Hollywoods Strongest Female Friendships

Mary Hart and Marie Osmond The Entertainment Tonight host and the only female member of the singing Osmond family have been close friends for years, perhaps drawn together by their heartland background (Hart, 60, from South Dakota and Osmond, 51, is from Utah ). Osmond, who appeared regularly on Harts show, once gleefully gave Hart a handmade doll based on a picture shed secretly gotten from Harts mother. But their friendship has been marked by tragedy as well: After the tragic suicide earlier this year of Osmonds 18-year-old son Michael, Hart comforted Osmond and, several days later, reported from Michaels funeral.

Carrie Fisher and Penny Marshall Each of them can lay claim to an iconic role: Fisher, 54, was the doughnut-haired Princess Leia in Star Wars, and Marshall, 68, squawked her way through Milwaukee as Laverne in the series Laverne & Shirley. But Marshall, a New York City native, had to work her way to Hollywood, while Fisher, the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, was born to it. Not only did Fisher act, she also wrote novels: Postcards from the Edge chronicled the disastrous experiences of a young woman whose mother was a chirpy movie star. And not on ly did Marshall act, she also directed, and two of her 1990s movies , Big and A League of their Own, each topped $100 million at the box office. Sometimes they can be cynical, especially Fisher: You wont find any true closeness in Hollywood, she once said, because everybody does fake closeness so well. If thats true (and it probably is), the relationship between Fisher and Marshall is a rare exception.

Rita Wilson and Rosie ODonnell Wilson, 54, whos married to Tom Hanks, met ODonnell when the two were making Sleepless in Seattle. Wilson was a weepy wife and ODonnell was a tough-talking friend of the movies star, Meg Ryan. A few years later, ODonnell, 48, got a daily talk show and became one of the most famous entertainers in the U.S. She began the For All Kids Foundation, a nonprofit organization that funded child care and early education programs, and Wilson, seeing how successful the foundation was, decided to make her own contribution. She began working on projects for cancer treatment facilities, including the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and said publicly that ODonnells charitable work had inspired her.