A host of celebrities of stage and screen will pay tribute to Julie Harris — the five-time Tony Award-winner who suffered a stroke in 2001 — at a 7:30 PM gala March 18 at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.
The tribute is presented by the cable arts channel, Trio, and will include appearances by Christopher Plummer and Charles Nelson Reilly. Harris and Reilly are longtime collaborators. Harris, 76, suffered a stroke in May 2001, forcing her to withdraw from the Victory Gardens Theatre's production of Claudia Allen's Fossils. Per her wishes, little has been released about her condition and her recovery. Tonight's by invitation-only tribute marks Harris' first public appearance since her illness.
Harris won Tonys for I Am a Camera, The Lark, Forty Carats, The Last of Mrs. Lincoln and The Belle of Amherst, and was introduced to a new generation of fans when she starred in TV's "Knots Landing."
Expected at the March 18 gala are Lauren Bacall, Alec Baldwin, Barbara Barrie, Nora Ephron, Lee Grant, Joel Grey, Rosemary Harris, Celeste Holm, Dana Ivey, Anne Jackson, Patricia Neal, Cicely Tyson, Joan Van Ark, Joyce Van Patten and Eli Wallach.
Following the tribute is a screening of "Broadway Legends," a one-hour "who's who" of Broadway favorites sharing their experiences on and off the stage. Matthew Broderick, who just ended his run in The Producers, hosts the documentary, which will be seen on Trio May 12. Julie Harris made her stage debut in the 1945 play It's a Gift, and her expansive theatrical career brought her a record-making five Tony Awards. The actress made her feature film debut in 1952's "The Member of the Wedding," earning an Oscar nomination for the role that she also created on Broadway. Television audiences know Harris from her work on the nighttime series "Knots Landing," which earned her an Emmy Award nomination (Joan Van Ark and Alec Baldwin were among her co-stars). Harris nabbed the Emmy twice: in 1961 for "Victoria Regina" and in 1999 for "Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony."
—By Andrew Gans
