Photo Coverage: Herman Toasted at L.A. Tonys Party

On Sunday, June 10th at L.A.'s Skirball Center, the Actors Fund paid tribute to Jerry Herman at its 11th Annual Tony Awards Party, featuring a live feed of the 61st Annual Tony Awards as they happened in New York.  Guests were treated to a special performance by Karen Morrow (The Grass Harp), who also presented Herman with the Julie Harris Award for Lifetime Achievement.  Bruce Vilanch (Hairspray) hosted.

In addition to Vilanch, the evening featured - among others - Dick Gautier, Carole Cook, Mary Jo Catlett, Michael Learned, Charlotte Rae and Theodore Bikel.

"There is never an evening when, somewhere in the world, the music and lyrics of Jerry Herman are not being sung by a lady in a red headdress, or a lady with a bugle, or a middle-aged man in a wig and a boa.  Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles are home to some of the most popular, most-often performed and most successful musical heroines of all time, and have given Jerry the distinction of being the only composer-lyricist in history to have had three musicals that ran more than 1,500 consecutive performances on Broadway.  His first Broadway show was Milk and Honey (1961), followed by Hello, Dolly! (1964), Mame (1966), Dear World (1969), Mack & Mabel (1974), The Grand Tour (1979), La Cage aux Folles (1983), Jerry's Girls (1985) and "Mrs. Santa Claus" (1966), a CBS-TV special starring Angela Lansbury.  Showtune, a revue of his life's work, is performing in regional theatres around the country.  Herman's string of awards and honors include Tonys, Grammys, Drama Desk Awards, the Johnny Mercer Award, the Richard Rodgers Award, the Oscar Hammerstein Award, the Frederick Lowe Award, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Theatre Hall of Fame.  He is the subject of the upcoming PBS documentary "Words and Music by Jerry Herman," a film by Amber Edwards.

Visit www.actorsfund.org for more information on the Actors Fund.

Photos by Bill Dow

Carole Cook and Tom Troupe

Charlotte Rae and Larry Preston

The Actors Fund's Jomarie Ward (Chairman of the Western Council)

Keith McNutt (AF Director of Western Region)  Bruce Vilanch and David Michaels (AF Director of Special Events Western Region)

Lee Newman (great-grandson of Eddie Cantor) and Randy LaPlante

Michael Learned

MaryJo Catlett

Dick Gautier and guest

James Karen and wife

Mike Burstyn, Victor Lundin and their wives

Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna

Richard Herd

Rita McKenzie

Anne Jeffreys

HRC Winners David Hinton and Ramon Campos flank Bruce Vilanch and Jerry Herman

David Michaels, Jerry Herman, Karen Morrow and Keith McNutt on the red carpet

Henry Polic and Jon Maher

Julie Newmar

Karen Morrow, Bruce Vilanch and Jerry Herman

Mr. Blackwell and R.L. Spencer

Bruce Vilanch hosts the ceremony

Bruce Vilanch "spins the Lucite" for raffle

Theodore Bikel

Jerry Herman and Karen Morrow perform "If We Walked Into My Life" and "The Best of Times"

Jerry Herman

Jerry Herman

Karen Morrow presents the legendary Jerry Herman with Julie Harris Award for Lifetime Achievement

Tony Award-winner Jeff Marx (Avenue Q) and Jerry Herman