‘Magnolias’ Comes Up Roses for Right Charity

There is rarely a direct connection between the film and the charity cause at benefit premieres. Usually the beneficiary of the event is just the studio executive’s favorite charity. So occasionally the film’s stars pull an end run around the gala dinner, heading directly for their stretch limousines after the screening. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

But the charity was right at home on Thursday night for the benefit premiere of Tri-Star Pictures’ “Steel Magnolias” at the Cineplex Odeon in Century City. The film and the cause were so intimately related that the sold-out 1,400 guest crowd missed not a moment of the film nor a second of the gala supper that followed at the Los Angeles Ballroom in the Century Plaza Hotel, including every one of the film’s stars--Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis and Tom Skerritt.

The story of “Steel Magnolias” revolves around a diabetic played by Julia Roberts. In theater No. 2 (extra screens had to be added for the huge turnout), the guests of the American Diabetes Assn. watched with nary a dry eye in the house. Some of them sighed during the film, quietly noting how similar this film is to their own lives.

As guests streamed out of the theaters for the gala across the street at the Century Plaza, handkerchiefs attended the eyes and press agents attended the stars. There was a great deal of chatter about probable Academy Award nominations. Even studio heads for whom this picture represents competition were sanguine.

Frank Wells, president and CEO of Walt Disney Pictures, who was also honorary chairman of the benefit, remarked that “it’s a wonderful film, truly wonderful.” That dashing duo, Jon Peters and Peter Guber, the once and future kings of Columbia Pictures, said “great . . . great . . . great . . . yeah, great” as they dashed over to the supper. Tri-Star President Jeff Sagansky was all smiles. And Ray “I Really Don’t Talk to the Press” Stark, whose company, Rastar, produced the film, received congratulations from the crowd around him.

The stars of the picture moved around en mass. All the female stars entered and left the screening arm in arm.

Sally Field, in a skinny, skinny black velvet Norma Kamali, noted that she felt “like I had died and gone to heaven,” working with this remarkable ensemble of talent: “It was an unbelievable experience--really joyous and lots of laughter.”

Director Herbert Ross, in charge of containing all the laughter, stated categorically “that it was one of the most spectacular groups I’ve ever worked with.” Julia Roberts sensed that a nearly telepathic communication developed between the cast members: “When one person was in trouble, suddenly the others were right there, personally and professionally.” Shirley MacLaine added, “We were instant friends. Instant.” But Tom Skerritt, the only male lead, had some trouble. “I had a love affair with six women,” he said, referring to the six female stars, “and that’s not easy.”

The dinner was a quiet, personal affair where many of the film’s principals related the movie to their lives. Playwright/screenwriter Robert Harling noted that this film was a memorial to his sister. Tom Skerritt talked about his diabetic brother and his mother who died of diabetic complications. Dolly Parton’s grandmother also died from complications of diabetes. “I kept her on a strict diet,” Parton said. “It was hard. But then, it’s hard to see suffering of any kind. We do what we can.”

The evening raised more than $500,000 for the American Diabetes Assn. ADA Premiere Committee chair Brigitte Medvin was thrilled, but not surprised, at the turnout. “We have had very successful premieres over the last 15 years,” Medvin said. “The hard-working committees of the ADA have raised more than $4 million since we first premiered ‘Towering Inferno.’ ”

The proceeds have been applied exclusively to diabetes research. According to Tri-Star vice president Richard Fischoff, the three benefit premieres of “Steel Magnolias”--Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta--have raised more than $1 million.

Also present were Chevy Chase, Doug Cramer, William Morris agent Ames Cushing, Lee Radziwill, Vanity Fair magazine’s Wendy Stark, Columbia Pictures President Dawn Steel, Music Center mavens Lenore and Bernard Greenberg, Tony Thomopoulos and Cristina Ferrare, Marcia Weisman, Fred and Joan Nicholas, and Kiefer Sutherland.