Contact:
Jeff Morgan, Jeff.Morgan@iowa.gov, (515)
281-3858
(DES
MOINES) – The State Historical Society
of Iowa announced today it will welcome Academy and
Tony Award-winning actress Patricia Neal and Broadway
veteran Joel Vig to Des Moines next month for a benefit
at the State Historical Museum.
“An Evening with Patricia Neal” will
be 5:30-7 p.m., Sunday, June 4, 2006 at the State
Historical Building, 600 E. Locust Street in the heart
of Des Moines’ Historic East Village. Tickets
are $75 per person and can be reserved by calling
515-281-5111 by May 30. Proceeds will benefit the
State Historical Museum.
Guests will have an opportunity to meet Neal and
listen to a presentation about her life and career
in Hollywood and on Broadway. Neal received the first-ever
Tony Award in 1947 for best supporting actress in
Another Part of the Forest. Vig, an original cast
member of the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit, Hairspray,
will join Neal for questions and answers. Before the
event, Neal and Vig will meet privately with theater
students from the Des Moines Playhouse education program.
“Patricia Neal is an American treasure,”
said Anita Walker, director of the Iowa Department
of Cultural Affairs. “She comes from one of
greatest eras of acting and she is a genuine icon
of American movies and theater. We are delighted she
is joining us to help raise support for the museum.”
At the event, guests can purchase an original signed
print by Nicolosi, a pop artist known for his portraits
of celebrities. The art work was inspired by a photograph
of Neal from the 1963 film, Hud, with Paul Newman,
the movie for which she received an Academy Award
for best actress. The pop art print can be viewed
at M.C. Ginsberg Jewelers locations at Governor Square
in West Des Moines and 110 E. Washington Street in
Iowa City. A new biography of Neal, An Unquiet Life,
was released in April by University of Kentucky Press.
The State Historical Museum offers visitors an opportunity
to experience the people, places and events that shaped
the history of Iowa. Interactive exhibits, educational
programs and tours of the museum’s historic
battle flags and subterranean, climate-controlled
storage facility that houses more than 100,000 artifacts
enable visitors to see, hear and even touch Iowa’s
heritage. Funded primarily by state appropriations,
the museum relies on membership contributions and
donations for many of its programs.
Neal, raised in Knoxville, Tenn., overcame personal
tragedies on her rise to stardom. After winning the
Tony Award, the New York Critics Award and Look Magazine’s
“Best New Actress” in 1947 for Another
Part of the Forest, Neal turned to Hollywood and starred
with Gary Cooper in The Fountainhead and Bright Leaf;
Tyrone Power in Diplomatic Courier; and John Wayne
in Operation Pacific.
She received critical acclaim in the 1957 hit, A
Face in the Crowd, with Andy Griffith and Walter Matthau,
and played in Breakfast at Tiffany’s with Audrey
Hepburn in 1961. In addition to her Academy Award,
Neal received the New York Film Critics Award and
the British Academy Award in 1963 for best foreign
actress for Hud. She received the British Academy
Award again in 1965 for her co-starring role with
John Wayne and Kirk Douglas in In Harm’s Way.
While filming Seven Women, Neal suffered three debilitating
strokes. At age 39, she was three months pregnant
and in a coma. During her recovery, Neal was unable
to see, paralyzed on her right side and faced intense
rehabilitation treatment. Her subsequent efforts to
raise awareness for stroke patients and proper rehabilitation
care led to the construction of the Patricia Neal
Rehabilitation Center at the Fort Sanders Regional
Medical Center in Knoxville, Tenn.
By 1968, Neal made a triumphant return to the silver
screen in The Subject was Roses, for which she received
an Academy Award nomination. In 1986, she received
the Women’s International Center (WIC) Living
Legacy Award, and was inducted into the Theatre Hall
of Fame in 2004 and into the Hollywood “Walk
of Fame” in 2005. Today, Neal spends much of
her time raising support for stroke patient rehabilitation
care and traveling the country giving presentations
and lectures.
Neal and Vig, longtime friends, have performed together
for years. They performed Truman Capote’s A
Christmas Memory at the Actor’s Studio in New
York and as a benefit for the Helen Hayes Theatre
in Nyack, New York, and in other venues across the
country. In addition to his role in Hairspray, which
won 8 Tony Awards in 2003, Vig is also known for his
starring role in the cult hit Ruthless!.
The State Historical Museum is operated by the State
Historical Society of Iowa, a trustee of Iowa’s
historical legacy and an advocate for understanding
Iowa’s past. It identifies, records, collects,
preserves, manages and provides access to Iowa’s
historical resources. Its dual mission of preservation
and education serves Iowans of all ages, conducts
and stimulates research, disseminates information,
and encourages and supports historical preservation
and education efforts of others throughout the state.
More information about SHSI is available at www.iowahistory.org.
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