad in a neon-yellow-green suit, he jumped
on John's piano and did the twist.
The party's
second biggest belle of the evening was Marion Cotillard.
Clutching her Best Actress trophy for La Vie en
Rose, she swept into the bash, rushing past reporters,
and bear-hugged her family and friends inside the
party.
''I am a big fan
of hers. I was very moved by her win,'' a teary-eyed
Sharon Stone, wearing a white tailored tuxedo, told the
Associated Press earlier, when the room's dozens of
enormous TV screens showed Cotillard tearfully
receiving the honor.
Actors gushing
over other actors continued throughout the festivities.
Sean Penn, who
snagged a Best Actor win for 2003's Mystic River,
called this year's winner, Daniel Day-Lewis, ''the
greatest actor ever recorded on film.'' Lewis won for
his performance in There Will Be Blood.
Ellen DeGeneres,
seated next to partner Portia de Rossi and Josh Groban,
said Oscar host Jon Stewart was ''doing a great job.''
DeGeneres, who
hosted last year's Oscars, joked, ''It's better to host.
It goes faster.''
John and partner
David Furnish shared DeGeneres's table during dinner,
along with Blige and her husband. Nemcova, who arrived with
Penn, sat with him and Kate Beckinsale, Chris
O'Donnell, and Larry King. Guests, who also included
Billy Joel, Christian Slater, and Russell Simmons, ate
pear salad, risotto, beef tenderloin, cheese with walnuts,
and chocolate mousse.
Pink and orange
orchids dotted the tables, with palm fronds lending a
California dash of glamour on a patio outside. The party,
cosponsored by Chopard and VH1, raised $5.1 million.
However, the
first post-Oscars destination for the night's winners and
honorees was the Governors Ball, held in the Hollywood &
Highland Center just upstairs from the Kodak Theatre.
The room was all
red and gold, reflecting the Oscars' red carpet and
golden statuettes. Glass bubbles hung from the ceiling, and
red roses dotted each table.
The most
blinged-out table was No. 303, where Joel and Ethan Coen and
Javier Bardem proudly displayed their Oscar statuettes for
No Country for Old Men.
Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody kept her Oscar
close, hesitantly giving it up when a friend asked to touch
it.
Other stars
mingled about the ballroom. Cate Blanchett talked with
Julian Schnabel, while Viggo Mortensen draped himself
with the flag of his favorite soccer team.
John Travolta and
his wife, Kelly Preston, nibbled on food prepared by
Wolfgang Puck, who chatted with guests while wearing his
white chef's coat.
Back at a viewing
party in West Hollywood, the Envelope Please bash at
the Abbey -- hosted by Jennifer Love Hewitt, who wore a
dazzling white Elsie Katz Couture gown -- housed more
than 500 guests underneath a tent strung with hundreds
of tiny yellow lights.
The event raised
$500,000 to benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles. Attendees,
who included Ricki Lake, dined on sirloin steak or pasta,
and drank cocktails named after Best Picture nominees.
Across town,
guests at the annual Night of 100 Stars viewing gala at the
Beverly Hills Hotel ate chicken, risotto, and sorbet, and
guzzled energy drinks.
Mr. Blackwell,
known for his annual worst-dressed list that skewers
celebrities, wasn't impressed by the revealing outfits.
''Most are out to
show their bosoms,'' he said, his throat hoarse because
of laryngitis. ''I've seen a few beautiful dresses, but
there's nothing really original here.'' (AP)