Michael Douglas emceed Human Rights Watch’s annual...

Michael Douglas emceed Human Rights Watch’s annual celebration and fund-raising dinner Nov. 18 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. More than $550,000 was raised for the group dedicated to protecting human rights, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary and the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

More than 650 people attended, including Norman Lear, Anna Paquin, Shelley Fabares, Christopher Darden, Gail Zappa (widow of Frank), author Orville Schell, John Lithgow, Los Angeles Times Editor and Executive Vice President Michael Parks, New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis, Julie Su, a lawyer from the Asia Pacific American Legal Center, and Mike Farrell and Jane Olson, both Human Rights Watch co-chairs.

Human Rights Watch holds this annual celebration dinner to honor its international human rights monitors. This year the monitors were from Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria, Northern Ireland and Russia.

* The Beverly Hills Theatre Guild presented its 1998 Spotlight Award to director Arthur Hiller at the Friars Club in Beverly Hills on Nov. 8. Hiller’s credits include “Love Story,” “Plaza Suite,” “Man of La Mancha,” “The Man in the Glass Booth,” “The Out-of-Towners,” “Silver Streak,” “Outrageous Fortune” and “The In-Laws.” Monty Hall emceed the annual dinner, and the 200 or so guests included comedian Red Buttons, humorist Dave Barry and actors Gene Barry and David Paymer. Charles Champlin presented the three winners of the 18th annual Beverly Hills Theatre Guild-Julie Harris Playwright Award Competition. They were Prince Gomolvilas, Margaret Lewis and Marilyn vos Savant. Lilian Nesburn of the Nesburn Philanthropic Foundation presented a $100,000 endowment gift to Guild president Janet Salter to encourage the teaching of Shakespeare. The money will benefit programs of the Guild, including theater for children in Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles inner city as well as senior citizens.

* Billie Jean King and 13 tennis professionals participated in a pro-am tournament at Cal State L.A. on Nov. 8, raising $60,000 for scholarships for the university’s student athletes and for program development. The event, “A Legend and Her Friends, Billie Jean King Day,” was attended by 250 people and included a tennis clinic, celebrity exhibition match and the pro-am tennis tournament at the university, plus a private reception with King and a dinner and auction at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena. Other tennis professionals included Rosie Casals, Tracy Austin and Pam Shriver. King is a Cal State L.A. alumna and honorary doctorate recipient. Corporate sponsors were First USA Bank, Automobile Club of Southern California, Philip Morris Cos., Mattel Inc. and Pepsi-Cola.

* Rupert Murdoch was honored at the Fulfillment Fund’s Nov. 7 gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. More than 700 guests attended and raised $1.5 million for the Fulfillment Fund, the largest mentoring organization and provider of scholarships to disadvantaged students in the Los Angeles area. The fund recently received the 1998 California Mentor Initiative’s Spirit of Mentoring Award for its outstanding community-based program.

* The Color Me Bright Youth Foundation presented three awards and raised more than $25,000 at its “Celebration of Youth” event Nov. 8 at Iwerks Entertainment in Burbank. The foundation, founded by women in the entertainment industry, supports mentoring and literacy programs. The Youth of America Mentor Award was presented to KCBS-TV weather forecaster Steve Rambo, the North Star Award was given to the PBS children’s series “Reading Rainbow,” and McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurants owners Bill McCormick and Doug Schmick were given the Discover Award.

Has your group held a charity fund-raiser recently? Let us know about it. We will report on selected local benefit projects and events. Please tell us about your organization and the charity you support, how much you raised, how the charity uses your gift and the details of your event--what, when and where. Send a letter or news release to Charity Scorecard, Southern California Living, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or fax to (213) 237-4888. Submissions must reach us no more than two weeks after the benefit.