Scene & Heard: Actors Fund Tony party, for Brian

Local supporters of the Actors Fund did double duty on June 13, raising funds for entertainment professionals in need and getting an early look at the Tonys, courtesy of a satellite feed to the Skirball Center in Los Angeles.

The evening of big-screen TV-watching also honored Brian Stokes Mitchell, star of “Ragtime,” “Man of La Mancha” and “Kiss Me, Kate,” with his high school chum, Annette Bening, bestowing the award.

Between TV segments, the L.A. audience had its own live show, hosted by nine-time Tony winner Tommy Tune and scripted by “Desperate Housewives” producer-creator Marc Cherry and “CSI” producer-writer David Rambo. During one break, Lorna Luft rose from her seat to serenade Mitchell with “You Made Me Love You,” a classic once sung by Luft’s mother, Judy Garland, to Clark Gable.

Never mind that the Tonys were about to resume. Caught by emotion, Mitchell dashed over to Luft’s table, saying, “I’ve got to hug you.” (Luft played Nurse Kegler to his Dr. Jackson on TV’s “Trapper John, M.D.”)

As festivities neared the end, Bening presented Mitchell with the Julie Harris Award, both for his theatrical work and as chairman of the Actors Fund. “He just gives and gives and gives,” she said.

Mitchell said the award meant more to him than his Tony. “This award is about everybody. I get all the credit, but everybody does the work.”

The crowd of 400 also included fund President Joseph Benincasa; Judy and Gordon Davidson; Anne Archer and her mother, Marjorie Lord; Holland Taylor; Patricia Morison; Scott Bakula; Theodore Bikel; Sharon Lawrence; Ken Howard; Leonard Maltin; Jason Alan Smith; and Kate Edelman Johnson, producer of the upcoming “Big Valley.” The event netted an estimated $100,000.

Global Green USA gala

Global Green USA’s gala Millennium Awards, held June 12 at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica and hosted by Sam Champion of “Good Morning America,” raised an estimated $300,000 in net proceeds for eco-causes, which this year include helping communities affected by the gulf oil spill.

Despite the bad headlines, board member Jordan Harris expressed optimism about the future, due to the public’s heightened awareness of environmental issues. “It’s not just one issue anymore,” he said, ticking off climate change, public health, energy concerns and economics as reasons people have been paying more attention to ecology.

Pierce Brosnan and his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, spoke out against yet another issue: international whaling. “We would be remiss if we did not tell you how concerned we are about the fate of the world’s whales,” Brosnan said.

Nearly 400 people came to honor Matt Petersen, the organization’s president and chief executive; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; the University of California System; W Hollywood Hotel & Residences; and James Cameron and Suzy Amis Cameron, who accepted their award by videotape. Among others present were board members Pat Mitchell and Scott Seydel; state Sen. Fran Pavley; and actors Amy Smart, Michelle Rodriguez, Alison Brie, Walton Goggins, Rhona Mitra, Judy Greer and Cheryl Tiegs.

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