Diamonds of Hollywood
By: Karen Simmons
Funny man Dan Aykroyd stared in Diamonds, a comedic film about a former boxer that wishes to retrieve a cache of diamonds hidden in Las Vegas. Aykroyd’s co-star, Lauren Bacall, was leading lady for Humphrey Bogart in To Have and Have Not. The late Bacall told the Canadian Press while at a Toronto International Film Festival that “Toronto is a wonderful city…I’ve always loved it here.”
Diamonds cast member Jenny McCarthy has a fabulous 10 carat ring with a diamond encrusted band from husband and Blue Bloods star Donnie Wahlberg. McCarthy was formerly married to Ontario born Jim Carrey. In Pet Detective, Carrey’s character was on a hilarious mission to flush out a suspect who left one loose diamond at a crime scene. Said diamond was from a Miami Dolphins NFL Super Bowl ring.
Speaking of diamonds, the film Diamonds, and Mr. Aykroyd, the Canadian Sun-Times recently reported that Aykroyd and girlfriend were spotted scoping out diamonds at a jewellery store. Aykroyd, born on Canada Day in Ottawa, has his wines produced by Diamond Estates, a winery in the Niagara Wine Region. About four hours east of Vancouver, BC, in the Okanagan Valley is a winery that Jason Priestley invested in. The Vancouver born Beverly Hills 90210 star surprised his sweetie with an emerald-cut three diamond ring.
A 2005 casting call for a Brad Pitt film drew thousands of extras in Alberta while ex-Jolie was seen strolling with the kids in Calgary. Pitt can also be found at the Toronto International Film Festival.
His starring role in Snatch (2000) featured an entertaining band of criminals vying for a ginormous 84 carat diamond. The quintessential superstar’s connection to diamonds is solidified by starring in the remake-sequel Oceans 12, where his thieving group has their eyes fixed on the diamond encrusted Russian Faberge Imperial Coronation Egg. Oh, and who can forget the custom 16 carat total weight emerald shaped rock he adorned Angelina’s finger with years ago. The four carat center stone was complimented by flanking emerald-shaped beauties.
Flawless (2007) starred Demi Moore and Michael Caine with the real sparkling “star” being a $4,000,000 diamond. Moore also starred with Donald and Keifer Sutherland in Forsaken which premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival after filming in Calgary. Both Sutherlands are Canadian citizens who were also inducted into the Hollywood and Canada’s Walk of Fame.
Ben Affleck and George Clooney’s hit film Argo (2012) was based on a true story of American hostages being exfiltrated from Iran with significant support from Canadian embassy officials. Besides starring in Argo, Affleck garnered attention after presenting Jennifer Lopez with a pink solitaire which allegedly helped spike pink diamond sales up to 400%. Later, Affleck graced Jennifer Garner with a six carat (tcw) radiant/cushion stone reported to have been valued at a cool $1.2 million.
Along with Vancouver born Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds, Clooney is part of the “seven-carat-club”. Clooney proposed to Amal with a platinum set seven carat emerald-shaped stone estimated at $750,000 while Reynolds gave Blake Lively a pale pink oval beauty set on a thin rose gold band.
Having French-Canadian ancestry, Lady Gaga (a/k/a “Mother Monster”) sports a six carat heart-shaped diamond estimated at a heart throbbing half a million dollars. Gaga revealed the solitaire with pave diamonds down the side last Valentine’s Day.
Canada can be proud with the fact that Jennifer Aniston, Madonna, Mila Kunis, as well as many other Hollywood celebrities favor Canadian diamonds. Even a Bachelorette Canada star planned to wed in the Canadian Rockies with a new “rock” on her finger.
What more can be said when Princess Kate sought out conflict free custom-Canadian diamonds for herself and the Queen?
Canadian “Ice Rock” – the only diamond fit for a Princess!