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Curtain Call: The Julie Harris Award for Lifetime Achievement
It’s not too late to grab tickets for this weekend’s Tony Awards Party at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles, which will honor the incredible actor Hal Holbrook with The Actors Fund‘s Julie Harris Award for Lifetime Achievement. The gathering not only features the official Tony live feed–of course!–but also a special program hosted by Marilu Henner and featuring Sean Penn, who will present Mr. Holbrook with his award.
Be sure to view Marilu Henner’s appearance on Good Day LA, during which she talked up the Tony Party (skip to 2:10 to hear her promo The Fund!), and check out these photos of previous Julie Harris Award honorees from our archives.
2006 Julie Harris Award Winner Liza Minnelli
2005 Julie Harris Award Winner Stockard Channing (with Joanne Worley, Elaine Stritch and Jason Graee)
2004 Julie Harris Award Winner James Earl Jones (with Henry Winkler, Joanne Worley and Jason Alexander)
2009 Julie Harris Award Winner Chita Rivera (with daughter Lisa Mordente and Tippi Hedren)
2008 Julie Harris Award Winner Tommy Tune (with Carol Channing and Florence Henderson)
2010 Julie Harris Award Winner Brian Stokes Mitchell (with Annette Bening and Tommy Tune). Credit Bill Dow.
2007 Julie Harris Award Winner Jerry Herman, right (with composer and lyricist Jeff Marx, left)
Happy Birthday to The Actors Fund!
The interior of Wallack's Theatre at 30th and Broadway. Not long after its 1882 opening, it was the venue for the first official meeting of The Actors Fund after its incorporation.
On June 8, 1882, after years of hard work and dedication by some of the American theatre’s most ardent supporters, the New York State Legislature passed special legislation to officially incorporate The Actors Fund. One-hundred years later, to celebrate its centennial, The Fund threw a birthday bash at Radio City Music Hall, Night of 100 Stars, which was telecast nationwide on CBS. Check out one of the fabulous numbers below:
And here’s a little bit on those first official days from A History of The Actors’ Fund of America by Louis M. Simon (published in 1972):
By June 8, 1882, the Act of Incorporation, drafted by Hon A. J. Dittenhoefer, had been passed into law by the New York State Legislature. On Saturday, July 15, the first meeting officially held under the charter took place at Wallack’s Theatre at 12 noon. Mr. William Henderson presided. Permanent officers were elected to serve during what remained of the year 1882–83.
P. T. Barnum, one of The Actors Fund's first trustees.
President, Lester Wallack; Vice-President, A. M. Palmer; Secretary, Daniel Frohman; Treasurer; Theodore Moss…. Initial trustees were, according to the Act of Incorporation, the first seventeen incorporators named in the bill. They were:
Lester Wallack Edwin Booth Henry E. Abbey Joseph Jefferson M. H. Mallory Lawrence Barrett H. C. Miner W. E. Sinn A. M. Palmer Edward Harrigan William Henderson John F. Poole P. T. Barnum W. T. Florence Frank Chanfrau Bartley Campbell Samuel Colville
Questions For… Carol Channing
Carol Channing by Michael Davis
On February 21, The Actors Fund Musical Mondays series celebrates the 90th Birthday of the legendary, three-time Tony Award-winner Carol Channing at Los Angeles’ historic Pantages Theatre. The hottest ticket in town—the evening is already sold out!—this benefit performance for The Actors Fund and the Channing-Kullijian Foundation for the Arts will be hosted by Bruce Villanch and feature an array of stars including Carole Cook, Jo Anne Worley, Davis Gaines, and—of course—Broadway’s original Dolly.
Ms. Channing has been a longtime fan of The Actors Fund, and was awarded the Fund’s Julie Harris Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. In anticipation of this one-of-a-kind evening, Ms. Channing graciously answered a few of our questions:
AF: You’ve had such an incredible career. How does it feel to be turning 90?
CC: I can’t say that I’ve given it much thought—certainly not as much as everyone else has. I was raised Christian Science, and birthdays were never really celebrated. My very first birthday party was given to me by President Kennedy—they brought a cake out and I didn’t know what to think of it.
Why did you decide to make your 90th birthday celebration a benefit performance?
Actually, I didn’t. Someone came to Harry and suddenly there it was on my calendar. They surprised me in New York at the Gypsy Awards. Tyne Daly and Lee Roy Reams brought a huge cake on to the stage. Someone said it was left over from Liza’s birthday, but I loved it. They also had a surprise cake for me in Houston last weekend when I performed there. You know, I still have yet to get a piece of one.
Why do you think The Actors Fund, an organization that’s there to support everyone in the entertainment industry, is so important to the community?
Oh, they’ve just been around forever…even longer than me, if you can believe that? They have helped so many actors and other people in the industry. I have had friends who have relied on their services.
Ms. Channing at the Pantages
Your own foundation, the Dr. Carol Channing & Harry Kullijian Foundation for the Arts, supports arts education. Why do you think—especially these days—providing for and promoting arts education is so important?
Harry and I were so lucky to have the arts in our lives as children. Statistics have shown that exposure to the arts dramatically increases brain functions for other academic areas, like math and science. It’s like fertilizer on the brain, that’s what it is. It also builds self-confidence, self-discipline, and teamwork. There is a California school, Creative Planet School of the Arts, that only offers arts to students who maintain a certain grade average, and all of the students are doing it. Isn’t that wonderful?
Do you have any special anecdotes about any of the performers sharing the stage with you that night?
Carole Cook! You know, I think she was Dolly in Sydney longer than I was on Broadway? Oh, and Jo Anne Worley (make sure you say her name right—it’s pronounced “Whir-ley,” but you know that). She is such a good friend. Figures they would get the only two women funnier than me…but don’t let them know that. Oh, and Bruce Vilanch. Oh, is he funny. The audience is going to be worn out before I come on the stage.
Are there any special memories of the Pantages you’d be willing to share?
I was in Dolly at the Pantages. It’s a beautiful theatre. The acoustics are wonderful. I think my Star on the Walk of Fame is in front of the Pantages.
It’s going to be an incredible night. Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to?
Seeing my friends. It sounds like so many of them will be there. Someone said that there are people coming who knew or saw me in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. They must be very old.
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