Award to bring Streep to Boston

The Coolidge Award, given annually to film folks whose work ''advances the spirit of original and challenging cinema," will be presented this year to Meryl Streep. Nominated for an Oscar a record 13 times, the actress is the third recipient of the award, following Chinese director Zhang Yimou in 2004 and Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro last year. Streep, whose latest film is an adaptation of Garrison Keillor's radio show, ''A Prairie Home Companion," will be in Boston to accept the award April 5-6. Susan Orlean, whose book ''The Orchid Thief" was the basis for the movie ''Adaptation," in which Streep starred, said the actress isn't typically interested in being celebrated. ''I'd e-mailed her and she reacted very favorably right away," said Orlean, who's on the Coolidge board. ''She can't stand the rubber-chicken dinner thing where you're treated like you're dead. This is an interesting way to explore movies, and not some kind of creepy Jerry Lewis telethon."

Ceremony will honor BU’s Gotlieb

Tomorrow's memorial tribute for Howard Gotlieb, founding curator of BU's department of special collections, promises to be an emotional affair. (Gotlieb, who acquired the papers of some 2,000 public figures, died Dec. 3.) Speaking at Marsh Chapel will be BU president Robert Brown, president emeritus John Silber, William Adams, and Rachel Silber Devlin. Actress Angela Lansbury, who's given her papers to the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, also will say a few words, as will the center's managing director, Vita Paladino. Expected to attend are opera singer Sandra Warfield McCracken, Nora London, and playwright Jan Quackenbush. The tribute, which is open to the public, begins at 2:30 and will be followed by a reception at Mugar Library.

Channel 5 pairs female black anchors

WCVB-TV has hired Shiba Russell to work as a general assignment reporter and co-anchor the weekend morning news with Rhondella Richardson. It's believed to be the first time two African-American women have been a news anchor team at a Boston station. Russell will take over the weekend shift for Kelley Tuthill, who asked to return to reporting full time. Russell comes to Channel 5 from WTAE-TV, the ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh.

Harvard names Resident Fellows

An Iraqi government official and a former Peruvian ambassador will be among the Resident Fellows this spring at Harvard's Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. The fellows are: Nesreen Berwari, minister of Municipalities & Public Works for Iraq's Transitional National Government; former Cleveland mayor Jane Campbell; former Boston Globe national editor Ken Cooper; Al Felzenberg, former deputy and senior director for communications for the 9/11 Commission; Ricardo Luna, former Peruvian ambassador to the United States; and Dotty Lynch, former senior political editor for CBS News.

Hitting the stage and helping out

We first took notice of David Morse when he played hangdog Dr. Jack ''Boomer" Morrison on TV's ''St. Elsewhere," but then came ''The Green Mile" and ''The Crossing Guard." On Jan. 30, Morse will be at the Shubert Theatre for a reading of Eugene O'Neill's ''The Iceman Cometh" to kick off the Wang Center for the Performing Arts' third annual ''American Voices: Drama, Dialogue, Downtown." Joining Morse will be Newton-based director/actor/producer Sam Weisman. . . . ''Yes, Dear" star Mike O'Malley took the red eye back home late last week in time to catch the final performances of ''Irving Berlin's White Christmas" at the Wang Theatre, starring his sister Kerry O'Malley. . . . Eighties rockers Blondie and Cheap Trick will perform at the $1,000-a-person Big Night 7 on Jan. 21 to benefit Big Brothers of Massachusetts Bay. Cochaired by Tudor Investment's Jim Pallotta and Joe Ayoub of Nutter, McClennen & Fish, the evening will feature a menu prepared by some of the area's hottest chefs, including Seth and Angela Raynor of Nantucket's the Boarding House and the Pearl; Michael Schlow of Radius, Via Matta, and Great Bay; Blue Ginger's Ming Tsai; and Oleana's Ana Sortun.

Chef Todd English prepared signature dishes at a celebration dinner at the Harbour Room with graduates of the Anthony Spinazzola Foundation's Culinary Apprenticeship Program. . . .