Patti Smith stepped out Thursday night to pay tribute to actress Lily Gladstone.
Nearly a month after the punk icon, 77, was hospitalized and canceled a string of tour dates in Italy, she appeared at the National Board of Review Gala in New York. At the event — which honors the best in film of the past year as decided by an exclusive group of film enthusiasts, filmmakers, professionals and academics — she presented Killers of the Flower Moon star with the award for best actress.
Smith began her thoughtful speech by joking that she has more confidence rocking the stage than she does addressing a star-studded audience. “Thank you, everybody. There’s a lot of you here. It’s a lot easier to play in Madison Square Garden. But I’m very excited to be here,” she began, addressing A-listers in the audience such as Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway, Martin Scorsese and others .
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Patti Smith at the 2024 National Board Of Review Awards.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
See All the Stars at the 2024 National Board of Review Awards Gala
Smith continued to relax her speech by mentioning how excited she was to see Chad Stahelski, the director behind the film John Wick series and wishes everyone a “happy new month”.
The “Because the Night” singer then paid tribute to the recent Golden Globe winner and her performance in Scorsese’s historical epic about the devastation of the Osage people and their land in 1920s Oklahoma. “It pierces the vein of human frailty, greed, cowardice and treachery,” she said of the film before adding, “And what is more piercing than Lily Gladstone’s face as the camera captures the shifting tones of her inner process seamlessly embodying the courageous Mollie Burkhart?”
The singer-songwriter continued: “Within the fabric of the film, even off screen, Lily is like a new moon that can be felt but not seen. She always felt.”
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Martin Scorsese, Daniel Day-Lewis and Patti Smith at The National Board of Review Awards.
Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty
Anne Hathaway and husband Adam Shulman on a date at the 2024 National Board of Review Gala.
“Creation of films largely depends on intensive cooperation and everyone who participated in making it Killers of the Flower Moon light should be praised, but sometimes the artist must remain alone and draw exclusively from herself,” Only children said the author. “As Mollie, Lily’s sense of the space around her and the stirring energy of her own blood can be felt in every gesture, in every sideways glance, in the lifting of her head, in the folding of her hands, in the growing sickness that can be felt cell by cell that reflects the troubles imposed to her people along with her endurance to love, heal and quietly judge.”
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Before declaring it a “great honour” to be at the event and present the Gladstone Award, Smith concluded: “Courage, humor, intelligence, her mysterious smile, her earthly sensuality, she drew from many aspects of herself and invested them within her spiritual sister , Osage women, Mollie Burkhart with steely determination, dignity and grace.”
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Patti Smith performs at Brooklyn Steel in New York in December 2023.
Sacha Lecca/Rolling Stone via Getty
Daniel Day Lewis made a surprise appearance at the National Board of Review Awards honoring Martin Scorsese
The National Review Board gala was Smith’s first major public appearance of the year. Aside from the ceremony, the Grammy-nominated artist played several concerts in late December and appeared to be in good health since being hospitalized earlier that month.
At the time, Smith was being treated for a “sudden illness” while on tour in Italy, which led to the postponement of several live shows. She was discharged after a day, and announced on Instagram that she was “resting, as the doctor ordered.”
The godmother of punk meanwhile returned to the stage, as she closed out 2023 with a headlining show in Chicago and two nights in her native New York.
Last week, Smith shared another update with fans about how she’s been feeling lately on Instagram. Along with a sweet, smiling selfie of herself holding a cup of coffee from Café Du Monde in New Orleans, she captioned it, “This is greetings. I feel fine.”
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Source: HIS Education