Shooting Stars Come Out for NRA Gala

Several hundred party-goers--some of them from Tinseltown--gathered at the Dana Point Resort on Friday, drawn together by their favorite sport: shooting.

The gala, held under a tent set up on the resort’s grounds overlooking the ocean, celebrated the kickoff of the weekend-long Charlton Heston Celebrity Shoot. The shoot, in which 130 celebrities divide into teams and enter handgun and shotgun competitions, is the National Rifle Assn.’s way of thanking those who have contributed to the U.S. Shooting Team, which will compete in the Olympic Games in Barcelona.

Straight Shooters

“I attend a few of these skeet competitions a year,” said Richard Anderson, who appeared as Oscar Goldman in both “The Six Million Dollar Man” and “The Bionic Woman” TV series.

“I love the sport--the fast hands, the eye coordination, the camaraderie. Trouble is, I have an aversion to guns,” he joked.

Susan Howard, best known for her role as Donna Krebbs in the TV series “Dallas,” learned to shoot from her father when she was a child. Howard now serves on the board of the NRA.

“It’s a sport that requires a lot of discipline,” she said. “You develop a respect and understanding for what you’re doing.”

When the celebrity shoot was first held in 1987, only one woman participated. This year 25% of the competitors were women.

“For a long time women felt this was a man’s thing. Then they found out they not only enjoyed it, but were good at it,” Howard said.

Steve Kanaly, who played Donna’s husband, Ray Krebbs, on “Dallas” and still refers to Howard as “my other wife,” is another lifelong shooter.

“I grew up around shooting,” he said, looking every inch the sportsman in a safari jacket.

Robert Conrad, who attended with his wife, LaVelda, headed off any criticisms people might have about the sport of shooting.

“We’re not hunters. We don’t go after Bambi’s dad,” he said. “We shoot for the accuracy and the challenge.”

Shooting Stars

Stars mingled beneath the tent, taking shelter from a misty cloud cover that rolled in off the Pacific. They talked about shooting, eyed each other and posed for pictures.

Food stations adorned with ice sculptures offered celebrities international fare that included Mexican food, pasta, sushi, fruits and cheeses. The dessert table was generously filled with eclairs, strawberries dipped in chocolate, pecan pie and cream puffs--every body-conscious celebrity’s nightmare.

In addition to the kickoff, the weekend’s activities included the competition at the Orange County Shooting and Training Center Saturday, a sit-down dinner Saturday night at the resort and an awards ceremony Sunday.

The celebrity shoot is part of a national campaign that has raised $9 million for the U.S. Shooting Team, according to Brad O’Leary, spokesman with PM Consulting in Washington, D.C., which has coordinated the event for the past six years.

“A lot of people love coming down here and shooting,” O’Leary said.

Among those attending were event Chairman Paul Sorvino, whose film credits include “Goodfellas” “Dick Tracy” and “Reds,” Jason Priestley and Ian Ziering of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” James Sikking, the doctor-dad of “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” Robert Stack, host of “Unsolved Mysteries,” George Barr, Peter Tuxen, Dwight Woodruff, Robert Eck and Louis Wellen.