Two women whom I have admired for years, the incomparable actress Meryl Streep and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, have been brought together with in the current biopic “Iron Lady.” Streep is absolutely spot-on in her evocation of Thatcher not only when she was at the top of her game as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a record 12 years but also as she has declined into dementia more recently. It’s no wonder that Streep, who already won a Best Actress Golden Globe award for her portrayal of Thatcher, is also nominated for an Oscar in the same category.

So what, do you ask, has this to do with me?

Well, I had a “Weekend with Meryl and Maggie” back in October 2001, on the campus of Northwestern University, where my daughter Emily Cohn was a student and a stage manager for various plays at the university.

One of the student actors in that production was Mamie Gummer, a daughter of Streep, who with her husband attended the show on the very weekend that Margaret Thatcher was on the campus for a major speech at the university.

My wife Barbara and I attended the play, where we got to meet Streep and her husband, and also attended Thatcher’s speech.

Last month, in a cover story in the Jan. 2 edition of Newsweek, Streep discusses how she prepared herself to “do” Thatcher so accurately. Streep recalls having attended the very same speech given by Thatcher at Northwestern that weekend in 2001, just over a month after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In the Newsweek story, Streep describes her reaction to Thatcher’s speech at Northwestern: “She delivered the lecture, which was smooth and very controlled. And then she started to take questions. She continued for over an hour, gaining in animation and zeal as she went on. ‘I thought, oh my God, she’s absolutely formidable.'”

Meeting Streep and her family would have been enough of a treat that weekend, but to hear Margaret Thatcher was more than just “icing on the cake.” And while neither Streep nor Thatcher are Jewish, both have some ties with the Jewish community. Streep won her first Best Actress Oscar for her title role in the Holocaust-themed “Sophie’s Choice” (she had previously won for best supporting actress). She appeared opposite Clayton native Kevin Kline, who played Nathan, a troubled Jewish character. Thatcher was first elected to Parliament from the Manchester District, which has a large Jewish population. She was also very supportive of Israel as Prime Minister.

If Streep wins a second Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Thatcher in “Iron Lady,” I would love to take credit and claim it’s because of my “Weekend with Meryl and Maggie.”