Close to a thousand Hollywood publicity and marketing executives, producers, studio and network executives, celebrities, and press gathered for the International Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600) 50th Annual Publicists Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel today.
Kirk Douglas received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Ron Meyer, president and COO of Universal Studios. In a surprise appearance Robert Downey Jr. presented the Motion Picture Showmanship Award to Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, while the Television Showmanship Award went to the co-presidents of USA Network, Chris McCumber and Jeff Wachtel, presented to them by Matt Bomer, who’s the star of USA’s White Collar, and Piper Perabo, star of the network’s Covert Affairs.
Surprise presenter Sally Field awarded publicist Heidi Schaeffer of PMK/BNC with this year’s Les Mason Award, the highest honor publicists can pay to one of their own.
Corbin Bernsen, star of L.A. Law and USA’s current hit Psych, presented the Press Award to Deadline Hollywood‘s Pete Hammond, while the International Media Award went to James White of the UK. Two 14-year-olds from Kabul, Afghanistan, Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz, stars of the Oscar� nominated Live Action Short, Buzkashi Boys, made this presentation.
Sharon Black, winner of the award last year, presented the Bob Yeager Award to Linda Weitzler in recognition of her community work. Weitzler belongs to the Volunteer League, which helps clothe needy children; is part of a 22-voice choir that performs at nursing homes; and serves on the board of the Fulfillment Fund helping under privileged kids to go to college; among other nonprofit efforts.
The Maxwell Weinberg Award for Best Publicity Campaign for a Motion Picture went to the publicity team from Warner Bros. for Argo, presented by Chi McBride, one of the stars of CBS’ upcoming series Golden Boy, which will be premiering February 26. McBride also handed the Maxwell Weinberg Television Campaign Award to the publicists for their work on Showtime’s Homeland.
Robert Knepper, one of the stars of new CW midseason series Cult, which premiered February 19, presented the Excellence in Still Photography for Motion Pictures Award to Jaimie Trueblood and the Television Still Photography Award to Suzanne Tenner.
ICG President Steven Poster began the ceremony by highlighting the important contributions publicists make to the industry. He also welcomed IATSE President Matt Loeb who flew in from New York for the occasion.
Theo Von, star of Yahoo!’s Prime Time In No Time, hosted.
Jules Feiffer, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Cartoonist and Writer, Dies At 95
Jules Feiffer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and writer whose prolific output ranged from a long-running comic strip to plays, screenplays and children's books, died Friday. He was 95 and, true to his seemingly tireless form, published his last book just four months ago.
Feiffer's wife, writer JZ Holden, said Tuesday that he died of congestive heart failure at their home in Richfield Springs, New York, and was surrounded by friends, the couple's two cats and his recent artwork.
Holden said her husband had been ill for a couple of years, "but he was sharp and strong up until the very end. And funny."
Artistically limber, Feiffer hopscotched among numerous forms of expression, chronicling the curiosity of childhood, urban angst and other societal currents. To each he brought a sharp wit and acute observations of the personal and political relations that defined his readers' lives.
As Feiffer explained to the Chicago Tribune in 2002, his work dealt with "communication and the breakdown thereof, between men and women, parents and children, a government and its citizens, and the individual not dealing so well with authority."
Feiffer won the United States' most prominent awards in journalism and filmmaking, taking home a 1986 Pulitzer Prize for his cartoons and "Munro," an animated short film he wrote, won a 1961 Academy Award. The Library of Congress held a retrospective of his work in 1996.
"My goal is to make people think, to make them feel and, along the way, to make them smile if not laugh," Feiffer told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1998. "Humor seems to me one of the best ways of espousing ideas. It gets people to listen with their guard down."
Feiffer was born on Jan. 26, 1929, in the Bronx. From... Read More