NYWIFT Blog

We’re counting down the 40 days to NYWIFT’s 40th Anniversary Muse Awards with a look at some of our favorite honorees, all women of vision and achievement who have contributed to the film and television industry. Join us as we look back at #Muse40for40, and buy your tickets for the Muse Awards on Tuesday, December 10^th at nywift.org/muse!

#1 Meryl Streep

By Katie Chambers

For our final #Muse40for40 installment we had to of course give a shout out to the indomitable Meryl Streep. Meryl was honored in 1983, and the photo of her cheeky over-the-shoulder smile as she modeled a NYWIFT jacket has become an indelible image for our organization (shown to right). She’s been a NYWIFT supporter from almost the very beginning and her commitment to inclusion has been unwavering. Meryl is the rare Muse who has graced our stage more than once – 20 years after she herself was honored, she returned in 2003 to accept the Muse Award on behalf of her friend Emma Thompson, who had fallen ill and was too sick to travel from the UK. (Shout out to past Muse Glenn Close, who already returned to the Muse stage that same year to accept the award for Whoopi Goldberg, who was also ill. Sometimes when it rains, it pours.) Thompson’s hilarious and heartfelt speech – delivered in her pajamas via video – became an instant classic. 

Stuck in the hellish NYC holiday traffic that always surrounds the Midtown Hilton, and knowing she was running late to Muse, consummate New Yorker Meryl Streep hopped out of her limo, onto the subway, and waltzed glamorously into the Hilton to save the day. She continues her partnership with NYWIFT to this day, providing funding for The Writers Lab every year since its inception in 2015.  Thank you, Meryl Streep, our ultimate #nywiftmuse.

We hope you enjoyed our look back at some of our favorite Muses in #Muse40for40, and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow, December 10th, 2019 as we celebrate the big day.

More on Meryl Streep.