Emcee Dan Rather began the night by paying respect to longtime Hall of Fame host, the late Gov. Ann Richards “somewhere up there in her skybox.”
A visibly moved Mariska Hargitay accepted an award on behalf of her late mother, Jayne Mansfield, whom Rather introduced as “the most bodacious Texas bombshell of all.”
Luke Wilson (l) took time out to celebrate honoree Mike Judge (Wilson starred in Judge’s last feature, Idiocracy). After being introduced by animated cohort Hank Hill, Judge began his acceptance speech, “I’d like to apologize to Dan Rather for wearing the exact same outfit.”
Accepting an award on behalf of Urban Cowboy, Debra Winger (above) paid credit to her dialect coach (who was in attendance) and wise-cracked that “the first time I ever traveled abroad was when I came to Texas.”
Honoree Morgan Fairchild (l) told a funny anecdote about having run away years ago to an ashram with an original member of ZZ Top; Billy Gibbons and the rest of the gang, in high spirits, all jostled to claim credit.
This article appears in March 14 • 2008.