Lucie Arnaz and Laurence Luckinbill Appear at Coachella Valley Rep's 2015 Luminary Luncheon Today

The Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre has announced that stage, screen, and television performers Lucie Arnaz and Laurence Luckinbill will be the special guest artists at today's February 25th Luminary Luncheon at 12:00 noon. In order to accommodate its growing patronage, this month's Luminary Luncheon will be held at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower Medical Center. See travel directions below.

You're sure to enjoy a charming afternoon as these two show-biz veterans reveal, among other things, their chance meeting while both performing in Neil Simon plays in New York-she in They're Playing Our Song and he in Chapter 2-in 1979. From that jumping-off point, you'll learn about this dynamic duo's captivating roles on stage and screen over the years, from Mr. Luckinbill's powerful and mesmerizing solo performances in his self-penned works Teddy Tonight! and Lyndon to Ms. Arnaz's first appearance in front of the camera on The Lucy Show and her recent appearance as Berthe in the U.S. national tour of the Tony Award-winning revival of Pippin.

This special luncheon, which is open to the public, is part of CVRep's series of Luminary Luncheons and will be held on Wednesday, February 25th at the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower Medical Center, 39000 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage. The luncheon, sponsored by Lulu California Bistro and Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa, begins at noon and will be followed by an Actors Studio-style interview, conducted by emcee and TV/Radio host Don Martin, with Ms. Arnaz and Mr. Luckinbill. Tickets are $45 (all inclusive), and reservations are required as seating is limited. For tickets call our box office at 760-296-2966 or visit our website at www.cvrep.org.

Directions to the Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower Medical Center: From eastbound Country Club Drive turn left onto John Sinn Road (one block east of Bob Hope Drive near the Eisenhower Emergency sign). Follow John Sinn Road past Roxbury Drive. The Annenberg Center for Health Sciences at Eisenhower Medical Center is the circular building on the left.

The Coachella Valley Repertory Theatre is an educational and dramatic theatre organization that presents innovative productions and children's outreach programs designed to enrich the quality of life for Coachella Valley residents and visitors. For more information, call 760-296-2966 or visit www.cvrep.org.

Lucie Arnaz Biography - Lucie Arnaz has had an extremely diversified career spanning over forty-five years in show business. Her talents have led her to stage, film, and television successes. Some of her stage credits include starring roles in New York productions of Lost in Yonkers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Grace and Glorie; the London premiere of The Witches Of Eastwick; and the Coconut Grove Playhouse premieres of Once Removed and A Picasso. Her most recent role was as Berthe in the U.S. national tour of the Tony Award-winning revival of Pippin.

Ms. Arnaz has graced the silver screen in films such as The Jazz Singer with Neil Diamond and Sir Laurence Oliver (and for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination), Down To You, Second Thoughts, Billy Jack Goes To Washington, The Pack, and Wild Seven.

She began her acting career on television in The Lucy Show, opposite her mother, Lucille Ball. At age fifteen, she became a series regular on Here's Lucy for six seasons. Ms. Arnaz then starred in her own series, The Lucie Arnaz Show. Other television appearances include Sons And Daughters, The Black Dahlia, The Mating Season, Who Gets the Friends?, Washington Mistress, Death Scream. She also manages Desilu Productions with her brother Desi Jr. Additionally, Ms. Arnaz was Executive Producer of the I Love Lucy 50th Anniversary Special (which received an Emmy Award nomination), and Lucy & Desi: A Home Movie (a 1993 Emmy Award winner) with husband Laurence Luckinbill.

Lucie is also an accomplished vocalist, and, in 1993, Concord Jazz released her first album, Just in Time, a collection of jazz standards. In 2010, Arluck Entertainment released her latest CD, Latin Roots, a celebration of just what the title says. Ms. Arnaz even brought her Latin Roots tour to the McCallum Theatre in 2014.

Laurence Luckinbill Biography - A character lead and supporting player who has had more endurance on the stage than in television or films, Mr. Luckinbill first came to attention playing Hank, the "bisexual with a preference" in Mart Crowley's landmark play The Boys in the Band. He reprised the role of Hank in both the London stage production and in William Friedkin's 1970 screen adaptation.

Mr. Luckinbill made his off-Broadway debut in a Carnegie Playhouse production of Oedipus Rex in 1959. In 1963, he made his Broadway debut in Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons. Among his other more notable roles are the lead in Galileo at the McCarter Theatre in 1965 and as Biff in a 1965 American Conservatory Theatre production of Death of a Salesman. Perhaps the actor's better-known Broadway appearances are as the bisexual Brian in Michael Cristofer's award-winning The Shadow Box (1977) and as George Schneider, a widower playwright based on Neil Simon in Simon's Chapter Two (1979). He also won praise for his one-man shows Lyndon, Clarence Darrow Tonight!, Teddy Tonight! and Hemingway.

After his film debut in The Boys in the Band, Mr. Luckinbill landed roles in Such Good Friends (1971), The Promise (1979), Cocktail (1988), and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989).

His television appearances include The Secret Storm (1967-1968) and Where the Heart Is (1969-1970). He began making guest appearances on primetime in 1968 with an episode of NYPD and earned his own series with The Delphi Bureau (1972-1973), in which he was the head of a super-secret government agency. Perhaps his most memorable guest stint is in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1975) as Mary's current beau whose son she just can't stand. Other television credits include Murder Impossible, Death Sentence, The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case, To Heal a Nation, and Ike. He also narrated the miniseries Space (1985).