John Travolta Surfaces, Honors Shirley MacLaine

John Travolta briefly surfaced Thursday night to honor his friend Shirley MacLaine at the American Film Institute, appearing in public for the first time in awhile.

He has kept a very low profile amid a series of lawsuits involving male-on-male sexual misconduct and allegations of a gay affair (with pilot Doug Gotterba).

There was no discussion of that last night, just a tribute to MacLaine. Travolta spoke on stage, alongside Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts.

The 58-year-old actor said, "Several years ago, Warren Beatty was talking about a young actress. And I said to him, 'What was she like?' And he said, 'She filled the room with presence like I've never seen before.'"

"And I said, "You know your sister, Shirley? She fills the room with presence.'" Travolta then added, "She fills the world with presence like no one I've ever seen before."

"And that's my Shirley. And I love you."

"Shirley MacLaine is first a dancer, and when you move from Broadway to film to television to writing to directing, you have to move with the grace of a dancer. To train and push harder than you ever thought you could."

Well said.