BY TOM MURRO

CELEBRITY MAGNET

Monday night, April 2, French actress Catherine Deneuve was honored at the 39th annual Chaplin Award Gala held in New York City's Alice Tully Hall. Susan Sarandon acted as the Honorary Chair while the initial presenter lineup included Martin Scorsese, Chiara Mastroianni, François Ozon and James Gray.

I hit the cocktail hour at around 6:00 where I met up with Celebrity Chef Chris Nirschel and enjoyed a few of the sponsors St-Germain Liqueur cocktails. We smiled for the cameras on the carpet before heading up to the VIP reception area to hang with a couple of very special ladies: Susan Sarandon and Glenn Close.

Susan Sarandon who grew up in Edison, N.J., told me she just landed a few hours earlier on a flight from Dubai, she looked pretty darn good for 65 and a very long plane ride. The Academy Award winner was accompanied by a young looking dude named Jonathan Bricklin who owns a ping-pong bar and was rocking a suit and bright white sneakers.

Glenn Close was there with her camera shy husband David Shaw. Close was very sweet, and talked about her white dog, as she is a dog lover and writes a blog for Fetchdog.com, where she interviews other famous people about their relationships with their dogs.