Dynasties and acting families are nothing new in Hollywood. Blythe Danner and Gwyneth Paltrow embody a particularly successful example – as well as an ardent mutual admiration society. The HFPA’s Silvia Bizio reports.

It's always lovely to see a mother and a daughter, both in their adult age, gleaming in each other’s company, clearly adoring and respecting each other, and laughing together. But if mother and daughter are Blythe Danner and Gwyneth Paltrow, well, then it’s a real treat. We recently had the privilege of spending some time with the two great actresses at Craig’s restaurant in West Hollywood during a lunch hosted by Gwyneth Paltrow in honor of her mother, to celebrate the independent drama I'll See You in My Dreams, the first leading role for Danner after a decades-long acclaimed career in theater (her staple), TV and film. In this low budget movie written and directed by young Brett Haley, Danner plays a widow, who after many years alone with her dog and her friends finally decides to give in to a sexual attraction with a beautiful man her age (Sam Elliott): it’s a fierce, tenacious, fun, and showy performance by Danner.

During the lunch, attended by Hollywood notables like Colleen Camp, Brenda Vaccaro, Mimi Rogers, Tom Arnold, and Sally Kirkland, daughter Paltrow gave a speech celebrating her mother’s accomplishments, both as an actress and as a mother, and now also as a grandmother. "Mom is my hero, she's the greatest," Gwyneth said with sincere love. "And I'm so enthused that at her age, today, she's finally given the opportunity to carry a whole movie on her strong shoulders. In film she was always a supporting character, albeit a great one, and she did tens of movies. On stage, on the other hand, she's been the protagonist, since I (remember when) I was the little girl backstage watching this amazing ever-transforming woman playing fantastic roles. Then she would take a bow, come in the dressing room, and immediately switch to the role I think she likes the most: being a mom."

Blythe Danner, beautiful, elegant and classy at 72, slender and svelte, couldn't say much after Gwyneth's moving speech; she gently blushed and chatted privately with some of us. "Gwyneth is such a beautiful person, other than a good actress and businesswoman, and now also a cook-book writer!" Danner was referring to her daughter’s venture in the publishing world (her third cook book is about to be published while her website, goop.com, is having a great success.) "It's such a joy nowadays being a grandmother: I have two sets of grandchildren, two from my son Jake in the East Coast, and two from Gwyneth here on the West Coast: so I shuttle back and forth between them, and I'm fortunate enough to be able to put some work in the middle.”

The ever-modest Danner also talked about her role in I'll See You in My Dreams: "It's my first lead character in a movie, I know, and that's why I almost turned it down. My agent had some convincing to do with me. ‘Not a good idea to pass this one up’, he said. He was right, it has been a wonderful experience.”

"We shot the film for less than a million dollars, can you believe it? We shot in just 18 days, and we were lucky to have a little house in Studio City where we shot the majority of it. The young man who wrote and directed it, 29 years old, showed an amazing sensibility and understanding for older people and their life." "I can identify with this role," she continues. "The loss of a husband, the love for animals and dogs, there's quite a bit of me in it. I like her, her way of speaking, almost masculine, the tenacity, she has spunk and I like it. It's a throwback to the kind of actresses in the 40s, like Barbara Stanwyck. As I get older I think I'm getting a little of bit of that tenacity.

The mother and daughter actresses have worked together, twice. In 1992 in the TV movie Cruel Doubt and in 2003 in Sylvia, in which Danner played Aurelia Plath, mother to Gwyneth’s title role as poet Sylvia Plath. "I wish that film would have done better," Danner says, "because Gwyneth did an extraordinary job. But on stage we did several things together in the past. As parents we didn't push the kids towards acting at all: but whenever we needed a little girl or boy young Gwyneth was always the first on line: “I want to do it!” she was saying. It was fun for her, and became her destiny. The kids were drawn to what we parents did. We tried to discourage them, but failed. But it's a natural attraction. And Gwyneth is so talented."

And in one realm at least, the daughter has apparently surpassed the mother: Danner says she can't cook as well as Gwyneth, nor can she follow her recipes. "Gwyneth is talented also in the kitchen, and her cooking is health oriented, the books very nicely done, and she's a great businesswoman, she can do everything!" Has Hollywood changed throughout the years? We ask her. "I was never really in the hub of it, a film here and there, but I've always done more theatre," she says. "And yet from my perspective it seems better today for women, there are more roles, better and more three-dimensional. Now there are all these new series on these new venues, cable, streaming and so on, great stories, they feel like movies. Years ago we were paralyzed when reality shows seemed to take over, but now look at all the opportunities for actors. It's a great time for actors, including me!"

Silvia Bizio