Our Laguna: Celebrity event at Festival lives up to its name
The stars were out Saturday night — in the sky and on the grounds of the Festival of Arts.
Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy award-winner Christopher Cross performed for a crowd of almost 3,000 fans at the 2012 Acura Celebrity Event, which included celebrity guests who entered the grounds via the red carpet.
The event grossed about $230,000 for future arts programming and improvements of the facility, according to festival publicist Sharbie Higuchi.
“We’re looking forward to a bright future for our premier juried art festival, our Laguna Beach high school scholarship program, our many other activities in support of this community and, of course, the world-famous Pageant of the Masters,” said festival President Fred Sattler.
Sattler also thanked the event sponsors Acura and KOST radio.
He and his wife, Jan, were among the first to trod the red carpet and to be interviewed by Lisa Berman, owner of Sculpture to Wear, a wearable art gallery in Santa Monica. She also recently hosted the Festival Runway Fashion Show.
“Did you see her earrings?” asked festival board member and Arts Commissioner Pat Kollenda, who considers fashion an art.
Cross was also an early arrival. His shoes were blue, although not suede, but he rocked the audience.
“It was a spectacular concert,” said Special Events Director Susan Davis. “The fans loved it!”
Following the concert, ticket holders for the Pageant of the Masters proceeded to the Irvine Bowl, where they were welcomed by Oscar-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden.
“My daughter and I attended the Pageant last year and were amazed not only by the beauty of the production but also by the dedication of the many volunteers in the cast and behind the scenes,” said Harden.
Her daughter, Eulala Scheel, 13, was in the cast of the Pageant that night for the gala performance.
“I had a friend who was in the pageant last year,” Eulala said.
Harden’s 8-year-old twins, Hudson and Julitta, were in the audience.
Active in film, television and theater, Harden has forged a career that earned her Oscar nominations and awards and a 2009 Tony Award for “God of Carnage,” which she reprised last year at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
She has also been nominated for an Emmy for an appearance on “Law & Order: SVU” and an Independent Spirit Award for “American Gun.”
Harden helped make someone else a winner Saturday night. She pulled the ticket for the season-long drawing for the 2013 Acura RDX AWD with tech package, plus $5,000 cash, which was won by Sheila Yee-Murrin from Bellflower.
Robert David Hall was the first celebrity to arrive at the event. He and his wife live part-time in Laguna, where Hall surfed as a youngster.
Hall is best known for his role as Dr. Al Robbins on the original “CSI,” now in its 13th season, with some changes in the cast.
“I have to tell you that Ted Danson is one of the nicest people I have ever met, and I don’t have to say that,” said Hall.
Hall has also appeared on “The Practice,” “Superman,” Beverly Hills, 90210,” and “L.A. Law” on television.
Laguna’s own Annika Dries, a U.S. women’s water polo Olympic gold medalist, made an appearance. She will soon be heading back to Stanford to resume her education, which she had put on hold in 2011 to concentrate on the Olympics. She is majoring in human biology.
Dries is also an advocate of breast cancer awareness and research and is active with the Pink Ribbon Club and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
She was accompanied to the event by Stanford teammate Ashley Grossman and by her mother and father, Pam Madsen and Eric Dries.
Her parents had also been with Dries in London and New York, where they were greeted by a celebration.
There will be a public celebration for Dries on Saturday in Laguna.
Athlete Al Joyner, who won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics in the triple jump, made his first visit to the Festival and Pageant.
“I have been trying to get here for a long time,” said Joyner, who was accompanied by his wife, Alisha.
Festival board member Anita Mangels greeted well-known attorney Gloria Allred as she strolled off the red carpet.
“We are old friends,” said Mangels.
Next week, Allred will be representing California voters at the Democratic National Convention, an elected delegate for President Obama.
Other celebrities at the event included Barry Bostwick, who played Roger Frank on “Cougar Town” and Oliver Gates on “Law & Order: SVU;” Richard Karn, the sarcastic co-host of “Tool Time” on “Home Improvement;” Donna Mills, who has added a makeup line to her television and movie credits; and Hal Linden, the star of the memorable “Barney Miller” show on television.
Jerry Mathers, for six years known to the television audience as Beaver Cleaver, is a regular at the festival’s celebrity event. Child star Christopher Knight, who played Peter Brady in the 1970s series “The Brady Bunch,” joined Mathers this year, along with Bruno Gunn, who will be in “The Hunger Games” sequel “Catching Fire;” and Seamus Dever, who plays Kevin Ryan on “Castle.”
Also at the event: Faye and festival board member Wayne Baglin, with their two grandchildren, Holly and Connor; Catrina and festival board member Steve Dicterow; and City Treasurer Laura Parisi.
The 2012 Festival of Arts season ends Friday.
OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Call (949) 966-4682 or email coastlinepilot@latimes.com with Attn. Barbara Diamond in the subject line.