From the arrival and walk down the red carpet to the actual presentation, it is a gala event that has kept film buffs riveted to their televisions since first broadcast in 1953.This Sunday night, the 90th Oscar event will hold a closer meaning for one Henryetta family.
Donnie, his wife LouAnn, and daughter Natalie, will be watching every minute of the arrival at the Dolby Theatre. They will be hoping to get a glimpse of oldest daughter, Bridgette, as she welcomes the arrivals as they leave their limousines.
The former Henryetta teacher moved to California in 2016 after she got her degree in film studies from the University of Tulsa. She graduated from HHS in 2003 then attained her elementary education degree from the University of Oklahoma. That put her in position to be a fourth grade teacher at Henryetta elementary but her heart was further west toward Hollywood.
“She has always wanted to be involved in the film industry,” her father said. When she moved to California, she worked in various jobs including being a page and tour guide at Paramount Pictures.
Since then, she has taken a position with the Academy of Motion Pictures, the organization that is in charge of the Oscar awards.
When asked to be a hostess for the Oscars, she jumped at the chance. That work will entail greeting the celebrities and pointing them in the right direction.
“There is more than one red carpet,” father Donnie said. “One is for the nominees and the other is for the celebrities.”
Once the last limousine drives off, her job is not done.
She will be working the front door at the Governor’s Ball, the celebration that honors the winners and invited guests after the presentations are over.
That ball is hosted by the Academy board of governors. Attendees are there by special invitation only.
“She will be making sure that those arriving have the correct invitation,” Smith said.
In a town that is greatly dependent upon who you know and having the right contacts,” there is one Henryetta girl to is brushing shoulders with the stars.
