They sought her here, they sought her there. They sought Lady Gaga everywhere.
At the half-dozen parties held at the Beverly Hilton hotel following the Golden Globes on Sunday night, it seemed as though every celebrity was looking for the singer and nominated actress, if only to touch the hem of her enormous periwinkle gown.
“I wanted to meet Lady Gaga, I really did,” said Chuck Lorre, who won a Globe for producing Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method.” “I would have said thank you for all the great work she does.”
But the artist was not present. After winning for best song (and losing in the best acting category) Lady Gaga somehow managed to vanish in a puff of Valentino taffeta. (Her rep noted that she stopped by one party, hosted by InStyle and Warner Bros.)
Other stars were there to be seen but not heard. At Amazon’s after-party, held at the hotel’s Stardust Penthouse, Timothée Chalamet begged off interviews so he could dance with his mother, Nicole Flender.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief executive, stood nearby grinning from ear to ear, surrounded by a trio of statuesque women in sequined and metallic dresses. He, too, declined an interview.
Mr. Bezos placed a morsel from the raw seafood bar into his mouth, but immediately spat it back into a napkin. “Bad oyster,” he said.
Elsewhere in the hotel, the talk turned to the night’s political tone.
“I thought tonight was perfect, because it was still celebratory and there were some very poignant and powerful political moments,” said Patricia Clarkson, who was at the HBO party, clutching her Globe for best supporting actress in “Sharp Objects.” “I’m thankful to these women for speaking out. It’s changed everything.”
In the hallway outside, Regina King, who won for best supporting actress in “If Beale Street Could Talk,” was swarmed by well-wishers congratulating her on an acceptance speech in which she pledged to include “50 percent women” in projects she produced.
Ms. King said her remarks were ad-libbed. “You don’t want to ever prepare a speech, because you feel like you may jinx yourself,” she said. “But then the moment happens and your mind just rushes.”
At the Netflix party, Alfonso Cuarón celebrated his best director award for “Roma.” “Art by essence is political, no matter what kind of film you do,” he said. “It’s not a political event, but I think the politics come out of the films.”
Laura Dern went further. “If you’re a public figure and you’re given a mic, there’s a lot to say right now,” she said, standing by a towering arrangement of roses at the InStyle party. She barely noticed Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, who moved so fluidly across the red carpet and then immediately out a side door that they seemed to be passing through some kind of celebrity digestive tract.
“Outrageous acts within our own country occur, like the incarceration of children who are seeking asylum in this country, and are risking violence in these camps,” Ms. Dern added. “Hopefully we keep talking about it.”
Standing at the other end of the hotel, and the ideological spectrum, was Jon Voight. The conservative actor sees the prevailing political winds in Hollywood as oppressive, rather than liberating.
“People are very cautious about what they say now, and they didn’t use to be,” Mr. Voight said, who was in the hallway, presumably heading to a party. He wore a fringed white scarf over his tuxedo. “The generation before my generation was very patriotic, and it’s changed, and that’s unfortunate.”
Still, Mr. Voight agreed with his fellow actors on one thing. “I hope I bump into Lady Gaga, who’s just terrific,” he said. “A huge talent, and I think she’s a really nice gal, too.”
