BISSET ON BEST PICTURE: The lovely Jacqueline Bisset and I chatted at the BAFTA/LA Awards Season Tea Party about Sunday’s Academy Awards.

Since she is an Academy member, I wondered what she thought of the Academy rules, changed last year, that widened the best picture category from five to 1o slots.

The star of such films as Rich and Famous, Death In Love, The Greek Tycoon, Latter Days and Bullitt is not a fan.

“I’m uncomfortable with that at this point,” Miss Bissett said. “When I filling it out I was thinking, ‘This feels excessive.’ I have a tendency to like small movies so it doesn’t take me into that area of the big Hollywood movie any more than it ever did.”

At 66, Miss Bissett is still a stunning woman and keeping busy with meaty roles on television (Did you see her during season 4 of Nip/Tuck?) and in film.

“I am keeping busy,” she said. “I’m pretty willing to take risks and I don’t mind if I look bad at this point. I like to find substantial things.”

She’s found a lot of the better roles in smaller independent films but there’s also a down side to that.

“You’re paid virtually nothing for those movies, you virtually do it for free – it costs you money to do them! The whole economic thing for actors, it’s tough these days. I had a lucky year this year. I’m a spokeswoman for Avon and it’s been a fun thing to do. We’ve done a very nice commercial and a photo shoot and stuff. I’ve never done anything like that before, I’ve always resisted it.”

Well, a girl’s gotta make a living!

MADDOW GETS MAD: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow sure knows how to stick up for herself.

On her nightly show last night, she defended her reporting on the Wisconsin union battle — which had been criticized by the fact-checking unit Politifact (run by the St. Petersburg Times) — and she blasted “right wing” critics who she says are taking this as an opportunity be critical of her being gay.

“Because this particular burst of anger is a pure right-wing Internet phenomenon,” she said, “if you’ve seen anything on this you’ve probably seen [Politifact] retweeted at some point as ‘Rachel Maddow is wrong, and she looks like a man!’ Also a favorite, ‘Rachel Maddow is wrong, and also gay.’ Just because you don’t like the way it sounds when I say it, or you don’t like my haircut, or you don’t like that I’m gay, it does not mean what we say is not true.”

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