“Ally McBeal” Star Calista Flockhart to Play Title Role in “All About Eve” Benefit | Playbill

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News “Ally McBeal” Star Calista Flockhart to Play Title Role in “All About Eve” Benefit Three-time Emmy nominee Calista Flockhart has joined the cast of the one night only all-star reading of "All About Eve."

Flockhart, who was most recently on the New York stage in Neil LaBute's bash, will play Eve Harrington opposite the Margo Channing of Tony Award winner Stockard Channing. John Ritter will also star in the March 30 benefit as Bill Sampson.

As previously reported on Playbill On-Line, the 4 PM benefit for the Actors' Fund of America will feature a reading of Joseph Mankiewicz's original screenplay for 20th Century Fox. Based on Mary Orr's "The Wisdom of Eve," the classic film concerns a young aspiring actress (Eve) who insinuates her way into the life (and career) of Broadway star Margo Channing. Those actors already lined up for the reading include Angela Lansbury as Birdie, Blythe Danner and Victor Garber as Karen and Lloyd Richards, Tim Curry as Addison de Witt, Carl Reiner as Max Fabian, Kirk Douglas as the presenter and Melissa Manchester as the pianist.

Playwright David Rambo has adapted the screenplay for the starry event, which will be directed by Gordon Davidson. D. Martyn Bookwalter is the reading's lighting designer and John Gottlieb the sound designer. Celeste Holm, who starred as Karen Richards in the original film, will chair the event, and Tom Mankiewicz, the screenwriter/director's son, will be the honorary chairperson.

Best known for her award-winning work on the FOX series “Ally McBeal,” Calista Flockhart made her Broadway debut in a revival of The Glass Menagerie. Her many other theatrical credits include roles in bash, Beside Herself, Bover Boys, Mad Forest, Wrong Turn at Lungfish, Sophistry, Sons and Fathers, AML, All for One, The Impostor, The Loop and Death Takes a Holiday. On screen Flockhart has been seen in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Birdcage,” “Drunks,” “Telling Lies in America” and “Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her.”

"All About Eve" will be held at the Ahmanson Music Center of L.A. County, located at 135 North Grand Avenue. Tickets, ranging from $40 to $1,000, are available by calling (800) 221-7303, ext. 133. Go to www.actorsfund.org for more information. *

The 1950 film "All About Eve" starred Bette Davis as Margo Channing, Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington, George Sanders as Addison De Witt, Holm as Karen Richards, Gary Merrill as Bill Sampson, Hugh Marlowe as Lloyd Richards, Gregory Ratoff as Max Fabian, Barbara Bates as Phoebe, Marilyn Monroe as Claudia Casswell and Thelma Ritter as Birdie Cooper. The movie was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, winning the prize for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (George Sanders); Best Costume Design, Black-and-White (Edith Head and Charles Le Maire); Best Director (Joseph L. Mankiewicz); Best Picture (Darryl F. Zanuck); Best Sound, Recording; and Best Writing, Screenplay (Mankiewicz).

The Actors' Fund of America is the only national non-profit organization that provides for the social welfare of all entertainment professionals.

 
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