STARS UNITE TO HELP RAISE FUNDS FOR U.S. VICTIMS AND THEIR FAMILIES

18 Sept 2001

When news of the terrorist attack on New York’s Twin Towers and the Pentagon first began to emerge, many celebrities rushed to help. In the Big Apple itself In The Name Of The Father actor Daniel Day-Lewis offered blood, then volunteered to transport ice used to keep donations cool after a long queue made that impossible. In San Francisco, Robin Williams also joined thousands of other people in donating blood.

Robert DeNiro delivered meals from his Tribeca Grill to rescue crews working around the ruined Towers, while Romancing The Stone star Kathleen Turner, who had watched the horrific events unfold from the window of her Manhattan apartment, immediately volunteered help and has worked flat out since then.

Also keen to show his support, fellow actor William Baldwin joined New York Knicks basketball player Charlie Ward in a visit to a fire station to console relatives of the dead.

The attacks have galvanised the film and music worlds in a way unseen since WWII and now other stars are taking up the baton, flocking to sign up for charity concerts and telethons to raise money for the victims of the atrocities. Actors Jim Carrey and George Clooney are to take part in a massive telethon, entitled America,to be screened on US television on Friday. They are expected to be joined by a host of Hollywood heavyweights including Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood, Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz and Billy Joel.

In an unprecedented demonstration of solidarity among the fiercely competitive US networks, CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox are understood to be planning to air the two-hour-long primetime telethon simultaneously. The show will be filmed simultaneously in New York and Los Angeles, although exactly where remains a secret. For security reasons, organisers plan to keep even the participants in the dark until the day of the show.

Meanwhile, in their own gestures of sadness, others have cancelled upcoming celebrations. The Sound Of Music actress Julie Andrews has pulled out of a Spanish film festival at which she was due to be honoured with a special award, while musician Sting has abandoned plans for a birthday party in Marrakesh to mark his 50th.